Splash.
The water rose and splattered everywhere, leaving the rest of them stupefied.
"Ran!" Ann stumbled onto her feet, not caring about the numerous old scars on her body opening up again from her movement. She left a small trail of blood on the white floor as she stood against the railing, peering into the water.
Her soul projection and Bob followed behind her, and equally all looked into the water, finding nothing. Ann's face was expressionless, though covered in blood, while her projection was frowning deeply, making the scars on her face squirm.
"What… just happened?" Bob was confused. He had never seen Ran act this way, and he did not know him enough to know some of the reasons behind it.
"Ran, he-" she paused to think of why he would do this, but couldn't come up with an answer, so she said "I don't know what happened either".
Of course, now that her mind calmed down a bit, didn't Ran already say what happened?
He would have to fix her mistake. And during this, Ran was no longer his original, or rather, his most used side. Then, does her mistake have to do with this most used side of his?
It was a bit confusing and some of the incomplete information in her head was jumbled. But upon thinking that Ran, any which side of him, was possibly in some kind of perceived danger, she unhesitantly dived into the ocean. Her soul projection jumped afterward, causing all the light phenomena to vanish and the steam to disperse.
Of course, this was a very unwise decision. And now, there were only two on the ship. Bob, with his mind clear yet confused, quickly went to stop and anchor the ship. Luckily the ship was cruising at a very slow speed, so as to not alert any presences. If he didn't, and quickly too, they would be lost forever.
On the back of the ship, after a few button presses, the chains on the reel rattled incessantly as the anchor was released. The anchor easily weighed several tons and it ripped through the water like a torpedo towards the bone-filled ground.
With a crash, the anchor settled and held the ship in place, but this wasn't a good solution. They were on a time limit because the crash caused some ruckus, not to mention all the soul juice Ann was releasing via her soul projection.
Fortunately, Ann just needs to find Ran and bring him back, even though they don't know why he left in the first place.
…
"Shit… can't you just leave me in peace for a few minutes, so bothersome."
Currently, a few hundred meters from the ship, inside a hundred foot-long corpse, it was hiding within the cranium in a fetal position.
Its waist-length red hair floated freely in the dark waters, covering parts of its body almost like a cocoon.
"Tch, he even broke his own heart. It's giving me a goddamn headache! Hey… would you mind helping me a bit?"
Though, while it seemed like it was talking to no one, or even us by breaking the fourth wall, it was really speaking to someone else. Furthermore, it wasn't speaking with its mouth, but with its mind. Or more like, within its mind.
There was no response, but then again, actions speak louder than words.
Its core began humming slightly, as it usually would when transferring soul juice from the soul to the body; lo and behold, that's exactly what happened. Except, the soul juice wasn't Rans usual color, a mix of white-pink and blue. It was instead a reddish-pink.
It filled the body to the brim, making it quake in satisfaction before coalescing into a brand new soul heart. The heart, as always, was made of threads tangling and partially melding to each other to form itself. The barbed threads then extended out from the heart and branched into every artery, vein, and capillary. Though, I'll stop here because you all have heard all of this already.
But, once it was done forming, the color was seemingly being drained from the juice, like they were two different fluids that couldn't mix. But it wasn't colorless. On the contrary, the more the red left, the more a blue rushed in. Soon, the entire heart was blue.
"Ah, much better. You'll have to teach me that sometime, seriously. But for now, I have to help this rascal before the others disturb us."
It stilled its mind, closed its eyes, and focused its will. This was the only chance it would get to reach out to Ran for a while - until they got stronger.
And it wasn't going to be easy either. First of all, it couldn't completely separate its consciousness from the body, as Ran had just accidentally done, otherwise Rans body would go into a vegetative state with no brain function. Meaning, it couldn't use it's full strength.
Second, it had to maintain the soul heart or Rans body would cease to function.
It also had to make sure that it wasn't found because once the process started, and it was interrupted, it wouldn't be able to return to his body, causing it to go into that vegetative state.
