《The Unending Wanderer》 Chapter 0 - Prologue: The End The world shattered. All that was, shattered, as if the world was made of fragile glass. All living shattered with it. There were no signs of their doom that could have been seen by anyone of this world. One moment, everything was as it should be, and the next, all was broken and nothing made sense anymore. Broken, all broken. Shattered to pieces. Even the souls splintered and tore apart. All frozen as time ceased to be, the laws of this world themselves came undone. Both a moment and an eternity later a being claimed this world. It saw the state of it and was rather confused by it. Why was this world in such a state? As it was wondering about it, the shattered world exploded, shooting and diffusing into the being¡¯s own worlds. This had never happened before but it wasn¡¯t worried. Its worlds were too big and too many to be affected by such a thing. Like a drop in the ocean. Soon it forgot about all this as the part of its consciousness that was observing, moved elsewhere. If it had paid close attention it might have noticed, but it hadn¡¯t. One small Soul Core that was still whole. Unique, different from how Soul Cores should be. It inconspicuously entered one of the being¡¯s own worlds. * On the morning just before the world shattered, Ray was yawning away, stooping in his chair and staring at his laptop. His left elbow was propped on the desk to support his head. Sometimes he blinked, each blink getting slower and longer. Sometimes it wasn¡¯t a blink anymore but his eyes closed and his head slowly lowered, lower and lower until it popped off his hand and he jerked awake. He put his head back on his hand and kept staring at his laptop until his eyes closed again. He had been in this state for a long time. He was hungry, he was thirsty, he had to pee, and was barely awake. But he ignored all this, it was unimportant. His mind couldn¡¯t spare the thought on these irrelevant needs. As to what he was doing? He was reading a novel. His mind immersed in the story, unwilling to leave. He still had the thought at midnight to tell himself just one more chapter and I¡¯ll go to sleep. For a few hours he kept telling himself this, then gave up, and decided he would just read until he passed out. Suddenly, he was startled as his alarm went off. He turned it off and looked around with confusion on his face and in his mind. His mind was slowly coming back to reality, reluctantly letting go of the story for now. Oh, it¡¯s morning already? He blinked. It hurt. Ouch, my eyes feel so dry. He rapidly blinked a few more times trying to get rid of the feeling then rubbed his eyes. He teared up as they hurt even more. He then gently wiped his eyes with his sleeve as he kept tearing up again and again. He was at this for minutes. When he could finally see and stopped tearing up he shut his laptop and got up. His cat was still sleeping sprawled in the middle of his bed. She was so cute he felt an extreme urge to rub her belly. Summoning a great amount of willpower, he resisted. He knew it was a trap. He sighed and went to the bathroom. When he got back to his room his cat was up, wanting to go out. He couldn¡¯t resist anymore and gently picked her up, rubbing her head as he walked to the front door. His cat was very unhappy about being picked up, but she endured as she saw she was getting what she wanted. Ray then went to get dressed to get ready. He knew he was about to deeply regret not getting any sleep. There was a reason his alarm went off after all, and his next task required a rested mind and a lot of patience. But he was tired, and was cranky, because he wanted to go back to read. He sighed as he put his hand on the living-room door, but stopped for a moment and mentally prepared himself. It had to be done. If it wasn¡¯t done now, it would be much worse later, and he would regret it even more. He sighed again, feeling pity for himself as he finally opened the door. It was lying there in her crate. As Ray opened the door, this monster got up and started shaking in excitement. Ray already felt a headache coming on. This thing might look like a dog, but it was a monster with unlimited energy, and he felt even more exhausted just thinking of dealing with her. She wasn¡¯t even his dog, he only offered to help out with training her. Yet, somehow he ended up taking her for three-hour-long walks daily to try to somehow tire her out. Even though Ray always complained, about his cat, how she hated being petted and was generally a jerk, about the dog, how she was a vampire sucking all his energy and being all over the place, he loved them both. He loved them and wouldn¡¯t have traded them for anything in this world. As he looked at this energy monster and pondered about his poor life choices, he smiled. ¡°Let¡¯s go then, you monster.¡° But the next moment everything broke apart and he felt himself splintering. His mind tearing apart and shattering¡­ ¡­it hurt... ...he felt himself being undone¡­ Broken like a mirror. Pieces of him scattering. Who was he even? What was he to begin with? Where was this? This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. Why was it so dark? So bright? So cold yet so hot? Why did he feel so happy, giddy with joy? Yet so miserable he wanted to die? Was he even alive or dead? Why did it hurt so much, felt so good and all wrong, all at once? But the feeling of all of him that ever was, is, and will be, being here and now at this moment passed, and the sense of loss he felt next was excruciating. He didn¡¯t know anything, yet he knew he was about to be no more. Everything was about to be no more. ...alive¡­dead...shattered...broken...undone¡­scattered...splintered¡­ Then he felt terror. True terror that ground his splintered being into dust. Yet, he still knew he was. He was forcefully gathered back together, put together. But he wanted to die! Something alien, something awful, something unfathomable, something truly harrowing wormed its way into his being. His soul screamed from pure terror, trying to scatter and be no more, to escape at all cost. But he was not given the peaceful release of death he was yearning for. Or maybe he was dead and was being tormented in death. His soul kept shaking and screaming but the alien existence did not let go. It gathered more and more of itself in the middle of his being yet it always stayed a small spot there. A whole mountain of the unfathomable being gathered there, then a whole lot more, an ocean, oceans, then more, a whole planet, then more. It was boundless and unknowable, an incomprehensible existence. Yet, no matter how much of it there was and came, it stayed a small spot in the middle of his soul. Where was it all going? And why was it going into an insignificant human soul? Only the dreadful existence itself knew. After a while, only Ray¡¯s crumbled and crushed soul remained. It was like fine dust that was still forcefully held together. If it could, it would have scattered long ago, but it could not. Even the shaking and screaming of his soul stopped. He had no more thoughts, no more feelings, nothing. In the middle of his soul there was a small spot. It was blacker than black, something impossible and incomprehensible. If any living being saw it, they would be dead instantly, their soul destroying itself. But no one saw it, no one was alive, and no being was observing. Slowly, the fine dust that remained of Ray¡¯s soul started to gather tighter and denser around the black spot. The remains of his soul still wanted to escape and scatter but how could it put up any resistance? It all gathered in a ball, then got compressed more and more until it looked liked a perfect dull gray marble which hid the black spot within. At this point the force stopped, but the marble stayed whole. It did not want to break anymore. It wasn¡¯t screaming or shaking, it just was. * Darkness. He wanted to open his eyes, but panic set in as he realized he had no eyes. He wanted to scream, but he had no mouth, no lungs. Calm down, calm down, I¡¯m not hurting anywhere after all. Everything is alright. No, am I crazy? How could it be alright when I seem to have no body?! Shut up me, just calm down, everything will be fine. He slowly tried to calm down. He seemed to not possess a body, it was pure dark, but he could think at least. That was something. Right, so all I can do is think. How this came to be anyway? Who am I, why am I here and where is here? As he worked his mind and tried to remember, he abruptly felt a pure, inexplicable terror, and his mind shattered. An exasperated sigh could be heard, but no one was there to hear it. * Darkness. He woke up. He could think again, but he could not move. He was filled with anxiety, he did not understand what happened, what was going on, but he mentally took deep breaths. I have no idea what is going on. Do I have a paralyzed body or am I just a disembodied mind? I think I¡¯m a disembodied mind¡­ or soul then? It¡¯s all dark here, where is here anyway? He was mulling this over. He felt there was a fog over a part of his mind. As he was prying at it, out of nowhere he felt extreme horror, and his mind shattered. ¡°So fragile...¡± * Darkness. He felt himself waking up. He started to think, wondering who he was. He felt there was a weird lump in his mind like a hard dome. He wanted to examine it, but he had an uneasy feeling about it. He couldn¡¯t explain what was wrong with this dome-like thing, but he was more and more sure it was wrong, and should not be there. The next moment he realized what it was, and his mind splintered again. ¡°Unbelievable...¡± * Darkness. He woke up, and after some brief thinking, his mind shattered. He woke up again and again, and his mind shattered again and again. This cycle kept repeating dozens of times, then hundreds of times, who knew how many times. ¡°Stop breaking apart¡­¡± ¡°...stupid human¡­¡± ¡°...again? I just put you back together¡­¡± ¡°...you never learn, huh?¡± ¡°Humans are truly worthless.¡± ¡°¡­¡± If his mind had kept together, he could have heard these occasional comments, but his mind kept shattering and he heard nothing. * Darkness. He woke and he felt calm. He wasn¡¯t sure where he was, what he was, but he didn¡¯t feel like there was any hurry in figuring things out. He had time, he could take it slowly. As he was just being, not thinking much at all, something caught his attention. He didn¡¯t examine it closer, he couldn¡¯t explain it, but he knew he would die if he thought about it. His thoughts slipped off of it, and he let it be. ¡°Are you gonna keep it together this time?¡± the sudden disembodied voice seemed to hold his metaphorical breath. Who is that and how do I talk? ¡°Oh? You seem to be doing fine this time. I¡¯m transmitting my thoughts, but I can hear all your thoughts don¡¯t worry,¡± the voice talked again. All my thoughts? That¡¯s creepy, don¡¯t worry? How stupid is that? Now I am worried! Who is this creep? And they can hear these thoughts too then, can¡¯t they? What do I do, how can I stop thinking? But the more he wanted to stop thinking the more he thought, and the more anxious he got. ¡°Just stop, and calm down.¡± But he couldn¡¯t calm down, he couldn¡¯t explain it, but he knew there was something wrong with the voice. Something was very wrong, something very unnatural, he could not remember but it felt like¡­ the next moment his mind shattered again. If the disembodied voice could have facepalmed, it would have. ¡°Let¡¯s try something else then.¡± Chapter 1 – Father Wants to Show Off Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. Chapter 2 – To Regain One’s Name ¡° ¡° ¡° The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° Chapter 3 – A Birthday Gift ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. ¡°Dusk, ¡° ¡° Chapter 4 – A Kind Voice Ray didn¡¯t dream. It was all a blank, comfortable darkness. It reminded him of his home, his family, how nice¡­ Sadness overwhelmed him as he remembered, all of that was gone, taken from him. Those foul furless creatures, he will kill them someday, and take revenge. He will tear them apart and eat them. Or not eat them, they stank, but still tear them apart. Thinking of the furless creatures, Ray suddenly felt mind-numbing panic as memories flooded his mind. He was fully alert now, and before even opening his eyes, he looked inward. Did they change him? Was he not himself anymore? But if he wasn¡¯t himself, how would he know that he wasn¡¯t? ¡°Just chill dude, it¡¯s fine, don¡¯t worry,¡± Ray heard someone say. Except, he didn¡¯t really hear it with his ears, but still heard it in his mind. It was very bizarre, but this distracted from his panic. Who¡¯s that¡­? ¡°It¡¯s your genius best buddy who saved your hide earlier, you¡¯re welcome by the way,¡± the voice seemed to answer him. Did the voice just answer me? ¡°Yes.¡± CREEPY, EXTRA SUPER CREEPY, Ray¡¯s panic renewed manifold, his eyes shot open, he jumped up, and frantically looked around for the source of the voice. He hoped against hope that it wasn¡¯t in his mind. He was lying next to the young furless creature, it was sleeping, and there was no one else around. What did those creatures do to him that he now was hearing this voice? Then he remembered the wrong-spot, and looked inward again to see if it was the same as always. He looked towards it but¡­ the wrong-spot¡­ wasn¡¯t wrong anymore? Ray¡¯s heart sank. Even the wrong-spot couldn¡¯t escape. The furless creatures must have taken over his whole being, he just didn¡¯t feel it. Against his wish, he would serve them willingly? Ray looked at the young furless creature, but all he felt was hostility. Ray thought of biting it and to his surprise, he felt like he would be able to. Ray didn¡¯t understand why he still felt like himself for the most part, but maybe this wouldn¡¯t be for long. So now, while he was still himself, he should bite the neck of this creature as hard as he could, and try to kill it. Maybe he won¡¯t be changed then if this creature was dead. Ray slowly started crawling closer to its neck, trying not to wake it. He wasn¡¯t far from it, closer, closer¡­ just a bit closer¡ª ¡°You might want to rethink that.¡±¡ªRay was startled by the disembodied voice and he froze. So the voice is an enemy, its protecting the furless creature. He growled in his mind. So is this how he would be controlled? By this voice? Or is this voice going to take over his mind completely? Ray heard an exasperated sigh. ¡°No, I¡¯m on your side. You sure are dumb. First of all the ¡®young furless creature¡¯ you keep calling her is wearing protective charms. There is a big fat zero chance that your baby bite will get through to them. All you¡¯d achieve is alerting them that, despite what they believe, they didn¡¯t manage to enslave you. And then where would be your revenge? You¡¯d just be killed, and most importantly, waste my efforts.¡± the voice drawled, as if it was explaining wolves had four legs, a tail, and a head, how could you be so stupid to not even see that. I can bite, it¡¯s no baby bite¡­ Ray grumbled in his mind. Protective charms? What are those? And anyway¡­ wait what¡­? I¡¯m not enslaved? ¡°You sure are slow. You know, if you took a deep breath, stopped panicking and calmed down, you¡¯d understand the basics at least. You¡¯d still be an ignorant dumb baby, but at least not a totally brain-dead one,¡± said the rude voice. Ray ignored the insults this time, he backed off a bit, lay down, closed his eyes and smelled. He realized his nose was extremely sharp, the smells were so clear and distinct! More than ever, they were talking to him so clearly. Now that he started using his senses again, and trying to actually think, he realized the haziness was gone. He could think well again, in fact, much better than before. He looked and smelled inward again, trying to take in the changes, trying to understand what happened to him. The smells told him everything, and he understood. ¡°Hahahahah, oh you ignorant summer child you still understand nothing,¡± the voice mocked him. You are wrong-spot, except you aren¡¯t wrong anymore, and apparently I can talk to you? Why are you different, did the furless creatures change you? Ray was calmer now, he understood that even though the voice was super annoying and arrogant, it was no enemy. It was the wrong-spot that accompanied him since he was born. ¡°I didn¡¯t change, you did. Well, I changed you, to be exact, but you agreed. I fully integrated into your soul so I don¡¯t feel ¡®wrong¡¯ to you anymore. Also, to me it was child¡¯s play to protect you from those ¡®scary furless creatures,¡¯ as you call humans. Of course, I¡¯m awesome, so they think they were successful. Aw, you poor baby, what would you do without me? You better be extra grateful.¡± ...thank...you¡­ even though it almost physically pained Ray to thank this arrogant a...hole, it saved him after all, so it deserved a thanks at least¡­ Wait, if you changed me, how am I to know I¡¯m still me, and you didn¡¯t just do the same thing to me they were trying to do to me? ¡°You don¡¯t. But what can you do about it?¡± answered the voice flippantly. Ray had no answer to that. The voice was right, he was too weak and ignorant, there was nothing he could do. He started to feel frustrated at his own weakness. He lost everyone he cared about, because he was weak. The furless creatures almost took even his mind as well. And now, this voice was toying with him. He was awed by Grey Soul before, thought him unbeatable, yet even he was too weak at the end. But so what? He would just have to become stronger than Grey Soul, stronger than the furless creatures, stronger than the voice, stronger than anyone, and then he would be free forever. His soul shook as the thought resonated with his whole being. Free forever. Free to do whatever he wanted, to never be hunted again, but be the one hunting. To run free in the sky, to listen to the smells, and see new things, to run, to hunt, to howl, free forever¡­ ¡°Good attitude. In all seriousness, I didn¡¯t mess with you, all I changed is that I don¡¯t feel wrong to you anymore. And you feel whole again, and your senses are sharper, because the internal conflict in your soul that was caused by my presence is now gone. I¡¯m on your side, you can¡¯t understand it yet, but our goals align.¡± I see. Do you have a name? Ray felt too exhausted to worry anymore, he was calm, but determined to strive for his goal. First step was to get to know this voice, since he seemed to be stuck with it. ¡°You can call me Vorm.¡± Okay, Vorm. What are you? He wondered how Vorm ended up in his soul, he was pretty sure it wasn¡¯t a normal thing that just happened. Vorm seemed to be powerful, it protected him from those¡­ humans. It also fooled them, and it said it was easy. ¡°I¡¯m a Worm.¡± Ray thoughts about Vorm¡¯s grandness came to a halt. He was puzzled. Like those little squishy squirming long things in the ground? And on top of that your name is Vorm? Isn¡¯t that¡­ lame? Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. ¡°Not like those, you ignorant fool,¡± Vorm paused then announced to the naive pup in a grandiose manner, ¡°A #*?#&?¡è;*!##? Worm.¡± As soon as Vorm said that incomprehensible thing, Ray felt as if he was hit heavily on his head, making him painfully dizzy. A what? But as soon as he said that, Ray felt a deadly chill, and he started shaking uncontrollably as if death itself was grabbing him by his neck, about to snap it. I¡­ I mean¡­ I don¡¯t understand but being a Worm is¡­ majestic! Yes, majestic! What a majestic being you are! And it is a super cool name! Yes, extra super cool! The deadly chill left, but Ray still felt shaky. It was better to not provoke Vorm too much. ¡°You should worry about yourself instead. If the humans realize you aren¡¯t enslaved, they will kill you.