Chapter 94: Broken Chains

With a final wave goodbye, Ryan was sent out of the soul plane that he had just spent so much time in. Although on the outside only a dozen hours had passed, for him inside the soul plane, it felt like a little more than a week. Amaranthae had told him that time held no meaning inside the plane she had created with her soul, it was one of the main reasons that she was able to remain sane for so long in such isolation.

He found himself standing there with his hand placed firmly on the magical ice, pulling his arm away, he found it to be almost frozen up to his elbow. It didn't matter to him, the pain was tolerable, and he would be able to speak with the spirits without the use of his arms anyway.

Closing his eyes, he began to recall the lessons Amaranthae had given him over the last week. According to her, even though spirits sounded much the same as ghosts and other monsters of that kind, they were in reality, vastly different. Ghosts and such were souls that failed to cross over, souls that were damaged beyond repair and stuck within the physical realm without a vessel. Spirits on the other hand were, simply put, sentient clusters of mana.

Of course, the actual makeup of the spirits was much more complicated than that, but that was all that he needed to know about them to be able to speak to them. The difficulty of speaking with the spirits lay in their quasi-physical makeup. They were most definitely within the physical realm that all other living things occupied but being made purely of mana meant that they interacted with everything differently than anything else.

Most of the time, the spirits didn't even notice other living things, even if they were directly making contact with each other; the only thing they responded to were large fluctuations of mana, or certain words of power, which is what Amaranthae had taught him. Apparently, anyone could commune with the spirits, it was actually quite simple. All one needed to do was get their attention with a very specific ancient phrase, then convince them to act on your behalf.

The only problem was that they would never do anything for free. In order for them to want to move to your will, whoever called upon them would need to barter with the spirits, giving them something in return for their favor.

Taking a deep breath, Ryan started to recite the phrase that had been drilled into his head. "Sferetsil hior ca riqyistol, E bisiimhol elu tu hilf ci en ca teci up niid. Nokgil purthol ecni rijoleth auyrsiljisil tu ci."

Speaking those words physically made his mouth hurt, the annunciation was very difficult to master, and even after over a week of just repeating the phrase over and over again he still felt like he butchered it. Of course, he was also standing in a perfect vacuum, so he had to wonder, if there was no sound, would the spirits really be able to hear his call?

Amaranthae had said it wouldn't be an issue, that as long as there was mana nearby, your intent would be felt by them. And after several long seconds, her words were proven true. A pale, white mist began to form around the magical ice. At first, Ryan thought that maybe his eyes were starting to fail him, but a soft, barely audible voice whispering inside his head told him otherwise.

"What… do you… desire?" The ambiguous voice asked as the mist in front of him swirled on non-existent wind currents.

"You're a spirit?" Ryan asked after hesitating for a brief moment.

"Is… that all… you wish to know?"

"No, no, sorry." Ryan hurriedly thought, before changing the course of the conversation. "The chains, supplying the ice with mana, can you break them?"

"Do you… understand what you are… asking?"

Ryan nodded his head, clearly set on his current path. "I do."

The mist swirled in absolute silence, as if it was contemplating something that Ryan would never understand. After several seconds, the pale mist ceased its ethereal movements, the soft voice once again echoed within Ryan's mind.

"A price… must be paid, a price… of flesh… and bone. To release… such a being onto the world… is a folly… that you will… soon regret."

Ryan furrowed his brows, he didn't understand what the spirit was saying. "Wait, what are you talking about? What being? Are you talking about Amaranthae?"

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The spirit did not reply. It had already set about claiming its debt as the mist moved slowly toward him, encompassing his entire body in its transparent form. His arm, still frozen from the long contact with the magical ice, began to dissolve from the fingertips up. Shouting out, Ryan flailed his arm, trying in vain to shake the mist off of it.

Nothing he did stopped his arm from dissipating into the mist. Now, his arm up to his elbow was gone, and there was no sign that it was stopping. At the same time, the runes carved into the large steel chains began to dim and flicker as the spirit carried out its end of the bargain.

Ryan had set forth a series of events that he was no longer in control of. As the chains slipped off the ice, the spirit finally released him from its cold embrace. His entire left arm was now gone, even some of his shoulder was now missing. Even his armor wasn't spared, only a large open wound remained, exposing dead muscle and cold bone.

