Pain.
Horrendous, soul-tearing, mind-numbing pain.
The moment Faxul plunged that knife into his chest, that was what he had felt.
The feeling of having one"s organs destroyed inch by inch by a force that just wanted to turn everything it pa.s.sed through into a mangled piece of undistinguishable flesh was something that couldn"t be described in words.
The worst part was that as an Exalted Human, he had more endurance than the typical individual.
Hence, even though almost all of his vital organs had been destroyed, he had been clinging on to life, all while the pain threatened to destroy his mind.
Wasn"t death supposed to be peaceful? Why was his like this?
When his best friend ran up to his body and caught him, Faxul had been able to feel it, but he hadn"t been able to respond at all, as his mind was in an extreme state of shock.
Slowly, as the seconds pa.s.sed by, the blood which had no more means to be pumped stopped where it was and caused his body to rot, while the sudden lack of oxygen in his brain made every thought blurry, bit by bit, until he slipped away into an eternal slumber that he would never wake from.
Or…so he had thought.
Even before slipping that slumber, Faxul had been hoping that his friend might have some miraculous means to save him, as he really didn"t want to die.
However, when he had seen Daneel"s expression through his vacant eyes, he had understood that that wasn"t the case.
Hence, with mixed emotions of joy from being useful and regret at leaving without fulfilling so many wishes he had had, Faxul had slipped away.
After that, there was nothingness…until he felt something calling to him.
It was like he was a lost traveler that had been about to step into the maw of a terrifying beast that wanted to devour him, but a good Samaritan had lit up a lantern at the last minute and had allowed him to escape it.
Bit by bit, Faxul started to return to a state of "awareness", and the first thing that he felt was…a stink.
To be more specific, it was the stink of someone who hadn"t bathed or washed themselves for months, or maybe even years.
Was this h.e.l.l? Had he committed so many sins that outweighed his good deeds that he had been sentenced to a life of torture?
In Angaria, the concept of Heaven and h.e.l.l did exist in the general populace, but it was said that it was only a vague thing that had been proliferated to hopefully keep people in check.
The Heavens were constantly prayed to for good luck and fortune, and everyone knew that sinners would go to h.e.l.l, where they would face torture.
It could be said that the unique aspect of Angaria was that there was no specific dominant religion and deities for people to pray to, except in cases like the Black Raven Kingdom, where people prayed to the Ancient Black Raven, and the Kingdom of Arafell, where the giants prayed to the first Lady Arafell who had supposedly led them here.
Even in those cases, there were no specific rules as such, and it was only a vague prayer.
All in all, the rankness of the stink made Faxul wonder whether the first torture he was being subjected to was to live in a place of filth.
Wait…he could feel that he had no body, but somehow, he had the sense of smell.
How?
As Faxul wondered about this, suddenly, he realized that he wasn"t alone.
It was as if he were in a dark room where there was no light, but near him, he could feel another…presence.
Faxul felt that he could reach out and touch it, so he did.
However, the next moment, he recoiled as a feeling of chaos pervaded him.
Yes, that presence was completely filled with chaos, as if it had gone mad from being subjected to something abhorrent.
If this was h.e.l.l, maybe that would be his state, too, after the torture?
"FAXUL! Can you hear me? FAXUL, WAKE UP!"
Huh?
Wasn"t that…Daneel?
Slap!
Just as Faxul was about to muse once again about whether his friend had followed him, he felt a sharp feeling of pain that raced through him, along with the faint sound of a slap.
Yet, they only lasted for a moment before fading away.
Slap! Slap! Slap! Slap!
As if whoever had caused it the first time had some score to settle with him, the same sensations repeated again and again, and with each time, the intensity seemed to grow.
Slowly, Faxul started to realize that he actually had a body, which seemed to be injured in multiple places, but it was rapidly being healed.
And…he was pretty sure that it wasn"t his body, as the feeling of strength that came from it dwarfed his body by multiple levels.
Soon, the slaps stopped, and although Faxul almost felt as if he could move the body, it was as if there was some final barrier that was stopping him from taking full control.
