Sorry for the delay.

I've been stressed out and busy lately, so I apologize for the inconvenience.

Anyways, Enjoy!

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Emily POV:

The moment I woke up I felt something was off.

The first thing I noticed was the feeling of being bound by chains seemingly wrapping all around me, constricting my every move.

The second thing almost immediately obvious was the lack of feeling.

Aside from the feeling of chains wrapped around my, everything else seemed lacking.

I couldn't feel my body breathing the air nor anything else signifying life.

Indeed, I could not feel a thing, even the sheets I always slept under were nowhere to be felt.

And, as soon as I woke up, a third thing was immediately obvious.

The room I went to after putting the unconscious Acedia to bed in mine - since his room was further off – seemed to have disappeared into oblivion.

Now, all that could be seen was a vast, pure-white emptiness.

Was I dreaming?

Hallucinating?

Strange things seem to happen lately, so it wouldn't be surprising if exhaustion made me see things, but still...

But before I could think everything through, a voice resounded through the void.

"Ah, you've woken up I see."

It was a strangely warm and empathetic voice, especially since I never heard it before and thus I shouldn't have met the person.

My memory is one of the things I'm very proud of.

I never forget a voice once heard or a face once seen.

Well, as far as I know.

Recently, I'm not so sure, seeing as previous revelations seem to indicate most of my life was a lie...

But that aside, the voice was unknown to me.

So imagine my surprise when a saw an all too familiar face staring back at me.

A face I've recently come to know in detail.

Apart from three small details, it was exactly the same.

The same height, just a couple of inches taller than me.

The same stature; lean, but not as far as being lanky nor looking as if he lacked muscle.

The same not-too-handsome, not-too-plain face.

If it weren't for the three deviations, anyone would think it was Acedia.

The first thing that betrayed it wasn't truly him, were the eyes.

Acedia's eyes were an ice-pale blue, seemingly always lacking in emotion even if it was evident he was emotional.

The second thing was the hair.

While Acedia had a creepy and unnatural-looking white hair colour, the person that just spoke seemed to have a normal hair colour, namely light-brown

While these two things alone were enough to convince me that the person in front of me was not Acedia, the third difference would have convinced me even if the previous two differences were not present.

The third thing which most obviously separated this man from Acedia was simply the vibe his body seemed to give.

Ever since I first saw Acedia, I knew he had something going on.

Always shaking, although the degree differing every time I saw him, Acedia always had a sort of panicky look to him.

Apart from the shacking, Acedia always betrayed his mental state extremely obviously; when he's depressed, it shows, when he is angry, you feel it burning inside him and when he is apathetic – or rather, 'broken', the coldness radiates from him.

Even the most dense person would be able to sense how he felt, seeing as Acedia's emotions were always extreme no matter what.

Now, the person in front of me lacked this erratic behaviour.

His lips turned into a slight smile, he seemed like a content person, something Acedia never was.

And although the person seemed content, behind his smile and eyes, some form of success was seen, something I've so far never seen in Acedia.

But above all, he seemed in control.

As far as I know, which does not say much seeing as I've not seen or talked to him that often, even during the past few weeks, Acedia is not the type to look in control.

Even when he controls a vast amount of Energy while seemingly emotionless, it seemed more like the Energy was controlling and forcing him to become calm and emotionless rather than the other way around.

Despite the obvious differences, the uncanny likes was surprising.

"You seem surprised."

He stated more than questioned.

"Well, it is understandable, seeing this place for the first time and my likeness to him. Or rather, I should say he looks like me. But don't worry, soon everything will be answered. Yes, very soon indeed."

There was a certain complacency in his tone of voice that irritated me beyond belief.

He seemed so smug, seemed so self-assured that I immediately decided I didn't like him.

Even apart from the tying up part and his creepy likeness to Acedia, his tone of voice would have made me hate him even regardless.

It made him look like a cartoonishly evil figure, lacking only the annoyingly evil laugh so characteristic to them.

