3180 My Name is Solus (Part 2)

'Maybe once it runs out, you'll be more reasonable.' The Tree said before sealing the room shut.

'Solus.' She sobbed from the prison of her broken body. 'My name is Solus.'

***

Griffon Kingdom, Nestrar Region, in the middle of nowhere.

Sunlight relieved Derek of most of his hunger yet it also brought him to the brink of madness. Most of the knowledge and power he had gained when Lith had reemerged to fight the Chroniclers was gone.

"Who the fuck were those guys and what did they want from me? Why do I feel so empty?" The Void had failed to answer Elysia's call but he had perceived it nonetheless.

His homing instinct craved to reach the small, distant shadow that brightened his heart, yet his paranoia didn't allow him to. Derek was afraid it was another trick of the "entity" that wanted to control his body or a trap set by someone who wanted to hurt him.

Like those elves from the other night.

"Why do I feel so angry?" The attempt on his life, the emptiness left by Lith's absence, and Elysia's call were already bad, but they got worse.

Lith felt in his mind an echo of Solus' pain. He had no way of knowing what the World Tree was doing to her, but he knew what he would do in their shoes and it terrified him.

The human life force stirred with all the strength it had, demanding to be put back together. Demanding to be fed. Demanding its hunger to be sated.

The Void felt all those things and even with the amnesia, the thought of anyone touching Solus was enough to drive him insane. Derek wanted to kill, but he didn't know who. He was filled with hatred but didn't know why.

"And this damn sword doesn't do shit!" He said at Ragnarök, making it whine like a scolded puppy. "Aren't you supposed to help me? Why do I get no quests, skills, or titles? I'm tired of those splitting headaches and ridiculous memories!"

The hologram of his status floated right above the light crystal of the sword. The specifics hadn't changed much except that the bar going from Derek to Lith was now filled at 40% and all the remembered spells and techniques had been added to his "Skill" list."The weirdest thing, even though there's nothing normal in this situation, is that I don't get to learn stuff via level ups or rewards. Everything just comes to my mind while I fight and, most of the time, it stays there.

"On the one hand, I like not being forced to shout out the name of my abilities like a moron to activate them. On the other hand, I don't feel any external help. Without my focus, my mana, and my will, not even the simplest of spells takes form.

"The system is of no help at all. It's more like a character sheet for some twisted larping adventure."

The answer came in the form of a holographic window from the Voidfeather that read:

"Willpower and imagination are the foundations of magic. To achieve something, you need to picture a path to success and have the will to do what's necessary. Nothing worth having comes easy."lightsnovel

"Nice. Now I even get fortune cookie-like words of wisdom." Derek said with a sneer.

'Well, I'm sorry if I'm not an omnipotent being who can dish out powers like candies.' The Voidfeather scoffed from the inner layer of Lith's life forces. 'Things aren't going badly down here but they aren't going well either.'

He turned toward the human life force that was still mending itself. The physical damage was almost gone but the psychological damage had not recovered much since Strider had decapitated Lith.

The betrayal, the severing of the bond with Solus, and his life force splitting into three again in order to survive the decapitation have taken a huge toll on Lith's psyche.

'So far, I've managed to control the Void by sheer luck. Meeting those farmers and the Ry helped me to awaken important memories of Protector and Nana, but that wasn't enough.

'I hoped that by somehow making the Void relive some of the milestones of this life, I could help the human side recover and reconnect with us. Some memories are back, but the effect is different from what I predicted.'Instead of opening a channel with the human life force, the Void is closing it. Without my parents' and Solus' influence, the Void is too detached to learn something from those lessons.

'It's like he's watching a movie. He may be moved by the images on the moment, but he's quick to forget their message because it goes against everything he believes in. Even worse, George is becoming crueler than I have ever been.

'After my arrival on Mogar, learning magic has been like learning martial arts. I've become stronger with practice and discipline, learning to control myself before controlling the mana. He, instead, is becoming too powerful too fast and with no effort.

'He considers magic like a toy he can use to get even with the world who hurt me. After Carl's death, I had no qualms about getting even with someone who crossed me but I've never used violence for the sake of it.

'George, instead, is starting to find it funny. Between the resurfacing of my trauma and the Abomination's hunger, he is cutting himself off from me. Talking with him is becoming more difficult as time passes.'

'If it continues like this, there's the serious risk that by the time the human side is healed, the fracture between the Abomination life force and the other two will become permanent. If that happens, I'll have a bigger problem than amnesia.

'Everything I've struggled so much to achieve and protect will be lost forever. I must find a way to send George to a populated area. If someone reports his presence, there's a chance my friends will find me before more Chroniclers do.

'At that point, the rest should be easy.' The Voidfeather inwardly cursed, fearing to have jinxed his plan. 'As if anything in my life has ever been easy.'

"What do I do?" The Void looked at the sword, waiting for guidance. "If I want to discover something about this world, I need to do it now while the sun is up. Once the hunger returns, I don't know if I can control myself. Or if I care doing that, for that matter."

lightsΝοvel 'I wish I could tell you.' The Voidfeather saw everything through Derek's eyes but he had no idea where he was.

The maps of the Kingdom were still inside Soluspedia and due to the Void's habit to fly in random directions in search for food, the Voidfeather Dragon failed to orient himself. At his flight speed, the Void could cover thousands of kilometers in a single night, assuming he didn't get lost and flew in circles.

"Find a populated area. Ask of Lith Verhen." The Voidfeather sent the message to Ragnarök who delivered it as a hologram.

"And what way is that?" Derek asked, obtaining no reply. "Fine. I was thinking about doing this for a while now anyway."