Chapter 26: Chapter 26: Completed Soul Realm

Much to her dismay, Van did nothing to Leiah that night. He still did not feel comfortable having sex. Thankfully they were very understanding and Leiah gave up once it was clear that she wasn’t going to get any.

Van had a light breakfast and then walked down towards the basement where Lorenzo was preparing the circle for his soul awakening. He was followed by all twelve Annas who were instrumental in making sure that they both got through this safely.

Leiah and Luna looked around wide-eyed as they saw the basement for the first time. Especially Leiah, who didn't have anything near what Van’s family had back at her home. They had followed because they were both worried and curious about the awakening ritual, and now that they were family, they were allowed to enter the basement.

Once they entered, Lorenzo turned and smiled gently as they approached. “This is the big day. The day where it decides it all. I admit, I’m a little nervous, but we have done everything we could, now it's all up to you two. Are you ready?”

Van took a deep breath and nodded. “Just tell me what I have to do.”

“Like last time, all you have to do is stay in the center. This time though, you two will have to strip and Anna will take these twelve points around you.” Lorenzo said, pointing at those twelve points. “After that, I will prepare the circle. Once I make sure everything is ready, we will begin.”

Van nodded, he didn’t like it, but the way Lorenzo said it with such seriousness made no room for argument. He stripped as Luna and Leiah leered and walked to take his place, alongside all the other Annas who did the same until they were at the twelve designated points, with him at the center. The magic circle was different from last time. Larger and more complex. The one from before was a pentaract but this one was a hexaract. The very fact of which, showed how big of a deal a soul awakening was.

Lorenzo went over his notes, nodding to himself from time to time and generally looking nervous as he checked the floating panels that followed him. He then brought out several orbs from nothing and inserted it into the control pedestal in front of the circle. The mana from the orbs snaked its way down the pedestal and into the circle.

Just then, his father came quickly down the hall and took his place next to Lorenzo who gave him a nod. Alvaroz, after greeting his friend and looking over the panels himself, then looked at his son with a mixture of worry, pride, and hope for what was to come next.

He gave a nod to his son, and threw something at him, which a surprised Van was able to catch. “That’s an essence orb, filled with fifty thousand units of essence, something we have spent a long time accumulating, use it however you wish. It should help you inside, you should be able to figure out the rest from there.”

Van nodded back in thanks, though confused, and looking down at the strange orb in front of him, wondering what it was meant to do and how it was supposed to help.

Just then Lorenzo finished that last of his preparations and the pillars started to rise around them. Soon the same thing from last time happened, the world outside the pillars disappeared followed by the magic circle taking on a three-dimensional look, spinning faster and faster. Van’s vision began to blur and soon he found himself in the same white void that meant he was transitioning to his soul realm like last time. Unlike last time, something happened.

Van’s entire body shook, his soul realm that always remained stagnant began to move, and with it, unimaginable pain. He felt himself being pulled apart as if pieces of him were being torn away. But something happened, using his willpower he forced himself to keep together, and he felt something else help him. No… someone else. Twelve points helped anchor him. Keeping him from falling apart like a very powerful glue. But it still was a life and death struggle as he felt not only his body but his mind and soul, shift and change.

It felt like years, maybe be hundreds, but probably wasn't anymore more than a few minutes. Eventually, the surroundings took on the same look from last time, and soon he found himself in the middle of a large open area with clouds all around him.

Van floated there. His eyes looking around at the endless emptiness that surrounded him. He realized then that he was missing the orb, and wondered what happened to it, and wondered how he got his clothes back, but figured that such questions could wait until he got more information. He closed his eyes and searched for his center, finding it, he flew off in its direction. As he flew, he noticed that there were no cracks or floating objects to be found around him, just complete open nothingness and the white clouds that made the floor of his soul realm alongside a sun with a blue sky above. It felt… peaceful. And Van enjoyed it somewhat as he traveled through it. Until finally he came upon the core of his soul realm.

His eyes widened at what he found. It was a beautiful large floating island. With four points at the center like a plus sign. It seemed to be broken up into two layers. The plus sign in a circle at the very center of the island, and everything outside the circle. Everything outside the circle was green and grassy. Everything inside the circle was not.

