Note: From now on Seele Ehe will be called Seelenehe. Thank you Gandrasch for the correction and continued help with my use of the German language.
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“____” speaking
‘____’ thoughts
*____* telepathy
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I rose with the sun and went to the kitchen to begin my teachings with Maka; she was already there waiting for me.
“So where do we begin?”
“ ‘bout that. We need to create a link.”
I balked at her statement.
“No. Creating links with others has only lead to trouble for me.”
Maka was looking at me like I was an idiot. I hated those kinds of looks.
“What!?”
“Vio. You know there are different types of links right?”
Her words were spoken softly in contrast to my near shout.
“There are?”
I could feel myself emotionally deflate.
“Vio can I ask you a question?”
“Sure but I won’t necessarily give you an answer.”
“That’s fine, I think you’ll answer this one. So. . .”
She paused, most likely trying to figure out the best way to word what she wanted.
“Um. The question is about your instincts but I’m not sure how to phrase it. Do you have or even remember having any? That’s not to say you don’t have them, but I’m talking about your ones relating to Arcane and links and spirits. Things you should know but don’t for some reason.”
‘Do I?’
I thought for a minute trying to remember everything that I could while skipping the bad parts of my past. The change in my features must have told Maka her answer.
“You don’t do you?”
It was a sad voice filled with pity.
“I’ve always just known how to do stuff and never questioned it. But no. I don’t remember ever having any. And don’t pity me for it.”
“Fine. I’ll just have to start from the basics then. Get comfy this may take a while.”
I jumped up onto a counter and sat myself cross legged.
“I’ll start with links. There’s five kinds; work links, family links, home links, soul links, and marriage links. Family links are self explanatory and are between a parent and their children. That type of link deters over time and is used to feed the child until it has learned everything it needs to know in order to survive on its own. Home links are the next easiest to explain. A home link is between a spirit and their home; be it a place, idea, or something else. A spirit puts some of their soul into this link and that classifies it as a type of soul link as well. Losing a home link almost always drive a spirit to corruption.”
I could feel my chest tighten as Maka spoke about losing one’s home link; too many bad memories.
“Third in line are work links or support links as some, like myself, call them. This is the type of link I want to make with you. Each work link is set up to do something different; ours would be for communication. Marriage links are a bit more complex for obvious reasons. There are a lot of conditions and they have a real physical meaning to them with Seelenehe being the strongest type of marital link. Then there are soul links. These are link bindings and what naught but also include a few other links like home links and Seelenehe as well. Any questions?”
“Not really. Maybe more in depth about some of the links but nothing right now at least. What’s next?”
“Do I need to explain what links do or do you know that?”
“I at least know that much! Next!”
“Keep your voice down, other are still asleep and if they wake up they’re going to want to know where the noise came from.”
Maka sighed while rubbing her face in the palm of her hands.
“Do you know about Arcane affinity?”
“Yup.”
“Do you know how to test for it?”
“Nnnno.”
“Can you make Aldite?”
“Eventually. It takes a few tries.”
One of Maka’s eyebrows raised slightly.
“How many types of Arcane can you use?”
“Enough to get by. Continue about how to test for affinity.”
It seemed I had pushed one too many of Maka’s buttons, a red tinge from anger was creeping onto her face.
“I would like to know so that way I can make the Aldites you can’t. I understand you’re used to being stabbed in the back whenever you let someone in but telling me this isn’t going to hurt you in any way, shape, or form. So, what types of Arcane can you use?”
“Earth, fire, wind, water, a little bit of mind, gravity, raw obviously, metal, heat, sound, and spatial.”
Maka had a sly look on her face.
“What now?”
“I just figured out what type of spirit you are.”
“What? How? Nothing I told you should give you any information related to that.”
“Voi you know each spirit excels at different types of Arcane depending on their type of spirit right?”
“Yeah. That’s a basic of the basics.”
“Well there are a few types of Arcane that can only be learned by very, very specific spirits.”
“But none of mine ar- Oh.”
‘It’s spatial. I even said it myself, I’ve never met another spirit that could use it.’
“Don’t you dare tell anyone.”
I jabbed my finger in Maka’s direction.
“Pfft. Why not? It’s not like it’ll affect you in any way if others know.”
“It will because people could find out my true name from it if they know enough about me. Also I don’t want people to know because of my past.”
Maka began to stroke her chin with one hand while humming quietly.
“I don no. How much is that information worth to you?”
“If you're thinking of blackmailing me I will kill you here and now.”
