The Order of Mages honoured father with a show of illusion magic performed by a mix of orc, human, and elf. Many people spoke of tales I’d never heard about, stories from years past. Despite getting an official send-off, his funeral never felt like anything was concluded, at least not for me.
The book, Hivemind, kept circulating my mind, but I let my clone properly ingest all information before transferring memories again. Hmm, the answers I seek are behind the eyes of many. My thoughts once again returned to that statement.
How bizarre that entire situation was! No one seemed to remember the mob outside the house calling me a traitor. Not a soul mentioned the fact that father suggested they hide, despite having more than enough skill to harmlessly deal with the dangers of the mob.
“Well, that’s a given. Mary passed it off as a rare sickness,” Donna explained.
I squirmed internally. So, they’re all keeping this ‘eyes of many’ thing a secret?
“Yes,” Dawn interjected, “your mom asked us to stick with that story unless you decide otherwise.”
Until I decide? Why me?
“Well, you’re Eric, aren’t you? She figured you’d end up doing something about it.”
Later that day, at the usual bedtime, mom sat on the veranda with a drink in her hand.
“Mind if I have a seat?”
She motioned me next to her with the tilt of her head.
I sat down, and looked at her. I gave my full attention, faced my entire body toward her. “Mom, what would you like me to do?”
She caressed the glass’ rim with her index over and over, deep in thought, until a sigh stopped her. “Eric, I love you. I love Flynn too. Because I love you both, I’m confused.”
I didn’t understand where she was coming from, and asked that she be straight with me.
With a reluctant look in her eyes, she faced me properly. “Part of me wants you to find out who’s behind this and rip their soul from their body! Part of me doesn’t want you killing or hurting anyone, and I think it’s selfish of me to pass any of my wishes onto you.”
I conjured up some chilled water and had a gulp, mulling over what I should do. However, I decided it would be best to keep my family as far away as possible from the decision I’ve been eyeing.
It took a few days of planning for Dad’s friends and students to gather in Aquan, which meant they were in no hurry to leave immediately after his funeral. After talking to a few of them over drinks, they were more than willing to share the topics of conversation Dad had with them before he passed. However, there was only one colleague who studied the most recent thing with him, a colleague who was not at his funeral. What was even more mysterious, was that not a soul knew what they were studying before Flynn was killed.
Annie Kidman her name, and finding her was actually not a very difficult thing to do. She was holed up in a lonelier building in the Order of Mages. Hell, it almost seemed like her own little spot. I knocked on the door to no avail; she didn’t answer. Eventually I identified myself as Flynn’s son, and even then, there was no answer.
“Stop it,” Donna said, “you can’t just break into a woman’s personal space.”
What other choice do I have? Besides, this ain’t her personal space. This is the Order’s grounds. Life Perception made me sure that she was there, although I couldn’t confirm that the person inside was Annie Kidman. Meh, whatever… I Voidwalked right in, and the minute I exited the void, a Wind Cutter almost took my head off. Thankfully, Donna placed a Convergence orb between me and the spell.
“So, that was welcoming,” I commented.
She hid behind some furniture, obviously quaking in her boots. Another Wind Cutter journeyed to me, and another Convergence foiled her plans. Sheesh! I did some light manipulation to calm her down, and only then did she ask what my purpose was for being here.
“Heard you been studying something interesting with Flynn,” I placed a cup of tea on the table. “Wanna fill me in?”
She was a mess, her clothes and hair ragged, and she seemed to keep looking all about the room whilst speaking with me. “You don’t understand…”
“Well, no, I don’t. That’s why I’m here.”
“Smartass. I meant you wouldn’t understand even if I told you,” when she calmed down, she had quite a mouth.
“Try me, lady.”
She sighed, “You kids and your spunk. Dealing with Ulanos and being a hero don’t mean shit here! No one in this damnable Order can claim to be a true mage!”
“Unless they did what you and Flynn did?” I questioned. “And what would that be?”
