Becoming A Snake God 11 The Seed Of Madness

'Alright! Ehhh, how do I do that?'

~just go through the body and align yourself to be in the center of the chest. After that, I will deal with the rest.~

Boros listened to what Jav'ilg said and placed himself inside of the body.

Boros found the feeling he got by phasing through the would-be flesh weird, especially since the body was made just from mist-like energy.

Seeing Boros did as he was told, Jav'ilg started speaking some kind of a chant. But it was like nothing Boros has ever heard. The words began reverberating inside of the void. Jav'ilg's voices stopped sounding like those of humans, a deep gurgly abysmal noise replacing them.

While the chanting noise was dominating the void, a dozen of ink-black tendrils began forming around the body. They would be invisible withing the void, had it not been for the lighting provided by Boroses soul half-submerged inside of the body.

The tendrils rocked from side to side as if dancing to the nightmare provoking chant. This kept on until the tune of the chant changed.

From an abysmal deep gurgling voice it s.h.i.+fted into a noise sounding like the incarnation of chaotic madness itself.

Boros's soul could just barely endure the chant from a moment ago but now, it was shuddering, being under a threat of dissipating.

Once the tendrils heard the new tune of chaos, they quickly lashed out at the body, wrapping themselves around every single part of it. Not even a trace of the body could be seen anymore, only a black cac.o.o.n made of dozens of black tendrils was left. Even the light Boros's soul emitted was no longer seen, returning the void to its natural darkness.

Boros waited, trying to endure through Jav'ilg's chant. Getting bound by the tendrils made the chant slightly harder to hear, which Boros counted as a blessing, not knowing that the horror was yet to begin.

After a couple more minutes, the chant stopped.

Boros heaved a sigh of relief, thanking Jav'ilg in his mind for finally stopping.

~Kid, now that the preparations are set we can begin. This body, even though it looks strong, is going to be weak at the beginning. It will be your task to make it stronger. The energy used to create it is the weakest energy I could muster, but eldritch energy is nothing to scoff at. Even by using the weakest form of energy and by having a bit of my essence inside you, you have just around 20% of successfully fusing with it. The body by itself was made to perfectly isolate the eldritch energy from radiating outside, but no such feature exists to protect the soul inside of the body. Well, I will give you a proper instructions manual if you don't disperse into the void. ~

The moment Jav'ilg finished his speech, Boros was about to protest against doing something that has such a low success rate, but the tendrils were faster to react.

All of the tendrils started squeezing the body, making it want to escape through the gaps between the tendrils. It would have looked like clay being squeezed by a hand, but there were no gaps through which the body's "clay" could slip through.

'ARGHHHHHHHHH!'

Boros screamed from the depth of his soul. The body wasn't the only thing being squeezed, Boros himself was also being affected by the squeezing force of these powerful black tendrils. Boros's soul strangely, felt like it was being spread out inside of the body, while the body itself was beginning to lose size.

Boros couldn't realize this as he had no point of reference but that body was roughly a hundred meters tall at the beginning of the process.

But as minutes pa.s.sed, and the pressure kept getting greater and greater. The body turned from being only half solid to finally becoming a fully solid body made of flesh and blood.

Boros screamed through the whole process. Feeling his soul repeatedly stretched out to fully encompa.s.s the body, and then getting crushed along with the body, to make the body and the soul inside it completely fuse into a single ent.i.ty.

A few moments after the tendrils stopped with their mission, Boros felt a sense of relief. Currently, his soul was shaped to be a picture-perfect copy of the body, but when the tendrils withdrew, dissipating back into the void, Jav'ilg spoke.

~don't move, if you move even the tiniest bit I will have to repeat the whole process. ~

Hearing that, Boros felt a chill run down his spine. He froze in place, trying his best not to tremble from the leftover pain pulsating in his soul.

While Boros floated in the void motionlessly an appearance of an object made Boros almost flinch.