Maka stopped stroking her face and looked at me, a slight red glow was reflected in her eyes.
“What’s wrong with your eyes? Why are they solid red? Wait are you -”
‘Fuck! I’m losing it again. Keep it in like you’ve done in the past.’
My back tingled as if spiders were crawling over it and I had to take a moment to bring myself back under my own control. All of my knuckles were turning white from how hard I was gripping the counter’s edge. I hadn’t eaten another soul recently and was dangerously unstable.
“Yes. And this conversation ends. Now.”
The last word out of my mouth was a snarl filled with my anger; It shut her up. I was going to crash hard later, holding back the less savory part of myself took too much energy.
“I can make the Aldite but it’ll take me a while so let’s move on to the next topic. How do I teach something in general.”
There were still lingering traces of malice in my words, but I had done the best I could to keep my tone steady. Maka had to pull herself together after being handed a death threat on such short notice. I could feel my chest start to cramp and my vision began to blur.
‘Now comes the rebound from suppressing myself.’
Maka started to speak but stopped as I slumped slightly, my limbs were quivering and a light layer of sweat covered my body. If I hadn’t been monitoring my breathing I would have been hyperventilating. Seeing my condition, Maka was hesitant to act and came closer.
“Would healing Arcane help?”
Her words were gentle and I could tell she hoped it would help. I would be lying if I said yes.
“N-no s-sadly.”
I gasped for air, speaking words via a convulsing body was difficult since the spasms kept getting worse.
“Ju-just gotta l-le-et i-it hap-pp-pen.”
The cold kicked in next; an iciness that crept upwards from my extremities and slowly had me shivering uncontrollably. I curled myself into the fetal positions in a futile attempt to alleviating the phantom chill. Every inch, each millimeter that was surrendered to the cold felt as though hundreds of tiny needles were pricking me, trying to pull me apart.
‘Almost done. Almost done. Almost done.’
The pain was all consuming as by body tried to crush itself by contracting all my muscles at once and those two words became a mantra in my head. I was dead to the world and didn’t react when Maka started to rub my back. It used to be worse, much worse, but that didn’t mean it still wasn’t bad. Just as slowly as it had come, each part of the torture slowly faded away in the reverse order leaving me spasming slightly after ten minutes had passed.
“Is it finished?”
I weakly nodded and wiped the tears from my face using the back of my hand.
“This was one of the nicer ones.”
A chuckle followed my words; all of it hoarse to the point of being nearly unrecognizable. Maka continued to massage my back; the silence persisting as neither of us wanted to speak.
“What caused it?”
The awkward quiet was reinstated after being finally broken.
“Anger. Fear. Panic. Hunger. Mostly hunger but extreme emotions act as a trigger. Other things do it as well and sometime it just happens for no reason.”
“How long has it been since you last ate?”
The questions might have been prying into area I didn’t want them to, but it took my mind off of the rapid fire seizures and phantom pain so I didn’t care.
“Last time was when Ormonde and I were in the ethereal plane.”
“That was almost four and a half years ago! How often should you be eating?”
Maka’s increase in volume hurt my head causing me to whine slightly before answering.
“Probably once every one to two months”
“You basically starved yourself. How’d that happen?”
“Forgot. Usual signs weren’t there so it slipped my mind.”
‘Probably Akhan’s fault but I’m not totally sure on that. Still need to deal with him too.’
I looked up and searched for Maka and found her to my right.
“Can I sleep in the corner and we continue this later? I’m fading fast.”
“Yeah, you can just stay where you are if you want.”
“ ‘K.”
I buried my head into my arms and slept. The sleep I got after the attacks was usually light and served only to deaden the pain that came afterwards. A bright sunbeam finally woke me some time later.
Someone, most likely Maka, had put a blanket over me while I slept. I shrugged the blanket off while I sat upright and looked out the window to get an idea of how long I had been out. From the direction the shadows were being cast, I judged it to be around midday. Sleep hadn’t full left me yet so I opted to get some more and slid off the counter, dragging myself and the blanket to the corner of the room .
Once I had myself comfortably wedged in the corner, I pulled out my lantern and took the Eldritch’s soul from it. Eldritch souls always tasted nasty, something akin to rotting meat, but it was the only one I had at the moment. Moments later the lantern was gone as was the soul, leaving my hunger partially satiated.
Gentle nudging woke me and I opened my eyes to the concerned face of Maka.
“You ok?”
