I could feel my “soul” so to speak, yet my actual form… was nowhere to be found.

You’d say it should be right where your mana is, right?

But that’s the thing: there wasn’t anything there.

I could feel my soul, but not magic. It was hard to even grasp, because not so long ago I thought both were just the same.

And yet…

It soon got even more complicated, because I suddenly noticed that one of them was gone.

No sign. Nothing. Like they just vanished right in front of my non-existing eyes.

Did they teleport?

Possible… although very unlikely.

If I was correct in thinking that they were indeed fighting, I can’t see the other one just letting them leave.

But, as the one disappeared, the pain did not.

More interestingly, it got worse.

It was still manageable, but definitely started to get on my nerves. I had to do something to stop it, but I did not have many ideas to go off of…

But, not everything was bad.

There was a bright side still.

My body finally decided that it finished doing whatever was going on before, and I started feeling a bit more powerful, with my body slowly reforming.

Or at least I thought so.

Even though it seemed like the process ended and I was now focusing on rebuilding my body and regular mana reserves, there was nothing to show for it.

Yeah, even with my soul… “complete”, or whatever else that was, I was not feeling my own body.

And yet, I was certain that’s where my mana was going.

But, the immediate lack of directions didn’t mean that I didn’t have ways to figure out what was going on.

Before, I didn’t really even understand what to look for, unlike now.

I was already familiar with the process of rebuilding, so I could just aim for the flow of magic that apparently was still acting without my own will, and just follow it to the destination.

The source was obvious and clear: my own magic.

While not sure where exactly that was, I could tell where it was going.

And…

It was going towards the other guy?

Nah, it can’t be right.

And yet, that’s what was going on.

The slow trickle of mana was going right towards where I could clearly sense the last remaining guy nearby.

The fuck? Was he attacking me?

Strangely, though… it didn’t seem so.

Or his intentions were so pure that he was a saint or something.

Nah, that shit does not happen. So how was that happening?

The one in question was definitely not going to explain that.

So I had to figure out my own answer.

How?

Well, first off, I finally was able to utilize my mana a bit more, so I could actually go back and enhance my senses again, to get a better picture on the situation.

Surely, being able to see the situation a bit more than just a few flickering flames in black space would help me immensely.

Well, it did.

But it also confused me even more.

As I poured my will into my mana, trying to restore my sight to at least decent state, I realized that I needed a lot less than I thought.

Hell, just a tiny whiff of mana was enough for me to see everything perfectly clear. It was just like I just suddenly opened my eyes.

And what I saw…

Well, was nothing.

Yeah, there was no one here to see.

I was about to check if I didn’t fuck up something, when suddenly, right in front of my sight, a portal appeared.

I wanted to step back, ready for anything, but could not: I still had no body that I was in motor control of.

But instead of someone walking out, I suddenly found my own self walking through and after a moment of confusion, stepping through.

Or, should I say, not me.

Yeah, when I thought I got my body destroyed, I didn’t think it was that bad.

I have been absorbed by someone.

A certain someone that I knew.

No wonder I wasn’t able to find my own body. It straight up did not exist. My mind was hosted inside his body.

Mike.

Or, well, at least that’s who I thought it was.

When I saw the body I straight up couldn’t believe my own senses.

The face was definitely Mike, while the body was fully crystal. A change, but not completely unexpected. I already knew he had to be using the crystal, so him fully embracing the change was something I expected to see.

If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

After all, a body like this was really convenient. At least for me.

But, where did he come from? Or even better, who was with him before?

I realized that I had a lot of my memories missing. There was a rather large blank from the time I was still with my other self and to when I appeared blinded and shattered, and apparently absorbed by him, somewhere out there.

It was unusual.

Not the fact that I got absorbed, at least partially.

I was more interested in why I survived.

By all means, if we assume that I got knocked out of the commission around that time and after that Mike managed to find me, then how in the hell did he not completely absorb me? Assimilate me?

Was there something I didn’t understand about the process?

That was likely, but not to that much of a degree.

I mean, wasn’t that just a test of will?

If one was to lose, there shouldn’t be a way to go back. Or so I thought.

Someone would have to purposefully let the other from their grasp for something like that to happen.

What, did he attack me accidentally and now wanted to let me out?

Fuck…

If that was the case, I would need to immediately contact him and say that I am still fine and trying to rebuild myself, so he can just…

Wait.

Rebuild myself?

How the hell was that going to work?

Before, I was working on an assumption that my body was shattered and I just had to remake myself from scratch.

But… if I was a part of his own body, how would that work?

Would he need to forfeit a piece of his own flesh to let me out as a separate entity…?

If he was fully crystal, and it looked like it to me, then he could just chip out a piece of himself and give it to me…

But before that, I needed to contact him.

