Spire Sea [north of Dzyl Archipelago], local time [1794.04.14]

  ~~~~~~~

  Cascading Soul fragmentation.

  A natural process that escalated exponentially and limitlessly until the Soul lost its connection to physicality and, by extension, to time. Not much would be left of the current incarnation of a Soul after the process was finished.

  At least, in theory.

  Information couldn’t be destroyed in the Soulscape – at least Zeph did not believe it could. However, what was information without a contextual background? What if a Soul fragmented, each part fully separating from an entity they once have been a part of? Like shards of a broken glass sculpture, falling into the ocean of information – to be forever lost; to slowly become mere grains of sand carried endlessly by the waves of time.

  Unreadable data, that’s what they would become. Memories of a once-living being lost not because of deletion, but because of inaccessibility and lack of cohesion. A background noise.

  In Zeph’s mind, if something like that were to happen to the whole Soul, it would be a true death.

  Anyway, the threshold for the process to start was around 15 percent of Soul fragmentation. At least, that was the established truth and the common sense Zeph had learned during his induction that the System had prepared for him. Only lately, thanks to Alex, did he learn that it only related to the core Soul – the very reason his Soul fragmentation wasn’t decreasing despite his Soul constantly growing thanks to the Soul fragments he was accumulating.

  That didn’t mean the structures outside of the core Soul could be discarded without consequences, even if they themselves couldn’t start the cascading reaction. Zeph knew – that part of a Soul contained a huge amount of information as well, besides actively supporting one’s body with the help of System-created structures. He couldn’t say anything with certainty – he lacked the necessary knowledge – but even if the most crucial information was kept in his core Soul, the rest would be giving an important context to more conscious or abstract memories and experiences. Not to mention, new experiences had to be written somewhere, but Zeph never managed to map his memories in relation to his Soul. Nay, he wasn’t able to even locate his own core Soul.

  That said – Zeph had evidence that the 15% wasn’t an absolute threshold. The cascading reaction could be slowed… could be stopped.

  First of all – he himself had done it. Terriens like Zeph could survive critical Soul fragmentation – their Trait, Greater Will, wasn’t just for show.

  Then, there was Yula, the Soul-crippled orphanage caretaker in Lurona city. Zeph had his suspicions about her current condition for a long time now. Despite theoretically crossing level 100 and evolving her Class in the past—into a very strong and rare variant, apparently—she seemed to be almost as weak as an ordinary human, stripped from the ability to progress in any meaningful way.

  Zeph couldn’t believe she had lost all structures surrounding her core Soul. At least some Passive Enhancements should be left behind, even if much less impressive due to the damage done. Moreover, he saw no reason as to why she couldn’t strengthen herself with new Soul fragments. And yet, that option was barred for her.

  Thus, only one explanation made sense to him: all of the remaining structures had to have been repurposed, preventing anything else from taking root near her core Soul – the very foundation on which new structures were being built. It was a guess, but he believed their new purpose was to keep Yula’s Soul stable or contained - to prevent premature death.

  From there, it wasn’t a big jump of faith to conclude that she, too, crossed the threshold. Her Soul was crippled because of the Nether infection, so the wound had to run deep.

  Also, he knew enough to discard any other possibility.

  Netherlings should hatch after someone reaches Class evolution, so there shouldn’t be anything to contain. And even if something similarly undetectable – or simply irremovable – existed, he doubted the System would allow Yula to live in the open even with structures in her Soul made specifically to isolate the thing. The Onjis’ promises pertaining to her next reincarnation also weren’t adding up in that scenario. And, from what he heard, simply fixing her wasn’t possible. However, he didn’t understand yet why was it so difficult.

  Not knowing about any other Soul affliction requiring constant attention, he concluded that she was suffering from the cascading Soul fragmentation and, finally, that Soul-based methods preventing the disorder from developing existed.

  Most probably.

  ~~~~~~~

  Looking at the nebulae of seemingly alive Soul fragments surrounding him, his knowledge and old reflections surfaced readily and flew through his consciousness, illuminating his ethereal mind.

  The girl was still alive because she was slowing down the process with means unknown.

  The only irregularity he instantly recognized were the Will-infused Soul fragments all around – those should have been lost, dead, silent, or petering out. There wasn’t enough Will in them to stay within time influence this long, and yet they were ever so slowly drifting away.

  Although, time was a thing of debate in here.

  In any case, he experienced that once; he knew how it should look. When the Netherbeing infecting Xim wounded him, he had to send a wave of his Will to regain the lost fragments of his damaged Soul, as after they lost connection to his Soul, almost all of their insignificant Will charge was burned in a fraction of a second.

