The First Descent into The Labyrinth (7)

The dreary half looked at his counterpart, who had finally decided to show himself, with annoyance.

"Were you too busy discovering and playing with your new toy that you allowed me to fall into such dire straits" said he in reference to the odd ability his counterpart had just displayed.

"Oh this?" asked the cheerful Cyrus as he created a ball of light on his hand of which had power that could be clearly be felt.

"Since I had some free time to spare in this area, and seeing as you had things under control, I had decided to look around and experiment with a few theories I had in mind. Most of them were failures but I eventually stumbled upon this little ability, although I have no idea what it really is. It is not essence, nor is it a power that comes from within like that Ruga most likely is, so I am stumped as to the nature of this power. It appears to come from this area itself, but is this not our inner psyche of sorts? So why is there some kind of power that it contains that I can only use here, how mysterious hahah" ended the bright half with a jovial laugh.

The icy half pondered on the discovery of his equivalent, as he moved his senses to the seemingly empty world around him then to within…again and again slowly attuning himself to the world around him in a similar manner as what he did to become accustomed to the 'illusionary' world of the Labyrinth.

Eventually he touched upon something, a type of power perhaps. It was not like the well structured and orderly world of essence, nor did it feel like the bountiful well of life force contained within the body, but instead it was more of…instinct. Once he became attuned to it, he was able to manipulate it like it was always a part of him as much as his very limbs were. It was a feeble thing at first, where he had to slowly become accustomed to it and flex it like a well atrophied limb after months of disuse but it quickly became stronger and more powerful until he could cause it to collect on his hand like his other half had done. Instead of it being a bright whiteish orb that was ethereal in nature, his was pitch black and gave one a feeling of looking into an unimaginable depth…with a creature at the far end looking back at whoever dares to peer within.

"What a curious ability we have stumbled upon, even if its use only extends to this area. Where are we specifically then, what place within us could allow such power? The mind…or perhaps the soul…" thought the cold Cyrus as he started on a path of wild deductions that slowly formed into a coherent theory.

He was interrupted by a beaming face, with a similar voice to boot, that appeared in front of him.

"All right my brooding half, we can consider the mystery of this space another time. We are not alone, have you forgotten? Besides, what better way to isolate a cogent theory than some practical experience!" yelled the vivid half as he dashed towards the night dwellers, wielding his newfound abilities to their full extent.

"Perhaps you are correct in that" responded the 'brooding' half as he too joined the fray, testing his abilities in a similar fashion.

The white light that the cheery half made use of had a cleansing nature, that was well suited for trapping and slowly evaporating the vile almost demonic presences that wormed their way in. While on the other hand the dark and all consuming light of the pessimistic half attached itself like a plague to whatever it touched, slowly consuming the foe and strengthening itself in the process which created an endless horrific loop of attach, feed, strengthen and feed even more making use of this newfound strength.

Not only that, but it could be shaped into almost anything that the wielder desired. A bow and arrow, a sword and shield, and even a beam of power or a hail of destruction. It seemed that the only limit was each users imagination, which was quite fitting if the two's theories were as correct as they believed them to be.

Regardless of whatever they believed it to be, they easily made use of their power to crush each of the night dwellers into nothingness leaving only an odd mist behind. This mist seemed to still retain some kind of life, as it oozed forth and collected itself into one where it formed an orb that pulsed like the beat of a heart.

The two halves stood in front of it, wondering what it was.

"It looks like a heart, so is this the true form of the creatures? Instead of many they were actually one…how odd" said the cheerful half, obviously curious.

"Perhaps, but our task is to annihilate it. As interested as I am, it can clearly affect the depths of our very being and even read into our past…it is too dangerous to study" said the cold half, as he expanded the orb of power in his hand until it encompassed the entire beating heart. Then with a nudge of his mind, the massive sphere collapsed into nothingness. The heart was completely consumed, its power made his own.

"Wait, would that not be bad for you to use that ability on then if it is so dangerous…would there not ah, be side effects?" wondered the sanguine half, with a worried look on his face.

"It should be fine, I am not so wea-" started the uncaring half, his mind freezing and a sense of danger filling his very being as a voice was heard within.

