Dioha woke up. Even without moving he could tell all the parts of him that hurt. The only parts that were free of pain were his neck,chest,and groin. These were the only parts he had been able to protect these four times he had died at the jaws of the Saber-wolves. Among those four attempts,he had learnt a few things each time. Physically,he was feeling stronger now due to his struggles with the wolves.
Each of the previous four times,one wolf always appeared ten minutes before the other wolf showed up. Dioha had figured this out the third time and had exploited it the fourth time. Though the outcome was pretty much the same,but now he understood what he had to do. 'Kill one before the other arrived'. Though the two wolves never attacked him at the same time here in this realm, he could tell that the presence of one always seemed to spur the other on.
Dioha got up slowly. His entire body screamed in protest against the pain but he was resolute. He had a vague idea of where he was,and if he was right,he couldn't afford to stay here much longer. Time always flowed differently in Nether Realms compared to the real world. He couldn't tell how much time he had spent in here,there was no sunrise,no sunset. Just an eerie red sky. Dioha made his way down the mountain,into the forest. He stood still on the forest floor,listening. He needed to find the wolf before it found him. He decided not to go too far from the mountain. When the fight breaks out he needed to be able to use the rocks around. If only he could have one third of his real strength in this body,he'd have been confident of this next fight.
Speaking about this body,Dioha remembered that whenever he made a bad comment about it,the snort always came. Ogalé had said the soul wasn't his. Apparently,that soul had a consciousness and didn't agree with his comments. Dioha had tried talking to it these past four times but got no response. After cursing and yelling at it,Dioha always gave up on communicating with it. As he listened and waited patiently,he decided to give it one more try.
"I know you're inside. And i think you can hear me,you piece of shit! You can see I'm doing all i can to get us out of here. I don't know why i bother with you anyway. My fucking luck that out of all the bodies that were available at that time,yours was the one that was nearest to me." Dioha ranted alone. He waited a while. No response.
"I thought as much. You have nothing to say other than snort and grunt."
Dioha lapsed into silence after that. He was in no mood for chit chats anyway. He'd just focus on killing his way out of here. He had a feeling he would only be able to leave after killing the wolves. The space behind him distorted suddenly. Dioha turned quickly, his muscles tensed.He was on edge. After a few moments everything settled back to normal but Dioha was still alert. Someone or something just entered this realm and was remaining in stealth.
"Ogalé,is that you?" Dioha asked.
"Aye." came the answer.
"You dare to show your face here? After what you did?" Dioha raved,moving swifly towards where he presumed Ogalé should be standing. He got to the spot and swung his hands a couple of times trying to punch Ogalé but his fist connected with no one. "Why don't you come out,you old weasel?"
"I'm not really here,Dioha. I just linked my consciousness with this realm so all you'll get is my voice." Ogalé chuckled softly.
"Let me out of here right now!!!" Dioha yelled.
"I am not holding you here. I have no power to keep you here,and you know it. You can leave whenever you defeat the guardians of this realm."
"What brought you here? Surely,you didn't just come to check up on me," Dioha asked. He was calmer now. There was no benefit in losing his head right now. As far as he could tell, Ogalé was trying to force him to train his body. Dioha didn't like his method but he knew Ogalé did it for him. But of course Dioha would deal with him when he got out.
'You don't mess with a god no matter how good your intentions are.'
"I expected you to have been out of here before now," Ogalé said.
"Well,here am i. I'm still here ain't i?"
"You still haven't trained this body fully. Few minutes ago when you were angry and raving,there was no rumble,no aura on you. Nothing."
"Don't lecture me. Just let me out of here," Dioha replied,his tone going up a notch.
"I see a consciousness,this body's consciousness hanging around you. Hmm,fascinating. A fragment of his soul has morphed into a consciousness." Ogale continued.
"I've been trying to communicate with the weak idiot. All i get are stupid grunts." Dioha spat out.
"Now,now,now,that's no way to talk to your host," Ogalé chided. A snort interrupted them. Dioha was about to say something. "Dioha,wait. He's trying to talk. Say something nice," Ogale said.
"Nice of him to join us," Dioha mocked.
"Say something nice to him," Ogalé stressed. "What is this? A joke?" Dioha was getting annoyed. "Look here Dioha,you may be a god and all that,but there are things even gods don't know. Things about spirits. Just say something nice."
Dioha was quiet. A stubborn,nasty look crossed his face.
"Dioha?"
"I don't know what to say," Dioha grunted. "Would it kill you to say something nice Dee?" Ogale sounded annoyed.
"I know you're here.I'd love to hear what you have to say." Dioha managed to say. The snort came again. Infuriated,Dioha opened his mouth to rain expletives.
"Wait!" Ogalé shut him up.
"He is trying to speak. Maybe i can help with that".
A slight rustle in the wind was all it took and the next thing,
"Thank you sir for helping me. I don't know where i am,and why i can see my body but can't control it." a little voice quipped.
"You're dead kid" Dioha threw in.
"Sir,please why is my body talking to me this rudely? Before you arrived,it has abused me and made me feel terrible." the boy asked Ogalé. Dioha frowned. It seemed like the boy could see Ogalé just like Ogalé was seeing him. Dioha felt disadvantaged by this. "You died. Your body is being possessed by another person" Ogalé explained.
"What?!! By who?! Did he kill me?" the boy asked. There was more than a hint of worry in his voice. "You died of the f..."
"Dioha,let me" Ogalé stopped Dioha in mid sentence. "You died of the plague. Dioha didn't kill you. But he needs your help in getting your body strong" Ogalé said reasonably.
Just then,they all heard a low growl.Dioha turned towards the direction of the sound. There stood the two saberwolves. They were together. One must have arrived and waited for the other.
"Oh my God! These wolves again," the boy yelped. Dioha focused on the two wolves. If they attacked individually,he was certain he would have a chance. He tuned out the boy's pitiable cries and Ogalé's call for him to bond properly with his host. He was going to do this his way.