The best I could handle was a noncommittal grunt until I was more awake and was able to give myself a quick once over.
“It’s night now. You slept the entire day.”
“Oh.”
I straightened myself and stretched my sore limbs, flinch slightly from the pain of residual spasms.
“Thanks for the blanket. Also I seem to be alright for the moment.”
‘Aside from being in constant pain, but that’s not relevant.’
“You’re welcome, it’s good to know the sleep helped.”
“Wasn’t the sleep that helped. I ate.”
“Got it. And I’m guessing you won’t tell me what it is you ate?”
“Correct.”
A sour look crossed my face and I sighed.
‘I wish I could use healing Arcane, it would be super useful for after my attacks.’
“So where did we leave off this morning?”
“Are you sure you want to do this now? The information’s not going anywhere.”
“Yeah. Better to do it now rather than later.”
“All we had left was to talk about how to teach. Teaching can be explained in three words; tell, show, practice. The better you explain and the more you show and practice, the better the teaching for the most part. I’ll go into more depth tomorrow so for now that’ll have to do. Anything else I can do?”
I bit my lower lip.
‘I really don’t want to owe her another favor, but if she could use healing Arcane . . . Might as well.’
“Think you could use some healing Arcane on me?”
“Sure, but you’re going to have to leave that corner and sit somewhere else like the counter.”
I stood up as quickly as my stiff body would allow and made my way over to the counter Maka had pointed to. Even when floating, my movements were slow and labored but she didn’t voice any complaints. Once I was on the counter I let myself fall back and stared at the ceiling. My head was killing me and the headache would only get worse over the next few days.
Maka had followed me without speaking and was now holding her hands with the palms facing each other. A gelatinous green orb began to materialized itself and started to cast a glow once it reached the size of a human head.
Moving her hands so they touched, Maka brought the orb towards me and covered my hand with it. It felt like my hand was covered in water. Maka started to slowly move the orb in a back and forth motion up and down my arm. Each pass removed a little bit of the tension and by the fourth pass my arm was completely relaxed. Maka relaxed each limb before asking me to turn over so she could do my back.
Just like before, each pass relaxed my muscles and a soft loan moan of pleasure managed to sneak its way into existence. It felt like heaven. Maka finished by expanding the orb to encase my entire body for a minute and then dispersed it. My limbs were sluggish jelly, but it was wonderful in comparison to the taunt stiffness that I was used to.
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
“Thank you.”
“Welcome. You know, I think that’s the first time you’ve ever thanked me for anything.”
“Probably.”
“I don’t mean to pry but your body’s in pretty bad shape.”
“ ‘s not gonna get better anytime soon.”
“We’ll create the link when you’re ready. Just let me know.”
I responded with another grunt and the conversation ended there. Sleep claimed me once more allowing me to be visited by the elderly woman that haunted my dreams. Yet another torture that never ended.
For how long I slept I do not know, but I needed it. When I did wake the first thing I did was go to the forest and hunt. Animal souls would sustain me for a short duration and I returned to the mansion when I had enough to last me two months at best. I had become more accustom to the souls of Eldritch, spirits, and humanoids; beings that were on the top of the food chain seemed to be more filling.
Now that I had my food I needed to create the Aldite. I already had a gravity Aldite and making a water Aldite would be impossible for me. The Aldite for fire and heat were the easiest to do and I finished them before Ormonde interrupted me. As I had done the first time, I went to the pond to meet him there.
“Vio? Are you here?”
“Yes I am. Now come here and sit. We’ve got a lot to talk about.”
“Can’t we play first and then -”
“Sit.”
I sighed. I didn’t like having to be bossy, but I didn’t have the energy to argue. Ormonde sat with a rather frightened look on his face.
“Did you tell anyone about what happened?”
“No.”
“Good. In that case I’m going to train you until you can go back and forth freely.”
“Why?”
“ ‘Cause.”
‘Ask a stupid question receive a stupid answer.’
“Do you remember what it felt like when I changed us?”
“Not really.”
“Come here.”
I held out my hand for Ormonde to take and continue to talk once his hand was in mine.
“Try and remember the feeling because you’re going to have to do it on your own.”
A few deep breaths and a though later both of us were ethereal.
“Ok now we’re going to play tag.”
Ormonde looked at me as if I had slapped him.
“Why now?”
“To get you used to moving when you’re ethereal.”
“Eat real?”
“Ethereal. don’t worry about it for now. So are you it or am I?”
“You’re it!”
