Silently, Nimh watched the spiritual seed.

The blue light swelled as it fed on the spirit, but Nimh was far from done.

Tapping into the spiritual seed, Nimh began the slow, gruelling process of expanding his spirit well. It was usually a painful experience, as his past self had needed to use his own spirit to fuel the spiritual seed.

In reality, using either his own spirit or Wolfgang’s spirit would have achieved a similar result. The seed could be refined, the well deepened and Nimh strengthened.

But everything has a price.

Using Wolfgang’s spirit made the process slightly easier, saving Nimh’s own spirit as a reserve. It did, however, leave the spiritual seed somewhat unstable. The instability left cracks so speak, offering a chance for Wolfgang’s spirit to escape, a small chance, but not impossible. And then the spiritual seed would lose some of its power.

It was the price of using someone else’s power to advance. Easy come easy go.

If Nimh had used his own spirit, the pain would have been excruciating, but his seed would be far more stable. But it would also take far longer.

On the other hand, Nimh didn’t need the spiritual seed to maintain its current level of power for long.

Just long enough to improve the well. And for good measure, Nimh added his own spirit to the mix and welcomed the pain like an old friend. A friend he trusted with his life but did not necessarily want to spend too much time with.

With both his own focused spirit and Wolfgang’s meagre spirit acting as a borrowed source of power, the well undertook an impressive change.

The blue light emitted from the seed became solid as it pushed out towards the darkness, tainting it until a panorama took form. To Nimh’s sense, it was like watching a night sky slowly drift from midnight black to early morning dusk.

As he marvelled at the effect on his spirit well, he felt the pain echo through him, around him. He was within his spirit well and the pain was unlike anything he could describe. In a way, he felt the pain, in another, he was the pain.

And that pain crackled through him like lightning dancing through a storm.

And it felt good.

The well around him felt small, like a cage, and his spirit was like a beast, howling to be free. With each passing second, the spiritual seed pushed the confines of the well out, stretching it, tearing it, forcing it to bend.

And Nimh felt every moment of it, like an expanding mass in his chest, threatening to burst.

But Nimh felt no fear of this pain. He had experienced it many times before. To him, it was not dangerous, but a mere stepping stone on his way forward.

Unfortunately, his way forward soon froze to a stop as his spirit reached the full extent of what it could manage. Even with the aid of Wolfgang’s soul, his progress had been disappointing.

Reaching out his awareness, he felt the walls of his spirit well, still tainted in darkness. However, a surprising amount of that darkness had been changed, leaving wisps of dark blue and purple in its wake. Nimh smiled.

With the care and ease of a practised hand, he plunged into the spiritual seed and grasped the remnant of Wolfgang’s soul. It was exhausted, but over time, it would recover, feeding off the spiritual seed and Nimh’s own residual energy.

Or it would if Nimh didn’t tear the soul from his spiritual seed. His spiritual seed screamed in agony and his spirit well surged to heal it, leaving Nimh feeling numb. But he had succeeded, Wolfgang’s soul drifting weakly, away from the spiritual seed.

Slowly, Nimh let his senses drift and he felt the Realm beyond the spiritual seed. The doorway back to the Realm of Infinite Dreams. And blocking it, the remnant of Nimh’s old spiritual power, pleading to become part of his whole again.

It grieved Nimh that he could not reach out and access that power. But if he could, then his spiritual energy would overpower the spirit well, severing Nimh from this physical form, and banishing himself back to the Realm of Infinite Dreams.

No, Nimh would not let that happen.

The well itself was a natural safety mechanism against the overwhelming power from the Realm of Infinite Dreams. Nimh had only been able to hold a fragment of his power when he made his way into this world and he knew it was only a matter of time before he could hold that power again.

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He did not look forward to this near-constant process of expanding his spirit well only to heal it back up. Then doing it again. It was going to take a long time. But the result would be worth the pain and the effort.

Vaguely, he felt Wolfgang’s soul drifting towards the spiritual seed. Scowling, he reached forward and pushed the soul away, through the spiritual seed and into the space between.

It was better than Wolfgang deserved, but Nimh suddenly did not care to use the soul as a tool to expand his spiritual well. Instead, he had some housekeeping to deal with.

Reaching out again, he seized the squirming soul belonging to Marcus. By the time he had dragged the spirit before him, Nimh had finished healing the spirit well, reforging it anew. He could expand it again right now, but moderation was often a smarter alternative to driving forward at full speed.

Instead, he used his spirit to forge a table and two chairs, leaning backwards into one as Marcus appeared.

“Stop struggling,” Nimh ordered. “If I were going to hurt you, I would have used your spirit for fuel by now. I take it you saw what I did to Wolfgang?”

Marcus was a wispy form, much like how Wolfgang had been. But his eyes were not empty, instead, they burned like dark coals.

