Chereads / Tales Of The Phantom / Chapter 12 - Self Discovery

Chapter 12 - Self Discovery

"I... Came here on my own?"

I asked baffled by myself, and when I look at Kthilla, she just smiles proudly and nod her head in confirmation.

"Yes... Ye be a fine specimen indeed, thou art may possess more talent than thy great self when I hail as the Witch of Secrets in the epoch of the Astral God, I'm proud, content, and amazed with thy result thus far, shalt ye continue down tis thorny road at such record-breaking speed, then ye shalt transcend the norm in about a decade or two."

"I...is that so, I'm confused about how I got here though?"

"Ye power is the reason, what else reason could there be?"

"I get that, but what power are you talking about, is it yours or a variation of yours I guess."

I asked a little confused about how this witchcraft stuff works, I do understand it's a little tough, from what I got, I understand that Kthilla use her soul to burn down her divine body, to fix my body, and reattached my soul back to it.

I understand her powers have something to do with dreams and desires, but to understand myself I need to know what her power is.

Kthilla of course just sigh she said.

"As I said before thy death, my powers are the power of secrets and their meaning, think of my magic as the ultimate form of concealment that warps reality, for instance, I could hide concepts, abstracts, emotions, basically anything, my most use spell however could hide the magic of all being making them mortal, this was my Antithesis."

"Broken as hell."

I said to her with awe, but she continued.

"Yes, thine great self is revered and feared through Eden and Purgatory you know, but when it comes to witchcraft there are a lot of different rules and complex things about ourselves that are hard to explain with mere words alone, for instants, after transcending to a level-5 existence, we can fuse our conceptual Soul vein, with our body."

"What a conceptual soul vein?"

"See what I was saying, it's confusing, but to make it simple a conceptual soul vein is a magic user magic true form, basically at level-5 you can choose to strengthen your soul vein more, or ye can choose to fuse yourself with your magic to become one with it."

"For what reason though?"

"Let me finish, you see by doing this ye shalt naught be bound by limitations or condition, however, thy potential shalt be stuck in the realm of level-5, this means whatever flaw or conditions ye might have on your magic before is deleted; the consequences of using it does not matter anymore, this also means ye can use it endlessly, but the strength our output of it remains at the realm of level-5."

"Do ye understand, our hast my explanation confuses ye?

Kthilla ask me, checking if I was confused, strangely enough, my brain stupid it down, even more, to make me understand as I replied as such.

"So in simpler terms, I can spam and hold R2 without worrying about reloading, or ammunition, sweet, that sounds convenient to me?"

"Eh?!"

But when I said this she had veins coming from her head to symbolize her displeasure.

"Thine great self has found it rather disrespectful, that thou art compare magic to the likes of video games, but ye is correct, then and again many only does this seeing only a handful can make it at level three, many witches and warlocks alike reach their life span when they just enter the realms of level five, so to not waste their life efforts, they fuse with their magic with their body so they can pass it on."

"Then how does one pass it on?"

"Simple they find a human of thy liking and feed them their flesh, since both magic and body became one, as long as the owner of that magic chooses a successor, that person will inherit their magic power, but it won't be the same effect as the previous owner, no it will still be the same magic but in a different form."

"So cannibalism?"

"Ye is right again, cannibalism."

"It's similar to me and you in a way though."

"Ye is correct, thou art has inherited thy Secrecy magic, with it, I could hide inside things, and hide things from something else, and also see the truth for what it is, but that's my variation of it, yours might be fundamentally different."

"I see, I think get it now, then the reason I'm here is because of a new magic of mine?"

"Certainly ye found me, I didn't summon ye here, I can't do anything; but I must say I'm impressed, seeing a human consciousness, can't be here, it would crumble into nothing if it were, and yet ye is here regardless of the impossibility."

"If I thine great self is correct ye is subconsciously hiding thy feeble consciousness someway, somehow from the effects of the abyss. In layman's terms, you're bypassing the influence of the abyss, making it think you're a dead god, it's laughable but like I said thine power can escape the influence of the Gods, and seeing it taking such a disrespectful form, is further evidence thine great self is unmatched in the face of divinity."

Kthilla announces with a satisfied smile of superiority, her face filled with pride and satisfaction, honestly how prideful can one woman be, even in death she is still praising herself more than anything else.

But the more I think about her explanation, the more I think of this new power of mine, could it be that desired form is tricking the abyss, then what does the abyss see me as?

At this thought, I look at Kthilla and ask.

"I have a question."

"A question ha, sure ye may ask away."

"What does the abyss see dead Gods as, is it even alive."

"Hmm. If I had to say then yes, in a way it is, it's a living law of sorts, the abyss sees the dead Gods as sleeping Gods without a form, reason, or meaning. Tis place is just a dream of our choosing, and when a dead god reincarnates, it is like they are waking up, of course, only a true God can enter the dreams of man to manipulate them as such, why ye ask though?"

"Is that so, interesting indeed, so if I am correct I'm nothing more than a dead God within this dream world, right?"

"No I don't think so, ye be hiding from the abyss, your not a dead God."

Kthilla said with an unimpressed look, however, I began to explain to her why I said this.

"So let me get this straight, the magic power ye inherit from thy great self is the power to be perceived as a dead individual of someone's closest friends our family?"

"That's right?"

"So the reason ye think the abyss isn't crumbling thy sanity isn't that ye be hiding from the effects, but because the Abyss sees ye as the consciousness of an Old God, or an elder one, as a result, thou art has becomes a dead God inside this place?"