"You see, in just a moment the integration will begin and you're body and soul will finally belong fully to my wife. But don't worry, its not like you will disappear. You'll simply be absorbed and be a part of her when everything is done, just like it was intended from the very beginning."

Why was this person explaining everything to me?

If I would basically disappeared regardless, if his words hold true, then wouldn't it be wiser not to tell me and provoke resistance?

And anyway, where was this wife of his?

More importantly, what does he mean by intended from the beginning?

"What do you mean by 'intended'?"

I decided to ask him.

"Hmm, you will know soon enough, seeing as my wife is already inside your body, so don't you worry about that."

In my body?

A feeling of shiver running down my spine shot through me, although obviously lacking the parts needed for the experience.

His wife is already inside my body?

What is that supposed to mean?

It can't be something good...

But, seeing as he doesn't want to answer my questions, I decided to escape.

Yes, the only reason I was not worried was because, despite the lack of body and my soul being bound, it doesn't mean I'm powerless.

Just a quick tap with my soul into the grid of Energy and I'll be out of here before you...

As I tried to connect to the network of Energy supposedly omnipresent in the world, it failed to connect.

It sent me into a slight panic.

What is this?

Why isn't it working?

Where is the Energy

I tried to forcefully draw a string of Energy from my soul and connect it to the Energy, but as soon as I tried to manipulate my soul or the Energy with in, the chains seemed the prevent me from doing so.

"What is happening?!"

I unconsciously shouted out loud, panicked at seeing my easy escape plan disappearing in front of my eyes.

"huhuhuHAAHAHAHAHAHA! Did you really think we wouldn't be prepared this time?! Not after that FUCKER set both me and my wife ablaze?! Do you think we are that stupid?!"

His previously controlled behaviour seemed to disappear instantly as he reminisced, but he quickly collected himself and his outward appearance became calm once more, although he was still visibly fuming on the inside..

"No, don't you worry. Right now my wife is taking revenge as we speak and once that is done, he'll be absorbed, as he was intended to be. Just like you."

What the hell is going on?

Acedia POV:

An awful headache spread through me and forced me out of my unconscious state.

As soon as I felt that, I knew today would be a day of disappointment.

After all, there’s no way life just grants me the knowledge to create souls out of nowhere.

Now that the excessive excitement – induced by the destruction of my soul, since I desperately needed a distraction – is worn off, I can clearly see that.

Despite this, however, I’m still slightly looking forward to seeing the thumb-sized Black Star, though obviously not as blindly optimistic as was previously the case,

It might not be the way to create a soul, but I’m sure there is at least some connection between such an ominous and dangerous-looking thing and souls.

Why else would such a thing suddenly show up when my soul was destroyed and needed to be replaced?

Anyway, I need to quickly go take a look.

If I’m fast, neither Emily nor the children have messed with it, although I doubt that they would dare to come close to such a dark thing, especially after witnessing the vast amount of power that went into its creation.

They had front-row seats to the first one, after all, so I doubt they would dare to mess with it.

Still, life is never certain, so I decided to quickly create a bridge towards the location of the Black Star and jumped through the portals.

As soon as I saw the small Black Star, still floating and pulsating in the place I left it, I noticed that no soul was anywhere near it.

Of course, this was to be expected, but nevertheless I still felt a slight disappointment.

Luckily, the lack of souls anywhere in its vicinity also indicated that neither Emily, Damien nor Anna were present.

Which was great, since they’d probably nag me to explain what this thing is, a question I do not know how to answer and after noticing that, they’d probably berate me for doing something like this.

But, seeing that they were not here…

Annoyance avoided.

At least, for now.

After inspecting the object of my study from up close, I noticed something odd about it.

I noticed that somehow the Black Star had gotten bigger, albeit very slight.

From about thump-sized to eye-sized, so it was negligible.

It’s a huge amount of power locked away behind a strong Energy barrier, naturally the Star would try to break free and cause the barrier to expand a little.

But I didn’t care about that.

