Kai was confused.
Who could invade his mind? How and why? He had no reliable knowledge of the different Green-world species in the academy.
Sure, the government had made it possible for humans and unhostile Otherworlders to live as one — the prejudice remained and that gave rise to rebellion from the Otherworlders, harming humans.
Of course, the Guardians are quick to act. Their job is to ensure peace and stability reign in these conflict-filled, unstable worlds. The fifty-six planets harboured species that are ranked by Intelligence levels and split by the Concord into two.
Green-worlds are planets that are non-hostile while Red-worlds are planets inhabiting hostile Dark-souled creatures non-withstanding intelligence levels.
'Still, you never know when one might attack. Eldrans, Mernians and Beastkin are the only good-natured races I know and none of them possesses an abil...'
His thoughts were cut off by Vale, who repeated his warnings about orderly movements.
Kai noticed Varik had already gone ahead, stopping right in front of Vale who looked towards the forest with an indifferent gaze.
He tried to push through the crowd and was just able to catch him asking a question.
"Professor, what is going on? If the rift is being contained, why are we hiding?" Varik asked.
With a somber expression, he replied, "The wards are reaching their limit and won't contain our new guests. So we must send the Dark-souled back to wherever they came from, or the aftermath will be devastating."
Varik grew pale for a minute. Professor Vale continued, now facing Varik...
"Rest assured; we are more than capable of taking out small fry so… Off you go."
Kai took one last look at the area which was affected. Of course, it was way too far and obscured by shadows of the tall trees so he couldn't see anything. He did notice several of the Guardian Order mobilizing to invade the forest and take care of the problem.
'Early as always.'
He never really trusted anyone else to keep him safe, but there was nothing he could do. He didn't have the power to protect himself. For now, he prayed for a safe purge of the Dark-souled.
***
Kaitri walked into his dormitory room and sat on the single bed. It felt soft — making him feel dizzy for some reason. He fought the urge to lay down and pondered the question about the strange voice.
What was it? The manner at which he spoke sounded almost robotic but male and ethereal and solemn.
Kai also felt a deep sense of dread from it. Like if it amplified its voice, he would die right there and then.
He sighed, then he thought about what he could do at the moment and decided to study. He brought out a textbook given to him by his Aunt to help him grasp the nature of his studies faster.
He looked at the cover. The words: WORLD WATCH, boldly inscribed on its surface. In one of its pages, it was stated that the rifts were measured by levels — a rift level was measured by the Soul Energy Unit, often known as the SEU.
Why just those areas? The reasons were unknown, but a Level 1 Rift only opens in a Level 1 designated rift area.
'I guess this was why Professor Vale wasn't bothered. This academy is located in the safest place on Halycon.'
At that moment, the voice came back. This time, a searing pain followed. He panicked as felt the insides of his skull throb and his mind forcefully shutting down.
[Sequence is ready.]
[Resonance 1%]
"No, I've got to stay awake. Hell! What is this…? Argh!"
He scrambled to the bathroom and looked at the mirror expecting to see something happening to his head, but nothing was physically changing. At least, not his head…
"My eyes! It's black?!"
Indeed. His eyes looked like it had been painted over, deep, dark and…
'Beautiful.'
As he had this thought, his vision faded, then it blurred. The pain had stopped but then it was as if it moved down to his body. Wait, that was wrong. Why did he feel…
His vision cleared but what he was looking out wasn't the mirror, what he felt wasn't his clothes, what he smelled wasn't the lavender scent of his bathroom. His mind went blank as he saw it…
A red mist filled the air. Countless bodies of dead creatures and humans in steel armour were laid out in a commingle of red. He was ankle-deep in a lake of blood, surrounded by brown stone with a Xiphos sword. He was in a deep canyon, dressed in a light steel armour without a helmet.
Kaitri's face paled or at least, he thought he did.
He wanted to curse but what came out of his lips did not harmonize with what he had thought. The cacophony of battle drowned out his voice but… he wasn't the one speaking. What he wanted to feel, what he wanted to do wasn't what was happening.
This petrifying feeling again. He had felt it the day his parents were murdered, he felt it in his soul. That scar was as fresh as it was when the Guardians had told him his parents were dead.
"Till my last breath…" he said… or didn't say.
He didn't have time to understand why he had blurted that out.
'I- I have to run. Move! damn it,' he thought in panic.
To his relief, his body answered. It moved. But not at the direction where he wanted to go, not the view he wanted to face, and he definitely did not feel like gripping the sword tighter.
'What in the Two suns is going on?!'
He was in control of his body, something else was moving it, and at an immense speed that was faster than his mind could process.
In an Instant, he had found himself falling from a high altitude. How had he gotten so high in less than a second? He noticed the intruder's gaze was directed at a massive harrowing creature that was fist deep in the earth, right where he had been a moment ago.
'I didn't even see it approach.'