“Like I said, you wouldn’t understand.”
I smiled gently and placed my teacup on the saucer, resting it down on the table in front of us. Calmly, I strolled around the table toward her, grabbed her by the collar and lifted her up to my height, “Don’t waste my fucking time, lady! I saw my father die with no explanation, if you know something, tell me! Else I’ll do worse than whatever it is you’re afraid of!”
She chuckled, “You damn pissant! You’ve got no idea what you’re getting yourself in–”
I cast Discharge to shock her, created a clone to keep her under Arc Lightning and entered her mind. At first, I didn’t want to use mind manipulation on other human beings, but I’d had enough. Slowly, I began mapping her mind, just like I did those animals when I practised to resist the effects of Subservience.
Getting her to talk would’ve been much better, because the process of mapping a human consciousness took a little over a month. Eventually, I could see it all. Frightening revelations came forth, but most were nothing to speak of.
However, I was right on the money to think that what they studied prior to Flynn’s death was what caused his death. They were studying an ancient ritual called One. It, theoretically, was supposed to bind someone’s mind, memories, and senses to a being of higher sentience, and in turn, that being would provide them with any information it had access to. It was like a library of mass knowledge right in your mind, but even that explanation didn’t do it justice.
In fact, even after learning what she knew – which was mostly slightly-educated hypotheses – it still didn’t exactly explain what the hell happened to Flynn. I rubbed my noggin in frustration, going over the things I learnt from this pain of a woman. So, in the One ritual, a being can be connected to an entire community of other beings. But since different species think in vastly different ways, it’s hard to iron out the kinks. For example, in Annie Kidman’s brain, there was the notion that binding a dog and a human to the same hivemind was impossible without first having one of the two, or both, undergo some sort of radical change mentally or physiologically, or both.
As you can see, there were still a lot of questions in Annie Kidman’s head that she couldn’t figure out herself. But the one burning her the most right now was, “How the fuck could you keep me in the same place for a month?! What’d you do to me?!”
“The most invasive thing probably ever done?” I shrugged. “Anyway, I removed all the information that was irrelevant to what happened to Flynn so all your dirty secrets will remain just that – dirty secrets.”
Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.
“H-hold up! Wait, wait just a minute, you read my mind and saw my memories?” She asked, a hand up.
I began creating a makeshift bath and blocked it off for her, “Yep. Here’s a change of clothes and there’ll be something for you to eat once you finish bathing.”
“You will see hell for this, I assure you, boy!”
“Meh, you’ll forgive me.”
“Why would I do that?!” she snapped back.
“Because I probably know how the One ritual is done.”
She laughed, hysterically. “You?” she scoffed, not at all believing me.
“Yeah, the guy who just read your mind.”
She paused, a long silence wallowing between us. “W-what do you think One is then?”
“High level mind magic, and nature magic.”
“Nature magic? The hell’s that?”
“Curious, aren’t we?” I teased her and abruptly left.
I went over to the Order’s library to see just what the hell my clone was doing, only to find him fast asleep with the ‘Hivemind’ book in his hand. Wow!
“You’re a let-down to yourself,” Donna shook her head.
I woke him up, had him transfer his memories to me so I’d learn what the Hivemind book was about, then dismissed him. And just like that, my theory about the One ritual having to do with mind and nature magic became null. Either that, or the person who wrote the book didn’t know the correct terminology. The book spoke of soul magic. Soul magic? Soul goddamn magic? You know about this, Donna?
“Uh, yes and no?”
Donna, don’t make me get in there and beat the shit out of you…
“Hear me out, idiot. I don’t know of anything pertaining to ‘soul’ magic, but I do know that souls exist, however I don’t know very much about it. Technically, I never really ‘died’, in a way.”
“I don’t think you have to worry about it too much,” Dawn said. “Souls are something the goddess of life deals with, and I don’t think it has anything to do with magic, mana, or anything that we’re used to.”
