Cambrian
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The Soul Engine Ch. 4 (Original Fantasy)
🕑 Added 2023-08-31 22:00:03 +0000 UTCA/N: Here we are with Chapter 4, in which Mikael is finally back on his feet... but with some unwanted guests to deal with.
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They’re thugs. That’s the first thing that runs through Mikael’s mind as the three men force their way into the small, increasingly cramped basement. The first thing that runs through BOTH sides of his fractured psyche, as a matter of fact. Not only do they come across as thugs to Mikael himself, but even the foreign memories taking up unlawful residence in his head are in agreement.
Fuck, the first fucker, the one taking the lead while the other two have his back, is even some bald bastard with a shit-eating grin on his ugly mug as he glares daggers at the young woman who it would seem brought Mikael back to life.
“Avina. Nowhere left to run, girlie.”
Stiffening, her hands clenched into fists at her sides, the now named ‘Avina’ hisses angrily.
“Who’s running, Tak? Were you calling for me or something? Sorry, I didn’t hear you. I was in a hurry to get back to my work. Important work sanctioned by YOUR boss; I might remind you. What gives you the right to come rushing in here, damaging my door, huh?!”
She’s not a very good liar, Mikael notes. If even HIS bullshit detector is going off at that bit of word vomit, he can only imagine that this ‘Tak’ fellow is less than convinced. And indeed, as expected, the bald fucker snorts derisively and crosses his arms over his chest, sneering at the young woman now.
“My boss might have sanctioned your little projects, girl… but only so long as he continues to get paid. Lord Zadicus wants his money, Avina. Time to pay up.”
Just from the grimace on Avina’s face, it’s obvious that the pale woman doesn’t have what he wants. Of course, she confirms it outright with her next words.
“I don’t have his money right now, Tak. But I also have until the end of the week to pay. So you can fuck right off and come back then. Or else I’ll tell Lord Zadicus you’ve been double dipping!”
Her bravado is impressive if nothing else. But it doesn’t seem to be working on the head thug. He’s not remotely intimidated by Avina’s attempts at getting him to back off. In fact… he barely pays her words any mind, because he’s finally recognized that Mikael is in the room. The bald bastard’s eyes meet Mikael’s for a moment and then slide downwards, to his exposed chest.
At which point, Tak proves to be a lot smarter than Mikael had initially gave him credit for, because when he sees whatever the fuck it is that Avina has replaced Mikael’s heart with, his eyes light up in recognition.
“You’ve done it then. You’ve completed your project.”
Tak sounds amazed. Then again, Mikael supposes it IS pretty amazing. He might be relatively new to this world, but his memories aren’t. And while magic IS real, true resurrection magic is still the stuff of legends if the foreign half of his brain isn’t fucking with him. The fragmented minds of the men shoved into his head have seen more than enough death in their times. They would know if something like bringing someone back to life was at all normal, or even remotely possible.
“What? Completed? Don’t be stupid, Tak. He’s a prototype, nothing more. He won’t even last the night.”
Wait, what? Mikael shakes his head, trying to pull out of the jumbled mess that is his mind. He can’t help but feel VERY alarmed over Avina’s sudden dismissiveness regarding his chances of survival. He’d just got done thinking she wasn’t a very good liar too… but there’d been a ring of truth to her words and the tone she’d taken. So either she’d calmed down enough to be able to pass off a fib… or she was telling the truth and he wouldn’t actually last the night.
Needless to say, he doesn’t like that second option. He doesn’t like it one bit. But more than that, he just wants to know what the fuck is going on. Who the fuck is Avina even supposed to be? Some sort of mad scientist? Who is Tak and this Lord Zadicus fellow? He’d misjudged the bald man’s intelligence once already, so maybe he was misjudging him altogether? Maybe he wasn’t the bad guy here… maybe Avina was?
Groaning, Mikael brings a hand to the side of his head, trying desperately to get his thoughts in order. That proves to be entirely impossible of course, but if nothing else… if Avina is telling the truth and he’s not going to last the night, it’s possible this Tak fellow and his boss are Mikael’s only chance of survival. He needed… he needed more information.
“Would someone… please tell me what’s going on. Fuck, my head… I just… I don’t understand.”