Easier said than done.

Sure, my mana manipulation was a bit better than before, but that didn’t mean I was fully in control of it.

Hell, right now I understood why my own consciousness was trying to reinforce my soul and not work on the body.

Besides the obvious lack of the target, it made a lot more sense that when I wanted to repair myself, the mana went towards fueling my “soul” so to speak.

If we assume that it is really a soul, it clearly is connected to the mind of a person. It then means I was working in self-defense…

Maybe that’s why I managed to survive? Thanks to my mana?

My body, or mind rather, on autopilot, was investing mana into the remaining bits of my soul, trying to awaken it. Or at least keep alive and separate.

And it did manage to succeed. I was still me… well, at least as much as I was before that ordeal. The other changes were already done beforehand, so…

Anyway, I had to contact him. And the quickest… and probably only way, was to try and connect with his mind.

It shouldn't be too hard, at least after I regenerated a bit…

It probably was just a matter of time.

Since I was already on a good way towards that, I only had to wait a little bit.

With not much else to do, I just started observing the situation, to maybe understand it a little bit better.

There wasn’t much to understand or see. At least at first.

The first thing he did was to open another portal.

So my earlier guesswork about him being unable to open it alone was just pure bullshit.

I wonder why he did that with the other one before?

Maybe he was using him as an anchor…?

Anyway, he teleported to somewhere that was as hard to place as any other. At least at first it looked like that, because it was just a patch of forest like any other. Only a bit later I realized that it was actually the very familiar “bowl”, as I was calling it.

The place where MIRE was.

Or, used to be.

I didn’t recognize it at first not only because of my subpar senses, but also because it had changed quite a lot since I’ve been there last time.

Where the ruins and buildings were sticking out from the tree canopy or managed to peek through the open swatches of grass, there was nothing to see. Everything was either completely covered by the greenery or destroyed by erosion.

Damn.

I knew that it’s been a hot minute since my last visit here, but that’s quite a lot to take in.

Sure, I was aware of the certain issues with teleport spells, but to think that we’ve wasted that much time on it? It honestly looked like it was years, tens of years even.

Mike didn’t seem to be moved.

I guess he wasn’t that familiar with the place: he’s been here a lot longer before me, so he most likely was expecting that.

But, he did get tripped once or twice by the change in scenery.

What the hell was he looking for?

As far as I knew everything that was usable was taken from here or destroyed. I sort of assumed that was all because of him, but what do I know?

And yet, he was looking for something.

He managed to find that “something” quite quickly, as when we managed to get closer to where, I assume at least, used to be the main building, he immediately changed direction and went right for the roof. Or, should I say the remains of the upper floor, where our “lab” used to be housed.

Did he think there would be something useful here? A piece of crystal maybe?

But what for? He already was fully crystal himself, meaning he could make as much as he wanted in no time at all and without minimal mana usage.

Some notes from our old experiments?

Fuck no.

He already absorbed ILMA. Her memory alone was a better database than anything that we’ve ever written on paper.

Not like there would be any to find here to begin with, of course.

Even if he really had some issues with “processing” her, that was no excuse to look through this place. Honestly, it could be even detrimental for him.

Even in the best scenario for him, when ILMA went by her own will to connect to him and unite together, having to bring her here, where everything started, could easily work as a catalyst…

A catalyst that could go either way.

It would be a bit too risky of a move to remind her of that… not like she’d ever forget…

So what was that for?

The answer was a lot simpler than I thought, and yet it brought even more questions to mind…

He was looking for mana.

But mana is literally everywhere, so why even bother coming here? Sure, it’s pretty deserted here, meaning more mana. Even without that, the whole fact that this place used to be ground zero of a certain mana explosion made this place brimming with energy and life.

No humans, little animals…

To be honest, the “no humans” part was probably pretty common right now.

Even not considering that before all this, this place wasn’t the busiest metropolis. And with them gone, absorbed by a power hungry creature… It was as good of a place as many others.

And yet, that was what he wanted.

He went straight for the ruined building barely even recognizable after all the greenery took it over for itself, and jumped onto the top floor. The current top floor, I mean.

He was aiming for the leyline.

Hah.

I was spot on about him being power hungry.

Does he really need a whole leyline?

It was just like trying to quench your thirst by jumping into a lake.

An overkill. And can be quite dangerous.

If I was going to act, I probably should act soon.

But what the hell am I supposed to say? “Hello, bud, how are we going? How's your wife and kids?”

Hell no. Besides the obvious, it would’ve been a trap and a half.

I needed to play carefully and slowly.

First off, I needed to check if I even was able to reach him.

It should be easy, considering the fact that I was literally inside his head.

-It’s really overgrown…