Gordan felt a slight change after hearing the figures words, he had been holding himself back for so long that it had become a habit, which was so ingrained in his life that he had forgoten about it's very existence. As he thought of this he wondered why it was that he had gone out of his way to hold himself back so much. There was no reason that he should go out of his way for people anymore, so why did he? He could feel a darkness in the depths of his mind begin to creep out of him threatening to consume anything that came into his path. And soon the darkness began to grow and manifest itself into a physical form which struggled to pull away from Gordan, who took hold of it and began to weigh it in his hands examining it closely. It resembled the mist which he had delt with when he first entered his mind, only this was more dense and tangible. He gently formed it into a small figure without much thought to the design, it was like his fingers were moving of their own accord. The figure watched in confusion, it seemed that Gordan hadn't even noticed the way that he acted around other people, which was a bit of a worrying thought. Sure he knew to a degree, but it seemed like he valued his own life far to little in how he dealt with things in life.
"You know, I think this has something to do with you using magic so frequently."
Gordan looked up at the figure, he knew that the use of magic had always had negative effects on him but it had almost always been physical with the exception of a few times where his mental sate would be messed up, but that was more an exception than a rule.
"Hey, calm down okay? That stuff smells a bit on the dangerous side, and if you want my opinion you have already changed a lot from before, remember that you might have another attack if you aren't carefull."
Gordan closed his hand and the mist solidified completely into a small creature which stayed still for a moment and then suddenly popped up its head and looked around.
_chirp chirp_
It was a small bird which suddenly opened its wings and flew to Gordan's shoulder and then glared at the figure who looked even more concerned than before. Once the bird landed on his shoulder, the darkness began to creep back into his shadow without a sound.
"...That was soul, why is it that you used that? More importantly, your soul is completely black does that not concern you at all?"
Gordan shook his head and gently patted the small bird's head being sure not to injure the small creature.
"Its not all that shocking since I have drained all of the light out of it using magic all of these years. Soul magic is considered taboo for a reason, and it isn't just for the consequences. But there was no other way for me to survive, so no use crying over spoiled milk."
The figure took in a deep breath and then exhaled.
"First, that is not okay for either of us, and secondly, it's spilled milk"
Gordan stared at the figure with a look that seemed to convey the idea of 'really?', but the figure just turned to the small creature on Gordans shoulder which was still glaring at him with unexplainable hatred.
"So this thing is a dark creature, no wonder you have so many health problems. You know one of these days all of your insanity is going to catch up with you... No wait I guess it kind of already has, hasn't it?"
The figure sat down on the black beach and let out a sound of frustration. He looked up at Gordan who was still petting the bird which seemed to be enjoying it quite a bit. He was mad at himself for not noticing after all of these years how bad the state of Gordans soul was. He felt like killing something, but that wouldn't change the fact that Gordans soul had been completely corrupted.
"Don't worry to much about it, now that the negative effects are being consumed by the stone in the back of my neck my soul can take a bit of breake And who knows? It might even have a chance to purify eventually."
The figure ramed his fist against the beach and looked down to see that it was bleeding due to the random sharp rocks which were littered on the beach.
"Do you have any idea what it means to have a tainted soul? I know that you have a very vast knowledge on this don't you? You saw what happened to the Lords, what if that happened to you?"
Gordan smiled the faintest bit and the small bird flew into the air disappearing in the mist.
"I know, but up until now I haven't really been able to do anything about this. But once I finish this job I am taking the next five years to rest and recover from my afflictions, so you don't have to worry about your power source giving out at any time."
The figure couldn't help but feel a bit hurt by the statement. While it was true he would be in a considerable amount of trouble if he lost his host, he still worried about Gordan on a more personal level. He could tell that Gordan was most likely still a bit mad at him for letting the hero escape, even though he didn't outwardly show it. After all the two of them were always together and Gordan wasn't the type of person to make things uncomfortable in that kind of situation.
"So after this job you are shutting yourself off from other people to rest and help with your constant power drain?"
Gordan nodded and flexed his hand. He was able to feel the tole which had been taken on his body after he had been forced to use soul magic for so many years, it was obvious that his skills had greatly suffered from that. But he had never really been given a chance to properly rest, which was why his soul had turned so pitch black. At first the appearance of his soul had confused him, but as soon as he touched it he was well aware of what it was. When he had formed the small bird it had slightly shocked him since he hadn't really used any type of magic even in the dream world, but still the creature had come to life, from the essence of his darkened soul which made him worry about just how black he had been stained. He shook his head and pulled himself to his feel backing away from the small skull tree next to him which seemed to have grown another leaf.
"Well then, I think that now is as good a time as any to try and fix up a place for me to stay in this dark and depressing place."
Gordan began walking along the beach and the figure came up beside him to watch him look.
"You do realise that we are in your brain right?"
Gordan smiled slightly but continued to walk down the blackened beach which was glistening in the red moonlight around him. Gordan couldn't help but hope that the mutations wouldn't take to long, but he already knew instinctively that, such a wish would never come true. Especially when a the system had taken so much enjoyment in the last time he had dealt with this situation.
"Well this looks to be a fairly good place to start!"
Gordan almost sounded happy when discussing the plans with the figure who had stuck around to make sure that he would be fine after dealing with the shadow of corruption now his sences were on high alert.
"Would you mind passing me that board?"
The figure was snapped out of his daze and suddenly handed Gordan the piece of timber before going back to the corner to wait for him to finish his project.