That can’t be right, can it? It’s gotta have something to do with magic because I used Light Resurrection on both of you.
“Well,” Dawn scratched her head, “I don’t actually think my soul is with me, like a normal living thing. I actually think it’s still in the afterlife. It’s just that my consciousness was implanted back into my body. I don’t really know much about it either, but uh, you could try to get in contact with the witch. She seems to have connections with the gods.”
I plopped my body onto a chair. How in blazes do I even talk to her again?
“Go back to the dungeons in Yunaris?” Donna suggested.
Nah, that was just a one-time thing. And besides, it’s not like I made her appear. She did it on her own somehow. Who do I talk to about soul magic?
“What about the spirit lords?” Dawn chipped in.
That, actually wasn’t a bad idea. In fact, it pushed questions to my mind immediately. Wait, so, there’s the spirit world, where the draconic spirit lords exist. There’s the spirit void, with void, space, mind, and arcane spirit lords. What about the nature, soul, light, and shadow spirit lords? Where the hell are they?
“I don’t know but you better spend some time with your family before you go off on adventures again because I’ll skin you alive!” Dawn became more like Mary the demon every passing day.
~
“Avatar of light and shadow?” Arcana, the arcane spirit lord rubbed her chin in question. “Soul?” she was even more confused. “I’ve never even heard of those. But I have heard of nature magic. I suggest you invest in it.”
I palmed my face, opened my eyes and had a look at Hethekk the Scryer.
“Your friend mastered space manipulation and you mastered void manipulation. You haven’t practised arcane manipulation per se,” Hethekk pointed out, “but you’ve got an arsenal of spells related to that magic type, and Arcana also favours you. But me…”
“I can’t just learn mind magic ethically,” I complained. He basically didn’t want to help me because I’d neglected my mind manipulation practise whilst all the other spirit lords’ respective magic type was pretty much mastered by someone. “To do it, I’d have to map the minds of high-sentience beings, and that’s not very nice.”
“Why should you or I care? You realise that you only serve to doom yourself by leaving it out?”
“I give you my word that I’ll master mind magic. Besides, for this new threat, or whatever it is, I don’t think I’ve got a choice. So, can you help me out?”
He grunted, “Let me make this clear, I will help you purely due to the coming crisis that is Apollyon. I trust you haven’t forgotten. Now listen well,” he cleared his throat.
“Magic, by its very nature is dangerous,” he warned me of something so obvious. “Light and shadow magics are not meant for beings of this realm, but I won’t get into that. You’ve been gifted one of them by a being chosen by the gods. I don’t think there will be spirit lords for those two magic types. Nature magic on the other hand, is a product of this realm, however meant for certain beings like guardians. It allows the user to merge parts of different physiologies. This is essential in order for you to progress past a certain magic power.”
He took a long pause after and finally stood up from his meditative position. “Soul magic is one you should never tamper with. It does not concern you, nor does it concern anyone.”
“That can’t be right,” I retorted.
His eyebrow flinched.
“It’s not called ‘soul magic’ for nothing, is it, Hethekk? As far as I know, magic is an entity not used by the gods. The fact that it is magic means it was meant to be utilised by the beings created by the gods – us. And to be honest with you,” I smiled gently, “if you really wanted to convince me to not pursue it, you’d manipulate the shit outta my mind, wouldn’t you Mr Mind-Man?”
“You’re sickening…”
“Oh, you flatter me,” I smiled and cocked my ears, prepared to hear what he had to say about soul magic. However, all I got was a stupid piece of advice.
“Worry about mind and nature magic first before you seek to comprehend soul magic. You are young and brash,” he stroked his beard, “but your sense of danger should be alive and kicking. Should you pursue soul magic, you will doom yourself.”
Was he lying? I didn’t know. The thought of reading his mana for lies didn’t cross my mind. Even if it did, I had my doubts that it would work as intended.