A giant eye, radiating a violet color appeared out of nowhere, just opening in the fabric of the void.

~I didn't think you would actually pull through that, there was like a 97% chance of failing.~

97%?!

Didn't he say it was a 20% success rate?

Boros didn't dare move his mouth to say anything, afraid of going through the tendril h.e.l.l again. But instead, he stared disapprovingly into the eye.

~Hey, don't look at me like that, I was just about to tell you that I have a gift for you.~

A gift?

Boros's gaze quickly changed from the one of disapproval to the one of expectancy.

Jav'ilg looked at Boros, his eye looking with amus.e.m.e.nt.

A terrorizing laugh could be heard for a single moment before it stopped and only an echo remained.

Once the silence returned to the void, Jav'ilg began talking.

~What I am about to do will open a whole new dimension of possibilities for you. The bit of essence I planted into you surprisingly fused with little to no effort. It seems that your soul is naturally receptive to eldritch powers.~

Boros listened on, feeling a little proud of his own awesomeness.

~My gift to you is a choice. You can choose to keep your mana core. It is what allows the magic-related creatures to use mana to perform magic. The core itself looks just like a crystal rock, but what it does is to allow the formation of a mana pool within the soul. The mana pool is essential for casting magic.~

Upon mentioning the mana core, a tendril appeared next to Jav'ilg's eye. A prismatic colored crystal-like sphere floating above the tendril.

~Or... I can destroy your mana core, and in its place put a Seed of Madness. Like how mana core works with mana, the seed of madness works with eldritch energy. Don't get it wrong, both options have their pros and cons. But with the seed of madness, you will begin walking the path of becoming an eldritch ent.i.ty, just like myself and my kin. I won't tell you more than that, there is a lot to be said about both options, but how they are used is the most important factor, and that would depend on yourself.~

When the seed of madness was mentioned, another tendril appeared on the opposite side of Jav'ilg's eye. Above it floated a ball of black ma.s.s. The ma.s.s s.h.i.+fted, occasionally tendrils, eyes, mouths and other appendages could be seen forming on the edges of the sphere-like ma.s.s.~

Boros looked first at the mana core and then at the seed of madness. Out of nowhere, Boros was put into a position where he must make a choice that would dictate the rest of his life.

Jav'ilg once more interrupted Boros, adding more warning. The importance of this decision could clearly be seen by all of Jav'ilg's warnings. The pressure on Boros just became greater. Even though he was just a moment ago literally squeezed to the core, this new pressure gave him a headache not much worse than the earlier torture.

~Before you choose, I must warn you. The amount of use you get from either of these two depends completely on how much you develop them. There is no such thing as becoming the strongest overnight. If one does try to create power out of nothing, he will just pay a price with something else.~

Boros kept thinking...

If I choose a mana core I will be able to do magic that I have seen in all those role-playing games. But if I choose the seed of madness, no matter how ominous it sounds, I will be able to do things that I have never even though possible.

This choice is such a torture!

I would hate to lose out on either one. Carla told me that mages if they are hardworking and are talented enough, can become sorcerers. They become G.o.d-like with their magic, performing miracles as they see fit.

Hmmm...

~you have one more minute to decide, and then I will be forced to choose for you. Your soul and your new body will get out of sync again if too much time pa.s.ses. ~

What?!

He just did one of those "no pressure, but you have no more time" on me!

What to choose, what to choose!?

~30 seconds. ~

Aaaaaaaarh!

~Just make a quick grunting noise while looking at your choice. ~

Boros looked between his two choices, panic-stricken gaze looking from left to right, having no time to more deeply think about it.

~10...9...8...~

Hearing the countdown Boros did a silent grunt out of frustration, audible only to himself, while manically switching his sight between the two options. Stopping only to look at the eye as Jav'ilg began talking.

~...3. *sigh* I am taking that as your answer.~

He heard that?!

The tendril holding one of the options disappeared while another one came closer, stopping right before reaching Boros's forehead.

