"There is no more dangerous Voidling than a Cursed Juggernaut in the very beginning stages of an Outbreak. Those massive beasts are almost unstoppable, troung their way through any obstacle they e upon. Only the pioneers stand a ce against them, and evehose enters usually end up in the survivor's death.

  It is highly advised to stay out of their way and only approach after amassing enough power and support. As for the Apex variant? Run, those things aren't worth the trouble to kill them."

  ~Creatures of the Void, 42ion

  The truest part of your soul... Those words rang loud inside Leo's head as he watched the shadows beh follow the motions of his unnatural limb. He was like a ductor direg the most beautiful symphony.

  No matter what and Leo gave the Essence below, no matter what motion his hand performed, the entire pond of shadows always obeyed. There was no dey, no fighting for trol, just pure partnership between a person and the Essence deep iheir soul.

  How? Leo mused simply as he released his grasp over the shadows. At ohey jumpstarted their dance, swaying to inaudible music like waves during the storm.

  Gng back at Nikra, atg him with a light grin, Leo voiced his question.

  "Why is it obeying me so easily? I mean, my trol isn't too bad, but this? This is far beyond anything I'm capable of..."

  "It is quite simple, young one," Nikra answered with a chuckle before sitting down at the edge of the cliff, her bare feet dangling above the pit of shadows. "e sit with me. I will expin."

  I have been hum her for this long. Why stop now? Leed and plopped down a fair distance away from the Old One.

  "As much as I appud your wariness, I don't bite, Leo. You sit closer," Nikra raised an eyebrow at him, but Leo stood his ground. And so, with a sigh, the a woman tinued. "Very well... Now to expin."

  Nikra extended her arm towards the pit, and ever so slowly, a siendril of shadoroached the limb. Leo observed warily, only to gasp when the shadow touched Nikra's hand.

  He had felt that.

  "As I already mentioned, and now you see for yourself," she began once more. "This is the truest part of your soul, the pce where Essence is produced and stored. When you are in the real world, you must enforind to trol and bring it outside your body. Here this process is made much simpler."

  Leo frowned. "How so? While I might not have a normal body here, I'm still using my mind to trol Essehere should still be some form of resistance."

  Nikra shook her head. "ly. You see, soulscape is a truly wonderful thing. Here the barriers betweehree pilrs fade away and are made into oehat's why your Essence won't fight you. It just doesn't have the necessary time to build up aance, as there is no buffer for your power to gh. Here your and is absolute."

  "Soul, mind, and body. Three pilrs. Nice cept... " Leo hummed. "I see the value of a pce where I have total trol. Would make practice much easier."

  Nikra nodded, "To some degree, yes. That was one of the purposes of a soulscape, to assist a being in honing their abilities so that they slowly recreate them iside world with the experiehey didn't possess before."

  Useful. Very useful... A pce to finally practice without worries was something Leo would need sooner or ter. Besides, he could bet that the loss of Essence wasn't as bad here as iside world. And even if it wasn't true, soulscape apparently had mode uses.

  "One of the purposes?" Leo inquired.

  "There are two other major uses... Do you remember the Traveler's advice?" Nikra grimaced as the man's title left her lips. Nodding, Leo his particur rea for ter. "He was right that you store things here. There is little limit to what ot go into your soulscape, and one day you will probably learn how to even push past those boundaries."

  Huh. Good to know that he wasn't just spewing bullcrap. Getting rid of my backpack would be godsent. Though I doubt that anything i is usable after my fall... Fuck.

  "And the st one?" Leo prodded. He could leave the thoughts about his destroyed belongings for ter.

  "It somewhat retes to the question you asked after we just met," Nikra smiled before nodding toward the pit of shadows. "Please, Leo, tell me, do you now uand why you appear here as you do?"

  Gng at the core of his soul and then back at his shadow body, Leo furrowed his brow, or at least he tried.

  sidering everything Nikra had already expined and the sight before him, Leo had a good guess on what had happeo his body. Yet, his theory made a few other things much more fusing, so he couldn't really be sure. Also, the System had never mentioned anything about ging his soul at its core.

  Which isn't something I should be surprised about in hindsight. Leo sighed and readied his answer. "My affinity, or rather its True property."

  Nikra smiled wide, her eyes glinting like two crimson stars. "Indeed. Every true affinity affects the soul in its purest form. Once you gained shadow as your aspect, your Essence adapted to it. And that's where your current form es from."

  Leo frowned. "You mean that my Essence is now always shadow afflicted? That doesn't seem right. I'm pretty sure I would notice if my normal skills utilized shadow Essence, and I'm definitely not doing anything to filter it."

  Nikra shook her head lightly, "You misuood, Leo. Yes, shadows might be the main theme of your soulscape, but that's only because your Essend soul want to represent its e to your true affinity. Look beyond the surface, and you will find that they remain untainted and utterly pure."

  Do they really? Leo mused as he closed his eyes and dived into the e to his Essence.

  At first ghe feeling of his shadow affinity was truly overwhelming, but once Leo delved deeper, he saw the truth of Nikra's words. His Essence, pletely unged and untouched, was still there, waiting for his and. And if that was the case, then the same must have applied to his soul.

