Soul Chains

Luke continued to gawk at the new marks that swirled around his arms. He felt relief at the disappearance of the metal that had been digging into his skin and causing him to bleed. Yet at the same time he felt uncomfortable with the new marks, as it almost felt like he had been branded against his will. Part of him was unsettled by that fact, as it seemed the system was changing everything about him, without him having any say in his appearance. Another part of him simply struggled to care, after all the system had already changed most of his features. That and it wasn't like Luke had anything against tattoos, though he had never had enough money to consider getting one.

While the cosmetic changes were alarming, Luke knew the more concerning issue was that he was now without a weapon. That meant he was without any weapons in a place that was filled with monsters, and that he would need to find a replacement fast. Sighing, Luke decided to pull up his screen thing, doing so by willing it to appear in his mind. A second later the image of a screen appeared in his head, and he quickly studied it.

Lucian Kell Infernus

Titles: Scion of the Infernus clan.

One who see all and nothing.

Race: Demon

Stage: lesser

Rank: Awakened

Soul tempering until next rank: [20/100]

Bloodline: Infernus

Affinity: Chained: Since you're awakening you have been in chains, at first this was your weakness. Now you have turned it into your strength, thanks to your desperation and will to survive your magic has now taken the shape of that strength. You are now soul bound to your chains; you are theirs just as they are yours. You are now, and forever chained.

Affinity abilities:

Soul chains: You have been soul branded by the chains you were once imprisoned in. These chains have been tempered through your spilt blood, and the magic coursing inside of you. These chains reflect your strength and will grow as you do. Summon these chains at your will, for they are as much apart of you as your very soul.

Eyes: Crimson

Abilities:

Unholy observation: Your eyes are the symbols of your bloodline, and your connection to those that have fallen. They are sightless, and yet they see more of the world than any regular eyes could.

Bloodline powers:

Noble Demon blood: As a high demon of one of the most powerful bloodlines, you now have the physical aspects to stand at the top of your lines. These aspects will only grow with your rank.

Flames of the Infernus clan: Hellfire is of the height of the true elements, and one of the most dangerous. As a scion of the Infernus clan the essence of these flames course through your very blood, no lesser heat may harm you.

Sightless: Your eyes are far more powerful than your body can withstand, for what they perceive you cannot. Until you reach the strength to withstand your eyesight, you will be cursed to see nothing in the way normal eyes might. Do not fear this sightlessness, for you have been gifted with the ability to truly see.

Omniscience: [Error! System Break] All seeing eyes: Your Omniscience [Error! System Break!] transcends time. [Error! Error! Error!]

Master: None

Unknown affinity: your magic has no shape, no form and therefore no use. Until your soul shapes the magic that has bonded with it, you will not be able to use your magic. The magic is one with you and will find its form in your moment you need it most.

Luke mentally focused on the screen, particularly on the new additions of the soul chain ability. After a second longer he frowned and dismissed the screen, before focusing once more on his hands.

'Summon these chains at your will?', he thought with a deep frown.

A second later he decided to give it a try, imagining himself summoning the old rusty chains. He did so by focusing on the marks in his mind, and remembering the weight of the old chains that he had been bound in. Then he willed them to appear, as if mentally forcing them into existence.

A second later the marks on his arms disappeared, and in their places formed chains. The chains snaked up his arm, just as the tattoos did, and connected too two manacles that formed around his wrists. The differences in the new chains compared to the old ones were immediately noticeable. Where his old chains had been red with rust, his new chains looked to be in far better shape. They were made of a dark iron-like metal and looked as I they had just been freshly forged.

There were other stark differences as well, one of which being their shape. The lengths of the chain itself hadn't changed in shape, but the manacles had. Where the previous manacles were tightly fastened around his skin, the new ones sat lightly and comfortably around him. The cold metal almost felt good, pressed up against his raw and bloody skin, the same way cool water made a cut feel better. The chain itself felt lighter as well, too light in fact, as Luke could easily see himself forgetting the chains were around his arms.

The only problem with the chains was their new lengths, which was far smaller than the last set of chains had been. That would mean he wouldn't be able to use them as whips as he had done against the elite husk. It was a loss, but if he could still use them as brass knuckles, he felt he might be able to manage.

Opening his right hand and pointing it at the ground, he waited for the chain to fall off his wrist and into his palm. After a second of nothing happening, Luke frowned and tried to shake the chain off his arm.

'How am I supposed to use these things', Luke wondered, before an idea occurred to him.

Like how he had made the chains appear, he willed the chain to fall off his arm and on to the ground in front of him. Sure, enough the upper half of the chain fell off his wrist instantly, the top half wresting in his palm just below where it connected to his manacle.

Immediately the chain's length surprised Luke, as it seemed to grow to a length of almost 2 meters. More than that, while it was a little heavier in this form, it was still far lighter than the last chain had been.

Opening his left hand, and doing the same thing too make the chain fall to the ground. The metal moved of its own accord, falling to the ground in a clattering pool of metal links. Luke felt a sense of elation and wonder course through his body as he looked at the two lengths of metal. Luke had gotten his first piece of magic through the omniscience spell, but this somehow felt more tangible and real. It wasn't as flashy as summoning fireballs, or conjuring massive waves to fight enemies like video game characters might do. Yet with this strange ability, Luke would always have a weapon present, even if it wasn't the most effective weapon.

