As the time ticked to 2:59:30 Am, Asura closed his eyes and readied himself for the inevitable. He took a deep breath and calmed his mind and breathing when he felt the change in his body position.
Asura tried to open his eyes, but they wouldn't budge, same with his entire body. It seems his body was still unconscious. Asura stopped trying to control his body and instead chanelled his inner soul to come out of his body.
The soul which was chained disappeared from the soul space and then Asura's vision cleared and he was finally able to see where he was. Asura saw an old run-down roof above him and he instantly recognized the place.
It was the old abandoned factory on the west side of Vernakulam. He and Arhat used to come to this place all the time to play. Asura's soul then got out of his completely and he immediately felt a heavy pressure dawning on him.
With such a small amount of soul power, I can't even go far away from my body and be in soul form for more than half an hour
Asura remembered that he was actually just an apprentice at soul cultivation and he was not powerful enough to do many things. The Ghost-hotel utilizes some mysterious powers to summon his soul to the hotel, and only in such places where souls gather can he be in soul form without having the power to actually do it.
"Okay, then. I should be fast and check out the place before I go back into the body. "
Asura then proceeded to check the pockets of his body and he felt weird looking at himself from another perspective. After patting around the pockets, he found no mobile phone, so he turned around and went towards the door. The room was small, maybe 10sq meters in size and was entirely dark.
Asuras' body was placed in a corner behind some old machinery that was too rusted to be even vandalized. Asura reached the big metal door and placed his hand on the doorknob and gently turned it around to see if it made any creaking sounds.
But the knob didn't budge, making him feel a bit disappointed, but he already thought of this as Arhat wouldn't obviously leave him in an unlocked room. Asura then smirked and then moved his hand forward and it passed through the door as if it was not present there.
"Arhat, you wouldn't have thought even in dreams that I could get my soul out of my body and souls do have physical limits."
Asura thought to himself and crossed the door easily. Even though it was midnight, the perks of being a soul is that you can see everything as if it was in daylight if one wanted. He saw the door handles were chained and locked by a big padlock.
Asura shook his head and then looked around and noticed footprints going away to the left of the locked door.
'Are these Arhat's footprints?'
Asura looked at the footprints and then began to follow them. After walking for ten to twelve meters, he still didn't find where they stopped. But, he knew where he was. This section is the second underground level of the factory, which acted as an underground shelter during war times. This place is huge and maze-like, with rooms and passages interconnecting.
After walking for a few more meters and still not reaching the end, he had to stop as the connection between his body and soul was getting thin and the pressure on his soul to move forward was getting heavier. If he continued, his soul would immediately return back to his from the soul-exhaustion it causes. In serious cases, it might even lead to damage to the soul.
He then turned around and returned back to his body. Back inside the room, Asura was getting more frustrated as he thought of getting stuck here until death. He does know if Arhat will come back or if he will be left to rot here to die.
No one will ever be able to find him and, as time goes by, his body will only get weaker and weaker to even try to break out of this place. Even with the help of soul-power, my body requires food to work. Using soul-power may help me to be in good condition for a few more days, but when the soul power is exhausted, I will die even more swiftly.
"Okay, first I need to wait for my body to wake up before thinking of anything else. I can use soul-power to keep my brain active, but it will lead to exhaustion swiftly, or should I just..."
"Slappp...!!"
"I am fucking dumb. I can use that to get out of here. "
Asura slapped himself hard to get his thoughts straight as he finally remembered that he could use mantras too. And among the inheritance, there is a spell that acts as a healing spell.
'Let's try and see if it works.'
Asura then kneeled on top of his chest and chanted...
"Tayata Om Bekanze."
"Tayata Om Bekanze."
"Tayata Om Bekanze."
Soul-power followed along his body and then traveled to his palms, causing a pale green glow to occur around his palms and then travel from his palms to his physical body. The glow spread in thin lines from the chest and spread out to every corner of the body.
A few seconds later, Asura felt his body waking up, but it was slow, so he pushed even more soul-power and sped up the chanting process, causing a strong green glow to flow out of his hands. It immediately sped up the awakening process but also started to consume more and more soul-power.
As the steady stream of power was flowing through his body, the green glow passed through every part of his and started to cleanse anything foreign to the body which was affecting it negatively. As for how it finds what is good and bad, Asura has no clue. The reason why it takes so long and such heavy consumption is due to his lack of knowledge and experience using it.
Asura felt his physical body starting to wake up from the drug and he finally stopped the chanting and the green glow faded out. Then he returned back to the physical body and waited a few seconds for the soul to re-settle inside. After that, he finally felt the senses returning to him and he could move his body around, albeit struggling to fully control it.
Just as he was getting the body under control, he heard metallic clanging sounds from behind the door...