  Also, he was sure that her Soul was in the process of dissipating. He saw enough to understand that, as the chasm in the center of her being was reaching through countless layers – or rather, Soulforms – and, most probably, was originating at her very core Soul. Also, he had confirmed that this deep ravine was still expanding, albeit at a snail’s pace.

  How this state was influencing her body, he wasn’t sure. He was sure that she had lost some of the links binding her Soul and body, but was that enough to cause such drastic changes in her physical condition? He wouldn’t know.

  Throwing away stray thoughts, he refocused. This wasn’t the time to ponder over the causality and reality.

  He focused on the anomaly – the Will inside the fragments of her Soul. In the first place, he could feel it only thanks to his own Will, as, despite his best efforts at keeping the incorporeal contact at a minimum, his Will still brushed against hers. It was subtle enough to not cause Will clash. Nonetheless, he focused on that part of him, trying to decipher this strange phenomenon.

  The first thing he did, was to retrieve his Will from any part of his Soul that was touching the foreign entity. In his current state, conducting his Will was way easier than usually. He always had some control over it, but now it was his main perception agent – he just had to stop concentrating on one point for his Will to spread.

  As he continued to gently shift his Soul while doing his best to direct his Will, he started registering new sensations coming directly from it. The ‘how’ wasn’t important at the moment, the results were.

  Maybe… just maybe, there is something I can do after all… he thought, slowly coming to a realization.

  His Greater Will could interact energetically with his Mana, his Soul, and his body, but was it all there was to it? What about his vicinity or the Souls of others? And if those were possible, what about the Will of others?

  Gru, you don’t count, he joked to the emptiness as that line of thought brought him more ideas for the future. Mainly, a new method of waking Gru. But the others… Now that I think about it…

  Wasn’t he already doing exactly that, but unintentionally, when he was allowing the kids to sleep inside his Veil? Wasn’t he doing exactly that to this very girl this whole time?

  If it was true, if that was the result of pure interaction between Wills, then he could finally understand how the young ones felt.

  In the dispersed state he was in, with Will spread as thin as he could make it, it was he who was now being influenced by the other side, it seemed. He could vaguely feel the emotions and convictions standing behind the fluctuations inside the girl’s Soul. He could tell that this chaotic emanation of a change had a purpose.

  It wasn’t enough, though.

  If he wanted to further limit the direct Will interaction without compromising his perception, Willforce was his best bet. Because of that, he started to locate the Willforce molecules that were idly populating his Soul. Those were pure Mana constructs, still connected to his Soul, but also to his body – as was in their nature. He could use that fact to enhance his control. Even if he wasn’t proficient in singling out Magicule groups for manipulation purposes, it was easy to sieve out the body-related Magicules by mentally imitating physical actions.

  The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

  Well, at least he hoped they were merely imitations. Otherwise, the Doctor may have to inject some muscle relaxant into him to stop the seizure… He had to move quite vigorously in his mind for it to work.

  In any case, this form of meditation was very much supporting the visceral approach he was applying now. The synergy was quite delightful with Shamanic visions. Moreover, Soulscape was another pair of shoes when it came to Mana manipulation – it seemed he was much better at it than at internal Mana manipulation.

  Although the two were theoretically the same thing, he wasn’t limited by his body here. It boded well for his future.

  Spreading himself further, looking deeper, feeling with his whole being at once, he even started to notice that his own Will was being influenced by the girl’s. To an extent incomprehensibly feeble, but still. At the same time, the purpose behind the foreign Will was becoming stronger, more defined, clearer…

  He was learning, and learning fast. The picture started to clear out; the reason for the girl’s struggles, evident.

  Finally, by following the fluctuations around, he had uncovered an unexpected detail.

  For unknown reasons, all those broken-off fragments of her Soul were Soul-bonded – although, very, very weakly – to her main Soul. How that happened, he could only guess. Maybe the girl found a way in her desperation. Maybe her parents’ last will she had received with their Soul fragments was helping, as both of them should have known their progeny was going to face grave danger. Maybe one of the Onjis decided the girl deserved at least that much mercy.

  No matter the reason, it confirmed that it was possible to stop the cascade reaction. But, whatever was really happening here wasn’t enough to deal with the underlying issue.

  The Will present in the fragments that managed to free themselves was… different. Asynchronous to the Will in her main Soul. While the latter was pulling on those weak Soul-bonds, trying desperately to bring back what was lost, the former seemed to push forward, into the dark eternity. Worse yet, the bonds themselves were slowly weakening – ground down by the opposing emanations of the same nature.

  And for a moment, Zeph almost couldn’t believe what he was seeing. What he was feeling.

  This is… A Will seeking death? Such a thing… it is possible?! he thought, gaping at the nebulae trying to pull itself away.

  Is that why I also was…

  Memories of his time on Earth started flooding his consciousness as his mind and Soul obeyed the unspoken wish. More and more returned to him, confirming his fears.