Then, of course, it had to help Ran. A total of three things it had to do simultaneously; it could already feel the headache intensify exponentially.
But, it could only push through the throbbing pain and venture back into their mind. This was an instantaneous process.
In here, it didn't have a form as most of its consciousness was back inside Rans body. It was merely a disembodied voice, tasked with waking Ran back up.
It travelled across a blue ocean with an enormous shadow cast underneath it; it passed by the places that Ran's senses had captured; and it flew over the glass cities that surrounded the absolutely giant of a Sakura tree.
A strange feeling arose from itself as passed by everything; it was as if everything had become much more lifeless. The water wasn't flowing, the wind wasn't blowing and the sound of life was barely noticeable. The people within the cities appeared to be zombies, going about their lives with no emotion. It was weirded out by this and hastened its pace.
Going around the flowers and through the rune-carved branches, it quickly arrived at the center of the tree. The flat platform carved into the tree was quiet and the sigil was dull. It didn't even spin.
Seeing it in such a depressing state, it mind frowned.
However, all it took was a single thought, and sure enough, the sigil responded. With the insertion of a new will, the now blue sigil surged with blue juice as it started working again. The inner circular ring in the middle began spinning clockwise and the outer square ring spun counterclockwise.
The chains that connected themselves to the square ring (by ring links) looped back around and congregated at the center of the circular ring. Except, inside of this ring, there was nothing but a dark abyss. And this was its destination.
Without hesitation, it entered the dark hole.
Once inside, it looked around curiously. This place was quite strange, it thought, being the first time it attempted to enter here. Everywhere, the only thing it could find was endless darkness. Except, there were two things. One was a white-pink cube that floated freely within it, oblivious to the world around it.
The second was a white, cylindrical, pillar. This was where the chains led to. Rather than chain themselves to the pillar, they instead pierced into it, as if the pillar was incorporeal. The thick chains were pulled taut, but there was nothing else.
Yet, at the base of the pillar, as well as the ceiling, cracks branched outwards and continued to do so even now at a slow pace. And underneath the darkness was instead endless white.
It gazed at the pillar, and it would have shivered if it had a form for it felt something gaze back at it. Well, it was merely a little jump scared and it quickly continued doing its task.
It kept venturing forward till it reached the floating cube. It tried phasing through it as it didn't have any doors or anything of the like, but it met some resistance. It took quite some effort to get inside.
Inside the cube was a person. Ran. He was currently curled up on his side, and he slept with his eyes closed tightly.
"Hey!" Its disembodied voice screamed as loud as it could in a bid to wake him up. Yet, nothing happened. Ran did not even twitch. It would have kicked him if it had a leg to do it with, but alas, it did not have one. Next, it tried calling his name, but it still did not elicit a reaction.
It had to wake Ran up somehow, and it thought it knew just the way.
"Ran, will you really not wake up? Ann just made some really good fried bass today. If you're too slow, Fluffy is going to eat them all."
If it knew itself well, then it knew Ran well. Thus, knowing it couldn't resist that sweet sweet nectar that is fish meat, it knew Ran couldn't resist either even though the whole thing was a lie. And indeed, it was so.
A loud rumble thundered throughout the cube, shaking the whole thing. After fighting all night and suddenly being dealt the hand that was Ann's condition, his body's fatigue and hunger was immense, and his mind wanted to feel that satisfaction of relaxation and good food. But it still didn't wake Ran up, merely causing him to drool a little bit and roll around to his other side.
If the disembodied voice had lips, they would certainly twitch. How could he resist the sweet sweet nectar that is fish!? It could not understand this at all. It was now disappointed in him.
It tried for minutes on end, saying all kinds of things; from insults to praises, to some that were of a more erotic nature. There was barely any reaction to any of those, frustrating to no end this fish-loving figure. It was even more straightforward than Ran, being even more stubborn and easily angered as well.
