Abyssal Awakening

Giving her body a final check up to make sure everything was fine, Alice felt unnerved.

Aside from the fact that she couldn't use her energy for a while, everything was normal.

Too normal.

There was nothing wrong with her besides the marks caused by the chains. Outside of that, beneath the bandages, her body was healing itself.

It was similar to what she suffered in the north with Selen looking after her but not as dangerous.

Furrowing her brows, Alice understood that Nyer was definitely up to something.

There was no chance that he'd simply leave her body be like this without tampering with it. Hell, meeting the him of the past in the Inverted World had already caused him to act.

What's to say he hasn't done something now?

But as it stands, there was truly nothing wrong with her body. It was pretty much the same as before she was dragged into the ritual.

Shaking her head, Alice made sure she hadn't left anything behind before trying to leave her tent, only to be stopped by a few Guards.

"If you're ready to leave, please wait inside while we call someone over. There are final tests that need to be ran before we can allow you to leave." One of the guards explained as Alice raised an eyebrow.

But considering how the Abyssal Tyrant Sect came to 'clean' things up, Alice figured they were probably aware of the Eldritch Energy involved in the ritual.

Unfortunately, even if she wanted to leave, she wasn't exactly in the best position to do so. The only thing she could do right now was to head back inside and sit down.

She closed her eye, refusing to look at the white walls and bed. It simply reminded her too much of the past.

Tapping her finger on the table, she waited patiently while observing Alyss's condition from within.

Occasionally, she would twitch while sweat dripped down her face, causing Alice to worry.

But there was nothing she could do about it.

In the end, she could only think about the seal that Velouria placed around them. The chains that helped contain the Eldritch power.

'Alyss uses anti Abyss powers and Eldritch while I use Holy and Void. But that's not to say these four aren't interchangeable, at least from my stance.' Alice thought to herself.

Near the end, it was clear that Eldritch energy had polluted her body as well, making her attacks outside of using Alyss's power part Eldritch.

Her slash of severance being a clear evidence of that.

By unknowingly making it part Eldritch, the Outer God was able to consume it practically effortlessly.

If she wanted to use Eldritch against Eldritch, she'd need to enhance her Eldritch side.

[I don't recommend it. Alyss had already 'consumed' it to some extent which caused the chains to lash out and put her in this state. As much as it may seem helpful, I don't think we should ever rely on Eldritch powers.] Cayla interjected as she had a bad feeling about it.

It's one thing to be able to access this power but another for Velouria to seal it in such a manner.

'I'm aware. Don't worry, I don't plan on enhancing the Eldritch side. Knowing how Eldritch Energy works, the more I enhance it, the worse it'll be for me since it'll keep corrupting my body.

'At that point, I'm basically food on a platter for Outer Gods. No chance of fighting back.' Alice shook her head.

She was fully aware of how dangerous Eldritch Energy was.

To put it in another way, the other energies were 'fair' in the fact that everyone is equal. But Eldritch? Anyone with remotely more power can easily 'consume' you without you ever being able to fight back.

Simply through assimilation.

If anything, Alice should be putting her focus towards researching Duality.

Thinking up to this point, Alice's finger stopped tapping as this was always something that stumped her.

Duality was not simply inversion, as Tristan mentioned.

No, Duality was much more than that. A conceptual power that plays with the essence of Inversion, Synchronisation and Harmony. Life and Death, Absorbing and Expelling.

But then it reaches the question of the Soul.

What is it exactly?

At a certain point, Alice understood that to others who could perceive the soul, she was 'soulless'.

It made sense since Alyss was the original and she, the construct of Nyer, hijacked her body.

Yet she 'developed' a soul later. Becoming two souls in one body.

Was it artificial? Or was it a true soul?

Could she be considered a normal 'human' if the conditions were different?

How could she function without a soul? Was she running on a set of orders that Nyer implanted without her knowing?

If it could be artificially constructed, what was she?