  A Will like that… it’s truly horrifying! His whole being trembled in fear as the realization hit. The most ethereal part of any being, wishing for oblivion instead of reincarnation…

  The worst part was, he wasn’t sure if it was a result of hardships and mental suffering, or simply a reaction to fragmentation reaching the threshold.

  There has to be a reason for it, he tried to calm himself. It sounds too unnatural for a long line of intelligent beings to possess a suicidal coping mechanism… but what do I know? Maybe there’s something worse waiting for people not following this path…

  He didn’t believe his own thoughts, but they weren’t a lie at the very least.

  It was a second time after learning about Souls that he felt a true existential dread – something he thought he was freed from once and for all.

  At least… Yes. With this, I can help.

  He focused his immaterial eyes on one of the fragments, a tint of anger originating from somewhere deep within him painting the abstract vision in violet.

  He didn’t even have to do anything, as his Will immediately converged where his focus landed.

  A painful flash of foreign memories blinded his mind for a fraction of a second as he engaged in a Will clash against the fragment. A small, explosive fluctuation reverberated through the engaged Souls, and the death Will burned out helplessly in the blink of an eye.

  Zeph disengaged before anything more could happen, noticing that his own Will didn’t manage to escape the short fight unscathed.

  He ignored that for now. The first test was a success. Just as he had thought, the weak bond was too small of a medium to fully engage with the main Soul. If Will clash were to work through something this weak, each event of that type would cause a chain reaction involving all people connected to a person in one way or another.

  Although, that gave him an idea. If he somehow managed to strengthen a Soul-bond, wouldn’t he be able to gang up on one enemy during a Will clash? And it should work by default with Gru if they ever mastered their Soul-bond.

  Even when musing to himself, he kept observing the offending Soul fragment with his dispersed attention.

  It didn’t take long for the girl’s Will to take hold of it. Its movement changed direction, and it started to slowly drift towards the deep gap in her being.

  I can help! He cheered and the sparks all around him responded by flashing in the colors of the rainbow. Let’s hope the memories she is going to retrieve aren’t too painful… Although, I think I will know if they are by the end, he realized, remembering the flash of fragmented Soul memory. He couldn’t understand most of it, but not only was it copied to his Soul in some capacity, the emotional charge it contained was also quite potent.

  Let the grind begin! We will see who will wear off first…

  _______________________________________________________________________________________

  Dzyl Archipelago, Island and Town of Duruk [Southern parts of the Spire Sea], local time [1794.04.16]

  When he finally came to, Zeph found himself alone in the infirmary.

  Parched, he forced his weakened body to shuffle closer to the bed’s side and the faucet.

  He could feel it – the overwhelming weakness caused by Willforce Morphon redirecting his bodily resources elsewhere. He couldn’t blame it, though.

  Zeph wasn’t sure how long he have spent in the Soulscape that day, but the strain on his Will and mind—possibly even Soul—was nothing to scoff at.

  He wasn’t able to finish off all of the seeds of the death Will before his trance finished, but he wasn’t worried. He knew that her Soul have stabilized the moment the nebulae stopped in its tracks entirely, and that was way before he had to return to the land of living.

  Although, he had to make a detour to the land of dreams before finally waking up. The fact that he didn’t even manage to open his eyes for a second was the most telling proof of how exhausting the whole affair was.

  He grimaced as his stomach started to hurt because of the huge amount of water he just gulped down.

  “Christ… how long was I out?” he asked no one in particular, feeling as if something was trying to eat him from inside.

  Taking a look at himself, he sighed with resignation. “Longer than a day, then,” he mumbled, noticing his new hospital robes.

  Moving carefully to not pull a muscle after lying for so long, he sat at the edge of his bed. Only after taking in the room for the second time did he notice how silent and peaceful it was. The waving was extremely weak and he could hear neither the engines nor sea waves crashing against the front of the hull. It seemed they had docked somewhere.

  Perusing the cabinet standing nearby, he took out a pack of easy-to-digest snacks. If he was to walk, he needed energy. A lot of it.

  Using the time his body needed to recover as he ate, Zeph decided to check his Interface, expecting some notifications to show up as an aftermath of his improvised rescue mission.

  First came the old ones.

  He smirked. All that even with the Willforce Morphon’s assist. Aren’t I a hardworking lad? I will have to do something with those nightmares as soon as I regain my Will, though… my mind is probably trying to combine all those fragmented Soul memories that I saw, ugh…

  Oi! Weren’t you created to help me out in situations like this? Fucking snitch…

  Oh, it was for calculations… sorry about that. I am just tired… he admitted apologetically in his mind, but not daring to speak aloud in case they could hear. Although, what was that part about the Soul manipulation attempt again?