Terrified of what the spirit had did to him, and of the cryptic message it had uttered, Ryan took several shaky steps back from the ice. He was suddenly overwhelmed by a sense of danger as thick cracks began to form in the once seemingly unyielding ice. Even in the perfect vacuum, Ryan could 'feel' the mana radiating out from Amaranthae's body in rapid pulses. With each pulse that washed over him like massive waves of pressure, nearly bringing him to his knees, the ice broke apart even more and fell to the ground.

Before long, the only thing left from the ice was rubble piled up on the ground, leaving Amaranthae suspended above it with her eyes still closed and her face still in its tranquil state of perfect beauty. Ryan stood there in awe as he stared at her. Slowly, Amaranthae's eyelids began to flutter open, and her limbs began to twitch. She leisurely descended, landing on the ground, supported by her twisted, atrophied legs.

Ryan was worried that she wouldn't be able to stand on such injured limbs, but she seemed to have no issues as she took a few steps toward the chains still suspended from an unknown anchor point. Lifting up her slender arm, her golden hair fell from the soft mounds that they were concealing from sight, sending Ryan into a pubescent fervor as he gawked at the beautiful woman. Ignoring the large man awkwardly staring at her, Amaranthae grasped one of the chains, and pulled the chain down with seemingly little effort.

The ground beneath Ryan's feet rumbled, bringing him out of his stupor. His ears, that hadn't heard anything in so long, were suddenly filled with an intense whistling as air rushed in to fill the black void. Like a heavy curtain being ripped off of its rings, the infinite black abyss that surrounded them fell all around them. Blinding light rushed into the room along with the tempest of air, causing him to close his eyes and try his best to plug his ears with his only hand.

Once everything had settled down, Ryan opened his eyes, letting them adjust to the light that now filled the room. He was standing in the center of a large chamber, a highly intricate magical array took up much of the floor space, and arrays even filled the walls and ceiling of the room. The long, thick chains, along with the remnants of the magical ice were nowhere to be seen. Amaranthae was standing there, stark naked, staring at him with a vacant look plastered on her face.

Ryan took a step towards her, putting his worries to the back of his mind. "That was pretty intense, we should lea…."

Cutting him off, Amaranthae threw her head back and started to cackle and screech, sounding nothing like the woman that he had spent the last week with. As she continued to laugh, the 'disease' that was affecting her lower half started to rapidly spread to the rest of her body. Her remaining creamy white skin cracked and withered, thick pus leaking from the boils that sprouted from her pores. Her arms grew slightly longer, and her slender fingers transformed into hooked claws that were as black as a starless night. Golden strands of hair drifted to the ground, leaving her nearly bald, with only stiff, bristly white hair remaining on her head.

Finished with her horrific transformation, Amaranthae locked eyes with Ryan as he was slowly backing away. Her beautiful, deep violet eyes were now cloudy white, sunken deep into her crooked face.

"Freedom at last!" She spoke in a raspy, baritone voice. "That bitch thought she could rid me from the world! Using her own body to imprison me, only for a simpleton to come along and reduce her sacrifice to nothing!"

Hearing those words, Ryan knew that he had fucked up, he grasped his sword hard in his left hand, still backing away from the monstrosity standing before him. A crooked smile spread across the monster's face, exposing rotted yellow teeth. "Do not try to flee. You still have to receive your reward, remember? I promised to teach you many things. Oh, you seemed so eager then, didn't you?" She stepped closer to him, causing him to flinch. "What's the matter? You don't find me attractive anymore?"

"What… what are you?" Ryan asked, mustering his courage to speak.

"Shhhh." It sounded, bringing a crooked, clawed finger up to its pursed lips. "Watch, watch as I show you what I am."

With those words, words that shook his very soul, the creature that occupied Amaranthae's body began to transform once again. The room shook violently again as the monster let out a bestial roar that rattled his brain. Its flesh bubbled and swelled, tearing at the joints. Its bones snapped before elongating and growing thicker, changing its shape completely.

Ryan didn't stick around to find out what the final result would be, he turned around and ran for the door on the other side of the room.. He didn't look back as he flung it open and ran through it, leaving the horror behind him, roaring and transforming into something the world had never seen before.

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