"BLOOD BLIGHT PILL!?"
Aurelian repeated her words—his tone a mixture of shock and confusion.
Lady Evelyne simply stared at Lucain's frail, unmoving body, her expression solemn.
"What… what is it?" Aurelian whispered, feeling his throat tighten.
"It's a pill condensed from the blood of Adept-level echo-beasts. A rare material. Its refinement alone takes at least fifty to sixty years… and requires the blood of many such beasts."
She spoke calmly, but the weight of her words felt crushing.
"And what does that have to do with Lucain?" Aurelian mumbled, though a part of him already feared the answer.
Lady Evelyne sighed and raised her hand, revealing a crimson pill, no larger than a peanut.
"This tiny pill contains the essence of perhaps one or two hundred echo-beasts. In your friend's case…"
She paused.
Even she seemed reluctant to continue.
"I was summoned urgently, so I couldn't take you with me two months ago. I left a note… in which I stated my intention to adopt you in two or three months. Along with it, I left this pill—and instructions for how it should be used."
Aurelian's eyes widened, blood draining from his face.
"No normal human should consume even the smallest speck of this pill. It absolutely wasn't meant to be swallowed whole—not like this young man, who apparently gulped it down."
Her crimson eyes dimmed.
"It is… a miracle his head didn't explode on the spot."
Aurelian's mouth opened, closed, then opened again, but no sound came out.
His fists trembled.
His breath caught in his throat.
"So…" he finally forced out, voice shaking,
"he'll be like this forever?"
Lady Evelyne nodded a short and sad nod.
Aurelian's brows twitched he stomped his foot and slammed the door running away hiding his tears.
Lady Evelyne tried to stop him right hand on air her eyes softening a bit.
" It's impossible.", She looked at Lucian.
" I gave instructions on that note but this young man gulped that pill and Still..he breaths?.."
She looked at Lucain face who was staring right on her face right eye locked on her face while left side of Lucain looked at the ceiling.
" interesting.", She mused
* * *
Lucain's soul was in an ink-like form, his body resembling a shape of himself — something corporeal — drifting in the endless void.
"Why does a soul like you cling to your human form?.. What's the reason for such longing for your flesh which has long rotten?"
The ancient voice spoke with curiosity and interest.
Souls had different fundamentals, unlike humans who were driven by instincts—
hunger,
lust,
survival—
all tools to keep one's physical existence in check.
But a soul had no such senses, thus a soul was free.
If Lucain had been a mere mortal in his flesh, he would've been trembling and kowtowing in front of this entity. But right now, he was calm as water, though the sense of self was still there.
He knew his own self — his memories and experiences — and thus his soul knew itself, which was rare.
"Interesting… A mere human soul having this level of intelligence… an anomaly… a true anomaly."
The darkness mused.
"It's myself… it's myself…" Lucain mumbled under his breath.
"Self?"
The darkness laughed in amusement.
"What self? I am what remains from the start to the end."
"From the moment a child cries upon leaving the womb of the world…or when he pushes his peers toward a beast to save himself…I am that impulse."
"I am the hunger in one's stomach.
I am the will behind every movement."
"I am the force that drives you toward the opposite gender so you may breed."
"I am hunger.
I am will.
I was the first thing you ever followed when you possessed this vessel."
"I am the First Instinct—and you are the thief who stole my vessel."
* * *
"Why… why is my life so cursed?
I thought Lady Evelyne—no… Mother—would take me away from my damned life, but…"
Aurelian ran and ran.
He didn't know where he was heading—he just ran.
Lucain's condition… and now the fact that he might never wake up… gnawed violently at his stomach.
"Why, heavens?
Why, oh Lord Sun?
Lucain… what will he do now?
Will he always be in that corpse-like state?"
"How is he…?"
A voice filled with worry and anticipation asked, her hand tightening around Aurelian's arm.
"LEAVE! ME! HOW DARE YOUR DISGUSTING BEASTMEN HANDS TOUCH ME!"
Aurelian barked at Miyu.
But Miyu didn't loosen her grip.
Instead, her claws slipped out in anger at his words, and blood oozed from Aurelian's arm.