Donna assimilated outside and folded her arms, giving the spirit lord a subtly mean glare. “You warned about the coming of Apollyon, saying he would destroy all life. If that is true, perhaps it makes sense to give us all the knowledge we seek?”
Hethekk’s face went through a farrago of different expressions, then eventually settled on his usually stoic demeanour. “I withhold knowledge only because he is not yet ready to consume it. Should I disclose things I shouldn’t, it will close nearly all acceptable outcomes. Seek the guardian of nature and advance yourself. Come back to me only when you’ve mastered at least mind or nature magic.” He returned to his meditative state, so as not to be disturbed.
“Well that’s rude,” Donna pouted and returned to my mind.
Guess it’s time to pay Aerellis a visit.
The Withering Forest were her eyes and ears, so she knew I was coming. Why then, did the vines not clear as I neared the entrance to the Grove of the Ancient? Was it a bad time? I squatted down and sighed. What could she be doing? Hope she’s not asleep. Alas, I chose to use Life Perception and would see a flickering, dimming life essence coming from the grove. What were the chances that anything would die of natural deaths down there?
“Zero. Go check it out,” Donna calmly advised.
I slipped into Voidwalk and sank through the ground, flying toward the faint life essence. Aerellis was quivering on the ground. I flew quickly over to her and used Convalesce. It brought her back to tip-top shape nearly instantly. My suspicions of the same thing that happened to Flynn happening to her was in vain; she was just fine after I healed her.
Her breathing was a bit heavy, and she motioned me closer. “Run,” she said weakly. The second she told me this, I entered a void plane with her and used Mana Perception in conjunction with Life Perception. It was hard to see if there were any foreign beings close by, because there were many other beings in the Grove of the Ancient, but there was one that constantly moved, albeit slowly.
Invisibility, someone’s there. Not knowing who I was up against, I chose to take some defensive measures. I cast Timedial and put on my Avatar and God spells, drank a potion, and returned from my void plane to the corporeal plane with Magnet’s violet energy shielding me. Of course, I ensured Dispel relieved me of any mind magic, should the suspicious invisible thing try to do anything without me realising.
Someone who’s mastered the manipulation of a magic type should be feared, tremendously so, and to make things worse for my creepy friend, I’ve mastered the five main elements along with my specialty and living enchantment, void magic. If one couldn’t see how outgunned he was after witnessing me, then the very magical pressure I exuded would’ve spoken directly to one’s sense of danger.
Yet, after I made a sudden appearance that spelt ‘ready for battle’, there was not even a flinch in movement. At this point, I knew the strange-moving life essence knew that I was looking at it, so it should’ve felt the danger and freeze in its tracks, or at least run. Yet, nothing of the sort happened.
I began to doubt myself then. What the hell is that? It was strange to me, because all life essences lie at the centre of mass. The position seemed to be an average human’s centre of mass, which made me think it was someone else to begin with. My thoughts diverged into two paths. This thing was either of extremely low sentience and ignorant of my very presence and so, did not react. Or it is an extremely powerful and dangerous opponent to not have even flinched. Hmm, what do you think Donna?
“It’s not a low-sentient being. It knows you’re here. It is Invisibility and not a void spell, otherwise we wouldn’t see the life or mana essence at all.” She stared at it, “It’s not camouflage either, it’s travelled so far that we’d have seen something even if it was in the dark like that. I’m getting really bad vibes, Eric. Be careful.”
Hmm, there’s no need to risk my life. With that, I returned to the void plane where Aerellis awaited and created two clones. One teleported with Aerellis to another world completely, just to ensure her safety. The other one went back to the corporeal plane and walked toward the mysterious life essence, risking his ‘life’.
Suddenly, the life essence disappeared, “Come now, I know Mana Perception too! I can see that that’s a clone, Mr Archibald.”
That voice struck a nerve, not one of anger but one of déjà vu. It was smooth, clear, well spoken. It was Sven; he suddenly appeared.