The void was a complete and total blackness, a space without up or down, without sound or light. Elias was completely alone, a single point of awareness in a sea of nothingness. He couldn't move, couldn't speak, could only think. It was a terrifying form of imprisonment, a place where his own mind was his only company. Then, from the darkness, a set of eyes appeared. They were glowing orange balls like amber reflecting an unseen light with vertical slits, like a cat's, but far more,sinister. The rest of the creature, whatever it was, was shrouded in a veil of black, an inky darkness that seemed to swallow the light around it.
He felt it then. It was as if a thousand cold, unseen fingers were being forced into his head, prying open the locks of his mind, trying to take control of his body. It was a violation that went beyond the physical. It was a spiritual assault, an attempt to encroach upon his very being. He tried to resist, to push back against the invisible force, but he was like a child trying to stop a tidal wave. The force was relentless, never slowing down for even a moment as its grip became tighter and tigher around his psyyche and soul.
As the force overpowered him, Elias felt a strange sense of resignation.
This was it.
This was the end.
He was finally going to die. It wasn't the death he had wanted, not on his own terms, but it was death nonetheless. A sense of peace, a quiet calm, washed over him, followed quickly by a sharp pang of regret and...resistance? He had spent his whole life trying to die. His whole purpose for studying Flow was to find a way to negate his immortality, and now that he was seemingly about to perish , he wished he had more time. He wished he had found out more about the world, about Flow, about his powers. He wished he had gotten to know his family better. He wished he had more time.
And then, as the cold force was about to take hold completely,he decided to give one last push. As he did, a strange energy from deep within him flared to life. It was not his Flow or his Anti-Flow. It was something else entirely, something that not only pushed back the invading force but seemed to negate the very notion of it taking control of Elias's being.Elias was stunned.
He was left floating in the black void, unharmed. 'What was that?'
He had no idea.
'Was it my inherent immortality that acted as a shield ?'
The voice came then, an echo that vibrated all around him coming from everywhere and nowhere at the same time.It was a deep, resonant sound that had a compulsory effect on him,an authority that would force him to obey.
"What are you?"the voice asked.
The question lingered in the air, but after a while, it seemed to fade away. The vertical slits in the eyes of the creature narrowed, as if in contemplation. The veil of darkness that shrouded it slowly dissipated, as the creature revealed itself coming out of the darkness as if rising from black water. It was a massive white fox, its fur gleaming like snow in the moonlight. Elias noticed, however,that it had two tails, each one radiating a powerful energy. It was a being of immense power, a creature of legend.
'Is it an Apex Beast or a Mythical one? Dont tell me its Divine!?' Elias thought, his mind racing to comprehend the creature before him but all his assumptions just seemed wrong.
The fox opened its mouth, and Elias felt himself being pulled towards it. The creature wasn't going to kill him; it was going to swallow him, to absorb his essence, to make him a part of its being. Just then, there was a flash of light, and Elias was back in his room, panting. Eli was holding a cup of water, a look of concern on his face.
"Drink this," Eli said, shoving the cup into his hands.
"You look terrible."
Elias drank the water greedily.
"What happened?" he asked.
"What did you do?"
"Another domain manifested and pulled you in," Eli explained, a worried look on his face.
"You were trapped inside a dark orb, and I couldn't get to you. I could feel the energy of whatever was in there. It was trying to... change you. I didn't want whatever was causing all that to succeed in its... whatever attempt it was making, so I took the talisman for manifesting the snake Shikigami and made a Transmutation Array that would convert Flow into Anti-Flow while simultaneously converting Anti-Flow into Flow and stuck it to the orb."
Elias's eyes widened in realisation. The flash of light was probably a neutralisation reaction between the two processes that took place on the talisman. The orb had been a container, and Eli had just destroyed it,releasing him.
He looked at the Fox Mask sitting on his bedside table, a slow smile creeping over his face.
"Why are you smiling?" Eli asked,confused.
"Because," Elias said, a faint laugh in his voice,
"In all my four years in this world, this is the closest I've ever gotten to dying."
Eli's expression was unreadable.
"Oh."
Elias picked up the mask and looked at it.
"Are you going to try it again?" Eli asked.
Elias stared at it for a moment, then shook his head.
"No," he said.
"Not yet. I don't have enough information. If that was truly death, or if I would just be banished to some void, I don't know. And I don't know if that thing, that Fox, would take over my body if I vanished."
"I see." Eli said letting out an almost disappointed sigh.
"Those are permissible reasons."
Elias looked at him. "
" What do you mean 'permissible'? "
Eli just shrugged.
" How did you get out of my Spirit Domain anyway?" Elias asked. Eli began to talk about some gibberish and Elias, now feeling the full exhaustion of his session with his new purchases, dismissed him back into his soul. Putting the fox mask back on the table , he fell back onto his bed, a new determination in his heart. He was going to find out the secret of the mask and if it could truly kill him. These were his last thoughts before his consciousness faded and he fell asleep.