  "You are right," Leo muttered, eyes opening. "However, this doesn't really expi use of soulscapes."

  Nikra nodded, her brow sg just a bit. "Yes, I see that. It has been a while since I had to expin the inner ws of a soul to anyone. Five me if I sometimes lose the topic or fuse you."

  "Wasn't your fault. I was the one who misuood," Leo quickly denied, still not one hundred pert sure why he was so weling towards a person that retty much responsible for the colpse of the Multiverse. It was just so hard to associate the woman sittio him with the monster from his dreams.

  Shit... Leo shook his head just when Nikra began to speak.

  "Your fusion was born only due to my inpetence, young ohe Old One smiled softly at him. "But let's put that behind us. You asked for an expnation, and I shall provide it."

  "The st major purpose of a soulscape is also the hardest oo utilize," Nikra tinued without a pause. "Affinities, or aspects as I prefer to call them, are almost as important as Essehat runs through our bodies. They offer us the power to utilize the cepts from the entire Multiverse, and so people had to find a way to develop and train them."

  "And that's where the soulscape es in," Leo whispered absently.

  Nikra beamed, "Training an aspect without any initial e is almost impossible from a soulscape; you need some kind of an outside source to establish the first link... But ohe sky shifts to represent evei bit of potential, it bees the most sistent path to develop and strengthen your e to that aspect."

  "How?"

  Nikra o the core below. "You must dive into the truest part of your soul and pletely embrace it. From there, you either develop your true affinity or try to reach out toward the potential aspects scattered across the sky. It is a very advanced and time-ing process, but onaster it, the rewards speak for themselves."

  Leo turned away, his gaze wandering towards the violet and red specks in the sky. This was the aspect of the Void, the same aspect that pluhe entire Multiverse into an endless cycle of death. And if Geron's musings gleaned from his dreams were any indication, a power so immehat it seemingly ed the entity seated beside him.

  So powerful and even more dangerous... Or rather terrifying would be a better word.

  When he received the Minor Takeover teique, Leo didn't care if it came from the Void. After all, other Voidlings apparently could also trol some of their kin, but now he knew better. It wasn't just another ability, but something that one day could lead to plete disaster.

  His soulscape and Nikra's expnation made it perfectly clear that he could develop some kind of an affinity towards the Void. Hell, with the Old One's shard inside him, it might not be some aspect, but the aspect of the Void. And wasn't that a terrifying thought?

  Is this what caused Nikra's rea in the beginning? I need more information... But first. Leo turo Nikra again. "Did you ever master it?"

  The Old One's fastantly fell, her eyes losing their brightness. "No," she whispered. "I didn't want to. My trol over darkness was always absolute, only getting stronger as time passed. And Void..."

  Nikra's voice trailed off, and the hollowness in her gaze mao send shivers c even through Leo's shadow form. Not a glimmer of warmth remained within those eyes.

  I really he whole story. Leo grimaced, looking away once more. While a small, vindictive part of him reveled in the knowledge that the person ily responsible for the deaths in his family was hurting, the rger part of him simply couldn't find it in himself to care, at least not yet.

  Nikra was a shadow of her former self. Hell, sidering her current appearance, she was far from fine even in his dreams. As suo matter how much Leo wanted someone he could bme, someone he could take revenge on, the full story had to e first.

  But not yet. Leo sighed. She possesses way too muformation for me just to throw this ce away. Although, it makes me wonder how much she knows about the System and its inner ws.

  "Right..." Leo muttered under his breath, and Nikra almost instantly snapped out of her haze. "I've been meaning to ask. Is it normal for everyoo go into their soulscape during evolution?"

  Some light immediately came back to Nikra's eyes as she gave him, what Leo uood as, a grateful smile. "No. Unless you previously mastered the ability to e, you would be left in the infinite darkness, experieng some of the pain that es with evolution."

  Leo hat much he expected, even if he didn't fancy going through any more pain for now. "So it was you whed me here," he stated more than asked.

  "It was the obvious choice. Even with the weak time dition inside of a soulscape, we still won't have enough time to talk about everything important, and speaking to you when you are awake is quite tiring."

  Leo quirked an eyebrow, "Time dition?" Now that was iing and defiook them away from the elephant in the room.

  Nikra shrugged, a light chuckle esg her lips. "It isn't anything special, young one, so don't get too excited. Most souls barely extend one sed from the outside world to two here. I think only one of my brothers could strehe dition, but his aspect pretty much did all the work..."

  "Brother?" Definitely not Geron.

  Nikra flinched, "A tale for a different day when time isn't chasing us."

  Alright then, but you just gave me the perfect opening to ask about something I have to know.

  As casually as he could, Leo spoke up, "Speaking of tales for a different day. I think I will take the expnation about Voidlings and Void aspects right now."

  Spotting the widening of Nikra's eyes, Leo couldn't help but think that maybe he should on his ability to subtly ge subjects.

  Oh, well, my tact with other people over the st week was quite limited... At least I didn't ask about the first Outbreak yet. Bet that versation is goneresting...

  Chaos65

  [colpse]