Chapter 331: The Entity

"This one sees that you are surprised, Kindred," said Zahak. "And at unease."

"You easily have the power to kill me as I am," said Aldrich. "Your battles with Vanguard reshaped entire landscapes. You by yourself could have wiped out all of humanity.

Hell, after dying, you almost did with the Monstering.

There's no reason I shouldn't be on guard."

"You do not have true physical existence here." Zahak, to prove his words, reached out a hand covered in so many layers of cloth that it was impossible to see the skin to Aldrich.

Aldrich raised his arms in a guard, but Zahak's arm phased through him.

"There is no means by which this one may harm you," continued Zahak. "And the connection we share now is but fleeting and unstable, generated in the brief instant where your Outer might overwrites my own, intertwining our essences in the slightest of moments.

A connection far too weak to offer you harm to the mind.

And this one is not here to harm you, Kindred."