Meeting the Cursed Soul

Max stood on the cold, wooden floor of his house. Hans escorted both of his parents out of the room he was in, and after reassuring them that everything will be alright they began to calm a little.

"Igor..." Hans looked straight into Igor's eyes after calling his name.

Igor and Hans were staring into the eyes of each other. "No matter what you do, you are prohibited from entering that room, well that is if you don't want to kill your son" With those last words Hans no longer continued talking, not giving any explanation whatsoever on what was happening and what will be happening with his son.

Igor clenched his teeth in frustration as he was left with no other reassuring than the fact that the man who is taking care of his child right now was Hans. He turned his head towards his wife, which was holding her hand above her mouth, trying to pitifully cover the worry on her face.

He slowly got closer to her, and as he got behind her he wrapped his arms slowly around her waist. He hugged her and then reassured her, and maybe himself "It's going to be alright..."

Back into the room, Max was still sitting on the floor, crosslegged.

"Alright Max, do you understand what you have to do?" Hans asked once again, it was best to have at least a bit of preparation before confronting that thing.

Max opened his eyes, he had a determined look on his face. He nodded towards Hans as he addressed him "Mr. Hans I am ready to begin but are you sure I am able to change the nature of the soul? I have yet to be awakened" Max wanted to reassure himself so he asked the only doubt he had on his mind, he didn't know if he could do this while not being awakened.

"Anyone can do this, it only takes to be psychically stronger than the soul, which is pretty hard but not impossible. In theory, even toddlers would be able to change the nature of these cursed souls if they had enough psychical fortitude." Hans reassured Max "All you have to do is not give up, remember these words" With that, Hans backed away from Max, he smiled at the young man in front of him then nodded.

Max understood what that nod meant and closed his eyes in response. He began disregarding everything in his surroundings other than the shield. Sound, smell, sight. He disregarded all of them, he didn't need them, they would only make it harder for him to connect to the soul.

'First, you have to void any emotion, everything is deceiving and might lead you in the wrong direction, think with your head, not with your heart.'

Max didn't take long to do just that, he went into a state of meditation which made him forget how to feel any emotions.

'Second, concentrate on the shield, try to feel the connection between you and it. It isn't a physical connection so don't try to feel it with your hands or body. The only way you can do it is to try and sense the unknown feeling, if you follow where the feeling guides you then you will be able to connect with it. There is also the small chance that you will be able to see the connection, if you do it will be easy to follow'

Max concentrated on the strange feeling he had been getting accustomed to over the past few days. He had time to think and wonder about what was happening with him, about what he was feeling, and most importantly what he was supposed to do. It was draining for him to actively try to not get possessed by this feeling, but now, he was going after it himself.

Max's conscience began faltering while the feeling became stronger and stronger.

Hans looked at the kid, he knew that what he had been going through has been tough but he can't help him in any way. It was a battle that he had to finish himself. He spread his magic around the room and even outside, he was ready to do anything if Igor or Max's mother wanted to barge in. His magic faltered around Max for a second and Hans looked towards him wide-eyed. 'That quick?!'

He was impressed by the fact that Max was already able to reach for the feeling, and as his body fell backward, now seemingly supported by the wall behind him, Hans knew that he is now confronting the soul.

Max felt dizzy, his head hurt while the feeling got stronger, and at one point the feeling stopped.. existing. He jolted awake but what greeted him wasn't Hans or his parents, not even his house for that matter. It was a dark void in which he couldn't see anything else other than darkness, boundless darkness.

"It's different than I thought..." Max was warned by Hans before, he was told that the conversation will happen inside another plane of existence, or that is what everyone called it at least. A strange dark place where nothing else could be seen other than yourself and the soul.

"You finally came!" A thin voice was heard behind Max which frightened him.

Max turned around, prepared to face whatever the appearance of the cursed soul of this weapon with a solemn face, only to be once again left dumbfounded by what he saw.

The soul had the appearance of a small boy, around the height of a ten-year-old. The young boy had white messy hair that was spiked upwards, he had blood-red eyes with a pale face clad in a dark suit. He looked like some kind of royal human, dressed formally ready for a banquette or something along the way of a party. He wore a thin smile on his face while looking at Max.

"I welcome you mister" The boy began talking once again before Max was able to come out from his shock "My name is Matthew but you can call me Matt, what is yours?" The child asked Max in a playful voice.

'Weren't cursed souls supposed to be some monstrous, hideous existences?' Max wondered in his mind before replying to the soul.

"I-" Max hesitated, he remembered Hans's words 'everything is deceiving'. He straightened his back and spoke with a clear and confident voice, he wasn't going to fall into cheap tricks.

"My name is Max."