Soul Infusion

The man felt puzzled as he gazed at the unfamiliar sky. The last thing he remembered was fighting with the rebellious traitor and had wanted to deal with it, but was ambushed by that entity which ultimately led to his doom.

Immediately an intense pain seared in his brain as he clutched his head, gritting his teeth he noticed the pain would decrease as long as he did not try to recall his past.

Gazing at the surroundings the man noticed a small star blinking in his view, it was seemingly linked to his pupils and his body.

***

[ Initial Transfer successful ]

[ Beginning primary infusion ]

[ Warning: Host please bear with the pain ]

***

With the text appearing on his pupils, a strange voice sounded in his mind and the pain returned but in waves, and his consciousness was plunged into darkness.

After an unknown duration, the eyes of the man snapped open. Only this time, he remembered his identity and certain basic aspects of his life, though the majority of it was shrouded in some misty restriction.

'Heh'

Trying to move he found that there was no power, no strength. He was as weak as a child. This time he tried to move his limbs which seemed to be fine. He pushed his thoughts trying to stand up but he couldn't muster enough strength. After many unsuccessful attempts, he was able to move his limbs and walk to a certain extent.

Clenching his fists he tried to gauge his strength. But then suddenly he was struck with an immense mind-splitting headache. It was at this time various foreign thoughts and memories once again flooded into his 'mind'. He clutched his head and knelt. Minutes passed by and then the pain slowly subsided.

'I see'

He thought.

'The situation seems to be connected to that pearl and that place. Let's pay a visit there.'

Carefully retracing his memory he walked back on the same path. His body lacked energy for movement as it had been a long time since he had any proper food. The cells in his body were starting to shrivel due to the lack of water. Using his sheer willpower he was able to reach that mysterious valley.

As he entered, he was stunned. In this place, his body felt refreshed and reinvigorated.

***

[ Detected an environment with rich Vital Energy ]

[ Beginning extraction ]

***

The strange voice sounded once again along with the texts on his pupils. Despite his efforts, he could not infer whether it was a male or female.

"Who is this?"

The man asked quietly but did not receive any reply in return.

His stomach churned and being a normal person he had to eat and drink in order for his cells to convert it into energy required for his body to function.

Gazing at the front, he drank from the same pond and ate the fruits satiating his hunger and thirst.

Very soon after he was done, he fell asleep. All this time his body could stay awake only due to his sheer willpower.

Hours passed by and an unknown trail of wind surged around the man's body.

After having sufficient rest, he felt his body full of energy and power. The unknown star also seemed to be blinking nonstop.

'Nice, now let's find that statue and that cave.'

Returning to his feet and ignoring everything, he made his way toward that statue.

As he looked at the statue an intense sense of familiarity enveloped him.

'Hmm, this statue seems a bit familiar.'

Suppressing his urge, he moved toward the location of the cave and entered. The cave was covered in pitch-black darkness.

Thus in order to proceed further he decided to create makeshift torches using some dry wood which he used to illuminate the surroundings. Though there was no fuel for it to burn, a single torch would not be able to sustain for much longer, thus the need for more torches. Thankfully they were sufficient.

Just as he reached the location where the pearl was located, he was surprised. Flinging the now about to burnout the torch and lighting a new one he reached a juncture of the wall. He held his makeshift torch towards a certain pattern engraved on the wall.

A wild flame originated from the wall and moved toward the ceiling. In a linear manner, the flame traveled through the various sections lighting up the ceiling.

'Nice. The rocks here seem quite flammable.'

The engraved pattern on the wall and the ceiling were carved from magnesium, a highly flammable material.

But the very next thing that caught his eye was a huge pattern on the ground.

***

[ Host in the presence of the Universal Formation ] 

[ Accessing the scripture for comparison ]

[ Error; Access Denied ]

[ Capturing Data for future analysis ]

***

"Who is this?"

As the voice sounded again along with the text that appeared on his pupils he enquired. But once again he was met with silence.

Helpless, he returned to the location of the pond as he felt an intense thirst due to the dryness in the air inside the cave because of the burning magnesium.

Drinking a mouthful of water from the pond, he stretched his limbs.

Meanwhile, at a certain distance from this location.

Suddenly--

A sound that denoted a fabric being ripped apart sounded in the air.

Locating the origin he found a small black line at a certain distance from him hovering in the air.

With another long ripping noise, another black line connected to the previous one formed a '_| ' pattern. The vertex of the black line-like patterns soon flew upward, dragging the entire triangular portion with it.

***

[ Warning; Detected a rupture in the spatial plane ]

[ Searching solution ]

[ Error; Access Denied ]

[ ErRor; AcCeSs DeNIeD ]

***

The string of texts appeared on his pupils and suddenly it all disappeared. The blinking star and the text along with the voice.

Somehow he was unfazed about the thing in front of him as he looked at what the voice had called 'rupture in the spatial plane' as an old man dressed in a black robe with a crimson collar pinned with five golden stars, white hair, and long-beard walked from within it.

The old man emanated a strong aura of dignity and strength which could only be felt by a battled-hardened general. His eyes radiated strong wisdom, while his footsteps were firm and determined, as that of a soldier.

"Young man, what are you doing here?" The old man asked a simple question, seemingly unfazed by the lack of surprise and shock on the man's face.

"I am lost. Can you help me?" He said nonchalantly. It was as if nothing that the old man did would manage to surprise him.

For a moment the old man was surprised, not by his calmness but because the voice was filled with an innate sense of supremacy that seemed to surpass anyone he had known so far and in fact rivaled his own self.

"Alright, follow me. I shall try to guide your path of return, but first, tell me your name." The old man gathered his thoughts and questioned.

"Call me, Aria." As soon as he said that, the old man's eyes lost focus for a second when he witnessed a figure clad in a dark shadow, strong enough to pluck stars and destroy planets.

But then very soon, he regained his senses and did not seem to remember anything he had seen just now.