“Who are you?” the spirit demanded. “Give me back my body.”

“No,” Nimh said easily. “Your name is Marcus, yes?” he didn’t wait for a positive response. “From this day forward, your body is mine. You lost your rights to it the moment I took possession of it. You can call me Nimh, by the way.”

“I don’t care a quarter inch for that. Who are you to just take someone’s body!”

Nimh raised his spiritual awareness at that. “I just told you; my name is Nimh,” he replied. “As for my rights to your body. Call it the right of conquest. Now, you and I need to talk about what happens from here out.”

“Fuck you,” Marcus swore.

“No,” Nimh said simply. “I am already spoken for. Now you have a choice. Keep a civilized tongue, or I burn you for spiritual energy and throw you into the Realm of Infinite Dreams and you live an eternity living a beautiful lie.”

Marcus paused, glaring at Nimh with a fury he could respect.

“What do you mean?” he said, obviously struggling.

Nimh leaned back, getting comfortable. “You are, in every way that matters, dead, an immortal soul if you will. Your spirit and body are severed, though you still have your mind and access to the Realm of Thoughtful Heights. Out of curiosity, what do you know of the cognitive arts?”

Marcus frowned in confusion. ‘What are the cognitive arts?” he asked.

Nimh sighed. “Never mind. I had hoped you knew something. Looks like I’ll be grasping in the dark for that one. Back to you. As I said, you are dead. Ordinarily, you should be feeling something ‘pulling’ at you. Like a light breeze trying to direct you somewhere.”

“I feel nothing.” Marcus denied.

Nimh smiled, nodding towards the spiritual seed. “Not even from that.”

The spirit seemed to shiver before shaking its head. “That thing just makes me feel like I’m looking at a brazier and I’m steak ready for grilling.”

Nimh nodded. “That makes sense. When I died, my spiritual seed pulled my spirit out of my body, formed my soul and I was pulled into the Realm of Infinite Dreams. When I possessed you, your well and seed became mine, blocking you off. It’s not uncommon. You are really attached to your body it seems.”

Marcus glared at him. “You died?”

“It’s the way of my people,” Nimh admitted. “It would have been easier if you had slipped through the spiritual seed while I took over your body. But I’m guessing you never knew this well was here, right?”

Marcus frowned. “What do you mean?”

“This place.” Nimh motioned the space around them, “Is a spirit well. It’s a link to a Realm beyond this life that exists within your body. Well, kind of within, sort of attached. You were born with it, but it doesn’t really physically exist. It’s complicated. Anyway, the bottom line is, that you need a way to move on. I can help with that.”

Marcus snorted. “You sound like a salesperson. First, you take my body, now you are so kindly offering to dispose of my soul. I bet you want me gone because you don’t want me taking control of my body back.”

Nimh laughed. “You could try.” He became serious a heartbeat later. “But just know, that this is my spirit well now. You are just a guest, which means you have no authority here. Seriously though, try. Reach out and try to affect it. Try lifting the table if you like.”

The spirit sat there, staring. Then he got up, placed his ghostly hands on the table and heaved. The table did not budge.

Nimh smirked, waved a hand and the table shot backwards enough to make Marcus fall back and into the chair. “Case and point.”

“You’ve had more practice than me,” Marcus complained, shooting back to his feet.

“Yes,” Nimh nodded. “Yes, I have. And I could do to you what I did to Wolfgang. But it would be a waste of effort. I’d need ten of you just to make it worthwhile. Your spirit is too weak. Your mind, however, could still be useful”

Marcus stared at him, uncomprehendingly.

Nimh sighed. “Look, I have three choices. Either I destroy you, send you to the Realm of Infinite Dreams, or I make use of you. For a limited time, I can let you remain, see the world through my eyes and you will give me advice and information as I need it. You and I can be like conspirators against the world and if you like, I can offer you some revenge against those that wronged you. What do you say?”

“That doesn’t sound like a great deal. I’m still dead.”

Nimh shrugged. “You can’t have everything. Trust me, possessing your body was not my first choice, but I’m making do. If you like, you can even learn some of my art. They’ll come in handy when you eventually go to the Realm of Infinite Dreams.”

“I don’t want to go there. I don’t want to die.”

“You’re already dead.”

“Because of you.”

“Not quite, you were already mostly dead. I just kept your body alive and took it over. I’m guessing you were too weak to survive.”

That stopped Marcus, and he fell deep into thought. Then he nodded.

“You’re right,” Marcuse said. “I was weak. You mentioned revenge before. Is that still on the table?”

Nimh nodded. “I have a few plans for this world, but I am an equitable man. I have, I’ll admit done you a disservice. I will try to make some amends before our time is over.” Nimh’s face darkened. But if you try to betray me, then you will see what it means to become my enemy.”

Marcus took a deep breath, then nodded. “Ok.” He said hesitantly. “What do you want to know.”