10 - The Soul Crystal

Later in the morning, Sakuto traversed one of the more relatively remote areas of central Moscow. He had the Heisei uniform on. His left arm was wrapped in white bandages. He explored his way towards a three-story building, hidden behind other larger buildings. He knocked on the front door, then rang it, then knocked it stronger.

Eventually, he had enough and kicked the door down. He should’ve waited for a little longer, Fedor was already approaching him.

“You know, you’re gonna have to repair that.” Fedor said. He held a half-empty bottle of beer in his hand, his other hand was keeping him from falling over.

“What kind of therapist drinks?” Sakuto asked, entering.

“You’d be surprised.” Fedor said, rushing over to the door and putting it back into its place. Looks like it wasn’t the first time someone barged into his house.

“I’m here to get the soul crystal thingy.” Sakuto said.

“Up to the third floor then.” Fedor said. Sakuto followed him up, they climbed the flight of stairs and eventually reached a slightly more cramped room - the one Fedor used to connect with his customers.

There were many large bookshelves, a small coffee table in the middle surrounded by two armchairs and a patient bed. The table had a small lamp on it with a pen and a notebook. The work desk in the corner of the room was filled to the brim with various papers and books, alongside an old laptop. There were some old windows, but not much light entered. A heavy thunderstorm was emerging outside.

“This is where the magic takes place, boy.” Fedor said, putting the beer bottle on the table. “How many soulfuls do you think come here every day? Not too many, to be honest. At least, not many of them are here for the good stuff.”

“Let’s just get this over with.” Sakuto sighed.

“Oh no, that’s not how it works.” Fedor said. The loud sound of thunder outside pierced their ears, catching Fedor off guard. “Especially in your case.”

“You stash alcohol here?” Sakuto asked. “I knew something was off cause the bookshelves looked too big...how much fucking alcohol do you have?”

“Don’t judge a man by his interests.” Fedor complained.

“And I have to trust you?” Sakuto said. “You probably see two of me right now.”

“I can see one of you. And that one is quite miserable right now.” Fedor said before burping. “Look at your arm.”

“I get it.” Sakuto said.

“A soulful of your caliber doesn’t get wounded like that.” Fedor noted. “Let me guess, you’re also surprised that your soul regeneration can’t heal them.”

Sakuto didn’t reply.

“Look, there’s nothing shameful about what you did, alright?” Fedor said. “I get people like that all the time. You know, sometimes I wish they’d let me take them to stores, maybe I’d get a free drink or some cold chicken cutlets.”

“Okay, I get it!” Sakuto said, much more infuriated.

“Still, it doesn’t mean you’re doing the right thing. You’re destroying yourself, and it’s only gonna get worse. I really do feel bad for you, boy.” Fedor said, patting Sakuto on his shoulder. “You went through a lot, didn’t you?”

“It is what it is-”

“Therefore!” Fedor said. “The crystal will probably do wonders. I can’t promise you’ll stop feeling miserable completely. I mean, if you think about it, being miserable is a prerequisite for being alive. Everyone is miserable. Life is miserable! The world has gone mad...”

“I feel like I’m gonna become the therapist here soon.” Sakuto said. “I’ll hear your philosophy another time.”

“Life is meaningless and inherently painful.” Fedor said. “We’re all just lumps of atoms cursed with self-awareness and a thinking mind. Thinking is painful, and miserable, you cannot be capable of thought and not be miserable.” He reached into a box placed on one of the shelves and got something out of it.

“Makes sense why you drink so much.” Sakuto sighed.

“See this thing?” Fedor asked. He held a hex-shaped gray crystal in his hands, it was about the size of his palm. Sakuto felt a little intimidated by it.

“This is the soul crystal.” Fedor explained. “This is what’s gonna change your life.”

“Will it fix me?” Sakuto asked.

“We’re about to find out.” Fedor said. “Here, get on the bed. I’ll need to check your vitals and stuff first.”

Sakuto laid down on the bed. Fedor brought out an IV bag stand from the corner of the room, attaching it to Sakuto’s body. The heart rate monitor he rolled over connected to Sakuto and displayed his heartbeat, it was a little fast.

“What’s this for?”

