Grub eventually composed himself under the weight of two impatient stares. It wasn't easy.
Between discovering his soul had a strange caretaker he named Maggot, learning what Nihil actually was, and finding out his own Forte sounded like something pulled from a nightmare, his thoughts were still spinning.
Luthiel stood over him with Thi's crimson eyes and folded arms while Morrigan leaned on her staff a few paces back, her expression caught between concern and irritation. Grub took one last breath, steadied his hands, and looked up.
Morrigan repeated her question. "What happened? What did you see?"
Grub shook his head slowly. "Maggot showed me a lot. Explained the whole business with souls to me."
Morrigan and Luthiel glanced at each other. Then back at him. Both of them wore the same expression.
"Who the hell is Maggot?" they said in near-perfect unison.
Grub blinked. "My Ego."
For a second there was silence.
Then Luthiel burst into laughter. Thi's messy red-streaked hair bounced as her shoulders shook. "You named it? How strange, even for you, Bug!"
Grub frowned and turned to Morrigan. "Is it really that outlandish?"
Morrigan immediately shook her head.
"Nah. Just weird."
Luthiel nodded.
"Very weird."
"Thanks you guys." Grumbled Grub
"You're welcome."
Morrigan pondered for a moment, stroking her chin. "It certainly isn't normal. Making conversation beyond discussing matters of the soul with your Ego is already quite odd. It's akin to an insane person talking to themselves."
Grub rolled his eyes. "So that's it, huh? I'm insane."
"It's no matter," Morrigan said, waving her jug dismissively. "What matters is the information you learned." She looked between both of them and her expression hardened. "Now hurry the fuck up and tell me your current details. Every second we waste on this is a second we could use doing some grueling training."
Luthiel spoke first. She straightened her posture and recited her information with a practiced ease.
"Right!" She placed her hands behind her back.
"My soul is in good condition."
Morrigan nodded. "Good."
"My Forte and Maladroit still say undiscovered. As usual."
Morrigan nodded again.
"As does my Forte Rank."
"Mm."
"My current Rank is Dormant and my Tier is Two."
Morrigan frowned. "And your skills?"
Luthiel winced.
"Just the basics. Like, beginner healing, anima reinforcement and basic regulation."
The kappa sighed heavily. "You haven't gotten much stronger, have you?"
Luthiel looked away.
"No..."
"You've been slacking on training."
Luthiel puffed her cheeks. "I have not!"
"You absolutely have."
"I have not!"
"Yes, you have."
Luthiel looked ready to continue arguing, but Morrigan simply stared at her. Three seconds later Luthiel looked away.
"...maybe a little."
"A lot."
"Maybe a lot."
Morrigan tapped her staff against the ground. "You've been slacking on your training for too long, and if I remember right, you might've actually dropped a tier since last time."
Luthiel winced.
Morrigan shook her head. "You need to get consistent, my dear. Talent means nothing if you don't sharpen it."
Then she turned to Grub. "And you, hot stuff?"
Grub still wasn't entirely sure how much of this information he should share. But Morrigan had already seen the bracelet. She knew he was a spy. At this point keeping secrets felt pointless. Grub took a breath and recited what he had seen on the display.
"My Forte is called Gravebound. My Maladroit is called Void." He paused. "My rank is Dormant and my Tier is 3."
Morrigan tilted her head. "Gravebound? That's certainly not one I've heard before." She scratched the side of her beak. "It's definitely unique. Though unique Fortes aren't too rare in themselves. The rare part is having a Forte at all."
She pointed toward him. "Most people don't."
Her eye narrowed. "Though I gotta admit."
"Those are some ominous names."
Luthiel folded her arms. "Seriously."
Luthiel stared at Grub with confusion written across Thi's crimson features. "Hey, Bug. What the hell is all that? Did you click the description?"
Grub nodded. "Yeah, I did. My Forte description reads: 'You control the end of things. But to control the end, you must seize it first.'"
He looked between them. "Pretty weird, huh? I think I have some idea what it means, though." He paused. "What's really strange is my Maladroit description. It reads—"
Something cold seized his throat.
"Ack!"
It wasn't a hand. It wasn't pressure from outside. It was internal — a freezing sensation that wrapped around his windpipe from the inside out, his own body had decided to stop him from speaking. His lungs locked, his mouth opened but nothing came out.
Grub doubled over, coughing and spitting violently. His eyes watered as he gasped for breath.
Luthiel's crimson eyes widened. The scowl dropped from her face and an expression close to genuine worry replaced it. She rushed over and started hitting him on the back.
"Hey! Hey, Bug! Are you choking?"
Morrigan took a step forward, her eyes narrowing.
The sensation faded as quickly as it had arrived. Air rushed back into Grub's lungs and he gasped, bracing himself on his knees.
He took a greedy helping of air before asking.
"What the hell..."
Luthiel frowned. "You alright?"
Grub rubbed his throat.
"Yeah." He swallowed. Then tried again.
"My Maladroit reads—"
The cold gripped his throat a second time. But it was harder this go around. His vision flickered and his body convulsed as his airway clamped shut. Luthiel was hitting his back harder now. Even Morrigan looked worried.
