I feel the magic being drained from my body, just like when I cast the previous ritual. Now that I have Carnelia’s memories, I know that I have enough energy to cast 2, maybe 3 level 1 spells. At least when I look at the magical effects that I can achieve without calling on the spirits. What the spirits can do, however, is far greater, and some of it she didn’t even know was possible with magic. It’s more akin to a divine’s direct intervention in the world. And those, like the spirit's, are rarely without a cost. I find it strange though, that while the divine are well known and revered, she never even heard of the spirits that make up the world. A question for later, I shake my head and resume my focus on channeling the energy both inside and around me. I do not understand why this is costing so much energy, but it feels right, so I give it everything I have. Noticing that even the spirits, that I summoned only to witness my pledge, are contributing their energies as well.

After an hour, a great sense of rightness comes over me. The energy flow stops and the spirits fade away from the material realm. I'm confused, but somehow, I feel that whatever happened, was meant to happen. And with shock, I realize that Carnelia’s plea for vengeance is no longer the last memory I hold of her. Where before, she simply faded away into darkness, she now hears a voice as she does. The pact is sealed, so mote it be. And instead of slowly disappearing, she is pulled somewhere violently. In a way that feels too familiar to how I was pulled from Mother’s embrace to be a coincidence.

My mind reels, as it tries to make sense of it all. It was not my power that pulled both me and Carnelia away from where we should have gone after our death. And it didn’t feel like it was any of the spirits who supported me in this ritual either. I feel a bit sold short, as where she consented to whatever happened, I never did. But then I realize that I just did. I agreed to answer her call, through time, to deliver her vengeance. I cannot help but start laughing, oh divine, I’m used to procrastinating, to pushing work on my future self, but this is the first time my future self has pushed work on me instead. I’m glad I did though, I probably never would have agreed to the harrowing experience of being pulled here through the void before it happened. But now that it’s over and done, I’m very glad to be in this world.

Ok, Zafira, time to start planning, I won’t move out before I’ve rested enough and my magical energy has recovered. This leaves me plenty of time to think about how I’ll handle 5 grown men who can each handle themselves in a fight, and what would be a fitting punishment for them. After only a small rest, I have everything worked out in my head and decide not to rest till my magic has recovered. I have plenty of traveling to do, and thanks to my intuition, I only needed my cantrips in the past few days anyway, so it should be fine. Having those demons in human skin roam the world even one day less is more than worth the risk. So I set out like normal, but this time, to find a strong paralytic or sleep-inducing plant, that is slow working and has little taste, while moving in the general direction of the bandits.

If being lucky was a skill, I’m pretty sure I have it. The plant I find is so poisonous, that even touching it feels dangerous. So I carry it with my mage hand instead. As I don’t want it inside the backpack, nor do I want to disturb Madam just to put it away. However, keeping my concentration up like that gets very tiring after a few days. So when I find a plant with strong leaves, I wrap it up and store it in my backpack after all. It only takes me a week to find the bandit’s current hideout. And with a smile, I consider that if my original plan for making money in this world by repairing stuff doesn’t work out, I could easily work as a tracker as well. The smile on my face disappears however as I observe the camp for a while. And notice that they already have another prisoner.

I curse, there’s no way I’m going to wait for an opportunity to poison them all at once, while they abuse yet another poor woman. Guerilla tactics it is then, as soon as they make a move for her, I’ll attack the one going for her, and try to kite them as much as possible. To my surprise, another hour goes by, and none of the men make a move towards her. When one of them starts working on a stew, I take my chance and sneak closer, easily avoiding the sentinel, who is more focused on the wood carving he’s making than the area around the camp. Using my mage hand, I drop the plant into the stew gently and retreat to a safe distance where I can observe them.

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I thank the spirits when an hour later, all the bandits are lying on the ground. Since I had no point of reference for what a ‘strong’ paralytic or sleep-inducing poison might do, I prayed that the poison wouldn't kill any of them, that would be a way to light punishment for what they did. I’m glad they were heartless enough to only give their prisoner some water and hard biscuits. I had counted on that, considering how they treated Carnelia. But I was worried since they were treating this woman better. However, considering that the poison shouldn’t have been lethal, I decided it was worth the risk.

I search their leader's belongings and find the keys to their collection of shackles. Lucky for me, they have enough to keep many prisoners. I want to work quickly since I don’t know how long the effect will last. However, freeing their prisoner comes first. As I approach her, she looks at me like one would look at vermin, and says haughtily: well done, you may release me now. I raise my eyebrows at this and decide that she can use a small lesson in humility. As I thank her for her permission, and promptly turn around again, starting to shackle all bandits properly, while leaving her in hers.

She is stunned for a bit, what are you doing, she demands loudly. Release me now, you lowly cretin. I simply smile at her, and advise her to keep her voice down, lest she attracts any nearby predators. While continuing my work undisturbed. Once all 5 bandits are shackled and unarmed, I start to remove their clothes. It’s a bit backward and clumsy, but I didn’t want to risk taking too long and having one of them wake up before being fully restrained. Even though my magic gives me an edge, I don’t have any illusions about who would win in a fair physical fight. Once they are all completely naked, I turn my attention back to their prisoner.

She is fuming with anger, but the threat of predators must have been more effective than I thought. Because she keeps her voice at a more normal volume now. Even though her tone still feels like she’s trying to cleave me in half with just her voice. Do you have any idea who I am, puny mortal? I am Kalea, Daughter of Tiamat, Vivex Darastrix,… Nice to meet you, I interrupt her, my name is Zafira Moonchild. Are you injured anywhere? There is a short flash of light in her eyes, as she growls, of course not, this vermin could not dream of truly hurting me. Uhu, I reply blanky, so then none of that blood is yours? She looks at one of the men on the ground, one of them nicked my hind legs, but it is of no consequence.

Right, I say, as I ignore her words and take a good look at the wound on her leg instead. You do realize this is a potentially fatal wound if not looked after properly right? She blinks, no it’s not, it’s just a nick, it will close up on its own soon enough. No, it ain’t, I reply, this wound looks like it’s been here for a bit already and it’s starting to get infected. How long has it been since you’ve gotten it? It … has been a few days already, she admits begrudgingly.

I take it you don’t have much experience yet inhabiting a fragile human body, I ask her. She looks at me measuring, and replies cautiously, I … do not. Can’t be helped then, I say as I gently touch her leg, do try to remember that we’re pretty flimsy, so take care of your body. As I cast what I now know is called cure wounds, and restore her leg completely.

What are you, she asks. I consider myself a witch, I reply, but I’m not sure what they would call me around here. So what were you before you inhabited this body? Isn’t that obvious, she replies almost affronted, but then she looks at herself, and her tone grows just a little bit less insulting. I guess it isn’t, not anymore, I am a dragon, and this is but a temporary setback.