“The soul crystal is going to kill your physical body.” Fedor said. “Don’t worry.” He said, seeing Sakuto’s concerned expression. “Your body will be recreated once you leave it, in the state that you were right before you entered.”

“Have you ever been inside?” Sakuto asked.

“Nope.” Fedor said. “But some people have. Most of the time they came out sane and alive.” He attached a few pieces of wire to the crystal, and connected the wires to Sakuto’s scarred arm. He put the crystal on the table, it was starting to glow a little.

“It’s adjusting to your soul prowess.” Fedor said. “It’s gonna take a while for the process to go down. It needs to configure itself first.”

Almost immediately, the crystal flared up with intensity never seen before. It was truly being pushed to its limits. The almost unbearably strong presence alerted all the sharp noses in the world that something was going on. Fedor had to hold onto the table to not fall over from its sheer strength.

“Huh.” He said after a small pause. “Quite the intro.” He paid attention to the readings on his laptop.

[...]

[IDENTIFYING SOULFUL...]

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

[SOULFUL IDENTIFIED AS ‘SAKUTO HITORI’.]

[ANALYZING SOUL PROWESS...]

“How long will I be out for?” Sakuto asked.

“Could be a few minutes, an hour...the longest someone was trapped inside one was a week. They ended up committing suicide the moment they got out.”

“Huh?!” Sakuto asked.

“Your soul will be trapped inside the crystal.” Fedor explained. “It, or, since you’ll be conscious there, you will undergo a series of fabricated events or dreams that will help you regain your willpower and strength. You’ll get out and feel like you just woke up from a really lucid dream.”

“Got it. You’re sending me into a fucking personalized purgatory.” Sakuto said. “Disconnect these things. I’m not doing it.”

“The process is hard, but it is necessary.” Fedor said. “And Kaito certainly doesn’t want to waste time. He’s already dealing with things as we speak.”

Sakuto sighed.

“You’re scared, aren’t you?” Fedor asked.

“Never thought I’d end up laying on a therapist’s bed.” Sakuto said, glancing at his arms. “I never thought it’d get this bad. This feels surreal.”

“Like you said, it is what it is.” Fedor said.

“People think that those who go to therapists are crazy. It’s not right...” Sakuto said. “But they think so anyway. And they say it out loud, and they tell others about it...and people hate you. Everyone laughs at you and thinks that you’re crazy.”

“Those people shouldn’t be allowed to call themselves people.” Fedor said. The crystal began glowing a little brighter. Fedor went and grabbed the laptop from his desk, and sat down in his armchair.

“Oi, your laptop has a soul presence?” Sakuto asked, confused.

“It’s all part of my soul expression.” Fedor said, sounding almost proud. “Everything’s connected to everything, all for the purpose of helping soulfuls mend their souls. Something that not a single doctor in the world can do.”

One of the cables had a piece of shiny metal coming out of it, and Fedor pointed at it, it was what connected the laptop to the crystal. The laptop made some beeping and clicking noises. Fedor looked through the console.

“Warning...system overload is unavoidable?”

“So tell me, what’s gotten you like this?” Fedor asked, working on the laptop. “Lack of love?”

“That too.” Sakuto said. “How’d you guess?”

“When you walked in, or should I say, broke in, I saw the look on your face. Pretty fuckin’ scary.” Fedor explained. “The crystal’s barely capable of holding him inside...”

“I’ll configure a sealing condition as well. I’ll have it create a deadzone that disables soul prowess around it for as long as Sakuto Hitori is sealed. Wouldn’t want some batshit crazy soulfuls to wreck the place.”

“And what is that supposed to mean?”

“You’re a hateful lad.” Fedor chuckled. “Don’t worry though. Hate’s not a bad thing. Love and hate are two sides of the same coin. People like to worship love as this ultimate driver of change and boost of willpower, they tend to forget that hate is just as strong.”

“Looking through the list of issues, yeah, no wonder he’s like this.”

“When you hate something, you love everything that threatens it.” Fedor continued. “When you love something, you hate everything that threatens it. It's just way easier to hate than to love.”

“Makes sense.” Sakuto sighed. After a brief pause, he spoke again. “Every time life’s given me something, it took it back and ripped a chunk out of me while at it.”

“Really?”