Van floated closer until he felt some sort of barrier around the island. Placing a hand on it, he found he could easily pass through it. He then entered the island and landed on the soft ground. He stared around him in wonder. A soft breeze blew by, gently caressing his face.

He looked ahead and walked to one of the points in front of him, a strange feeling came over him as he felt like this point was the entrance, or A entrance, or something like that. As he drew close to the inner layer, he felt another barrier. But this time, it would not let him enter until he walked around the exact front of the point.

When he entered, he found himself in a circle, with pillars and a pedestal in its center with an orb. It reminded him of the circle he should be inside right now, but with the pedestal inside the circle instead of outside. He tried to look for any more clues about what this place was, even going so far as to nervously touch the orb, but nothing happened. He looked back from whence he came, at the green open area, and then towards the center.

He left the strange area towards the center and walked down a pathway that seemed to be made of a strange black metal substance. As he walked, he found on either side of him were large black obelisks. rectangle-ish, with faint blue runes that glowed in and out. There were rows upon rows of them, as far as the eye can see. The blue runes would sometimes flicker in strange sequences and patterns that held some sort of alien intelligence or purpose that Van couldn’t figure out. As he looked to the base of the obelisks, he found that strange black tendrils snaked its way from obelisk to obelisk and even into the ground. Blue surges of energy would pulse along the thick vein-like cords, rushing faster than lighting to who knows where.

Van felt apprehensive as he moved down the path. Feeling out of place within his own soul realm. As he reached the end of the path, his eyes fell upon another open circle area with a barrier. But this time a large round black metal floating thing was hovering above a reverse dome-like structure, similar to a round stadium of some sort.

He couldn’t help but stop and stare. It was then that he noticed that the blue sky above was now cloudy and grey, and probably has been like that since he entered the inner layer of his core.

Van looked at the strange structure in front of him, wondering where to go from there. He then noticed, or more felt, that the many tendrils from those obelisks came and met at this structure, hundreds of thousands of them, maybe even more. He looked around and noticed that each path held many more of those strange metal obelisks. All of them connected to this point.

He looked in front of him once more and noticed something like a magic circle elevator that he could use to get to a platform that seemed connected to the top of the structure in front of him. With great hesitation but determined, he walked to the circle and stood on it, he was then carried up the structure until he found himself on top of the platform.

Once there, he noticed that there were many indentations along the structure that hid away giant pillars around the giant round stadium. The platform itself held a chair, made of metal with soft-looking upholstery, that looked very comfy. it wasn’t a kind of chair he ever saw before, not only that, it was the only thing on the platform other than himself.

Van slowly walked towards the chair, and then around it. Looking high and low for anything special about the chair that he might be missing. But no matter how he looked or for how long, it was just a very strange looking chair. But he then noticed that it had a very good view of the floating metal object in front of him and thought maybe the chair had something to do with the object itself.

With great trepidation, Van slowly sat himself down, his hands on the armrests and his back gently sinking into the soft upholstery. It felt very comfortable. Just as he was beginning to relax, he felt a change. Soon the soft upholstery moved and cradled his head and something sharp pierced the back of his skull. Van screamed in pain and tried to flee, but some strange force prevented him from leaving as if his entire body was glued to the chair.

The chair started to float off the ground and upward until it was at exactly eye level with the humongous floating object. The round metal object then began to glow with millions of runes, all moving into strange sequences and patterns faster and faster. All the obelisks in the distance also began to glow, as power and energy surged and flooded the structure. At first, Van felt stuck and trapped, but now he was holding onto the chair for dear life, even as the pain in his brain and body increased.

And just as quickly it began, it ended. The pain abated and Van now found himself completely fine, though sweating and still stuck to the chair. He looked around, to see what else had changed, but everything seemed to have gone back to normal except for the object in front of him. It was then that a strange feeling overcame him, a feeling of connection with the object. He then tried to mentally connect to it.

