The Astral soul system-Chapter 213: Clarity

Zen’s eyes opened.

Dawn

He suddenly felt a weird lump in his bed and looking under the blankets he saw a familiar girl with green skin curled up in his sheets

"Hmm?"

Without opening her eyes she sighed

"I wanted to see if this body was similar to my old one. Back then i didn’t need to sleep but I could if I wished. "

"And?"

"I’m not sure"

Zen wasn’t sure how that worked so her just slowly got out of bed, leaving her to whatever it was she was doing.

Moving to bathroom, he opened the sink, letting water run for a second before cupping leaning down to splash some in his face.

He looked up into the mirror and suddenly stepped back, turning to look behind him. Before he could even turn completely, he froze,eyes locked on her,her pale finger on his gem of his choker.

He quickly snapped out of it before raising his hand to fire at her but in the time it’d taken for him to blink she’d vanished.

Theia sighed.

"I’m getting more and more worried about you"

"..."

"Usually when it comes to seeing things that humans can’t see i can probably see them better than you, but whenever this girl shows up she just... isn’t there"

Zen dropped his hand, sighing. He looked at the running water and splashed some more on his face.

"Who is she?"

"..."

"Zen..."

"I’m not going crazy"

"I..."

"I already lost my mind,way before you showed up"

"I didn’t mean -"

"Seeing and hearing things that aren’t there... Our real name isn’t even -"

He suddenly stopped and turned around suspiciously but no one was there

"Max?"

He heard a sigh as Maximilian revealed his face.

"You could’ve listened in from the other side of the room"

"I thought I’d feel less like a creep if I was closer"

"..."

"Terrible logic,I know "

Zen didn’t reply and just turned around to look at the mirror again.

"I’ll be done soon. You can use it if you need to "

"No need. You do remember our deal right?"

Zen thought for a second

Partners. Help each other in the academy and out.

Not to mention the quest to protect him

"Yes"

"Well right now it feels like I’m obligated to do something "

"... What do you want?"

"Hmm?"

"You’re smart, maybe smarter than me. So i doubt you approached me just because you wanted a friend

Maximilian froze for a little.

"So what you’re saying is intelligence equals a lack of empathy"

"Quite often"

Maximilian sighed

"Alright, let’s make three things clear"

"..."

"First of all, I don’t know why I approached you. You’re special, but not really special enough to cause me to ignore my cover. Maybe i was curious? Maybe it was something else, I’m not sure, but I did"

"..."

"Secondly. I kinda...get you."

"..."

"I know what it’s like to live by two names,or in your case three . It’s not exactly the same as what you’re dealing with but my life isn’t by any means easy,so I think I understand how difficult yours might be"

"And the third?"

"I keep my promises. I’ll keep your secrets if you keep mine"

"You mean like how someone in your family wants you dead?"

"I figured you’d have noticed. The alien attack, they had something to do with it, and I’m not sure but I suspect the portal incident too"

Zephyr had been responsible for the portal incident but he didn’t correct him

"So you see you’re not the only one. Every second I spend here puts everyone in danger, including you"

"I’m not scared of your family "

"That’s why i want your help. I know you have no reason to help me, but -"

"You have it"

Zen said bluntly

"I...see"

Zen finally turned around.

"But we have to make this official"

"How?"

Zen raised his hand to shake Maximilian

"Our original deal"

Maximilian didn’t understand. Why did they need to shake over their old deal. But Zen didn’t do things unless he was serious so he didn’t question it. He was originally planning on keeping his word anyway.

"Alright then. It’s a deal-"

"Hey! If you guys are done pretending we don’t exist can we get in on this or is it invite only?"

Seemed like Neo and Xavier were awake.

"How long have you-"

"Oh, somewhere around I’m not scared of your family "

Maximilian sighed

"I already knew you were getting attacked by some dudes but your own family? That’s cold"

He turned to look at Xavier.

"I’m guessing there’s some weird drama with yours too"

Xavier nodded with a wry smile.