How far does a 'soul' need to go before it's considered a soul rather than a machine running on instructions?

To Alice, she felt like a normal 'human' with freewill. She could think for herself, make decisions for herself. Feel all the emotions a normal person could even before she developed a soul.

If the soul was not required for that, then what was it?

A source of life held within a container?

At first, Alice considered that you, as a consciousness, was the soul. You simply pilot the flesh machine known as the body.

But if that was the case, how did Nyer achieve the result of having her take over Alyss's body when she didn't have a 'Soul'?

Or was Alyss simply used as a foundation for her to grow? Her memories of their childhood was taken from her after all.

She only began to exist after she was injected into the body.

'Soul… Body… Foundation? Union.' Alice muttered in her mind, trying to work out the connection between the two and how Duality could tamper with it.

The Church of the Moon are specialised in Soul techniques so there must be an angle that she was missing.

It was hard to pinpoint the exact moment her soul manifested. Where did Alice begin and where did Alyss end in her?

Where did the separation occur?

'Is the Soul… a bridge? A connection between action and thought?' Alice furrowed her brows.

What if the 'soul' wasn't what she thought it was. That there was a difference between the conscience and the soul?

If one was to lose their memories, are they a new soul? If not, then it's clear that conscience and soul were two very different concepts that shouldn't be considered.

Thought, action and freewill are byproducts of the conscience rather than the soul.

So the state that Alice saw Kazira take near the end was similar to a bridge that connected the mind to the body.

Or perhaps the bridge wasn't quite the right way to put it.

A container?

Thinking up to this point, Alice paused and sat up straight.

'Container… Container? Alyss as a foundation… Duplicated memories, Soul appeared later? Spiritual heart, container for power? Connection to the soul...' Alice began to mutter rapidly as Cayla glanced over in a mix of confusion and worry.

She could practically see Alice's mind racing through all of the possibilities.

Each possibility, each potential outcome, she explored and when she reached a dead end, she would explore a new path.

To put it crudely, Alice as an Artificial construct created by Nyer was unbelievable in Cayla's eyes.

The speed of which she learns, adapts and reacts. Far faster than normal humans yet at the centre of it all, despite her talents, she was vulnerable like a human. A duality of talent and nature.

Therefore, Cayla didn't consider Alice as artificial. Rather, her own adventure, her interactions with her surroundings, the people that she met and the life that she has lived made her human.

'Cayla.' Alice opened her mouth as she glanced over.

'I have a new theory regarding Duality and Soul.'

[I'm all ears.]

'Before we talk about the Soul, we need to first understand the foundation of our world. The rules of which power works. The resonance system per say. The strongest and most stable of power structures, keeping each node balanced. The resonance of three Sigils, three parts of threes.

'The God and two Apostles as perfect balance. Three realms of Reality, Void and Abyss. Our world works in three's to keep things balanced. But what if the same goes for the human body, mind and soul?

'The mind that thinks, the body that acts and the soul that endures. Even if you were to forget your sense of self and memories, the soul and body persist and eventually, a new mind takes its place.

'The body weakens and the mind dies, the fundamental system in this world reincarnates them in a new body and mind. But the soul remains. Each 'soul' is the container of individuality that anchors them to this realm.'

Coming up to this point, Alice took a deep breath.

'Now let's talk about my birth. An artificial creation of Nyer. The mind he obtained through Alyss. A duplication of memories, thoughts and emotions. The surroundings to cultivate new memories to avoid the sense of disconnect.

'The body that I 'hijacked' from Alyss that synchronised with the mind. The issue is the soul. Even with the presence of Mind and Body, the lack of a container would cause the two to dissipate. Mind death and body death.'

Hesitating for a moment, Alice pushed on.

'I think my birth was a coincidence. Nyer never thought that I would've been a success. The fact that Alyss wasn't fully erased, her mind and body existed at the same time as me, allowed her to be the temporary container for my 'mind' and 'body'.

'For a period of time, Alyss was the soul I lacked.'