¡± Vorm was starting to get bored of the pup¡¯s questions. Ray thought for a bit, then sneered, You don¡¯t need to worry. I will play the perfect little pet for them, I¡¯ll be Dusk, or whatever they want me to be. I¡¯ll do whatever they wish, I¡¯ll do it all happily. Even if they want me to hunt other wolves, I¡¯ll betray my own kind, anything to please the humans. And then, when they trust me fully, when I¡¯ve gown strong enough, I¡¯ll slaughter them all. None of them will escape, I will turn their home into their graveyard. Ray looked at the despicable human sleeping peacefully, unaware of his plans. He closed his eyes for a bit, thought about Mother, Father, his litter-brother and litter-siblings, Breeze, Gust, Gale, Yellow Ears, Blue Tail and Dark legs. He thought of them all, and savored his memories. He let himself indulge for a moment, then steeled his resolve, locked away his memories, his rage, and even his name. I am Dusk. He told Vorm as he went closer to the human youngling, lay down against his new master¡¯s chest, and curled up like the perfect pet. He soon fell asleep. Vorm was quite amused by this. What an ignorant little pup. Good thing he doesn¡¯t remember how I tortured his soul before. Not that it could have been helped. At last, I managed to fuse into his soul perfectly, I¡¯m a genius after all. Vorm chuckled to itself, it was pleased. * Ray was startled awake. The first thing he saw when he woke up, was the disgusting human youngling that tried to enslave him yesterday. He crouched, the fur on his back stood on end, his ears pulled back, he pulled up his lips baring his fangs, snarling, and started growling. This disgusting creature tried to enslave him, he hated it, he was going to kill it no matter what¡ª ¡°Pfffft.¡± Ray could hear choked back laughter, and Vorm said in a mocking tone, ¡°You were like ¡®I am Dusk,¡¯ locking up memories and shit, being all so serious. Then the first thing you do when you wake up, is to fuck up all your grand plans. Hahahahah,¡± Vorm¡¯s laughter intensified as he kept ridiculing him, ¡°You think you can just tell yourself you are Dusk, their pet, and then you are a perfect actor? How naive. You are Ray, you are not gonna be Dusk, just because you tell yourself that.¡± Ray felt quite embarrassed, but there was no time to think about it. He quickly stopped growling, and although he felt disgusted, he lowered his head completely in submission, and wagged his tail wildly as if he was happy to see his master, and the hostility he had shown before was just due to confusion. He looked at the youngling human and it¡­ well the smells told him it was a she, so she looked shocked. But she seemed to understand it was a mistake, so a big happy smile spread on her face as she rushed to put her arms around her new pet wolf to cuddle him. Ray was trying his best not to vomit. He kept wagging his tail, and trying his hardest to convince himself he was happy. ¡°Call her Master,¡± Vorm said in a sing-song voice. Ray froze for a second, but then he kept wagging his tail, and squirmed in the girls arms to get to her face and lick it happily. Shut up, you almost made me growl again. I¡¯d rather die than call her Master. ¡°Didn¡¯t you say you were Dusk from now on and you would be a perfect pet? A perfect pet should call their master, Master,¡± Vorm kept mocking him. Ray tried to ignore him, but Vorm went on, ¡°come on, you already seem so cozy with her. If you want to pretend to be a perfect little pet wolf, you gotta think of her as Master.¡± Shut up. ¡°Master, Master, Master¡­¡± Vorm started chanting. Ray kept telling himself, ignore it, just ignore it¡­ As Ray tried to focus elsewhere to ignore Vorm, he noticed something he hadn¡¯t before. He could¡­ feel this repulsive creature¡­ she was¡­ happy? Discovering this, Ray was shocked and confused. But¡­ he wasn¡¯t enslaved? He was connected to this creature? Why? How? Wasn¡¯t he free? ¡°You get dumber by the day. How are you supposed to act as if you were tamed, if you had no idea what she wanted from you?¡± Vorm asked in an insulting tone. As annoyed as Ray was by Vorm¡¯s attitude, he had to admit that it was right¡­ He had to pretend to be her pet. He was still free, so as disgusting as it felt being connected to the human youngling, it was necessary. Also, he had to admit Vorm was pretty smart to consider everything. He would never admit that to Vorm though, it was arrogant enough already. ¡°Why are you so quiet now? Realized what a moron you are? Come on, admit my genius. Not that it¡¯s difficult to be a genius next to you, 10 out of 10 creatures are geniuses compared to you.¡± All the gratitude Ray felt towards Vorm was smothered, and he refused to answer. Instead, he examined the connection he had with the human youngling. She was still cuddling and petting him, and he pretended to enjoy it. She felt¡­ happy? Ray remembered how he could feel his family, and he was drowned in intense grief again. But the girl didn¡¯t seem to notice. She can¡¯t feel what I feel? ¡°Not unless you deliberately send her feelings, she can¡¯t. Since I knew you sucked at acting, I made sure your feelings wouldn¡¯t leak through your connection.¡± While Ray was grateful, he found Vorm too irritating to thank it. ...It? The human youngling was a she. Ray himself was a he. What about Vorm? What are you? Are you a he? She? ¡°You really are narrow-minded aren¡¯t you? I¡¯m neither and both.¡± What does that mean? Isn¡¯t someone either male or female? Are you an ¡®it¡¯ then? But ¡®it¡¯ is for objects, no? Are you they? But you are one, not many? This problem completely occupied Ray¡¯s mind now, he tried to understand thoroughly, but he had more and more questions. ¡°¡­¡± Vorm didn¡¯t want to bother with answering, so he stayed silent. It didn¡¯t even make sense for Ray to have these questions when they weren¡¯t even using a language to begin with. It¡¯s just how Ray¡¯s simple mind made sense of their communication. Why he would care about gender so much was baffling to it. Well, Vorm knew there were stupid languages that made a gender distinction in stupid ways, but it didn¡¯t expect Ray to do that as well. Actually, it wasn¡¯t that surprising, now that it thought about it. Ray¡¯s past life must be bleeding through, and influencing him, even if he doesn¡¯t remember. After a barrage of questions, Ray realized Vorm was quiet. He suddenly felt a sense of triumph. Vorm finally shut up! So to shut it up, next time, he just had to drown it in questions? His train of thought was suddenly broken as the girl pulled him off the bed and put him on the ground. Then she said something Ray didn¡¯t understand, and turned around to leave. Although Ray didn¡¯t understand what was said, he felt he knew what she wanted him to do. He felt the connection between them pulling at him, compelling to do his master¡¯s bidding. While it was a repulsive feeling, Ray was happy to realize, if he wanted to, he could ignore it all and not do it. He was free. Well, his goal was to pretend for now, so he gave in to the compulsion, and followed the girl. It was disgusting to give in, his whole being wanted to resist and scream, yet he still followed. Giving in didn¡¯t change him, he didn¡¯t feel less like himself, so he calmed down, and even pretended to be happy while following the girl. Chapter 5 – And He was Alone for a Very Long Time Ray and the girl didn¡¯t go far before they went into a bigger room. It was there¡­ Ray shivered but he tried his best to seem normal. That nightmarish, furless creature who killed his family with his kind was sitting there, eating. When Ray and the girl came in, he looked up and smiled, but all Ray felt was horror and disgust. He didn¡¯t dare to move. He wanted to pretend to be the perfect pet, but the memories of losing his family one by one kept assaulting him. The best he could do was not move at all. Ray inwardly started panicking as he saw the creature stand up and come closer. He wanted to run away, but he knew he shouldn¡¯t. He tucked in his tail and lowered himself. He was terrified. The man frowned and crouched down to put his hands around Ray¡¯s head. Ray was uncontrollably shivering. He knew he should pretend, but he was helpless, he was too traumatized, he lost control of himself. He felt the creature¡¯s probing of his soul, but this time it stayed on the surface. It kept going over and over to the connection Ray had with the girl, but didn¡¯t intrude deeper. Ray was confused. ¡° So as long as I have you, I don¡¯t have to worry about¡­ wait a minute¡­ couldn¡¯t you have done something when he ripped my connection to the Storm Wolves? ¡°I could have, but I didn¡¯t,¡± ¡°I don¡¯t owe you anything. I help you when I wish to. Don¡¯t expect me to solve your every tiny problem.¡± Getting a part of my soul ripped out of me wasn¡¯t tiny¡­ You live in my soul, so you should¡­ pay rent! ¡°¡­¡± ¡°...how do you even know what paying rent is?¡± I don¡¯t, what is it? I just felt like it suited here. The smells must have told me. After the beast tamer inspected the pup¡¯s soul, he didn¡¯t find anything amiss. He petted the pup¡¯s head and got up. ¡°Everything seems alright. Since I had to break his wild Storm Wolf connection it¡¯s not surprising he¡¯s a bit different. Your connection with him feels okay?¡± the beast tamer asked his daughter, deep in thought. The girl answered frowning a bit, ¡°I¡¯m not sure. Dusk seemed pretty scared now, but I felt nothing from him?¡± ¡° ¡° Vorm, do you understand what they are saying? ¡°Of course. While you were knocked out on the way here, I learnt their language,¡± Ray decided to swallow his pride. ¡°Why would Vorm bother? Ray swallowed his pride harder. ¡°Vorm didn¡¯t understand why Ray always asked the obvious. ¡° ¡° Ray kept swallowing his pride so hard he almost choked on it. ¡° ¡° ¡°¡­ Vorm had enough of the fool¡¯s pestering. But there was no answer. . If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. ¡°Vorm suddenly said. A boundless happiness spread within Ray. He didn¡¯t even realize before how much he relied on Vorm now. ¡° Ray complained justifiably. ¡°¡­ ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° my is ¡° You don¡¯t need to sleep, do you? ¡°Pff, I¡¯m not a weakling like you who needs to sleep. Only the weak sleep.¡± So¡­ earlier you lied when you said you were going to sleep? ¡°¡­¡± So lame¡­ of me to think you¡¯d need to sleep haha¡­ It was not a question, it was a statement that Ray was sure of. ¡°¡­¡± ¡°¡­¡± Vorm reluctantly answered in an uncharacteristically somber tone Ray pondered about that. He did think his Father was the strongest, and couldn¡¯t imagine anyone stronger, but then the humans killed him. But then the terrifying human was easily fooled by Vorm. So if there was someone even stronger than Vorm, it wouldn¡¯t be weird. I understand. There are probably many things stronger than you too¡ª ¡°Vorm hastily clarified before the fool would have even more strange ideas. ¡°you ¡°¡­ ¡° ¡° Ray was enlightened. ¡° ¡°¡­¡± ¡°¡­¡± Vorm sighed, atme. Before, there was no distinction between the fool¡¯s thoughts like this, but Vorm had compromised for stability. The fool¡¯s soul really refused to have zero privacy. you really can¡¯t hear my thoughts if I don¡¯t want you to, that¡¯s great! Why did you do that?! You can read all my thoughts after all, can¡¯t you! ¡°¡­Asked Vorm menacingly. Ray¡¯s indignation instantly evaporated. ¡° Chapter 6 – A Pretty Collar ¡° ¡° ¡°¡­¡± allowedAllowed? allowed? ¡° He didn¡¯t even care if Vorm punished him for being rude to it anymore. He looked at the humans still talking and eating, sometimes laughing. He could feel the disgusting happiness from the girl, and her twisted care for him. Then all his hot rage disappeared, turned into an ice cold calm fury. He started to eat. He will kill them all. He will play along now, then kill them all. Take revenge¡­ ¡°Vorm yawned. Ray froze for a second, then continued to eat menacingly while Vorm kept chuckling. Why the hell did I follow¡­? Say¡­ Vorm¡­ is this one of their games, like with the food? ¡°Why should I spoil it for you? Just keep sitting here, and you¡¯ll see,¡± Vorm, what is that? ¡°A collar, will look good on you.¡± What does it do? ¡°Wait and see, I doubt it¡¯s just a plain collar. I bet it¡¯s something to mess with you.¡± Ray complained indignantly, but Vorm just chuckled to himself. The collar was finally put on, but Ray felt nothing. Then the girl patted his head, and left. At first, Ray felt nothing, but as the distance grew, he started feeling nauseous and dizzy. He lay down and asked Vorm. ¡° This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings. When Ray woke up early morning, the girl was still sleeping and hugging him. He really hated being this close, and having his nose stuffed with her smell, but he didn¡¯t move. He wanted to think in peace for a while, and he was afraid he¡¯d wake her if he tried to move away. Yesterday¡­ he was humiliated over and over. He thought it was going to be easy pretending to be obedient, and then, when he was strong enough, and they least expected it, he would just kill them all. But within a day, they exhausted him to the point that before he fell asleep, he barely cared anymore. Ray realized the greatest danger wasn¡¯t that he might do something, and the humans would realize he wasn¡¯t their slave, but that he would get worn down by them. Worn down to the point that he stopped caring, and soullessly followed along, like all the other hollow wolves. He shuddered. The more he thought about it, the uneasier Ray felt. ¡° ¡° Vorm seemed so capable before, but Ray felt he was tricked into believing that. ¡°Vorm said mockingly. Ray stopped talking to it, and seriously considered escaping. Maybe it was better to die than to stay here. Even if that meant he couldn¡¯t take revenge. Was it worth it? Being slowly whittled down to the point he wouldn¡¯t even recognize himself, for revenge? Because Ray way increasingly sure that no matter how he resisted in his heart, how he kept saying to himself he was just pretending, if this kept going on, it would change him. But the only alternative was to die. While he didn¡¯t believe he¡¯d die in a day like Vorm said, he didn¡¯t have the confidence to stay alive on his own until he grew up. He was scared of how staying with the humans might really change him, but for now, he was even more scared of death. He decided to stay. ¡°You know, they say, if you place a frog in boiling water, it jumps out. But if you put it in cold water, and slowly heat it up, the frog cooks to death.¡± Ray didn¡¯t understand what Vorm was going on about. What does that even mean? What frog? ¡°Don¡¯t worry, you will understand it later. It¡¯s not even true anyway, the frog will jump out either way.¡± Asked Ray, annoyed. He felt Vorm was tying his thoughts in knots on purpose. The more he listened to it, the more confused and annoyed he became. Vorm just chuckled, and said mockingly, but it stayed silent after that. Ray let out a weary sigh. He couldn¡¯t even decide whether the humans or Vorm was more exhausting to deal with. He stopped thinking and just kept lying there until the girl woke up. Chapter 7 – If You Die, You Will Be Dead The morning passed without incident. Ray dutifully followed the girl around, and ate when he was allowed to. He was still somewhat annoyed by it, but what could he do? He did panic a bit when the girl went into a room, and left him outside the door, but she did command him to wait outside, so he quickly calmed down. Then he was annoyed at himself for starting to panic when the girl got out of his sight. But considering he got tortured with nausea and dizziness for a whole day, who wouldn¡¯t be afraid of it happening again¡­ Ray was soon distracted from his gloomy thoughts when they left the house. There were so many things all around! Ray felt overwhelmed. So many different smells, so many ugly humans. He was curious about this new world, and felt his excitement grow as he followed the girl close behind. He had to share his excitement with someone. But Vorm stayed silent. Still silent. Silence. Ray started to worry. ¡°Vorm finally broke its silence and asked derisively. Even though Vorm¡¯s tone was insulting, all Ray felt was relief. ¡° Ray said sincerely. Very sincerely, he was super sincere. ¡° Hey Vorm, what is going on? ¡°This is a school where human children learn,¡± Ohh¡­ could you tell me what is he saying? ¡°I can¡¯t be bothered, you wouldn¡¯t understand anyway.¡± Vorm I¡¯m so boooooored. ¡°It¡¯s been only ten minutes¡­¡± Ten minutes is long, when will this end? ¡°It will take much much longer, just sleep or something.¡± But I¡¯m not sleepy. Vorm talk to me. ¡°No.¡± How many more times¡­ Vorm, when will this all end? ¡°How am I supposed to know? You do realize this will happen every day, each day, right? You will have so much fun.¡± Vorm¡­ What¡¯s going on? Vorm, help, what¡¯s happening to me? ¡°The girl is trying to share vision with you. She¡¯s a beast tamer after all, it¡¯s pretty basic to be able to share senses. It¡¯s just that she¡¯s bad at it, and you are not used to it, that¡¯s why it feels like that,¡± Ray kept pawing at his eyes furiously, but it wasn¡¯t helping at all. ¡° ¡° Uncharacteristic of Vorm, it said softly and soothingly, Ray was so shocked by its tone, he got distracted from his intense discomfort. He was extremely creeped out, since when was Vorm nice? Vorm just chuckled contently. The distraction helped, and the girl soon stopped whatever she was doing, and opened her eyes. Ray was furiously glaring at her, but it was like she didn¡¯t even notice. She started talking to him soothingly, and reached out to pet his head, but Ray backed away. Not that it helped, he was commanded to come, which he did, and the girl hugged him, starting to pet him. It didn¡¯t last long, and he was soon let go. But he then realized this whole thing was far from over. The girl closed her eyes again, and Ray yet again felt like worms were crawling in his eyes. He started rolling on the ground, pawing at his face. It was horrible. The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. Ray didn¡¯t know how long they were at this, but he longed for the boredom of the morning. The feeling never got better, and not only had he had to endure his eyes being violated, he also had to endure the girl hugging and petting him after each and every time. His only comfort was Vorm¡¯s voice accompanying him in this torture. It was just mostly mocking him, never again saying anything nice, but Ray tried his all to focus on its voice for distraction, and it somewhat helped. Nevertheless, by the time the girl was satisfied and stopped, Ray way exhausted to his bones and soul. Not only that, his face was all scratched up and bleeding. The girl picked him up, and brought him to an adult human who lay his hand on his eyes, and soon a soothing sensation enveloped him. He was all healed up. Not that Ray really cared, he was too dispirited. When the girl put him down, he tiredly dragged himself after her with drooping tail and head. He looked so pitiful the girl picked him up again, and they went home like that. The rest of the day was uneventful. He dutifully followed the girl around dispiritedly, and whenever she stopped, he sprawled on the ground despondently. When dinner came, he mechanically ate his food, without even getting annoyed for having to wait for permission to eat. He was too tired to care. Later, Ray was lying on the girl¡¯s bed with his eyes closed as she was ready to get in as well to sleep, when the door opened, and he heard the almost adult youngling male say something. After that, the girl made him stay and wait for her as she left with the almost adult youngling male. Ray was finally alone. He opened his eyes, and looked outside the window. It was a clear night with the bright moon shining a cold silvery light. Ray stared at it with longing in his heart. How nice it would be to run free in the wild under that silver light. To run and howl freely to the moon. As his gaze stay focused on the moon, his yearning grew, and grew, until he shook slightly, and finally escaped from his apathy. He sat up without ever looking away from the moon, and contemplated his slave-like life. Now that his mood was stabilizing, he found it scary how disinterested and soulless he became earlier. No matter how he thought about it, he came to the same conclusion, and said with conviction. ¡°Vorm answered flippantly. you don¡¯t even care? ¡°Nope, not one bit. If you want to die, go ahead. What, you thought your grand statement would shock me, and I¡¯d try to stop you? Dream on, as I said, go ahead,¡± ¡°Vorm yawned, Vorm stayed silent for a while, then continued. Vorm didn¡¯t answer. Vorm still said nothing. Slightly frustrated, Ray finished, tomorrow¡­ Days went by like this, one after another, and Ray grew more and more despondent. One night, when the girl left with the almost adult youngling male againthat was probably her big brother Ray thought¡ªhe was quietly staring at the moon. He knew this couldn¡¯t go on anymore, so after a week of silence, he asked Vorm. What happens if I die? ¡°You¡¯ll be dead,¡± that¡¯s it? ¡°That¡¯s it.