~This will sting... A lot.~

A trace of fear decorating his eyes, Boros thought to himself. I would have probably chosen it, in the end, either way.

A sphere-like object began floating closer to Boros's forehead until it touched his skin, temporarily stopping.

Feeling the sensation of the object on his skin, Boros felt a p.r.i.c.kly pain, as if a low current of electricity was emitting from the object.

This is not so bad...

~Let us begin then, shall we?~

He baited me again!

'Aaaaaaaaargh!!!'

A pain, as if his soul was a mirror being shattered. A dark ball of morphing ma.s.s began submerging itself into Boros's head.

Boros could not hold back his screams, the feeling that the seed of madness created while burrowing itself into his body and soul at the same time made Boros wish he was once again strangled by the tendrils. Because of the pain from before now feels like a comfortable ma.s.sage.

The biggest difference from the pain Boros has felt before was that this time he could feel pain from his soul, his new body, and his snake body all at the same time.

The agonized wailing filled the void. The destruction of his existing mana core and the implantation of the seed of madness into his three forms made Boros wish for a sweet release of death. The pain made him want to do the ultimate taboo and end his whole life.

But, as if knowing that the pain might be too great, Jav'ilg's eye locked gaze with his, showing him a picture of a girl.

Carla. Her body, standing frozen outside of the void, a look of distress from wanting to go and help him.

Carla...

Boros never saw what Carla looked like, but just from seeing her now, he could tell that it was her. Their connection was strong enough to not break even when one of them was taken to the void. Compared to that, recognizing her was like a walk in the park, it came naturally to Boros.

She looks so fragile...

Seeing that Carla looked even more gentle and cute than he had originally thought, another pain started adding onto the original suffering he was going through. His heart felt like it was melting for making her go to the void with him, and not being able to protect her, both in and outside of the void. He felt helpless and undeserving of her. She was childish and sometimes talked much more than necessary, but she was also kind and gentle. Not everyone would just go out of their way to help someone out when they need it the most.

Boros's mind was being a.s.saulted by the agonizing pain, while the moments of talking he had with Carla played out in his head.

Before long, the pain started losing its intensity, until just a residual pain was left.

~You keep surprising me more and more. This is my first time implanting the seed into someone, and it was into a mortal at that. You must really have a strong feeling for that girl, to endure this by thinking about her. Makes me almost feel bad about the method I am using on her. ~

Boros could not make out the last sentence Jav'ilg said, as his mind drifted into a deep slumber.

~Such a fascinating phenomenon. We didn't have those "soul mates" in my time... All this time alone in the void made me too accepting of the mortal way of thinking. I actually don't dislike it that much... I will need to work on something for the future. ~

'Carla...'

Jav'ilg's train of thought was severed by Boros's sleep talking. Boros looked like he was having a dream in which he is working hard in order to protect the girl he loves.

~Speaking of her... I should break the illusion. Hmmm, I have an idea. Girl, this is me repaying you for the energy you provided.~

Jav'ilg's eye disappeared back into the void, leaving only Boros's body floating in the endless void. Ink black symbol decorating his forehead where the seed of madness entered to fuse with his body and soul.

Not even a second after the eye returned to the void, as if teleported, a s.h.i.+ning ball of light appeared not far from the sleeping Boros.

Jav'ilg saw in more dimension than a mortal. It allowed him to see the soul, which takes the form of a s.h.i.+ny flame-like an orb, as its humanoid form.

Jav'ilg watched as Carla got closer to Boros, ultimately falling to temptation and kissing him in her soul form.

Marvelous, she recognized him, even though subconsciously. Anyway, it is time to take you two lovebirds back to your world.

Finis.h.i.+ng this though, thousands upon thousands of eyes opened, looking upon Carla and Boros. Before Carla even had time to react, the body of a young man and the soul of a young woman disappeared. The void returned once again to its serene nothingness.