110 Chapter 52 The Gate Of Sorrow Part 1

"W-where....where am I?"

I was currently in a some what familiar small room. The walls, ceiling and floor was made of a black shadowy mist, however, the strange thing was that even though there was no light sources in the room I could still see perfectly fine even without any of my skills activated. After a moment of looking around the place I finally noticed the one thing that was in this very empty room, besides me that is. In the centre of the room was a very fancy looking mirror that immediately made me remember where I was.

"This place...it's the place from my drea-" before I could finish that sentence I was suddenly interrupted by a familiar voice.

{Welcome}

"Who the fuck are you?!" I yelled slightly taken by surprise at the sudden voice that seemed to come from every direction.

It didn't take me long to notice the figure now standing in the mirror, a figure that I recognize almost instantly. There standing in the mirror looking at me with a calm, near emotionless expression was me....or at least the past version of me anyway.

{Hmmm...who am I? My name at the moment is not really important, however, you can call me Joy}

"That name does not fit you at al-" I was about to say but stopped myself when I realized what she just said.

{Let's just say I haven't had much to be happy about in a long time, however, my past does not matter at the moment so let's refrain from talking about that for now} the being that had identified her self as Joy said with an odd and somewhat sad look on her face.

"Wait...Joy, as in my skill Joy?" I asked with a confused look on my face, seeing my confusion Joy return to her original emotionless look and responded to my question rather calmly.

{Yes. Although I would prefer you not referred to me as just a simple skill, after all, I am far more then just that}

"Why am I here? I mean I was just fighting that....shit!" I couldn't help the panic I felt the moment I remembered what had happened moments ago in my fight with the Sixth.

{Don't worry about that, my companion is dealing with it...although I do suggest that we get this over with as quickly as possible before they end up going overboard}

"The Sorrow skill...right?" It wasn't hard for me to guess who this "companion" of their's was but I decided to ask anyway.

{Yes} Joy nodded after seeing that I had understood what she had ment.

{Now to answer your previous question. Why are you here? Well that simple really, we need to talk}

"Why the hell should I listen to you?"

{I have answers, answers to many of your questions} that made me pause for a second, I still had many unanswered questions even after talking to Haruko. Unfortunately I was hesitan to continue this conversation, mostly because of the fact that if my thoughts were correct about what was currently happening, my Sorrow skill was probably controlling my body at this very moment and that couldn't be a good thing for anyone.

"How do I know your friend won't hurt anyone I care about?"

{I can understand why you would think something like that but you can rest assured none of your people will be harmed, however, it is best that we hurry and get this over with as fast as possible just to make sure things don't end up getting out of hand} that...that did not fill me with confidence, not at all.

"Fine. However, would you please change your damn appearance, just looking at you brings back bad memories" I hissed as things that I would rather forget flashed through my mind.

{Very well} as she said that her figure began to ripple, moments later it was replaced with an exact replica of the current me with only one difference, her eyes were glowing with golden light.

{Is this form more suitable?}

"It's better" I muttered, I still found it annoying she made her look like me.

{Now then let us begin. Before I get to why your here however let me just clarify a few things} she hummed before motioning to the room we were in.

{This space we find our selves in, as you may have already guest is a kind of mind scape. What you don't know is that this place is called the Separation, to put it into simpler terms, where we are right now is basically a mind scape within a mind scape. This is the place were me and my overly destructive companion can communicate with you without dealing with the very unfortunate side effects of talking to you in person}

"Why is it called the "Separation"?" I asked curiously.

{Simple, this place, as the name may suggest, was created with the soul purpose of separating us from the host, from you} she explained with very little change in her facial expression.

"What do you mean? I am able to use those skills...I mean I am able to use you" I honestly found this a little weird and couldn't help but wonder if dad had felt like this when he first spoke to Great sage.

{You may have access to us, however, the Separation greatly reduces the power we can give you} she quickly dispelled my misunderstanding but also left me with another question.

"So what, do you want me to set you free or something?"

{Unless you want to lose your mind, go completely insane and devour all of existence I suggest that you definitely do not take that course of action}

"W-what?" I honestly thought I must have definitely misheard her or something.

