Chapter 72 - Reunion (1)

"Child of water he-" Arya couldn't finish his chant as he vomited out blood.

The monster walked closer to him, dragging its long arms on the ground as if trying to savor the moment. "Ahg, ahg, ahg." laughed the beast. It sounded like a mix between a scream and a howl.

"You bastard," replied Arya as he raised his arm out to cast another spell. "Child of water heed my call, bring about a chill to freeze my-" Arya's words were cut off by the sound of claws piercing flesh.

Blood sprayed into the night, and Arya felt his body leave the ground.

His vision seemed to elevate as he was brought to eye level with the monster. Arya was confused as he looked down, he realized that the monster had stabbed him in the stomach, lifting him off his feet. It seemed as if the pain only started once he realized what had happened.

Arya was about to die and he wouldn't even be conscious to witness his end. The monster looked at Arya as if it were making fun of him.

"I-I can't d-die yet," whispered Arya with the last of his strength before he passed out. Arya felt his body become cold. "Is this the end?" thought Arya as his vision darkened.

Arya opened his eyes to find himself in a dark space. "Where am I?" asked Arya as he looked around, wondering if maybe he had been sent to hell.

"This is the second time you've been here and you still don't know where this is? Pathetic, it's your mindscape and you aren't even able to recognise it." said a voice behind Arya.

Arya knew that voice, it was the pessimistic voice that had once plagued his brain. The last time he had spoken to it was during the fight against the dark mage in Calburg, when Arya had almost died due to mana exhaustion.

"Am I dead?" asked Arya, too confused about what was happening to worry about anything else but his survival.

"Calm down. Time here passes way slowly when compared to the outside world." said the dark figure as it stood up from where it was sleeping.

Although Arya had once seen the black figure, he still couldn't get used to it. It looked devilish, almost similar to the beast he had been fighting earlier but it was more humanoid. Last time the white figure gave Arya a sense of security but without it here Arya could feel the dangerous presence that the dark figure emitted.

"Where is the white one?" asked Arya as he started to feel uncomfortable.

"It's just me here for now. We haven't talked in so long and you don't so much as greet me? I'm a bit disappointed." said the dark figure as it let out a wide smile, shooting out white light from its mouth as it did.

"Sorry, in case you hadn't realized I'm about to die right now," said Arya as he took a few steps back, feeling that something was off with the dark figure.

"Don't worry I won't let you die. After all, you're my precious vessel, how would I be able to do anything if you died too early?" said the beast as it turned around and walked into the abyss.

"Wait what do you mean vessel? Where are you going?" shouted Arya as the dark figure disappeared from his vision.

"The time will come when you will understand what I mean. But for now, remember this, it's the second time I'm helping you. One day I will ask you to repay your debt. Oh and Asbeel greets you. Sadly he can't be around right now." said the dark figure, however his voice seemed to be reverberating from the abyss itself.

Arya's eyes opened and he quickly kicked himself off the beast's claws. Arya was surprised that he was still alive, much less able to move like this, before he realized that it wasn't him controlling his body.

The beast was confused by what had just happened. A few seconds ago it had felt the life slowly leaving the human's body, but now it seemed that the human was back to full strength. Something felt off about the human, its presence didn't feel the same as it did before, but the beast didn't care. He would just kill the puny human again.

"Sweet air," said Arya in a deep voice as he inhaled deeply. The voice seemed to emanate from a deep abyss, although it was the human tongue it didn't sound human. Arya's eyes were glowing white and even though there was blood dripping from the deep hole in his stomach, he didn't seem the least bit bothered.

The beast quickly disappeared from where it was standing and appeared behind Arya, faster than it had ever done before and aimed to cut off his head.

Arya simply raised his dagger completely blocking the beasts attack, however Arya's bones broke as he did. The monster was confused by Arya's sudden increase in reaction time. It was certain that the human had been slower just a few seconds ago.

"It seems your body is still too weak Arya. Of course, what could I expect from you." said the deep voice coming from Arya's mouth, before putting the arm back in its original position, healing it instantly.

The beast moved back a few steps, confused by what was happening. Now that it looked carefully it realized that the human's eyes didn't always glow like that.

"Rmh ni venjv ej?" (AN: this is the demonic tongue." said the beast with it's creepy voice.

"Don't you dare speak to me in that pathetic tongue," said Arya as he turned into a blur and struck the monster on its face with a kick.

The sound of Arya's bone shattering could be heard. But his leg quickly snapped back into position and the beast was blown away like it was a rag doll. Arya turned into a blur once again, passing by the monster as it flew back and kneed it into the air before it could recover. The sound of bones breaking was heard once again but the knee quickly fixed itself and Arya launched off into the sky.

As the monster was tossed 10 m into the air, Arya appeared right next to it. He was flying slightly higher than the beast looking down on it as if it weren't even worthy to be prey.

"Who sent you here?" asked Arya looking down on the beast.. When the beast didn't reply Arya interlocked both his hands and hit the beast back to the ground with enough force to cause a crater in the ground.