¡± Chapter 8 – This Is Fine Vorm quietly watched this all. It watched as Ray sank deep into apathy. It could have talked to him to keep him grounded, but it found it more interesting to let things develop naturally. After all, like this, when Ray failed in a spectacularly miserable way on his own, it could mock that ignorant fool, and make him more dependent on Vorm itself in the future. It was a win-win. So, Vorm kept watching as Ray went along with everything, with less and less resistance. He even minded less when the girl practiced sharing senses with him, he didn¡¯t complain anymore, just quietly endured. Maybe it helped that the girl was getting better at it, and it was less uncomfortable for him. One day, when the girl came back at night, she was dragging a metal box. Vorm saw the dark mood she was in, and knew this wasn¡¯t going to be pretty. The box was just big enough to stuff Ray inside. She did so, and locked Ray in, then through the hole on the top, she poured some liquid in that burned and ate into Ray¡¯s flesh. The poor fool whined and whimpered in pain, but it was no use. He was so stubborn, he didn¡¯t even call out to Vorm like he used to. The box was enhanced with basic insulation, so no matter how loud the fool was, or how much he bled and smelled, the girl slept soundly. In the morning, the girl unlocked the box, and when she opened the lid to look inside, she paled in horror. She grabbed a potion, and with shaking hands, poured it in Ray¡¯s mouth while she started crying miserably. Vorm never understood humans. They could do cruel things then cry about it. What a wretched species. Well, not that it was unique to humans after all, but Vorm always found humans the most contradictory. Anyway, the poor little fool was in such a pitiful, miserable state, Vorm almost felt sorry for him. Heh, almost? Why would Vorm ever feel sorry for the fool. He deserved what he got. It watched as the girl carefully took him to bathe after his wounds healed up, and dried him carefully. Then she carried him back to the bed, and soothingly hummed while gently stroking him, sending him feelings of comfort and warmth. Vorm thought this technique was pretty effective as the dazed fool willingly buried himself in the girls arms. The fool¡¯s mind had long escaped, and he hadn¡¯t had a coherent thought since a few minutes after he was stuffed into the box. He was nothing more than an animal with broken instincts that sought comfort from its abuser. Vorm thought it was pretty pathetic, but not surprising. What was slightly disappointing, was that the fool didn¡¯t call for Vorm¡¯s help in desperation like in the past. Not because Vorm would ever feel neglected, but because it just showed how the fool¡¯s dependency on Vorm became non-existent in such a short time. Vorm continued to silently watch. A few days later, the fool¡¯s spirit somewhat rose as he stared at the moon at night. Vorm wasn¡¯t sure anymore what the fool was thinking, his mind was muddled, and he never directly sent any thoughts at Vorm to talk. The fool didn¡¯t sleep that night, just stared unblinkingly at the silver moon, thoughts hazily floating in his broken mind. When morning came, the fool acted as he always did these days, and Vorm was sure Ray was no longer Ray. In the coming days, Vorm saw the fool changing more and more for the worse. Sometimes, he would even wag his tail without realizing it, and cling to the girl more willingly, staring at the moon at night with lifeless eyes. One night, the girl put him in the box again, and poured the burning liquid on him. The fool this time whined and whimpered pitifully for a short while, but soon grew quiet, and suffered the pain in silence. The girl gently took care of him again the next day while crying miserably yet again. After that, the fool grew even more clingy towards the girl. A few more days after that, Ray stopped looking at the moon. He never again looked. A couple weeks later, the collar, that made Ray feel awful when the girl got too far away, was taken off, but Ray never realized it. He long ago forgot all thoughts of not following the girl closely. Months passed as Ray forgot the moon, forgot Vorm, and forgot even his own name. Vorm wondered if there was still anything that could kick some sense back into the fool as it watched him become a clingy pet. The girl was really creative in finding ways to torture the fool, who never again whined or whimpered anymore, but suffered quietly. Vorm realized the fool even started looking forward to these torture sessions as after them, the girl would shower him in care and attention. Sometimes, when the girl didn¡¯t hurt him for weeks, the fool would find a way to get punished and hurt. Deep down, the fool probably felt that he deserved all the pain. Vorm had to say, the twisted girl and the wretched fool really suited each other. * Two years passed. Ray was all grown up now, except, he wasn¡¯t Ray anymore. Revenge? What revenge? He forgot that word long ago, there was only the girl that occupied his mind. The girl, his gentle master, his bright sun. He liked to be close to her, he liked her smell, he liked to bury his head in her arms. He couldn¡¯t imagine living without her. Some nights, he dreamed of a long-forgotten past, but come morning, he forgot it all again, and only his bright master stayed on his mind. Sometimes, his gentle master would punish him, but he deserved it, he understood. His master didn¡¯t want to do it, she always cried and felt sorry, so he understood. Dusk understood. * Vorm was in a dilemma. Now, that the fool had all grown up, the humans wanted to breed him, since he was much stronger, and prettier than the other tamed wolves. Vorm scoffed, it was only because of Vorm itself not letting the fool be truly enslaved that his growth didn¡¯t get stifled as much. But at the end, the fool enslaved himself instead. Vorm wondered, when humans pretended to be something for long enough, they might become what they pretended to be. But then, it thought about the humans who pretended to be nice, but stayed just as rotten, and guessed it wasn¡¯t always the case. Anyway, Vorm was in a serious dilemma, because the fool was about to be bred. The only reason it cared was because if the fool had puppies, that had the same miserable fate, Vorm would have to listen to the fool¡¯s whining and complaining about it for a long time when he had his senses back. A very long time. Also, if it kicked some sense into the fool now, and saved him from making puppies, he would feel immense gratitude, and grow more trustful to Vorm itself. On the other hand, if it let the fool make puppies, that would crush him even more. As the girl demonstrated, crushing and healing the fool was really effective. But then again, it didn¡¯t want to listen to the fool¡¯s accusations, and wailing about this in the future. Vorm sighed as it watched the fool about to mount the she-wolf. It had hoped that some innate deep-seated resistance towards this would shake the fool up, but his mind stayed just as dull as it had been for a very long time now. So, Vorm knocked the fool unconscious. * He groggily woke up, confused. ¡°Ray, look at the moon...¡± He heard a commanding voice that sparked some long-forgotten memories deep down, and looked up. It was a beautiful silver full moon. He wondered why he never looked up at the moon, it was so beautiful. The silver moon¡­ he used to look at it. Why did he stop¡­? His hazy mind slowly turned and turned, dazed and confused. ¡°Ray,¡± someone called¡­ him? His head hurt. He didn¡¯t want to hear, he didn¡¯t want to see the moon anymore. He wanted his master, where was she? He looked around, and saw he was left outside with the she-wolf. He was supposed to¡­ he froze. ¡°Ray, look at the moon!¡± the voice commanded again. He was used to doing as he was told, so he looked up again. He was captivated by this silver moon. As he stared at it, the world seemed to fall away, leaving only the silver moon behind. That was all he could see, that was all to see, the silver moon. The moonlight enveloped his vision, he felt cold, but it felt good, as if the silver light was dispersing the fog that suffocated his mind, pulling him out of the haze. Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author. ¡°Ray,¡± the voice called yet again, forcing him to remember. He didn¡¯t want to remember, he was afraid of remembering. He felt his mounting guilt, and he fought not to remember. But he couldn¡¯t tear his eyes away from the silver moon, and couldn¡¯t not hear the voice calling him. It called once more. ¡°Ray.¡± As he realized he could not ignore reality much longer, he started shaking and whimpering, no, no, no, no no¡­ ¡°Ray, aw, you poor fool,¡± now the voice was mocking, pleased with itself. It broke through all of his resistance, and the coward had to face the old memories. Vorm¡­ ¡°Wow, you still remember my name? I am so honored and touched, considering you even forgot your own damn name.¡± Leave me alone... ¡°Ungrateful brat. But sure, as you command, Your Majesty, the King of Cowards. I wish you many princes and princesses that you can offer up to your beloved humans as highly valued pets,¡± drawled Vorm sarcastically, spitting out the last word as venom. But it did shut up. He shuddered and was forced to remember when the humans saved him and took him in. Saved him¡­ Yes, they saved him, he would have died alone outside. But¡­ he wasn¡¯t alone in the beginning was he¡­? Who made him be alone in the first place? It was the humans¡­ but¡­ not the girl, the girl was always nice to him. He would just keep following the girl, it wasn¡¯t so bad after all. He¡¯d have puppies and¡­ he remembered his litter-siblings dying one by one¡­ no, his puppies would be fine, they would¡­ he remembered being bonded to the girl¡­ it wasn¡¯t¡­ he remembered their intrusion into his soul¡­ it wasn¡¯t so bad¡­ he remembered begging for Vorm to save him. A sentence came back to him unbidden. ¡°It would be better for me to die.¡± It echoed in his mind. Why did he keep saying that in the past¡­? He stopped saying it long ago. It was in the beginning. He wanted to run away from all this, go back to the girl, forget everything again, and just follow her. It wasn¡¯t a bad life. But¡­ it really wasn¡¯t too bad, at least he was alive¡­ but¡­ isn¡¯t it most important to be alive¡­? But¡­ ¡°You call this living?¡± Vorm snickered. It wasn¡¯t sure exactly what the fool was thinking, but watching his turbulent soul, it had a good guess. He snapped YOU SHUT UP! Where were you all this time? Why did you leave? You left me all alone, what else could I have done? You must¡¯ve had a lot of fun, watching me go against everything I had said before. Why did you even help me in the first place? It ended up being the same anyway, on my own fucking volition. You must¡¯ve enjoyed that. You had known how it was going to go since the beginning, hadn¡¯t you? Well, did you enjoy the show? How they broke me day after day until I abandoned everything I ever was to stay alive? To not go completely insane? He sneered. Ray didn¡¯t really understand where all this came from, but it felt like something he always wanted to say, but never did. He, Ray. Yes, he was Ray, and the words pouring out of him, Ray, felt natural and freeing. Ray went on. You pretended to be helpful, but were you really? You pretended you¡¯d stay with me, but where were you when I really needed you? I bet you even found it interesting, how my mind got all twisted up as they kept messing with, and torturing me all the time, until I became a mindless pet. Even now, I cannot not love the girl, all the torture she put me through, I just keep thinking I deserved it. Deserved it, because I¡¯m too fucking weak, who sank into complacency, and surrendered even my mind to her. You are just like them! Ray froze. He felt that last sentence went too far. Was Vorm going to leave now, and he¡¯d be left all alone yet again? He didn¡¯t even realize it, but deep down, he actually felt a bit happy Vorm talked to him. But he said all those nasty things, why would Vorm keep talking to him after everything he had said? He hated and despised himself, he thought he should go to the girl, and get punished to feel better. He sneered at the thought. How fucked up¡­ He tore his eyes off the silver moon and closed them as he lowered his head. Maybe Vorm would forgive him? He could at least try¡­ Vorm¡­ I didn¡¯t... he started muttering hesitantly. How could he even ask for forgiveness now? ¡°You didn¡¯t what? Didn¡¯t mean all that?¡± Vorm¡¯s disinterested voice sounded in his mind. Ray felt a sliver of hope, Vorm didn¡¯t ignore him, maybe this can still be salvaged. He said enthusiastically. Yes, I didn¡¯t mean any of that. I was just upset, forget it. I was upset at myself, not you. I¡¯m sorry, I didn¡¯t mean it. While he felt he couldn¡¯t blame Vorm for absolutely everything, Ray was still discontent and upset, feeling Vorm really did abandon him somewhat. But he tried to swallow these feelings to appease Vorm. ¡°Oooooh¡­¡± Vorm droned out, then he added, ¡°But you did mean it.¡± No, I¡­ Ray wanted to deny it and make excuses, but Vorm cut him off. ¡°When did you even learn to lie? I must say, you were much more adorable as an honest puppy.¡± Before Ray could protest, Vorm continued, ¡°and you were not wrong. I did find it interesting how you got all twisted and messed up in the head. You got more clingy and obedient the more the girl put you through, how could I not find that at least a bit intriguing?¡± ¡°I even kept quiet on purpose, so you wouldn¡¯t have me to ground you, unless you called for me. Only having a girl that would torture you occasionally, and no way to escape, but death. It was mildly interesting to see how you coped. But fun? No, it wasn¡¯t really, if anything it was boring to see everything play out how I expected it to.¡± Vorm explained in a disinterested voice, then added, ¡°Oh, but you forgot one thing. I never ignored you, you just stopped talking to me. Not to mention, who pulled you out now?¡± Ray was flabbergasted. He looked up at the moon again with wide eyes. Vorm¡­ admitted to all of that? He should be angry and upset, but¡­ a sense of relief washed over him and he laughed. You are such a bastard. Vorm answered with a pleased tone, ¡°thank you for the compliment.¡± Being slapped in the face with Vorm¡¯s brutal honesty was genuinely refreshing. Ray felt some trace of happiness for the first time since he lost his family. He silently stared at the moon for a while. What is it with this moon by the way? ¡°It¡¯s a trait of Storm Wolves. Every Storm Wolf is intimately connected to a facet of nature. Yours is the moon,¡± Vorm magnanimously explained. Ah, so that¡¯s how it is. Ray kept looking at the moon as his mind calmed, and he thought through everything. After a long while he called, Vorm. ¡°Hm?¡± Thank you. With that, Ray turned and walked away. ¡°Wrong way.