Work Text:
Poor little boy. You broke your neck, didn’t you?
Oh, please. Don’t blame her for that. You did this to yourself.
I wonder, what would your dear parents think about all this?
Would they praise your resolve?
Or, would they scold you for all the wrong you’ve done?
Ah well, no sense in dwelling on sentiment. We have work to do, friend.
You’ve been quite the inspiration, after all.
***
How did you get your hands on this book, friend? Tell me.
TELL ME!
Oh dear, I’ve made you bleed.
Well, you probably can’t feel it anyway.
***
Fascinating. So THIS is what you were doing all along - you were expanding on Magister Oreb’s work…
…using yourself as a test subject.
You’ve made some notes here, look. Your handwriting is terrible, but I think this one says ‘destructive interference.’
You were on to something, weren’t you?
Yes, simply snatching the soul of any little mercenary or warrior to cross your path or tread on your battleground wasn’t enough. The incompatibility - it drained you, broke you down. Made you hunger for more.
You lost yourself to that hunger. Lost your way.
Lost your mind.
But…
Ah, yes. I understand now.
Her soul would have fixed all that. It wasn’t just the power. No, no - it was the constructive interference.
Anima sanitatis.
***
I see now. For all your little differences, you and her were already quite alike, friend. Your inspirations, your experiences, your goals.
Your souls were already quite compatible.
All she needed was a few nudges in the right direction, and her soul would be ripe for the picking, yes? Such was the reason for your words, and your actions, in dear old Icthlarin’s stomping grounds. With your soul healed and bolstered with hers, you would’ve been set to save the world.
So. What went wrong?
Don’t look at me like that, friend. You can tell me.
…
Ha! What a way to word it.
Yes, I can see how that little detail got in your way.
***
I’ve been thinking…
Well, more than that - I’ve been planning, friend.
Come, take a look.
Oh, don’t be like that. This was your idea from the beginning - I’m simply refining it.
See, for all your posturing and threatening, you were very much unwilling to do what was necessary. A soul like hers - it cannot be so easily swayed with words alone. You tried taking action, yes, though what you did was…horribly ineffective in the grand scheme of things. She had been through all that before, you see - all you succeeded in doing was kicking the hornet’s nest.
What I’m planning will show you exactly how to properly twist and tweak a soul into perfect compatibility.
Oh, where am I going with this, you ask?
Well, you’ll just have to be a good boy and wait patiently, won’t you?
***
It’s not working.
What am I doing wrong?
I planned all this out. All of this. It can’t go wrong.
She…she’s just a pawn.
I should be in control, here.
Fine.
FINE!
If it won’t work in vivo, I’ll have to try an in vitro approach.
***
NO! SHE WASN’T SUPPOSED TO SEE THAT!
…
Oh…
Oh no…
She…she hurt me.
How?
HOW?!?
Wretched World Guardian…
I’ll…I’ll…
I’ll make her pay for this.
***
No, NO! STOP!
Enough.
That’s enough.
She’s had enough.
***
Failure.
DAMNABLE FAILURE!
No…
No.
Some good can come of this.
I succeeded.
I now have part of her soul.
Yes, it is currently stuck within my own, but I can work with that.
To be fair, how was I supposed to know that she would resist? That she would…spit fire? Is that what she did?
Yes…
I lost my concentration. For a moment, I was distracted by her…breach of privacy. In that opening, she attacked, and the Siphon backfired.
We traded fragments of our souls in that moment.
I see what you meant by ‘destructive interference,’ friend. I can feel that bit of green light in my chest. It pulses rhythmically - a very human heartbeat.
It’s not enough to destroy my own soul. No, not nearly enough.
It’s just enough to distort and obscure an ever so slight bit of…well, me.
Fascinating.
It should also be just enough to experiment with.
All I have to do is extract and isolate it.
***
I’ve succeeded where you failed.
You’ve done a wonderful job in helping me. In inspiring me.
Now, I need your help again.
But, unfortunately, you seem to be a bit broken at the moment.
Well, I’ll just have to fix that, won’t I?