I opened my eyes and stretched my arms, awaking from my slumber. I felt horrible. My stomach was on the verge of tearing itself apart.

1. Was. Starving.

I still do not really know what happened, where I am or whose body this is, but that can all wait until I find some food. I searched the little office I slept inside for some kind of food, though I doubted I would find anything. I opened some cupboards and closets, but they were all empty. I started panicking.

Where could I possibly find food in this abandoned underground city?

I left the office and started wandering the streets. Now being closer to the city, I could make out some more details. The wide streets made of cement were overgrown with plants and all kinds of flora. The huge skyscraper-like buildings were mostly green as well. Wondering how plants could survive this deep down without sunlight, I suddenly remembered something.

*Wait, how can I even see down here, when there is no light coming from anywhere?*

I told myself I would properly check what this new body even was, and what happened after Zael took over my body.

*Growl*

My stomach forced me to stay on track to find food, for now.

Before I could even properly enter the city, I saw a shadow in my peripheral vision. A huge shadow entered a hole in the ground a little further away. The hole was in some kind of park. A small, clear lake was in that park, surrounded by trees that looked quite small when compared to the surrounding buildings. Walking closer, I leaned down to drink from the lake. The water tasted clean, refreshing my parched throat on its way down and revitalizing my dry innards. I felt newly born. I didn't even know how desperately my body needed water.

After drinking my fill, I took a glave down the hole I saw the shadow enter. I knew it was some kind of beast, and I suspected it was one I was rather familiar with. I steeled myself and ventured into the dark hole.

Except, it wasn’t dark. I could see perfectly fine, which was weird. Unlike the first time I fell down into a cave like this, there were no holes in the ceiling in this cave. It seemed robust, and the tunnels were about twice as wide. Looking around, I spotted the shadow before me. The enormous hunk of fur was devouring a smaller, rabbit like creature.

The rabbit was still alive, desperately defending itself with its surprisingly sharp claws, trying to escape the predator's jaws.

But it was useless. Every scratch the rabbit made, was healed in seconds, as if it was never there in the first place. As it stopped struggling, the creature opened its jaws and devoured the rabbit. Afterwards it turned around and stared at me.

It was a Ferther, but unlike any I had ever seen. It was about twice as big, easily reaching 20 feet in length and 6 to 7 feet in height on all fours. Its eyes were still a milky white, but his ears and nose were bigger. As it turned around, it suddenly started vanishing, as if turning invisible.

No sound was to be heard, and no Ferther was to be seen, but still I was struck by its enormous paw, smashing into my side and making my ribs groan under the pressure.

As I was flung against the cave walls, I put my hands up in front of my face, Only to feel its claws slashing across my chest. I ducked and started sprinting down the tunnels as fast as I could. The walls blurring behind me as I ran, I panicked.

*How am I supposed to fight an enemy I can't see or hear? What kind of ridiculous nonsense is this??*

I calmed myself down while running, not slowing down.

*How is it able to do that? It's a beast, so it should be able to use mana, so it's probably manipulating the mana in a way that obscures its form from others and makes it invisible. So all I have to do is sense the flow of its mana and I should be able to see it.

I stopped running and turned around. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, spreading my senses outward.

The sound of my breathing.

The murky and wet smell of the air.

The feeling of my fists tightly clenched out of fear and excitement.

And… something else. In the air, in my body, everywhere around me was something else.

A strong sense of danger came from the right, indicated by the huge disruption of that something. I ducked, as the claw of the Ferther smashed into the wall to my left.

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I punched in front of me, but hit nothing.

Above.

I stepped to the left, as the ground where I stood shattered. I threw another punch, to the right. And this one hit its target. As my fist connected with what I thought to be the Ferther’s arm, I heard a crunch, followed by a roar, as its disguise faltered for a split second. I saw the monstrosity laying on its side, its right arm bending at an impossible angle.

It activated its stealth ability again, and I closed my eyes once more. Being able to witness was a huge help. I felt the mana particles cloak themselves around the ferther, before changing their color and opacity, to match what I would see if the Ferther was not be there.

Now that I knew which mana particles were only tricking me into thinking there was nothing there, it did not matter that I could not see the Ferther with my eyes.

I could feel its mana.

Jumping forwards I ducked under a left claw swipe their ferther threw at me, before I retaliated by thrusting my fist in its chest. I felt his ribs break under the impact of my punch. I jumped out of the way, but the Ferther still closed its jaw around my arm, ripping it out of its socket. I clenched my teeth. It hurt like hell, but my life was on the line, so I could not afford to care right now. I used the small amount of time losing my arm gave me, and jumped.