Neo shrugged.

"I’ve pissed off my fair share of asshole rich pricks, and maybe a drug lord or a gang boss or two...hundred. So...looks like literally every single one of us is screwed in one way or the other "

Maximilian sighed, wondering if it was too late to make better friends

"The point is. We’ve got your back and you’ve got ours"

Zen thought for a second. He had no issue helping them with their respective problems. More challenges meant more exp, and more exp meant more power. Plus he was already planning on helping Maximilian. He might as well add the others to the list.

"You all mean that?"

Zen asked.

Their answers were all positives...or at least had positive intentions.

"Then you wouldn’t mind backing it up?"

They all looked at him with confused looks.

"Think of it as insurance. Nothing major"

"So what I’m getting is you don’t trust us-"

"No, honestly I prefer it that way"

Maximilian said, looking deep in thought.

"What do we need to do?"

Zen looked at Theia. This was the first time he’d attempted to use it on more than one person

"It’s basically the same. Though it might be a bit difficult to do with five at once"

Zen and Maximilian walked into the room again and all of them huddled up in the center.

"Stretch out your hands"

They all did without much complaint.

Over to the side Sylphie was watching everything curiously. She seemed to have given up on her experiment

Zen activated the soul contract skill and let it do it’s work.

The first condition was some form of physical contact. The second was willingness of all sides included

Zen’s hand suddenly lit up in a dark smokeless ember that didn’t burn his clothes or skin.

"Touch my hand with yours"

Maximilian didn’t hesitate, Xavier was second, and although Neo looked a bit weirded out,he already knew Zen had some weird abilities and didn’t question it .

As soon as their hands got close enough a black chain made of flames suddenly wrapped around their hands, binding them together.

Zen didn’t need to do anything else at this point and the contract placed itself into each of their minds, loud and clear for them to hear.

It was simple They would protect and help each other whenever one of them needed it if possible,they would keep each other’s secrets unless given permission to divulge,and they were unable to betray each other.

They all quickly agreed and immediately felt a chill go down their spines as the flame disappeared and they felt their hands become unbound.

"Is...that it?"

"Yes"

Zen said

Neo sighed and sat on the ground.

"Great, now that we know we’re not gonna stab each other in the backs, what’s going on with you?"

"I don’t know"

"Oh come on! seriously?"

Zen shrugged.

"All I know is i blacked out after the fight and when I woke up I was cursed. Weak"

Neo blew a disappointed raspberry

"Disappointing,man"

Zen looked at Maximilian.

"Why is someone in your family trying to kill you?"

Max shrugged as well

"I don’t know "

He sighed, sitting down as well

"It can’t be for a position since I’m not even the eldest of my siblings,or the strongest. I’m not in line for anything major. "

Zen looked at Xavier but he shrugged as well

"No one’s tried anything on me but something weird is going on in my family. I went exploring in a forbidden area a while back and saw this creepy altar in an even creepier secret room. I left quickly but the thing is ever since that day someone’s been watching me in my family’s home. I never see them but I can tell, just out of view someone’s been looking at me. Luckily it stopped once I got to the academy."

Neo grunted.

"Damn,am I the only one with normal problems here? I’m just on the run from some guys i pisses off and stole money from"

"It’s funny but...that room...sort of felt off... like it was alive. It sort of reminded me of a -"

"Dungeon "

Maximilian finished, sounding suprised

Now Zen was the one out of the loop. What in the world is going on?

Maximilian suddenly remembered something.

"Hey guys, remember that dungeon we went to on that weird black portal planet"

"Yeah,I can’t stop thinking about it"

Zen and Neo exchanged glances. They hadn’t noticed anything wrong with the dungeon.

"What was wrong with it?"

"It spoke"

"What?!"

Neo said, straightening up

"The building spoke?"

Xavier nodded, completely serious

"It even knew our names,it knew us, and promised to keep us safe"

"What else did it say?"

Xavier and Maximilian exchanged looks before answering Zen

"It told us to kill you?"