{I can understand your shock and disbelief but yes, if you were to attempt to free us as you are right now and you actually succeeded in this task it would be nothing less then you bringing about the apocalypse for all things in this world} she said with a very serious expression that made me realise she probably wasn't messing around here.

"What the hell do you mean by "bringing about the apocalypse"?"

{What do you expect when you have three Fragments Of Corruption inside of you?}

"Fragments Of Corruption?"

{This is going to take some time to properly explain, time that we don't have so I'll try and make this as quick as possible} she spoke while letting out a long sigh.

{You currently have three out of five Fragments Of Corruption inside you, I and Sorrow being two of them. The third one I'll have to explain on a later date as it is far more complicated and we currently don't have enough time to get into it right now} she paused for a second, seeming to take in a long breath before continuing.

{The Fragments Of Corruption are the broken and ripped apart pieces of a fallen god, a god that nearly devoured all of existence in its endless and suffocating madness. This god's name has long been forgotten by all, not that many new it's name to begin with. However, it was known by a single title, The Black Dragon Of Corruption}

{The reason why you shouldn't try and free us is because with your current power level there is a high possibility that you will be consumed by the fragments inside of you. If this event actually ends up happening you would eventually become something very similar to that god, you would then most likely go on to devour everything in your path. This is without considering that someone actually manages to stop you before hand, however, at that point you would most likely be so powerful that not many beings in this world could have any chance of stopping you}

"That..." for the first time in a while I was completely speechless.

{A lot to take in, I know}

I honestly didn't want to believe her, I really didn't but at this moment I wasn't really in the position to start calling her a liar or anything like that. In the end I just pushed my shock and disbelief away after several long seconds, I had decided to figure out if I believe her or not later ones I had more time to think.

"You said this place separates you from me, if that's actually true then were exactly is your actual body?"

{Behind there} Joy responded while pointing behind me.

When I turned around I saw something that made me take a step backwards. To my surprise there was a massive, ominous looking double door that made my skin crawl just by looking at it. The door was designed in a way that made it look like a mixture of medieval and gothic. However, that was not what freaked me out, no, what freaked me out was the fact that it was covered in faces. The door was covered in hundreds of faces that were frozen in various stages of extreme and agonizing looking emotions. Happiness, anger, sadness, love, loneliness, shock and many more could be seen on the surprisingly realistic looking faces.

"That wasn't there before"

{It was, it has always been there, you just couldn't see it before now}

"So...how long have you been in my head?" I asked after a second a silences.

{We have been here before you even came to this world} at this point I wasn't shocked anymore, however, I was still rather confused to say the least.

"How? I didn't have any skills or anything like them when I was back on earth"

{That's because you're special, you were born with a Fragment Of Corruption. The moment that you were born, we were with you, as you lived your life we were watching you and when you died we sat with you. Haven't you wondered how you so easily adapted to this world?} She said with her usual calm and unfazed expression that made me somewhat annoyed simply because she kept dropping bombs on me without even caring at all.

"What do you mean?"

{You remember don't you? You were a broken person back then, an empty husk, haven't you ever asked yourself how you were able to heal from so much mental damage so quickly?}

"You...you fucked with my head?!" I yelled in alarm.

{Yes and no}

"Explain!" I growled out as my eyes narrowed.

{Sigh, the moment you appeared in this world we suppressed the memories of your pain and suffering} seeing that this much wasn't enough to satisfy me in the slightest she continued.

{Basically you kept the memories of what happened to you but your depression, your pain, your loneliness, your emptiness, the memories of these things we greatly suppressed allowing you to function properly. If we hadn't done this there is a large chance that even with the Separation you would have simply lost your mind the moment that you unlocked the ability to use us} I was mad, no mad didn't even come close to covering it but I did understand why she did it...and in a way...I was thankful.

"Have you ever altered my memories or manipulated me?" I asked while trying to restrain the emotions that were starting to boil up inside of me.

{We have never manipulated your decisions or anything like that...however...} she paused and almost seemed hesitant to continue talking but eventually, yet reluctantly, she did continue.

{I have altered your memories once, I did it only to keep all this a secret from you until you were ready to learn about us}

"What do you mean? What did you change?"

{Your fath-...that man, he didn't hang himself...Sorrow killed him}