The Astral soul system

Chapter 259: Hell

On the coast of the island, Zyro stood calmly as the serpent coiled around him round and round,up and down,in all kinds of ways, mainly this was just to communicate with it better. They were locked in some kind of dance a, matching their movements with each other.

Originally he’d just been watching it move around when he got the idea to try interacting with it.

It suddenly made a sharp turn before slamming straight into him entering his body and disappearing.

"Hmmm... still feels funny"

He remarked, looking up at the sky which now was now a mix of emerald and penny brown,jets of what looked like fire rising out of it and back in.

"Pretty though"

He muttered, fingers tracing the chain around his neck

"Don’t touch that"

Theia cautioned like he was a child reaching for something they shouldn’t.

"Yeah,I know. The weird thing is,its actually comfortable"

He said with a curious look in his eye.

Even the choker around his physical body wasn’t tight or chafing at all,as long as they didn’t mess with it.

Zephyr said he was getting close to cracking it,so that was good.

Theia mumbled something incomprehensible but left no comment

She’d heard from Zen that he was incapable of feeling negative emotions but over the past week, she’d actually realized that he just COULDN’T get upset, about anything. Nothing could get him to complain.

The opposite was true for Zaine. He’d been seething ever since they were bound

It should have been swell having someone positive for a host for a change but after a while it just felt like that smile on his face had been stitched up against his will.

It reminded her of those creepy children toys with even creepier exaggerated eyes and smiles that parents for some reason bought for their kids

It never waned and never cracked. Originally nothing seemed odd, he was just an upbeat person, but the more you stared at it, the more you felt it.

Something about it was unnerving.

Though it wasn’t like Zen wasn’t creepy either. She just traded one creep of a host for another.

She snapped out of her thoughts as Zyro started mobilizing his heart flame.

He’d been experimenting to see what it could do to souls if they were exposed to it enough. No luck yet.

A few minutes passed in silence before he stopped. The serpent charged out of his chest, the merge terminated.

"Well, let’s see how everyone’s doing then"

He said, heading towards the castle while the snake slithered off somewhere to do its own thing.

The massive gates opened, letting him in and closing behind him.

His eyes roamed over the main hall, specifically the glass portrait that’s still didn’t have a face

His so-called sister

He still had a quest to find her,a quest he’d have to do at some point, even if he had no idea where to start.

Walking past here he found himself at the door to the library, he could already hear voices inside.

Looking through the gap, he could see Freya trying to push a book into Lilith’s hands .

The cover had the image of a full moon and a guy with a ripped shirt and blood dripping from his mouth

"Come on, just try it. It’s a classic"

"It’s a waste of time and frankly, quite inappropriate"

Freya rolled her eyes

"What’s wrong with inappropriate Besides,you liked the last series"

Lilith looked well past exasperated at Freya’s unrelenting spirit.

"These aren’t even accurate. Unless vampires have changed more than I estimated since I’ve been dead,you humans know nothing about us"

"But. It’s. Good"

Freya urged, getting closer while pushing the book in front of her while Lilith backed up.

Zyro chuckled. Freya had a face that made her look dignified and responsible but the truth was far from it. She had very...eccentric hobbies , which was to say she was a bit of a pervert.

They seemed to be getting along nicely in here,or at least their interactions weren’t awkward.

Zen was sat on another corner and was ignoring the whole thing. The poor guy had been forced to listen to... whatever was going on.

He was focused on something,a bunch of strange looking cards scattered on the table in front of him.

Those cards were skills,or at least how they appeared in here.

While exploring, he’d realized that this place didn’t just have knowledge that he and his souls had accumulated,it also recorded who they were,a sort of self writing biography, and in it was a deck.

He’d been mixing and matching for the past few days, making notes and assessments of everything in case they decided to use synthesis.

After a bit of exploring, he’d found out that the library was divided into sections for each of the castle’s inhabitants. He’d found Freya’s book ad well which included a deck of cards which he could mix and match with his as well to create something new, though most of her skills were lightning related so he couldn’t learn them

Oddly enough,there were restricted areas as well, specifically Lilith’s. Apparently he couldn’t enter a soul’s section of the library without them opening themselves and it to him. Lilith had refused,not surprising considering their first meeting was her trying to take over his body and reincarnate as him, and it had ended with him forcefully subjugating her soul and forcing her to live here.

Though there was no clear hostility between them,at least openly,things were still...weird

What had surprised him even more was that Freya’s section was only partially open to him, meaning she still chose to hide some things, including the biography.

He didn’t claim to know everything about the woman who’d raised him but he felt he knew enough for nothing here to surprise him,it seemed he was wrong.

Syl’s section wasn’t available either, and jörmungandr had only lived in the dungeon till he showed up so there was no information to get from there, he could still experiment with its skills though.

Zyro carefully stepped in, careful not to draw Freya’s attention.

"How’s it going?"

Zen didn’t respond, focusing on his cards.

