A chill ran down Axel's spine, a sensation unlike anything he'd felt before. It wasn't physical; it was…internal. A voice echoed in his mind, not spoken aloud, but clear as a bell. 'Well, hello there, roommate.'
Axel stumbled back, his hand instinctively going to his head. 'Who…who said that?' he whispered, his voice trembling.
'Up here,' the voice chuckled, a low, resonant sound that seemed to vibrate through his very being. 'Or rather, down there. Depends on your perspective, I suppose.
'Fear warred with a strange sense of curiosity. 'Are you…the entity Gizmo was talking about?''The one and only,' the voice confirmed.
'Though 'entity' feels a bit impersonal, don't you think? You can call me Kaelen veridian' said Kaelen in a playful voice
'Kaelen,' Axel repeated, testing the sound on his tongue. It felt… weighty, like it carried a history he didn't know.
'Why haven't you spoken to me before?' asked Axel in an annoyed tone
'Circumstances,' Kaelen replied, the jovial tone fading slightly. 'Lilith's presence was… disruptive. Any direct contact could have alerted her to my existence. And trust me, that was a party neither of us wanted to attend.' Kaelen said
'But what about before, you were there even before my contact with Lilith. Why didn't you try communicating back then ?' Axel asked still suspicious of Kaelen
'I had to be sure that this bio-engineering tool that you carry with you can be trusted or was it a ploy of some sort? You get the cynical nature right? i inherited that from you.' answered Kaelen playfully.
'You made contact with Gizmo, meaning you now trust it right? But what about you how can we trust you? ' inquired Axel.
'Bro, you need to chill, I am a product of your primal skill "Seven Star- Legend Creation" as Gizmo might have told you, I am the only thing in this universe that you can trust blindly. The whole purpose for which I exist is your safety and growth nothing else' said Kaelen with a somewhat serious tone.
Upon hearing the name of the skill some fragmented memories started appearing in Axel's mind from the time when Axel had his trance while obtaining the skill but still, he could not make much out of the scattered images and feelings that he was experiencing.
Axel was still a bit confused but hearing the name of the skill had brought upon him a sense of familiarity and faith. He had now decided to trust Kaelen and treat him as someone who would help him in his conquest.
'From now on I will be calling you Kael (Ka el). You have a lot of explaining to do Kael, explain to me about the skill that birthed you and the events that transpired with Lilith, how come I came out on top in that whole terrifying exchange? ' asked Axel.
'Kael sounds like a cool name, I like it. Well as far as I know and you might have guessed as well this skill of yours will create others like me, now I don't know what others will be like. And regarding Lilith, as Gizmo told you it was this extraordinary being that saved your sorry ass, but no need for any flattery ' replied Kael playfully
'Don't irritate me and give me the details Kael' said Axel.
'Ok boss, well the thing is that although I have been born recently, I have the memories of someone who has lived for centuries. I also know all about your memories and experiences. And the memories that I have are mostly knowledge about a huge library where a single person goes, picks a book and reads it until the book is finished and then picks up another book and the same goes on and on forever for centuries.'
'Just talking about it is making me bored so you can imagine the horror I have to go through while having such memories. Well, the good news for you is that I possess knowledge about almost all the languages in the universe and the power that the words hold. Now you might think it as trivial as you were born on Earth but let me just tell you that it's not.'
'Well that is just about the memories that I have but by nature I am sort of a blood demon something similar to Lilith. Oh and also I have an idetic memory. So that's all about me folks hehe' said Kael while laughing gleefully.
Axel was glad to have acquired an eccentric yet powerful ally. But he doubted how much can Kael truly help him without having a real body.
'Now care to explain the events that took place with Lilith as well, Gizmo said you modified the Soul Contract,' Axel said, his brow furrowed. 'What exactly did you do?'
'Let's just say I added a few… clauses,' Kaelen said with a hint of amusement. 'Nothing Lilith can undo. It's a done deal. Consider it a… preemptive measure.' said Kael
'Preemptive against what?' asked Axel
'Against her controlling you, obviously,' Kaelen said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. 'She had basically drafted a Soul contract with superficial terms on the contract while hiding the true essence with blood magic and ancient demonic scripture.'
'But I merely changed the master and the slave annotations using my vast and superior knowledge, although the real challenge was to hide the same using your puny elemental energy compared to hers but I carefully substituted the current prevalent symbols of the demonic scripture in the contract with the ancient lost symbols and some other things to confuse and voila'
'Now she is your slave and within a few years she would be brainwashed by her own magic, isnt that a work of beauty' said Kael.
Axel was SHocked by the revelation. But he needed the whole picture before he could celebrate.
'You said something to Gizmo,' Axel continued, remembering Gizmo's words. 'In Spanish. 'Hasta la vista, baby.' What was that about?'
'Ah, that,' Kaelen said, a hint of nostalgia in his voice.
'A little… Earth humor. It simply means 'until we meet again.' Although in this case it's more like 'until we properly start working together'. It's a promise, you see. A promise that we'll be seeing a lot more of each other.'
Axel didn't find it particularly funny. He rubbed his temples, trying to process everything. He had a voice in his head, a powerful entity named Kaelen Veridian, who had altered a soul contract and spoke in Earth slang. The world had just gotten a whole lot stranger.
'So,' he said slowly, 'what now?'
'Now,' Kael said, a sense of anticipation radiating from him, 'we begin.'