Chapter 5: The World Spirit Is Born

“Alex, are you bored?”

“Very. I was expecting this to be a crazy event. Loud noises, bright colors. Instead, I just feel kind of out of place while also feeling the stares of others from all directions.”

“At least they aren’t trying to harm you.”

“That is correct, but for how long will that be true?”

“I think it is best not to worry about that for now. We should prepare for the night instead.”

I nod my head and start to set up a small campsite. I take some small sticks I had collected from the forest out of my bag and place them in a small pile.

I take out some dried meats and a soup base. I place them in to a bowl with water and frown.

“These really are second hand goods aren’t they? I can only see this soup base as salt and herbs, this cried meat is so dry that I can barely chew it.”

“Shall we give up on working for the wind spirits? Work for another race? Or will we go off on our own?”

“Actually, before that, I’ve been thinking about something. How are world spirits born? Why is it every ten years? Is it a coincidence that the time between your world transfers are also ten years?”

“I do not know any of these. World spirits are as new to me as they are to you.”

“I think maybe, and this is just a shot in the dark, but maybe, you are also a world spirit, or possibly something similar.”

“That is a logical conclusion. Born randomly from a world, know instinctively what I can do. However it seems that these world spirits are capable of interacting with the world. I am not. I just float around and can somehow project my voice in to your head.”

“I see. Hey, Miria. If you were ever able to talk to someone else… would you leave me?”

“Not for anything.”

“Okay… that makes me feel a little better. Because if you are a world spirit or something similar, you may be able to communicate with them.”

“Would you be jealous?”

“Actually yes. I would be. I am fragile, I am also only human, the weakest of things on this planet could kill me and there is nothing I could do about it.”

“There is something you can do about it.” I hear a voice behind me so I turn to see what it is.

Behind me was an average height male with dark green hair, his eyes the same color as mine.

“Who are you?” I carefully pull out the dagger I was given for travelling. Probably second hand goods again, but it was still sharp enough to be of danger to anyone.

“Calm down. I didn’t mean to startle you. I am Isaac, a simple world spirit.” The man bows slightly while keeping his hands in view. A sign meaning he has no intention of fighting.

“Oh?” I look at him and look around at the various spirit races keeping their distance. They were all staring with eyes of envy and hatred. “It seems that their reactions are showing me that you are telling the truth.”

“Thank you for believing me. That will make this many times easier than before. I am Isaac, a world spirit that was also given news to give to you.”

“What is it with people expecting me to be places!? It’s starting to piss me off!”

“Firstly, please calm down. I have no intention of angering you. That would make my future absolutely miserable. Secondly, I was told to tell you that… um…”

“Get on with it.” I look at him impatiently.

“I seem to have forgotten the message I was supposed to give you.”

I put the world spirit in to a choke hold and look towards the astonished spirit races that were scattered throughout the landscape.

“All of you start killing each other! The last ones left standing will be given this world spirit, otherwise, I kill it here and now!”

“Alex, that may not be the best idea, he may be able to help us more. We just need to get the memories out of him. I can think of a few ways to do this.”

“Okay, Miria, let’s torture him and see if we can get something good.”

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

I look around to see that the spirits had already started to launch magic at each other and yelling at the top of their lungs.

“Why do you believe him!?”

“Why not!? Isn’t it better than trying to kill him!?”

“All you are doing is causing more death by attacking us!”

“Too late! I have made up my mind to win that world spirit!”

The various spirits not hesitating to either run away at top speed or charge towards their enemies. I slightly smile at the sight, who knew I had a side like this?

“I d-don’t think torture is really necessary you know. Ah, I think I remembered something, your name is Alex, right?”

“It is. So, if you know me, you know the other. Correct?”

“Ah yes,” Isaac bows his head slightly in the general direction of Miria, “This servant humbly greets Lady Miria.”

“Lady Miria? It has a nice ring to it.”

“Quiet for a second. How did you know where she was?”

“It was an educated guess, I can roughly sense her location, but I am not able to see her, nor can I tell exactly where she is. Also, she will be unable to communicate with me for now.”

“This is odd.”

“You’re right, Miria. Who told you these things, Isaac?”

“I am unsure. I was given knowledge and now I am here.” Isaac looks around quickly. “We should hurry and leave. Do you know a good location to hide?”

“Temporarily, yes, long term, no.”

“That’s good enough for now, please lead the way, I will cover our tracks.” Isaac holds out his hand as it starts to glow, a sign of a world spirit using magic… or so I was told.

I lead the way, hoping that none of the spirits noticed our departure. The turbulent mana should still be in the location we were at. So there is only hope that they will wait until the mana clears to look for us, which would give us a day.

