Chapter 253: Soul Space
Meanwhile as Jim was enveloped with that energy he entered into an alien place.
The world around was covered in dark fog while his body was shining in a faint golden light. He glanced all around before muttering to himself:
"Where am I?"
"You are inside your soul space!"
The voice that came seemed a bit familiar to him, yet he couldn't tell who he was. "Show yourself," he shouted, "I don't like dealing with hidden people!"
"Sigh, your memories got rusty due to the toxin," the old man said, "but I assure you I mean no harm to you."
"Prove it then."
"You were intoxicated by a strong toxin that shut down all the energy pores inside your soul, rendering you crippled. This thing isn't easy to heal but luckily those kids out there knew what to do. At least one of them had the guts to try the impossible on you."
Suddenly a piece of memory appeared in fragments inside his mind. He saw himself talking to Igory, Hector, Rana, and Mark. He heard their voices and it was like he was watching a short movie.
"Who is that?" he asked while not believing this was him.
"It's you, can't you recognize yourself at least?" the old man's words came to confirm what he had in mind.
"So I was... crippled..." he said in a low tone before glancing all around. The fog around looked gloomy, something he seemed to despise despite not knowing what it was.
"This is the soul space, or what it was once before the toxin entered here," the old man read his thoughts and started to explain, "the pure energy here got tainted by that damned toxin. You need now to purify every single bit of this place to regain your power back."
Jim glanced again and he felt somehow helpless. The space extended until the reach of his eyes. And he was pretty much sure this would extend beyond that.
"How can I do something like that?"
"By using your highest spell you know."
"Which is?" Jim stood there with an empty mind and distrubed soul.
"The absorption spell... Does this ring any bells?" the old man slowly said and the moment he spoke these words the entire space around stirred up.
And Jim also got some flashes of past memories like what he got before.
"Damn!" he was standing there in amazement, watching himself fighting one creepy monster after another. "I was... cool!"
"Hahaha, yeah you were," the old man laughed, "but you need to regain that former glory. After all it's yours and you deserve to get it back."
"Hell yeah I will," Jim's spirit was now off the roof while glancing around. "Why is the fog so restless?"
The dark fog around started to roll over itself forming giant waves. It looked like something was boiling in anger somewhere in here.
"This is... the seed of that dirty monster," the old man said, "that monster you killed had planted part of its soul in yours. So just mentioning that spell would bring old unpleasant memories to it and make it restless."
"I wanna kill it," Jim slowly said while unintentionally clenching his fists.
"You already did," the old man said, "but this is a mere part of its soul, something you don't need to bother yourself about."
"But... It's the one who caused all this to me, right?"
"Indeed," the old man confirmed what Jim speculated.
"Then it's not weak."
"Neither are you," the answer of the old man came swiftly, "you have the advantage of the home turf. This is your home, your place, your soul space... nothing can stand against you here, nothing!"
The words of the old man seemed to ignite more confidence inside him. "You are... reliable," he slowly said, "I'll trust you then."
"You always did," the old man couldn't help but laugh, "and now start performing the spell. I'll let your pet be ready."
"My... Pet?"
"Don't worry about that," the old man preferred not to explain things now, "you'll remember him when your memories come back again. Just wait here and be ready, when I tell you to start, you start, alright?"
"Got it."
The old man went into silence while the two masters were gazing at Jim with empty minds. Yet all of sudden Don got restless all of sudden. He jumped all over the distance and stuck himself to Jim's body.
"What's he doing?" Mark pointed at Don, "is this normal?"
"I... dunno," Igory gave Don a questionable glance, "all the time he remained silent."
"Then?"
"Roar!"
Just before the two could know what was going on, Don suddenly roared and the light engulfing Jim's body all of a sudden intensified. It was like an explosion occurred, an explosion of light and no sound at all.
Inside Jim's soul space things were heading towards a climax. The moment the old man gave the order for him to act, he did exactly what he saw he did before in these fragmented memories.
Out of habit, his body and mind reacted. The two blood drops got attached together and merged without any issues before a thick thread came out all of sudden and plunged itself on the dark fog.
It attached itself like a sucker attaching to a surface. The fog seemed at this moment like a living creature, trying to get itself loose from this but it couldn't.
"Listen, this time you are going to absorb this entire tainted soul energy and refine it," the old man said, "it wouldn't take much time before that sleeping like a baby seed got awakened."
"Is this bad?" Jim asked with a faint look of worry over his face.
"Not that much," the old man tried to reassure him, "but try at any cost not to directly clash with it."
"You mean... I should run?" Jim was speechless there for a moment.
"Sometimes running is the best courageous action one can do," the old man sensed his discontent with this, "facing it head one will result in him consuming you, not the opposite."
"Damn!" Jim cursed before glancing all around, "where can I run to?"
"I will guide you," the old man said, "and when you regain a decent amount of energy I will summon your pet. He will do a better job in handling that angry seed and buy you precious time."
"I hope it works."
"It will."
Jim started to notice that thick thread of his absorbing the dark fog on accelerating pace. The fog it absorbed started to turn into golden energy, and his body started to be surrounded by a dense layer of golden fog.
Yet he also noticed compared to the vast amount of the dark fog here this would take a long time.
"It will take a long time," Jim said.
"Don't worry too much about that," the old man confidently said, "the time difference this time is in your favor."
"What time difference?"
"You'll get to know that at one point," the old man didn't waste his breath in explaining the obvious.
He knew once Jim regained his memories he would find all the answers he was seeking for.
"Shriek!"
Just after half an hour a loud shriek occured. Jim's inner soul trembled and his own body unintentionally started shaking.
"What's... that?!" he glanced at the direction of that sound and spotted a giant pillar rising from the dark fog.
It was like a volcano just erupted there and the lava it emitted was now gathering to form a giant wave, aiming at him.
"It's the seed," the old man slowly said.
"Hell, how am I supposed to evade that?"
The dark fog turned into a green one that gave Jim a creepy feeling. Wave after wave started to gather and he felt the moment they would be released, he would have no way to escape.
"Run," the old man shouted, "run you fool!"
"Where?" Jim glanced in distress all around, "there is no way to evade this."
The waves kept getting higher and broader. He doubted his ability to evade such waves which were already about to cover the entire horizon.
"When I say you jump."
"Jump?!" Jim glanced at the sky, "How can my jump help?"
"Just trust me," the old man was getting impatient with his persistent questions, "just do as I say the moment I tell you to do it."
"..."
Jim didn't see how a simple jump would help in evading these gigantic dark green waves.
"Shriek!"
And just before he could collect himself or find another way out, another terrifying shriek erupted and the waves started to move.
They were like being held by a giant invisible force that suddenly vanished. They fell over the ground, causing a rumbling sound that added more dread to Jim's soul towards them.
"Wait..." yet the old man seemed unbelievingly calm, "wait..." he kept speaking so Jim wouldn't succumb to fear and get his body stiff.
Missing this chance would result in losing everything. Despite all the risks the old man was acting in a brilliant calm way that looked impressive.
"Wait..." he kept telling Jim not to act while the waves kept roaring towards him.
"Damn it! They are upon me, old man!" Jim screamed and at this moment of distress he called the old man with his name.
"Jump!" The old man next gave him the order and Jim leaned his body and kicked the ground with his fiercest strength.
And like a rocket his body was thrown into the heights of the sky without any resistance at all.
"Whoa! How is this even possible?!!"
"Sigh, you are still a kid," the old man couldn't help but say, "this is normal dumb kid."