"AGAHHH! YOU DAMN BITCH! IT HURTS!"
People of the village stopped in the marketplace—
a place where usually not more than five people walked,
now slowly filling as everyone circled around Miyu and Aurelian,
drawn by the commotion they had caused.
From afar it looked as if Miyu had lost control,
as if she were hurting an innocent boy.
She stood taller than Aurelian,
towering over him,
her gaze sharp like a predator ready to strike.
"Where is Lucain?.. Where is he?
I haven't seen him in two months!
You said he's sick! But… but…"
Tears spilled from Miyu's eyes.
Her claws slipped back into her fingers.
She grabbed Aurelian's shoulders,
her voice trembling,
her golden eyes barely holding back the flood of tears.
"I WANT TO SEE HIM!"
SPLASH !
SPLASH!
Someone from the crowd threw cold water on Miyu.
Her breath skipped from the sudden chill,
and Aurelian— clutching his bloodied arm—
took several steps back,
his body frozen at the sight.
"This demi-human dares to hurt our children!?
How dare a subhuman act like this!"
"TEACH HER A LESSON!"
Miyu stood frozen,
her body trembling from the cold water…
but then, in the very next second,
something struck her.
BAM.
Her vision went dark.
Her mind felt strangely warm,
and then a wave of pain drowned her senses.
Aurelian was frozen too,
his mouth hanging open in pure horror.
"Stop…"
his voice barely rose above a whisper.
...
Someone from the crowd threw a rock at Miyu's head.
Blood dripped down her chin as she slowly processed the pain,
and just as her mouth was about to open to cry—
BAM.
BAM.
A crowd of people rushed at her.
Some struck her with fists,
some with open-handed slaps,
and soon she was pinned to the ground as feet trampled over her.
Her body was battered and bruised.
She was feeling a kind of pain she had never experienced before.
Her appearance alone had always given the villagers a reason to ostracize her…
but now, grabbing Aurelian's arm—
even if only by accident—
became the excuse they needed.
She shielded her face and curled around her body.
"I… I didn't mean to… it's your fault…"
Aurelian, still clutching his bleeding arm, mumbled weakly—
his words drowned under the roar of the crowd.
* * *
"First Instinct?.. What do you mean?"
Lucain's soul frowned.
If this thing is so ancient… does it have something to do with my current situation?
The last thing he remembered was the original owner of the body swallowing that poisonous pill.
Lucain's eyes widened.
Does that mean I'm dead?..
Is it… or is that thing some kind of death god??
The darkness laughed, and the void vibrated with echoes.
"An anomaly… and yes, you are dead. Foolish soul. One becomes a soul after death, and you are indeed dead!"
It can read my thoughts?
Lucain's mouth opened, but instead of words, a broken chuckle escaped his soul.
He realized his own foolishness.
"So what is my existence?.. First Instinct?.. What am I?"
"What is a soul? That's what you are!
Instincts keep lifeforms alive—and a soul? It is something that develops over time.
Plants have souls.
Wolves have souls.
Even clouds have souls.
But the complexity differs.
The consciousness of a cloud is as thin as air—only movement—and it dissipates almost instantly.
The soul of a plant or tree is like a circle. It is simple, and it too dissipates when the lifeform dies.
But…
In animals, it becomes more interesting.
If the consciousness of a tree is a circle, then the consciousness of a wolf or a sheep is like a complex web.
The predator runs at its prey.
The prey runs for its life.
And it is here—at the level of intelligence—where the real difference occurs.
If the consciousness of a wolf is like a web, then the consciousness of a human is far more complex in comparison. And there exist even more species than humans—some better, some worse.
A wolf's consciousness would be nothing more than a tiny knot when compared to them.
Thus, the greater the intelligence, the more complex the soul—
and the clearer the echo after their demise."
Lucain eyes opened wide on First Instinct's explanation.
"An echo?.. Is that what a soul is?"
The darkness went silent for a while.
"Anomaly! Your soul is more vivid than any human should ever have!
It is as complex as the souls of higher beings—yet you are as helpless as an ant!"