The first thing I saw when I entered the room was an enormous bed with a sickly looking young man in it. If I had to guess, I would say he was around twenty-two years old. He looked weak. Factoring in his gorgeous clothes and interior decoration of the room, he had to be the son of an influential person.
There was something strange about him. I scanned him thoroughly but couldn’t exactly pinpoint what was wrong. Still focused on him, I suddenly heard the door open behind us. Following my inner instincts of a former human being, I floated to the side.
Turning myself, I came head to head with a procession of richly dressed people that walked towards the lying man. They ignored me completely.
Looks like they also couldn’t see me. I was not sure if I should be happy or sad about it.
Not having much else to do, I observed them as they proceeded to the bed. After studying them for a while, I was sure that two of them were guests. They were led here to examine the youth and heal him.
Another reason that supported my guess was that both groups were speaking in two different languages and interpreters had to help them understand each other.
The two foreigners had strange clothes. As I had nothing better to do at the moment I flew closer towards them. I wanted to get a better look. Their garments glowed in a healthy greenish light. It looked magical.
Not long after I had arrived next to them, their discussion got more animated. At some point one of the hosts shouted a sequence of strange words and ignited an ancient-looking pendant that he had grabbed in his hand.
Not a second later I understood them as they were speaking with each other!
“Enough of these lengthy translations, that doesn’t help us. We need to help the young lord now! He gets weaker by the minute! Please help us great healers of Anmarath. You are famed for being especially skilled in the arts of healing!”
“Thank you for using the spell, your skills in the arts of translation magic really knows no bounds! Now again, please tell us exactly how the disease has progressed. Every detail can help us find the cure.” The older of the two guests answered.
“I will tell you everything.” The first person said. “It happened like followed. Two weeks ago, our young master, prince Amrus went on a subjugation quest not far away from the city. Some merchants were lamenting about sudden beast attacks near the border and asked for help.
As the young prince had arrived here recently to get experience, he and his entourage accepted the mission and went hunting for the monsters. They even found them at the same day. It was a pack of ghost wolves that had been harassing the merchants.
Naturally a pack of ghost wolves were no challenge for the young master and his team. They killed every one of them. Even so, when they came back master Amrus felt strangely tired and went to bed early. The next morning he couldn’t move his body anymore and we observed a rapid decline of his core energy.
We immediately called the healers, but no healing magic worked. It was like it vanished in his body, not having any effect.
Luckily you coincidently arrived here. Having been informed about your arrival, we called for you right away. Please great healers, cure my master!”
While the people were talking my attention got grabbed by a strange movement out from the corner of my eye. I turned toward the bed again and examined Amrus a second time.
Nothing-Wait! There! It quickly appeared and disappeared. Nonetheless, I was able to see it. It looked like a part of a long transparent worm. It suddenly moved partially out of the young man’s body before it vanished again. With a start, I realized why I found the picture so strange. The worm had no real body! It was invading his soul! The worm moved through it and was eating the man’s soul!
With one ear I was still listening in on the healers discussion. They were convinced that it had to be a strange sickness. They would never be able to cure the prince with that misconception.
What should I do? I was no healer, but neither could I leave without doing anything. They were my best chance on a solution for myself. Maybe I could try to pull it out of him? We are both souls. It should be possible. I was sure that I didn’t have to fear that worm. I already had a parasite in me and that one was much stronger. In addition, it didn’t like to share. The pros outweighed the cons.
I moved closer to Amrus. Hovering with my waiting hands directly above the spot where the worm had surfaced the last time.
______
POV Amrus Lightbearer
Being woken up by a strange pain, Amrus felt exhausted. His thoughts were moving at a snails speed. Would he die like this? He couldn’t believe it. Two weeks ago he was still healthy, full of power, a prodigy in magic. In the future he was destined to rule over one fourth of the empire. But now everything came to an end, and he didn’t even understand why or how.
Hearing the heated discussion of his trusted adviser, he understood that new healers had arrived and opened his weighty eyelids with much effort. What greeted him was something unexpected. Yes, his aid and the healers were in the room, but there was something else there. It was hovering above him. It looked like a ghost out of a fantasy story. It appeared to be a man, clad in strange garments.
He was fully focused on something on the prince’s chest and hadn’t realized that Amrus had awoken yet. Then with a sudden shout he pushed his hand into the lying man’s body.
“Gotcha!” the ghost called and then pulled at Amrus chest.
Amrus felt an immense pain explode in his chest before something got ripped out of his body. He howled as it hurt so much. But then, as sudden as the pain had come, it vanished. He looked up and saw the ghost holding an ugly half transparent worm in his hands.
“You won’t escape, you shitty worm!”
It tried to wiggle its way out of the man’s hand, but the ghost held it tightly. Not being able to flee, the worm turned its body unbelievably quickly and bit into the other soul, only to let go immediately again as it suddenly got shorter and shorter.
It looked like it got devoured by him instead. After it let go of him it appeared to be even more scared and did everything to get away from its tormentor. But before it could wiggle free from the ghostly man, he gripped it with more strength and ripped it apart. It dispersed into motes of light and vanished completely.
As the pain had disappeared warmth flowed into Amrus and he felt his body beginning to regenerate at a visible pace.
Ah short time later the ghost looked back at him “You can see me!?” his face changed into one of happiness.
“Yes, I can see you, who are you?” said Amrus drained. The ghost opened his mouth to answer when he suddenly got interrupted by the healers that were standing nearby.
They couldn’t see the ghost apparently and thought something sinister was going on.
“No! we read the situation wrong! That is no poison or sickness! It is a possession! Amelius, help me exorcise it! We have to expel the demon who has invaded young Amrus body immediately!”
Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.
