Akira was thinking. He was sick of being scared and weak. As the chief engineer of a huge multinational corporation, he was in charge of hundreds if not thousands of subordinates. He was always busy coordinating, directing and solving issues of various types. And he was good, really good. So now being thrown out his circle of comfort, the lack of control over the events happening to him was not depressing, but pissing him off. The feeling of security of his room helped tremendously to centre and focus. So, Akira got up and went to the bathroom to attend to his body needs. The experience with the toilet was a bit awkward. Like the pee not going out where he was used to, or the strange feeling when he wiped the newly acquired vagina.
“Sigh, It can’t be helped, I better adjust fast or it will be only an obstacle. I need my mind 100% focused on the primary target. I do remember, I have heard about this condition, how was it called? Hmm a body dysphoria or something.”
Akira decided that how he was feeling was irrelevant. His mission could be achieved either in a male or female body. There wasn’t any restriction based on the gender for casting spells after all. And Kornelius said after 10 in the attributes the starting body’s condition becomes irrelevant – male, female, elf, dwarf human – the great equaliser.
--- Asmodeus POV---
At the same time, the newly appointed temporary general of the Asia Gate area stood up and sat on the Akasha’s vacant throne. His massive 2 tons body barely fitting in.
[https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1064114399704526861/1064449566377775174/asmodeus.jpg]
He looked at his fellow demons grinning. They were all elder demons like himself, meaning they possessed similar powers, but now he was in charge of them albeit temporary. A glorious feeling superiority clouded his mind and hindered further his not very bright thinking process. The ogres are a brutal force on the battlefield, a monster killing machines, but to balance smart was lacking…
So Amodeus kept grinning and staring, the other demons staring at him at the same time. Nobody spoke for 10 minutes.
Finally the head of the demonic church Exordia, a succubus bowed deeply, winked at the surrounding demons and said:
“I have to say that it is not fair while the great Akasha is having the time of her life in the Hell hounds pits, we will be busting our asses hard working.”
“True”
“Unfair”
Murmured the others already in line with the Exordia’s plotting.
“HMMM” Asmodius scratched one of his heads, not sure what to reply.
“The great Akasha said she is certain that nothing is going to get wrong” one of the demons dropped a tip
“Yes, even if we do nothing, everything will be fine” another one wisely concluded
“Hmm” Amsodeus thought, how great it will be, to have nothing but fun to do. He liked the taste of those mortals in Beijing, how good it will be to enjoy his primal urges in a sea of delicious food.”
Asmodeuis salivated and said:
“As the temporary commander I order you to proceed with what you feel like is important, until the Great general Akasha Zeul returns from vacation. Council dismissed”.
The demons grinned in delight. They have just received an order to do what they like and working was not part of it at all. At this moment the chain of command in Asia Gate Area temporary collapsed.
---- Kornelius POV---
Kornelius was rummaging in his clothes chest. He hated to dress official and socialising. It was annoying, it was not productive, it was boring. Yet he was determined to finish this mission. Akira, his partner was in trouble.
He sighed and put on his old robe from the academy. He hasn’t worn this for decades. Even the robes being that old, they looked pristine condition, protected by their ingrained runecraft. Then headed to the nearest transport hub. The air in paradise prime was as always perfect -clean and fresh. He looked around at the bustling overcrowded street and shivered…
“Too many people here” he shivered and headed in brisk walk almost running.
He arrived at the Transport hub. It was kind of an airport, but instead of aircrafts it had localised dimension doors. He checked the portal map, painted on the wall of the enormous hall and found the required portal number is N 356.
“How much suffering a man must take in order to achieve his goals” Sighed Kornelius and headed through the overcrowded mass of people while ... suffering
In about 1 hour Kornelius entered a enormous building. Its top hidden in the clouds.
“Department of healing and soul care”
He entered the space foyer.
“Of course, it will be overcrowded here as well.”
There was a long line of waiting for the receptionist desk.
The thought of waiting long time in a line in a crowded space made a Kornelius shed a cold sweat. So, he pumped his fists and pushed through the waiting line.
“Make way, it is an emergency, please move” Kornelius
“Hey, how rude!”
If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.
“You, wait for your turn birdman”
Of course, people were not happy, but Kornelius ignored them
“You have to wait for your turn, sir” said the receptionist, obviously not happy of the commotion he caused.
“Miss, it is an emergency, you have to help me please. My friend is in grave danger. Please miss!” Kornelius
The beastkin receptionist looked at him for several moments and noticing his robes exclaimed:
“Oh my, are you an alumni of the "Paradise prime arcane academy"?”
“Huh yes, I am, graduated with honours as a “system architect”. Proudly declared Kornelius
“Ah the nerds department...”
“Sorry?”
“A nothing, nothing” The woman was amused
“As a fellow alumnus, I will help you out, what do you need.”
“Well my friend has a unknown condition which involved a demonic soul damage”
“Oh my, that sounds bad”
The woman fiddled with the control runes on her desk and said:
“I made you an appointment in 30 minutes with sir Degolas. He is an expert on the subject”
“Thanks, thank you miss!” said Kornelius and prepared to leave
“AHMM sir?
“What is it?” Kornelius
“The fee is 100 SU, sir”
“Ah right, how could I forget about it” mumbled Kornelius
[you have transferred 100 SU. Balance 0 SU]
After 30 minutes he met Degolas, a kind elderly high human. Then he explained every single detail of what happened, of course hiding the true circumstances.
Degolas listened patiently the entire situation and said:
“Yes, quite a peculiar case, but not as rare as it sounds, especially when fighting the undead. Those necromancers specialise on soul damage spell craft.
