"Well, to tell you the truth, we figured you wouldn't wake up at all till everything was fixed up and you got shoved back into control, being caught in this strange kinda of limbo, body in a deep sleep and ya mind rendered subconscious and locked here till ya fully recover," Yami admitted, a sheepish grin stretching across his face. A hint of relief as he watched John turn his gaze to the void that softly swirled around them.
His jaw clenched, a fresh wave of fury washing over him as the memory of his destroyed reality, the acts he had done and been done to both him and those important to him fueled a burning resolve. "Well I'm awake and aware here right now. So, let's just do what we need to. I need to repair my soul but I also need to train and get a lot stronger, to ensure those bastards pay for what they did to my world, to those important to me." His voice was low, laced with a dangerous edge that vibrated through the oppressive silence of the void almost making it shake.
Yami raised his hands in surrender trying to calm him down. "Cool your jets bud, this situation, as dire as it seems, can actually work out in your favor. Being here, within your own mindscape, means ya have an unparalleled chance to train with the others here – even me! Plus, since it's fundamentally your mind you should be able to manipulate certain elements, change things to help ya train and grow far easier than ya ever could in the outside world." He hooked an arm around John's shoulders, a gesture of camaraderie and gently began to guide him away from the void.
John, despite the promise of power couldn't help but counter, his mind racing through the implications. "And how good would that be? I mean, I won't have muscle memory for what I learn here will I? And while practice is good, won't the very fact that it's my mind negatively affect my progress? For example, if I were to carve something here, wouldn't the mental construct ensure the final product is exactly what I desire, unconsciously eliminating any mistakes before they even register? Whatever I make would come out how I want and I wouldn't know if it's right or not, maybe even developing mistakes into a habit." He understood the potential benefits Yami was trying to point out but his rational side questioned the efficacy when separated from the physical world well pointing out all the problems that might arise.
Yami paused, his enthusiasm dimming slightly. "Uhm, yeah, no, ya got me there, bud." He scratched the back of his neck, a rare moment of uncertainty. "But I'm sure there are plenty of other things ya can learn and do. I mean, some of the ones who've taken residence here in your mind can probably teach ya things you didn't even know were possible. And even if there is an 'auto-correction' in your mental practice, at least it would cause au to remember the motions and experience of trying? Then, when ya do go back to the real world, ya can simply focus on building that muscle memory and corrections, maybe learning ta fight or something that the others could help ya with and correct ya in?" He tried to rationalize, to find a silver lining well genuinely wanting to help John find a path forward.
"Huh, I didn't realize you were capable of such logical or intellectual thought, you color-coded eyesore." A soft, almost childlike voice echoed around them, cutting through the void as the surroundings began to recede, peeling away back like a curtain. They stepped out onto a patch of soft, emerald grass that stretched towards a small, crystalline lake, its surface mirroring a cozy wooden house nestled by its shore. The sky above was a brilliant blue marred by jagged cracks and vast, shimmering tears like shattered glass, with a faint almost grid-like net subtly woven through its expanse visible only if you looked deeply at it. To one side, imposing mountains rose, their peaks scraping the sky with a large granite face carved into one of them, its ancient features unreadable well in the far distance the colossal, serpentine form of a black dragon coiled, its scales glinting well opposite stood a slender spire of obsidian rock pierced the heavens well holding an unsettling purple aura that seemed to warp the air around it, causing him to frown as he knew what was locked beneath it.
To his right side lay a creepy, almost whimsical, forest of black and white trees. Nooses swayed gently from their gnarled branches well heavy chains lay scattered across the leaf-littered ground, glinting dully as small, luminescent slimes of various colors bustled about, animated blobs of energy that diligently kept things in order well transporting shimmering motes of light, perhaps memories or fragments of thought wherever it was needed, he wasn't entirely sure but felt it would be better not to question it yet as they didn't seem harmful. Faintly visible in the further reaches of this bizarre landscape were immense marks on the ground, some perfectly circular and others sharply squared. What they all shared however, were strange, unrecognizable words that formed their intricate patterns and the almost imperceptible ethereal glow they emitted. John knew, with an intrinsic certainty that various other places existed just out of sight, hidden by the gentle curvature of his own mental construct. He had after all, unknowingly in some parts created this entire world within his mind.
"I will admit surprise that you're awake, but considering you were able to create such a complex mental plane along with cutting out your own piece of land in the voids beyond proves you possess a soul of good strength and will, or rather, it had a good amount of strength." The soft voice spoke again, closer this time as its source became visible.
From the doorway of the small wooden house emerged a young girl, looking no older than thirteen. Her long, black hair cascaded down her back, trailing along the grass like a shadowy river that framed a porcelain-doll-like face that held a perpetually sleepy and bored expression. She wore a gothic-style black dress with white trim, which hugged her petite frame as she clutched a red pillow adorned with black and white swirls close to her chest. Her dark, luminous eyes fixed on John with an unnerving intensity showing her age was far beyond what her looks portrayed.
"So, ya finally woke up and decided to be a part of things ya little witch? Figured you'd just keep sleeping after ya helped the walking zombie forest stabilize John's soul well helping us to put a small bit of ourselves into him to boost him." Yami quipped, a knowing smirk playing on his lips. His tone held a mixture of teasing and genuine respect.
