Chapter 135: Who am I

Ciaran was stuck in a hurricane of his own making, knowing he was dreaming. He was in the Eye of the Storm and was watching all the egos of the souls he had collected trying to get to him and rip him to shreds.

"Well, this is kind of awkward, isn't it? Let's see what we can do about it." He said as he allowed one of the animals in.

It went in but rather than clawing the boy to death, it burst into smoke and merged with Ciaran. Little by little the boy assimilated the experience and knowledge of the animal. He saw its birth, parts of its life, and even its final moments.

Statistically, Ciaran did not get anything out of that, but practically he also got very little. He had only allowed a Rank Two Wind beast in, keeping things nice and controlled.

"Ok, let's step things up a notch." He said as he let in a Darkness beast.

Same thing as before, but this time the boy had a little more difficulty in the absorption. On

the other hand, he did make contact with the Darkness. He had never heard its voice before and never planned to try and speak to it, but now he could.

He experimented some more, but before long, his Storm stopped letting in the souls no matter what the boy said.

"We are at capacity huh? Ok then, we rest and continue after." He said, expecting to be let out in the real world, but he wasn't.

The Storm clearly wanted him to first clean up this whole mess before he could leave. The problem was that his mind couldn't handle all the information at once, and he needed to adjust.

"Would you let the Wind and Water beasts in then?" He asked, and the Storm relented.

The two elements were its building blocks, so the boy could handle them, and they didn't place any burden on his mind, in fact, they lessened the pain.

Alternating between Wind and Water he calmed his mind, being able to digest the knowledge of the souls he had absorbed before.

When he felt that his mind was ok, he continued with new souls, of other elements. He tried Lightning, Fire, Earth, Light, Death, Space, and many more. Each time he felt his head was going to crack he allowed some Water or Air souls to enter.

Slowly, even the other elemental souls were no longer able to put much pressure on the boy, but then he ran out of Rank Two souls. He was about to try for Rank Three when the Storm warned him to first get used to them with the elements he was familiar with.

"Is it going to be that bad?" He asked, but still followed its advice, starting with a Wind beast. His mind was not under any pressure, but he could feel how much more information he got from stronger souls.

If he had started with an unfamiliar element, he might have died. As such he continued to eat only Wind and Water, until he was ready, and his mind was fully unburdened.

He started with a calm element, Earth, and slowly made his way to aggressive elements like Lightning.

Just like the Rank Twos he had alternated between his prior elements and the rest. The problem was that he ran out of both Wind and Water after about half the souls were absorbed. After that, he had to rely on his natural regeneration.

As he had nothing to do, he practiced talking to the rest of the elements. Ever since he had become a Storm user, both Air and Water had become quieter, but after absorbing so many souls they were as loud and clear as before.

The rest of the elements were far less chatty, but they still interacted with the boy. He couldn't practice magic in his head, but he was more than certain that when he was let out he could cast spells in the other elements as well.

"I better break the news off the Big Sis slowly, less she goes mad like the other time I learned magic." He laughed at his own joke. Strangely so did Lightning and some other elements.

Ciaran didn't even know what to make of that, so he didn't think about it. He just continued his socialization with the natural forces until his mind was clear again.

"Ok, done, now up to the Forth Rank." He said. Ciaran didn't know how much time he had been stuck inside his own mind, but he had learned many interesting things here. Chief among them being, that his Storm was the only element that gave him static answers.

He had come to learn that all elements had their own personality, and he knew for a fact he had one too, but it had become almost robotic since they were here.

Eventually, the boy figured it out.

"The elements I am talking to aren't the ones the beasts used are they? They are the naturally accruing ones that Dyrta has. You on the other hand are mine, not the Storm I unleash on the world, but truly mine." He said, and they all went quiet, with the Storm giving an emotionless 'Not exactly'.

When Ciaran's mind was clear again he tried absorbing a Rank Four Air soul. This time, even it gave him trouble. The amount of knowledge he got from it was truly enormous, and since he had not studied exclusively Air runes in forever, it placed a small burden on his mind.

Just like that he decided to absorb the Rank Four souls one by one while resting between sessions.

With every new soul, he got more insights into the elements, but he also saw how the beasts interacted with them. As it turned out, animals were smarter than humans, and those interactions gave the boy the answer he was searching for.

"You aren't MY Storm, you are a manifestation of my power, of my being. I don't have a Storm, I AM THE STORM." As soon as he realized that, the tornado protecting him changed, he could now control it perfectly.

Before he could get accustomed to his new power, he was treated to a new set of memories, his own. He saw his whole life flash in front of him. From the wreckage of his birth parents to the casting of the Grand Mage spell, he saw it all.

Then the loop was repeated, but this time his point of view was in the third person. He saw everything as if he was looking at the life of someone else. He saw himself from the standpoint of his own element.

The loops played again and again, and slowly the difference disappeared and the loop was now one. When Ciaran was done with it, he had partially fused with the Storm, his body now more ethereal than ever.

"Well that was weird, and now I am even less human than before." He said and got a slight chuckle from the other elements.

He then proceeded to eat all of the souls, one at a time, before there was only one left.

"Well moose, it's time to see how different a Rank Five soul is." He said as he started to absorb it. Slowly he was starting to gain some of its essences when the soul broke apart and started disappearing.

"No! I want my meal, come back here!" He screamed at it and tried to hold it in place, but it just broke apart, and he was left empty-handed and empty-headed.

Before he could curse or ask what had happened he felt a disturbance in the winds of the Storm. He felt a new passageway opening.

Before he could ask, it started sucking in all of the Storm, all of him. He wanted answers, but before he could even try to resist, he opened his eyes to the waking world.

He was in a broom closet, with his partner tightly holding him in her embrace. He wanted to curse at the loss of his property, but he knew the girl was already planning to beat him up, he saw no reason to fuel the fire, by waking her up and depriving her of much-deserved rest.

He turned around and returned her embrace. His right hand was under her head, and his left was on her waist. He even placed his left leg on her leg, holding her as a koala would a tree. Then he got close to her and sniffed her hair. He did not know how long he was trapped in his own mind, but for him, it was an eternity, and every second there he had been thinking of her.

"Sleep well beautiful, your man is back for the cuddles." He whispered in her ear, as he sneaked in another kiss, this time on her forehead.

She was more than aware he had woken up, but before she broke his face for risking his life again, she wanted to see what he would do if she was unconscious. To her own shame and dismay, she was regretful he stopped with just a kiss.