I feel terrible and I hurt  everywhere. This felt worse than the hangover I had after my night at the Palm Springs bar. I do not remember how long ago that was. The memory of my ex-girlfriend comes back to me. I still miss Melissa. our break up came so sudden, ‘I feel like this relationship isn't going anywhere‘, her reason for leaving me. I am still not sure what hurt more; her leaving me, or not knowing what I did wrong. I have been beating myself up thinking I could change something, I still do.

I am not in my nice soft bed, that is for sure. I  sit up only to see my skeleton legs. I scream, or at least try to, but I cannot. However, I manage to make a ‘clack clack clack ‘ sound with with my mouth. My hands moved to my face.  I feel my own skull, and empty eye sockets.

The question of how I can even see, came into my mind. I have no eyes .God, how could I feel then? I don't have skin or flesh, there is just bones. I should be dead. I do not have any organs either. Damn, I did not even get to use my reproductive system much.

The pain fades, and I hold my skull as I fall back down on the rocky uneven ground. I groan in pain, but the only sound I make is the ‘clacking clack‘ of my jaws.

Memories of the battle flow into me. I remember the voice in my head, and the souls floating in the air. I feel that sharp pain again, taking  me by surprise. The pain fades away slowly until it only becomes a pulse, then it vanished all together. I am glad that is all over with.

I never thought myself to be a violent person. I should  empathize towards the dead. I wonder if I am still human. My memories of who I was before must count for something. I knew a few people who could argue what being human truly is. Not knowing who I am makes me uncertain. I still feel nothing for the dead. It is better they are dead, than I am. I will have to look into what I am as time passes.

Of my memories even most of them did not stand out, I remember people, but only important people. I remember the voice. The one who called himself master. I thought of my parents, and what they were doing right now. Friends came next: Clarence, Ted and Clair.

I feel silly remembering all these people who I knew, since do not even  remember my own name. I wanted to laugh a bit at the irony, but I could not. I settle for grinding my teeth. It felt oddly satisfying. I sat up once again to examine my surroundings.

All I could see is the rugged rock walls.. It is  cold, though I feel no discomfort. Darkness swallowed the area, but just like the cold it did not cause my sight to be impeded. I am curious about both of these things. I will have to test them, make sure I am not wrong. Maybe the rock in here acts like a mirror reflecting light in from the outside. That could be plausible, and realistic, something I could relate to, since what I have seen so far has broken multiple laws of life?

I am in a cave, Getting on my feet, I look around for my sword. I feel better with it in my hand. The blood from the previous battle still stains my bones. I feel unclean and wanted to scrub it off. I wish I had some water so I could wash the stains away.  

I begin to move towards the cave exit. The outside is filled with enormous trees and huge vines. I could see a deer bending to drink water by a near river, Insects buzzing about, and chirps from birds high in the trees. I do not recognize the trees, or the hand-sized flying insects.

As I walk out further, the sunlight hit my skeleton frame. My soul screamed from the rays, causing my body to burn. My hands flared into blue flames and I’m half rolling, half running back into the cave. I tried to make the flames go away, but it keep burning for several minutes while I wave my arms in the air continuously.

I kneel on the ground, looking at my arms and ribs. Hell, that hurt so much. The flames has left my bones blackened like pitch. I looked like a dalmatian with my patches of black and white. I grind  my teeth as I get back up on my feet.

Well this settles it then: I am no longer on earth.

The sun burns me, really damn bad. This must be the worst case of sunburn I ever had, and I don’t even have skin anymore. It could also relate to me being a skeleton.

I feel like I belong here, as though me being here is no accident. I have never heard of any device that could transfer you into another world, though something told me I am not just in another world. Humans are an advanced species, but I would know if we had this sort of technology. Or maybe not; I couldn't trust my memories, If they were even real in the first place.

I begin to move deeper into the cave,feet clicking on rock, too curious to sit and wait for the sun to go down. I wondered at what else I could not do. I was outside on the day of the battle, but there I was never burnt. I will have to check that out, I want to eventually be able to walk outside during the day.

The theory about the rock reflecting light also is wrong. I probably would burst into flames if that was right. Perhaps it is only direct light that is the problem.

I heard heavy breathing closeby.. I didn't think I would find anything else in the cave. The bear watches me intensely, lifting its body up, teeth bared, drool sliding down from yellow fangs and onto the black lips, only to pool on the cave floor. I was badly burned and felt extremely weakened from the sunlight. I have seen the strength of a bear and I did not want to bet on whether it could be able to tear me apart. A blue light  appeared around the bear, probably the light from the its soul, I know this now. The light of the soul provide no light to the cave, another thing to note down.

