Shades of the New World

Chapter 208: The situation

"But… the solution to that problem is simple. After all, you just have to become stronger," the torso spoke for the Beast Lord.

If Arza could see the World Sprite, he would be able to see that the previously simple and broken-doll-like figure was becoming more and more featured, with the rugged face of a man slowly growing out of the half-head which only possessed a mouth and a toned upper body coming into life under the neck.

But obviously, the boy was too focused on the changes that were happening inside his body. The pink snakes had turned to small pink strands after they entered his body, replacing his muscles and sinews with tissues that birthed pure Life energy.

Although they didn't go as far as to replace his blood and bones, Arza could feel that these new muscles were more than sturdy enough to protect the inner parts of his body. It was like he was developing an armor of fortified flesh to protect his organs and bones.

Arza felt that he would've enjoyed this process a lot more if it wasn't for the pangs of pain that ceaselessly assaulted every part of his body.

"Accepting the Sprites of the World of Life is not something so carefree and easy like the Dark World and the World of Space. After all, they're energy that will accompany you forever, strengthening and incorporating themselves into your body. Usually, I would have you prepare properly for this act, since even the slightest rejection might destroy your body... But luckily for you, or should I say unluckily, your body is just strong enough to accept the World Sprites, though not strong enough to accept it without pain," the torso-shaped World Sprite was speaking next to Arza.josei

The boy groaned back, clearly unable to focus on whatever the World Sprite was speaking. 

"Well, you'll be fine in an hour or so. It's not that much different from what happened to us," the man's rugged face smiled wryly, as he silently observed the boy struggling on the ground.

…

"Guys, calm down and gather on me! Come to me and I'll fix you up for you," Evin, on the other hand, was trying his best to calm the group of children that had just awakened inside his shadow.

He had given Runa to Rith, so the skinshifter didn't need to witness whatever was happening inside Evin's shadow.

After Rith and Ssatsko brough him out of the big open space underground, he had jumped inside his shadow to deal with the problem at hand.

His hands were on Enri's nape, his eyes searching for misplaced lumps of foreign souls on Enri's body. In his eagle eyes, the giant fox looked like some kind of tumor riddled dog, with parts of her body inflated like a balloon.

He would mercilessly cut off such lumps with his soul-tethered weapon and have it absorb them, just like how Anna's experience on fixing souls told him to. 

Thankfully, the World Sprites didn't feel pain, so cutting off the excess bits of souls on the giant fox's body did not warrant any retaliating reactions. Evin was thankful for this fact, as he was very sure that he wouldn't be able to keep a struggling Enri in check when he was hacking away at her body. 

[Mother? Who is my mother? What's happening?] Enri's growls resounded inside Evin's head, a thick layer of confusion in her voice.

'Good, at least she's starting to call me mother now,' Evin thought hopefully. This meant that whatever he was doing was working. He just hoped it wouldn't have any long term side-effects. After all, Enri wasn't the only one experiencing the same thing. 

[Where is this place?]

[I'm alive?]

[Who's this fox in my head?]

[Why am I a child again?]

A variety of thoughts were going off inside Evin's head, all of them confused and puzzled about one thing or another.

'Shit…' Evin thought, as he debated knocking out all of them. But thinking about it, he decided that there might latent problems, so all he could do was heal them one by one.

A couple minutes later, Evin was finally done with healing Enri's soul and the giant fox was finally starting to act like her previous self. Though obviously, she was much smarter and more 'real' than before.

[Mother? What's happening?] Enri asked, looking around the rest of her brethren with confusion and panic.

"Don't worry, I'll fix them in no time. But I need you to keep them in place while I heal them, alright?" Evin answered and Enri nodded unconfidently.

Evin then caught another World Sprite that had assumed the form of a young boy, which looked back at Evin with a pair of curious eyes, a hint of recognition in his gaze.

But in Evin's eyes, there was a giant flesh-like lump located right on the boy's head, which made him look like he had another head stacked right on top of his original one. Evin then held him down and resolutely slashed the lump off the boy's head. 

"Aaahhh! Nooo!" the boy screamed suddenly, startling Evin who was under the impression that the Sprites didn't feel any pain. After all, Enri didn't show any reactions, so the rest should've been the same as well.

But he didn't let himself panic too much, and started to think about why such a thing was happening. 

When Evin was exposed to the field of Soul Magic, the World Sprites were similarly affected along him. Evin was a bit surprised when he got out of Four's World to see the World Sprites developing a soul all on their own. At the time, he just considered it an unexpected boon, so he didn't really expect things to develop in such a weird manner.

What he didn't realize at the time, was that bits and pieces of the souls that he absorbed in Four's World somehow ended up inside Evin's shadow, infecting and latching onto the World Sprites.

He also realized that unlike Enri, who had a much stronger identity due to the Vulpine Mother's direct influence, these World Sprites' existences were much simpler and weaker. So obviously, they would be more influenced by these foreign souls.

For example, in Enri's case, her soul was almost 99% her own, with the rest being something foreign. This was the reason why she didn't mind it much when Evin was hacking away at the lumps on her body. But in the case of the World Sprites, only 90% of their souls could be called their own, while the rest were foreign elements. So naturally, they would mind it a lot more if Evin was to hack away at these excess lumps.

90% seemed like it was good enough, but if one found out that only 9/10 of their personality was themselves, and that the rest of it was a total stranger, then they would surely feel some amount of existential dread. 

'But I'm sure that if those souls didn't latch onto the World Sprites, they wouldn't even develop independent souls. And even if they did, they'd most likely be identical with each other,' a random thought appeared in his head.

Shaking his head, he focused on the boy he had just probably mutilated. Blocking out all the other thoughts that were running rampant inside his shadow, he tried his best to listen to what the boy was saying.

[stop…]

[mother…]

[sorry…]

'Is it working?' Evin thought, recognizing the simple thoughts that he usually heard from the World Sprites.

Evin found it a bit weird that the boy was still thinking such simple thoughts, even though technically, he was supposed to be smart enough to have more complicated thoughts. While he was wondering what he should do, Enri sniffed the coal-black boy whimpering on the ground and said to Evin.

[I think this one's healed.] 

Evin was pulled out of his daze and realized that there were 80 other World Sprites that he needed to help.

'Should I just cut the lumps off and hope for the best? If I don't hurry, the foreign souls might take over the World Sprites' personas...' Evin could only hope that the giant fox was right and started resolutely cutting off the tumor-like lumps on the children's bodies.

"They're gonna feel some pain, but I guess we just have to get this over with as soon as possible," Evin said resolutely and the two began their work.

…