"Oh, so you are one of us. And so well integrated too, how embarrassing on our part. If I had known I would have willingly given you my power, no need for all the fuss…no matter for now I shall fulfill my true purpose. For the true god…" whispered a voice, that sounded like many things talking at once speaking not in words but clicking and screeching…yet all of it could be understood by the dark half of Cyrus.

Immediately he felt a rush of icy power filling him, causing him to feel as if he could crush the entire world within his hands and filling him with a thirst for more such power. A thirst that was eerily similar to the intense greed and obsession he normally had, except amplified so that he felt physically parched as if he had gone without water for days on end.

Luckily he was not alone, so the corrupting nature of the power had no chance to take hold, as a warm light enveloped him and allowed him to easily gain control over the power, taming its wild and corrupting nature and forcing it to be the servant while he was the master.

"I am the master of my own fate, nothing will alter my will" thought the cryptic half as he steeled himself once again, having regained nearly full control. He opened his eyes and spotted his partner, looking quite exhausted as he was laying on the floor with a drained look on his face. Looking up at the dark half, noticing that he had awoken he said,

"Can you not get yourself taken over by a foreign entity for five seconds, good Mundus above you seem to have a knack for that. Whatever that thing was, it was far stronger than we had first thought. It suddenly began amassing power from who knows where, it took everything that I had just to sever its connection with the heart and then pull you from its grasp."

The normally cautious half looked down at his counterpart, who he has derided again and again for his foolish honesty and powerful emotions while reflecting on his own continuous failures and stumbles.

"I see, so this is the allure of a good hearted fool. To save another at no benefit to themselves, perhaps even at a cost. When greeted with such an individual, it is in your best interest to keep them around as who knows when they will recklessly dive forth into the unknown to aid you in a time of peril and need. If I was him, I perhaps would have let an unknown entity that resided within me simply weaken and erase it with my own hand…yet he considers us one and the same with no doubt or hesitation even as the evidence continues to stack against such a theory…" thought the normally cruel and uncaring half.

Laughing in mockery of himself, he responded to his bright, at times even too bright to behold, half and said

"Indeed it seems I am the more flawed of the two of us, how arrogant I was all this time. I now fully agree with the earlier assessment, that we must cover for one another's weaknesses in full. In time we must have a long talk in this space with one another, after we find out how to access it at will of course. For now, I must focus on exerting full control over whatever that thing did to me as well as what it said"

The now somewhat recovered hopeful Cyrus sat up and asked

"It spoke to you!? What did it say?"

Sitting down with his eyes closed, focusing on fully cementing and experimenting with whatever he had gained the dark half said,

"It said something about being one and the same as it as well as a praise towards the true god... It is clear that it was some kind of other race that we do not know of, one that has a god that is not the Mundus that we are both familiar with."

Shocked at the revelation, the cheery Cyrus thought seriously for a moment before saying,

"Our god is not like in the stories, a bunch of powerful mystical beings that each have control over a specific force in the world….but Mundus itself, as in the entire planet that we live on. Assuming this is true, then would that not mean that this race is from a different world than we? Is such a thing even possible…?"

Responding slowly the cold half said,

"Perhaps but let us not jump to conclusions until we have a way to prove the conjecture true. Perhaps we can ask Mundus ourselves if we have a chance to meet, or perhaps we could capture this odd race when we grow stronger and ask it directly."

"You are right, while it could be so it could also be a number of other things such as there being multiple gods but the information is suppressed for one reason or another" said the bright half in agreement.

Moments passed as the two sat in silence, one looking around in curiosity trying to puzzle out the true nature of this space while the other was becoming the unopposed master of the energy he had gained.

His eyes opening the dark half said,

"I have finished, we should leave this space now. Do not forget that time travels differently here than it does in the outside world…who knows how much time has passed. We are in the middle of a trial given to us by Glacies, we cannot let our priorities be mixed up."

With that he looked into the horizon and amassed his previous dark power he had used against the night dwellers to force himself awake.

His counterpart saw this and did the same, eager to head into the real world once more as they may be burning the time that was his to be front in center.

The last thing that the dark half heard before they succeeded in awaking themselves was his counterpart mumbling,

"I wonder if I can come here when you are in control, its quite dull being in a state of half awake and half asleep all the time"