I know a bit about what to do when you encounter a bear. Specifically, intruding on the territory of one. I raise both my hands forward and was about to back away, when the bear drops back down,giving off a painful sound like a puppy in pain.

You will die one day for the sake of curiosity, I think bitterly before moving towards the bear. I keep my hands out in front of me, trying to appear as small a threat as I could be. Which seemed to be working; maybe it thought a skeleton could not pose any harm, or maybe bears here are different from the ones on Earth. Who even knows what they are used to seeing in this world, if even a skeleton does not make it attack in rage. Whatever it is, I am thankful for it.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

The bear has claw marks on its shoulders, they way it favored its right hind legs made me suspect the bone is broken. Its back also had quite a few deep claw marks.There are patches where the fur is completely torn, and bite marks on the side as well.  At first I just figured that animal souls shine less, but that is wrong; the reason is simply that the bear is dying.

Well, seems like I will be eating your soul when you die. Of course, I could just as easily kill the bear right now and save it the pain. I am not sure where skeletons get their energy from, however,  I am convinced that it is from souls. I obviously do not want to run out of energy. At the rate the bear is dying, it is better I kill it now.

My head begins to hurt as a strong memory rose up from an absorbed soul.

“Mr. Albus! “

“Mr. Albus!“

I awake with a gasp, feeling a sharp pain on the top of my head a piece of broken chalk lay on the top of my desk.

“Yes, Yes!” I blurt out, turning quickly to the left and right. Laughing soon followed, I look at my fellow apprentices with both fury and embarrassment, as well as abit of fear having realized whose class I just slept in. I could feel my throat go slightly dry.

“ I am pleased to see you are back with us Mr. Albus.“ Bishop Leron said.  

“Sorry Bishop Leron” I sighs as I reply. I stayed up too long last night in the cathedral,  why do these things keep happening to me? at least I am not being punished, one of the new perks of finally becoming an apprentice?

“We are doing a summary of what we have learned this year  Mr. Albus, since you showed that you do not need such, perhaps you can answer some questions. " I try not to sigh.  Oh great... questions.

"Yes Bishop Leron." I reply, with the most non-uppity voice I can manage.

" What is a sub-thread? "

"A group of sub-threads are used to make up a single thread. They form and shape the spells we cast " I said, not appreciating the obvious novice question I was asked.

"What is a weave"

"A weave is a group of threads that interact with each other to form a spell" Another, novice question.

" Now, Explain to the class the four different threads that make up the the spell we have been learning"

"Yes Mr. Leron. The bone thread is used when repairing bones, different organs all have their specific threads as well. The repair thread is used to repair flesh and muscle tissue. The stop thread dictates at what level of haste a spell has. The stop thread also binds together threads of different sizes inside a weave, so they all stop or start at the same time. We also have the stitch thread. The stitch thread ties a weave to another's reservoir. It is used so that we can heal others"

" Good, show us your aptitude by enhancing the healing factors of this Fili bird. “ Bishop Leron said, with his usual high pitch voice. He’s dressed like a  priest of Nehron would be, including myself, which is  in starry white robes robes.The only difference is the lining is in gold whereas my own is in copper.

I slide off my chair, stand up, and walk to the front. I could feel the stares on my back. Why do these things keep happening to me? I sigh, then I inspect the bird. I probably would not have to this if I had not fallen asleep. People need to understand that the cathedral is huge, it takes time to clean and sweep.

I quickly examine the bird. I am able to determine that the wing is broken. I begin my first stance of prayer to Nehron. The bird must be in great pain, since the energy around the bird is dim. Does it have enough energy left for the spell to use. I only need a little of your energy birdy. I weave a thread for bone, then another thread for repair. I weave a stop thread, so the spell would not drain the bird’s energy too quickly. I do not want the bird to die from using too much of its energy, too quickly. I use the stop thread to bind the other threads together. Birds had very small wells from which to draw power. It is so small it was not even worth calling it a proper well.

The thread is a hard one to weave; even the simplest mistakes could cause the death of the Fili bird. I smile with pride as the spell is successfully sown onto the bird. I then cast it. It took several seconds, but then the bird is back on its feet. It twist its head and, at a very high speed, it leaps into the air, flapping its wings as it flies out the window.

“Excellently done Mr. Albus.” I beam with pride at Bishop Leron’s comment, the man is not known for handing them out easily. Then he to paused, as if to think.

“ Eight extra nights of cleaning the cathedral for sleeping in my class.“ The Bishop said. I sigh, so much for those perks.