Ran was placed in a state that reminded him too much of limbo as the Lagarakei within him unlocked his spirituality.
"Usually, this is done in thirty days of meditation and fasting. To connect to the spiritual realm is a great feat, but my kind… we were born of eldritch forces, eldritch forces that permeate the spiritual realm as much as kin does this one of reality."
Ran felt the Lagarakei's words resonate in his psyche. He had no idea why, but it felt true to him.
He was really puzzled by how he could determine the truth in people's words lately.
"If Lagarakeis were born as a projection from the spiritual realm, which I assume is what you are hinting at," he sent back, mentally, to the monster. "Then why don't you all just return?"
"It's not impossible, but we fear returning. As you know, everything in the spiritual realm exists in a diminished state, like a mind reduced to just its thoughts. Can you move thoughts? Build with it, feed on it, hunt with it, keep warm with it? In such a state we'd be less than alive, merely a powerful flow of consciousness divorced from the realm of reality. Also, we remain here because we have to feed."
Ran felt himself stiffen at that. That did not sound good. "Feed?"
"Indeed. We are the source of eldritch forces in the realm of reality, all eldritch forces, even the force that transmuted into the realm of Naraku and then the force that birthed the fires of hell you just survived… all of it came from us. The eldritch forces of reality are our energy waste, like the heat a fire leaves behind in its passing."
Ran felt something swirl inside him, something he had no description for, as the Lagarakei pushed hard on his spirit.
"As you can see, we give off so much, as is our nature. Nature also demands that we feed. You are a smart boy, I believe you can guess what we feed on."
"Flesh?" Ran asked, it was his darkest but first guess.
The Lagarakei laughed within him. It was guttural, it was ancient, it had him feeling like insects were crawling all over him.
"We do not feed upon the flesh of any race, no, you guessed wrong."
"Chaos?"
"We bring the chaos, not feed on it."
"Kin?"
"We are not beings of kin."
"Don't tell me it's eldritch force? How can you feed on what you give away?"
The creature heaved a sigh that Ran felt reverberate all over his body, rattling even his internal organs. "The eldritch forces we give off are what makes your reality balanced. On one side you have the kin that governs nature and the supernatural, on the other side there are eldritch forces which govern life and the things of the spiritual realm. We can only feed on eldritch forces, and due every life contains an eldritch force, from mortals to Assarians, and when they die that force is released into the air for consumption or to permeate. We can't always wait for thousands to die before we fill ourselves, so we orchestrate their death to feed."
"What if you like everyone and there's no one to feed on anymore?" Ran asked, truly curious as to what his response would be.
"We section our attacks to make sure we always leave enough to procreate. Regardless, though, the sectioning was mostly done in the ancient times when we attacked your mortal kind. Here in Naraku, everyone is immortal and will always be respawned. That's why we chose to remain here, we can feed for all of eternity."
Ran cursed his ancestors for his bad luck. Why? Just why? Why did it have to be him who ended up with a serial killing eldritch monster of nightmares inside his soul? A monster who used life as a recycling plant for food, used the nature of immortality as a cornucopia— a source of endless sustenance —that was what lived in him.
"But the people don't want you feeding on them?" Ran argued, feeling disgusted that such a thing lived inside of him now.
"Since when has a meal enjoyed being fed on?" The creature retorted. "Or perhaps you'd have us start eldritch energy farms as your people do with meat instead of hunting?"
Ran recoiled in horror. "No, that's not what I meant. Although you could create creatures, mindless creatures, rich in eldritch forces you could farm them."
"The best eldritch force comes from sapients. That's the nature of an eldritch force—it gives life, awareness, intelligence."
"Isn't there another way to obtain eldritch forces without death and destruction?" He asked.
Ran was really invested in this because… what would happen should the creature inside him start to hunger? Would he, Ran, transform and go on a feeding frenzy?
"None that I have knowledge of."
"I sense the truth in your words, but a group of powerful beings once told me that you came to the City of Severance to kill me, that I was a weakness to your immortality. They mentioned nothing about eldritch hunger and you needing to feed."
"You expect I'd try to tell you they were wrong?" The creature let out a noise that sounded like an earthquake in a cavern. Ran barely registered it as a chuckle. "They were right. I never said I attacked the City of Severance to feed. In fact, I was well fed when I attacked. You asked about our nature and in explanation I told you we remained here to feed. That was what we have been doing since the seals of the Noxsphere were broken for our release."
"So you came to kill me?"
"I'm always a forward thinker, young mortal. I chose that particular location of Naraku to be my hunting realm and it had a pure mortal there. I know a pure mortal needs a mighty weapon to slay an immortal, but in Naraku such weapons are as plentiful as the stars. Thus, I took the initiative and sought you out. Even when I faced defeat, I made the choice that wouldn't see me die. But I was defeated by your people, and now I have been reduced to this. If I hadn't come, boy, more like me would have."
"You are evil and I will be rid of you. You are a monster and have no place within me."
The Lagarakei chuckled. "You insult your savior."
Before Ran could respond to that acerbically, his environment transformed.