The odd thing about it was that, aside from it expanding, I could detect something happening within.

When I lean in very, very close to it, I could hear a strange vigorous beating inside it.

It was almost like the heart of a baby; soft but more rapid than that of a normal adult.

It was a very odd sensation to hear it.

I don’t know why exactly, but it seemed to give a strange feeling… alongside goose bumps.

A sort of… warmth?

But why would I feel like such?

Sure, it was hard to create such a thing, especially mentally, but I could do it anytime I want, so why do I feel this warmth?

But before I could think too deeply about it, I felt Emily and company arriving through a portal.

I didn’t even need to look at them to know who it was, I recognized their souls immediately as soon as it entered my zone of awareness.

But that was not all there was to sense.

There was something very odd going on and I could sense it all.

There was nothing suspicious about their souls per se – those were completely fine, but it was about the Energy that swirled around them.

More specifically, the Energy that swirled around Anna and Damien.

The threads were connected to Emily’s soul, indicating she was the one behind it.

But why?

As far as I could sense, there was no need for these wires loosely swirling around the children.

And it is not as if these threads have been imbued with anything; they were nothing but pure Energy awaiting its controller’s command.

Rather than something practical, these threads seemed more to keep them hostage, if anything else.

Naturally, I turned around to confront the situation and immediately noticed my suspicions were correct.

They were held hostage.

By someone that was not Emily.

She looked the same as ever.

The brown hair and eyes, her graceful posture and the cross-shaped tail and arching horns, everything was the same as ever.

But deep, deep inside her eyes, invisible to the normal eyes, I saw something smouldering inside.

A burning fire, seeking vengeance.

Of course, this look was not strange for Emily to bear.

She has held a couple grudges towards me, and rightfully so, and yesterday I did provoke her in more ways than one.

First, I scream and bleed all over the place, forcing her to come take a look.

Second, my behaviour yesterday was… disgraceful, to say the least.

And most importantly, by sheer impulsiveness, I kissed her in gratitude.

This one was really, really bad.

If she has had similar experiences as mine, I might have done something awful.

I’ve lived for a long, long time and almost always have I been either hated or fearfully worshipped.

Naturally, fear is not something to base a romantic relationship on and although people say hate and love are different sides of the same coin, the hatred I experienced through my life begs the differ.

For the longest time – and even now – I’ve searched for someone to, at the very least, not hate me, a search lasting innumerable Era’s and a tradition of failure stretching just as long.

The first people that didn’t seem to hate me were the People of Sloth, who felt next to nothing for anything in life, so there was no feeling of love or friendship their either.

The only exception was, of course, my wife.

The first person that loved me – although I had doubts up to her death if she truly loved me – and also the first person I ever loved in return.

Naturally, she was also the first person I kissed and had sex with.

One person in billions upon billions of years.

Even the most celibate of monks and most faithful of lovers would be in awe of this ‘achievement’.

If my life is an indicator of Emily’s, than I would be her first kiss.

Kissed by a man she wasn’t even sure whether to hate or not, let alone love.

Even I would feel disgusted by this, if I was the one being forced a kiss upon.

But being the initiator, I felt guilt beyond comparison.

But setting all that aside, although a very good reason for the burning vengeance in her eyes, it wouldn’t explain the Energy around Anna and Damien, of which I’m sure she feels at least a decent amount of affection for.

So, this was definitely not Emily.

Thank God.

But still, this meant that something was very wrong here.

“And who might you be?”

I said, turning around and conveniently hiding the Black Star behind me.

For some reason, I felt I needed to hide it from this woman.

“You don’t recognize me? Even for an idiot like you, you forget too quick.”

She said, crossing her arms and frowning.

It was a rather Emily-esque response, but considering recent events she would have reacted differently.

“Don’t try to fool me. I’m not a moron. Who are you and where is Emily?”

The woman seemed surprised, but then suddenly smiled lightly at me, still with fire burning within her eyes.