“So, here is what I believe happened to your friend…..”
What followed was a lengthy, but quite enlightening explanation. Kornelius made sure to remember everything. Nothing of a problem with his massive intelligence attribute.
---- Akira POV-----
Akira finished his bathroom duty, sat on the office chair and took out a notebook and a pen.
“Let see. I will mark the important things and consider their solution. But I will write it in German so if my mother comes and accidentally look at, she will get nothing”
“Hmm I will name my goals as Quests like in the RPG games. It sounds so cool”
Main quest: Save my family. Objectives:
- get strong enough and reach lvl 24 asap.
- find a way to go back to Earth
-rescue Caroline and Cristine
Secondary quest: Infiltration
-remain undetected by the demons
-find a way to eliminate demons without breaking cover
Secondary quest: Gear up
-acquire proper equipment and tools to fight the Spiderman
-acquire funds
-secure base of operations
Secondary quest: Family
-solve the issue with Akira’s father
Secondary quest: explore and analyse my enemy
- explore environment
-find demon weaknesses
-learn about the different demon variants
Secondary quest – nightmares
-find the reason for the nightmares
-find solution for the nightmares
Secondary quest – school
-proceed with the late Akira’s school activities
-find and solve any situations that could appear while in school
Akira put down the pen and opened the bag of chocolates he bought yesterday from the food stall.
While munching in delight he focused his entire brain power on completing the quests
He spent next hours in exploring late Akira's possessions putting aside several objects of interest:.
* a sport tracksuit - black
* a leather neck choker with metal plate stating "dropout", on its back "Shinagama college"
* a mechanical wrist watch
* a pair of leather hiking boots
* children’s toy type of plastic face mask
* a folding knife (from last night, properly washed and cleaned)
[https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1064114399704526861/1064497729897779262/face_mask.jpg]
"That is the starting gear, I have some cash and I will need to acquire additional items in in order to proceed further, may be even today"
About before noon time Kornelius connected
"Hey Akira"
"Hi, hey partner, how did it go?"
"It went fine, albeit ridiculously expensive, the consultation happened to be enlightening"
"...., I am listening" Akira
“So the soul gestalt in your status screen means roughly “A soul merge”. It happens when 2 souls combine into one.”
“Are you saying that me and Akira’s are becoming one person, how is it possible, she died right?”
“Yes and No. Once a soul suffers a critical damage, in terms of the system your soul defence dropping below 25, it shatters to its building blocks. Those blocks are called “traits” and are essentially what make you a person. For example, a trait of a taste meaning what kind of food you like, a trait for learning etc. and these are the most complex traits. There are many specific ones and as weird as “I like dancing naked under the rain” So when a soul shatters these trait bits dissipate in a order of minutes”
“Unless…” Akira continued
“Unless there is a soul nearby. Then they are attracted by the soul in a phenomenon called “soul friction”. Imagine a soul bubble, then those bits will be the tiny bubbles on the big one’s surface.”
“What about the person Akira. What happened to her?”
“Well I am afraid that the girl Akira, the person who she was is gone. The rabid mantis must have consumed that part.”
“But it didn’t have time to finish the leftovers….” Akira
“Correct.”
“So I am carrying Akira's legacy with me”
“I believe that because you suffered some soul damage in the transportation few traits have already slipped inside your soul. That’s the excessive soul healing taking place. Soul healing actually speeds tremendously the assimilation process”.
“So how these assimilated traits affected me. I still feel me.”
“Well if the trait is seriously in contradiction of the hosting soul, it gets rejected and recycled. The hosting soul decides if the trait is acceptable or not. But if the trait is accepted it becomes an inseparable part of the host.”
“What does it mean?”
“Well if the trait is let say “I like apples”, once assimilated, you will like apples, you will feel it as yourself doing and not an outside forced influence. Because it comes from the core of your sole existence – your own soul”
Akira pondered what possible traits have been assimilated:
“the name – no I chose it myself, my new alas, I am 100% sure”
“the right-handed – no it is possibly the body’s brain alignment”
“the sweet tooth – possible, he remembered the joy of the ice cream. It felt like he always loved ice cream and sweet taste in general."
“the anger bursts - that is a sure a trait from Akira. He as Tom was very calm and collected person. A man of reason, who rarely acted on an impulse. "Anger management is common among teenagers. It gets manageable as the person matures" concluded Akira
“Hoshi – he loved the squishy pink dragon very much. "So a trait confirmed".
“So how it is related to the nightmares?”
“Well it is your subconscious telling you about your soul situation”
“The Akiras monster girls are actually traits?”
“That’s how your subconscious interpreting foreign soul objects. And the house that they can’t enter without your approval is your soul's outside barrier.” Kornelius concluded
“What are my options?”
“Well if you accept the gestalt, you will change in a certain way, but there will be benefits, like better synchronising with the host body leading increase in attributes. It is possible to even to increase of your soul type.”
“If you deny, the nightmares will continue for few months until the traits dissipate and fade from existence.”
Akira took a deep breath and decided:
“I will accept. I failed to save the girl, but if possible for even a part of her to continue to live on inside me I will not hesitate”
“Well it is your decision, I think it is an overall benefit as it will improve your chances to blend in. Remember you will be in control, so a trait like “The demons are my buddies" won’t manifest as it contradicts severely with your beliefs”
“Ok, how are we gonna do it?”
“It is best to be done in your dream state. While there, you will know what to do in order to accept”
“I will do it tonight…” Akira decided.