The 1000th Reincarnation

Zephyr got up, knowing the battle wasn't over yet. A shadowy dark figure loomed before him, in place of the body he hanged before. The figure had a strong resemblance to a grim reaper, just without the scythe. Grasping the book in hand and unsheathing his sword, he stood up. 

"Ho ho, you're more shrewd than I thought," the spirit said in a dark, raspy voice. "Focusing your divine energy in one place: your mind."

In countless of Zephyr's other lives, he had escaped many different types of illusions but there was only one way they could be performed. No energy nor technique could bind somebody into an illusion. The only way was to expose that person to an airborne drug, and then use some type of energy to modify its strength, or how that person would perceive the illusion. After the giant refused to answer Zephyr's question, he came to one conclusion. Whatever the black mist was that initially came out of the book had to be what had corrupted his mind. 

Inside the illusion, Zephyr had surrounded himself in divine energy which rejected whatever the dark energy was around him. Zephyr concluded that if his mind was corrupted by whatever black mist had come out of the book, there was a chance that if he seeped in as much divine energy as he could into his brain to purify it, he might be able to escape. And if there was one thing he was good at, it was trial and error. 

"You might've been able to escape the illusion but know that I could kill you at any time."

The spirit lifted his arms exposing whatever was under his sleeves. A faint, dark aura appeared taking the form of a hand, and rushed to choke out Zephyr. In a panic, Zephyr swings his sword into the hand but it passes right through it.

Damn it, I ran out of divine energy after that, and there's no way to absorb anymore in Kyomora. 

The hand grasps Zephyr neck and holds on tighter when Zephyr starts struggling.

Think, think!

When Zephyr had initially been inside the illusion the winds were weaker, the air was warmer, and the domain had been much brighter. After submerging the book in liquid, it seemed that something got released causing all of these aspects to get exponentially stronger suggesting that the spirit might be bound to the skin-textured book.

Lacking any other option, Zephyr raises his sword over the book. The grip gets even tighter. He slashes the cover of the book in the shape of an "X" and dark blood gushes out of the spirit's right and left shoulder. Not willing to give in, the spirit clenches even harder on Zephyr's throat. 

Struggling Zephyr tries his best to speak, "If...you...don't...let...go..." Zephyr coughs, letting saliva drool from his mouth. "I'll...cut...the...book...in...half." 

Zephyr lifts his blade over the book ready to use his full power to slice his book in half. As soon as he swings down the spirit gives in.

"Stop" 

The spirit's barely visible hand retracts, dropping Zephyr to the floor right before the sword comes into contact with the book. 

"I won't kill you but I won't be of help to you whatsoever."

Hm, he says he won't kill me but he'll definitely kill me in my sleep.

Sitting down in a lotus position, Zephyr rubs his chin, thinking of a way to control such a spirit. First, Zephyr examined the book. The crevices where Zephyr had cut were overflowing with dark goo. Curious, Zephyr touches the strange substance. In the corner of his eye, he sees the spirit wince in pain, though trying to hide it.

I could use this to get some answers, Zephyr thought sinisterly. 

This black goo, the strange illusion, and the black mud all reminded Zephyr of one thing. The void. So this was one of the most obvious but essential questions he had to ask. Zephyr puts his hand on one of the slash marks. 

"Are you from the Voidscar Abyss? Nod if it's a yes or I'll dig into the cut even further."

The spirit turns his head facing away from Zephyr. 

Zephyr digs into the wound. 

"Answer."

The spirit nods his head. 

During Zephyr's past lives in Mystharow, he had a master who was obsessed with the Voidscar Abyss, passing around rumors of past adventurers and legends that might've gone lost to time if not for Zephyr's master. Zephyr reconciled, recalling one of the memories that Zephyr had with this master.

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Atop a lush green hill, a man in his mid-30's stood tall, shining with silver armor, standing proud looking into the sunset. Behind him was Zephyr sitting down right beside this man. 

"Darian, wanna hear more nonsense on the Voidscar Abyss?" the master asked rhetorically. 

"When are you not spouting nonsense about that place, Master Darius?" Zephyr replied smiling. 

The next day would be the start of the war with the Angels so this would be the last time Zephyr would be able to enjoy such a peaceful day with Darius. 

"Hahaha," Darius chuckled at the question and continued, "I heard that the abyss holds a certain power, a power stronger than all four energies, they call it the 'Abyssal's Dominion'."

"Huh, what a nefarious sounding name."

"In fact, when gathering the four energies they all gather in a clockwise direction. However, the abyssal's power gather's energy in a counterclockwise direction. That's why it's impossible to absorb such a power. Such a disruption in the direction of energies could kill a person."

"Interesting," Zephyr replied, not knowing what else to reply with, "I'll keep that in mind"

Zephyr questioned what Darius meant by gathering energy in a clockwise direction since he had always gathered energies in a counterclockwise direction. But the war was tomorrow so Zephyr had no interest in questioning why. 

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Zephyr then thought back to what the giant had said. Even after using the best cloaking technique in the history of Umbraxis, the giant could detect the "darkness" within him. 

What does that mean? Am I able to contain the Abyssal's Dominion, or whatever it's called?

As Zephyr analyzed the black goo on the book, he thought it was somewhat... moving towards him? After taking a glance around the room he looked back at the goo. He took a finger full of the substance and licked his finger clean. Right after he swallowed it his heart began to pound, faster and faster as if his channels were going haywire. 

Shit, the energy isn't being absorbed, its taking over my body. 

Zephyr closed his eyes and focused on the energy going through his body. Moving the energy going through his channels a counterclockwise direction, Zephyr felt the energy being absorbed into every fiber of his being. Usually energy would gather in one type of place like a water filling up a tank. But Zephyr's body was not only a tank for this energy but something much more similar to a sponge soaking up every ounce of power the black goo held. Not wasting a single second, Zephyr put the book near his mouth drinking every drop of the goo not leaving a single trace. 

After he was done absorbing the power he felt the mysterious power all over his body. After absorbing the power Zephyr started connecting the dots. If the spirit was bound to the book and Zephyr just absorbed the power contained inside of the book, is the spirit bound to him? 

Testing the theory, Zephyr unsheathed his sword and attacked the spirit, sending out the same black hand used to choke Zephyr but more it was much more visible now to zephyr to Zephyr. The hand blocked the attack and used a second hand to choke Zephyr. Zephyr squirmed in pain and clenched his teeth, thinking to himself

Feel the pain as well, goddamn it!