"I’m guessing good then"

Zen paused pulling out two cards, placing one down and tapping it.

A phantom of Freya suddenly appeared above it like a hologram, suddenly throwing its fist out with a speed and force that could be seen and even felt. Zaine unconsciously backed away, avoiding the hit.

Placing the second one, Zen activated it and another appeared, this time the attack was less solid and more fluid, piercing the sky like a spear.

"Hammer and needle"

Zyro mused

"That’s interesting. So skills don’t just mean abilities"

Zen wordlessly pulled out another card. This one had the image of a thunderstorm on it, he didn’t need the demonstration to know what it was

"Whoa, better be careful with that one"

He said as Zen returned it to the deck. That card was their Achilles heel, it was far more dangerous than anyone knew

"This reminds me of a certain board game."

"..."

"So, anything else?"

Zen opened a large book with a thick black cover and a line that divided it into three fragments.

Opening it, he flipped through a few pages before touching something.

Their surroundings suddenly lit up and began to change. The stone floor and paved walls disappeared,replaced with a forest ground and dead trees.

Looking around, Zyro was amazed, he even walked to a tree and touched it..it felt just like he remembered it.

"Focus, Hecate"

He heard a familiar voice, and turning around he saw her standing there, body draped in a loose cloak which covered her body as well as half her face.

The only reason you could tell it was a woman was her voice.

Zyro raised a brow. It had been too long since he’d seen her, though this was just a memory playing so like a record she just kept talking to someone they couldn’t see, probably younger Zen.

They let the memory playing for a few seconds, she had been tutoring him, and this place was perfect for it.

They could remember most of this, the feeling of the grass beneath his feet, the smell of what he could only describe as darkness in the air, that haunting sound the trees made.

The feel of her hands on his face as she comforted him-uh-them.

"It’s getting late. You can go for now, and don’t-"

They suddenly saw a young boy that resembled them both running up to her and tugging on her cloak, holding onto it tight.

She looked down at him and sighed but didn’t say anything and just started walking with him holding her close.

The forest began to disappear, and they soon found themselves in the library.

"That was one of your teachers?"

"Yep!"

Zyro answered Theia

"Both before and after we split"

"What’s her name?"

The two exchanged looks

"We don’t know"

"Really?"

Zyro shrugged

"They were... really weird when it came to names for some reason. We spent the first few years of our lives without names, partially because we weren’t supposed to build our personal identity with them, but the organization, and also because as they said,names have power. We earned our names the same day we got this"

He said, gesturing to their mark.

"That’s...sad"

Neither of them replied to that.

"Well,looks like you’re doing good here. I’ll go check in on Zaine"

Zyro said, leaving

As he walked out, he could see Freya still pressing Lilith to read the book, literally now as well.

Hopefully this wasn’t the start of cabin fever. He new how intense she got when it came to books, that’s why her section in the library was the largest by far

Stepping out, he entered the corridor again walking down for a bit.

He couldn’t help but admire it as he passed the dungeon and stopped at a door that looked like it was drawn onto the wall, with the word hell written boldly on it.

He slowly reached out, his fingers touching it and he suddenly found himself in a vast dark expanse of nothing.

Somewhere in front of him, Zyro was sat down,a small orb floating in his palm, engulfed in flames with a faint sound coming from it,a conflicting mix of screams of pain and moans of pleasure.

Zyro slowly walked in front of him and sat down in front of his counterpart, facing him as he slowly reached to touch the orb

In a brief flash of light, he found himself in a familiar place,it was the island Zen had made for Jesse, though it was different now. He could smell smoke and ashes even from where he was above it.

Looking down, he could see nothing but chaos and savagery of all sorts. The island that had been a paradise or utopia had been altered gravely. He wondered what Zaine had in mind, surely it was something creative.

He quickly found Jesse running through the tropical woods,a crazed look in his eye. He looked almost completely different.

Stumbling through he found someone else who was just a manifestation of Zaine’s will.

Pouncing he pushed her to the ground, hands on her throat as he squeezed the life out of her with a crazed excitement in his eyes,he clearly took pleasure in this.

In simply a few minutes after he’d seen him kill, the person he killed got back up and knocked him into the water, drowning him as others gathered, kicking him down further and torturing him.

Another few minutes and was taking out his revenge in the most disgusting way.

Seeing that, Zyro understood why Zaine had picked this.

The first island Zen created was built off the concept that he wouldn’t find out it was fake if he never wanted to leave, this used a similar concept but darker.

It forced him to slowly give in to his base urges, allowing him to kill,steal and rape as he pleased,after all there was no consequences, and he had to do it to survive, right?

If he didn’t do it, he’d be tortured by these maniacs on the island, he had to do what he had to do to survive.

And he’d never figure it out because he was enjoying this, the freedom, the chaos.

He was like a pig in mud in this place,too ecstatic and blind to how filthy it really is while he slowly withered away

Hell was an apt name for this place.

It was pure torture in all possible ways but made sure he’d never actually want to leave.