"Don't worry… Ann, I-I'm… here for you…"
Ran, seeing Ann in such a predicament, couldn't help but tear up. His hand gripped hers tightly, as if afraid to accidentally let go, and that made her hand tremble less.
Watching someone suffer right in front of your eyes and being unable to do anything about it is among the worst feelings in the world. It is similar to feeling alone and completely isolated, but in reverse; either way, it was something he completely loathed from the bottom of his heart.
This was in his words too, not mine.
Likewise, Bob couldn't just stand around twiddling his thumbs when someone - who he considered his own sister - was in a potentially dangerous position. So, he walked up to her nervously (for a different reason), before speaking:
"Sister Ann, do you… want my help?"
"Hmm?" Ann, who was trying hard not to focus on the intense pain flooding through her body, was immediately distracted by Bob's words.
Help? Help how?
"I… I can help you t-take the pain away."
After saying what he said, he merely observed her with an expectant expression on his face.
Ann, too, just looked at him for a second, even with her body spurting impossible amounts of blood from tearing itself apart on the inside, before snickering.
"Come."
Bob was a bit hesitant, but he eventually came around and walked closer to her.
"closer…"
Now, Bob was only a few inches from her.
"Come, sit down with us." She patted at the wooden floor that was drenched in her blood. It made a sticky splashing sound every time she did so, and Bob could only gulp as he sat down with them.
His robe was immediately soaked in the iron-smelling liquid, sticking to his undergarments as well as his bum. He was uncomfortable, but he quickly settled down as it wasn't in his nature to complain or nag about minor things.
However, right as he calmed his mind, he felt a warm and sticky sensation touch his delicate nose, causing it to itch. When he saw that Ann's bloody finger was touching a part of his body, it spooked him almost to the point of flying right off the ship.
Unfortunately, none of that happened to him, having calmed down by her words:
"You know… I never would have - ever - thought that I would be able to meet someone as caring as you. Truly, thank you for trying; however, for this, your help would only be wasted."
She smiled before taking her finger off his nose, leaving it with a mark of her blood, and holding it in front of him.
"But… I'd still appreciate it if you'd stay with me through this."
Hearing her words of gratitude, Bob's face turned a little red, which he quickly hid with his hood. Interacting with a female was hard enough as it is, having only met a few in his lifetime and only just recently having met more and more of them. But now one of them was even… thanking him; his mind just barely withstood the impact, with just enough brain cells to accept her invitation.
His loose and oversized sleeve was shaken down, revealing his pale and slightly greenish hand. Once her hand held his, it immediately started sweating, but Ann didn't notice with all the blood everywhere. This was truly quite the scene to behold.
Even Ran was starting to get excited and held his other hand out for Bob to hold, but he was met with a smirk.
Tch, why do I have to hold your hand too? Are you the one in need of moral support? No? I thought so….
Nonetheless, Ran was rejected and was now dejected… hey that rhymed.
Anyway, it was at this moment that another, more intense, crack thundered throughout the surroundings.
And inside Ann's brain, her core was buzzing with more and more excitement. The core split into two different regions, one black, and one white.
Currently, the black region was slightly larger than the white, but that was beginning to change as the white was pushing into its area.
The black area represented the missing ranks and white represented the progress or the current rank. If the black area took up one-hundred percent of the core, then that would mean it is at rank-10.
Each rank correlates to an added ten percent in the cores progression. Of course, by this logic, then rank-1 isn't the end… but that is for much - much - later.
But now, Ann's core was progressing to a state of being completely half black and half white; in other words, rank-5.
Indeed, this whole experience was surreal for all three of them, having never seen someone go through the process of becoming rank-5. After all, this point is where one experiences the first transformation or their first soul ability.
However, this one was fundamentally different from the rest.
Finally, after a few more cracking noises, the black barrier in her core broke, allowing the white to envelop that part of the area. With both sides occupying the core equally, waves and waves of searing hot soul juice flooded onto the surroundings from her core.
With her at the center, the white soul juice covered everything within a hundred meters (over three hundred feet) from her.
The water around them came to a boiling point almost instantaneously as the ship was now enveloped within a fog of scalding hot steam. Everyone had to cover themselves in their own soul juice to protect themselves from the steam.