"Correct, my power, well your power didn't give me the power to hide concepts, the variation of secrecy I got, is the power of "Desired form" I take the form of dead things, and as a result, the abyss thinks everything in here is dead Gods, that why I could enter here without issue, it's perceiving me as what belongs, the desire it has is to house dead gods, as such it sees me as one."

Kthilla had her hand on her chin as she began to think, eventually, she said to herself.

"...Kakaka... Even in death I never fail to impress thine self."

"So prideful!"

"I guess that would explain why ye is not affected by the Abyss, but it doesn't explain why or how ye got here in the first place, maybe ye can walk into places impossible to reach."

"That may be a possibility as well, but I think I can travel anywhere as long as it has something to do with dreams, or work like one."

"Well whatever this power is, ye will figure it out eventually, but without a doubt ye have other abilities, there is also a strong possibility your "Lord of Phantom" fuse with my magic as well, creating a new type of magic entirely."

"Is that possible?"

I asked with an intrigued inner smile.

"Yes, it's called magic evolution, it does happen from time to time, when an already awaken inheritor devours their predecessor's magic into themselves, normally they become dual wielders, or their magic fuse to become something else."

"No wonder, so it's like I'm hiding in plain sight with additional benefits?"

"Ye can say that, so tell me, what other changes have ye noticed?"

When Kthilla asks that question, I also explain to her about my "Eyes Of The Blind One", and her reaction was as such.

"It's like a lesser version of my true gaze?"

"True gaze?"

"Yes, you see thine great self could also see the world's secrets via the use of my unique magic, meaning illusion don't work on me, I could read people's minds and memories, I could translate any language into my foreign tongue, and I can also see the color of people's emotions."

"That busted as hell if not extremely convenient?"

"Kakaka... Of course, I am the former witch of secrets after all."

Kthilla said as she smugly laugh to herself in great pride.

"Yeah, Yeah I hear you but based on the information that you gave me, then my eyes can only see things in absolute darkness, either way, I'm grateful for it, although there is only a single problem left."

"And what might that be my successor?"

"How do I get out of here?"

"Well if ye ability works the way thou art claim it to, then the answer is simple, ye vessel remains in the world of the waking, just picture thyself, leaving this place and posses your empty vessel without consciousness."

"Then what about you?"

"Why thou art worries about me, as long as ye keeps thy promise, I am satisfied with thy fate."

"Where friends right, you save me by sacrificing yourself, are you sure there is no way to make your eternal imprisonment more peaceful?"

"Friends ye say?"

"Are we not?"

"Never had a person I could truly call a friend."

"That's sad."

"..."

"Come on, I won't bite, I'm just trying to help a friend out."

I said out loud but Kthilla just sighed as she said.

"Very well, I will help ye so you can help me."

"Sure what are your suggestions?"

"Well since the Abyss perceived thou as a dead God you can house my consciousness in your own dream space, that way it would not expose me to the full force of the Abyss corruption, although that in itself will only slow down the inevitable."

"Well, it's still better, than losing your mind in this place, although how do I create a dream space."

"Just think about it, your dream space should override mines with ease seeing you have a higher authority than me in this place, I'm not a full God, just a dead half God. That is if your power of the desired form is truly capable of fooling the influence of the Abyss."

"Think of a shape and form ha, sound easy enough?"

I whispered to myself as I began close my eyes and think, honestly, what should I turn this place into, agh... Now that I think about it, I always had a thing for the ocean maybe an island... yeah an island filled with bountiful trees, many beautiful animals, and coated with greenery.

'But I don't want to make things too overly complicated either, so let's do this, one single island with beautiful sun, cloudy skies, meanwhile the ocean water around us is infinite, that will be the filling of this world, time runs in twenty-four intervals, twelve hours of daytime, and twelve hours of night-time.'

'On this island, we are in, there is a large mansion no no no... Better yet a Château, a giant French-style fortress one fit for a princess at the very center of it, this place it's filled with maids, butlers, chefs, gardeners, and all sorts of modern-day items such as a large bed, a bar, a bowling room, a theater, a gym, a giant pool, and courtyard.'

But when I was thinking about this, I heard Kthilla, suddenly speak out.

"Thou art control truly is impressive if not phenomenal, my dream space didn't stand a chance at all, ye truly is fitting to be thy successor."

When I open my eyes, I was surprised to see both me and Kthilla under a large Judas tree, shaded from the sun, just looking around me I could see we were in the courtyard, many servants were fixing the garden, while an old and classy-looking clear skin butler with blue eyes and white hair was serving both me and Kthilla tea.

I look in awe, surprised to see that my powers over the dream work just like I thought they would, but with this, I feel less guilty about the fact that Kthilla will be left here to punish, with this power I can at least slow the process of her corruption down, even if it's to a little extent.

"Honestly thou art be a little soft-hearted, in the world of the occult, the kind-hearted ones are always the first to die, so heed thy advice, mind your business it helps not only you but others around you, I learn that the hard way, just stay focus and study hard, but apart from that ye have my utmost thanks."

"Hehe, I will keep that in mind, although I think I should go now."

"Well take here I guess."

"Same to you, I will drop by later, for now, I am going to test out other things about myself, and what my limits are in the world of the waking."

With those words said I began to concentrate once more, but this time I try to feel a connection with my body, and just like Kthilla said, I felt a strong connection with it, with that I disappeared from the Abyss but strange enough I still feel a strong connection to my dream space.