A whirlwind that sucked every bit of information yet not able to fully process them. His brain couldn't fully function anymore nor his vocal chords as he stared at the being in front of him. Opening and closing his mouth repeatedly.
A couple of blinks later and he was out of his stupor but he still couldn't understand what his brain didn't understand. Hell, he didn't even know what he was supposed to understand or how he should understand what he had to understand as he was but a mere human child.
Perhaps him trying too hard to understand is what is making it hard to simply understand. Maybe he should just go along instead of over analysing and repeating 'understand' a whole bunch of times.
"So basically, you are saying, I have a strong soul? And… that's why we should merge?"
"Affirmative. It may have sounded as if it would only benefit me but that couldn't be further from the truth. The one who will gain the most out of this encounter is you."
"Benefit me? What do you mean?" The deep curiosity embedding itself further in his body as his hands began to tingle with anticipation. He wanted, no needed to know more. The fear from prior totally forgotten, erased from his memories and replaced by a strong thirst for knowledge.
Fenrir neared Silas in slow strides, closing the space between them in a matter of time. Just then did Silas actually notice that he in fact didn't hear his voice in the literal sense, more like directly in his mind, telepathy or something but he wasn't too sure.
"The moment our souls touch we will be one. You and I will be together not even death can do us apart. You will lose your humanity and will become something greater, something so powerful that doesn't even exist on this planet or else where." He was still closing the space between him and Silas till Fenrir was standing right in front of him, his warm breath swaying Silas' hair.
He lowered his head right before Silas and kneeled in front of him, the proud posture from before totally erased.
"Please save me."
A genuine plea of help left Fenrir's mouth. Silas' heart wrenched at that unfeigned cry for help. As proud and confident Fenrir did sound before, now all he could see was an honest beast requesting for assistance.
Almost like a cute puppy.
Who was he to simply ignore someone's plea for help?
So, he did the only right thing a human could do. His shaking hand slowly nearing Fenrir's forehead and stroking his soft fur, actually enjoying the fluffy feeling underneath his fingers, the fur coiling around his fingers.
"It seems like my heart already knew the answer before I thought of it. Of course, I will help you." A smile so full of reassurance graced Silas' lips and calmed Fenrir as he got the answer he so hoped for.
"Your hand, leave it on my forehead. What I am about to do might hurt a bit but you will survive."
" Wait, surviv– urghhh!"
An excruciating pain travelled from his hand to his heart and spread in a very unusual location- his soul. He never felt his soul before but the transcended physical pain. Like a sudden electric shock you never expected but worse, way worse. His hands clutched his jacket right above his heart.
It felt like being stung by the most poisonous animal even though he never experienced that yet he knew he would rather be stung than experience this a second time. His face indicated a great deal of agony he suffered, then suddenly he fell to the ground, trying to cling to his last bit of clarity but passed out as his mind, body and soul couldn't take it anymore.
Fenrir disappeared into Silas' body.
His spasming body tossed and turned on the floor, until it did something beyond belief. It liquefied in a puddle of red solution leaving his clothes behind that disappeared without leaving a trace. The puddle moving like a living organism in different directions, restless as if trying to reconstruct its original shape.
Not only did it try but it succeeded. Yet what was constructed wasn't his initial body but something quite of bestial nature. Slowly the fleshy tissue of the rather impressively tall quadruped creature was growing a fine silver fur.
Eyes still closed it lifted its face towards the darkened sky and abruptly revealed a turbulent silver sea that didn't calm down at all. Rather the eyes swirled back and forth dazed as if not conscious yet and let out a howl from deep within his still merging soul.
Blue light engulfed him and his body began to compress into a much smaller figure, the fur and tail retracting into this slowly humanoid looking body. He was sent to his subconsciousness again.
A few seconds, minutes or maybe hours passed with him just floating around in darkness, time felt like everything and nothing. It didn't matter here.
But floating?
Yes, as soon as he opened his eyes, he realised he is not in the forest anymore rather than that he can't even feel his body. It felt like his own but at the same time it did not.
Trying to look down and check his body, all he saw was light then suddenly he was back in the forest, feeling more alive than ever. And even though it felt like forever in reality not much time passed, maybe a minute or two.
Frantically, he checked himself and the forest around him yet he noticed nothing different, nothing. Even his clothes and backpack were back on. The serene night he longed for earlier returned, the trees swaying to a silent song and the fauna adding their own tune. The soft crunch of leaves underneath his body as he slowly stood back up.
But it felt like something was missing.