And Fluffy was the most infuriated by it. One moment, she was happily sleeping in some unassuming corner; the next she was staring curiously at the two normal humans, and one strange human, doing some strange ritual where they surrounded and covered themselves in blood before holding hands.
That was strange enough, but when the female human decided to bombard the whole ship and beyond with her hot juice, Fluffy had finally had enough!
But… she was too lazy to do anything about it, nor could she do anything about it, so she covered herself in some juice and went back to sleep.
Of course, this only lasted for a short moment before, as if with a mind of their own, all the rogue soul juice Ann's core had released came back to her. More specifically, under the influence of the core, the juice was condensed and coalesced into a blob above her head where it jiggled for a bit.
Then, under everyone's amazement, the blob slowly turned into a human shaped blob. At first, it contained no features, but it quickly became more and more like Ann.
From her height, build, and curves, to her facial features and hair; all made of soul juice and all down to the smallest detail. Even her… ahem, reproductive organ was there. Well, the outward appearance was the same. After all, the soul was a separate entity and not made of flesh and bones.
So, everything on the inside of a person would not reflect in a soul as there is no need to. The only thing on the inside would be the condensed soul juice, any and all rune formations (including the sigil), and the fetal organ which is quite a unique case in of itself.
However, all of that wasn't important.
What was important was its state of being.
There, in front of everyone's eyes, stood a figure in midair.
It looked just like Ann, except it was entirely milky-white in color. It was completely opaque, having no transparency, and was glowing in a holy-sort-of light.
Though it mirrored Ann's appearance, not all was the same. Its texture was smooth and slimy, while being gummy at the same time; a lot like gelatin if honey were poured on top of the whole thing.
Yet, just looking at it almost brought them all, including Ann herself, to tears.
After all, although this was just a projection and thus did not house the complete consciousness, this was a representation of the individual's soul.
Their origin.
But this… in front of them, her soul's projection was practically in ruins.
Many gash-like fissures, many of whom were two to three inches thick, called her soul home; many more, of which, were encroaching the very center.
One of them, located around her navel, spiraled around like a serpent, practically almost separating her body into two if it weren't for a comparatively small piece in the center keeping everything together.
Others coiled around her fingers, arms, legs, toes, and even her neck. Her face wasn't spared either as one of them split across the corner of her lips and extended passed her cheek, all the way to her left ear.
The only silver lining to this would be that she hadn't lost any parts.
But that, as well, was invalid. She didn't lose any parts, but she did lose her mind. At least, a part of it, or a certain aspect(s) of it.
They surrounded her very being, like a cage holding a bird. That was… until they started moving.
Wiggling and squirming around, the fissures were like gaping mouths, but they were not for swallowing. They tried and tried to open wider and wider, almost like how a child will show all their teeth with the widest smile they can make when taking a picture.
Fortunately, a faint rainbow sheen sparkled around her gaping wounds, trying to close them up; a slow and almost futile effort. Nonetheless, that was all it could do - nothing more, nothing less.
"What… is all this…" Ran was currently panicking and very flustered at himself, to the point of making his soul heart race and glow through his skin.
All kinds of thoughts were rushing in his head. When did she suffer such horrific injuries? How did he not notice her suffering? Was he just being neglectful of her?
Why did she go through this in the first place? And finally, what… or who did this to her?
However, did he want these questions answered? Well, like it or not, he's gonna find out.
You see, each and every one of these horrifying creatures had a story in their own right.
And with such a grand audience, including the guest of honor and the host being here, how could they not share their history?
And so it was. Light was emitted from the gaps in her soul and interacted with the steam in the air.
With the influence of the sigil, attuning her soul to that of light, then you'd think that maybe a rainbow would appear because of the refraction.
Instead, what happened was something that one would only think to see in paintings.
One by one, images sprouted from the steam, enveloping the entire ship in her memories.
The images were so incredibly graphic that it made Ran pale with fright and sick to his stomach.
Tens - nay - hundreds, wait…
LITERAL thousands of images of Ann being subjected to various kinds of "hardships" - as she liked to call it - were now for all to see. Each one represented a single day in her, at first, seemingly ordinary life.
