A soul is a glass bead filled with fire. The fire spills over, forming the energy of life. When the soul passes, the energy can remain behind.

Jorun leaned back. He was seated in the abandoned house late at night. He had realized that this afforded him a great deal of privacy. He simply needed to head out and come back on a relatively reliable schedule. He wasn’t sure how late it was, but he was thinking he was understanding something at the beginning of the book better now.

“Latty,” He spoke softly knowing that she was actually quite close. She was always lingering in the area whenever he was reading the book.

“Yes?”

“Do you remember how I described this line earlier?” He pointed to the line he had just read. She floated over staring at the page.

“I think you said that had something to do with souls.”

Jorun sat back and looked out the open window. The only time he had seriously studied the book with Latty had been back in the tower before he cast the spell. If she had said that it was about energy, he would have been doubting his memory. The lines were changing as he studied the book.

He was pretty sure this had started as a line about the Soulgem, but he really couldn’t remember.

“It’s changed.”

“Really?” Latty sounded excited.

“I don’t know if it has, but I feel like its meaning has changed a little. The first time I think it was about the first ritual I performed, then it was about souls with you. I can’t remember for certain, but you said the text is just gibberish, right?”

“Yep. Care to tell me what it says now?”

“A soul is a glass bead filled with fire. The fire spills over, forming the energy of life. When the soul passes, the energy can remain behind.”

She looked at the text and frowned.

“Hoping you can learn the book yourself?” He had been wondering the same thing. Latty just shrugged.

“I was hoping something would rub off.”

Jorun tried patting her shoulder, but ended up flailing his arm through the air.

“Keep at it. It might just take more time.”

“You don’t mind?”

“I don’t know why I would. I told you I would try and get your body back. If you figure out how to do it yourself, I think it would make the whole process easier for me.”

She smiled, and Jorun had no trouble seeing the hollowness inside it.

“Well if I am ever going to learn, you better keep reading.”

The beads hold the fire.

Jorun looked back to check it wasn’t the same line.

Each soul is unique, containing the essence of life in a different way. They compliment the flesh they were given, utilizing it’s strengths and passions. Without the flesh, the soul cannot change or grow.

Jorun looked at the ghostly girl who floated around the room.

As the soul needs the flesh, so does the flesh need the soul. The flesh is an engine, driven to accomplish basic goals. The flow of energy drives the power. To create either a soul or flesh without it’s counterpart is to create a temporary entity that will only function when it is fed with energy.

Overcoming these limitations is about understanding the principles and mechanics of flesh or soul as they exist.

As the flesh has a vast and complex array of components acting out it’s will, the soul does to. Without a subject to study, the ability to learn these elements is nearly impossible. Creating an adequate vessel to study and learn the mechanics of the soul is critical.

Jorun skimmed down the page as it walked through how to create a rudimentary ghost. It wasn’t that impressive, but he was very interested in the elements describing the methods for examining a ghost.

“Hey Latty, I need to use you for this part. Come here.”

She drifted over, and Jorun read through the book.

The soul made manifest must properly reflect the seven components that exist within the flesh. When a soul is removed from the flesh, these components are severed and lost. This loss is nearly unavoidable, and results in a greatly weakened state for both the flesh and the soul. Follow these steps to successfully create artificial points around the soul you are trying to make manifest.

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Jorun read down the page.

The foundation of the energy can be successfully aligned by having the spirit enter the first circle.

What followed was a string of symbols and a geometric pattern. He sketched it out around the floating Latty.

“Uh, can you float out and come back in it?”

She did so, looking more than a little confused.

He felt the energy draw from himself. It coursed into the circle, now truly forming into a circle. The dark green field crackled and sizzled with energy.

A small glowing book appeared in his hands. It reminded him of the first time he had seen the tome he was studying. He opened it.

It was everything about Latty. There was a lot in it, and it took him a while to skim through the information.

He looked up to see that she had frozen in place. For the first time since he had met her, she was perfectly still.

He smiled looking at a word in the glowing book: Restless.

That certainly described Latty well enough. If anything could be used to describe her, restless was one of them.