And as if the universe heard his train of thought, a really weird and foreign sensation spread through his body. He couldn't exactly pinpoint what it was but he knew his body wasn't supposed to feel this…. powerful, strong.
'I see you can feel it.'
Wide-eyed he frantically searched for the source of this familiar voice as he couldn't locate where it came from. But he still could hear it from his mind but much clearer than before.
'I am in you now, boy. Or should I say Silas?'
…huh, what?
Did he hear correctly? In him? So the merging must have worked then. It was a really weird sensation and he couldn't even determine what felt weird.
"So it worked. Wait, how long was I out?" Oh no, he hoped it wasn't too late or else his mum would be worried sick. He hurriedly pulled out his phone and checked the time.
06:02 p.m
His eyes widened.
Honestly, he couldn't quite believe it. All he experienced till now felt much too long for it to be just ten minutes. But at least he could now return home without providing a believable excuse.
"Fenrir, as much as I would like to explore more about this here, I have to return home."
'That's not a problem. I will be with you from now on, so don't worry about your mum. I will show you everything later.' His deep voice resonated within his mind and soul because he was in him as unbelievable as it sounds.
He could almost feel him resting in his heart or something.
"So, you can read minds, huh." As he obviously did read Silas' mind knowing about his mum's worry or even his name. How else would he have known? And if they share a soul now does that mean he sees everything in him? And vice versa?
'You guessed it right, young Silas. It works the other way around too but you will be too overwhelmed, so I recommend not.'
And as if on cue, a colossal headache spread in Silas' mind like never before. And he was sure he wouldn't try that again. At least for now.
Knees suddenly giving out, he fell to the ground while holding his head in agony. The pain subsided a few seconds later. With effort he lifted himself up from the floor and was on his way home after this far too long encounter that changed everything.
And the location he wanted to visit was already forgotten. Well, there surely will be a next time.
On the way they talked about many things, mostly Silas answering questions about his world and how it works. He was even pretty sure that there are no such things as fantastical beings or supernaturals yet Fenrir revealed something he would have never ever imagined to be possible.
His world wasn't as non-fantastical as humanity originally believed.
When he asked how Fenrir was so sure even though he was never here before, the silver beast did something he will never forget in his life.
He opened his eyes.
Yes, he opened his spiritual eyes, something a handful of people are born with yet never used the full potential of it. Or rather couldn't.
What Silas saw was simply mind-boggling. The streets that they walked on were filled with different kinds of creatures. Big, small, tall, hideous, translucent, absolutely stunning or just unexplainable shapes and forms. Even some he recognized from movies or artworks though they looked not as tame as the artists drew them to be, more monstrous and just more fantastical.
'This is your real world, the one hidden from human eyes.' This is how easy Fenrir unbagged the secret of his world.
"This… is just magnificent. How is it possible not to see them? I don't understand this."
'The fact that you can only see them with your spiritual eyes means that they live in another layer of reality, a different dimension, something you can't perceive by normal means.'
If you think about it carefully it makes kind of sense. Humans could only perceive what their five senses were capable of processing, for example certain frequencies were not audible to the human's ear, so it didn't exist within their reality which did not mean it didn't exist at all.
So the saying 'What you can't see, doesn't exist.' is not wrong at all and you could extend it for all senses then in general it would be 'What you don't perceive, doesn't exist.'
Seeing as he arrived in front of his house door, he searched in his backpack for his house keys, opened the door and removed his shoes to change into his plush slippers.
"Hey mum, I am back."
"Welcome home, baby." A bear hug and a little smooch on the head is all he would ever need to feel home and of course the smell of food caressing his nostrils.
But when he noticed the smell he usually perceived as one, he could now differentiate the used ingredients which was crazy.
'Is it because I changed, Fenrir?'
'Call me Fey.'
'Fey?'
'Yes, that's the short form of my name. And to answer your question, as your body is assimilating my powers that we share through our soul link, your overall senses are changing to that of a beast. So in fact you are adapting and that rather impressively fast.'
'I see, you need tell me more about what is changing in general later.'
'Will do.'
Silas gobbled up his entire food as he noticed just now he was in fact starving. And as much as he didn't want to hurry and enjoy his food, he was far too curious about what Fey brought in his life and how to deal with it.
It was like receiving the newest smartphone and you want to know everything about it. Every setting, every technical data or even just every wallpaper option available. Yeah, nerdy yet he couldn't keep his best companion called curiosity at bay.
Therefore he rushed with eating dinner even washing his dishes in fast mode.