¡± Ray froze, then shamefully turned to another direction while listening to Vorm''s roaring laughter. Strangely, it comforted him. Chapter 9 – A Peaceful Dawn Ray soon arrived at the city wall. The gates were closed, but the wall was covered in moonlight. He jumped, and ran up the wall. Why wouldn¡¯t he be able to run anywhere the moon¡¯s silver light shone? There was a barrier over the walls that covered the city in a protective bubble, but it only defended from outside intrusion, it didn¡¯t hinder him. Once he was over the barrier and the wall, he remembered how his Father had ran in the sky. Why wouldn¡¯t he be able to do that as well? As he jumped off the top of the wall, he wanted to use the moonlight again as footholds in the sky. He didn¡¯t think, it was instinctive, as he felt hitting something solid in the air that was created just for him. He felt joy, and started running, silver moonlight shining under his paws. He ran, and ran with joy in the silent night, high above the ground. Freedom. For the first time he felt free. Ray ran for a while like that, unrestrained, unthinking, just enjoying himself running on the wide sky, under the silver moon, without any burdens. The wind gently ruffling his fur, the smells encouraging him on, to run free, run wild. But he stopped after a while, and looked back towards the human city. He couldn¡¯t see it anymore, but it was back there. He hesitated for a moment, then turned, but still stood still in the night sky, silver moonlight gently surrounding his feet. Say Vorm, it would be easy for you to break my connection with the girl, right? I mean to say if I asked you, would you do it? ¡° No, wait. Ray wasn¡¯t sure what he wanted to do. He could break free, and be free to do whatever he wanted. But what did he want? Didn¡¯t he want revenge in the beginning? But now, he didn¡¯t really feel he wanted that, he was too tired to care. He was¡­ actually scared to leave. That infuriated him. He was grown up by now, strong enough to survive alone. Why was he scared to leave the girl? Why hadn¡¯t he asked Vorm to break the bond right away? He hesitated. Now, that he ran to the wild and could keep running and be free, now, he was actually scared¡­ scared of freedom? It didn¡¯t make sense. He turned again to keep running further, but he couldn¡¯t bring himself to do so. He was annoyed and frustrated. After a while, he sighed, as he resolved himself, and turned back towards the city. He was reluctant, but he decided on what to do, and he would see it through. No turning back. Vorm, please help me one last time. He didn¡¯t wait for an answer as he looked up at the silver moon and started to howl. He had never howled before. What would had been the point? But now, he howled, howled and poured all his feelings out to the moon. Howled all his frustration, his anger, resentment, his twisted love for the girl, his fear of leaving, his indignation, everything. The long lost warmth that once enveloped him at home, surrounded by Mother and his family. The lost home, that was destroyed by humans, the girl spawn of the humans with her perversion of love, Vorm, that abandoned him as he abandoned Vorm, abandoned the moon, abandoned himself as he abandoned his name. He howled, and howled all his sorrow, all his hope, and all desire. His desire to be free, to be unshackled, unrestrained, unburdened. These invisible chains that bound him down to the humans, he had to break them. He would never be free otherwise. He was scared and afraid, but he was resolute. And he howled. In the beginning, the silver moonlight gently rippled around him, consoling him, the smells calling him. As he howled, the moonlight resonated with him, wanting to help. He kept howling, and the moonlight gathered densely around him, the smells of power and freedom wrapping around him. The wind rose, clouds gathered, a storm was brewing. A storm, his storm. A storm of silver moonlight. Ray instinctively felt he could evolve now, but it was not enough. He knew the humans were strong, this was not yet enough. He gathered more and more moonlight as he kept howling everything that he was, the storm grew stronger and stronger. He knew what he had to do, and some part of him found it comforting. The smells both warning, trying to dissuade him, and encouraging him forward, to throw away all restraint. As he howled, he offered it all up, he offered up all of himself. As his howling, the moonlight, and the storm he was creating reached a turbulent peak, he stopped, as everything grew quiet and froze for a second all around him. The next moment, as far as he could see, shining silver moonlight flashed and covered everything, as the storm furiously roared, and Ray felt himself melt away. His fur became silver moonlight and melted away, his flesh, melted away. Even his bones melted away, his mind scattering into the storm. It was peaceful. The storm quieting, he had no more pain, no more sorrow, no more¡­ ¡°a voice mocked. The storm froze. Then as if it was getting corrupted, the silver clouds were tainted with an eerie black that spread through the storm, like an infection. But before the silver light could have been all swallowed up by the eerie black, it shined brightly, refusing to surrender, to back away, and black and silver melded together and took shape. The storm faintly took the shape of a wolf, parts of it were shining with silver light, parts of it were blacker than black as if the world was missing there. As the storm gathered, denser and denser, the wolf shape became more distinct, and Ray¡¯s mind gathered anew. He felt the encroaching insanity, the slipping of his mind, but he fought against it. He refused to run away into insanity, he would do everything as himself, not some mindless beast. His mind slowly cleared as he got a hold of himself. This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. As his mind stabilized, he felt for his body, and howled with glee. He was powerful, there was nothing that could stop him now. He shot towards the human city like a falling meteor, and arrived back in no time. He looked down at the quiet city that was suffocating with the thick, rotten, wretched human smell. For a second, it flashed through his mind that not all of them were bad, some quietly lived their lives, never hurting anyone or anything. But he threw the thought away as he sneered. So what? Had his litter-siblings ever done anything wrong? Yet they were massacred like they were nothing. Now, it was time for the humans to be slaughtered like they were nothing. He shot down, and broke through the barrier like it was never there. He ran through the city, passing through obstacles as if his body weren¡¯t fully in this world anymore. As he ran, he unleashed his fury, whipping up the storm, his storm. It only took a second. Then he stood above the city, admiring his storm and the tragic smells that pleased him. The humans never even had a chance to know what had attacked them. They were peacefully sleeping one moment, the next the world went insane. Those who were stronger ran outside to see, but all they could see were roiling black and silver clouds that surrounded a giant silver moon. There was a wolf in the moon, but as their eyes fell on it they lost their mind, and soon their lives as well. Ray watched as the wretched humans despaired and went insane in anguish. The weakest, youngest, and oldest died on the spot. The bit stronger ones killed themselves, and the strongest ones killed everyone they saw, then killed themselves. It only took minutes, and the screaming city grew quiet again. The smell of blood and terror was thick. Ray found this bloody city beautiful, as the moonlight gently shone, and death silenced all. All, but one. There was only one person he left alive, she was quietly curled up, sobbing in a dark corner. Ray shrank his body back into his original form, and covered himself in moonlight to hide the black to protect to girl from going insane. He went to see her. The girl recognized him right away. She didn¡¯t understand what was happening, but her Dusk suddenly appeared before her. He was changed, his whole body shining and shimmering a gentle silver. It was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen. She called out to him and rushed to him. Her Dusk was still alive, she felt some relief that this one thing still made sense. She wrapped her arms around her wolf¡¯s neck and buried her face in his fur as she wept. The whole world went crazy, only Dusk still remained. But then, she felt it. Her Dusk, who she had never felt much from, flooded her with all that he was, and all that he felt, was now unfurling. She froze. Deep love, dependency, trust, warmth, but underneath it all a boundless resentment, helplessness, hate, indignation and fury. She didn¡¯t understand, where was her gentle and kind Dusk? She was confused, but she didn¡¯t have time to feel anything more as pain shot through her neck, hot blood pulsed, and everything fell away. As her consciousness faded she had an impression as if someone was talking to her. ¡°I¡¯m Ray, I¡¯ve always been Ray. Rest.¡± Ray looked down at the motionless girl, her neck torn open, her crimson blood dripping from his mouth. Her confusion and terror in the moment of her death shot a hole through Ray¡¯s heart. He felt disgusted, and full of sorrow. He left her there, and shot back into the sky to wait for the sunrise, his final freedom. ¡°Vorm calmly asked. There was no mocking, no insults, just a cold inquiry. Ray didn¡¯t answer for a long time. He didn¡¯t know what he felt exactly. He felt grief and sorrow. He forced himself to kill the girl. He thought he would gladly kill her, but found himself not wanting to. He still did it, and now, he felt regret and remorse as if he lost part of himself. But under all the grief, he felt relief as well, it was finally over, and he could find his peace now. He looked towards east as the sky slowly brightened there. As his time was coming, his feelings slowly settled, and calm washed over him. I don¡¯t know, but it is what it is. It¡¯s not so bad to die like this. Ray softly acknowledged. He changed too much and he grew too complacent. But he didn¡¯t want to live like that anymore, so he broke free, broke all his chains, even if the price he paid was high. ¡° For once, Vorm¡¯s tone was neutral, no mocking, no derision, as if it genuinely meant what it said. It surprised Ray. It made him feel warmth and comfort, and as the first rays of the sun hit him, he faded away feeling content. Goodbye Vorm, thank you. Chapter 10 – The Caring Vorm ¡°a familiar voice broke the silence. Did he make Vorm die with him? He thought Vorm would just find someone else, but he pulled it to death with him? ¡°Vorm warned. but he couldn¡¯t finish as memories flooded his mind. He was a human before¡­? No! He hated humans. He was no human, he was a Storm Wolf! But the memories mercilessly kept coming. He was first a human, then a wolf. What had he done¡­ that city¡­ those people¡­ but¡­ He felt himself torn, he wanted to scream and tear at himself, but he was just a disembodied mind, it was driving him crazy. He wanted a body he wanted to move, he¡ª ¡° Ray heard a voice, but he didn¡¯t comprehend. Then he found himself laying on the ground. He tried to move, he moved. Finally! He had a body, he tried to get up but he fell. He was neither a human nor a wolf. He kept changing, some parts wolf, some parts human, then the wolf parts turned human and the human parts turned wolf. He tried to convince himself he was a wolf, and the human parts turned wolf. But all the memories of his human life were flooding his mind, and some parts turned human again. He understood. He had to make up his mind about what he was. Who he was. Who was he? He was Ray, that he knew. But was he a man or a wolf? Neither, and both. At his core, he was a human. He was a man first before he became a wolf. His body took on more of a human shape. But he could not disregard himself as a wolf. Too much blood, too many lives slaughtered, the girl¡­ no, he could not disregard his life as a wolf. Wasn¡¯t it all real? It felt real. Even if it wasn¡¯t, it was real for him. As his memories mixed and mingled, he was desperately trying to find a balance between them, to reconcile the old and the new, to accept that he was a human, and to accept what he had done as a wolf. The changes in his body slowly settled as his mind quieted, and he embraced it all. He sighed, and slowly got up to look at himself. He was covered in short fur, but it was so short it was like silky skin. It was black as night towards his back, but faded into silver gray towards his front, his arms and legs. Just like when he was a wolf. He touched his face, it felt human. He touched his head, he had wolf ears, and his hair felt like long fur that cascaded down on his back. He twisted himself, trying to look at his back. Sure enough, he had a tail as well. He smiled and licked his teeth. They were sharp, a mix between human and wolf. His body was a careful, balanced blend between the two. He had mixed feelings about it. He turned into a damn furry and he didn¡¯t want to admit it, but he felt satisfied with how he looked now. He looked around, but there was nothing as far as he could see. The sky was dark and empty, the ground a dull gray. There was a hole not far ahead of him, but he knew he shouldn¡¯t look. ¡°Vorm¡¯s tone was laced with joy, it made Ray cautious, that was not normal. Ray wanted to ask more about this place, but he was more wary about Vorm. ¡°Vorm went on and on, then sighed. Ray¡¯s head was spinning from all that information. He couldn¡¯t digest all that at once, but he grabbed on one important fact. ¡°yup, so what? What can you do about it?¡± ¡­¡­ ¡° ¡° Ray was furious. Then he had a thought, and strode towards the hole. He had a bad feeling about it, so maybe if he jumped in, he could die. But as he got close, the hole disappeared. He looked around and not far ahead, a new hole opened. ¡° The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. ¡°Vorm answered as if deeply offended. No¡­ please no¡­ you can¡¯t do that to me.I don¡¯t want to live. Say, Vorm¡­ that girl, her brother¡­ she¡­ ¡°that¡¯s all Vorm said, that was all it needed to say, and Ray understood. He felt extremely disgusted and lashed out at Vorm. Then something occurred to him. ¡° Vorm said coldly. He spat out the words, sneering, his fists clenched so tight his sharp nails dug into his palm making him bleed. He found the pain somewhat soothing. Vorm paused. It never thought about it. It wasn¡¯t really an answer, but it had no real answer. Ray closed his eyes and took deep breaths, trying to calm himself. This creature, whatever it was, it wasn¡¯t human, it didn¡¯t understand. There was no point blaming it for something it was incapable of understanding. It did not even understand itself in the first place. Ray suddenly felt lonely. He paused as he remembered the most important thing in his life. ¡° How do you know about my cat? ¡° Were you always with me since I was born as a human? ¡°No, I only have the memories, I only started accompanying you after you died as a human.¡± But you still have my memories. You.. you should know how I feel about this then? You know what happened to me when I was twelve? ¡°I have your memories objectively, without the emotions. I don¡¯t see the problem, but I understand what¡¯s your stance, and in most places the majority abhor these kinds of things when done to too young humans. But human values always change, many¡­¡± ¡° At that moment, Vorm¡¯s voice was the most disgusting sound Ray had ever heard. He came back to himself as he muttered.Then he said through clenched teeth, punctuating each word He turned away from the hole, and dropped himself on the ground, hugging his knees tightly, and burying his face. He shook sometimes as if crying, but no sound came. The smell of blood slowly permeated the air as his nails dug into his arms. Then, as he slowly pulled his hands on his skin, his nails left deep gashes. It bled, it hurt, it made him feel better. He was a mess, his mind was a mess, as his memories came back all at once, everything was too vivid, too fresh, the buried past all dug up and displayed mercilessly. For once, Vorm stayed quiet. Even if it didn¡¯t understand human feelings, even it realized what it said upset the fool. And the fool seemed really, really upset this time. He used to cut himself, but he hadn¡¯t done that for many years. Now, the fool was doing it again. Vorm didn¡¯t see the point of it, but based on the memories, the fool seemed to calm himself like this. Vorm watched as the puddle of blood grew under the fool. It was starting to get frustrated with this fool and his pointless actions. It thought about what else the fool used to do and had an idea. Something dropped right in front of Ray. He moved his legs and arms apart a bit to look through the gap to see what it was. It was a pack of cigarettes and a lighter. He looked at it in a daze. He quit smoking long ago. He didn¡¯t think much about it, he lit one and inhaled deep. It didn¡¯t really help, but this gave him a thought. Could he summon things? He thought about one of his favorite books. It appeared, but the cover was blurry. He opened it, and sure enough, it was just black blurs inside. He threw it away in anger. Useless. But as soon as he threw it away, a new one appeared. This one¡¯s cover was clear, and as Ray opened it with a shaky hand, he saw the sharp, printed lines. He quickly thumbed through the book, and all the pages were clear and readable. He felt a trace of joy and excitement as he started reading it. Chapter 11 – A Thorough Explanation Ray read for hours upon hours, lost in the book¡¯s world. When he was in the middle, and looked up wondering if he could get more, a stack of books appeared. He knew it wasn¡¯t him who summoned them, but he threw who it was that did it to the back of his mind, and lost himself in the books. He had no hunger, no thirst, he didn¡¯t tire, didn¡¯t have to go to the toilet, he didn¡¯t get smelly, didn¡¯t have to shower. He read, and just read. When he was on the last book more than 800 chapters later, he paused. This web novel was still ongoing. He turned to the last chapter, and it was the one he read last. So it was all from his memory, but could he get the new chapters? He struggled with himself for a bit, but he wanted to keep reading it more than anything. ¡°That world is gone, the writer is dead. I didn¡¯t do it.¡± Ray put the book down, and imagined a good ending that would satisfy him. It probably would have had a good ending¡ª¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡±¡ªRay¡¯s daydreaming was suddenly interrupted. It took him a moment to comprehend the words. Sorry? Was it even possible for that creature to be sorry? Sorry? Do you really feel sorry? ¡°The usual mocking tone wasn¡¯t present, it was so neutral and without any feelings that it reminded Ray of a machine. Ray laughed dryly. It was so absurd, he laughed in his helplessness. ¡°Vorm scoffed as if offended. he asked tiredly. He at least wanted to understand why he was to suffer living countless lives. Vorm decided to try and explain a bit more in the simplest terms possible to appease the fool, Vorm cut himself off when it noticed Ray wasn¡¯t listening anymore. It sighed, the simplest terms weren¡¯t simple enough. It realized yet again, how weak humans were. Gather what? ¡°You can¡¯t comprehend. You can call it essence, meaning, experience, aspect, element, reality, substance, fundamental, form, facet, matter, truth, constituents, the smallest building blocks¡­but these words are all too lacking to describe it,¡± So¡­ reincarnate to gather the stuff. Why? ¡°To strengthen the Soul Core, so each reincarnation they have a slightly stronger Soul Core. Slightly stronger, because upon dying most of¡­¡± ¡°...The Stuff¡­¡± ¡°¡­is taken back, only a layer adheres to the Soul Core that remains. Over many lives, this builds up, and the Soul Core gets stronger. You, however, will keep most of it, that is why you will remember.¡± Ray tried to keep up and understand. ¡°Vorm paused. It tried to figure out a way to explain it to a stupid human. After a while, it spat in frustration There, even a dumb human should be able to understand that much. Ray felt Vorm was losing its patience. ¡° Why else would an unfeeling creature want to make someone strong? It was like fattening up a pig. ¡° ¡°Those books you always read, you love them, right?¡± Mm. ¡°Why?¡± Because they are new worlds I haven¡¯t seen before, and I can get lost in them to my heart¡¯s content. Because as long as I¡¯m lost in a story¡¯s world, I don¡¯t have to think about and face my own life. Because, while I read I can be someone else. It¡¯s exciting. ¡°Then why aren¡¯t you excited about living many lives, seeing many worlds? Your original world had no magic, as you call it, but even bottom ranked worlds usually do. Those books you read¡­¡± ¡°¡­other worlds had bled through into those books. Don¡¯t you want to see new worlds with your own eyes?¡± Could I then see the original world of my favorite hunter and snake? Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! ¡°Crazy human, why would you want to go there? Do you have any idea¡­ no, of course you don¡¯t. Ignorant fool. You...¡± Are you scared of that world? ¡°If you had even a single brain cell, you wouldn¡¯t ask that. Oh how nice it must be to be so ignorant and oblivious. I almost envy you.¡± Yeah no¡­ if the price of seeing new worlds is to live through hell like I did as a wolf, then no thank you. ¡°It¡¯s not like you have a choice. You might as well look at the bright side. Also, forget about your last life, you didn¡¯t have your memories.¡± Does it even matter whether I have my memories or not? I used to think if I grew up differently, I would be different. But didn¡¯t I end up being the same even as a wolf? I just put up with everything until the day I couldn¡¯t anymore, and exploded. I hate that I¡¯m such a coward that I can go along with anything. I always give up. ¡°Your last human life wasn¡¯t your only life. Through many lives, you experienced many things that shaped you, and the most dominant traits got ingrained in your soul that shaped your personality. That¡¯s how you are you now. Having your memories means you can choose to change, ingrain new traits into your soul to cover the old. Over time, through many lives, you can become someone you want to be.