Chapter 25：Subsoul (1/2)
It was a decision the blue soul had planned impromptu when the teacher passed near Jyorta, coming under its range. The bodies of every adult it had witnessed till date seemed to be protected by a barrier, preventing it from sensing their souls. Now, when the teacher neared it, the blue soul could sense it, the murky soul bigger than itself, present in her.
It could also sense another foreign soul lodged in her back, almost similar to her soul, with a trace amount of variations, slowly synchronising. Maybe after a month, there would no longer be any difference between the two if it tried to sense them.
'Is it that when the two souls look to be the same superficially, a barrier forms around their body, preventing my senses? Or, is there something else?' The blue soul thought, extending one of its blue tendrils into the teacher's spine, connecting with the soul that looked like the wisp of a newborn. There was a small shudder across the surface of the wisp, like a calm lake where a boulder had been dropped, producing ripples.
'Success, I made a connection with it. Now, I should make use of this opportunity and see if I can take over its soul.' The blue soul thought, extending the other blue tendril, and attaching it to the wisp. After sensing the two souls in the body of the teacher—one belonging to her that looked bigger than the blue soul, emitting a foul stench and covered with a murky substance, while the other was a tiny transparent wisp—the blue soul made a decision.
'Based on my experience accumulated by trying to take over Jyorta's soul for a decade, it is practically impossible for me to take over the soul of the teacher. There is a high chance that her soul might devour me. But, it is a different case altogether for the tiny wisp.' The blue soul thought, silently chanting the verse imparted to it by the Creepy-Haired man. Immediately, an exchange of memories took place between the blue soul and wisp. When it lost some energy, the blue soul replenished its reserves by absorbing them from Jyorta's.
It didn't care if its action of absorbing the energy from Jyorta's soul would affect him. As long as the foundation of his soul wasn't damaged, his soul would recover after some rest. After all, his soul was constantly nurtured by the body, replenishing it in case of deficiency.
The teacher had reached the infirmary by now; as she opened the door, Jyorta looked at her, a puzzled expression etched on his face. ”Teacher,” He hesitated, ”Are you having trouble getting pregnant?”
”What?!” The teacher growled, shock and anger clouding her face, so much so she almost dropped the boy in her arms. ”Who told you that?”
”I-In the morning; s-someone was talking about it near the staff room.” Jyorta became scared as he quickly concocted a lie. He didn't know how the thought came into his head, but he unconsciously opened his mouth and felt the words flowing out on their own. Lies weaved into sentences whose credibility couldn't be verified, but creating a feeling of truth.
”Concentrate on your studies.” The teacher said, her gaze turning cold as she pushed open the infirmary door, entering it. She glared at Jyorta, filled with malice. Jyorta got a bit scared, following after her, thinking of ways to placate her anger.
'I just gained this information from the wisp and Jyorta has already accessed it. Dammit.' The blue soul thought, urging the two tendrils to invade faster. Thinking for a second and weighing the pros and cons, the size of the blue soul began to shrink, making the two blue tendrils swell up in size, wrapping around the wisp.
”Nurse, this boy fainted in class. He seems to have caught a fever; can you inspect him?” The teacher said to the nurse, placing the boy on a nearby berth when her hands froze. There was a confused expression on her face as something within her seemed to have changed, but she couldn't point it out.
'Haha, success!' The blue soul cheered, pulling out some energy from Jyorta's soul to recover. It had invaded the wisp and gained full control over it. A large amount of information gushed into it through the two blue tendrils, condensing into blue patterns, filled with new knowledge.
Subsoul!
The blue soul felt a permanent connection form with the subsoul, no longer having to connect with a tendril. The small wisp was now another Kaushik!
The blue soul retracted its two blue tendrils, inspecting the changes surrounding it. Seeing the blue patterns that had appeared in its soul, the blue soul fell into deep thought.
'The subsoul is capable of surviving on its own; I don't need to maintain an active connection with it. It is an independent entity of me, operating based on my thought process. Though, it seems I am unable to share information with the subsoul without forming a connection using the blue tendril. I will have to experiment more in the future. Now, I have to digest all the memories gained from this encounter.'
The blue soul rested, having zero intention to act further. The alarming rate at which Jyorta kept accessing its memories was like a noose tightening around it. If it progressed conventionally with its invasion, then it would face its doom soon.
3:30 pm, the trio returned home. The small circus act during the language class was naught but a pastime joke between the three friends.
”Jyorta, tell the truth.” Laila turned her head, revealing a slight smile, ”The only reason you followed the language teacher was to waste her time right?”
”I was planning to do it if you hadn't stepped up before me.” George laughed, slumping his hand over Jyorta's shoulders. The two stopped speaking when they saw Jyorta's serious face, seemingly in deep thought.