"Ehm, Sil are you okay? Why the hurry?" His mum asked, confused, slightly worried even.
"Oh, nothing, nothing. Just got some work to do. I'll be in my room." A large gulp of water and gone was he. What he didn't seem to notice was the slight increase of his speed but it was yet too minimal to really impact something.
As soon as he reached his room and locked the door for privacy reasons, he walked towards his mirror and observed himself or themselves? He wasn't sure if he was one person or two people now.
In a flash his reflection changed and he saw his new literal soulmate standing in front of him and staring intensely back at him.
"So, you can appear like this?" Silas asked, never breaking eye contact.
"Yes, but I can also materialise right in front of you." And that is what he did. He stepped out of the mirror and emerged in his room. Luckily, he wasn't as tall as he was in the forest, just a little taller than Silas himself.
Silas, who was still standing in front of the mirror, walked towards his fluffy bed and sat cross-legged on the bed. Fenrir followed him and sat down right in front of Silas.
"First thing first, we have to clear out that you are not a human anymore." Silas' breath hitched a little at his new reality but he calmed himself down and nodded because he already decided to trust Fenrir even though he didn't know why.
"Fear not, young Silas, for you and I will always be together. You might not be human but your alter appearance will still be the same."
"My alter appearance?"
"Yeah, this appearance is not your original appearance anymore. What you have inherited is my race, a Demi-God wolf giant. You, Silas, are a demigod now." Eyes widening so wide it looked like they might pop out of their socket, his heart palpitating resulting in his brain repeating the same question over and over.
'I am a god now?'
"Silas, it's okay. I know it is overwhelming and I am not asking you to accept it right away but know that I will be with you, every single day. So you are not alone in this." A gentle smile and his cold snout nudging in Silas' tummy, tickling a little chuckle out of him solely due to this godly creature acting the same as a dog right now and maybe because he was also trying to make him feel good.
He couldn't help but coo at him.
The black-haired always had the wish to have a dog but never got one. Now he had a wolf who could even talk to.
"You know I can hear your thoughts, right?" Silas' could swear he heard an eye twitch, cold sweat ran down his back slowly as he moved his hand to Fey's head to caress him. With a nervous smile desperately trying to calm the beast down.
The caressing seemed to evoke some sort of reaction as Fey was wiggling happily and frantically with his long tail as if asking to not stop that action.
"Fey, what is my original appearance then?" Trying to deviate from the prior interaction, he still kind of felt uneasy but at the same time enthralled as this could be his new story, his new reality.
Fenrir looked him in the eye again then rose to his paws.
"I need you to stand up for me for that. I will summon a safe environment for what is about to happen and possibly a barrier as we don't want your parents to worry about the screaming, do we?"
A slightly rosy hue decorated his cheeks as he did not expect that but after a few seconds his eyes widened anew.
Screaming?
Why on earth would he be screaming?
Now he was kind of apprehensive as to what would happen. Will he feel pain again? So much that he would scream? What if he couldn't make it? What if..?
Fenrir mumbled something under his breath and if Silas wasn't so distracted with his own thoughts he would have actually heard him say something along the lines of:
[Dimension creation- Time acceleration 10:1]
Out of nowhere a blue whirlwind surrounded them both, engulfing them completely. Silas closed his eyes as the wind was too strong and as soon as he opened them he found himself in a forest similar to the one earlier but this one was way more dense in flora. There were even plants he had never seen before. The trees were so much mightier and taller than on earth.
Yet it felt like this place had a boundary to it. Silas tried to peer outside the thick veil that surrounded this enclosed area but to no avail.
He couldn't see anything at all.
"And this is where we will train from now on." Said Fey with a smile that gave Silas a very bad feeling.
"Before we do anything let me explain to you what ranks there are. For that you should be able to open your interface." Fey said.
"My interface? What is that?" Silas asked. He had a slight suspicion that it was related to games somehow.
"It quantifies your general prowess and visualises your rank for you. Everyone is Asgard had an interface which is why so many strong deities emerged out of there. Although that was the reason of Ragnarok." He stared into the distance as if deep in thoughts, as if he survived through hell.
He could have been dead if he didn't succeed in stealing that from Odin. Just because he was a demigod didn't mean he could rise from the dead again like those deities. He may live nigh eternity but he was still vulnerable to death.
Silas felt like he shouldn't dig into his past but he couldn't help his curiosity since he only ever heard about norse mythology from movies especially Ragnarok. It was a famous trope but how much of it was real and how much fantasy?
He wanted to find that out.