“Many people say that life isn't fair. They are stupid. Life is fair... to everyone.”

- The Journey to the Afterlife

***Kingdom Newerth, Capital City***

***Seria***

I stare at the pumping heart inside the cavity of the spirit's opened chest. Badabum, badadum... somehow I like the rhythm. The muscle is deformed, but functional, though that's not what interests me. The nerve tissue which is running through the spirit's body is oversized and the body's spirit connections are all wrong.

After the thing told me everything it knew, I opened the creature up as much as possible. It felt like a thorough investigation of its mind and body is necessary to understand its nature.

When I broke into the spirit's mind, I didn't learn much. Dedessia already poured a lot of resources into research regarding spirits. The insane, animalistic ones harbour souls which are pieced together from various other souls which got caught up in a mana storm.

Though this one is different.

A patchwork of souls almost always ends up as an insane creature. But not so with this one. This spirit is almost sane. I say almost because it still has some serious psychopathic tendencies.

Something twisted this guy's mind until he believed himself at the top of the food chain. Reaching out, I push the nerve which controls the heart and sent a small jolt of mana into it. After pushing and nudging a little with the spirit connection, I deem it as repaired.

The spirit's head lolls to the side and his tongue rolls out of his mouth. Smiling, he purrs like a cat and is obviously pleased with what I am doing. “Morrrreee...”

Sick bastard. Apparently repairing its twisted mind is somewhat enjoyable to it.

Maybe it was a mistake to try to repair the broken pieces of his soul. It would have been interesting to learn if a spirit can be returned to temporary sanity. Even if it is just for their current lifespan. Souls aren't made to be mixed and fused together like potato mash. The multiverse itself has something against it. Each soul has its own quantum wave frequency. Mixing frequencies always ends in white noise according to my father. He postulated that souls are just an expression of a metaphysical entity interacting with the multiverse, hence shaping it through observation.

My brain totally zoned out when he tried to explain the math behind his theory and what a soul really is. I am good at stuff like this, but when Dad goes all out on me, even I understand just mumble jumble!

But one thing is for sure. This spirit wasn't born from a mana storm. Statistics should allow for one almost sane spirit every once in a while, but these things are popping up one after the other. It all depends on how the different souls' frequencies interact with each other. They must have some way to influence the creation of a new spirit.

According to the spirit in front of me, the spirit realm bleeds with magical energy. A place of pure energy with no physical form. The spirits only gain a body when they try to enter another realm. It would surely be interesting to pay them a visit. There must be a whole different set of physical laws at work over there. My father will flip when he hears about this.

Sadly the spirit couldn't explain why they are even interested in realms like this one. But I felt it when I was inside its mind. A primeval need to exist, even if it is an existence of pain and hunger. The spirit actually feared to be returned back to the spirit realm, to a stagnant plane of non-existence.

Hm. But that didn't explain its memories. The spirit materialized in a different realm than this one and was transported here during the Tandeen incident.

It only means that the spirits have already taken over at least one other realm. Or, which sounds more likely to me, another realm is using them as footsoldiers to prepare other realms for invasion. The spirit didn't really get to see his birthplace before it was sent here.

So we could basically drive them back to their realm of pure energy if we crush their footholds in all the material realms? A funny thought.

I guess my parents already unknowingly tipped off the spirits when they used the mana storms as fuel for the creation of their new pathways. Maybe the pathways can be reconfigured to leech off the spirit realm's energy? I need to return and report back as soon as the opportunity presents itself.

At least I learned why the spirits know that I am here. They saw me fighting their foot soldiers when I saved Adea's mother. Since nobody of this realm can stay in his or her spirit form without going insane, they deduced that I have to be from somewhere else. I already feared that saving Adea's Mom will have repercussions.

Though I don't know why they know of Dedessia, or why they are so sure that I am from there. Is Dedessia the only realm with people who can control their spirit form?

I sigh, though their knowledge of Dedessia can also be explained. Moonray and his groupies. It would be hilarious to learn that they fled from us, just to get stranded in the spirit realm, or at a place which was already taken over by the spirits. The stories I heard about my ancestor don't paint him in a good light.

The erratic rhythm of the spirit's heartbeat draws my attention.

...badabum, badabum... ba... da... then nothing.

Pursing my lips, I poke the damn thing and pour another stream of healing energy directly into the heart. My efforts aren't rewarded. I contemplate the option of catching the spirit's misshapen soul, but what good would it do me? It's not like I can use it for anything. Dad would be pleased about the present, but I think he places much more value on chocolate.

“I think it bled out,” Charles's voice startles me and I turn around. My feet create splashing noises as I do so, and I look down.

“Oh, damn. I thought I avoided all the major blood vessels.” I curse. And there goes another set of good shoes.

“Isn't it natural for something to bleed out when it is prodded and poked for hours? Not to mention that you turned him inside out like some sick sculpture.” Clarity's dejected voice causes me to return my attention to the royal family.

Marcus and Clarity entered the room together with Charles. Sadly, Marcus and the king don't show any emotional reaction to what I did. Somehow I hoped to shock Marcus by taking them up on their offer to do my worst. It would be so much easier if he simply lost interest in me because of my... special talents.

Strangely, something deep inside me is glad that he isn't going all emotional because of what I did. Is it because I dissected a spirit? Would he react differently if I did the same to a serial killer of this world? But if he can accept this, then maybe he is even able to deal with my eccentric parents?

My attention turns to Clarity. She is pale. Paler than usual. “I hope you won't pass out on me?”

She grumbles. “It's just the smell!”

Marcus sniffs the air and shrugs. “That's nothing. It would have been much worse if she had opened the stomach or the intestines. Did you have to drape them around his neck?”

I furrow my forehead and inspect the corpse. “They would have fallen on the ground otherwise.”

“That's all well and nice. What I want to know is what you learned from all this.” Charles gestures with his entire arm at the scene.

I clear my throat and let them in on what I learned. It's not like there is much information which has to be held back. Telling them about Moonray or Dedessia wouldn't make any sense at this point. Though I drop the hint that Dedessia may be an enemy of the spirits.

The spirits are after me and I don't want anyone to know that I am the winged spirit.

But I decide to let them know that the winged spirit is indeed the agent from Dedessia. It may be helpful if they don't go full killing mode on me the next time I am forced to go all out.

The situation is definitely turning worse rapidly and even with everything that I have learned, it feels like my mission is doomed sooner or later. I've to tell Adea about the new pathways or at least get her out of the line of fire. Though I am not sure if I can completely trust her new personality. Normally I wouldn't care, but the pathways are really sensitive information.

.