“Better start running then.”
Ormonde tried to run away but ended up running in place since physical actions did little when ethereal.
“Why can’t I move?”
“Because you’re not solid. Ready to listen before we play?”
“Ye~es.”
He was all mopey over the fact that I had tricked him, but I wanted what I said to stick.
“As you are right now there is only one rule; Mind over matter. In short you have to think about something to do it.”
“So to move I think about walking?”
“No. You think about moving in whatever direction you want to go in. Try it.”
Ormonde moved forward about a foot before coming to a stop.
“Ready to keep playing? I’m still it you know.”
He nodded and started to move away slowly, it would take him a few tries to adjust. Once about a minute had passed I set off after him to tag him. He hadn’t gotten far and I reached him in less time than I counted down.
“Tag. You’re it.”
A simple tap on the shoulder and I turned and started to move away. Ormonde turned and started after me, I made sure to move just a tad faster than he did so he could never catch me. I may have lost at hide and go seek, but I would not be losing tag.
“Why are you so fast?”
“I’m not fast, you’re slow. You want to move fast? Think about moving fast.”
He started to increase his speed and I continued to remain out of arm's reach. Eventually we surpassed the speed either of us could run at while corporeal and I decided to see what would happen if I went up. I started to rise and Ormonde followed, too focused on catching me than anything else. Once we passed the tree tops I let him tag me.
“Tag! You’re it!”
He turned to run and panicked at the height we were at. When he couldn’t figure out how to go down he turned to look at me. I had just been standing still watching him.
“How do I go down.”
“How did you move forward?”
“I thought about it.”
“There’s your answer.”
I watched and waited for ten minutes,but Ormonde still hadn’t figured out how to descend.
‘If it takes him this long to get the concept of up and down, going through things will take forever.’
“Think of stairs.”
A nod and a few seconds later Ormonde had moved down a few inches. I floated along after him and waited until he reached the ground to talk.
“You remember what it felt like to become like this?”
“Yeah.”
“Try and get that feeling again by yourself.”
While I was waiting for Ormonde to fail his attempt to regain corporeality I sat down and began to unwind the soul bond we had. There was no longer any need for it and I didn’t want to have to explain it later.
“I can’t do it.”
“Come ‘ere.”
He took my hand and I turned us both corporeal again.
“Now try to go back to being ethereal.”
“Why?”
“Well you have to touch the person in order to tag them right?”
“Yeah?”
“Well if you’re like that and I’m not then how came you ever tag me?”
“Oh.”
Ormonde stopped talking and his face scrunched up in mock concentration. With nothing else to do, I sent out another pulse to monitor my soul crystal. Nothing.
‘Why’s it gone again? I still have it locked down.’
I opened my eyes and immediately shut them again.
“Vio you ok?”
“Yes. Why do you ask?”
“Well you shouted and now you have your eyes shut tight.”
“I’m fine. Just startled.”
“What startled you?”
“I’ll tell you when you can turn solid on your own.”
I haltingly opened my eyes so the mass of blurred and mixed color that had become my vision didn’t overwhelm me a second time. After enough blinking and a slight headache, I was able to start making things out. I was seeing links for everything without having to pulse. It was a good ability to have but I had no idea how to turn it off and my eyes were beginning to hurt.
‘Why is my life just pain?’
It was a question I had been facing a lot recently, even getting a new skill hurt.
‘Does this carry over to my ethereal form?’
I became ethereal and opened my eyes to what was normal vision, albeit distorted and out of focus normal vision.
‘Good to know. Don’t teach Ormonde how to pulse until he can switch back and forth by himself. There must be another way to get the link sight? Link vision? I’ll think of a name later, to turn off.’
Done with my new ability for now because of a surfacing migraine, I turned to Omonde to see how he was doing.
“And?”
“I can’t do it.”
“Well we’re starting tag again, I’m not solid and you’re about to be it.”
Ormonde started to run away but was quickly tagged and tried with great effort to tag me without any success.
“Can’t touch me; can’t tag me.”
I seated myself in the air and let Ormonde’s hand go through me without any worry. The chance of him being able to change during this activity were minimal at best so I relaxed myself and closed my eyes.
Wap!
A hand smacked my stomach catching me unaware. I fell and hit the ground hard enough to hurt. The air had been knocked out of me and Ormonde had somehow turned me corporeal, most likely the same way I did it to him.
“Are you okay?”
Ormonde appeared to be on the verge of tears.
“Yup. Just a little surprised. But hey. You did it.”
