The Astral soul system-Chapter 96: Zephyr

Zen suddenly opened his eyes and hurriedly tried to get up. He looked around and saw he was back in his dorm.

"Wow, you’re up early. That’s new"

Zen looked at where the voice came from and saw Neo already fully dressed.

"Looks like you were really tired. You didn’t even take off your clothes."

Zen looked at his clothes and realized he was right.

"Hurry and go freshen up."

Zen nodded and walked into the bathroom. He quickly stripped, nonchalantly dropping his clothes somewhere before standing under the shower and just letting it run.

"Freya?"

"Good morning Hun. Feeling okay?" Freya greeted him warmly

"I’m here too by the way. Thanks for asking " Lilith said,her voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Theia "

"I’m here" she said appearing before him.

"Did all that..."

Theia nodded

"Then is that guy still-"

"What the fuck have you done you moron! He’s going to hunt us both down the moment he gets the chance "

Zen was a bit surprised this voice had followed him back and asked.

"What are you doing here? What are you talking about?"

"My brother you dipshit!"

Theia yelled, interrupting him.

"That has nothing to do with us, we’re not the ones who trapped him there. Maybe you should treat your family better "

"He was going to conquer my world! I had no choice. And he’ll do the same thing now if no one stops him since your friend here gave him a way out. Although it’ll take time, he’ll escape through that hole you made in my barrier"

Theia was clearly miffed at this guy and answered him angrily.

"Well good luck then. Don’t let us stop you,as soon as you unbind from my host,you can be on your merry way to save the world "

"I don’t have a body,I need your help. You’re a human too, right? And a very talented one from what I can see. There’s no way you’d just idly watch as someone takes over your home "

Zen ignored the voice and started washing his hair. He wasn’t interested.

"Listen to me,kid! You’re skilled, very skilled. I don’t know what power you used to break out but you can definitely use it against him. He’ll be weak, and you’ll have me to train you"

Theia scoffed.

"Who exactly are you?"

This time it was the voice’s turn to be flabbergasted.

"You so shamelessly use my power yet you have no idea who I am?"

Theia paused for a moment as she heard that, but Zen just kept washing, allowing them to figure things out.

"You’re the child monarch? The king of the dark kingdom? The new god of darkness? The theater kid?"

"Yes I.....theater kid?"

The voice originally sounded smug and was about to introduce himself when he suddenly realized what she said last.

Theia brushed off the question.

"You’re the last user of the darkness ability that’s currently being used by my host?"

The voice scoffed.

"Dark ability? The boy has more than just that,he has my essence. My divine shadow As for how or why? You tell me "

Thiea rolled her eyes.

"So what? In the end you’re still trapped in my host’s body. Once he becomes strong enough he’ll just take your power forcefully and then your throne before getting rid of you permanently,just like you did the previous god"

"And you’re sure your host can become that powerful?" The dark god asked like he was genuinely curious

Theia nodded smugly.

"Ten thousand percent "

"Good. Then you’ll be powerful enough to help me"

Theia was flabbergasted. Did this old man not hear a word she said?

"I said -"

"I know what you said . Listen to me kid. I don’t know who you are, but I know you can help me stop him. At heart,no one wants their home to be destroyed and taken over by a tyrant. I’ll teach you how to use my power, every single aspect of my skills are yours, including my godhood. Just defeat him.

"Not interested" Zen finally spoke

"Eh? What do you mean? Not only will you be protecting humanity, you’ll attain godhood after it. What are you not interested in?"

Theia was a little shaken but she hurriedly took Zen’s side.

"He said he isn’t interested. If you were looking for some hero who’d throw his life away for some ungrateful humans, you came to the wrong place. Besides, you want HIM to fight world domination? Do you even know who you’re talking to?"

"No,i must admit i don’t. Who exactly are you?"

"He is Zen Hollow, and we aren’t interested. That’s all you need to know"

The dark god groaned.

"No need. He’s already seen your face. He’ll come for you so there’s no way you won’t fight him, I might as well help you so you don’t die immediately. Hmmm.... what’s this?"

[Warning, unknown entity has detected the system]

"Theia suddenly started panicking.

"What are you doing? Get out of there!"

"Relax. You’ll thank me later. Hmmm, well this is interesting. It’s not only monitoring but steadily increasing your strength. Although I’m new to this....i think if i just...."

[Unknown entity has accessed system]

[Binding has begun]

Zen didn’t panic and asked Theia.

"Is there a way to get rid of him?"

Theia shook her head.

"Hey you! Stop that! You’re gonna regret this "

The voice ignored them.

"Stop that! You can’t just show up,get us tangled in your drama and expect us to fight for you"

"Actually I can. Your friend is using my power,my blessing,my mark. You’re quite literally obligated to obey me. Just be grateful I’m adding a few perks"

"Grateful my ass! You’re hacking my system!"

Zen calmly spoke up.

"Who exactly are you?"

"I already told you. I’m -"

"No. Your name."