“When I became a soulful, I reunited with an old friend of mine. Life was getting fun, and then I died. When I came back to life, that friend was dead. Then, the mentor figure of our group died. Then, I killed someone who was just like me in a lot of ways. And then the war happened, I saw some awful shit there, then I fell out with the girl I wanted to be with, and then someone else showed me kindness, and he died too after involving himself in my mess, and now I feel like I’m a burden even to my only remaining friend and that I’ll never amount to much in my life.”

“Sucks to be you, I guess.” Fedor said. “I can see why you took a liking to painting-less self-tattooing.”

“Fuck off.” Sakuto said. “It’s not something I’m proud of.”

“Instead, be proud that you’re the first one who might mess the soul crystal up.” Fedor said. “What, you think these things are stable and inviolable? Think again.”

“Soul adaptation system...that might be an issue. And there isn’t an estimated time of return. I’ll need to manually pull him out in case his power spikes and he accidentally adapts to the crystal or destroys it completely.”

“It’ll be fine.”

Fedor closed all of the alert notifications, and finally found what he was searching for.

“Soul crystal compatibility is verified. There it is.”

“Soul crystal integrity will not be compromised.”

He inputted some commands, and walked over to Sakuto. He calibrated the small box on the IV stand and inserted a small syringe there.

“Ready?” Fedor asked.

“No.” Sakuto quickly answered. “I need to know when I’ll get back.”

“If it’s a personalized hell...what if I get stuck there?”

“No, I’ll be there again. I’ll go through everything, forever.”

“I’m scared.”

“What if I lose myself?!”

“Like I said, it all depends.” Fedor said. “Don’t overthink it.”

Sakuto tried to get up, but he felt weak.

“What the hell? I can’t move...did you sedate me?” Sakuto asked. “You fucking geezer, did you drug me?”

“How else would I keep you in place, you damn monster?” Fedor said. “Have a safe trip.”

“I said let me out!” Sakuto yelled. “Divine-”

A powerful pulse ran through Sakuto’s body the moment Fedor input the “deploy” command into his laptop. Sakuto’s body twitched, the heart rate monitor screamed for help, showcasing the flatline. Fedor walked over and muted it.

“There’s a chance that returning from the soul crystal may be stressful on the body. That’s why he should stay here. But he’ll likely get snatched by whatever group gets to him first.”

The small crystal started to glow brighter and brighter, and eventually, the same type of spark that appeared on Sakuto’s chest when his adaptation kicked in, appeared on its beautiful reflective surface. A few moments later, the crystal’s soul presence spiked, releasing an almost blinding amount of soul prowess.

“No, don’t tell me that-”

Thankfully, it calmed down. The crystal still had an immense presence, but at least it managed to contain the soul within it.

“Let’s see...” Fedor looked at the console.

[DEADZONE CALIBRATION SUCCESSFUL]

[DAYDREAM SEQUENCE CALIBRATION SUCCESSFUL]

[:// LOADING SOUL CRYSTAL SEQUENCE.]

[SOUL PROWESS SOURCE IDENTIFIED; CAPTURED;]

[DAYDREAM SEQUENCE CONSTRUCTED. SID-80085, MAX-INT.]

[SOUL STABILITY: DANGEROUSLY UNSTABLE]

[WARNING: SOULFUL MAY NOT BE COOPERATIVE UPON RETURN. PLEASE EXERCISE EXTREME CAUTION.]

[ESTIMATED TIME OF RETURN: UNIDENTIFIED]

[CONFIRM TREATMENT? Y / N]

Fedor pressed ‘Y’.

[INITIALIZING DAYDREAM SEQUENCE]

“Right now, this crystal is the single most valuable item in the world...wielding the soul of one of the strongest and most unusual soulfuls alive.”

He glanced at Sakuto’s dead body.

“Second time you’ve died. Must feel pretty cool, huh?”

“You’ll be the one handling burial costs.” He sighed. He got his phone and sent out a message to all the parties invested. There really wasn’t a point, the powerful release of the presence was enough to alert the sharper noses around.

“Sakuto Hitori has been deployed into the soul crystal.”

“Time of deployment, 11 AM local time.”

“I repeat, Sakuto Hitori has been deployed into the soul crystal.”

The thunderstorm raged on...