“Did what?”
“You hit me which means you turned ethereal by yourself. You also changed back and changed me too which is why I fell.”
“I did?”
‘You have got to be kidding me.’
“I just explained what you did. Now do it again.”
After a few more slaps Ormonde seemed to be understanding how to change back and forth. We had been practicing or playing for almost two hours and I decided to send Ormonde home. I instructed him to try and practice before he went to sleep and if he couldn’t change back to come see me.
I stayed at my pond and began to create more Aldite for testing Ormonde’s affinities; although I had no clue how to go about doing so. It took me three days to make an earth Aldite. The speed of creating the new Aldite was a freak accident and I knew I wouldn’t be able to create another one at that speed. The pond tempted me and after a dip I returned to the mansion.
The mansion’s kitchen had become my go to place at this point in time and was where I headed towards once I was back at the mansion. I entered and the sight waiting for me killed my pleasant mood, a very, very unhappy looking Maka leaning against the stove. She hadn’t noticed me yet and I started to slowly back out of the room.
“Vi~io~. Where do you think you’re going?”
It was the singsong voice of death.
‘Crap. Act normal.’
“Oh. Hi Maka. Didn’t see you there.”
“Vio can you please explain to me why Ormonde can become ethereal.”
‘ I’m dead! If I manage to walk out of this alive it’ll be a miracle.’
“What makes you think it was me?”
Maka’s hair started to float as she gathered Arcane around herself.
“Vio come here.”
The words were imbued with Arcane, a type I’d never encountered, and my body began to move on its own. Once I was in front of her, Maka spoke again.
“Sit.”
‘No stay standing! Damn it.’
My body refused to listen to me and sat, if not for similar experiences I would be freaking out majorly.
“Vio, you are going to answer my questions truthfully, as in the real truth not your perception of what’s true, or not speak at all.”
The Arcane around Maka move and began to circulate around my neck before turning into a choker. I tried to speak but was unable to, the sound refused to leave my mouth.
“FIrst question. What did you teach Ormonde?”
I kept silent.
“I really don’t want to do this the hard way.”
‘Still not gonna say anything.’
I refused to talk and Maka sighed while rubbing her temple. She once again spoke with a voice that gave her an aura of absolute command.
“Vio, you will answer any question I ask you unless it would bring harm onto yourself.”
‘There has to be a loophole I could use here. Maybe if I view the answer in a certain light? Worth a shot.’
“I’ll ask again; what did you teach Ormonde?”
‘Can’t answer because telling you about my corporality would mean I would need to tell you about Mark and Akhan. That’s definitely going to bring harm to me if it gets out.’
My silence was the only answer Maka got. She threw her hands up in the air.
“Fine. Hard way. I, Maka, will reveal nothing that is told to me during this time but you, Vio, will answer any and all questions I have. So again: What did you teach Ormonde?”
My mouth wa trying to move and I was doing my best to fight I but whatever Arcane was being used won out in the end.
“Corporality.”
‘One word. That’s all you get.’
“Explain. What do you mean by corporality.”
Refusing to answer hurt my jaw and I ended up telling her anyway.
“Going between a physical and ethereal form.”
“Can you do this?”
“Yes.”
“Can you teach it to another spirit.”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Lacks the requirements.”
‘Wait there are requirements? I didn’t know that. Guess this truth thing’s going to let me learn something as well.’
“What are the requirements?”
“Having both a mortal and spiritual soul.”
“And was Ormonde’s case caused by Seelenehe or from the soul you grafted onto his?”
“The second one.”
“What about you?”
‘Fuck! I don’t want her to know about this!’
“Similar situation.”
Maka didn’t seem to like the vague answer but didn’t press further.
“Ok. Well that line of questioning is done for now. Next, are you a corrupted spirit?”
“No.”
“In that case; what are you?”
‘How is this going to be answered? There are so many ways.’
“I don’t know.”
‘Well that’s a little unnerving.’
“You said you had a mortal soul as well, is it human?”
“No.”
“Right then. Are you a spirit?”
‘You already know this, why are you asking again?’
“Yes.”
“Are you a birthed spirit?”
“No.”
“Are you a natural spirit?”
“Not anymore.”
“Right, the loss of your home. Only one last thing then.”
She paused and squatted to look me in the eye. Her voice was quiet and calm but I could feel the tension it held.
“Vio, are you an Eldritch?”
My reply was a broken whisper and I felt like crying.
“Yes.”