“Oh my, you saw through it? But it doesn’t matter who I am, but what I…”

Need, she wanted to finish, but I interrupted her.

“Free her and the children and I might just let you escape unharmed.”

I threatened

In the meantime, during our conversation, I had calmly accessed the omnipotent and omnipresent network of inactive Energy, forcing my mind to become emotionally numb.

Of course, as soon as I noticed it was not Emily, I immediately knew who the person in front of me was.

It was the strangely blurry woman who abducted me into that strange empty realm.

Who else would have a grudge against me?

Except for Emily, all others are long dead, so it naturally had to be her.

Or it could be the man, but I think it is the woman, but either way, it doesn’t really matter.

The inactive Energy had been turned into massive amount of spears, hidden behind a veil to make sure she doesn’t notice it.

“Do you think you can harm me? I am much older and experienced than you, plus, I have the children. I think the one who should surrender is you, isn’t it?”

She smiled and laughed as she responded.

Older than me?

More experienced?

What a joke.

She doesn’t even sense the veil nor the spears hidden behind it.

Where does she get her hubris?

The only thing she is rather good in is using her soul to form a barrier, as was evident by the confrontation in that empty realm, but other than that?

Nothing.

The sword she created out of Blue Fire was powerful, sure, but it doesn’t really require finesse to create and use.

And the barrier itself might be powerful in that empty realm, but here, with an unlimited amount of Energy?

It would shatter with a single one of these spears, let alone the thousands I summoned.

However, I’m still in a bad position.

She has Damien and Anna bound to her own – no, Emily’s soul; an Energy source I cannot command.

As soon as I act, without a doubt, they and their souls would be burned to a crisp.

Although I haven’t known them for very long and although they did betray me, I still like them.

Especially, Anna, since she was the one who comforted me.

I don’t want them to die.

No matter what, I will not allow it.

Unfortunately, there is but one way to save them.

Surrendering is not an option.

Her burning desire for vengeance will not allow her to set the children free, I am sure of it.

So, one thing remains:

Overwhelm her and extract the children’s souls.

If I fail to extract them in time, they will suffer a horrible death by Blue Fire.

If I fail to properly preserve their souls, they will be eaten by the ether while I try to heal them and after a while, their soul will turn black out of extreme torture.

The most painful feeling in existence.

They already had scars on their souls; Emily’s visible gold and Damien’s translucent violet.

But, compared to the blackening of a soul, this is nothing.

It pain is comparing a slight itch on the back of one’s neck, to forcefully having all your limbs torn off along with nose and ears, your eyes poked out and your body being burned alive, all the while slowly being strangled by your own entrails.

It is simply that incomparable.

I’ve had it only happen a couple of times in my much too long life and every single time it took me at least a billion years to recover.

Hell, if the pain is unluckily remembered during one of my nightmares, I might immediately be forced into another deep stasis

If it comes close to that, I’d rather forcibly and quickly destroy their souls, but let’s not aim towards that.

Let’s get them out safely.

“I see. It’s a shame.”

I answer.

Immediately afterwards, I pull back the veil and reveal the thousands of spears, also ordering every bit of Energy around her to disobey, apart from that connected to her soul.

For a second, I saw her smile twist into an expression of shock and she began sweating as she noticed the arsenal aimed at her.

However, she was well trained against shock.

She was still able to set the children ablaze.

I fired the spears at her and, without rest, created two tentacles from my own soul and shot them towards the children, piercing their small bodies and souls mercilessly while dragging them towards me.

Unfortunately, I was not quick enough and their souls were infected with the Blue Fire.

Meanwhile, the spears crashed down upon her and right through her flimsy barrier.

For now, her soul was impaled and too damaged to react.

I quickly gathered a large amount of Energy and forced half of it into their souls, trying to overclock their self-healing spell placed on their souls.

The other half I spent to create two spaces similar to the one I created to make the Black Star in.

The healing spell began rapidly healing the holes torn by the Blue Fire, although unable to completely clear it.

