Wolf closed his eyes, feeling the warm pulsations of life. He might have been imagining it, but the creature inside the egg appeared to be afraid of him.

“I can’t accept this.” Wolf said with a shaky voice. “I appreciate the sentiment, I really do... But I don’t know what I’m going to do with myself. I… I can’t take care of a pet at a time like this.”

“She-he is not a pet.” The owner of the clear feminine voice gnashed her-his teeth after hearing Wolf’s words, but she-he swallowed her-his anger and didn't let it touch the artificial voice.

“As I have already said, she-he will be your sister-brother. Your most loyal companion as well as your child, should you treat her-him well. You might not understand this now, but the two of you need each other. She-he needs someone to take care of her-him, while you are in need of someone to take care of.”

“But, where do I keep it? What do I feed it with?” Wolf asked, suddenly panicking at this responsibility being forced upon him.

This was the first time in weeks that he had forgotten the haunting reality. Yet, only time would tell whether substituting old problems with new ones was a good thing or not.

Wolf could feel that his indecision further spurred the owner of the feminine voice, who decided to strike the iron while it was hot.

“SHE-HE can stay in your Mind Hall until she-he hatches. As for food,” the voice corrected the offensive choice of pronoun, but when the subject of food came up she-he hesitated. “Well, until she-he hatches you can just feed her-him Soul Force. It’s not like you use all your spells every day, you can give her-him the leftovers that would have otherwise gone into preparing spells. How does that sound?”

Wolf was about to say that it sounds really bad. The more Soul Force he used, the slower the rate of expansion of his Mind Palace. But the feminine voice didn’t give him the chance to talk back.

“This will benefit you greatly,” the voice assured. “For most manlings this would be detrimental, maybe even suicidal. But for you, this should help you draw out more of your untapped potential. Once she-he hatches I guarantee that the rate at which you gather Soul Force would be greater than it would have been otherwise.

“There really are no downsides for you in this deal… Well, unless you fail to educate this child properly. If she-he isn’t disciplined and you just allow her-him to act however she-he pleases, you’ll be in for a wild ride. What do you say?” The feminine voice was tinged with a hopeful note towards the end.

Wolf was unaware of this, but the voice was a fabrication. This entire meeting was a construct designed to target his soft spots and pacify his mind. The choice of words, tempo with which she-he spoke, the gentle touch... Everything was in service of the creature’s ultimate goal, to fix the candidate who was on the verge of breaking down.

What Wolf couldn't see was that behind this fabrication the speaker had an indignant expression to her-his face. She-he was giving her-his precious child to a mere parasite. And the nonentity she-he watched even dared consider her-his descendant a pet!

Wolf couldn’t tell this. But he had a feeling that something about this whole affair was off.

“I don’t understand. Why are you doing this? What do you stand to gain from all of this?” he directly asked in confusion.

The boy couldn't think of a better way to unravel this mystery other than openly ask for the reason. If that silver egg truly was such a treasure, why was this woman giving it to him? He believed that she had to have some ulterior motives.

The owner of the feminine voice easily read the boy's thoughts.

“I do this for my own benefit just as much as yours,” the voice assured. “I’ve already told you that I had found my own salvation through kindness. If you ever feel indebted to me… Seek me out. Once you’re strong enough, you’ll be able to find me without much trouble. It’s a small world after all. I’ve said my piece, I’ll be going now.”

Once the entrancing voice was done talking, the silver egg vanished into thin air. Wolf felt an extremely short stabbing pain in his head, which was kind of similar to exhaustion from Soul Force overdraft. The only difference was that instead of causing him to collapse, the pain was gone a moment later.

This stunned Wolf. He never would’ve imagined that you could store actual objects inside your Mind Palace.

The next instant, Wolf realized that he still wanted to talk with this woman. At least for a little bit longer.

“Wait! Please!” he begged.

“Yes child, what is it?” Luckily, the presence was still there.

“What is your name? How do I call you and how can I find you?” Wolf blurted out nonsense questions, trying to keep the conversation going.

“Name?” the voice sounded perplexed. “Even if we ignore the fact that you can’t possibly pronounce it, it is a question whether I deserve to be called the way Parent used to call me. If you really wish to call me something I guess Old Three will suffice. I should get going.”

“Wait!” Wolf shouted once more, his voice laden with desperation.

When this conversation ends, the harsh reality, which was kept at bay by the domain of darkness and the warm voice, will come crashing back.

“What now?” the voice asked with a light, warm laugh. The entity knew why Wolf was stalling for time, but this tiny wisp of an existence would have to face its little reality eventually.

“Thank you Old Three for what you’ve done for me and thank you for the egg. I’ll take care of her-him, and one day I will repay your favor.”

My opponents are the Duke of Northshield and the Emperor of the Empire of Human. No matter who killed your parent I promise I’ll help you get revenge once I’m strong enough. Even though that’s what he thought, Wolf kept the cheesy line to himself. Still, it was a personal vow deeply engraved in his heart.

“There’s no need for you to thank me that much, dear child, and I do appreciate the thought. I have already told you that I stand to benefit from this as much as you do. Probably even more. Just remember to keep yourself busy. Don’t lose yourself, nor should you taint your soul in the quagmire of self pity. Going down that path might drown you.” With those final words the titanic presence was gone.