But of course, the battleground was foggy and red so he couldn't have seen the creature attack. But how had his body or… whoever was in control sensed it? He knew his senses were heighted, his muscles were burning, his eyes were blood-shot red but at the same time, he felt exhilarating.
His body shifted into a weird position on air. The sword was held with both hands over his head as his legs spiralled to gain more momentum. A surge of purple energy burst from his back, pushing him down at immense speed. Purple light shone from his Xiphos, shining brighter as his descent sped up.
'He's not gonna… We'll die!'
The ground quaked.
He collided with creature before it could move. Kai's mind went blank for a second, then he regained his senses to witness a disturbing sight. There was a crater around him, about ten metres wide and there was a wide straight fissure forming the radius of an even deeper chasm. Red rain pouring from the sky, bathing him as he stood in the centre, looking at the dead creature in silence.
He saw the blood lake flow into the chasm. It was too overwhelming to bear. His muscles ached but he felt like his body wasn't going to slow down. Luckily, the blast had killed other creatures around, but it had also reaped the lives of some knights that couldn't get away in time.
'You're a monster,' he thought, then froze his thoughts in the off chance he was being heard, somehow. But there was nothing.
A few seconds passed, then he saw three abominations approaching mindlessly. They were of the same species, looking like a horse stitched of shadow and fog; where its mane should be, a thousand faint mouths opened and closed in slow, toothless whispers. Its hooves made no sound, but the air after it trembled.
Somehow, he knew not to get touched by this creature and it seemed like his body knew as well. He moved with great precision, ducking, and twisting to cut down the creatures with his purple radiant sword — with technique imbued in his body, in his…
'I must be intruding in someone's body. I can feel their rage, it's fuelling mine... deep within my soul. They are a Resonant and a strong one at that. I don't think any bounded can move like this.'
As Kai thought that, the person dropped his sword and swung his hands halfway behind him. He felt energy surge to his hands, then he slammed both palms together at the direction where five more dreadful horses where approaching.
His mouth roared, "DIE!!!!"
He heard a booming noise. Then before his eyes, space distorted from the tip of his fingers to where the creatures were. The darkness around them compressed, their bodies crushing, imploding.
In an instant, they were gone. And another big chasm formed, deeper than the last. It swallowed the blood lake. If Kai had a body, it would be deathly pale right about now.
'What the hell?!' he screamed in his head. 'How is that even possible?'
Sure, it was scary but the emotions of the owner of the body was influencing his, they were… Resonating. He felt like he was going to burst at any moment. Everything the man did and felt, he did and felt. He felt the calluses he didn't have in his real body brace the hilt of the Xiphos, its radiance being fed Soul energy constantly from a near endless reserve.
'So, this is what it's like to become a Resonant.'
But… It couldn't be. A Resonant is any creature with positive soul energy fused with a heroic spirit of a distant past who allowed that Pure-souled to channel its spirit energy known as Resonance.
So, how was this person using Resonance if Kai's spirit was inside him? Kai didn't have any Resonance and he only felt another spirit which was the one connected to the soul of the person fighting.
Then a thought came to him as the mysterious person slaughtered a towering abomination with skill and precision. How had those heroic spirits gained their power? He knew Eldrans and certain Otherworlders could use Resonance, but they channelled it from the air and not from themselves, and into Runes or a conduit like an artifact, frame, or wards even.
'Well, that's what I'm going to be taught at the academy anyway… Oh shoot, how much time has passed,' he thought.
He had been fighting for countless hours. It felt like the more dreadful creatures he killed; the more soul energy flowed through him. He felt stronger, faster after each kill and it was needed because the further he went into the blood lake, the more harrowing it became.
The Army of soldiers in armour dwindled faster and faster until he was the only one left. He had just killed one more abomination that looked like a human-sized moth with mottled, newspaper wings and compound eyes that shone like polished bone when the Earth shook under him.
He jumped back as the lake rippled. Something was rising slowly… The man who owned this body had been confident and driven to slaughter whatever was in his way. He had completely lost all that after seeing the creature that towered above him, blocking the whole canyon.
A lanky, mud-coated predator with reed-tufts and webbed fingers, its skin stitched with algae. It moved like water given legs with silt falling where it walks. It took a second for the man to feel terror. Then, he calmed his wildly beating heart and Kai felt his lips move.
"At long last… I have found you, great Mire-runner."
The next moment, Kai felt an overwhelming surge of Resonance pour out of his body. It was too much… Way too much. He felt every muscle, every blood vessel, every bone, every organ. How was that possible? Kai felt his soul quiver.
'He's going all out, isn't he?'
As if to reply to his question, his lips moved again.
"You have wreaked great havoc on this world and so... I, Archedes of the Scions, shall end you with everything I have. Pay with your life and let the glory of…"
His vision faded and Kai heard,
[Sequence complete.]
[Extraction…]
Kaitri opened his eyes and saw a face looking back at him. Startled, he jumped back, hitting the bathroom wall… The bathroom wall. His bathroom wall. He was back to reality.
"What the hell was that?!"