He’s hoping to appeal to their basic human decency, but aside from giving him a curious gaze, Tak doesn’t respond. And the two men with Tak are as silent as the grave. Avina, meanwhile, gestures to him.
“See what I mean? Sure, he’s talking… but he’s not really all there, you know? He’s a proof of concept. Not the final product.”
There’s a heartbeat of silence, with Mikael staring around the room pleadingly, just looking for answers. But Avina won’t meet his eyes and when he finally looks to Tak… the bald man’s ugly mug contorts into another nasty grin as he lets out a bark of laughter.
“Well then… if that’s the case, we’ll just take your ‘proof of concept’ here to the arena and make some use of him there. And maybe, if he does a half-decent job before keeling over, Lord Zadicus will see fit to forgive your next payment.”
Mikael jolts back at that, every fiber of his being rebelling at the thought of ever stepping foot in an arena ever again. His mind fills with memories of his death at the end of the Dame’s sword. His chest suddenly hurts like nothing else, throbbing with pain even though the spot where she stabbed him has been completely excavated out and replaced with Avina’s device.
The pain is a phantom sort of pain, making him stumble and take a step back, catching himself with one hand on the table filled with all of those ghastly, blood-covered surgical tools.
“What?! No! You can’t! He’s not… he’s not even fighting fit! B-Besides… he might not be the final product, but he’s still a very valuable prototype! I need to run tests and collect as much valuable information from him before he expires as possible! Throwing him into one of those damn pits is just a waste!”
Tak’s smile drops and he scowls at the dark-haired woman.
“I decide what is a waste and what isn’t, girl. You can come along and conduct your damn tests from the sidelines. You and I both know Lord Zadicus has never cared about whether the combatants in the pits are fighting fit before.”
Mikael was starting to get a sinking suspicion about just who this ‘Lord Zadicus’ fellow really was. Of course, he could still be wrong… but two things were certain. Tak wasn’t taking ‘no’ for an answer… and Mikael wasn’t going back to the arena. He refused.
“Please! It’s embarrassing! I already told you, he’s a proof of concept. He’s not something that anyone, including Zadicus, is ever supposed to see! Give me some more time and I’ll have something you can throw into the arena by next week. But not him. He’s unfinished! He’s-!”
SMACK!
Mikael blinks as the bald thug rapidly crosses the distance between him and Avina and backhands her across the face, cutting off her frantic pleading. Honestly, he’d gotten so caught up in what she was saying that he’d let himself be distracted from the threats in the room. She sounded… shockingly desperate. She’d been outright begging for Tak to leave them alone.
Was he really nothing more than a prototype doomed to die by the end of the night like she’d said? Or was there something more to it?
“Shut up. You’ve had more than enough time to deliver results, bitch. And this is all you have to show for it? Some unfinished prototype? A proof of concept? Lord Zadicus is growing tired of your excuses, girl. Keep fucking around and you’re going to find out rather soon just how limited his patience really is. Boys! Grab the fucking zombie. He’s going to the pits.”
Mikael stiffens up, even as Thug Two and Thug Three move forward. Now that they’re in front of him rather than behind their leader, he can see why Tak is in charge of doing all the talking. He might be an ugly bastard, but they’re both even uglier. More than that though, they’re going to take him back to the arena. They’re going to throw him back out onto that sand.
The phantom pain in Mikael’s chest grows stronger, and for a moment he stands there frozen, hand back against the table behind him as the two thugs reach for him. Then, faster than even he can register… his arm swings around, the hacksaw suddenly in his clutches coming down in an overhead strike that causes it to carve straight through the forehead of Thug Two.
Mikael’s eyes widen in surprise, even as Thug Two lets out a gurgle and dies on the spot. Thug Three pauses for a moment as he and Mikael observe each other in the short tableau of silence that follows. Then…
Releasing the hacksaw now stuck in Thug Two’s skull, Mikael lets out a bellow and rushes Thug Three with his arms outstretched for a bear hug. This proves to not be the BEST move that he could have made, because Thug Three snarls and reacts rather quickly, pulling out a knife and stabbing Mikael directly into the gut as he comes rushing in.