The images then came alive as they played out like old movies playing from a projector.
Except those hardships weren't hardships at all, in any sense of the word. The most tame of them was just of her exercising well beyond her limit, to the point of cramps crawling over her entire body.
After pushing her underaged body to the absolute limit came the first of her obstacles.
Physical pain.
The first phase consisted of using weapons. At first, it was merely sticks, but it got more and more brutal later on. From sticks to rods, from rocks to maces, from needles to knives.
Her flesh was poked, sliced, and smashed.
Her bones were fractured, split, and broken.
The second part of phase one consisted of more… unorthodox methods; of course to achieve more pain.
She was burned, with both fire and ice.
She was drowned to the point of near unconsciousness.
She was electrocuted, having to feel her heart merely shake in place as it didn't pump any blood.
She watched as acid was poured onto her hand, reducing it to merely a puddle of flesh.
These were merely the most elementary and simple of ways she would "train".
Then came phase two: mental anguish.
Phase one was merely to harden her soul for what's to come, but phase two almost broke her.
She was subjected to all kinds of illusions, and having not even awakened her sigil at this point, she couldn't even try to resist.
There were times where she saw those around her die.
Then she witnessed her own death.
Then she witnessed Rans death.
She witness a happy life, in her eyes, and then watch all crumble like a house of cards.
Basically, pain was all she experienced and although illusions weren't real, they stayed with her even till today. Whereas her physical pain did not last; at least, not in its original form, but more of a mark that stained her very soul.
But, it only got worse from there. There was one more phase.
Phase three: life or death.
Finally, before she awakened on her twelfth birthday, she experienced not only pain… but despair.
Fighting a wolf in an illusion wasn't real; fighting one in real life was.
Fighting a bear in an illusion wasn't real; fighting one in real life was.
Fighting a tiger in an illusion wasn't real; fighting one in real life was.
Dieing in an illusion wasn't real; dieing in real life was.
She had been going through all this since she was eight.
All because she was adopted for this seemingly simple, yet not, reason.
All because she grew up being taught that this reason is the reason for her existence and well off one.
Ran had seen a part of this, a very small part, and wanted to stop it from going further, but Ann had already accepted the reasoning that she had shoved down her throat her whole life.
So when training - what it's supposed to be called - came around, she practically started torturing herself with it.
You think other people did this to her?
She was the one who spurred everything on! She did everything herself, she took herself to those extremes; no one helped.
She tortured herself, steeled herself, and dedicated herself for one reason.
And… it worked. Her will was forged in fire and her soul matured at a rate unseen by anyone on this planet.
But, nothing comes without a price.
And now, they were all seeing the price she paid with their own eyes.
Ann could only smile bitterly, seeing the state her soul was in. How could she not know the price? Of course, she knew the price! But she paid it anyway.
Bob… he didn't know what to say. He wasn't unfamiliar with hardships; hell, that was the whole reason he was here. To solve his tribe's problems back home, but something like this was above his level of expertise.
He just avoided his gaze; the videos playing out around him were too much for him to stomach. He could only look down, so as to not see anything, but he saw himself holding Ann's hand. He had forgotten he was doing so thanks to the absolutely traumatic videos playing. But that only hardened his will even more. Even if he couldn't fix her problems, he would be there.
Ran, however, didn't take nearly as well as the other two. No, he was completely devastated.
So devastated, in fact, he… couldn't look away. He was like a sponge, absorbing every single instance that Ann's soul showed; and just like a sponge, he couldn't stop until he reached his saturation point.
By then, the pressure had piled so much on Ran that it started manifesting physically with some of his bones fracturing.
How could this have happened, he questioned himself. He had been with her for his entire life, yet she had hidden such a thing from him the whole time. He knew that to get where she was today, she would have had to work hard - extremely hard - going to these lengths for someone else was incredibly stupid!
At least, he thought so. After all, what did he do, what did he offer to her to justify doing this to herself for his sake? Nothing, absolutely nothing. Thus, the only logical conclusion would be to push all the blame to himself, according to himself.
But, regretfully, what's done was done and the fact this happened right under his nose, coupled with his indirect involvement, only served to break him.