With that they chanted in unison. “Oh, holy mother of all, we beseech you! Cleanse this poor soul in front of us. Destroy all evil! Cleanse!”
____
POV Andrew Westfield
Yes! I had found a person able to see and understand me. Now I would find a solution for how to get a body again! Full of happiness, I looked at the slowly recovering young man. I was really in luck; he was a prince! He could help me for sure!
I knew I could not always have bad luck. Now everything would turn for the better.
I will- At that moment I felt a unique build-up of power behind me and turned my attention towards the two healers that were now chanting in unison. I only caught the second part of their chant. “-Cleanse this poor soul in front of us, destroy all evil! Cleanse!”
Oh no, wait! I am not evil! Before I could react, I felt the power condense close to me. It was like a sphere of extreme light that mostly existed in the soul plane. I could feel the evil soul inside me squirm as it got hurt by the holy spell. The energy tried to expel me. No! I had finally found a person to talk to, I would not leave!
But the power built and built. At some point I couldn’t withstand the pressure anymore. I wanted to tear my hairs out! I could feel the spell, and my soul was completely immune to it. Only the evil existence got pushed away. I could feel it as it grabbed my soul and dragged me with it.
The sphere exploded with a booming sound, taking every evil existence in the soul plane with it that was in close proximity.
I flew like a bullet shot out of a rifle, speeding far into the distance.
I flew and flew while turning myself around my axis. At some point the power was spent, and I landed on the ground. Everything felt like it was turning. How could this have happened! The salvation was directly in front of my eyes!
Damn, maybe I had still a chance. I had to get back! I focused my attention outward and tried to find my bearing. I scanned the surroundings and cursed a second time. I had landed in the middle of a forest. I flew up into the sky. Not again! I could only see trees. It felt like a déjà vu! I was lost…
My hate for nature grew once more.
____
POV Amrus Lightbearer
Amrus looked perplexed at the space where his ghostly rescuer had been standing a second earlier, before he got blasted out of the room by the spell of his other great “rescuers”. He didn’t know how to react. He felt his life-force coming back quickly now that the worm was gone.
He was still thinking when his overenthusiastic servant carefully touched his shoulder.
“My lord, you are recovering! By the Almighty, thank you!” with that the servant turned himself to the two healers and thanked them profusely.
Amrus observed them as the healers were congratulating each other. He didn’t know if he should laugh or cry. They had not healed him. No, they simply had banished his Saviour. Even so, he knew that he couldn’t tell them that. They would think he was a greedy bastard that didn’t want to reward them for their much-needed help.
Knowing this, he turned his upper body towards his “Saviors” and spoke.
“Thank you very much for your efforts, only thanks to you was I able to recover. I will not forget that dept! Ason, please guide these two to my personal quarters. They have earned the right to choose a middle-class treasure of my collection.”
“As you wish my lord.”
“On another note, I must ask you to keep my recovery a secret, can you promise me that, great healers of Anmarath?”
Naturally, the healers were very enthusiastic about the heard news and gladly agreed to anything the prince wanted. Getting a middle-class treasure was a precious gift. They had no problems keeping their mouths shut for that.
“Thank you, my lord. You are too generous!” They bowed before they turned and left Amrus sick-room, being led by Amrus’s personal servant.
The prince slowly breathed out as he was alone in the room again. He thought about the strange encounter and said to himself, “I have to find my rescuer and thank him!” he was sure that without him, he would have died to that atrocious worm.
———
Somewhere far away, POV ???
“My duke, the soulworm has been implanted into the prince. The beast has been eating at the soul of his highness for over two weeks now. It will not take long anymore before the only son of the king dies. Thanks to the poison we have given her highness, the king will be unable to have another son!”
“Very well, Armon, you did well. With that, nothing will stop my house from becoming the rightful ruler of our part of the empire once more!”
“Yes, my duke! At long last these hypocritical Lightbearers will vanish from the throne and we can cleanse the vermin from the lands of our country. Nobles are born to lead, a higher caste. Commoners are born to serve and provide. How prosperous to think this iron clad rule could be overthrown. The rabble has no clue how to live on their own, only you can lead us to greatness!”
“I know Amon. This will be only the first step. After I have consolidated my reign over Targos I will have more power to influence the emperor. He will see the light of our cause. In one way or another.”
____
POV Andrew Westfield
Yes! At last I had found humans again! I had been flying around the last four days with no clue where these misbegotten “healers” had exorcised me to. Luckily the spell differentiated between my part of the soul and the part of the evil entity in my “body”. Otherwise it would have hurt badly.
I felt the identity for the first time after it had joined with me. It had gotten hit unprepared and was now a total mess “visually”. I had inspected it with my mind’s eye, looking into my own soul.
I couldn’t refrain from feeling some malicious joy at knowing that it was miserable now.
Don’t understand me wrong. The beast was nowhere near hurt severely enough, but it got its otherworldly hide singed quite a bit.
I think most of the damage happened due to its unpreparedness and my inaction. I had the bad premonition that next time such a spell would hit it, it would simply shrug it off. I could already feel it healing itself and changing parts of its structure to better defend against a similar attack.
The more I focused myself on it, the more awed and fearful I became. All the burns and wounds slowly mended themselves. Finished with healing itself, it vanished from my sight once more. Damn, I had to find a cure as quickly as possible. I didn’t want to get devoured or ruled by it.
Luckily until now it didn’t try to take over or devour my soul. But that inactivity would not last forever.
Breathing out slowly, I calmed down and reminded myself that it didn’t help to dwell on things I couldn’t change at the moment. I had a much more pressing matter. I needed to make contact with civilization and somehow get a body. Only then would I be able to research my plight and find a solution. I turned my focus back toward the small city that lay below my flying soul.