¡± ¡°You can even become a dragon.¡± I can become a dragon? Really? A real dragon, that is the most powerful? Not a pathetic dragon, but an arrogant, confident, self-assured, amazing and cool dragon? ¡°Yes¡­ but it will take a long time. Dragons have the most powerful Soul Cores.¡± I can be a dragon¡­ a freaking dragon¡­ so amazing¡­ Ray forgot all his grievances and sorrows. He had no choice to begin with, so he might as well make the most out of this situation. Seeing new worlds wasn¡¯t such a bad thought, and becoming a dragon? He shook in excitement. He was always obsessed with dragons, he loved dragons. Dragons were the coolest. Maybe he loved them so much, because they were the opposite of him. Compared to them, he was just a slime anda particular slime came to mind¡ªno, slimes could be cool too. Never mind, he was pathetic and weak, but he could become a dragon now. ¡°Let¡¯s just say, the more intense and varied experiences, the better.¡± Hmm hmm, okay¡­ so my last life, the wolf, was it good in gathering a lot of The Stuff? Which parts were the best? ¡° ¡°As if, Vorm thought to itself. All considered, the chance of this fool having a happy life was basically nil. But the fool didn¡¯t need to know that. While it didn¡¯t really matter if the fool was cooperative or not, Vorm preferred the former. Ray seriously started thinking about situations he might encounter the next time based on his wolf-life. ¡°What is it?¡± ¡° ¡° ¡° Fine¡­ anything to be a dragon¡­ No, not anything. ¡°I can just knock you unconscious.¡± Not enough. ¡°Purify your body as well, it will be as if it never happened.¡± No. ¡°¡­¡± No. ¡°...then..¡± No. ¡°But¡­¡± No. ¡°It¡¯s too dangerous if I take action.¡± I don¡¯t care, either that or you kill me. I don¡¯t care how you solve it. ¡°¡­¡± ¡°¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­..¡± ¡°¡­fine.¡± So when do we start? Hurry up and reincarnate me, the sooner we start, the sooner I can become a dragon. ¡°Vorm changed the fool¡¯s Soul Core Designation to be born as a human. Human¡¯s Soul Cores were the most varied, even Ray¡¯s weak ass soul could handle being a human, it was just¡­ well it had some drawbacks, but the fool didn¡¯t need to know about that. Ray was suddenly hit by a crushing sleepiness, and before he could form a single thought, he lost consciousness. Chapter 12 – Ray the Wise ¡°Vorm couldn¡¯t stand watching it anymore, Ray paused for a bit. ¡° Don¡¯t insult me! Why are you always insulting me?! You big meanie!!! ¡°since your soul is so weak it can¡¯t fully support your mind now that you have your memories back, and heavily relies on your physical body as well¡­ and since you are just a baby¡­¡± Vormie stop blabbering and help me get out of here! I don¡¯t like this! ¡°Vormie?? How dare you, you¡ª¡° but the great being was cut off. Ray started moving around frantically again. Vorm realized if this kept going on, the fool was going to choke himself with the umbilical cord eventually. Can¡¯t argue with fools anyway, especially if that fool turned into a baby¡­ It sighed and adjusted himself. ¡°Vorm coaxed the fool but it was about to puke with disgust. It would definitely make him pay later. yes!!! I¡¯m a good baby, very good! I can do anything! ¡°Okay, listen. First move with your legs a bit forward, and your head back¡­ a bit more¡­ okay stop¡­ Now, try to just turn¡­ no! Stop! Not that way. Ah, undo that. No, move the other way. No, listen to me. Aghhh¡­¡± ¡°Stop! It¡¯s perfect now, don¡¯t move. If you want to get out, you have to stay like that, okay? Can you really do it? Only really good babies can do it, I¡¯m not sure you can.¡± I can! Of course I¡¯m a really good baby, just watch! ¡°Okay, it¡¯s starting soon. It will be a bit uncomfortable, because to get out of here, you will have to squeeze through a very, very narrow place. Can you really do it? It is super very difficult,¡± Hmpf, don¡¯t underestimate the great baby Ray! I will squeeze through no problem! How long do I have to wait? When can I get out? Vormie, talk to me! Vormieeee¡­ Vormieeeeeee¡­ where did you gooooo? ¡°Can¡¯t you even wait a bit? You are a bad baby, you will never get out like this!¡± Vormie you big meanie! I¡¯m not a bad baby¡­! ¡°Hey, hey, stop crying,¡± ¡°Hush hush, you are a good baby. Very good, you did good.¡± ¡°Vorm kept coaxing the fool while making plans how to punish him later. ¡° ¡° Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. After a bit more pushing and wriggling, Ray got his shoulders out as well, and the rest of his body which quickly followed. He started crying. Then he started breathing without even realizing. After a bit of crying, Ray tried to look around, but everything was very blurry. He was lying on something hard and it was cold. He realized Vormie hadn¡¯t said anything for a long time. ¡°Ahahahaahah! I have good news, very good, super good news!¡± What good news? Tell me Vormie, what news?! ¡°you won¡¯t stay a baby for long. Why? Because you are about to get eaten! Eaten!! Hahahahaah, you little shit, you will be eaten! Ahh, the world is a beautiful place, isn¡¯t it? After listening to your whining for hours, you will get your just desserts. It¡¯s so beautiful.¡± ...What¡­? Eaten¡­? Vormie what? Why? I don¡¯t want to get eaten! ¡°Vorm was so delighted, it forgot all about the last couple of hours, and was in a wonderful mood. Ray started to cry again. ¡°Okay, if you don¡¯t want to be eaten, stay quiet, and close your eyes to hide. You can¡¯t think either, your thoughts are too loud.¡± ¡°Awww, the great baby Ray, are you awake? Did you sleep well like a good baby? You hid so well by closing your eyes, you didn¡¯t get eaten at all!¡± they summoned a demon that tried to eat my soul but I ate it instead? ¡°You are still stupid I see.¡± ¡­I just thought since you are sooo amazing, it would be easy for you to eat its soul¡­ ¡°Of course it would be easy for me, what¡¯s your point?¡± ¡­so I thought that¡¯s what happened¡­ I ate its soul¡­ why are you so mean, how am I supposed to know these soul stuffs if you never explain anything to me? ¡°easy for ME to eat, not for YOU, am I you? Are you me? Why are you so dense? How is this complicated? Explain it to you? Are you capable of explaining gravity to an ant?¡± I¡¯ve clearly become a demon though, so what happened then? ¡°You are only possessing its body, can¡¯t you even feel its possession? Also, if you really want to eat its soul go ahead, I can help you with that. It would be like eating poisonous shit, but who am I to judge?¡± So that¡¯s why I¡¯m feeling uncomfortable, as if my whole body was wrong¡­ makes sense. I assume I¡¯m not bound by the summoning ritual? ¡°Of course not, what a silly question,¡± So noisy... Do you think I can kill them? ¡°Hmm, the one trying to order you right now is the strongest, so you need to surprise him, and quickly kill him before he realizes you are free. If you lunge at him and stab him with your claws, you should be able to kill him. He probably has some potent protections, so commit with full power,¡± Chapter 13 – A Confident, Bloodthirsty Demon To test it, he tried to order it to just simply stand up, but the demon seemed to be confused. Maybe it needed some more time to adjust, so he strengthened his command, and with each repetition he knew the demon found it more and more painful. It would fully submit soon, andhis thoughts cut off, because he died. Ray froze for a few seconds to realize what had happened, then¡­ EWWWW, DISGUSTING! VORM, YOU PIECE OF SHIT, IT GOT ALL OVER ME! FULL POWER MY ASS! EWWWW!! Ray screamed like a little girl, while Vorm howled in his mind with laughter. He tried to shake off all the remains, but he had bad control over his body, and accidentally hit another human, splashing more human remains on himself. Blood went into his eyes, so he shut them closed, and tried to get it off his face with the back of his relatively cleaner hand, but he stumbled, and felt something wet and squishy under his right foot. He froze, processed what he probably just stepped on¡­ he screamed even louder. ¡° YOU LIED AGAIN. ¡° Ray was now experienced, and ran to the right instead. Vorm wasn¡¯t going to be able to trihe felt his left foot stepping on something squishy and crunchy. Vorm roared with laughter. Did they all die? ¡°Yes, you squashed them all beautifully, good job. Their innards are¡ª¡° Shut up! Just¡­ no more please. Haven¡¯t you had enough fun already? Didn¡¯t you say my physical body is affecting my mind? Shouldn¡¯t I find humans tasty as a demon? ¡°¡­¡± ¡°¡­ Ray¡¯s answer: ¡° ¡° ¡° What do you mean wrong way, it all looks the same. Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. ¡°Those demon summoners came from the opposite direction, they left tracks, can¡¯t you see?¡± Why should I believe you? You seem to enjoy lying to me. ¡°Why would I lie? It would be more fun if you went to a town and got slain than if you died peacefully, idiot.¡± Why are you always insulting me? Lying to me? Why are you such a jerk all the time? ¡°This personality model I created to interact with you is based on your preferences. So, shouldn¡¯t you blame yourself?¡± What¡­ what do you mean? ¡°Exactly what I said.¡± So¡­ you are just acting this way, because you believe this is what I prefer? I want you to be yourself, not this, and this isn¡¯t what I prefer to begin with. ¡°Little human, it is impossible for me to ¡®be myself¡¯, if I were to ¡®be myself¡¯ you¡¯d go insane in that moment. And face reality. Don¡¯t you hate kind people? You are always suspicious of them, and find people with this kind of personality I¡¯m using the most comfortable. I¡¯ll even tell you, I¡¯m using this personality model in order to manipulate you, and make you trust me more easily.¡± You keep lying to me, why would I trust you at all? Especially when you tell me all this. ¡°Yeah, you shouldn¡¯t, but this what makes you feel more comfortable with me. You are pretty messed up, huh?¡± ¡° You are such an asshole. ¡°Because that¡¯s what you like.¡± After a while, he asked while walking to pass the time. ¡° ¡° ¡°¡­¡± Vorm couldn¡¯t be bothered to keep answering. ¡°¡­¡± ¡° ¡° ¡° Ray decided to ignore the question that would send him down into a deep abyss. ¡° ¡­ ¡°¡­¡± no point arguing with fools, Vorm thought. Ray walked and walked, and after a couple hours, he came across a road. It was just a dirt road, but it was pretty wide, and looked well traversed. He looked left and right, but couldn¡¯t make up his mind. ¡° ¡­ ¡° But¡­ what if I run into people? ¡°Kill them?¡± I¡¯m not going to just kill people! ¡°What do you mean, isn¡¯t that what you have been doing? Both as a wolf, and just a couple hours ago, you killed like a dozen people? You do realize you killed your mother as well?¡± ¡­Don¡¯t remind me, I didn¡¯t mean to¡­ ¡°Then just don¡¯t kill them, what¡¯s your issue?¡±¡ªVorm then realized something as it recalled Ray¡¯s old life.¡ª ¡°Don¡¯t tell me¡­ you are actually scared of meeting people?¡± ¡­Why would I be scared? ¡°How do you still have social anxiety while you are twice as tall as humans, and can trample them into paste as easily as breathing?!¡± It¡¯s not something I can control, okay? If I could I wouldn¡¯t have shut myself at home, and refused to go outside alone! ¡°You could go outside if you weren¡¯t alone though, even if you only went out with the dog, so what¡¯s your issue now? Am I not here?¡± It¡¯s different, you are only in my head. I didn¡¯t dare to go outside with just a phone either, even if it had an AI. It¡¯s the same thing, it¡¯s just that you are in my head, not my hand. ¡°¡­¡­..¡± ¡°Do you realize how ridiculous it is that you are hiding here as an almost four meter tall demon, too scared to meet humans?¡± It¡¯s fine, my favorite hunter hid behind some trees as well when people first came to his valley, hoping they would leave. ¡°Yes and you laughed your ass off at it.¡± ¡­... ¡°Just think of it this way. You are only possessing the demon body. It¡¯s like a costume, so no one can actually see you.¡± You are right! Vorm you are a genius, it¡¯s like I¡¯m a furry now, just without the fur. Chapter 14 – Hard-Fought Battles Isn¡¯t it going to hurt though, to be killed? ¡°It will, but in a muted way, since you are only possessing the body. It¡¯s good practice. Also, weren¡¯t you just killed as a baby?¡± I died too fast to really feel hurt¡­ Wait, what do you mean good practice? This isn¡¯t something I need to practice, this life is weird, but normally I will just live peacefully. Not fighting and stuff like this. ¡°Sure,¡± You don¡¯t believe me? Just watch. ¡°Okay...¡± ¡­I hate you. It must¡¯ve been the other way. I¡¯ve been running for like half a day. ¡°Just keep running, there must be something this way too.¡± Mm. Wait a minute Vorm. Shouldn¡¯t I keep my abilities from my previous life? ¡°I can¡¯t even begin to explain how stupid that is. No.¡± Why not? How else am I going to be stupidly overpowered and face-slap arrogant young masters? ¡°...¡± ¡°I¡¯ll explain it to you when you can explain gravity to an ant. Also, even if you were stupidly overpowered, you¡¯d just run away crying if you were bullied by an arrogant young master.¡± ...Can¡¯t argue with that, people are scary¡­ anyway, can¡¯t you just try? I¡¯ve read a book where the main character kept reincarnating, and each life she would gain new abilities, and get overpowered. Shouldn¡¯t I be like that, even if I won¡¯t beat up arrogant young masters? ¡°No. Your Soul Core¡¯s too weak.¡± So when my Soul Core gets stronger, can I carry over abilities? Well, it is not completely impossible if it¡¯s just one or two. Bit tricky, but should be doable for me to do for you.¡± Vorm, I knew you were awesome. ¡°While those kinds of abilities you want can¡¯t be carried over yet, the skills that only require muscle memory can even now.¡± So muscle memory is stored in the soul? ¡°Yes and no. For you, yes.¡± Hmm, I see. So I should spend a couple hundred years, and become the most awesome sword master. ¡°You don¡¯t have the patience for that.¡± Look! Finally a town! ¡°Go die.¡± ¡­.. ¡­I understand that is the plan, but¡­ when you put it like that¡­ wow, rude. ¡°Vorm broke his peaceful contemplation. ¡° ¡° Ray took a couple deep breaths, then started walking towards the slowly awakening town with heavy steps. As he got closer step by step, his anxiety grew into unbearable heights, and he was on the verge of crying. Every part of him was screaming, wanting to turn tail and run, as he ran away many times before in his old life. He was a coward after all, he could run this time as well, and just die quietly. But¡­ he hated that he was like this. No matter what, he couldn¡¯t run anymore. Each step was a struggle, each step he fought himself, each step he was on the brink of running away, but each step was a testament that he could choose differently. He could go against himself, because that was what he wanted, and he had the power and strength to fight against his own nature. This way, Ray eventually got to the gate of the little town. His gaze locked on the ground in front of him, his mind was fully focused on each step he took, he didn¡¯t even realize he knocked down the gate. His mind was a mess, he was shaking uncontrollably, crying bloody tears, anxiety driving him half-mad. Then he heard the screams, and he looked up as he stopped. People were running away, they weren¡¯t looking at him. They only looked for a split second then ran. Not being stared at, made him feel slightly better. He kept going. But now something else occurred to him. Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. ¡°as Vorm said this, Ray saw a figure in brilliantly blinding armor, his golden hair like a halo framing his heroic face, his righteous roar announcing the evil demon¡¯s demise, his sword of justice firmly gripped in two sturdy hands, his dash unstoppable. As the noble hero charged at him, Ray closed his eyes in content, awaiting judgment. He felt relief that he was about to be freed from his anxiety. As a wicked smile spread across Ray¡¯s demonic face, the dazzling champion slashed down with his sword of inevitable death that could not tolerate any evil, aiming to bisect this hideous foe, vanquishing the¡ª At this moment, everything froze. Ray was speechless. The sword hit him, alright. He got a scratch on his stomach. A scratch. ¡°Vorm was having the day of its life, roaring with laughter. Ray: ... I tried! I really tried! You know how hard it was for me to go into that place I didn¡¯t know, among people I didn¡¯t know? But I did it! I fought really hard, and I went into that place! I thought I even met a hero to fall to his blade like a proper demon! He totally looked like a hero, didn¡¯t he? I¡¯M SO PISSED! How can he be that incompetent? He got my hopes up, I¡¯m so angry¡­ It was still bright when Ray woke up. As soon as he opened his eyes, he saw someone standing not far away. He jumped up in fright, but then sighed in disappointment. It was just another idiot. He scoffed in derision at the fake hero. He wasn¡¯t going to get his hopes up again when he will only get a third scratch on his Ray was still reeling from his incomprehensibly sudden death in his soul space. Ray was inconsolable. He had imagined to be a cool epic demon, but what did he do? He ran away from a fake hero, and then when the real hero came, he acted like the dumbest idiotic villain ever, the kind he himself hated with a passion. ¡° ¡° ¡°Vorm asked mockingly. Ray was livid, but he didn¡¯t know what to do with himself. At the end, he just sat down and tried to summon some books. They were of course all blurry. He didn¡¯t want to ask but¡­ he really wanted to read¡­ ¡°Vorm said in a sickeningly sweet tone that made all of Ray¡¯s hair stood on end. Ray threw the books at the hole. Vorm chuckled, but it summoned the books Ray wanted. Ray forgot all his grievances and even thanked it. He could read about his favorite fellow transmigrated bookworm, that always cheered him up. He only wanted to read one book. But then he thought he could read just one more. And then another one. Just a little bit more. When he was on the sixth book, Vorm¡¯s voice suddenly disturbed his blissful reading. ¡° ¡° shut up, it¡¯s fun. Give. Them. back. ¡°Live a life first, then you can read more. Or, you don¡¯t want to be a dragon anymore?¡± Okay, but can I not be a baby? ¡°Yeah, no baby, too annoying. I can kick someone out and you can take their body.¡± Isn¡¯t that just possession that would make me die in days? ¡°¡­¡± ¡°¡­there is a difference between a powerful demon and a lowly human. It won¡¯t be like a possession.¡± Hmm¡­ but no. I don¡¯t want you to kill someone for me. ¡°What does it matter when you had already killed hundreds of thousands? So you¡¯d rather start as a baby then?¡± Hundreds of thousands¡­ That was different, I didn¡¯t have my memories back thenAnd no baby¡­ can¡¯t you just make me a¡­ co-pilot? ¡°Co-pilot? What strange ideas are you coming up with this time?¡± Co-pilot. Put me with someone¡¯s soul, don¡¯t kick them out. We can swap who controls the body. Preferably someone cool. Ah I know, co-piloting the school grass. ¡°¡­¡± ¡°¡­you read too much danmei.