The next day, after school, I started investigating my mother’s condition again. Since brains and souls were so deeply intertwined… I really needed to understand how they worked with each other before I could safely heal my mother. But after my first successful shapeshifting experiment, I had a little bit more hope. Maybe if I investigated my mother's mind again, I could figure out a faster way to cure her.

Felix and Old Mo hung out with me while I looked over my mother again, half to offer suggestions as I worked.

After I got set up, I started by observing my mother's brain with my spatial sight. From this perspective, the chunks of crystalized mold in her brain looked like tumors. I didn't see an easy way to extract them, though. I might be able to shapeshift away the tissue surrounding some of those 'tumors' - but I had no idea how to keep my mother's soul attached to her body in the process. Through my soul-sight, I could still see that my mother's soul was firmly attached to her brain... but I had no idea how the two were connected.

“Could you just cut out the chunks of hardened mold in your mother’s brain?” asked Old Mo, as I stared at the organ in question. "If you get doctor Trish to use a scalpel or something, that could work."

“Well… some of the chunks of crystalized mold are pretty close to the center of her brain,” I said. “I don't know if there's even a way to remove them without killing her. If I knew how souls connected to brains better, it might be possible to just... stuff my mother's soul in a jar for a bit and fix her brain. Or something. But I have no idea how that works.” I frowned. “And if I try to use essence to dislodge the crystalized mold, the chunks of mold have a good chance of entering my mother’s arteries. Which would then cause a stroke and possibly kill her on the spot. Right now, my mother’s brain is already filled with layers of crystalized mold, and I doubt her health is good enough to handle several strokes. Heck, if I didn’t constantly heal her, she probably would have had several strokes and died already."

“Well... if she should have had several strokes, but hasn’t, maybe that’s a good avenue for research," said Felix, thoughtfully. "I mean, your healing is obviously able to heal the symptoms of a stroke - but as far as I know, you possess no ability to handle the ‘root cause.’ Despite that fact, your healing has somehow fixed the problem. This might be a good point of investigation,” said Felix.

I frowned. Felix actually made a pretty good point. I started paying closer attention to the way my mother's brain looked. I spent several minutes comparing it with what I thought would look 'natural,' as well as the way most human brains looked. Eventually, I realized something.

“It looks like my healing magic has slowly rewired where some of her arteries go,” I said. “Not very well… after all, she's almost never conscious. But I suspect that this is the best possible route for her blood to travel now. My magic just kept moving things around, step by step, until it found a path that kept her alive. Or at least, I think that's what happened," I said.

"So it's possible for your healing magic to change blood flow without killing the patient," said Felix. "If you can work with that, you just need to find a way to get rid of the crystalized mold itself."

I nodded. “The issue is doing so without causing her to have a stroke, or breaking everything horribly and killing her on the spot.” The difference between my magic fixing something and me understanding it had never been clearer to me. I hadn't even realized that my healing had moved my mother's arteries around until Felix mentioned it. I sank into thought. If my magic could do it, that meant I could, too. I just needed to figure out what was happening behind the scenes, and then replicate it...

While I was discussing my progress with Felix and Old Mo, Sallia sent me a message that caught me by surprise.

she said.

I asked. Sallia wasn't really able to do much these days, since she was dead. She was mostly moral support these days.

asked Sallia. she said. Even though I couldn’t see her, I could still hear the smile in Sallia’s voice as she spoke.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

I said. Now that I actually had a rough understanding of human biology, I could experiment a little. I was no longer the novice who barely understood how the human body worked together. Researching souls and brains was now possible for me, especially if Sallia provided a foothold for me.

I said. I grinned. I had finally found a doorway to learn about souls

* * *

Somewhere far away, a worldstrider made its way through a tiny crack in reality. It was freshly made, which the worldstrider thought was quite unusual. It was also barely the size of a melon. Even with the worldstrider's ability to compress its body, fitting through the portal was difficult.

But it was still able to make its into the spatial tunnel.

As it continued traveling through the portal, it felt the insistent tug of something trying to wrench it back. It resisted the urge to curse.

The damn Zelyrians had been vicious when they had created the pocket dimension. Every single crevice in the pocket dimension also worked as a tether. The further away the worldstriders were, the more their tether dragged them back. But still, the worldstrider struggled to make its way towards the outside world. It hadn’t ever seen the sunlight, or felt the wind. Even if it knew its tether would drag it back, it wanted to see the outside world.

Moments later, it felt the spatial tunnel start to collapse while it was still inside. The worldstrider panicked, and fled towards the outside world as fast as it could. It strained against its tether, even as the spatial tunnel grew tighter and tighter. The little worldstrider knew that if it didn't escape in time, it would die. The spatial tunnel would crush it into paste.

Moments later, it exited the tunnel… and not a moment too soon. Right as it escaped, the spatial tunnel collapsed completely. It spent a few minutes lethargically drifting through space. It had strained so hard against its tether that it was about to collapse from exhaustion.

But it was finally out. It had left the pocket dimension it had been born in.

After it regained some energy, the worldstrider took a proper look around. It saw a group of seven children working nearby in the valley. It resisted the urge to flee in terror. Were these people the 'Zelyrians' that had imprisoned its elders? A moment later, it realized something was wrong. These people... didn't feel like Zelyrians. It drifted a bit closer, to confirm whether these people were the 'enemy.' But their essence didn't feel similar to the tether that imprisoned it.

As it moved closer, it could see one of the children holding a large metal cube in his arms. The worldstrider felt something… familiar about that cube. Unlike the children, the cube felt similar to its tether.

It nearly hissed in disgust and leapt towards the metal cube, before its mind won over its instincts. Lashing out thoughtlessly might put it in danger. It had no idea what the boy and the other children were capable of. Being cautious was best.

A few moments later, the worldstrider watched in fascination as the boy and his companions dripped a tiny, insignificant amount of essence into the cube.

Moments later, a small portal appeared near them. The worldstrider noticed that it was barely the size of a tennis ball - it was a tunnel that even a worldstrider would struggle to fit inside of. But it was clearly a portal to the pocket dimension.

The worldstrider fell into thought.

Could the metal cube could open passages to the pocket dimension?

The worldstrider even closer to the children to get a better look.

And then it realized something else. Something that should have been obvious from the beginning.

Moving was easier than before. The pull of its tether was weaker. Not gone... but diminished.

The worldstrider circled around the area several times before confirming it wasn't dreaming. The tether had really gotten weaker.

The worldstrider blinked in surprise.

Was it possible that being outside of the pocket dimension had weakened the tether’s hold on it? Or perhaps being disconnected from the pocket dimension had weakened the tether? The worldstrider wasn't sure. But either way, it was the closest to freedom it had ever been.

At once, the worldstrider’s mind flickered with possibilities.

During the initial chaos a few years ago, when a bunch of portals opened, none of the worldstriders had managed to leave. A few had tried, but they had been crushed by the unraveling spatial tunnels. However, if there was a more stable way to escape that damned pocket dimension…

If the cube could be controlled...

Perhaps everyone could finally leave.

It was a dim hope... but it was more than the worldstriders had had for generations.

All it needed to do was find a way to snatch the metal cube.