He looked at the larger book, still resting on the ground.

The information should be fairly basic. You should see…

He looked at Latty’s book. It was anything but basic. He spent a good thirty minutes skimming through the contents, and he could see how it might seem basic. The shear volume of information had him wondering about something.

He broke the circle and Latty looked around confused.

“What was that?”

“I just learned about what it is that makes you,” he paused looking for a word, “Well, um, you.”

She looked at herself rather puzzled, “Well was it interesting?”

Jorun laughed, “It might have been too much. I am still thinking about everything. The book said I would only see a couple of things inside the soul, but that was a lot more than a couple things. I don’t think it was written with the assumption that I would be taking a ghost as powerful as yourself apart.”

“I am powerful?”

Jorun shrugged, “I don’t know. What is inside you is complicated enough that I just needed to stop. There are a ton of ideas that I just don’t really understand.”

“Like what?”

Jorun sat down and glanced at the open book.

“Stuff about your…” He waved a hand, “Fabric? Cornerstone? I don’t know how to describe it.”

“You aren’t making any sense.” Latty looked skeptically at Jorun.

“I guess I need time to think about it. It’s getting late, and I think I have an idea that I want to try out.” He stood back up and put it in a small gap between a counter and a wall. It wasn’t the perfect hiding place, but it would be more than enough for now.

He left the abandoned cottage, and began to walk slowly back to the village.

“It’s like a chain holding you to this place.”

“What is?”

“What I read about. See the problem is that if I describe this it will sound like I am reading your mind. It talks about your desire to grow and become stronger. It describes your hopes and dreams.”

“That sounds creepy.” Latty didn’t sound bothered.

“That’s my point, it isn’t creepy. It isn’t personal. It is, if anything, annoyingly vague. It is also incredibly complicated.”

“So what was it supposed to look like?”

“It was supposed to be the core component that drives you to exist in this world. If I created a ghost to explore, it would be vague and undefined. If I created a ghost to keep watch over me, it would be hard and concrete.”

“That doesn’t sound like me at all.”

“Well,” Jorun couldn’t help but smile at the ghost, “You are definitely vague and undefined. The problem is that the book isn’t vague and undefined. I really don’t know how to explain it better than a chain holding you to this place.”

“Like what?”

“You want power.”

Latty was silent as the turned the path and the villages lights came into sight.

“Everyone wants power though.”

Jorun shrugged, he was pretty tired and he didn’t really care too much about explaining it to her. He had the suspicion that she wouldn’t be able to learn much if anything. It didn’t hurt to go ahead and try, but he was confident that the book was right.

Ghost’s can’t change themselves.

He looked at his hands, pondering everything that he had done up until this moment.

“Latty.”

“Yeah?”

“I want to help you live again.”

Rather than walking into the village, he turned into the cemetery. He worked through the trees, rather than going by the main path. It took a little longer, but he didn’t really want to draw attention.

He set up a circle, using a number of gravestones to etch the symbols onto. He was careful to lift them up, and place it on the bottom of each stone, so that no one would accidentally see them.

When he was done, he began channeling the flow of his energy into the circle.

He could feel it. There was energy in this place. The dead had left a lot of it. It was a deep well of energy.

He rubbed his fingers, building the connect with his stone.

It began glowing softly.

“What are you doing?”

“Gathering power.”

Latty watched him silently as he got the last piece in place.

“That doesn’t seem like much.”

She was correct. The small stone glowed with a tiny light. It reminded Jorun of the bright yellow stone that he had gotten from the man who was probably not her father.

“It isn’t right now, but I think I don’t want to take too much. It represents the energy of life. If I take too much, I might kill all the plants or something. I just want enough to gain a little everyday. If a giant circle of dead plants appeared in the cemetery, someone might notice.”

With that done, he turned and began the long walk back to the house. He wasn’t in particular hurry. Several of the miners could easily be awake, either having returned from the mines or getting ready to go.

Sure enough a light grew bright as someone adjusted their window. Jorun didn’t mind. He was just enjoying the cool night air.