¡± But wouldn¡¯t it be fun? Put me in the school idol¡¯s body in a high school. It would help me with my anxiety too if I could see how normal people interact with each other. And I¡¯d also need to be able to speak their language¡­ Sorry, sorry, I know that¡¯s too much. Vorm, I know you are pretty amazing, but this is too specific, isn¡¯t it? As awesome as you are, there¡¯s no way you can do all this, it¡¯s impossible, forget it, forget it. ¡°I can¡¯t? There is no way? Impossible? Laozi is going to show you¡± Whose the one who read too much danmei now... Chapter 15 – A Warm Welcome Ray said nervously. It only dawned on him now, how weird his request was to intrude upon people like this, but hey, it was still better than just killing someone. And being a baby was not an option he ever wanted to consider again. Then it occurred to him that the other person might not understand him. He wasn¡¯t sure how this worked, since Vorm never explained anything. Try to think thoughts at me, maybe that works? ¡°WHO ARE YOU?¡± When Ray next regained his awareness, he seemed to be sitting in school. He said tentatively to the body¡¯s owner, Your thoughts were so powerful you knocked me out, could you hold back a bit, please? I¡¯m Ray by the way, nice to¡ª ¡°GO!¡± ¡°Ray felt as if death itself was caressing him with its icy hands. He lost all hope and said dejectedly, He could call for Vorm to help, but if the owner was so hostile, he didn¡¯t feel like being here anymore. He would rather just die. That reminded him of Vorm. But there was no answer. He tried to feel for the spot where Vorm was, but it felt very muted, barely perceptible. He wasn¡¯t sure why it was like this, but he understood there wasn¡¯t going to be a Vorm to help him this time. ¡°the deathly chilling voice swept over him, making his mind quiver and shiver. Why was this guy so much stronger than him? Vorm always kept telling him how weak his soul was, maybe that was why? Or was it because a body¡¯s original owner was naturally stronger in their own body than an intruder? He didn¡¯t know, and right now, it didn¡¯t even matter. Ray felt miserable, and wanted to leave. He couldn¡¯t handle this kind of hostility, he would rather go and be a baby instead. The more he thought about it all, the more upset he became. After a while, he answered tearfully, on the verge of crying. No way would Ray ever admit that he himself asked for this. ¡°There was a shift in the desolate, frozen lands of the voice where a hailstorm suddenly came alive and raged, wanting to kill and destroy. Ray thought he was about to die, but it was not after his life. Yet, he still felt as if he was frozen in ice and snow. ¡°the frosty voice demanded. But it was too much for Ray¡¯s fragile mind, at last, he broke down and started sobbing. ¡°Don¡¯t cry,¡± Sob sob.. kill me¡­ sob sob¡­ I don¡¯t want to be here anymore hic¡­ you hate me¡­ sob sob¡­ ¡°¡­ ¡°but the voice was still deathly cold, void of the tiniest warmth. Ray reached a breaking point, his thoughts and emotions all boiled over as he lashed out wildly in a mess, bawling uncontrollably. He didn¡¯t care anymore, and poured out all his grievances and indignation to this unfeeling, icy guy that hated him. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Ray kept on and on, wailing and crying as his speech became more and more incoherent, slowly quieting. The icy voice stayed silent as Ray kept blabbering and mumbling, crying himself to sleep. ¡° a cold, uncaring voice called him. Ray was immediately wide awake. He recalled what had happened before he fell asleep. He felt ashamed for his outburst, he wanted to kick himself. So stupid, breaking down like that, crying. It always just made things even worse, as he would get pushed away and ignored like an infectious disease. His anger surged. As if it was up to him! If he could, he would never ever cry. And now, he was still here, the cold voice still hating him. He was starting to tear up in shame and anger, about to curse out the ice-guy¡ª The voice continued unfeelingly, ¡°don¡¯t cry anymore... I won¡¯t kill you and send you back to that AI... It¡¯s okay for you to be here, don¡¯t cry.¡± That was what the voice said, but it sounded as if it wanted to freeze everyone and everything into an unending sleep, from where there was no escape. Ray swallowed back what he was about to say, his anger evaporating. He didn¡¯t dare to say anything. Maybe he wasn¡¯t going to be shoved aside this time? Maybe he wasn¡¯t hated? Hope was too scary. ¡°the icy voice said again, trying to be soothing, but being deathly sharp and frosty instead. Ray gathered up all his courage and asked, ¡°but the voice was still bitingly cold. Ray didn¡¯t believe him. he asked tearily. ¡°the voice trailed off. There was silence for a little while, then the voice said again, carefully and tentatively, This time, the voice was still cold, but instead of the deathly chill in the middle of a desolate frozen land, it was like a soothing cold in the heat of a summer that cooled Ray before his emotions could boil up again. Ray sighed in relief, it seemed to be fine, for now. However... The ice-guy might not hate him yet, but if he didn¡¯t pull himself together, the ice-guy would surely get fed up of him soon enough, so he tried to move on. ¡° Ray was shocked out of his own misery. ¡°The deathly chill in the voice returned, but Ray was too bothered by that name to be frightened again. ¡° ¡°the icy voice was indifferent, as if talking about the weather, Oh, I¡¯m sorry¡­ ¡°No more questions, I need to get ready.¡± Chapter 16 – Microwaves and a Dazzling City Wait wait, back up, back up please, look at yourself for a bit. ¡°What for?¡± I want to know how you look like of course, what else for? There¡¯s a mirror here too! Quickly, look at yourself! Although, from the corner of AZ¡¯s eyes Ray had seen the mirror, he couldn¡¯t focus on it clearly, since he didn¡¯t control the body, that naturally included the eyes as well. Ray was dying of curiosity, but AZ mercilessly left the room without a backward glance. He coldly commented, Right my ass! The world isn¡¯t fair to begin with, no point fighting for fairness, so you might as well show me your face. ¡°stop.¡± Ray knew he was always too lost in his inner world to pay attention to the outside. It was always like that, his thoughts took up too much space to observe anything around him. He realized, that even though he was curious about this dystopian worldRay had already convinced himself it was a dystopian world¡ªhe was too busy imagining it, and then trying to persuade AZ, to pay attention to AZ¡¯s home. What an oversight. So, he finally focused all his attention to observe AZ¡¯s home. It was clean, neat and tidy, but he found the many plants around a bit out of place. Ice and plants didn¡¯t really go well together, did they? Why do you have so many plants? ¡°I don¡¯t, plants are everywhere.¡± ¡°Is that a microwave? It looks like one, and functions like one by heating up food, but it doesn¡¯t behave like one! How come your food is evenly warm? I¡¯ve never heard of a microwave like that, and you only put it in for half a minute, how is that possible? What kind of godlike microwave is that? It can¡¯t be a microwave, impossible.¡± ¡°It¡¯s a food-heater, it¡¯s natural it heats up the food evenly.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t understand! This food-heater of yours is like the microwave we had where I come from. But microwaves never heat up food evenly, the outer parts are always piping hot, burning your mouth, while the inside is still freezing cold. And then, you have this food-heater, and you act as if it¡¯s all natural, but it isn¡¯t! How come your microwave is this godly?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know what to tell you other than this microwave food-heater of yours sounds lacking,¡± You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. ¡°Lacking¡­ that¡¯s an understatement. Let me tell you¡­¡± ame Ray¡¯s sudden wail. ¡°What is it now?¡± This¡­ this place¡­! What is this place? It¡¯s so weird. We are underground, yes? But it is like a fucking jungle! There are plants everywhere, every-absolutely-fucking-where, and they are all so blindingly colorful. And creepy birds, I feel like they are watching us, it¡¯s like that conspiracy theory where pigeons are the surveillance of the government. And even though there are so many birds, everything is so clean. How is everything so clean? Everything is so bright and well-lit. And that¡­ calling it a lift feels like injustice! It was huge, and it went up and up for so long, with so many people joining. But it wasn¡¯t huge first, you stepped into a normal lift, and by the time we arrived, it was a giant lift? How did that even happen? And then you took that thing, and swish swish, it was so fast, and we are already here. And there were so many people everywhere, and everyone is so stunningly beautiful and strikingly handsome. I had thought that with weird names, and looking at you being so cold all the time, everyone was going to be like that, but no! Only you are like this, people seem bright and happy, they talk and laugh. This place seems amazing. I thought it was a dystopia, but it clearly is a utopia, even though we are still underground. Is this whole place underground? Is this your school? I can¡¯t wait to see what¡¯s your school is like and meet your friends. Woooaaah, this guy is so warm and bright like the sun. Wait, do you even know what a sun is if you live underground? Well, the sun is like¡­ this guy. What does he mean you look lively? Is he being sarcastic? He must be, but his face and voice sounds so honest, he¡¯s like a puppy I want to pet. Damn, why am I in your deathly cold mind instead of hanging out with that guy? He seems so much more fun. Woah, I didn¡¯t think his smile could be any more lovely, look at him, how can you not smile back? How can you be this unfeeling and unmoved? Quick, give me control of your body, so I can smile back at him. Chapter 17 – Underneath You knocked me out! Why! If you got fed up with me, just tell me to shut up, no need to knock me out like that. I wanted to see how your school was like, and meet your friends, but now I¡¯ve missed it all. ¡°I¡¯ll tell you now then, shut up.¡± Ray couldn¡¯t hold back anymore and said, Damn, is he flirting with you? How can¡ª ¡°Shut up.¡± ¡° ¡°Shut up and listen. Don¡¯t ever joke with things like that.¡± ¡°From now on, I¡¯ll keep you asleep when I¡¯m at school.¡± ¡° That was all he said and Ray didn¡¯t ask more. He could be blind as a bat, and fickle as the wind, but he was always perceptive to others¡¯ emotions. AZ was too serious to not do as he said, and Ray understood he was too much. It was just that¡­ he always told himself he was fine alone, and he did feel fine, it was easier to be by himself, people were too complicated. But then, when he had someone else to talk to, he was too ecstatic, too excited. He had Vorm to talk to, but Vorm always felt different, and he was just happy to be able to talk to another human without being seen, without crippling anxiety. How messed up, he thought to himself. They lay quiet in the dark, and it took a long time before they fell asleep. * Ray didn¡¯t say anything the next morning, nor did he complain when AZ let him wake up after school. He stayed quiet throughout the day. He was patient, he watched, he listened, he observed as he was told. He had always been too focused on his inner world to pay attention to anything else, but now, he focused outwards, trying to see what AZ meant, and he felt AZ paid attention to look around more, letting Ray see. When AZ was lying in bed at night, he suddenly asked, There are no old people. I haven¡¯t seen a single old person, that¡¯s weird. Where are all the old people? Everyone is beautiful and handsome, it¡¯s like everyone is perfect. That is also weird. Do the old, sick, not as beautiful people live separately? The birds seem weird as well. It¡¯s like they really are watching. Maybe I¡¯m just imagining it because of what you said and I¡¯m biased, but even though people are smiling and laughing, it all seems strained, as if they were forcing themselves to act cheerful and hide their pain. I must be imagining it. ¡°AAZ889 was pleasantly surprised by Ray¡¯s perceptiveness, he wasn¡¯t as silly and dumb as he seemed to be. Then he softly added, ¡° Don¡¯t you have weekends? I¡¯ve been here for many days but each day is the same? ¡°Weekends? What do you mean? Why wouldn¡¯t each day be the same?¡± When do you rest? ¡°Everyone rests in the evening and sleeps at night.¡± AZ kept him asleep even after school on that day. It was already evening when Ray was woken up. Here, evening only meant that the lights outside were turned off, and Ray had learnt a couple days ago that you were prohibited from going out after curfew. AZ was standing at his front door, clearly about to go out, but before Ray could ask anything This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. ¡°Don¡¯t ask, don¡¯t speak,¡± He didn¡¯t know what to say, so he said as a matter of fact, No, I don¡¯t. Why? ¡°He was defective, thus disposed of.¡± Defective? How? It was just a kid¡­ a fucking kid! What the hell you mean defective? ¡°Suspected homosexuality.¡± ...What? He was just a kid how do you even know that? No, that doesn¡¯t even matter, why is it such a crime deserving of death? Why the fuck does it even matter? Who the fuck decided it? And why would you go along with this? How could you kill a child?! ¡°Why are there no old people? Because they are disposed of. Why does everyone look perfect? Because of the defective ones are disposed of. Who decides it? The Grand AI that manages the city. By the way, those birds? Surveillance.¡± ¡°The Grand AI is prohibited from killing humans, that is why we are used instead. Not only defective elements are removed, but the Grand AI matches suitable breeding partners based on genetics. However, one of the Grand AI¡¯s directive is to give the human population as much freedom as possible, without impeding on the smooth management of the city. If your partner is deemed unsuitable, you can go through in vitro fertilization with suitable eggs, sperm. There¡¯s a paternity and maternity test done on each newborn, just to make sure. If there is any problem, they are disposed of.¡± How this all came to be...? ¡°We are taught that the surface was destroyed by humans, but before going extinct completely, they created the Grand AI. Now we live safely in this underground city, managed by the AI.¡± If the AI cannot kill, why does everyone go along with it? ¡°Because even this illusory freedom would be taken away.¡± ¡°You think I do this because I want to?¡± ¡°Cases like tonight are the worst, it is easier when they scream and struggle. I¡¯d like to at least say I know the exact number of people I¡¯ve killed, but I don¡¯t. Hundreds? Thousands? Does it even matter at this point? We are selected and are being trained from when we are six. After all the matchmaking and screening, there are still defective newborns, you know? My first was a deaf newborn. The second a blind one. After a couple one of those, you either lose your mind and became the defective one to be disposed of, or go numb to it all. We are even prohibited from killing anyone in their sleep. To train our mindset, they have to be awake and know their death came. As I grew up, my targets grew as well. Young, old, doesn¡¯t matter, it¡¯s all the same and the Grand AI watches us all.¡± How can humans live like this? ¡°What humans? The last human has died long ago. We are nothing but sacks of flesh and bone.¡± Ray suddenly broke the silence. He himself didn¡¯t know why he felt compelled to say this. He would¡¯ve buried it all again if he could, but tonight, he couldn¡¯t. I keep telling myself I was just wolf without my memories, but still, it¡¯s eating away at me. Ray didn¡¯t need AZ to answer, he just wanted to share with someone who would understand. ¡°feel better, but at the end of the day, you killed them. Just as I killed them. We both are murderers, butchers. It¡¯s either I die or they die. Maybe someday I¡¯ll choose to die as well,¡± AZ paused, ¡°why does it matter whether the girl was abused or not? Does being abused give the right to abuse others? It¡¯s a cause, a reason, but it is no excuse.¡± Aren¡¯t you contradicting yourself? On one hand you say we are murderers, no excuses, but on the other, it¡¯s either they die or I die, as if we had no choice. ¡° Neither do I. They didn¡¯t know, there was no solution, but they felt comforted in each other¡¯s company as they drifted off to sleep. Chapter 18 – A Choice Offered, a Choice Made Morning came soon. As AZ left for school, Ray saw the city in a different light. How many of the smiling, laughing people carried pain deep in their heart, buried, never to be spoken of? Never allowed to grieve? How many of them found their loved one gone? Ray hated this world, he¡¯d rather be eaten as a baby. He wished he had never come here. When they arrived at school, Ray expected to be put to sleep, but he was still awake as AZ made his way to his classroom. He thought AZ forgot. Before Ray could ask, AZ said, ¡°You won¡¯t ignorantly blabber on anymore, so it¡¯s fine.¡± Thank you, sorry about before. Thinking about his ignorant, incessant blabbering before, Ray felt ashamed. ¡°It¡¯s fine, it¡¯s not that I hated it, it¡¯s just that it was dangerous. The Grand AI is always watching, and I might let something slip, however minute it is. It takes nothing to be suspected.¡± How come you talk so much now then? ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± AZ himself didn¡¯t understand. Even if he looked and acted as cold and distant as always, something was different. With vacant eyes and thoughts wandering, he didn¡¯t notice when XZ arrived and turned to him as he always did. He didn¡¯t see how XZ paused and reached out a hand with worry, but pulled it back, and forced a smile. ¡° AZ answered absentmindedly, ¡°Hey,¡± when he realized what he had said, he added, ¡°sit properly.¡± XZ turned away without a word. There was nothing wrong with this interaction. There shouldn¡¯t have been anything wrong with it. But Ray was closely observing everything, and an ominous feeling slowly creeped up on him. He couldn¡¯t put his finger on it, but as time passed, he was increasingly worried. When they were leaving the school, he didn¡¯t even remember anything since they arrived, his mind was blank all day. AZ, are you okay? ¡° AZ didn¡¯t know if he was okay or not. He didn¡¯t think anymore that anyone was okay in this city. He was increasingly regretting letting Ray learn the truth. Ever since last night, he couldn¡¯t get back to that cold numbness he had always felt before. Suddenly, he slowed his steps and looked to his right. XZ was standing there, hands in his pockets, leaning his back on the wall, looking at him. Looking with a fiery gaze, AZ had never seen, or maybe just never noticed before. At that moment, he became sure of something. Even if he couldn¡¯t talk, couldn¡¯t cry, couldn¡¯t tell him, XZ still understood. AZ¡¯s gaze fleetingly softened with gratitude as he turned away, and continued on. ¡°AZ suddenly asked in the evening. I have a bad feeling. It¡¯s like I¡¯m holding my breath before the disaster hits. ¡°There shouldn¡¯t be a target today, it¡¯s usually¡ª¡± the sound that he always dreaded cut him off. AZ pulled out his communicator to look at his target. He froze, but nothing on his face gave away any feelings he might have had. Ray might¡¯ve said something, but AZ didn¡¯t hear it, there was nothing, but emptiness. It was already curfew time, so he left, and was taken to his target like so many times before. Before AZ realized, he was already looking at the sadly smiling target in front of him. He didn¡¯t remember how he got here, he only knew what he was supposed to do. He said in a daze, ¡°you were deemed¡­¡± ...defective¡­ he couldn¡¯t say it. How could he be defective? ¡°¡­defective and are to be disposed of,¡± XZ finished for him. ¡°It¡¯s okay,¡± he came closer, stopping just a step away from AZ, and tilting his head, waiting patiently. AZ wished he weren¡¯t, he wanted XZ to struggle, to fight, to not just accept it like this. Tomorrow, he would go to school, but never again would there be someone turning to him, looking at him. No one else ever looked at him. They were all scared, they all felt it, and knew who he was, what he was, even if no one ever said anything. They just avoided him, and it was easier for him to avoid them in turn. If he never cared about anyone, he would never have to kill someone he cared about. How did it all come to this then? He didn¡¯t even care about this annoying guy. He didn¡¯t care, he did not care... He was jolted out of his thoughts as he grabbed XZ¡¯s hand that was already heading to XZ¡¯s own neck. He didn¡¯t even notice when XZ took one of the¡ª ¡°he asked angrily. ¡°XZ was still smiling. AZ didn¡¯t think. With his other hand, he tore it out of XZ¡¯s grip and threw it away. He didn¡¯t know what he was doing. XZ¡¯s smile froze, his face fell and he said in a grave tone, ¡°you don¡¯t have a choice. It¡¯s better than both of us dying.