Wolf blinked in disbelief. With the disappearance of the dark domain time continued flowing.

She was gone… just like that. He felt like he must have talked and cried for hours, yet it was still night. The light of the moon and stars returned, brightening the pitch blackness once more. The only proof that he didn’t have a delusional dream was his sore throat, wet cheeks and soaked robe.

Then again, he could’ve cried and shouted in delirium. Fearing this, Wolf searched around for a while, until he'd found a nook in which he could hide himself.

Once the boy felt safe, he entered his Mind Palace.

***

While Wolf was looking for a safe place to meditate, the owner of the feminine voice had problems of her-his own.

You need to pay what you owe now. That spawn of yours will eat a ton. A hostile voice said without a hint of respect.

Oh stuff it you damn little thing. Here you go. The frustrated words were followed by a sickening, wet sound of flesh being ripped.

A moment later, Masterpiece experienced a rumbling earthquake as the entity’s ripped off arm landed on the ground.

That should be enough to feed my child for a thousand years if she-he wants to stay here that long. Now, get out of my sight or you will see what a hungry monster that eats a ton really looks like. The creature emotionlessly watched her-his silvery arm get swallowed by the star she-he resided on. However, that emotionless facade was a sign of suppressed rage.

Nothing more than empty threats from a broken creature. How laughable. To think you once stood so high I couldn’t even imagine it. The hostile voice taunted her-him.

Shameless thing! You’re not even half my age! What gave a third generation wretch the courage to mock its elders? If it weren’t for your role and me being indebted to your master I’d rip you to pieces.

The other voice was silent for a moment, before speaking emotionlessly.

Noted. Your tribute is received, Elder of the First Generation.

Old Third wasn’t sure whether this was supposed to be sarcasm or formal speech. But even if it was the former, under the current circumstances, she-he wouldn’t dare damage the cheeky fellow. Too many things were at stake for her-him to impulsively do something stupid...

***

Wolf opened his eyes. For the first time in days the Mental Aspect’s eyes were clear and unclouded, hinting at the return of sanity.

The Mental Aspect took in the sight of the chamber and felt goosebumps while his throat clenched. The Mind Hall was free of obscuring mist that used to swirl around it. With the fog gone, there was nothing to conceal the column which gave off his father's familiar aura.

A moment later Wolf tore his gaze away from the tenth column and looked at a door straight in front of him. The door stood at the far wall, the path to it flanked by the ten columns. The door simply existed at the far end of the hall, seeming surreal and out of reach for some reason Wolf couldn't fathom.

He felt weird looking at it. The door gave off an impression of looming danger, and yet Wolf felt a base need to open it, to finally find the way out of this chamber.

Wolf could vaguely remember that this exit has been there for a while now. He had already seen it, but never processed the information.

However, there was a genuinely new addition to the Mind Hall. Two steps below the throne a silver egg stood unmoving. The egg appeared larger here than it was in the outside world. Outside it could fit a grown cat. Here Wolf could fit inside of it. The egg’s silvery surface was covered in a series of intricate patterns, which kind of looked like human blood vessels when combined.

At a glance these lines appeared random. However the more Wolf focused on them, the more he felt like there was some kind of profound mystery hidden there. For some reason, Wolf thought that these patterns looked kind of like letters of a lost ancient language.

Unfortunately he couldn’t read them no matter how hard he tried. Wolf gingerly placed a finger on a pattern. Then he slowly moved his finger, tracing the shallow groove. As he did several things happened at the same time.

The most obvious and most shocking thing was that Wolf felt his Soul Force drain the same way it did when he prepared spells. The egg greedily siphoned Wolf’s Soul Force. By the time Wolf completed that one pattern he had used up enough Soul Force to prepare a Fifth Order spell.

At the same moment as when Wolf touched the egg, the creature inside touched the shell from the other side at the exact same place. As Wolf moved his finger the creature followed it, perfectly matching Wolf’s pace. Wolf guessed that it was the creature inside the egg that was devouring his Soul Force.

As the egg’s resident gorged itself of Soul Force, its fear lessened.

It was a strange sensation. Wolf was under the impression that the little guy shared her-his emotions with him, letting him know that she-he trusted him a bit more now. Wolf couldn’t help but laugh at this. It was like the little guy was playing hard to get, without knowing how to do it.

Wolf gently stroked the egg’s surface, carefully avoiding the runes. Surprisingly, the egg wasn’t smooth. It had tiny bumps, almost like the egg suffered from a bad case of goosebumps. It was a nice feeling. Stroking the warm egg, feeling the little fellow slowly calm down and get used to Wolf’s petting.

Unlike when Wolf traced the rune, the little fellow didn’t try to follow Wolf’s hand. And yet, Wolf could feel that she-he was getting more and more comfortable with him.

Blood runs thicker than water. After dazedly stroking the egg for a while, Wolf decided to run a couple of tests.

He once more traced the same groove as before, but the egg didn’t absorb his Soul Force. Then he tried following a smaller pattern. Sure enough, he felt his Soul Force drain away. But this time he only lost enough Soul Force to prepare a Third Order spell. And, just as expected, the little fellow mirrored Wolf’s movement.

Once done with his crude experiments, Wolf was confident he knew what he needed to do to safely hatch the egg.

He was dead wrong.