I could hear the annoyance in Graham’s voice.
“Oh no, don’t get that old man started - your ears are going to rot off!”
Ignoring him - the elderly voice happily began speaking.
“Who are we? We are the Dark Collective!
We are keepers of the peace between realms!”
A woman’s voice then took her turn.
“What the elder is trying to say is that we are people who keep gods in check”
Yep, you didn’t hear it wrong either.
First I get sent to Void, then I get attacked by a pile of bones,
and now I’m talking to the disembodied voices who claim to battle gods.
The woman’s voice then continued.
“The reason we appeared here was to stop one of those gods from taking the humans to his reality”
After him, Graham spoke.
“Though it has gone awry because one of our trainees didn’t learn his runes properly!
And because of that the golem you’ve met before caused havoc and killed a lot of people that were focused on blocking that god's influence, after which it escaped and ended up targeting you”
The elder followed up after him.
“We tried to help, but all we managed to save was, well - you”
Hearing all of that I got another question at that moment.
“Ok, let’s say I will believe you all and that you are what you claim to be,
But why are you talking with me specifically?
I'm not the leader of the people here, shouldn’t you explain it to them?”
The elder swiftly answered my question.
“You probably heard one of our disciples that you need a basic amount of control for darkness to hear us, that's why we can’t communicate with just anybody.
Also, we didn’t come here for you to just be our messenger”
The woman’s voice then spoke again.
“Yes, as elder just said we didn’t come here for no reason - the god we were trying to hold back is a god of darkness, and the reason he took all those people is that they are similar to you”
“Similar how?” I asked.
“All of them had a connection to the void, a realm between realms, the source of all darkness, that's where all dark gods draw power, but thankfully for us, they are limited in their connection by the amount of faith people have in them”
“Wait, dark gods, as in multiple?” I asked again.
“There are many realities, and each of them has its own gods, but because most species instinctively fear darkness, there are more bad dark gods than good”
Graham then suddenly interrupted this conversation.
“Yeah, history lessons are good and all but can we get to the point already!”
I could feel that woman's scornful gaze, even though the room was still empty.
“Yes, thank you for reminding me, the reason we are here right now is that when you were pulled into the void by that dark god - he left a trace on you, and with it we can find the realm he is from”
After that, the elder spoke.
“Let's not lie to the young man, It’s a lot more severe than just a trace - when we were trying to prevent that god from taking you we basically put your soul in a net,
he was just tugging at your body at the time,
but when he noticed what we did he started pulling at your soul too”
“So… you are telling me you were playing tug of war with my very own soul!?”
“... yes in a sense, and in the result of that when it started cracking -
both sides stopped, plunging you into the middle of the void.
That god didn’t leave a trace on you, he took a shattered piece of your soul with him”
I was speechless at that moment.
And using it, the elder continued.
“That god probably decided to take at least what he managed to break off.
We fear that he is going to use all the humans he took to create some kind of artifact -
And if that is true, only you have the best chance of getting back your soul”
When my mind finally focused I could only say one word.
“WHAT!?”
The elder hearing my exclamation proceeded to explain.
“When the creator wants to bind the artifact to himself he creates it with another soul to power it, and part of his own - which in turn renders the artifact ineffective against him and lets only him use it.
In this case, if the god is going to create an artifact with a part of your soul to power it -
you are going to at the very least be more resistant against it”
“You are expecting me to go and simply beat up a god and take my soul back -
easy as that!?”
Interrupting my attacks on the elder, the woman’s voice spoke up.
“We don’t expect you to do it by yourself, our organization will support you.
Your connection to the void we mentioned before will let you control the darkness around you - letting you shape and use it in any way you will need”
“What the hell do you even mean by shaping the darkness!?”
After I said that - I noticed something moving in the corner of the room.
At first, I thought that my eyes were deceiving me.
But in a moment - a bunch of shadows congregated in the corner and started to take shape.
It was a large man, no it wasn’t a man - it was an orc.
After its shape solidified it walked up to my bed, then it leaned towards me, stopping its face only inches from mine.
“This is what shaping darkness means, you rude punk”
I instantly recognized the owner of the voice - it was Graham.
And after that one sentence - the construct broke down into pieces and the shadows it was made out of got back into their places.
After that brief demonstration, I calmed down a little bit and the woman continued.
“As I was saying - we are going to teach you the basics, and after that - it will be your responsibility to modify the techniques to your liking”
“Alright, that's good and all that you all decided that I'm going to fight a god,
but can I at the very least visit my relatives and tell them what is going on?”
“I'm afraid we are getting out of time, and by us I mean you”
She replied in a cold tone.
“And what is that supposed to mean?”
At that moment the elder stepped into our conversation.
“You see - our souls are our anchors to the mortal plain, when the time comes and your flesh dies, the soul goes into whatever afterlife you believe in.
But when the soul is shattered - it thinks that your body is already dead and tries to escape it.
Remember my example about artifact forging?
Most of the artifacts that use the binding technique are created by either the liches, demonic entities, or gods.
So, while your soul is shattered - it is unstable and you are on the constant verge of dying.
And if you die with an incomplete soul - you are going to be sent to the void no matter who you pray to”
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