Except… he barely even feels it. And before he can properly register the pain or the injury, he finds himself reaching down, tearing the knife out of his stomach by the handle, and jamming it straight into Thug Three’s eye and further on into the man’s brain, killing him instantly.
“What the fuck?!”
Mikael rips the dagger back out, causing the second of Tak’s thugs to fall dead to the ground, rendered into little more than a corpse in a matter of seconds. In response, Tak pulls away from Avina and reaches down to his side, where Mikael belatedly realizes that he has a sword sheathed. The bald fucker draws the sword and grits his teeth, holding it up between them as he looks to his dead comrades and then back at Mikael.
“The fuck have you done, Avina? What sort of abomination have you created?!”
Ignoring Tak’s words, Avina looks at Mikael with an imploring gaze as she calls out to him.
“The bodies! Focus on the bodies!”
Admittedly, Mikael has certainly had better days. While this is still better than having his heart carved out by a knight in golden armor, the gut wound is finally catching up to him and it’s really, REALLY starting to hurt. Likewise, he’s suddenly feeling exhausted again. Not quite as exhausted as he was feeling before the rat, but definitely far less powerful than he felt right after it. He’s shaking, he realizes… even as Avina’s words finally permeate through the haze that’s settled over his mind.
His eyes slide down to the bodies that he’s just created. The men he’s just killed. Absently, Mikael notes that these are the first two murders he’s ACTUALLY committed. Self-defense, sure… but he still butchered them both. Unlike all of the other memories of slaughter and bloodshed swimming through his head, these two men died by his actual hands, not the hands of someone else.
He focuses on their bodies, just as Avina said… and just as he did with the rat. The only difference there was, the rat was still alive. So there was an ever so slight bit of resistance. With these two? No resistance at all. Teal energy rushes out of their bodies and into Mikael’s chest without delay, flowing up into the device that’s replaced his heart damn near immediately.
Mikael feels the effects damn near immediately as well. Renewed strength beyond his wildest imagination flows through his body, coursing through his veins. More even than what he got from the rat. The teal glow coming off of the device in his chest explodes outwards as well, bathing the entire basement in its light now, illuminating every corner of the small, cramped space.
As the basement is awash in teal, Tak’s eyes widen at the display. The bald thug loses his nerve a moment later and turns to run, having smartly put the open basement door right behind him when he’d moved away from Avina and drawn his sword. Unfortunately, as clever as Tak is, it’s not enough. Mikael is on him before he can get more than a step.
One hand spreads out, his fingers sliding over Tak’s bald scalp and gripping down harshly in a way that jerks the sword-wielding thug to a stop. The other hand holds his friend’s dagger… and brings it up through the air, slicing right through the back of Tak’s neck in a movement that not only severs his spine, but also angles upwards to slam right through the roof of his mouth and into his brain.
As he does so, he focuses one last time, feeling that… energy. There’s a connection between him and the rapidly dying thug, and as he pulls on it, teal light flows out of Tak’s jerking body and into Mikael’s chest, forcing him to more swiftly expire.
Letting Tak’s shriveling corpse drop to the basement floor, Mikael looks down at his hands, both the empty one and the one holding a dagger that just took the lives of two thugs.
… In the end, he can’t bring himself to feel too guilty. It was him or them. If he didn’t defend himself, they would have either killed him or thrown him back into that damn arena so that some golden bitch could kill him for them. He… he refused to die. Again. He refused to die again. He wanted to live.
Admittedly, he’s never felt MORE alive than right now. The energy of three dead men courses through his body and Mikael has to admit, he feels like he could take on an entire army like this. Maybe that’s just the juice talking though. He should probably temper his expectations.
Still, no matter how good he feels, one thing is still dead certain. He has a LOT of fucking questions. And there’s only one other living person left in this basement. Fortunately, he’s pretty sure she’s just the woman to give him the answers he needs.
-x-X-x-
A/N: "I may not know much, but I know one thing. I'm NOT going back to that FUCKING arena." ~ Mikael, probably
Heh, got some more exposition here, and some more bloodshed. But Mikael is left with more questions than ever, really.
What did you all think? Am I doing a good job of holding your attention so far? As always, your feedback sustains me!