However, the faculty of hearing had been returned to him, so he could tell that it was Daneel.
This made him rejoice, and then feel very puzzled, as he didn"t know what the heck was going on.
Yet, suddenly, Daneel grumbled something under his breath, and when Faxul heard it, a feeling of horror pa.s.sed through him.
"So something even more painful is required? Fine, guess I"ll go all out. Sorry, my friend."
Crack!
The next instant, that veil that had been stopping Faxul was completely shattered, and all of the senses were returned to him.
Only, he really wished that that wasn"t the case because of a particular feeling that was radiating from his lower body.
His best friend, the man whom he had chosen to "save" from a life of pain due to choosing something he didn"t have to even if it meant his own death…had just kicked him in his b.a.l.l.s.
Unable to say anything, the first thing that Faxul did after coming back to life was clutch his crotch and roll around on the ground as pain that was only second to what he had felt before dying radiated throughout him.
"Hey! It worked! Welcome back, Faxul!"
Really, dude? This is how you welcome someone back from the dead? By kicking them in their b.a.l.l.s?
"Err…sorry about that. Apparently, intense sensations needed to be felt in order to "connect" you with the body. But don"t worry, Drakos here has a healing spell that"ll fix those b.a.l.l.s in no time. And all the other injuries."
Oh, really?! Then why don"t you get your b.a.l.l.s shattered and then healed, just for kicks?!
Cursing like so, Faxul had to roll around on the ground for a minute or so even while the healing spell went to work, mending the damage.
Meanwhile, Daneel was watching on sheepishly, rubbing his nose and wondering what his friend must be thinking.
A broad smile was on his face, as everything had seemed to work out.
Finally, Faxul got up and looked around in a daze before spotting Daneel.
In a flash, he walked to his friend and grabbed his shoulders with an expression as if he was going to hit him.
However, instead of doing that, he hugged him tight, truly happy due to the fact that he was not dead.
Questions could come later, but first, he was really grateful, despite what had just happened.
"Thank you," he said, to which Daneel replied, "No, I should thank you. But first, you stink."
Laughing, Faxul stepped away before conjuring a globe of water and dropping it on himself.
When he did, he noticed just how…easy it was.
It was incomparable to when he had been an Exalted Human. h.e.l.l, if the two were compared, then it would be like a little kid going up against an adult.
It was then that he realized that he recognized this body and this stink, and this made him conjure a mirror using water to see his face.
When he saw the crazy King looking back at him, he screamed, unable to control his shock.
As he looked to the side, he saw his own lifeless body which lay unmoving on the ground.
"Sorry, we had to make do with what we had. This is the gist: Inside me is Drakos, the Empire Spirit of Lanthanor, who is good, unlike that Black Raven Empire Spirit. He cast a spell to make you like them:a spirit who is bound to a corporeal object, and in your case, its that stone podium that the Black Raven Empire Spirit was previously in. It"s still in there, but it can"t wake up because I leeched too much Energy from it. Instead of keeping you in that thing, I decided that you would be better off in a body. The crazy King had completely gone crazy, so we used him. It won"t be permanent: Drakos says that since you are only an Exalted Human, the criteria for you to enter a body are much lower, unlike how it is for them. Ok, that"s the important stuff."
Hearing Daneel give this speech and take a deep breath, Faxul once again looked in the mirror, unable to believe it.
So…he was a spirit now? Who was inhabiting this body?
But what about his own body?
"Why didn"t you just…heal my own body and put me back in it?"
As he asked this, Daneel shook his head and said, "Drakos says that"s impossible. If that were the case, death would have no meaning at all! Apparently, when someone dies i.e when their body and mind completely stop functioning and their consciousness leaves their body, a core aspect of a living being that enables a consciousness to reside in them also dies, and it is impossible to reverse that. A consciousness cannot inhabit anything that is "dead". The crazy King, however, is alive, so you are inside him. And he"s a Peak Exalted Warrior, so…you"ve got that going for you. Now, what do you say we get out of here? I"ve got some…people I need to take "care" of."