"Ran, are you really going to keep sleeping here, in this dark place? When Ann finally needs you the most, you retreat in here; are you really running away!?" Its tone was harsh and condescending, but it sounded a bit muffled. It was losing more strength the more it talked.
However, Ran merely frowned and his eyes moved around slightly in his tightly shut eye sockets. Did Ann really need him; he was starting to form these kinds of thoughts, but none were good and that merely made Ran even sleepier as a natural reaction to shy away from difficult and potentially dangerous situations.
The voice was fading much faster now, and it could only muster one last response before completely disappearing.
"Ran, I know you want to blame yourself for what happened; and the truth is, your right. You are partially to blame, even if you weren't directly involved. So go ahead, blame yourself once, then take responsibility!"
"Right now, Ann is suffering. Are you just going to sleep here forever and forget about everything… everyone? How about Bob, Fluffy, and Queenie? Are you going to let yourself forget about Ann? What about what happened to your home and it's people; are you willing to let them go too?"
The words, by now, were faint, muffled, and warped, but they were like sledgehammers slamming into Ran's head. He shivered and his eyes were startled awake as he looked around with swollen and bloodshot eyes.
His mind worked like clockwork as it consumed every word the disembodied voice said. Ann… was suffering? How could such a thing slide right under his nose? He must fix such suffering, especially since it was right under his nose; what if he got sick? And If he didn't help, then who would?
And forget? Ran almost laughed at such an idiotic remark. Since when did Ran forget? He could remember his entire life if he wanted to - all he would have to do is start the reel that is his life and watch it play out. Hell, he remembered the day he was born. He was there, he was the one being born! So of course he would remember. It would've been strange if he didn't recollect being pushed out of his mother's reproductive organs. The smell of blood, sweat, and even fecal matter after being pushed out was as easy to remember as counting one two three.
He did not, will not, and could not forget anything. Each memory was like a precious treasure to him, good or bad. Without his memories and experiences, who was he? No one!
It was only after this storm of disharmonious thoughts calmed down and getting out of his own head that Ran realized he was alone.
He got up with slow movements as his body felt numb and exhausted, like he had just fought the most difficult battle in his life. But, he could only scratch his head as he looked around him. When he woke up, the cube protecting him opened up before disappearing entirely. Now, endless darkness was what Ran saw.
He was still perplexed about where he was, and who had spoken to him. It sounded extremely familiar, though he couldn't quite pinpoint why it was so.
This darkness, however, was familiar as well as recognizable. While it didn't seem to be exactly the same, it felt almost like the darkness that had been broken inside his mind after it had imprinted the special runes within itself.
However, when he saw the white pillar and the chains surrounding and phasing through it, he was surprised.
"Is that my sigil? Is this place somehow connected to it?" Ran felt a headache coming on. He didn't like puzzles, especially since his whole life was one in and of itself. He was a straightforward kind of guy, so unless a clear and easy solution presented itself, he wouldn't bother racking his head over something he couldn't figure out.
Maybe… this was what was inside his sigil's cube?
He remembered that his sigil consisted of three elements. The first was the cube; the second was the circular slabs that covered each of the cube's faces; the last was a sphere composed of chains that writhed and squirmed in everything direction, covering everything else.
These chains were clearly the same as those that make up his sigil, but again, that raises the question of where he was. He originally thought that he could somehow be inside his sigil, but he quickly just set that aside for now. The only way this could be true is if his sigil's cube was hollow, but he did not know if it was or if it wasn't. Thus, there wasn't any way to find the answer and he threw it aside just like every other anomalous experience he encountered in his life. It was like every single abnormal event and particularity of his life was somehow connected; like they all would come to the same conclusion. Maybe that's why almost none of them have been answered; he needs to find the ultimate, overarching answer that would reveal everything to him.
But, right now, he was coming around to how weird his sigil actually was.
The will of the world, upon giving him his sigil, noted that its name was parry and it had stated its basic function. But, from what he experienced using it, it was far more complicated than just countering someone's attack.
