[Last night, before the encounter with Sand Crab Byrus and the other hunters - the night that Lars unveiled the illusion array"s inheritance]As the time capsule split apart evenly down the middle, it revealed a blindingly great white and gold flash of fire and light!
Only, the fire did not burn, though the sight of the bursting flames were a sight to behold!
And when Lars vision recovered, he and Kizorik stood in awe of what they saw.
"Lars!!! We"ve hit the jackpot!!! That is..."
Kizorik exclaimed madly and went crazy as it celebrated, jumping up and down on Lars" head as it announced the ident.i.ty of the treasure before them: a radiant, golden burning orb that was only the size of a marble!
"...A complete and whole inheritance, a b.l.o.o.d.y f***ing crazy complete inheritance! Wahahahahahha!!! Whoohohohohohooohooo!!! We"ve struck it mad! Struck it big this time!! Hahahhahaha!!!"
Lars waited a moment for Kizorik to settle down from his jubilant rejoicing and then asked, "So, something like Draken Blacksword"s memory fragments...?"
"No!! No!!! And also yes!! Mmmm... Those memory fragments are like the leftovers after a mighty departed soul has been smashed apart and ground down over the eons, washed away by the rivers of time! The individual whose soul was fragmented must have been truly incomparably powerful for his soul to retain such clear memories like those in Draken Blacksword"s memory fragments!"
"In comparison, what you see before you probably does not come from such an apex powerhouse - but it is far, far more valuable, because these are the carefully prepared knowledge, skills, arts or abilities of a predecessor left behind for the generations to come! It is preserved immaculately and codified to be supremely effective in raising the eventual heir!"
"So it"s like a mental training manual...?"
"More! So much more, more than that, boy! Oftentimes, the creator will even detach and then inject a little bit of their consciousness into the inheritance orb! It"s like the difference of watching a tutorial video versus having a user manual... Versus having the creator as your personal trainer!"
Lars frowned. Despite the benefits of having the creator as his trainer, he s.h.i.+vered in trepidation - Kizorik alone was already boisterous enough, how bad would it become with another old geezer chattering and nagging in his mind?!?
But this was just too good an opportunity to pa.s.s by, so even if he dreaded the thought of another mental a.s.sa.s.sin tearing into his confidence and self-esteem twice in every sentence, he mustered up his determination and reached out to the inheritance.
"Come on! Come on! Come on! Come on...!" Kizorik cheered excitedly as Lars lifted up a hand to touch the floating, glowing memory orb and as it connected with his skin, an even greater flash of light broke forth, brighter than before!
And the blinding light quickly changed into waves of pain lancing into his brain!
"s.h.i.+t!!! ARGHHH!!!!!" Lars grit his teeth and tried to resist the urge to scream to no avail. Once more he was relieved that he"d erected so many barriers and preventive measures - it was only by virtue of these that his roars of anguish went unheard in the middle of the night!
"Kiddoooooo!!! What"s happening??! It"s not supposed to be painful!!! It should be easily absorbed by the young demon who--Oh... Young demon..."
"KIZORIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIKKKKKKK!!!!!!!" Lars howled uncontrollably, thras.h.i.+ng about in agony as the demon"s memory core burned his soul as it attempted to merge with him. However, the incompatibility between a human"s soul and a demon"s caused the memory core to warp and distort, transforming in its shape and form!
...Who knew with what terrifying results!
"Must... ENDURE!!!!!"
"LIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIVEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Lars could feel his muscles begin to twist agonisingly and smoke began to emanate from his every cell as a great heat built up in the nucleus of his body"s atoms! At first he thought the heat was just his imagination, but to his shock, his lengthening hairs began to emit smoke as well, getting singed by the rising heat!
Even in the midst of the nearly mind-blowing torture, he was relieved that the temperatures were not high enough to ignite the whole building - otherwise in his current defenceless state where he could not muster any strength nor mana, he would be charred black!
Then his flesh, blood and even BONES began to squirm and ripple, crawling about as if though there were a million ants moving about inside his body! The pain grew in intensity, reaching an all-new level of afflictions, threatening to erase his sense of self altogether!
As the demon watched Lars rolling about on the floor, Kizorik clenched its teeth and wrung its tiny flipper-hands tightly - the little bird was worried sick, truly truly worried!
Why in the world would an inheritance behave like this? Why was a memory core affecting the boy"s physical body...? How could it be so different from what had been predicted...?!!
However, even as the bird was anxious about its contractor"s well-being, Lars began to calm down.
Eventually the pain began to subside and Lars lay collapsed on the wooden floorboards in a sweaty heap, panting as every cell of his body continued to squirm. But eventually, even that squirming began to settle down as Lars felt fatigue wash over his body.
Fatigue, along with the sensation of... Oneness with the world...?
Lars gingerly rose to his feet, triggering Kizorik to rush over and embrace him hurriedly in the physical world!
"Lars!!! Larssssss!!! Kiddo!!!! You"re alive, alive!!! Sob... I"m so so sorry... So sorry about being wrong... I won"t ever let you down again kiddo... Don"t leave me alone, don"t leave me wandering by myself again... Don"t be like those earlier d.a.m.n useless contractors..."
Lars patted Kizorik on the back but could not focus on what the little bird was saying. He was too distracted by the whole new world of sights, sounds and sensations that he was experiencing right now!
He felt...
As if he could breathe in a lungful of air and NAME every particle that had just entered his lungs!
As if he could reach out and pluck out the void particles from between the molecules of Oxygen, Nitrogen and Carbon Dioxide in the surroundings!
As if he could just wave his hand and leave a tear in the void!
And to Lars horror, as he waved his hand casually without much thought, he pierced right through his protective and suppressive barriers around him, easily slicing apart 5 of the layers like a knife through b.u.t.ter!
The worst part was - he had just happened to flick his hand in the direction where Charley was sleeping!
"Phew....!!!" Lars let out a breath of relief as he thanked the heavens that the remaining 2 barriers were still intact, else the boy would have been minced into meatloaf by now...
And as he felt and examined the changes in his body more thoroughly and turned his mental senses inward, he discovered the memory core was still there within his sternum, behind his solar plexus! Albeit, if earlier it were the size of a marble, now it was only the size of an ant"s head!
Nevertheless, the tiny mote of fire was unmistakable due to the golden light exuded from it!
"Buddy! I"m fine, I"m fine! Now enough of that! Take a look, the memory core is still there...!" Lars pinched Kizorik"s tail to snap him out of his theatrics, causing the little furry to turn into a gnas.h.i.+ng ball of teeth and claws!
But this time, Lars insisted and ignored Kizorik even when the bird clamped its jaws onto his hand, urging his contracted demon to watch on as he reached out mentally to touch the sphere of flames!
And the moment he touched it, his mind and memories were sucked into an entirely new world - a world of the original owner of the memories and inheritance!
"Greetings, young demo--What??? What is a human doing here?!! HOW DARE YOU INTRUDE!! DIE!!!"
Lars eyes bulged as he saw a flaming sword descend straight towards his spirit body!