I tried to remember the feeling of coating my fist in fire, like I did when Zael was the one controlling my mana, but nothing happened. Instead, my fist just smashed against the Ferther’s skull, penetrating its bone and killing it instantly.

As I landed, I fell down, exhausted and hurt. The severity of my injury hit me. Large amounts of blood flowed out of where my arm used to be. I felt myself growing weaker with each passing second. I tried to calm down and thought of possible solutions.

*What did Zael do when my body burned itself through fire magic? How did he heal me using magic?*

I instructed my mana core to send some mana to the wound, probing for any reaction, but nothing happened. I concentrated further, feeling the blood leaving my body, and my body's desperate attempts to close the wound and form new cells. I let my instincts guide me. My mana helped close the wound. It strengthened my cells to allow them to form new cells quicker. The pain was unbearable. Each newly formed cell tortured my already exhausted mind with the sensation of crawling under my skin and splitting itself apart to form new cells. Each bit of mana used to stop the bleeding and help me survive made me suffer like never before. The pain of using magic was many times worse than before, when Zael did it for me. A small part of me hoped that I would feel no pain, now that I used mana without Zael, but it seems like it's the opposite of that.

After expanding most of my mana, the bleeding finally stopped, but I was exhausted, both physically and mentally. Grabbing the Ferther’s corpse with my remaining arm, I trotted back to my little office.

The thing had to weigh more than a ton, but it was still surprisingly easy to drag it behind me, even with only one arm.

After what seemed like an eternity, I finally arrived. I put the corpse down and started ripping the skin and fur from the meat, separating them into different piles.

When the meat was finally isolated from all the gunk and bones, I searched the office for some kind of metal container. In the corner of one of the closets, I found a helmet, made of glistering metal. I ripped some meat apart, put it in the helmet and placed the helmet on the fireplace.

Now to light the damn thing. I tried once more to form a flame, but nothing happened. I sat on the ground and started thinking. How could magic even form fire from nothing?

Fire needs Oxygen and something flammable and heat to form. Oxygen is abundant here and there is wood in that fireplace. That means I just have to create enough heat to ignite it.

Friction creates heat, so if I just rub and smash the mana particles together really fast, I should at least be able to create a spark of some kind. Let's try it.

I closed my eyes again and concentrated on sensing the mana around and inside of me. I gathered some of my own mana in the palm of my hand and tried rubbing it together to form friction and therefore heat. I condensed the mana further and further, before forcing them to wiggle at faster and faster speeds. Before long, a spark appeared, but I had no time to be happy about it.

Burning, searing, scorching.

My body felt like it was on fire from the inside. I could feel my skin melting and my organs popping, and I immediately fell unconscious.

When I awoke, I immediately checked my body to see if I was fine. My skin hadn't melted and my organs were still working just fine. The pain of using fire magic was unlike anything I had ever done. I just manifested a little spark, and I already felt like I was burning alive. I could not even imagine what I would have felt, if I cloaked myself in fire like I did with Zael.

Shivering by just thinking about it, I checked the fireplace. The fire was crackling and heating the room to a relaxing temperature. I checked the helmet, now blackened at the bottom and saw my meat browned to perfection.

I hungrily removed the helmet from the fire, burning my fingers in the process. But I barely even felt it. After the pain from before, this much could not faze me.

I devoured the meat like some kind of wild animal, my stomach growling with joy. It tasted bland, without any seasoning or extras, but it was the best meal I ever had. After eating my fill and feeling my body be revitalized from the energy it so desperately craved, I felt even stronger. Maybe I was just imagining it, but I felt good.

With newfound energy and enthusiasm I sat on the ground in the lotus position and closed my eyes. Trying to sense the mana in my body, I probed around and looked closer at the changes in my body.

This body had an enormous amount of mana incorporated inside its muscles. The muscles themselves looked different as well, as if made to absorb mana in a different manner than normal. I looked further into my body and saw my mana core.

It was pitch black.

*No, that can’t be. Why do I already have an Ebony core? I'm nowhere near the level of a Schmerzan of the highest level. The amount of mana they have is out of this world. Judging by the amount of mana in my core, I should be at the first level, maybe even lower. I can't even properly form a fire.

But why would my mana core start at ebony? Is it because I formed a core naturally, without the help of Zael’s kind? But why would that change anything?*

Without enough information, I could only speculate that it was because I formed my core without any outside help. Now, the question was, what happened to me after Zael took my body?