The Small Stuff
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Honestly, humans were still a mystery to me.
Even after centuries of escorting them to the other side, I still didn’t understand them all that well. Over the course of their lives, the concept of death was mostly foreign to them so most humans either paid it no heed or simply brushed the topic aside without giving it much thought.
Watching them from afar made me feel somewhat familiar with them yet estranged at the same time. Looking back, it was pretty much pointless for me to try and understand them as long as they still drew breath. With the status quo being the way it was, we would always remain as beings that were literally realms apart, there was no feasible way to understand anything they got up to.
Yet I couldn’t help but wonder, what was it that drove those creatures to the extreme lengths they often pursued? Was it power? Fame? Envy? Or perhaps a sense of duty?
Over the years I’ve watched the evolution of human futility and ignorance, only around half of it ever made sense to me but it was always intriguing.
What foolish action would mankind take next?
I suppose that question is the sole reason for my apparent fascination with mortals. Humans were beings capable of endless possibilities, whether that be love, hate, war, kindness, murder, or even cruelty.....humanity was capable of it all.
They always seemed to have something up their sleeve especially when they were backed into a corner. Predicting the erratic behavior of such creatures was all but impossible, and that’s why I decided not to spoil all the intrigues of their lifelong journey. At the end, I figured it would be much better for them to tell me about the life they’d lived themselves.
My current situation was certainly odd to say the least, but while I did need to find out what exactly happened to Eden and the other Celestials, this was also the perfect opportunity to observe human nature up close. Mastering this infantile body along with the mystic art Oliver had flaunted right in front of my face were my top priorities given the circumstances but my senses were still syncing up with this new form so that would take time, but nevertheless, the real goal here was magic.
The concept of magic did exist in Eden, but you needed to be ‘alive’ in order to use it, so the mystical force had managed to evade me for centuries, but apparently, with this delicate form I could change that.
After forming that thought, a smile unintentionally curled up from my newborn lips. Witnessing the sight, Julia began making a fuss about something with blushing red cheeks.
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“Liam, what’s making you smile like that?”
I was already vaguely familiar with the figures known as ‘mothers’, especially when it came to how much they loved their children but even I didn’t expect Julia to be infatuated with the whims of a newborn child to this extent.
She enjoyed every moment I was in her arms, even if we were doing nothing at all.
How strange......No, I don’t have time for this.
Re-aligning my focus, I recalled advice from a certain girl who’d been somewhat of a prodigy with magic in the past.
“Listen Shinigami, magic is all about visualization. If you want to use magic, you’ve got to have a concrete image of how you want to channel your mana and what form you want it to take. If you can do that much then the rest is easy~”
Visualization huh.......
Closing my eyes, I began circulating a few deep breaths throughout my body and after a while, my haphazard senses began to fall into the same motion as my breathing rhythm. The vague sensations I’d been feeling moments earlier gradually began growing stronger and stronger, to the point where it felt like I was isolating myself from the entire world.
And then.... I was finally able to grasp it.
My first step towards utilizing magic, the mystic power known as mana. Even though my eyes were closed, I could now strangely visualize the form of the ambient energy now surrounding me.
Mana took the shape of small flickering particles that were about as common as the air itself, the small spheres tended to pulse in a rhythmic motion, giving off a little bit of energy in the process. Now that I was starting to get the hang of sensing mana, I could also sense it coming from Julia and even the small portion of it leaking from my own body.
It felt as if I was previously walking through the world with a blindfold on now that my perception had once again reached new heights, but that wasn’t the only change I’d undergone.
It was still faint, but after that brief routine, my vision had increased significantly and because of that I was now able to see what was once a typical sight for me – Souls.
When I glanced up at Julia, I saw a bright silver light flickering in and out of existence around where her stomach was. That was the core of her being, her very soul and after an entire month I was finally able to perceive its existence, though my current level of perception still wasn’t up to par.
The ability to see and interact with souls didn’t have anything to do with any magical properties and was simply an innate ability my soul possessed, so it was sure to return to this body given time.
Though it still needed refining much like everything else, I was undoubtedly making progress. Learning to gather that mana within myself was the next step and that was bound to take me to even greater heights. Heh-Heh....perhaps my days as the reaper weren’t completely over after all.
Honest to a fault, my juvenile form couldn’t help but reflect my true nature in the form of yet another smile. Witnessing the small gesture once again, Julia immediately began to storm off with me in tow.
“Dear! Liam’s smiling!”
She was probably misunderstanding something, but that much was fine for now.