Undead Lord of Gluttonous Pride

"Hahaha! Here it is!" Howrah bellowed, the sound of his scratchy voice bouncing off the wooden walls of the inside of the tree.

Damien moved his attention across the inside. Pale grey roots crawled down the tree-like veins from above before entering the floor. It was dark, and the air felt stale, not like Damien would be affected by it, though.

The two of them manoeuvred through the splinters hanging in the air and shards of wood from the man-made entrance. After passing through the obstacles, they stumbled upon three mystical orbs hanging still in the centre of the hollow room of darkness—all about the size of a basketball or more.

Wrapped around them were thick roots that seemed to be brimming with energy as they stayed attached to the floating orbs that shined with their own colour.

The first orb glowed with a deep, rich red similar to the colour of blood and floated above the other two—they were in a triangular pattern. It gave off a familiar feeling compared to the other two.

The second above the third shined a vibrant yellow with a bit of an orange hint to it, similar to the sun. And gave off a warm and hopeful feeling—like the comforting embrace of a mother, as she silently wishes nothing but fortune for her children.

The third felt the most ominous of all to him. His eyes picked up its dark green appearance as it ate away at the darkness hungrily. Almost as if its very existence was tied to a being that devoured and consumed others.

Inside, it was a dark black swirl that was strangely unaffected by the stillness of the world as it moved around like an energetic child—trying to break free from its containment.

Howrah walked over to them and gazed seriously at them, "Three cores... This is unheard of..." He rubbed his chin in thought. He gave a brief glance back at Damien, who stared intently at them.

"Khoran, were you aware you had three soul cores in your body?" Howrah asked, and Damien shook his head at his question.

"I did not. Assuming that these three are my soul cores, I was only aware of that red one." Damien pointed to the blood-red orb, causing Howrah to stare at it.

His elderly eyes traced the outline of the orb and the others while using his hand to shield away the brightness. He then scrutinised the green one, specifically at the dark swirl inside it that seemed to have a sharp, jagged maw.

"Is that it...?" Howrah mumbled under his breath. His lips curled up into a grin before shooting a quick look back at Damien, who continued to look around like some naive fool, 'Soon...'

***

After a few more minutes of looking around and inspecting Damien's cores, they exited out from it. Howrah, having adapted to the darkness, was then immediately assaulted by the brightness of the sun.

"Ugh..." Howrah groaned, "Although it is nice to see the sun after years, I can't say I miss the feeling of being blinded by it." He gave a small chuckle.

"So what do we do now? You told me you would teach me in utilising my soul energy." Damien asked, tracing his hand over the surface of the tree before looking back at Howrah—who was rubbing his chin.

"Now we start your training as a Circler."

"A circler? Are those what you'd call people who use soul energy."

"Roughly yes."

Howrah hopped over and sat down, cross-legged, on one of the larger exposed roots of the tree. Damien took the same seating position and stared up at Howrah.

"So what is the next step? I am already aware of how to detect it, and why do we need to be in here to do it?"

"To answer your first question, we will be having your soul energy spread throughout your body, and to your second question, being in a place where you're most suited is easier than doing it in a place you're not."

"Is that because my soul cores are here?"

"Yes."

Having roughly understood the purpose of being here, he straightened his back and prepared himself, "How should I go about spreading out my soul energy?"

Howrah tapped at his chin in a pondering manner, "This is a matter of imagination and talent, really. Some people would tilt their soul core like it was a water jug and let it flow out of it, and some would imagine poking holes and letting it drain out."

"How did you do it?"

"Hm? I'm just naturally talented at it, so I don't really need to use visualisation as a crutch."

Howrah puffed out his chest—prideful in his skills. "I was known by many names, boy. The title of talent was given to me as well."

"Known from where?"

Damien rested the side of his face in the palm of his hand as he rested his elbow on his knee. His eyes stared curiously at Howrah, who seemed to get even more joyful at the thought of bragging about himself.

"From the Jila Empire, my boy! The greatest empire, I tell you, better than this one!" He spoke, his voice loud and proud. He was a true patriot of his nation.

"Unlike the Blackmoorian, our empire was double its size! Perhaps even triple if we actually measured! Tsk... I don't even know why everyone considered this barbarian empire an empire. It's too small!"

Howrah continued to blabber about his birthplace and how great it was while getting any single chance he could to bad mouth the Blackmoorians. 'They're not so bad, are they?' Damien thought, pitying them due to how many insults were rapidly exiting his father's mouth.

"But anyway... Let's not dawdle long on this matter as much as I want to continue. Try to figure out a way for you to do it. I'll just be here reminiscing and ready to answer any of your questions."

Damien nodded and began to imagine the core inside his mind. He remembered its blood-red colour and how the soul energy inside it slushed around like water.

He continued to think about its features until the sight of it appeared in his mind, but what else was a thin, red line... Attached to it? 

'What's that?'

Damien focused his attention on the string of red and followed it towards where it originated from. What he saw was a separate red orb wrapped with grey roots—drinking the energy inside it.

After curing his curiosity, he turned back to the one he was focused on and suddenly found that it had disappeared, along with the line.

'What? Where did it go...?' He thought, visibly confused, that was when he, on his own, discovered that..

***

Author Note:

Where do you guys think it went? ;)