It left the question of how he had earned the chains, burning in his mind. The system said the affinity formed through his desperation, but in his last fight he hadn't been desperate at all.

'Was it because the enemy was stronger, the notification called it an elite human husk. Elite usually means stronger', he wondered.

If that was the case, it would be almost… ironic as his first fight with a husk had been far more dangerous than the second. Yet the rewards for the second were so much greater.

Granted the second beast had looked to be in far worse shape than the first had been, with his body looking far more torn and its armor too heavy for it to support.

Either way, Luke wasn't complaining about the rewards as he felt a deep excitement coursing through him. He almost couldn't wait to find another husk, just so he could try the two new chains out.

'The chains are a bit long now, will I still be able to wrap them around my fists', Luke wondered.

It was funny, as just a few moments before he had been worried, they would be too short to use as whips and now he was worried about the opposite.

'I wonder.'

Without thinking too much, he willed the chains to slide back up his arms. Rather than slide up his skin as he had expected, both chains simply vanished and appeared wrapped around his arms. The sudden shift of weight went through Luke's train of thought for a moment, but he quickly got over his surprise.

Then rather than will the entire chain too fall to the ground he merely will a little portion of the chain to hang from his manacle. The change happened immediately, as half of the chain leading up his arm vanished. While the rest of the chains on his arm when back to their black tattoo-like form, at the same time about a third of a meter appeared in his palm, hanging from the iron manacle. It was just enough length for him to wrap around his knuckles, and in fact would likely make doing so cause less noise.

Satisfied, Luke dismissed his chain by willing them to vanish completely. Instantly the entirety of the black marks appeared, snaking up the length of his forearms. Feeling immensely pleased, Luke couldn't help but feel as though his chances of surviving this horrible place had been raised significantly.

***

Luke waited for a little while longer, in case another beast appeared in search of the noises his fight had caused. Yet when nothing did, he found himself disappointed. He had been looking forward to using his new chains in combat but knew he should be relieved.

Continuing down the long hall, Luke found himself contemplating another problem that hadn't occurred to him yet, food and water.

While humans could go a while before starving to death, Luke knew that luxury did not apply to dying of thirst. He would have to find a source of water, and preferably soon. The only issue was that even if he did find a source of food or water he didn't know if they would be safe to ingest. Everything he had seen in this place had been filled with rot, and he wasn't sure whether or not that applied to the outside world as well. For all he knew he could be on an entire planet filled with rot, trapped in some sort of apocalyptic world.

Even with these dark thoughts Luke found he wasn't too worried, at least not as worried as he should have been. He was in good spirits after receiving his chains, his concerns over the tattoos that had formed on his skin vanishing. More than that, while he was a little thirsty and hungry he wasn't at the point where he was at risk of growing weaker or starving.

Still, he decided that finding supplies of some kind would be his first task. In a way it felt good to establish that, even if it was something he had already assumed. It gave him a purpose besides wandering around and figuring out his new 'sight'.

As if summoned by his good mood, he heard the light thudding of footsteps coming from in front of him. Slowing down his steps, Luke immediately began walking with more caution than he had before. A few minutes into this walk, a creature appeared in the range of his omniscience.

Luke had expected the creature to be walking in his direction, possibly searching for the source of noise his earlier fight had caused. That was not the case, as the creature was in fact moving but not in his direction.

Rather the beast, which he took to formerly be a woman, based on the tattered dress that hung off her frail grey skin. Wasn't moving down the hall at all, rather she seemed entirely engrossed in moving from one wall of the hallway to the other.

Staring at the hairless creature, Luke couldn't help but feel a bit unsettled. So far he had only seen three creatures within this castle, and yet none of the creatures had displayed such strange behavior like this beast.

Through omniscience he could feel the creatures' brain, which was surprisingly more active than the other creatures had been. Pulses of energy raced across its dome with each step it took, which Luke would have thought meant the creature was more aware than the last ones had been.

'Maybe it's some kind of trap?', he wondered, as the creature reached on wall and turned around to shamble to the other. 'Is it even aware enough to set a trap?'.

Of course, it could have made sense for the beast to set a trap, especially if it had heard his fight, and consequently his footsteps as he walked down the hallway. But the maneuver seemed too clever for the beast, even with its more active brain.

'If it's smart enough to set a trap, it might be more dangerous than the other two. Maybe I should turn back', he thought cautiously.

Immediately he rejected the idea, not because he wanted to fight the beast and try out his new chain, even though that did play a part. But also, because he knew that if he was going to be trapped in this place, he would need to get used to fighting the beasts. That way he would be more experienced if ever he found himself in circumstances where he couldn't escape.

Stealing himself, Luke took a slow step forward while keeping his hand out in anticipation of summoning his chain. His heart began to race as he moved, and he felt excitement for the coming battle begin to form in his chest.

It seemed the creature had been waiting for him too, because as soon as he got within three meters of the beast it lunged at him with black claws raised.