I stared at the cold chicken breast in front of me. Bringing my left hand up, I twist my wrist, fold in my pinky and ring finger before flicking my other two fingers up.

"Nope. Still nothing," I said in a monotonous and dry voice. The exact same voice I used for the last eight hours of my life as every single previous attempt ended just like this one. In failure.

"Try again," Syn said.

I throw my head back and let out a whisper yell.

"What are you doing?"

"Hyping myself up."

"I mean, it's not going to work for the ten-thousandth time."

"Then why have you been wasting my time?"

"For my own personal joy and entertainment."

"You're welcome, but—what are you really doing?"

"Thinking."

"About...?"

Syn let out a heavy sigh and shrugged. "Eh, well, it's not like you really have any other choice."

"Mhm, yes." I nodded. "Please continue speaking in these vague terms, I understand everything."

"Do you want the bad news or the even worse news first?"

"Just lay it on me."

"Bad news first it is." Syn said in a tempered and hushed voice. "The reason you haven't been able to cast the [Legerdemain] spell is because you don't have enough anima in your soul."

"And you're telling me it gets worse?"

"Yes, because the reason you don't have enough anima is not because you haven't absorbed enough, it's because you're passively leaking anima."

I sat there with my back hunched and legs spread wide. Not really sure how to process such information. "Didn't you say the only way for anima to escape your body is through the use of magic or if you die?"

"Correct."

"And since I can't use spells..."

"This phenomenon is called soul decay. It's more common than you would think, but that's because the majority of the population aren't Weavers, which leads to it often going unnoticed."

The silence spoke volumes as I stayed motionless. It was an odd sensation. I should have been more sad, or upset, or angry. Yet, I wasn't. I think part of it was because I had already come to terms with the fact that I would die soon, anyway.

"What happens when you soul fully decays?" I asked after some time.

"Death. But your soul doesn't get judged or enter one of the god's domains. Instead, you enter the River of Souls and flow within its currents for the rest of eternity," Syn said, waving her hand in front of him. "Luckily, I also have some good news. There is a method I remember reading about that can force the activation of a soul."

"Then why does your voice sound so wishy-washy right now?"

"The problem with the method lies in the fact of when you have a soul activated, when you use anima, you no longer release it back in to the world. Instead, you erase it from existence. A process that the gods don't take too kindly towards as it does weaken them. However, since you're going to get sent to the River of Souls anyway, that isn't really the problem for you. This method proccess' massive amounts of anima, which in turn taxes your soul more and speeds up how fast your soul decays."

"So I assume the idea is that I become a Weaver, and with that power, use the limited time I have to slow down or increase the strength of my soul and fix my heart before I die?"

"Yes."

"And what if I refuse to learn this method?"

"I'm not giving you any choice in this matter since the pact tied my life to yours."

"Counterpoint: what if I said no?"

"You can't."

"Why not?"

"You aren't capable of manipulating any anima, so you can't perform the method. Not that I know how to transfer the information in my mind to yours in the first place. This leaves it all up to me."

"Good thing I wasn't going to say no."

"If the ship is sinking, I'm going to do my best to prevent myself from drowning."

"So, is there anything I need to do? Or is everything in your hands for now?"

"It's all up to me now."

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I followed her instructions and lay on my bed.

"Breathe in, breathe out, count to ten," Syn said as she closed her eyes. "And don't let the pain kill you."

Before I could even think of a response, my mind went blank before a red static invaded my thoughts and vision.

----------------------------------------

I woke up the following the day. A layer of dried gunk and formed overnight and covered my eyes. All of my joints and muscles had were sore and throbbed with an aching dullness. That combined with a sense of tiredness and unwillingness to actually get up, and I had the perfect recipe for going back to the comforting darkness. Unfortunately, no matter how hard I wished, I could not fall asleep. I opened my eyes wide and looked outside. The sun had only just now begun to rise. I clicked my tongue and sat up before picking the gunk off. However, even after clearing eyes, my vision was still slightly blurry.

"Up so early?" Syn asked as she floated in front of me with crossed arms. One look into her eyes revealed their bloodshot nature.

In an unexpected hoarse voice, I said, "Is it just me, or are you significantly more transparent than before?"

"The reckless use of anima in this weakened state pushed me deeper into the ethereal realm. I don't know how long it will take until I'm back at the border."

"Thanks. Although, I don't actually feel any different."

"It doesn't matter what you feel. Try casting [Legerdemain] now."