¡± He tried to pull back his hand, but AZ gripped it tighter and didn¡¯t leg go. AZ couldn¡¯t let go. ¡°Either I die or they die,¡± ¡°no excuses,¡± ¡°no choice,¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± his thoughts kept swirling, overwhelming him. He looked down on the hand he was gripping tightly. It was warm. He wondered¡­ he pulled it up, and holding the back of the hand he tilted his head to rest the side of his face in the hand. He looked back into XZ¡¯s eyes. The thumb gently moved, caressing his cheek. He turned his head and kissed the palm. XZ jerked back his hand as if burned and stepped back. This time, he was the one who said angrily, gritting his teeth, ¡°What are you doing?¡± AZ smiled bitterly, ¡°I do have a choice.¡± Then he added, ¡°let¡¯s be free, unrestrained. We are already dead anyway.¡± XZ knew that, and he held back no more, thought no more. He reached out, pulled AZ close and kissed him longingly. It was like everything that had built up throughout the years burst out all at once, all his restraint gone, he kissed him fiercely and AZ responded just as passionately. An intoxicating, fleeting moment of freedom. AZ knew they were doomed, but he did not care anymore. For the first time, he felt free, unburdened, as if soaring in the vast skies he had only read about. In this moment, the world felt right. He wanted to stay in the here and now, forever. He could not accept them to be torn apart. Their time was running out, but he could not accept it. It was unacceptable. He could not accept this world, it was wrong. The world itself was wrong, it had to change. The thought burst forth with power, burning through his mind like a cold fire, and he felt the world itself respond, as it changed as he wished, heeding his command. It answered, and their moment was frozen in ice. Free in death. * Ray found himself in his soul space. No no no no, this is not right, Vorm what the hell happened?! Ray had pulled back into himself when AZ started being intimate, he didn¡¯t want to feel it. Then, he was suddenly here. He knew what it meant, but he didn¡¯t want to accept it. ¡°They are dead, alright. Their moment frozen in ice as he wished,¡± came Vorm¡¯s offhand answer as if talking about the weather. What do you mean? Ray realized anew how aggravating Vorm was, but he tried to focus on what he wanted to know instead of getting annoyed at it. ¡°He awakened to his powers. He¡¯s about to be revived, his memory will be wiped, and he will join the war,¡± Vorm kept explaining it disinterestedly. What war, what? Ray couldn¡¯t make sense of any of this. While Vorm wasn¡¯t interested in that world at all, he somewhat found Ray amusing, so it went on, ¡°That city? Yeah, it¡¯s just a test site. There are many test sites like that. That city was actually one of the better ones. Surface destroyed? Yeah, it isn¡¯t, there are vast cities crowded with humans. Real cities, not test sites that only the ignorant inhabitants call a city.¡± Ray¡¯s mind was reeling from all this information, he refused to accept it, it couldn¡¯t be true. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it. No, you are lying to mess with me. You are always lying. How would you even know all this? And where were you all this time? I needed you! ¡°Well, these worlds aren¡¯t as strictly monitored, so I can get away with some subtle things without being discovered. And do you think that guy would¡¯ve survived interacting with me? How naive. I¡¯m only explaining, because I was thinking of giving you a choice, but you accuse me of lying. Forget it then.¡± Vorm finished its explanations as if it was done with the conversation. What choice? Ray spat out with disgust. ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter anymore.¡± Vorm was unmoved. Ray took a deep breath and asked again pleadingly, Please¡­ what choice? ¡°Hmm¡­¡± Ray swallowed his pride and said kindly, forcing it out through gritted teeth, I¡¯m sure you came up with something very smart since you are a genius, please tell me what it is. Vorm felt generous today, ¡°Well, alright. Your Soul Core is still in AZ¡¯s body, and so is his. I can kick him out and send him to reincarnate, and you get to enjoy his ice powers. Or, he technically died, so we can go to your next life and leave AZ in his body. Or, we can just leave an empty body and pull both of you out. You gotta decide now, before he gets revived.¡± Ray didn¡¯t like any of that, he was greedy. Neither. Send both XZ and AZ to reincarnate together with their memories intact, to the same place that is not this fucked up. If I stay, can I stop the test sites? ¡°Don¡¯t you think you are wishing for too much? And no, you can¡¯t, you¡¯d just be broken like before, or have you forgotten your wolf-life?¡± Ray tried not to think of his past failures, looking ahead instead. I won¡¯t know unless I try. I want to stay, maybe I can change things. Vorm was pleased, it now had a perfect idea. It started presenting its magnanimous options kindly, laced with poison, ¡°Alright, I give you two choices then. Option one, I¡¯ll tie their Soul Cores to each other. They will always reincarnate together, with their memories mostly intact as a bonus. Everything you could wish for them. But! You will leave this world and we will go to the next one. Option two, they go to reincarnation normally, no memories, and the chances of their souls ever meeting again is practically zero. You will stay in this world in AZ¡¯s body, and I¡¯ll help you eliminate the test sites.¡± Ray knew it was futile to even ask, yet he still had to, Can¡¯t it be the first part of option one plus second part of option two? ¡°No. It¡¯s non-negotiable. I sped up the time flow here so you have an hour to decide. If you don¡¯t decide by then, AZ stays, and gets his memories wiped while the other one and you go to reincarnate.¡± So approximately how many people are living in test sites in total? Ray knew Vorm wouldn¡¯t change its mind, there was no point wasting time trying. ¡°Around 50 million¡± What if I die before we could free the people in the test sites? ¡°I¡¯ll just reincarnate you back into this world.¡± So basically, what you are telling me is¡­ choose between two people I care about, and fifty million strangers¡­ ¡°Not exactly. Sure, there are 50 million living in the test sites now, but they will have children, and those children will grow up and have children. It¡¯s not merely 50 million, it¡¯s 50 million generations after generations.¡± Vorm pointed out the obvious, making sure Ray knew the full scale of things. Why are you trying to make me responsible for the misery of all those people? ¡°I don¡¯t. Choose.¡± Since I have tho ability to help, I should, shouldn¡¯t I? With great power comes great responsibility and all that shit¡­ but I want them to be together. I haven¡¯t known AZ for long, and he wasn¡¯t a talkative guy, but¡­ Ray was quiet for a while, just blankly staring at nothing. He knew what he really wanted to choose, he just couldn¡¯t find a justification for it that would let him sleep at night. Haaaah¡­ he sighed and rubbed his face, then grabbed his hair and messed it up. Fuck you, Vorm. I hate that I feel responsible for millions of people, why should I? It¡¯s none of my business, yet you made them my business. Ray cursed out this unfeeling thing, but Vorm didn¡¯t answer, just waited quietly, silently forcing Ray to choose, not giving any reprieve. At last, Ray closed his eyes in shame, and feeling defeated, whispered as if he lost his soul, I choose option one. ¡°Okay, although if you feel responsible for them, why are you abandoning them?¡± It wasn¡¯t like Vorm didn¡¯t know, but why would it let Ray just move on like that? Ray didn¡¯t want to talk about this anymore, yet for some reason, he answered, Because I don¡¯t want to be responsible for anyone else. Do I feel miserable? I do. But what I really want is for those two to be together, and for me to not be responsible for people I had never decided to be responsible for. ¡°Are you crying tears of joy then?¡± Shut up, and do as you said. Ray tried to escape from this conversation, but Vorm was merciless, it said accusingly, ¡°You were always good at ignoring inconvenient truths.¡± Ray felt as if Vorm ripped away everything that he tried to cover himself with, pointing out the hideous truth. Ray hated it, despised it, but could not willing ignore it anymore. As if a crack in the dam he had built was made, it burst apart and the flood rushed though, wrecking everything in its path. Fine! I admit it! I¡¯m fucking pathetic. I¡¯m too scared, and I can¡¯t be bothered. I hate how I feel that it is my obligation to liberate, to save them. But yes, I¡¯m scared. Being thrown into random worlds, which is out of my hands, and just going with the flow as I¡¯m tossed around is one thing, but making a choice to do something is completely different. I¡¯m this pathetic that I¡¯m too scared of making choices, okay? But what can I do? What does it matter anyway? Humans are all selfish bastards, and nice people are only nice to feel better about themselves. And that is completely fine, why shouldn¡¯t everyone be a selfish bastard? But why do I feel so fucking horrible for abandoning all these people? I wish I could say that I just find AZ and XZ so close to my heart that I want them to be together, no matter what. But I can¡¯t even say that, because I honestly feel like what I should do is stay, and get rid of these test sites, free the people from this misery. Then why am I incapable of choosing to stay and try? So what if I fail, at least I tried, no? But no, I can¡¯t, I feel so paralyzed. Or am I doing this to make myself feel miserable, like a punishment? Is it that I love being miserable and feel pity for myself? Who the fuck knows. So yes, I¡¯m choosing to turn away and forget about this world, to run away. Just as I ran away as a wolf, I could¡¯ve gotten stronger with time, kill them all and live, but I chose the easy way out, death. So at least, I admit I¡¯m running away yet again, I¡¯m pretty good at not thinking about painful things anyway. Vorm tell me, why am I like this? Vorm didn¡¯t answer. What needed to be said was said. The fool wanted to change, but he didn¡¯t even realize what needed to be changed. How could one change without deeply understanding themself first? The fool was just blindly stumbling about, but for now, this was enough. So, Vorm did as it had said it would. Those two would always be reincarnating together. ¡°Already done. Now you can regret dooming fifty million people, their future children, and their children¡¯s children,¡± Vorm said cheerfully. As if he never even had an outburst, Ray said breezily, You know, I really doubt this personality of yours is based on my preferences. And anyway¡­ aren¡¯t dragons only care about themselves? Dragons are selfish so¡­ it¡¯s fine for me being selfish. And anyway, AZ and XZ can be together now, so it¡¯s a happy ending. ¡°Sure, keep trying to convince yourself.¡± Ray ignored that, and went on, I haven¡¯t even got to see AZ¡¯s face at the end¡­ Ray sighed, a gut-wrenching guilt was twisting his insides, but he was always good at ignoring things he felt awful about, wasn¡¯t he? He laughed dryly In self-derision. I wanted to learn from someone else how to interact with people and overcome my high school trauma, but am I not even more traumatized? Vorm didn¡¯t answer. It knew the fool was wrong, that was not the issue. Copying others¡¯ behavior to fit in was always just a surface solution, not a real one. But there was no point telling that to the ignorant fool now, he¡¯d eventually realize it himself. When Vorm wasn¡¯t answering, Ray had enough of everything, and said, Give me books to read. The books he had been reading of his favorite bookworm reappeared. No, not this one, I¡¯m not in the mood. ¡°Why not? Don¡¯t these make you laugh?¡± Yeah, that is why. Misery loves company. Give me the shadow one, the harrowing things he faces are worse than what I had to go through so far. Ray was delighted when the books appeared, and he delved into them right away. Vorm left him to it, but when Ray was halfway, over 800 chapters in, he suddenly stopped. He started feeling uneasy because he didn¡¯t want to run out of chapters to read. He was already halfway. A thought occurred to him. Why are you letting me read by the way? I¡¯m sure it¡¯s not because you are nice. ¡°To let your soul rest a bit. It would be bothersome if it broke down.¡± Ray was curious, but he couldn¡¯t bother asking about soul stuff just to be told how stupid he was. Instead, he wondered about something else. Say Vorm, if I become an all-powerful dragon, will my story echo through worlds, turning into books as well? ¡°Maybe. But imagine that. Who would even want to read a book with you as the protagonist?¡± What¡¯s wrong with me as a protagonist?! ¡°¡­¡± So what if I¡¯m a cowardly protagonist with deep-rooted personality issues? There are so many kinds of people with different tastes. ¡°Sure, sure. Anyway, time to reincarnate.¡± Wait, let me ask you something. I doubt you care about my well-being, so why aren¡¯t you locking away my memories like you had done before and let me reincarnate unknowingly? ¡°The growth potential like that would be limited. As you are now you struggle more, and struggle promotes growth.¡± How nice¡­ ¡°If you struggle hard and long enough, you might be able to become a dragon. Why aren¡¯t you happy?¡± I¡¯m very happy, very very happy, thank you, Ray said emotionlessly in a flat tone. ¡°Cheer up, it¡¯s reincarnation time!¡± Wait wait, I¡¯m exhausted. I don¡¯t want to deal with bullshit worlds anymore, can¡¯t you send me somewhere peaceful? ¡°It¡¯s random,¡± Vorm lied. Hold on. How is it random if you could put me in someone¡¯s body? It isn¡¯t random at all, is it? ¡°The world is random, I can only influence the type of reincarnation,¡± Vorm lied again, unfazed. No, that¡¯s bullshit. Haven¡¯t you sent AZ and XZ into a better world? ¡°I¡¯ve never said that.¡± No, I still don¡¯t believe you, and you said in option one, that everything I could wish for them. So you must have sent them into a better world, haven¡¯t you? Do you think I¡¯m that stupid I wouldn¡¯t realize you¡¯ve been lying to me about it being random? ¡°Yes.¡± Ray: ¡­.. Then¡­ Can you reincarnate me as a baby to be eaten by a summoned demon I can possess? I can¡¯t believe I¡¯m saying this, but that actually wasn¡¯t so bad¡­ I also still want to terrorize a town, and be killed by a hero or adventurers, someone competent, but not too competent. ¡°I see, so you are into being eaten. You sure have weird tastes.¡± I don¡¯t¡­ ¡°And no, it¡¯s impossible. Only the baby part is doable. So, Baby Ray, here it comes.¡± Chapter 19 – Another Ritual for Baby Ray Chapter 19 ¨C Another Ritual for Baby Ray Baby Ray was experienced, so when he felt squeezed in the familiar darkness of warmth and safety, he didn¡¯t panic. He also knew that if he wanted to be an awesome baby, he could absolutely not say anything to Vormie. Vormie was a big meanie. ¡°Oh? How come you are so quiet?¡± Vorm was looking forward to its favorite entertainment, called ridiculing Ray. Baby Ray refused to answer. He didn¡¯t really understand, but he felt he should stay quiet. He didn¡¯t know why, but it was super important not to talk to Vormie. But Vorm continued, ¡°Hmm¡­ I see, I see! You are a stupid baby that can¡¯t even talk, you probably don¡¯t understand what I¡¯m saying, do you? Aw, you poor thing.¡± Baby Ray wasn¡¯t going to answer, he knew he¡ªI¡¯m not a stupid baby!! I¡¯m a smart baby! I know I shouldn¡¯t talk to you! ¡°Aren¡¯t you talking to me now?¡± came the mocking answer. Baby Ray started mumbling, That¡­ um¡­ well¡­ yes, but¡­ He didn¡¯t know what to say, he felt overwhelmed, on the verge of crying. Finally, he wailed, I hate you Vormie, you are always so mean to meeee!! Vorm just chuckled, but as Ray kept wailing, it soon regretted provoking him. Hours passed as Ray was squished and squeezed towards freedom. I¡¯m finally free! came baby Ray¡¯s triumphant cry. Literal cries as the cold air hit his skin, as someone touched him, as he took his first breaths. He cried and cried, he couldn¡¯t help it. Soon, he realized no one was eating him. Instead, he was carefully washed and bundled up in a warm blanket. Everything seemed to be fine. For now. He was tired and wanted to sleep, but he still felt uneasy. All he could see were blurry figures. Who knew if they were big bad guys planning something very bad? Vormie, are they going to eat me? ¡°No, it doesn¡¯t seem to be the case this time. I don¡¯t see anything suspicious, other than all these women here being your blood relatives.¡± Okay then¡­ good¡­ Reassured, Ray drifted off to sleep. While Vorm said it couldn¡¯t see anything suspicious, it felt something wasn¡¯t quite right. There were like a dozen women here, all around the same age, all half-sisters. But that wasn¡¯t what it found weird, humans always had all kinds of family structures. No, what it found increasingly suspicious was something else, yet related to their family. It wasn¡¯t sure what it was, but it didn¡¯t have to wait for long to find out. The door opened and a man came in. As soon as Vorm sensed him, it understood. It couldn¡¯t help but snicker. Snicker, until the man, that was baby Ray¡¯s father, carried the fool to somewhere, and Vorm¡¯s snickering was cut short. It realized. What it understood earlier was just a fragment of their madness, but now, it all lay bare before its eyes. It only took Vorm a fraction of a second to comprehend what was going on, but even it was mildly surprised. Baby Ray was woken up by hysterical laughter. Vormie? What¡¯s going on? With laughter in its voice, Vorm excitedly started explaining it, ¡°It¡¯s a ritual! Hahahaha! It¡¯s a ritual again! But don¡¯t worry, that little demon summoning ritual the last time? That is nothing compared to this one. You gotta see this!¡± Ray tried to look around, but all he could see was the man holding him, everything else was just a blur. I see a man? ¡°Right, your stupid baby eyes. Let me help you out with this.¡± Ray¡¯s mind was suddenly flooded with incomprehensible sensations and he cried out in pain. ¡°What? I dumbed it down for you. Ah fine, look.¡± The incomprehensible sensations and the pain went away, and instead, Ray could see a clear picture in his mind. He saw it clearly, but he didn¡¯t understand. The baddies are all naked? ¡°That¡¯s not the important part, can¡¯t you see the engravings on the ground?