Van blinked as a large panel formed in front of him. “What is this? Status?” in front of him were many displays and information about him filled with numbers and percentiles. He slowly moved his hand and touched the image of himself on the panel. All of a sudden, a 3d image of him popped in front of him, much to his surprise. Quickly, and without intending to, he swatted it away and saw that it moved to the side and the original panel was now back in front of him.

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Van looked between the original panel and the image of him now floating in place beside it. Hesitantly he tried to move it back, but couldn't figure out how, no matter how he waved or moved his hands it stayed where it was. He then decided to ignore it and pay more attention to the main panel.

The main panel had many different tabs and icons on it that he couldn’t figure out. But it also contained information about him even he didn’t know. “How does it know so much about me? It has my exact age, height, weight, name, and more. And what are these arrows off to the side?” he thought as he pressed the arrow.

The panel changed, much to his surprise, many of the options and icons disappearing and instead of an image of him on the top left corner, it was now an image of Anna alongside the 3d image off to the side of the panel changing to match. with her age, height, weight, name, and more. Van’s eyes widened when it rested upon her name. Anna’s full name was Annastasia Valtier Vrankarra.

“She’s a Valtier!?” he panicked until he forced himself to calm down. “Don’t panic, Van, don’t panic, how do you know what it shows is correct? And what in the world, or why for that matter, would Anna be related to that man?” he shook his head trying to regain control over his thoughts. He took a deep breath and let it out and tapped the arrow key again.

This time it was Luna, her name displayed was Luna Moonshadow Vran. “so that would make her Luna Vran now? I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I think Vrankarra sounds nicer. Maybe even for my own name. Vanris Vrankarra Solis... Vanris Vranater Solis? Hmm...” Van thought about that for a while, before clicking the arrow key again.

Now it was the zapper, its name displayed was N/A, but had another bar under it that said, nickname, little bug. Van tried to see what else was there, but like all the ones before he couldn't make head or tails of what it all meant. Click, and now it was Leiah. He clicked one more time and was back at his page.

“I can’t figure anything out. This is pointless, and I don’t have that orb my dad said would help me either.” he then looked to his sides. “ there are more places for me to explore, perhaps if I visit them I will get more information?” he then looked down. “But how do I get down from here?” He thought about it, then tried to relax and gather his thoughts. With will and intention, he commanded the chair to let him go and descend.

At first, nothing happened, and he was afraid he would be trapped up here forever. Then very slowly, the padding around him moved away, the giant floating object glowed less and the panels disappeared. The chair slowly lowered until it reached the bottom so quietly that he wasn’t even sure at first that he landed. After a while, he realized that he was free to go and got up from the chair. Glad to be able to move around at will again.

Using the platform, he took a good look around to see where he should go next. Off to the distance, he saw what looked like rows upon rows of bookcases. “Odd… but probably the best place to look up information.”

With that, he went down the elevator and walked down the path towards what he presumed to be the library of this soul realm. He still didn’t feel comfortable, what with this strange atmosphere, but he pushed on until he hit another barrier. Looking in, it was another round area with bookcases. But what was weird, was when he entered the barrier, reality seemed to warp, and all around him were bookcases. “It happened again, that strange feeling. Now I'm surrounded by bookcases.” he looked around and saw that the area was like a maze, with bookcases as far as the eye can see. The bookcases were very big and tall and each bookcase probably consisted of thousands if not more books.

Van walked to the nearest bookcase to take a better look at what books it held. And was surprised to find that the spines of the book seemed to be pointed inward instead of outward and the fore-edge was displayed instead, or at least that was what should have been shown. Instead, there was a flap of some sort that also hid the fore-edge and was tied down with some sort of lock. “So not only can I not read what the title is, but it's locked as well?”

Van reached out for the book, but the second his hand touched it a strange pinching feeling was felt in the back of his brain. He quickly pulled away and the feeling faded. “What the hell was that!?” slowly now, he moved back to touch the book, and the pinching feeling returned. “What is this feeling… it's like I’m remembering something, or something is on the tip of my tongue but the idea or thought just won't come to mind.”

He tried pulling the book out and was horrified to find that an inky black meaty tendril that was like some sort of disgusting pulsating vein was attached to the book's spine. With a yell he let go of the book and it fell with a wet meaty shlunk! sound. Only for it to be slowly pulled back into place by the tendril.