"Spit it out!" Screamed Luthiel.
"I'm trying!"
"What are you choking on?!"
"I DON'T KNOW!"
"You sure your okay?" The old kappa asked, leaning forward on her staff.
Suddenly, the choking stopped. Grub dropped to his hands and knees, breathing heavily, saliva dripping from his lip.
Then he heard a voice. His own voice. But not from his mouth. From the place he had just returned from.
YOU HAVE UNLOCKED A NEW DESCRIPTION ITERATION OF YOUR MALADROIT: VOID. WOULD YOU LIKE TO READ IT?
Grub thought the word yes as hard as he could.
A screen materialized in his vision. Not in the real world — inside his mind's eye. Only he could see it. The same translucent display from the soul chamber, but smaller, dimmer, floating just behind his eyelids.
The Maladroit description had changed. It was much longer now. The original text remained at the top, but beneath it was a new line. And the label at the bottom no longer read Iteration 1. It read Iteration 2. His heart sank as he read the new description.
YOUR FORTE DEALS WITH ENDS, BUT IT ALSO DEALS WITH A VAST VOID. WHEN YOU HAVE, YOU DON'T FEEL. WHEN YOU USE, YOU HUNGER. WHEN YOU OVERFLOW, IT OVERTAKES YOU.
YOU MUST STAY IN THIS VOID ALONE. FOR LIKE THE PITCH BLACKNESS OF SOLITUDE, THE VOID WILL CONSUME YOU.
The screen and text dissolved as Grub knelt there in the grass, breathing slowly, processing what he had just read.
You must stay in this void alone.
He couldn't tell anyone. He had to carry it alone, because the moment he tried to share it, his own body shut him down.
His throat had become a lock with no key.
Slowly he looked up. Thi was bent over, her crimson eyes scanning his face to make sure he wasn't about to keel over. Her expression was gruff but the concern beneath it was unmistakable. When she realized he was back to normal, she immediately separated herself and started pouting.
"Don't scare me like that, Bug. I wasn't worried or anything."
Morrigan hadn't moved, but her eyes were sharp and calculating.
"What were you saying? About your Maladroit?"
Grub shook his head. "I can't say."
Morrigan's expression shifted to confusion, then suspicion. "Don't trust me with that information?"
"It's not that." Grub rubbed his throat. "I really can't tell you. Even if I wanted to. My body won't let me."
Morrigan stared at him for a long moment. Then she nodded slowly. A Maladroit that prevented its own disclosure — that was unusual, but not unheard of. Some Maladroits had restrictions built into them that went beyond simple drawbacks.
"I also don't fully understand what the rest of it means," Grub added. "So even if I could tell you, it wouldn't help much."
Luthiel scoffed. A small "dumbass" slipped under her breath.
Grub sighed and brushed himself off as he stood. "Well, I do understand my Forte, though. At least the basics of it."
Morrigan walked closer, her staff clicking against the ground with each step. Luthiel eyed him with Thi's sharp crimson gaze.
"I can absorb Death," Grub said. "Or Nihil, which is apparently its proper name. And I can use it to enhance my body. Strength, speed, grip. It coats me like a residue and makes me physically stronger."
Both Morrigan and Luthiel went still. Morrigan in particular looked genuinely baffled. "You can control Nihil? Absorb it?"
Grub nodded, his eyes drifting down to his hands. He remembered the feeling of the black residue crawling across his knuckles and the cold weight in his chest. The way the world had felt smaller and more manageable when the power was flowing.
"And you talk like you've used it before?" Morrigan pressed. "I thought you couldn't use Anima."
"I can't," Grub said. "But I guess I was using my Forte long before I even knew Anima existed."
Morrigan's confusion deepened. She started pacing slowly, her staff tapping a rhythm on the grass.
"That's very strange. Usually a Forte doesn't manifest unless certain conditions are met. A moment of self-realization. You need a real epiphany. And it almost always happens after a person has already begun developing their Anima."
She pointed at Luthiel.
"My lazy daughter over there doesn't even have hers yet."
"Hey!"
"It's true."
She turned back to Grub. "When did it first show up?"
Grub thought back. Back to when he fought the pack of creatures in the forest with his party when they had set off to collect resources and bones.
"When I was fighting what I used to call Misshapen Canines. I know the proper name for them now — Draemons." He shrugged. "It just showed up. The black stuff covered my hands and I killed the pack leader with it. I had no clue what it was at the time."
Morrigan nodded slowly. "Perhaps the Sky-Fallen are quite strange indeed."
She stroked her chin.
"And the idea that Nihil can be manipulated… that is rare. Extraordinarily rare." Her eyes grew distant. "I've seen maybe one or two others in my long life who could use Nihil as a substitute for Anima." She looked at Grub. "But never anyone who could absorb and manipulate it the way you describe. How strange."
She stopped pacing. "Now tell me. Did you see what rank such an ability was?"
Grub looked at her. Then at Luthiel. Then back at Morrigan.
"That's the other thing I'm confused about."
He paused.
"Because it said the rank of my Forte was Almighty."
The clearing went silent. Morrigan stared at him. The water in her basin had gone completely still. Luthiel's crimson eyes widened. Neither of them said a word.