"My name? I thought you’d know. Seems like my complete legacy didn’t survive. Fine, you may call me Black, that’s what I was called after my ascension anyway"

"...."

"...."

Zen looked at his wrist. This was some crazy coincidence.

"Is something wrong?’

"I already know someone named Black "

"... Well I guess there’s no problem with giving you my birth name. It’s Zephyr. Zephyr Black. Pleasure to meet you "

At this point, Zen had finished his shower and was putting on his clothes.

"So how long will you be staying?" Theia took over again.

"For as long as necessary. You’ve got a lot to learn "

Zen was about to leave the bathroom when he heard Freya’s concerned voice.

"Um... sweetie? Who are you talking to?"

Zen was suprised. It looks like Lilith and Freya couldn’t hear Zephyr.

Zen explained what was going on and Freya was particularly upset while Lilith was focused on the important stuff

"First Black and now this guy? That’s no fair."

"The god of darkness you say? Interesting "

Zen walked out of the bathroom, his hair still slightly wet, but fully clothed.

"You handled that well"

Theia brushed him off.

"Don’t mention it. It’s basically my job, remember? I’m your lucky system AI assistant, and as a bonus your soul secretary as well. I help you deal with all things soul related. That’s why we’re linked after all"

"Linked?"

"Did i forget to mention that? Freya and Lilith are linked to your soul through the system, Zephyr is directly linked to your soul, and Black is linked to your cerebral cortex. That’s why they all can’t communicate with each other normally " 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

"What about you?"

"I’m linked to both the system and your soul. This way I feel what you’re feeling and make decisions on your behalf. Plus i can communicate to Zephyr and your souls. Pretty cool, right?"

"Right "

He looked at the couch and saw Neo eating with some food laid out on the table.

"Oh, you’re out. I didn’t feel like going to the cafeteria so i thought I’d order something now that we can afford it. The one on the table is yours"

Zen took a seat and opened the meal. The tantalizing aroma immediately entered his nose, enticing him. He immediately dug in , wolfing it down. Neo chuckled as they ate together in silence.

After a few minutes they were done with the meal and were just sitting there.

A call suddenly came in on Neo’s watch as it started flashing. Neo checed and realized it was a group call from Maximilian and Xavier.

He picked up and two holographic screens appeared with Xavier and Maximilian on each of them.

"Neo! Is Zen there?"

Neo didn’t answer and adjusted his wrist so Zen would be visible.

"Cool. Have you guys seen?"

Neo was confused by Maximilian’s question.

"Seen what?"

Xavier brought up a screen. It was a discussion thread. Strangely, it was about them.

Neo’s eyes almost popped out of his head when he read it.

<The first new abilities in the past few centuries>

<Who else rewatched the demonstration like a thousand times?>

<What the hell are those abilities even supposed to be?>

<What I’m more worried about is how to classify these abilities. The one that uses darkness looks like an elemental ability, but the other one looks more like a unique class>

<That’s what you’re worried about???!!! One of them can instantly give you nightmares and seizures,and the other can dismember you by pointing at you>

<They’re kind of hot though. Especially the moody one with black hair. What was his name again?>

<I like the other one better. His eyes are so beautiful. Plus,at least he smiles, the other guy just stands there>

<If you want to talk about beautiful eyes, you’re talking about the wrong person. Have you seen the dark ones right eye. I felt tingles every time I saw it>

<How in the world are you all fawning over these guys if you don’t even know their names. Their Neo and Zen for crying out loud>

<I don’t need to know his name,love will always find a way>

<Love?>

<I feel like we’ve gone off topic>

Neo stared blankly at the thread that had thousands of entries and was getting more right now.

"Wow.... I’m.."

Maximilian chuckled

"Speechless?"

Neo nodded

"Get used to it"

"Does this happen to you guys too?"

Xavier scratched the back of his head.

"More or less"

Neo left the thread and opened a new one. Yes, there was more than one.

He was honestly more suprised by the amount of.... he didn’t even know what to call them.

<Please notice me Zen>

<Neo king, huh? Time to become a queen "

"You don’t have a last name, Zen? You can take mine. Just marry me, it’s that simple "

"You can take me my king!"

"I didn’t like my last name much to begin with "

"I’m you guys’ biggest fan"

Neo looked at Zen to see how he was dealing with it, but if anything, Zen seemed bored with the countless threads.

Neo calmed himself and thought.

"He’s right. What the hell am I getting affected for? The same people that treated me like shit when I was weak."

Neo wasn’t dumb, he was handsome,he knew it. He’d even been mistaken for some kind of playboy on multiple occasions, but he knew that all that meant nothing in the grand scheme of things. In the end, power was all that mattered.

Neo snorted and closed the thread, uninterested with anything that had to do with his fake fame.

"So what do you guys think about being famous?"

Neo shrugged and Zen didn’t reply.

"Yeah. It’s like that"

Maximilian answered, knowing what was going through their heads.

Zen suddenly stood up and headed for the door.

"Thanks for the breakfast. I’ve got something to take care of"