Unsafe Working Conditions : A He Who Fights With Monsters 6+ Companion Story

Chapter 6 - A Wall of Light

 Liam could feel his soul changing, it was consuming something from Henri and growing stronger. It was not growing in the traditional sense, more like when a sponge is getting wet for the first time. He could feel it expanding, becoming more whole and knew that he would need to find more of whatever this sustenance is.

As the expansion of his soul slowed he felt something slide into place, intuition told him that it was a racial gift. His memories told him that had already awakened them, he was a human and this was an experience that was not unfamiliar to him. From what he could understand it was a gift familiar to him, it would allow him to consume knowledge like before but there was more to it now.

Opening his eyes he saw that he was now sitting on the ground. Next to him leaning against the wall was Henri, holding Liam's axe he was watching the surrounding. Memories about the man began to surface.

"Henri Babaineaux, 4th strike team, former French Foreign Legion. Your specialty was wide area damage, though I don't remember the specifics," Liam spoke as he got to his feet.

A smile like a crescent moon in the night sky spit the man's face, "You do remember me!"

Liam shook his head while saying, "Somewhat, my memories are scattered, whatever happened to us seems to have damaged my soul." Turning to face the taller man he continued, "What just happened to us seems to have revitalized me, are you okay?"

"I am fine," Henri responded.

"Okay let's get back to my base and we can try and find some food, it seems like most of these monsters are experiments. The only ones that have been able to produce food are the big ones with mostly flesh." Liam held out his hand, Henri placing the makeshift axe into it.

Tilting his head to the side Henri looked at him with a strange expression, "Why do you need food? You have all your Essences, at least you should?"

Hearing the words from Henri's mouth a wave of memories reasserted themselves within his mind. He had been one of the new waves of Essence users that were trained by the new techniques that didn't use monster cores. He remembered being fortunate enough to have been chosen to be the bearer of the Essence that had been found at the site of a religious war he had responded to as part of a joint military action. As the memories played in his head they began to fade, succumbing to the consuming emptiness that suffused his existence. As the memories returned to the vague fog they normally retained he realized that two of his Essences were gone and all of his awakening stones and the abilities from them were gone.

Seeing the color drain from the man's face, Henri was taken aback, the focus of Liam's eyes came and went as he swayed back and forth. It only lasted for a few moments and once it was done his eyes locked on Henri's face.

"I lost two of my Essences and all of my awakening stones..." the words coming from his mouth in a haunted whisper. "Did anything like that happen to you?"

With a shock Henri realized that he had not tried to use magic since waking up in the strange chamber. The only thing he had done was follow the instructions given by the synthetic voice. It had guided him to the compartments where he had clothed himself and provided him with an Iron ranked spirit coin for consumption and a number of lesser for grooming. Afterwards it instructed him to take one of the coins and press it to the control panel of the door and follow the corridor to the left.

Closing his eyes he concentrated on the Essences that had defined him for the last decade. As he inspected his powers, he could feel something like teeth marks on his soul, there were abilities missing and quite a few but he maintained the core Essence powers.

Henri opened his eyes and looked at the shorter man and nodded, "I have my Essences but many of the awakened powers are now gone. I could feel something like scars or teeth marks on my soul. I know it sounds crazy but until we shook hands I was in a fog. When we shook hands it was like something was being peeled off my soul, it hurt and now that I focus on the memory I could feel something being taken away. Not to sound overly religious but it was like being reborn, a little pain followed by fresh new sensations."