For one, normally, it shouldn't have been able to parry someone's attack (or his own), after the damage was already done, but he could. Then, there was the barrier that dictated that anything within it was parry-able regardless of distance between Rans actual self and the attack. That was abnormal, but there is precedence of such domain-like qualities seen in other sigils, so it's not impossible for his to be the same. But, it was still something of note.
Then there was the fact that he can heal someone if they've been attacked, which was strange enough as it is. He could suppose that the universal law the sigil carried could have this quality of healing or even possibly turning back time.
But the strangest part of his sigil was the fact that he could take control of someone's attack and control it at will. That, in itself, already surpassed what parry should be able to accomplish, otherwise, it shouldn't be called parry. But then why call it that?
He posed that question to himself as he walked towards the white pillar. He couldn't come up with an answer, but he was curious nonetheless.
When he reached the white pillar, he began to feel warmth. It was like he was bathing in a hot spring as he stood next to it. The pillar itself was only the width of Rans wingspan, meaning he could hug it; which he did. He didn't do it entirely for the fun of it, but because he saw the chains phase through it and wanted to see if the same would happen with him. Sadly, it was solid to him, like there was some sort of barrier that stopped him from entering. But the sense of familiarity only grew within him.
Left with no other options to find a way to leave, he came up to one of the chains. He noticed they were completely blue, unlike his juice which was a mix.
His hand reached out to grab one, immediately feeling a tug on his consciousness once it was within his grasp. While the soul juice that was infused into the sigil remained the same, after reconnecting with Ran, it quickly changed back into the swirly mess of white-pink and blue.
The more it returned back to normal, the stronger the tug became, until he eventually fell asleep.
His body that held the chain quickly disintegrated, completely disappearing.
Once he left, the darkness began breaking down into chips before disappearing completely, just like Ran himself. And now, only whiteness was left.
On the white ground, Rans sigil was engraved into it, as if it had become one with it and it will never be able to be removed. In the center, the chains spewed out in droves, having created another sphere a few hundred feet above ground.
Inside the sphere laid a big eye. Not like an actual anatomical eye, rather, it was merely the depiction of an eye.
Two long and stretching bell curves, mirrored horizontally, floated in stillness.
Eyelashes sprouted on the outside of the curves, each and every one took on a different size and shape.
There was no sclera, iris, or pupil. Only a large rune with the appearance of an uppercase r was within the eye. The uppercase r rotated clockwise slowly, shimmering despite no light shining on it.
The whole thing appeared to be flat on both sides and was only a few inches thick, almost like a coin. But merely looking at it would give anyone shivers. It was really as if someone was staring back at them, burrowing into their very soul.
But that wasn't the only thing within this place of whiteness. Nearby, a strange palace also sat quietly in its place.
It was quite strange indeed. It wasn't made of typical materials, such as wood or stone. No it was all of those, but it was also more. It was made of things like fire, water, darkness and even light itself. In fact, it was made of so many different materials, it would take too long to name them all, even more so if I want to be specific; such as all the different kinds of fire within it. But there was one thing they all had in common:
They were all made of soul juice.
And in front of the palace gates, a short figure stood silently, peering into the sigils opening.
Their eyes were seemingly cold, and yet, the smile they wore contradicted that notion.
"So close, yet so far," they said before sighing pitifully. they removed their gaze as they turned around and headed back into the palace.
"Unfortunately, you're still too weak for us to meet face-to-face, but the day of our complete reemergence is coming…"
The warm smile slowly but surely crept up on one side, turning into a confident smirk.
"And soon… we'll get back at her for everything she did to us."
…
Gasp!
Ran was jerked awake, greedily gasping for air like he had just remembered to do so. He was sitting on his ship's deck, his body drenched in salt water and sweat.
His body shivered partially from the cold water, partially from Ran returning to his body, and partially from the drain his soul felt. He looked around, only to find everyone staring at him, unaware of what had happened in the past couple of minutes.
"What?"