New Eden: Live to Play, Play to Live

Following the dragon's roar, another one resounded at the cave entrance, this one less loud but just as ferocious.

That's when Genie, who was still struggling to fight off her last three assailants, saw a white blur suddenly snatch one away, a trail of blood following behind it.

With only two enemies, she quickly overpowered them and finally could take a moment to breathe. Looking around, she noticed the battlefield, which had been a stalemate at best and a loss at worst, was now quickly tilting in their favour.

'Master. Do you need me in the cave?' she asked Astaroth, wondering if she could be more useful there.

'I don't see how anything will change for us at this point. Stay up there. White is here, defending me, but I don't think he needs help. Just make sure I don't get attacked,' Astaroth replied through their link.

She realized there wasn't much for her to do up here, anyway, given the allies she had present. So she chose to go down, even though he had told her not to.

Just to be sure she wasn't leaving a weakness up top, she howled to the skies.

A moment after, a song of howls responded to her.

Genie hadn't been sitting on her ass for the last month, and this was the fruit of her labour.

She and White had hunted down the nearest pack of dire wolves, and with White's new powers, plus her strength ever since training under the guardians of the Ash Elf forest, they subdued the pack, which now served Genie.

She was now a true alpha.

***

Astaroth heard the howls from inside the cave and wondered if more enemies had just shown up. They were already on the fringe as it was.

Even if the situation was tipping in their favour, all it took was the slightest bump, and their counter-offence would collapse.

Leon was practically a dead man standing.

Shegror still hadn't entirely recovered from her previous wounds and spent much of her mana and stamina to do her dragon breath earlier.

Luna was still reforming inside him.

White had finally dealt with the zone boss in the underground cave, but he was wounded, and the insect onslaught was unending.

Selena had changed into her tiger form, growing in power along with her size, but she was already tired from her overexertion from defending the tunnel.

As things stood, they were only marginally winning this encounter. And he still hadn't found a solution to his own problem.

'This is a lost cause. Only fifteen seconds remain, and I can't fill this up. Did we just waste five minutes fighting a losing battle, just to win and get no spoils?' he wondered.

But a voice spoke in his mind, delicate and confident.

'Our domain is that of souls. You are standing inside the region's biggest well of passing souls since the Elvish wars. Use it. Show us you can rule over our power.'

Astaroth felt like he recognized the voice, but it felt unfamiliar to him simultaneously. Like he'd heard it before but couldn't put his finger on the memory of when or where.

'Seize our power. Make it yours, as it was meant to be,' the voice spoke again. Novel Fire - novelfire.net

But this time, it came with a pulse of the divinity fragment inside him.

'Are you the one talking to me?' Astaroth asked, looking inside his soul space.

'Seize our power. Make it yours, as it was meant to be,' the voice replied, reiterating its words.

Astaroth didn't understand what it meant by 'seize our power.' The last time he came into contact with the divinity fragment, it saved his life; the time before, it threatened to consume it.

Touching that thing was the last thing he wanted to do. He had no time to deal with a hostile takeover again, and he refused to fall unconscious here, of all places.

But Astaroth felt something shove him forward.

Looking behind him, he noticed Geminae pushing him into the cage.

"What are you doing?!" Astaroth shouted.

"I'm following its command. Seize the power. Become whole. Become who you were meant to be," Geminae said, his eyes resolute.

Astaroth tried pushing against him, but he felt a suction coming from the divinity fragment, but he could not resist.

"God dammit! I can't even decide what I do inside my own body! Let go of me! I'm not gambling on unknown power!" he shouted, struggling against the suction and Geminae's pushing.

But it was useless.

His body slammed into the cage, and instantly, his hand rose to touch the bright orb of white.

His body convulsed inside and outside the soul space, as his eyes shone a bright golden light.

A halo the size of a cart wheel appeared behind him, with sigils in a language no one present would understand. In the middle of this halo, a single blueish-white flame flickered, not unlike the one that had been on the orb Astaroth absorbed the first time he met with Aberon.

A pulse of Aether left his body, reaching the sky over his position, forming a bubble atop the forest. And inside this bubble, the souls of the dying monsters suddenly stopped ascending.

In a matter of seconds, all the souls had reversed their path and were heading toward the ground again. But instead of returning to their previous bodies, they sank into the ground, seemingly going toward the same place.

Underground, Astaroth was already gathering the souls that had been closer to him and, with his spare hand, was shoving them into the Evolution Fruit, which had started glowing.

The scent escaping it grew by the second, and White quickly understood it was reaching the cusp.

Astaroth wasn't conscious of his actions and couldn't watch as the timer for expiration ticked away.

Three seconds.

Two.

One.

And right before it ticked its last second away, a notification rang in Astaroth's mind, which he was unaware of.

*Ding!*

You have completed the special event: Ripening the Fruit!

Congratulations, Player Astaroth!

**

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