Eldrian had spent almost the entire next day working on his soul.
His goal was to give it more substance. While Two had lived here, it had become more and more 'real'. But with Two gone, the world had become almost illusionary.
A world filled with sights, but with no substance.
That wasn't entirely true. The solar system rotating above the 'world' had substance. But that was also the only thing with substance. It also made no sense that 'that' floated over a world, and that the 'world' was flat.
Eldrian didn't have a solution for all these 'rational' common sense problems. And it didn't really matter to him.
This was his soul, his mind space. It could just as well be called a dream with a little more substance and regularity. Managing to stay even after he woke.
Still, he needed to work on it. He knew this. So he had spent his time playing unconscious on this.
Sadly, Eldrian didn't know what had made this world 'real' while Two had been alive.
It most certainly had something to do with Two. But Eldrian wasn't sure if Two had actively done something, or if his existence alone had caused his soul to change. Honestly, the latter felt more likely.
And, considering the shock Eldrian had experienced with Two's death, his soul had suffered. For a while, he had abandoned it. He had denied it. Perhaps that was why it was now so lacking.
'Is it time?' Eldrian asked himself. He had worked hard these past months to improve, to master his powers. However, Two's absence was still glaring.
But... Eldrian was afraid. He was unsure. He was ashamed.
For the same reasons he had avoided letting his arm heal, he feared going ahead with this.
And while he had finally gotten himself to the point of not letting himself be visibly injured, he wasn't sure if he could attempt to create a new life.
Say what he would, he couldn't deny that was what it would be. A life drawn from his own, with his memories and his own thought processes. But a life it was, regardless.
'Some would say I shouldn't act like I am God. That I have no right, but... that isn't why...' It felt like cheating on his friend. Like giving up on him.
There was nothing to give up, Eldrian understood this. Two was gone...
But... he still couldn't bring himself to attempt it.
Even if he could, he couldn't do this alone. Two had come into existence because of the damage to his soul. It had, in essence, ripped in two. Actually four.
Eldrian was one part of the shattered soul. Two was another. Wrath was the third. And Tranquility was the fourth.
His power of time, as far as Eldrian knew, had been a small fragment. Which had managed to grow each time his soul was damaged. Until he now could, more or less, call upon it.
'Tranquility...' At times, Tranquility would appear like a smaller Eldrian. But often it was just ice, mist, or calmness. Eldrian still didn't know why this worked as it did.
And pondering this brought him back to the incident in the dungeon. He really needed to talk with Ziraili to figure out what had happened. 'If Two was here...' Eldrian remissed, but quickly shook his head to dispel the grief that was trying to drown him.
"No point letting myself go there." He told himself.
Returning to work, Eldrian called upon the energy making up this entire space. Weaving it to bring more life to this 'world' of his.
Eldrian tried his best to envision it having more to it. To it not being an illusion of things—but rather actual, physical (though confined to his soul) somethings.
His thoughts were simple: he needed to push more energy into the illusions. To give a leaf actual mass, he needed to push so much energy into it that he would actually cause something (particles) to come into existence.
Eldrian tried just this while drawing on all the things Ziraili had been teaching him. As well as his own personal studies, the videos he had watched, and the conversations he had had with his friends.
He tried his best to form a working theory of matter in his mind as he compressed the energy.
However, it wasn't working.
The leaf in his hand remained as it was. Yes, he could touch it. Yes, it felt real. But it wasn't.
What made it imaginary? Eldrian had no clue. But it was.
To prove this, Eldrian picked up some ground. Slowly, Eldrian let it fall from his hand.
Watching as the dirt rolled through his fingers and over the edges of his hand. Feeling the coldness of the damp forest earth. Noting how it clung to his hands. He even brought his mouth forward to take a taste. Gave it a sniff.
It tasted and smelled like damp earth. It felt, it clung to his hands, just like damp earth.
All his senses told him this was real dirt. Yet, the next moment, it was no longer in his hands. Not a single speck remained.
Eldrian hadn't used magic to clean his hands. To dispel the dirt, he had simply stopped focusing on it for a few seconds.
That was all it took for it to turn to nothing. As if it had been a hologram, he had grasped nothing but his own imagination.
Where he had picked up the dirt, no proof of his action remained. Nor was any of the fallen dirt anywhere on the ground. No small mound of freshly dug earth existed.
The ground was as it always was. The leaf he had plucked from the trees, was also right back on its branch.
Seconds passed, minutes flew by, and several hours later, Eldrian finally seemed to notice what was wrong.
"It is as if time is frozen."
This, of course, made no sense and perfect sense at the same time.
Time flowed for him, that much was fact. Eldrian had also added movement to the solar system above his 'world'. It floated there, going from one edge to the other. Bringing a type of artificial day and night.
It appeared like time existed. But it didn't.
"It's only doing what I 'coded' it to," Eldrian concluded. But then, couldn't he say the same thing if he fixed the problem?
If the dirt had remained in his hand, the leaf on the ground. Would he have truly fixed the problem, or only added those possibilities to the 'coding' of this world inside his soul?
And, besides that, when something truly bad happened, it always influenced his soul. Thus, it was wrong to say time was lacking. It experienced the effects of what Eldrian went through.
When he receives a soul attack, his soul took damage. The fabric, the energy that it existed out of, would be damaged, consumed, and lost.
When he losses control of Wrath, the flames would devour the 'world' and eat at the very fabric of his soul.
When he lost control of Tranquility, the world would freeze and so too would his emotions.
When he lost control of Time, however... Something outside always happens. His soul was left uninfluenced. 'Is that it, or am I just making a connection where there is none?'
Eldrian peered up towards the sun in the sky. "That is Wrath; light and heat." He said, turning his gaze to the icy mist of astroids enveloping the entire system; sun, and planets. "And that is cold."
Without anything, his soul would be a dark void. It would not be cold, it would not be warm. There would be no sensation of heat.
When Eldrian had first entered his soul, the only thing outside of the dark void within it had been a bleeding heart. What Eldrian had considered (subconsciously) as the housing for the soul. The most important organ.
Despite knowing better. Despite knowing should have been the brain—it had been the heart.
For the simple reason that emotions could be felt from the heart, not the brain.
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