“What the fuck! What the Fuck!!! What the FUCK was that!?” Van yelled in his own mind, too afraid to say it out loud for fear that something might be listening. He pulled away from the bookcases. He swallowed and looked around, and through great force of will he set out down the path looking for a way out. Staying as far from the books as possible.

He walked for what felt like hours, with no end in sight. Fear slowly gnawing at his mind. Until finally he seemed to have reached the center of this messed up library. In front of him was a lectern of some sort with an open book on top of it. Next to the lectern, was a desk and another open book or ledger.

Van looked around, and found that he was trapped, the way he came from, closed off by giant bookcases. With great fear, he walked toward the lectern and found that the pages of the open book were flipping themselves. As he turned to get a better look at the book, he saw that the book was writing itself.

He tried to read what was being written, but most of it didn’t make much sense. He continued to stare, in hopes that some insight would reveal itself, but slowly the book stopped. Van continued to stare, but his brow slowly furrowed as to why the book stopped writing itself. “Why did it stop writing?” he thought. Then the book wrote “why did it stop writing?” Van’s eyes widened, “is it writing down all my thoughts!” then the book, “is it writing down all my thoughts!”

Van was afraid, but he immediately forced himself to look at the other pages before this one. And what he saw, blew his mind. All of them, all the pages were filled with his thoughts and actions. Everything he had done and thought. He looked up and around him. “Are all these books filled with my memories?” He looked at the closest bookcase. Gathering his will he walked towards and picked out a random book.

He felt disgusted as he saw the tendril, but ignored it for now. He looked at the lock. With great hesitancy, he moved a finger to it, his finger glowed and a click was heard and the lock alongside the covering that hid the pages, disappeared. The tendril then spasmed and opened up the book, Van jumped back in fear. But when nothing else happened he moved closer once more to take a better look.

The book followed his head, making it very easy for him to read. And as he did so he discovered something that freaked him out a little. “This book… I read this book years ago. It even has blank pages from when I skipped ahead!” Van slowly closed the book. When he did, the tendril moved it back into place and the lock reappeared.

“This place… this must be where all my memories are stored. Or at least something similar to that. But that begs the question… if these are all my memories, then what are those books?” he thought as he took a look at some books further in, some of them with multiple locks on them. He walked to them and tried unlocking them, but for some reason, while one lock disappeared the rest wouldn't. “It's almost like I’m not allowed to view these memories...”

Van put the book back. “At least I now know that all of this is still a part of me, perhaps now I can leave?” he closed his eyes and relaxed and tried to find himself. He tried to convey his desire to leave. And soon a rumbling sound was heard and when he opened his eyes a pathway outside was in front of him. “Glad that worked, I wouldn’t know what to do if I were to be stuck here forever.”

Van quickly made his way out and onto the familiar path. Glad to leave that library behind him. Though he was surprised to find that instead of the center being in front of him, it was now to his left. “Are the four points also connected to each other and not just to the center?” he thought as he continued his walk. Just like before, he was walking for a while before he found himself at the next point. And like all the others there was a barrier.

He walked in and found himself in a white space, the center of which was a desk and two chairs and a ledger of some sort. As he got closer, he found that one of the chairs were a lot nicer than the other and seemed to hold a more authoritative role, while the other chair, while still nice, was a bit more plain. Van wondered which chair he should sit down on, and after much debate, decided to choose the nicer chair and sat down. He braced himself for something to happen. But after waiting a few minutes he looked around confused. Opening the book in front of him he saw that there were many names, names by the thousands, maybe tens of thousands.

Van took a deep breath and let it out. “So far this method hasn’t let me down yet.” he closed his eyes and let his desires be known. He then flipped the book randomly, with his eyes still closed, and put his finger down, landing on one of the names.

When he opened his eyes, he was in some sort of very tall building made of steel and glass and many flying vehicles raced on invisible pathways just outside the windows. In front of him was a teenage boy in strange futuristic clothing sat in front of him.

“Well… that’s certainly one way of doing it.” the teenager said with a smirk.

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