¡± The pretty patterns? ¡°...Yeah, the pretty patterns¡­¡± Vormie I don¡¯t understand! Explain it to me better, are they gonna eat me? ¡°No, more like... you will eat them.¡± What??! Vormie I don¡¯t want to eat humans!! ¡°Too bad.¡± Then Vorm added reassuringly, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, you will only eat their blood.¡± Baby Ray was not reassured at all, however. I¡¯m not a vampire to eat blood! Vorm snickered, and said, ¡°Not yet.¡± Not yet? I¡¯ll be a vampire...? ¡°Yup, they will make you a va¡ª¡± Vorm cut itself off, seemingly thinking of something. Then, as if admitting defeat, it cried out in frustration, ¡°Ah, enough of this! You should anticipate and appreciate this ritual properly.¡± Ray¡¯s mind suddenly cleared, escaping from that child-like state. Frowning, Ray grumbled, If you could help me think better all this time, why hadn¡¯t you done it earlier? ¡°Because you would die in a week. Now, it¡¯s irrelevant because of this ritual. Here, appreciate it.¡± A rare excitement hid in Vorm¡¯s voice. That was never good. Ray paled as his mind was flooded with more pictures. What is going on?! You said they are making me a vampire? Am I to suck the blood of all these people? ¡°They are sacrifices.¡± What? No, there are thousands of people here! ¡°7776 to be exact, you are the 7777th, the one to become a Vampire Origin.¡± Vampire Origin? ¡°Well, an imitation of one in any case. A proper Vampire Origin ritual is on a whole different scale, this is like the poor man¡¯s version of it. Creative, but pretty nasty.¡± Sacrificing thousands of people¡­ Nasty? That¡¯s an understatement. ¡°Ah, no, that¡¯s not what is nasty about it. It¡¯s just a few thousand people, even you had killed more than this many. No, what is nasty about it, is something entirely different. Disgusting, but I guess it would achieve what they want. You¡¯ll see soon enough.¡± Ray ignored the comment about how many people he had killed as he became thoroughly frightened and annoyed. Can you stop being so enigmatic? It¡¯s not cool at all. ¡°Tsk, don¡¯t be so impatient, it¡¯s no fun at all if I tell you everything ahead.¡± Ray gave up making Vorm explain why it called this ritual nasty. Instead, he focused back on the people, and asked, So, all these people are forced to be sacrifices...? ¡°No, not forced, they are willing.¡± All the pity Ray had felt for them was gone. Crazy people, why are they doing this? ¡°Stop asking for spoilers, I¡¯ve told you already, you¡¯ll learn soon enough.¡± Ray forced down his frustration, he didn¡¯t want to give Vorm the satisfaction of getting angry with its stupidly enigmatic comments. All this time while Ray was talking to Vorm, nothing was happening. The man, Ray¡¯s father, was silently gazing at the ritual. Ray heard him say something, and a naked woman came. The woman took Ray out of his blanket and started carrying him into the middle of the cavern. Thanks to Vorm¡¯s pictures, Ray knew the floor was delicately engraved everywhere, and as they approached the middle, the engravings became more densely packed. Ray briefly wondered how long it took them to prepare this whole ritual. It was crazy, especially the very center. It was a pool, dug into the ground, with incredibly dense, exquisite engravings on its floor, centering around six channels. The pool was empty now, but Ray was sure it was not meant to hold water. He was put down in the center of it on the bottom, and left there. This circular pool was frighteningly big. Based on the woman¡¯s height, Ray guessed it was around 2 m deep, with a diameter of 7 m on the upper part that sloped down and narrowed into a flat circular bottom with a diameter of around 3 m. Ray was curious how many cubic meters of blood it could hold, but he had long forgotten how to calculate the volume of circular things. In any case, he knew one thing for sure. It would be a lot of blood. Say, Vorm, are they trying to drown me in blood? ¡°Hmm, it¡¯s worse than that, but you could say that I guess.¡±Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. Ray snapped, Do you enjoy being pointlessly cryptic and all mysterious, alluding to worse things than I can imagine just to annoy me?! ¡°Yes, why else would I be doing it? Look, your question is even more pointless.¡± Vorm snickered derisively. Ray decided to move on, at least he shouldn¡¯t keep entertaining that jerk. Great. So am I going to be the undead kind of vampire? ¡°No, you won¡¯t die.¡± Ugh, will I become the kind that is full of vitality then? ¡°Would you prefer to be the undead kind?¡± No, actually. The full of vitality kind of vampire makes sense too, and overall preferable not to die in the morning I guess. It¡¯s just that the kind of vampire I have as a standard in my mind is from a series with a zombie raiser, vampire hunter female protagonist that was a bit gruesome, but pretty good crime-solving shit, until¡­ the series turned into a fucking orgy¡ªRay paused, realizing something¡ªhehe, fucking orgy. Vorm, do you see what I did there? Hehe, fucking¡­ ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Okay, okay. In any case, I just hope I won¡¯t sparkle. I¡¯d rather burn to ashes. ¡°Really? I thought you would want to avoid pain at all cost.¡± Pfft, I¡¯m pretty experienced, I¡¯ve got tortured a lot as a Storm Wolf, pain is nothing to me. ¡°Ah right, you haven¡¯t realized it yet that Storm Wolves have a really high pain tolerance, incomparable to humans.¡± What¡­? But it hurt a lot¡­ ¡°Really.¡± ...I¡¯d rather sparkle... ¡°You don¡¯t have to worry, you won¡¯t sparkle.¡± * Aleeniel quietly gazed down at the floor, at the beautiful engravings, the fruit of all their dedication, their tireless efforts. It had taken a long time, years. It was still Lord Alkoutrath¡¯s time when they found the lost research of Elziindreil, the most gifted High Priestess that ever was, and probably would ever be. Unfortunately, no one knew what had happened to her. She, and all her research, had disappeared without a trace one day two hundred years ago, never to be seen. Until a few years ago, when it was unexpectedly found deep in the Blood Mountain. Had she made her way down there? Into the depths no one had ever been to? Or had she died closer to the surface and her research carried down by one of the Blothcraads? No one could know, and it didn¡¯t matter. What mattered was that her research was successfully completed, and they found it still intact. Aleeniel smiled, a rare sight, but fitting for the occasion. Pride of what they had achieved swelled in her heart. She could still not comprehend all the intricacies of the Grand Blood-Ritual¡ªit was way too advanced even for her¡ªbut she didn¡¯t need to. She understood enough to prepare everything to the smallest detail and guide the ritual when it was all ready. Her thoughts wandered, and for once, she let them be. This was the last time anyway, she could indulge herself that much. Elziindreil was very thorough, she hadn¡¯t only provided the ritual circle itself and the process of activating it, she included thorough details for the preparations themselves. It wasn¡¯t that the Scarlet Temple was sloppy when preparing for rituals, they were always very careful and thorough. Well, that was what they had believed until they saw Elziindreil¡¯s instructions, her thoroughness on a whole another scale. They carefully chose this cavern that was big enough, but only had a small entrance, so it could be easily sealed when needed. Digging out sections to make it completely circular, evening out the ceiling and the floor, all these things were not an issue to order to be done, the Scarlet Temple had only needed to supervise. Of course, some of the slaves had to be made examples of, so the rest knew to do a more perfect job. Their wailing was a bit noisy, but this motivation turned out to be sufficient. Despite being just slaves, they did an acceptable job. Unfortunately, that was all they were useful for, the rest of the preparations had to be done completely by the Scarlet Temple. Drawing the specially modified cleansing ritual of Elziindreil that would completely wipe itself off as well, not leaving a single trace, was not difficult, if a bit time consuming, given all the measuring they had to do due to its scale. They didn¡¯t mind using some precious materials either to ensure it was all perfectly cleansed. Constructing a chamber with a permanent peak-quality cleansing ritual before the entrance of the cavern was logical, if costly, so anyone who entered would be perfectly cleansed to keep the cavern pristine. But this was only the start. Elziindreil called it ¡°Preparing the Blank Page¡±. Anyone would have thought at this point that they could start drawing the Grand Blood-Ritual Circle, but of course, Elziindreil would have laughed at that naivety. The next step, she called it ¡°Preparing the Surface of the Blank Page¡±. Aleeniel could agree with that, it was paramount to make the surface as smooth as possible, the issue was¡­ an unmatched talent like Elziindreil was always provided with any material in any amount required without question. There was no price the Scarlet Temple was unwilling to pay in order to nurture a genius whose research could become a brilliant invention that could immensely contribute to further strengthening their Family. This was all understandable, and not a burden normally. The problem was¡­ the scale of the ritual, and Elziindreil¡ªwho was always provided with everything¡ªpaid no heed to the material cost. Still, they followed Elziindreil¡¯s instructions closely, even if it meant digging deep into the Treasury of the Scarlet Temple. In the grand scheme of things, if they could succeed¡ªno, they would succeed¡ªit was a small sacrifice. However, Aleeniel had to admit, the substance Elziindreil invented was ingenious, if unreasonably costly. Precious, rare materials were used up in piles¡ªeven a Bloodcore¡ªbut the substance that was created awed everyone speechless. As instructed by Elziindreil, they concocted this substance in the pool in the center of the cavern. They hadn¡¯t understood how they were to evenly distribute it, there were no further instructions after it was done, only to leave and seal the cavern. Nevertheless, they followed the instructions, wholeheartedly trusting Elziindreil. Then, they understood. As soon as they mixed in the last ingredient, it was as if the whole substance came alive and started crawling out of the pool. They hurried out of the cavern and sealed it for a month. But they were even more astonished upon unsealing it. A pure white. From floor to ceiling, everything was pure white. When Aleeniel crouched down and touched the surface, it was smooth, like nothing she had ever felt before. It felt smoother than the most carefully polished stone, yet it was not reflective at all. As expected of Elziindreil, even ensuring that the surface was non-reflective, so they could easier see when they were drawing. At last, they had finally started drawing the Grand Blood-Ritual Circle. Of course, they used special pens invented by Elziindreil. The marks left by these pens were impossible to remove, yet the sponge¡ªinvented by Elziindreil¡ªcould remove them without a trace. There were even different colors of pens, to make the measuring and planning easier. Even so, it took a long time. Even if there were almost two hundred active Priestesses of the Scarlet Temple, the scale and the complexity of the ritual was unheard of. The Grand Blood-Ritual Circle consisted of many subordinate ritual circles, with a hierarchy even within the subordinate circles. The innermost circle, the First Circle, controlled the Grand Blood-Ritual, and consisted of six Cores. The Second Circle supported the First Circle, but it was divided into Primary and Secondary Supporting Circles. Behind each Core was a Primary Supporting Circle, and to the right and left of those, two-two Secondary Supporting Circles on each side. The 3rd Circle and beyond were only Dependent Circles, but their quantity was astonishing. Each Supporting Circle connected to six Dependent Circles in the 3rd Circle, and those each connected to another six Dependent Circles in the 4th Circle, and those, yet again, connected to another six Dependent Circles in the final 5th Circle. It was mind-numbing. The whole Grand Blood-Ritual Circle consisted of 7777 ritual circles. The Focal Circle, the 6 Cores, the 30 Supportive Circles, 180 Dependent Circles in the 3rd Circle, 1080 Dependent Circles in the 4th Circle, and finally, 6480 Dependent Circles in the 5th Circle. But the issue wasn¡¯t even in the number of the ritual circles. No, if that was all, Aleeniel wouldn¡¯t think that Elziindreil was insane. Yes, she respected Elziindreil immensely, but only someone insane could have created this ritual. No, the issue was that the Cores imitated the design of the Grand Blood-Ritual Circle itself, meaning, each Core was a five-layered ritual circle with 6, 30, 180, 1080, and 6480 ritual-nuclei in the five layers. Luckily, the Primary Supporting Circles were ¡°only¡± four-layered with 6, 30, 180, 1080 ritual-nuclei, while the Secondary Supporting Circles were three-layered with 6, 30, 180 ritual-nuclei. Unfortunately, all the Dependent Circles behind a Primary Supporting Circle were also three-layered with 6, 30, 180 ritual-nuclei, but luckily, the Dependent Circles behind the Secondary Supporting Circles were only two-layered with 6, 30 ritual-nuclei. The Dependent Circles in the 4th Circle were either two-layered with 6, 30 or just a simple one-layered with 6 ritual nuclei. Lastly, all the Dependent Circles in the 5th Circle were one-layered ones. It was an enormous, never before seen undertaking. Still, they had never even thought of giving up or uttering a single complaint. Unfortunately, they also had other duties they couldn¡¯t neglect that consumed their time. Nevertheless, they diligently worked, line by line, day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year. Elziindreil called this stage ¡°Sketching Up the Ritual¡±. After they had finally drawn the Grand Blood-Ritual Circle, they were done, right? Of course not, Elziindreil would have never been satisfied with that. This was the first time Aleeniel had questioned the necessity of following every single instruction of Elziindreil, but they had already spent too much time and too many precious materials to deviate and potentially fail the ritual due to their laziness. So, they followed the next step, ¡°Carving the Ritual¡±. Yes, carving. Maybe Elziindreil had some semblance of conscience, because the pure white stone-like material she had invented, and they had drawn on, made carving it extremely efficient. Using the carving pens¡ªinvented by Elziindreil¡ªthey could carve into the pure white material like hot knife cutting butter. It was magical, the solid material resisted everything else, nothing could leave even a scratch on it, but these carving knifes sliced into it easily. Not only that, the pure white turned into a pale gray, making it very easy on their eyes. The best part? The carving pens could only cut into material where they had already drawn beforehand. Everyone of the Scarlet Temple had thought carving the Grand Blood-Ritual Circle would take longer than drawing it, but it turned out to be much faster, only taking half a year. After that, there was only one final step before they could conduct the Grand Blood-Ritual. Elziindreil called it ¡°Preparing the Offerings¡±. 7777 offerings, including Aleeniel herself. Aleeniel High-Bloodborn, Head Priestess of the Scarlet Temple, born to Alkoutrath the 39th Patriarch of the Bloodborn. She would gladly offer herself up with her thirty-five sisters. It was an honor. She pitied the sisters who could not be there. It couldn¡¯t be helped, the Scarlet Temple had other duties it had to fulfill, they could not all be offered up. The most important offering, however, wasn¡¯t even her. Elziindreil in her research insisted that the Focal of the Grand Blood-Ritual had to be the first-conceived of the Patriarch by using her modified Conception Ritual that required the sacrifice of one of the Blood-Sons and a High Priestess. Aleeniel had never seen Lord Alkoutrath express his regret about being unable to meet this requirement. When he was told of it, he just calmly acknowledged that he wouldn¡¯t live to see the completion of the ritual, but it would fall onto the next Patriarch. Aleeniel, however, knew his Father¡¯s hidden desires, making her even more determined to succeed, to then proudly stand in front of him in the Afterlife. Aleeniel sighed after reminiscing about their arduous journey to prepare everything perfectly, and lifted her head with determination to gaze upon all who were chosen to be offered. Her determination was reflected in the eyes of everyone she saw, her sisters and the Low-Bloodborns alike. She smiled. 7740 Low-Bloodborns, over a third of their adult population. It would temporarily cause some issues, but with this ritual their gain would be tremendous. She shivered in excitement. Aleeniel nodded to her sisters and closed her eyes. She needed a calm mind. There could be no mistakes. Everything had been perfectly prepared and it was up to her to lead the Grand Blood-Ritual. It wasn¡¯t just his Father¡¯s deeply hidden wish, but her wish as well for the Bloodborn to reach new heights. No price paid was too high, everything had to be perfect. Her thoughts slowly fell away. Nothing, but the Grand Blood-Ritual mattered. When a few minutes later she opened her eyes again, her gaze was serene, devoid of any emotion, but determination. Her sisters looked back at her with the same calm, resolute gaze, ready to do anything to succeed. ¡°Blood Above All,¡± she said solemnly, her tranquil voice spread throughout the cavern. Her sisters repeated in unison, ¡°Blood Above All.¡± And when it was said the final, third time, all the Bloodborn united in one notion, ¡°Blood Above All.¡± As the last note of their declaration faded, an eerie silence spread. Chapter 20 – From Many Lives to One Stolen novel; please report. Chapter 21 – The Patriarch This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. Chapter 22 – Perspective Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author. Chapter 23 – The City Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. Chapter 24 – Lively Lakes Underground Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. Chapter 25 – A Monster with Feelings Who Thinks If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. Chapter 26 – Moon and Stars This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work. Chapter 27 – Keeping a Human Alive Is Hard This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. Chapter 28 – Paradise This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there. Chapter 29 – No Escape This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. Chapter 30 – Unrestrained You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. Chapter 31 – Crumbling If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. Chapter 32 – The City of Shackles You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. Chapter 33 – Descending into the Blood Mountain This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there. Chapter 34 – The Founder Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. Chapter 35 – Loss Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. Chapter 36 – Kei’s Story This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.