7 Worlds: The 4th World Vol. 1

We continued practicing soul sense while waiting for Alden. Nicole’s aura had developed into a soft mist that could spread out in a ten meter radius, barely noticeable but still capable of perceiving the most minute details. In contrast, Zypher’s aura was thick and wrapped around his body tightly, almost gel-like, it was clearly designed for protection and not much else.

“What I’ve learned so far is that each person’s aura has its own unique property, similar to how some people are better at utilizing their quanum in some ways and worse in others. For example, my aura doesn’t spread out wide like Nicole’s or become thick like yours Zypher. Instead, I can control it freely into whichever shape I want, similar to my quanum,” I stated, while leaning back in my chair and staring up at the ceiling.

Silence filled the room as we all contemplated the importance of that information before I continued with a thought.

“I think that I could probably create temporary items if I utilized both but I’m not sure how durable they would be or if there would be consequences,” just as I finished speaking Alden entered the room sporting a cowboy hat and four large grocery bags.

“Howdy friends,” Alden greeted, tipping his hat to us.

“What in the holy hell is that?!” I blurted out in shock.

“Oh, just a souvenir I picked up while investigating,” Alden said, tossing the hat onto a nearby table.

“Just hurry up and fix Cian,” Nicole said, entirely unamused.

“You’re right, sorry, I got carried away. I’ll tell you all about it after I guess,” Alden said awkwardly, before walking over to me and placing his hand on the top of my head.

A refreshing mist cascaded over me, starting from where his hand touched my head, flowing gently down across my body. Gradually, a gentle current of air began swirling around me, causing any scattered papers in the vicinity to flutter momentarily before they calmly resettled.

“That should do it,” Alden said, removing his hand from my head.

“That’s it? No rituals or anything?” Zypher asked, his curiosity getting ahead of him.

“I don’t know? I just kind of do it?” Alden stated questioningly.

“Alden’s unique properties allow a deeper connection to quanum than most. It’s likely that he can do many things without being burdened with the need for rituals,” Nero supplied.

Nicole moved over to me, probing and prodding, making sure I was ok.

“I’m fine, really. We’ll figure that out too eventually but there is just way too much going on right now. We haven’t even told you about the next fun part of achieving soul sense,” I stated, nonchalantly.

“Oh…That…Yeah this is going to be another giant info dump session I think,” Alden said, causing Nicole to groan loudly while Zypher perked up in anticipation.

“Where was that excitement when training Zypher?” I asked incredulously.

“Well, I prefer learning from what others have done rather than training myself? One requires me to do work, and the other does not. Also, I like data,” Zypher stated as if it was the obvious answer.

“Fair enough…” I replied simply.

“Get comfortable and grab some snacks, this is going to take some time,” Alden said, dropping the grocery bags of snacks on the table.

“There better be jerky,” Nicole grumbled.

“Yes…I got jerky,” Alden sighed.

“And the hat?” I asked, curiously.

“We can talk about that later. Tell me about this ‘fun’ part of soul sense already,” Zypher said, pushing me aside.

“Yeah, Cian, it’s just a hat. You can hear about it later,” Nicole said with a hint of sarcasm.

“You’re that excited about Alden’s lectures, but not mine?” I asked aghast.

“I mean…You don’t have a cool hat?” Alden said, pointing to the table where the brown brimmed cowboy hat sat.

I just rolled my eyes before moving forward to rummage through the goodies Alden had brought back with him. After grabbing a snack, Alden started explaining our first excursion into the 4th World a few nights back in more detail since the last time we began talking about it we got side tracked.

“Basically, like we had explained before, since learning soul sense it happens everytime we sleep. We haven’t noticed any negative side effects yet but it's still a fairly weird sensation,” he explained.

“It’s almost like getting spirited away to another world, that’s crazy. Even I haven’t really been there that many times, other than the odd dimensional pocket here and there due to weird quanum events,” Zypher said, scratching his chin in thought.

“Wait…That can happen?” Nicole asked, spinning her head around to stare at Zypher in surprise.

“Oh yeah. Absolutely it can. They’re pretty rare but I guess I’m just lucky?” He said reaching for the jerky sitting in front of Nicole, only to have his hand smacked away. “Ow!”

“Get your own,” she said, eyeing him with mock aggression.

“Anyways…” Alden continued, “it’s likely something you’ll both get to experience tonight. My theory is that it happens due to a some sort of reaction between our soul sense and our quanum. I think it may be possible to consciously alter where you appear in the 4th World as well.”

