"Who are you!?"
Those words reverberated through the hidden dinsion with an overwhelming blend of rage, authority, and sothing akin to looming dread. To Vlad’s ears, however, the angry undertone that dominated the voice was not the only emotion carried in that echo. He detected confusion and uncertainty beneath the fury. Though he felt the voice brimming with nace, it also seed that this entity was struggling with a question it could not readily answer, just like a child who was trying to understand the world around him.
Before the Depravita of Wrath could respond, the voice sounded once more, this ti sharper and tinged with hateful recognition, "I recognized you! You are our enemy, the one that has defeated us again and again!"
With those words, Vlad felt the dinsion itself begin to quake. It heated up like an imnse stomach churning acid to digest a trapped victim. He had barely cheated death monts earlier, narrowly escaping irreversible doom, yet it seed the grim reaper wasn’t finished with him. A sense of urgency coursed through Vlad’s mind.
He had to find a way to escape this new threat, but there was no way to fight back against the entity. Then, a flash of insight crossed his thoughts as he shouted. "What is your na!?"
The mont Vlad uttered that question, the crushing pressure flooding the dinsion—a pressure that threatened to crush his soul completely—ca to an abrupt halt. A small smile tugged at the corners of Vlad’s mouth. He had gambled that demanding a na would disrupt the entity’s lethal impetus, and it worked.
"I am..." the voice echoed once more, only to trail off as though unable to complete that sentence.
Vlad’s smile widened. He had a good idea of why the spirit in this obsidian obelisk could not supply a na. Although it had once been a core portion of the Leviathan Race’s collective consciousness—the primary control node for the Hive Mind—this spirit was now sothing else. It was no longer fused with the rest of the Hive Mind.
After undergoing the Seven Sins Ritual, it had beco a Depravita. As a result, it was no longer part of a multi-minded collective. It existed as a singular, confused soul grappling with the sudden ergence of individuality. And it had not yet found an identity.
"I AM..." roared the voice a second ti, this ti surging with frustration, confusion, and fury. "What did you do to !?"
Once more, it focused intently on Vlad, but its rage was mixed with an undeniable panic. It demanded answers to explain what had transford it so drastically.
Vlad’s mind remained calm and as sharp as ever. He understood the precariousness of his position: if this newly born entity decided to obliterate him, he had no imdiate power in this dinsion to fight back. Therefore, he had to play his cards carefully.
"You were part of a collective consciousness of the alien race I call the Leviathans," Vlad explained, choosing honesty over evasion. "But thanks to my abilities, I turned this piece of spirit into a true and complete soul. Now you are your own entity, an individual in every sense of the word."
Silence reigned in the obsidian dinsion. An oppressive hush descended while the new being processed Vlad’s words. He could all but feel the swirl of emotions raging behind the entity’s pause.
"Why did you do this to ? We are enemies. Do you wish to enslave !?" The entire realm pulsed with an overwhelming wave of killing intent and murderous wrath as the entity uttered those words, demanding answers.
Vlad steeled himself, carefully resisting the urge to panic. One misstep could an permanent death. Maintaining his asured tone, he gave the entity what it wanted. "I did it only to stop you from following your instincts and consuming . As for our being enemies, that might have been true in the past, but not anymore. Harboring anger toward you for what the Leviathan Race did would be like raging at a single gear in a massive machine."
Vlad allowed his words to settle, carefully gauging the entity’s reaction. He let a few seconds of quiet pass, then continued more softly, "You were just born—your own person now. The sins of the Leviathan Race no longer rest on you. You’re free to choose your path, make your own decisions, and based on that, I and the rest of the universe will judge you."
Another wave of silence fell, and Vlad picked up on the tumult in the newborn Depravita’s emotions. The dinsion felt as though it seethed with every new wave of feeling—anger, disorientation, compulsion, and searching. Finally, the voice reerged.
"I... we... I don’t know my past or anything before arriving in this world, but I know we were built to kill and consu. That is my purpose and my nature, and my decisions should follow that goal!" The confusion in the entity’s mind seed to intensify, swirling like a violent storm cloud.
Born re monts ago, it had no mory or guidance other than the primal instincts that the hive mind had once enforced. Yet it was no longer fused with that consciousness. It was a blank slate, but that "blankness" was also layered with the Leviathans’ innate impulses: Devour. Assimilate. Conquer.
Vlad listened carefully, not letting worry creep into his voice. Instead, a broad, almost encouraging smile spread across his face as he knew exactly what to say.
"That might have been your origin, your purpose once," he said gently, "but you’re a Depravita now. The core of our existence is to surpass our nature, to forge a path built on our own choices and no one else’s!"
His voice echoed throughout the dinsion, resonating with conviction and determination. The swirling emotional chaos within the entity escalated, culminating in a mont of near-violent intensity. Then, all of a sudden, it asked a question that seed to emanate from the core of its soul.
"Will you help discover my path?"
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