The girl tilted her head, a thoughtful gesture that was at odds with her otherwise dispassionate demeanor. "It was my original plan. But I could hear your voice all the way from over here and it disturbed my slumber. So, I listened to what you had to say and decided I would attempt to help a bit more somehow. Perhaps I could teach John some of my soul magics, it should help to prevent him from harming his soul so badly in the future." She spoke with a quiet authority that belied her youthful appearance before a subtle yawn escaped her lips, revealing just how deeply she had been resting. "Once his soul is a bit more repaired and healed though, I if he tried anything in his current state he would end up worse than a wisp – a mere flicker of what he once was would be the result if we tried it currently."
John found himself staring, genuinely surprised. "You know, I think this is the first time I've ever heard you speak. Normally, you're silent, like almost everyone else around here when I come here and interact with any of you, watching or just keeping to yourself well giving subtle gestures from time to time." He had always sensed her presence, one of the quiet anchors in his mind, but never a conversationalist.
"It's because each of those times, your visits were too brief," she explained, her fingers idly fiddling with the red pillow seemingly bored. "There was no reason for us to truly talk and even if we did due to the rules that existed in your world it would have only been cut apart whispers or as if we were speaking through water so there was no point in even trying. But with you here, the rules having changed and being in such a vulnerable state your entirely consciousness is fully present and your soul is more intrinsically connected with everyone within your mind, no its beyond just connected now but rather as much a part of them as they are you after what they did, I won't lie though, I'm really looking forward to what effect there bits of soul mixed into yours will have as the chimera souls I had seen before devoured themselves before self-destructing." As she spoke Yami, perhaps sensing a more intimate conversation brewing, seemed to subtly slip away, subtly melting back towards the edges of the clearing. John didn't immediately notice, to focused on processing the girl's words and the little witch didn't seem to care either.
"So, once my soul is healed enough, you're going to teach me magic?" John asked, a flicker of hope igniting within him. "I'm definitely not going to say no to that, but… are you sure I can actually even do it? A few times I tried before, in the real world, never really resulted in much of anything." He remembered the frustration, the feeling of inadequacy when all he could do was create a spark that jumped form one hand to the other well seeing various magicians mask their own skills as parlor tricks.
"Before the change to your world, the quantity and purity of ambient energy were extremely low, making it far harder to perform any sort of mystic arts without external help, often through contracts with strong beings at a hefty cost that continued to climb with each use and creating an addiction to ensure they would want, no crave more till they ended up entirely hollow and empty." Her voice carried an ancient wisdom as she explained the intricacies of this subject. "The cataclysmic change however, has made it more possible now and your chosen class, once fully manifested should be able to aid you in unexpected ways, possibly by creating mediums. Don't think though that you will ever be the best soul mage, or even adequate at it, it takes a long time, a lot of work and an inborn talent you unfortunately lack, but you should be able to pick up on some of what I teach you and integrate it into your own evolving abilities or even twisting them into your own unique ways of use. Even if you don't retain even a fraction of my specific magic you should still at least be able to use its fundamental principles if they're ever needed." She finished, her eyelids drooping as she seemed to be slowly falling asleep, her head nestling into her pillow despite the weight of her words.
"And we will be teaching you a bit as well, at least to a limited degree, benefactor." A voice like stone on stone, resonant voice from the side drew John's attention. He turned to see a formidable tree-like creature, its fingers like dried, gnarled branches wrapped around a thin staff that had a strange, pulsating gem mounted on its tip. Its body was a tapestry of intertwining leaves and ancient, knotted wood, its two dark red eyes glowing faintly behind a weathered wooden mask, mixed into the bits of wood and plant faint bits of mummified flesh could be seen. Beside him stood an impressive array of beings: a towering skeleton general in rusted, ornate armor, radiating a silent authority. A viscous-looking human monster, its form rippling with barely contained power with sharp teeth, too numerous for a human mouth to ever hope to hold, its glowing eyes fixated on John as its razor-sharp claws twitching with an innate intent to fight. Behind them, a far smaller yet still imposing grayish-black dragon stood slightly taller and larger than all the others combined, its scales duller than the one in the distance and perched on its head was what drew his attention, an odd prismatic slime that shimmered with every conceivable color not to dissimilar to the octopus creature that had helped with the Keeper fight, gazing at him with what seemed like two large, innocent eyes.
Yami soon moved to stand beside John, a wide but triumphant grin stretching across his face. "I got everyone together for ya, bud! Well, almost everyone. These fellas just came first. But we're all going to teach ya as best we can and we ain't gonna take it easy on ya either just because you're our savior or friend but also because, quite frankly keeping you alive will keep us alive and thriving so it's also for us." His voice boomed with a renewed sense of purpose, a blend of loyalty and self-preservation that was uniquely Yami.
Seeing all of them gathered, these strange yet powerful and utterly devoted manifestations of his own shattered soul along with various beings who claimed to have come from various places on the place, John couldn't stop himself, despite the phantom pain that still throbbed deep within his being, he threw his head back and laughed—loud, long and unburdened—a sound that echoed through the bizarre beauty of the landscape. A genuine, unadulterated happiness he hadn't felt in a longtime began to bloom in his chest. He was not alone; he had these fierce and loyal friends, guardians who, in their own unique ways, were here to watch out for him and help him rise back up again. He could heal more than just his soul thanks to them.