“I believe that theory to be mostly correct. While we Dratmana have little experience with soul sense, the idea that it is reacting to your quanum is quite plausible,” Cadeyrn chimed in.

“We’ll try to sleep around the same time and hopefully we’ll all end up at the same spot,” I said, looking at Nicole who simply nodded in agreement. “On another note, if what Cadeyrn says is correct, I’m certain now that my own theory for my quanum and soul sense is correct,” everyone looked at me quizzically but I stayed an explanation in place of a visual example.

I glanced at Nicole for a brief moment, then extended my hand with my palm facing upward. Concentrating intently, I watched as a blue rose slowly materialized and blossomed in my palm. As it reached full form, the rose began to warp, its color shifting to a fragmented purple hue, emanating a sinister aura—I dropped it immediately. The corrupted flower dropped to the hardwood floor, and as it touched, the color drained from the wood, causing it to decay and crumble, spreading to the surrounding boards.

Alden acted swiftly. Smacking his hand against the deteriorating floor, channeling his soul and quanum into it, in a desperate attempt to halt the spreading destruction. His energy flowed into the wood for a tense moment, successfully stopping the decay. Despite his efforts however, the damaged tiles remained irreversibly altered, as he was unable to revert the tiles to their original state.

“Lets…not do that again,” Alden said, as we all stared at the floor in shock.

“I…Sorry, I didn’t know…I didn’t think that would happen,” I explained, still in shock.

“It’s alright man, I stopped it, but I think we can clearly say your aura and quanum are not for creation like mine are,” Alden stated plainly.

Alden returned to his chair but the rest of us continued to sit in silence staring at the floor. The effect was unnerving, as if the existence of the tile itself was being corrupted and destroyed. In my trance I didn’t even realize Nicole had grabbed hold of my hand until she jerked hard enough to get my attention.

“Let’s go for a walk,” Nicole said, pulling me upwards.

I followed wordlessly, holding her hand tightly.

------

“Don’t you just love the smell of the rain? And the sound it makes as it bounces off the leaves, it’s graceful don’t you think?” Nicole asked, swinging my arm as we walked.

“I…I wanted to give that rose to you…I…It could have-” I started, but Nicole interrupted.

“But you didn’t and everything is fine. I appreciate the thought, but it’s fine. I know you say there’s a lot going on with you, and try to brush it off but we can figure it out, one day at a time. Why don’t you tell me more about those dream visions you used to have?”

“Well… I’ve told you plenty about the ones with Khasar and Yasvei but I didn’t really tell you about this one…” I started, peering at Nicole who just stared back expectantly so I continued on with my retelling. “I was wandering in the darkness in a desolate world. Dusty, rocky hills, and a hazy red sky painted the horizon. It was surreal, a world without trees, or any plant life at all really. The ground was barren, dry and cracked, like a dried mud pit, each step cracked the ground and sent dust into the air,” I said, pausing for a moment to appreciate the wind and rain on my face.

“I could hear a voice in my head saying ‘find your tome and free yourself’. So I just kept wandering, searching for something I’d never seen before. Occasionally I would come across bodies made of something like stone, husky and dry. They seemed to be decaying as if rust had taken root. Eventually I found a cave with an odd purple light and then there it was, a book sitting on a tall stone. I rushed over to pick it up but it was locked. The voice spoke in my head once again ‘find your key and free yourself’ so I continued searching. It felt as if years had passed as I searched for the key. There were monsters and weird spirit ghost things that I kept having to hide from. Honestly, I was scared for my life, it truly was a nightmare. Eventually though, I managed to find the key. It was glowing purple like the book and sitting in a crevice,” I paused to look at Nicole who was still listening intently as we walked.

“And? What happened next?” Nicole asked, smiling.

I looked up and realized we had walked halfway to the beach in Alden’s backyard. Completely unbothered by the rain drenching our clothes, I continued my story.