I moved over to my desk where the chicken breast from last night now sat at room temperature, giving off an unappetizing smell. Still, my stomach growled. But I wasn't desperate nor hungry enough just yet. Instead, I repeated the hand motion and incantation from last night.

Syn stared blankly at the lack of a result before ruffling her hair. "Damn. I must have messed something up. I thought I remembered everything perfectly."

As I slumped into my chair, I shrugged. "It was a good attempt at the very least."

"Take out the book."

"And you didn't want to read over the method one more time before you attempted it?" I asked while pulling the tome out of my knapsack.

"If the method was in there, I would have mentioned it and you could have done it yourself."

"True enough."

"Open it up to the page you used to summon me."

I only needed to flip several pages in before stopping at a pure black page covered with dried blood.

"Is there anything visible on the page for you?"

"Besides my blood, nope."

Syn bit her thumb as she stared at the floor. "Give me a moment."

"Sure." I turned my attention back to the tome and squinted. There was still a slight blurriness in my vision that didn't go away even after I rubbed my eyes. In fact, everything only seemed to smudge and blend together even more. It happened occasionally on days when I didn't get enough sleep, but it always wore off after several minutes. Yet, it was never this strange. My vision was clear, yet it wasn't. I related this to whatever Syn did last night.

Even upon closing my eyes, the blur was still there. A mental fog of sorts. I took a deep breath and prevented myself from getting irrationally irritated at its presence and instead took this time to collect my thoughts. Thinking about it, the last few days had been a wild upset from the last five years.

Mitre somehow became a Weaver. The Vallonian Civil War was reaching its end. I actually succeeded in the ritual and summoned Syn.

Just one of these events was crazy enough, but all of them happening at the same time? A faint smile creeped across my face.

The fog lightened up, but it wasn't dissipating. Instead—it sharpened. Upon noticing this change, I shifted my mind and focused all of my attention towards it.

Faint wisps that created the fog concentrated and now appeared as different, multifaceted strands.

And without another moment—they vanished.

I opened my eyes and found myself short of breath, clutching my chest out of instinct. The blurriness was no longer there. However, I felt the existence of the strands at a primal level. I looked down at the page once more. Nothing new appeared on it. However, now, there was a faint black glow which accompanied the page. After a few moments, the light condensed and compelled me to reach out.

Now, between my fist, the light was gone. However, I could feel it struggle and turn into a battle between it and me. My fingers loosened up, and right when I was about to give in, the force vanished. In the next moment, a creeping blackness crawled from my fingertips to my hand.

"Uh, quick question, not too urgent. Would you happen to know what is happening right now?" I asked, turning to Syn. My entire left arm turned black.

She stopped pacing and turned around. Her eyes widened as she smirked. "This is the effect of the blood pact finally taking place. Which means I didn't mess up because this would only take place if you were a Weaver."

I let out a sigh of relief. "That means this is a good thing, right?"

"For you yes, for me it's even better."

"And that means you can now take over my body and use it as your own?"

"How did you know?" Syn asked, covering her mouth as if she was shocked.

I rolled my eyes. "You need to work on your acting abilities."

Syn shrugged. "As an eidolon, I have no powers except for the general control of anima. However, because I'm unable to refine it, I can't use any spells. However, the pact allows you to funnel my anima for use in whatever abilities it grants you."

"That sounds pretty incredible."

"Unfortunately, it's not all sunshine and rainbows, but I'm not privy to all the positives and negatives. However, this means I can absorb anima after you use it, increasing the strength of my soul and in turn ethereal form. And before you ask, yes, that potion is still necessary."

"Don't worry. I was planning to craft it, anyway. How could such a recipe not tempt me?"

The black which covered my entire arm faded away, leaving the symbol of a warped pentagram seared onto the back of my palm. The same symbol which was embedded on the front of my tome.

I brushed my hand across it multiple times. "Well, this is going to be a hard one to explain."

"Just wear a glove," Syn suggested.

"No thanks," I said, rotating my hand in the sunlight to get a better look at the symbol. "What are the powers I get from the pact?"

"It will become visible to you in the book. Maybe it will also provide some insight into why you weren't you able to cast [Legerdemain]?"

"Where in here would it be?"

"Start at the beginning and flip through. The book is linked with your soul and changes the content within each page according to such development."

"I've noticed." With a smirk, I shook my head. "You know, this used to be a fairy tale book at some point."

"And for me it was originally an inscription guide, so it appears the book also changes contents depending on the person," Syn said with a hand on her chin.

"I wonder who the creator of this book is."

"I wonder that too, but some questions are better left unanswered."