Then again, did it leave him any more broken than he already was? No….
Perhaps, the reason why he pushed so much blame on himself wasn't so much because he was the reason it all happened this way, but rather because she reminded him so much of himself.
In other words, he hated himself so much that when he saw someone broken like him, the hatred buried deep within began festering. He would never wish what he feels about himself to be true unto others!
Of course, the pure guilt and sorrow he felt in this particular case overpowered his feelings towards himself.
Indeed, for the deeds his existence had done to Ann were too immense for his consciousness to ignore. The stronger his feelings got, the more unstable his mind became.
Eventually, a soft tearing resounded throughout the silent ship.
Within Rans body was a heart. His original heart had burst into multiple pieces, so he got a replacement out of soul juice.
This new heart was special, unique. It operates under the influence of his consciousness, or will, much like skills and rune formations do.
Usually, it would quietly do its work, but under certain situations where Rans emotions would grow more and more intense, it would react in kind.
But now, the soul heart was completely dull.
Small hair-line cracks traveled the smooth and sticky surface, eventually covering the heart in its entirety.
The cracks grew larger and larger as the juice slowly peeled itself away, shearing off pieces of itself.
Now, there was nothing. Silence. There was no heart to pump blood and the threads of soul juice in his body were limp and free-floating.
Ran had his head hung low. There was no movement besides the constant inhaling and exhaling of air.
Ran… was unconscious. His mind had finally given up. He was tired and fell asleep, no longer paying anything any attention.
However, the next second, his body shook before regaining its ability to move.
While Ran was unconscious, it didn't mean all of him was too.
Indeed, the person in charge of this body was no longer that of it's original possessor.
It let go of Ann's hand before standing up.
It looked down at its hands, clenching it before releasing, feeling each and every muscle tense and relax.
Not enough muscle, it thought.
It looked back up and felt its body.
Too short, it mused while feeling uncomfortable in this form.
Only after it finished feeling around did it see Ann staring at it with guilt and panic written all over her face.
"Ran, l-look, I c-can explain…"
She stifled a response, wanting to explain when she stopped herself.
She looked at its face, unable to clearly recognize who she was seeing. Surely it was Ran right? While the presence was similar, the aura of confidence that kept forcing its way out was unlike the softness Ran typically carried around with him.
And those pearlescent, completely blue, eyes that stared deeply at her… Ran had never looked at her in such a way.
Yet, no matter what, she felt him there somewhere.
The only thing she could compare this to would be the red-pink light. She was actually quite familiar with this side of Ran, especially since he appeared much, much, more frequently in the past; in fact, she owed her life to this side of Ran.
But he has rarely appeared since about a decade ago. Now, whenever he does appear, it is in really short bursts and only in certain, usually dangerous, situations.
So, could this be another, new, side to Ran? One that she had not seen before, or one that was newly created?
"You don't have to explain anything."
He spoke? She was slack-jawed. The other side of Ran hadn't truly spoken to her in a long time, but this one was different somehow.
Not only did this one talk to her, it also appeared to have full control over Rans body.
Was this a bad thing? Could this be a bad persona of his?
She didn't think so. No matter which side of Ran it was supposed to be, it is still part of Ran; thus, she has full trust in whoever this new character is.
She knew who Ran is, she knew the kind of person he is too; after all, that was why she hid all of the terrible things she did to herself. She knew Ran would be ridden with guilt if he found out; he would totally be unable to forgive himself for something he had no control over. And originally, she had planned for him to never find out.
But who would have thought that such a thing would happen during her breakthrough to rank-5.
And seeing her thoughtful and equally shocked expression, it snickered, appearing slightly annoyed.
"You have already done enough. And now, I have to deal with your mess." It was obviously displeased with having to pick up Ann's mistakes; Ran, this fragile bastard! He even broke his own heart!
"Just my luck… I was just in the middle of building my sandcastle too."
It took one last glance at Ann before shaking its head and sighing. This was all so much work; at least we get to eat fish all the time now.
After showing its annoyance to the whole situation, it simply walked to the side of the ship before leaping over the railing.
Splash.
Now, only three remained on the ship.