“As I unlocked the book it shone brightly, the blinding light quickly taking refuge inside my body as if hiding from the world. Coldness started to seep in as the light vanished and I began to look around as more colour washed out of the world around me. I saw a mountain where a crescent moon had decided to grace its light upon the tip, bathing everything in a whitish blue hue. I felt a pull towards it and continued my silent march. As I got closer, the wind and sand began to violently tear at my face. I could hear howling from the top of the mountain, some of it from the wind and some…not, but still, I continued on. Eventually I managed to climb to the top where I was greeted by thousands of demonic looking monsters, wraith like beings in ripped garments. They immediately lashed out at me but, strangely, I felt no fear. I called out a name and my book began to glow, transforming into a sword that shone with a blinding light. The battle was bloody and fierce, and as I cut down every last one of them, the moon began to get fuller, and fuller. Eventually I had slain the last one and felt a burning in my hand as my sword took on a humanoid form, one that roared in pain as tears fell from its face. As I looked around at the mountain of corpses, I noticed they were all human…Every single one,” I stopped my story as we hit the beach.

Nicole pulled me towards the beach chairs on the dock so we could sit and watch the waves crash into the cliffside of the alcove.

“I see, that must have been shocking. What happened next?” Nicole asked, unperturbed, trying to comfort me.

“As I stared at the corpses, I saw another glowing light coming from deep within the pile. I began to dig feverishly until I had pulled out a blood red feather. The moment I touched it, I woke up and that was the end. The rest of the dreams I had previously were nothing like this one but I felt a familiar sensation holding that feather, similar to the one I had felt when I held that flower. It was exactly like the book before it became a sword,” I said, pausing for a long moment. “

“Balfrus said there were a number of souls residing in my body and it feels to me like they’re fighting for control. I’m scared Nicole…I’m beginning to lose sight of who or what I am,” I sobbed lightly into her shoulder as she sat next to me and patted my head.

“It's ok Cian. We’ll figure it all out. For one, you said those weird priests had used the Blood Phoenix Tome on you, maybe that’s why you had that dream. That feather you picked up was a feather of the Blood Phoenix itself. It must have been,” Nicole said in an attempt to reassure me.

“But what is the Blood Phoenix? So far all I know is inside me is some guy named Khasar Tal-Vasra Navest, Balfrus’ daughter Yasvei, some seemingly evil shaman wizard guy named Yuumiir and now this feather? I just…I don’t understand how any of it fits together,” I said, wiping my eyes.

“Perhaps I can be of assistance,” Meigetsu said, suddenly.

“How so?” Nicole questioned, raising her bracelet that Meigetsu resided in.

“I have finished deciphering some of the records we brought back from the basement lab at your school. It seems that the Blood Phoenix was a god of spiritual rebirth. What I can surmise from the records, and your story, is that the Tome was used to accelerate the reincarnation of the souls that reside within you. The hope was likely that you would be able to connect with them before their souls destroyed yours. I’m unsure of their reasoning as the records are too corrupted to draw any further conclusions,” Meigetsu finished.

“My master. I suggest you continue treatments with Alden while attempting to establish a deeper connection with the souls inside you. This may alleviate your current issues,” Cadeyrn chimed in with a suggestion that seemed out of place for it to have come up with.

“I think those dreams were them trying to connect with you and I think you should try to connect back. If they’re really inhabiting your body, healthy communication shouldn't hurt?” Nicole suggested.

I remained quiet for a while, staring out at the waves, contemplating the new information that was shared.

“I guess you’re right… No sense brooding over it. I should at least try to figure it all out,” I leaned in and gave Nicole a gentle kiss on the lips.

“I love you, thank you for your support,” I said, passionately.

“I- Uh…You’re..Welcome.” Nicole responded, her cheeks flushing red.

“Let's head back in,” I said, pulling her upwards out of her seat.

We walked quietly, hand in hand, her head resting on my shoulder as we made our way back into Alden’s house.

“Well, the love birds are back. Everyone act cordial, we don't want to scare them off again,” Alden joked.

“That…Doesn’t make sense, and only the two of you were left…” Nicole chastised.

“If you say so. Anyhow, I guess the plan for now is to eat some dinner, then more aura training, and then it's time for adventure!” Alden stated excitedly.

“Oh yeah, don’t we have to kill a Spider Witch…what was her name again….? Oh yeah, Kivensi. Yeah…It’s going to be interesting. I didn’t think I’d have many questions for the Fairy Queen, but I certainly have a few now,” I said, gripping Nicole’s hand tighter and she squeezed back in understanding.

“Wait, Spider Witch? Fairy Queen?” Zypher asked, suddenly.

“Oh…did we leave that out of our story?” I asked sheepishly, only to be met with stink eye from both Zypher and the previously emotional supportive Nicole.

“Oops?” Alden and I both said in unison.