As I looked at them, I saw Emily’s soul slowly turn from gold into a thick, blood-red colour and Damien’s turn from translucent violet into a deep purple.

It was horrifying to watch, especially since I knew how much pain they suffered.

Unfortunately, the bitch still wasn’t down!

I sensed her slowly recovering and she needed my attention.

Something I couldn’t spare.

I quickly summoned a large cage of Energy around her and then, out of the inactive Energy, created several spells around her and activated them.

From all around, the active Energy was gathered by the spells at an increasing pace.

Once the stream into the spells was thick enough, they began firing.

Thick and continuous rays of excessive power was released in an unending stream of pain and suffering, while illuminating the area.

From within the blinding white light, I was sure I heard the horrified screams of a tortured woman, but I was too busy to feel happy the bitch was suffering.

Anna’s soul was quickly turning into purple as well, while Damien’s became dangerously close to the final stage of the deepest purple before black.

I continuously forced Energy into their healing spells while trying to smother the Blue Fire the same way one would extinguish an oil-fire.

By taking away its fuel.

But things did not go as planned.

The Blue Fire, noticing its supply of Energy was cut off and realizing, as if it was living, that the souls would not be enough to keep it fed, turned towards the healing spell.

Although I saw it, I could do nothing about it.

I was too busy keeping the Energy flowing into the spell while simultaneously keeping an eye out for the woman and the never-ending pure-white rays of suffering.

The fire successfully infected the healing spell and began eating the steady stream of Energy forced into it.

I wanted to scream!

To shout!

I don’t want to lose them!

But, unfortunately, the coldness needed to use the limitless Energy forced me to keep myself calm.

However, slowly but surely, a feeling of depression and sadness began seeping into my bones.

I felt defeated.

Defeated by that half-assed Immortal who claimed she was more powerful than me.

There was nothing I could do.

They were lost…

And it was all my fault…

Then, without warning, I thought of something.

Something which had slipped my mind during the long-lasting and failure of a battle.

The Black Star.

I don’t know what good it would do, but I’m willing to risk anything at this point.

Using the Energy, I forced the small star next to me and, by creating a thin blade of Energy, cut the sphere in two.

I changed the Energy used to feed the healing spell into a tendrils and twisted them around the two souls, forcing the blue fire to first bite through these tendrils before reaching the children.

I pulled them towards the Black Star while I was cleaving it in two and then forced their souls into the two halves.

The Black Star immediately absorbed the two souls and, now that the barrier had been shattered, began doing something… odd.

Both still a small ball, black lightning-like tendrils began to rapidly crawl from them.

They crawled into the sky, into the ground, to the left and to the right.

In every direction they went and branched off, forming a thick network of black roots.

Then, without warning, all the Energy, even the inactive part, was being sucked towards them.

Everywhere these tendrils sprawled they tore through the veil between the active and inactive, forcibly devouring the net that held together reality.

I was at a loss of what to do.

The souls were gone…

The Black Star was cleaved in half…

The remaining hope of restoring Anna and Damien were destroyed by hundreds of thousands of kilometres worth of black roots tearing at the very fabric of reality…

Is there really nothing I can do?

Absolutely nothing?

Why does this have to happen to them?

If it was me, I would be able to survive no matter what…

Why did they have to be involved in some stupid quarrel with some stupid bitch who abducted me…

Why God?

Just, why…?

As the tendrils ate away at the network of inactive Energy, the whole world was plunged into darkness.

From behind the strings holding together reality came the dreaded non-existence, the Anti-Energy, for lack of better wording.

I felt it encroach upon me, its icy and terrifying breath licking the edges of my soul, burning it like frostbite.

But I didn’t care.

I might have just lost two of the three reasons I’m still relatively sane…

So let it take me!

Let it’s pain be the punishment for my failure!

But, it simply stopped.

The encroaching Anti-Energy froze into place and nothing happened.

No pain.

No torment.

Even the tendrils seemed to have stopped.

No, rather the world seemed to have stopped.

What is this madness?