I quickly run down the mountain path while taking ‘shortcuts’ down the path. By shortcuts I mean running down steep sections of slopes and praying I don’t fall over.

“Be careful Alex, I don’t trust this guy that much.” I nod slowly

“Yeah, nor do I.”

“What are you talking about?” Isaac tilts his head in confusion.

“Just wonder if the other spirits will search for us before the turbulent mana disappears.”

“They shouldn’t. They should still see us there. I used a short term illusion magic that will last just slightly longer than a day.”

“Convenient.” I nod my head, reminding myself to not talk too loud when speaking to Miria in front of other people.

We finally make our way in to the forest at the base of the mountain after running for a couple hours.

“That’s a tough run.” Isaac stretches his body, “I really wish I had more time to prepare for that. My mana reserves are almost empty already. It’s amazing that you can run like that without even losing your breath, Alex.”

“I don’t know, I’ve always been like that. I am a strange human.”

“Oh, you still think you’re human?”

Everyone stays deadly silent, not even the wind dared to make a sound at this moment. It was a stare off between myself and Isaac.

“Ah! I just remembered the other thing I was supposed to tell you two!” Isaac happily claps, completely ignoring the atmosphere, “I know what you are Alex, and that is not human!”

“Give me more detail you little fuck!” I then roundhouse kick him in the gut.

“Ouch. I guess I deserve that, don’t I?”

“I don’t think he did. You should apologize, Alex.”

“Miria says I should apologize, and I will, but not before you tell me everything you can remember, or a kick is the least of your worries.”

“I think that is fair.” Miria nods her head approvingly.

“Miria agrees that is fair. Now spill it, before for you spill other things.” I pat the knife attached to my hip.

“Calm down, please calm down. I’ll talk.” Isaac clears his throat looking extremely nervous, while Miria is laughing her head off, realizing I wouldn’t actually harm a hair on the guy’s head. He is probably trying his best after all, I just want faster results. “You are aware you are not human and you have been subconsciously wondering that yourself. How many years did you spend in your world after being born?”

“I am twenty years…”

“Looks like you just realized something.” Isaac stands back up and dusts himself off. “However, when you were in your world, you were in fact a normal human. You just had abnormally high stamina. That isn’t anything too uncommon, or so my memories tell me.”

“Then, just what happened?”

“Your human body was destroyed during the transfer. You instantly died.”

“But…” I look at my hands and feet, the knife was back in its sheath. For safety reasons. “Aren’t I here now?”

“Several things happened all at once during the transfer, it really is challenging to describe exactly what happened, but let’s just simplify it. Technically, you are a world spirit, one from your original world… kind of?”

“What is it with people in ending important things in questions!?” I grab my head an fall to the ground.

“Sorry, sorry. I didn’t mean to frustrate you. As you were in such close proximity to Lady Miria, your body was transformed, and while transferring, you may have come in to contact with things a human shouldn’t, thus you died.”

“So… I’m a world spirit?”

“Yes and no. From the knowledge I was given to tell to you, you are what could be known as a ‘mutation’.”

“Okay… this is really hard for me to take in. Could you explain it to me in another way?”

“Okay,” Isaac nods, “Living thing goes in, dead thing comes out, but dead thing was saved by random chance.”

“That didn’t help me in any way whatsoever.” I shake my head and rub my face with my hands. “So, I’m not human…” I then slowly stand up and smile, “Isn’t this good for me?”

“How is that good? Aren’t you upset that you died?” Isaac looks at me with a confused expression.

“Not at all. If I’m a world spirit, doesn’t that mean my lifespan is much longer? That also means I can use some form of magic now, right?”

“I guess that would be true… but who knows if I would be able to teach you anything…”

“I thank you in advance for helping me learn magic to protect myself so I can stay with Miria!”

“Using Lady Miria as a persuasion tool…” Isaac sighs, “Oh well… I hope I can teach you well… actually, why the hell am I agreeing to this bullshit!?” Isaac throws the hat he was holding to the ground.

“I can give you to the spirits to deal with you know? I’m sure you have knowledge of what they do to world spirits like you.”

“Please don’t do that to me” Isaac gets on his hands and knees to plead, “Wait… aren’t you also in danger then!?”

“They see me as a human, I don’t know how, but they seem to think and can recognize me as a human.”

“Oh, about that.” Isaac stands back up brushing himself off again, “In a day or two your soul will no longer be human in any way, shape or form, so they will no longer see you as a human and will recognize you as a world spirit almost immediately.”

“Tell me important things like that sooner, you fucking idiot!” I punch him to the ground.

“What a honeymoon. First my husband converses with another man while ignoring me, then I find out he isn’t even a human.”

“You aren’t human either!”