Comments
KOS 1100
Perfect
Cambrian
I've also seen evil souls colored as red once or twice heh
Collar Spider
Fair point, I don't think I've ever made the connection but that does sort of make sense to me. Except for evil souls which are always green, wonder if there's color theory to all that 🤔
Cambrian
I've never played Demon's Souls, but when I think 'soul energy', I think teal. I feel like teal, or blue-white, is what people use to depict the color of souls across a lot of modern media. So that's what I went with, heh.
Collar Spider
Wait, is are the souls teal cause that's what the souls in Demon's Souls look like?
Cambrian
That's pretty accurate to what I'm going for yeah heh. Don't have time for levels and character sheets and skill bloat tbh. Just a simple mechanic to increase his power when necessary and an excuse for why he can fight gud in the form of some serious mental trauma :P
KOS 1100
This is getting good. I love this way more than cheat skills no complicated shit just fighting to live while also on the verge of death every second. This also gives me the vibes of this manwha I was reading of the Undead Gladiator having to kill vampires but has to run off this girl's blood. But anyway love this already super simple and no overpowered shit just hundreds of memories and a soul-eating heart which in short gives him tiny immortality and a power boost in exchange for MURDER. >:) Well that's what I'm getting. :)
Cambrian
Heh yeah, I wanted to do twists on the conventional protag "power ups". So instead of getting a Free Cheat Item and a Level System, Mikael gets a bunch of unwanted memories stuffed in his head and a soul eating device in place of his heart :P
Phraxius
Nice. I look forward to learning more about the characters, the world... and what the Soul Engine can do. Abilities like these are rarely in the hands (or chests, hah) of protagonists, after all!
Cambrian
Funny that you call Avina a Necromancer... :P
Godzilla511
Can't wait to see if there are any other enhancements to Mikael's body. Necromancers love enhancements. "Upgrades people! Upgrades! Thats how we make the dough!" -Phineas T. Ratchet
Cambrian
Glad to hear it, hope I continue to impress!
Kaijucifer
I didn't see the warcraft one because I didn't know anything about warcraft and didn't want to participate in something that would only leave me with more questions lol, but yeah, if it's less smutty and horny than breaking providence I'm good with that lol! I like this one a lot more so far
Cambrian
Only nine sex scenes in the entire story, so yep, should be fewer and far between in this fic compared to most of my other work. Maybe a bit more smutty/horny than A Savage Nature, but definitely less smutty than Breaking Providence.
Kaijucifer
I hope the sex stuff is fewer and far between in this story. I rather like this as it is, the sex would be better as a bonus imo lol. It must be earned!
Darendarus
It's likely given his resolution to not die again. I just wouldn't be comfortable with having to take from others in order to not die. Being turned into a parasite is not a situation I'd personally be ok with. I do hope he goes far though. He's in this situation now and there ain't much he can do aside from press forward and make the best of it given his resolution.
Cambrian
Heh, I think he's happier to be alive then you would be in his situation, tbh.
Darendarus
I'm just hoping that he fully takes her to task for her actions.
Cambrian
You'll have to tell me what you think of his approach next chapter. I will say I don't feel like he softballs here, but I'm also not sure he'll go as hard on her as you might want :P
Darendarus
He'd better not go for the soft approach when interrogating her. She turned him into a zombie parasite so she owes him.
Jack Reaver
That's fine, Avina'll patch him up lol
Cambrian
Heh, five updates a week is the plan, so we're one chapter away from our first weekend break. And you're probably not wrong, except that him showing up alive again in the arena might bring the hammer down on him, pfft.
Cambrian
He's in a pretty bad state tbf. His mind is still really screwy. But not to worry, killing three dudes should sober him up quickly enough right? xD
Cambrian
Glad you're liking her. It'll be super fun to explore her background more as the story progresses, hehe
Jack Reaver
Spoiling us with these updates. Avina is already best girl imo, and I get the feeling that if Mikael goes back to the pit, he isn't leaving in a body bag again.
Mask
Man, MCs attempt to garner sympathy made me cringe. His misjudging the room, too.
GalacticTNT
Avina seems interesting, wonder why she’s working with these lowlifes? Especially with the personality she’s been shown to have. Looking forward to finding out!
