Chapter 2

For quite some while, maybe hours on end, I sat and ruminated upon the nature of magic while my newly founded {Auto-Dissect} chugged along in the back of my mind. Despite having thought of the same thought over and over again, I once again felt the urge to restate just how much time one gets when they could afford to sit and do nothing but think.

I wished that these times could speed by, where after a commercial-like cut scene the thinking would all be done and the show can go on the road. Or, even better, a teacher would somehow magically appear and give me some thousand pages worth of context. Having some kind of validation or guidance would be extremely appreciated.

Unfortunately, that couldn’t quite be and thinking must be done by someone, which in this case, me.

And worked I did.

The markers made by the Sgnirmah on the [Souls] were strange. It was strange in that I couldn’t quite understand where the [Essence] came from. A rock would have motes of [Essence] containing its identity as a rock, its toughness and the like.

However, a ‘spell’ such as the marker was not so grounded. To my comprehension, it was a mass of [Essence] that had a purpose which could be best described as, “Return in death before Rebirth.” Obviously, that wasn’t all of what the [Essence] contained, but it was a run-down version of what it ultimately achieved which was to call the [Souls] of Iasgaireans back to the Sgnirmah when they die, powered by a healthy dose of [Glow].

But!

How was this effect achieved? How could the Sgnirmah create such an odd effect, one which contained [Essence] not found in… well, anything?

If it was an effect such as ‘conjure fire’, I could probably do so too — as long as I had something like a piece of coal to borrow its potential flame from. To recall a [Soul], no matter what distance, was not something that could be created so easily.

Was it willed into existence?

I highly doubt so, and yet, it was present in every Iasgairean so far.

Therefore, it was clear I was either missing some integral part of how magic functions or… Well, I was probably not quite understanding something. With that in mind, I made a series of theories as to how magic could be cast in this world.

Or any world, to be honest.

In traditional literature, magic could exist in many varied forms. From Harry Potter to the Lord of the Rings, even if they were made up, portrayed magic to be something accessible innately through either genes, discovery or the virtue of being born as an angel.

Then, there were the kinds of pseudoscience found in the ideas of alchemy, golems, runes, each based in history. Through seeking immortality, the king in China had people to try to create some immortality pill or sitting in mountains looking for enlightenment, which obviously didn’t quite go as planned. Then there were all these mythologies of potion brewing, gods creating some sort of magical artefact such as the Aegis, dudes drawing swords from stones.

Either way, history was absolutely filled with examples of the arcane sort.

And in a world where magic was quite definitely real and conceptions of the world have actual effects, it would be crazy that magic, as portrayed in history, wouldn’t work. The only issue was how it affects magic and where. Would it be geographically affected? Through space and time? Even in different worlds, perhaps?

I do not know.

And as such, I came up with a list of magic effects that I, presume, can recreate somehow with the basis of [Essence], which contained [Spirit], [Form] and [Glow]. It took some heavy thinking but I thought that it would be quite comprehensive.

The first on the list would pertain to the magic that contained weird effects. This would include the classical ‘wave a stick and things happen’, chanting, cutting up goats and weird rituals. Things such as ‘building a tiny bridge and big one pops into existence’, ‘throwing a lump of coal and a fireball happens’ or voodoo dolls would also fit into this category.

Maybe.

In my understanding, [Glow] has an effect that could, in some way, turn the [Spirit] into [Form] and affect the world. Thus, I hypothesise that this could be achieved by using some sort of reagents such as a skull or something ‘sufficiently conceptually filling’ to cast a spell. In that lane, I could use a lump of rock to, through thinking hard enough and throwing its [Spirit] at things, cause something to either freeze up or turn to rock itself.

Even if the material itself may have potent meaning, it may not have enough [Glow] to actually turn into reality. But once it does — well.

Things will happen, like a poem, thoughts come to reality as long as you can convince yourself that it will work.

It’s a weird and yet powerful thing.

I don’t know how much [Glow] I contain, but it must be lots.

Absolutely lots.

After all, I could bend reality at will at this point, peeling [Essence] apart or fusing stone and fish-people together whenever I want without any noticeable side effects on myself. Therefore, I must be full of [Glow].

That made sense? Maybe.

I didn’t find myself to be glowing any particularly brighter than anything.

Even if I don’t know how much I could do this, it would be reasonable to assume that this could be done. I knew I did.

As such, I would classify this as Wizardry.

I don’t care if you thought of yourself as a hag, priest or druid, you will hereby be known as using Wizardry.

That was number one.

And number two on the list of magic would be things such as alchemy and runes. Things that are, in some shape or form, once considered pseudoscience. In this type, it would be some sort of magic that takes advantage of the unnatural properties of materials and exemplify them through manipulation of its behaviours.

In my head, I would distinguish it from Wizardry as it doesn’t use up reagents, it would be transmuted, changed or used as a building material. It would be the difference between a song and an architecture. One’s fire and forget, its effect instantaneous, while the other would persist. The Philosopher's Stone, enchanted weaponry marked in the languages of the gods — these would be things that fit the criteria.

I had seen this type of magic demonstrated before, all the way back in the woods with the three goons of something big and holy. The stones they had which contained some sort of magical creature bore runes, and the paper they had to cast…

What was it called again?

Right! [Way Finder] paper slips.

Thus, as it is, I would call this type of magic Arcane.

In Latin, this would mean ‘lesser known’ or something like that. One wouldn’t need innate [Glow] for this type of magic — it forms and guides itself just as electricity always go towards the path of least resistance.

I found it fitting.

If I were to use this type of magic, I would need a lot of studies.

Moving on.

The third type of magic, as we were on the topic of innate magical properties, would be magic that relies on it. Magical things have magical properties and occasionally, so do mundane objects. The difference being was that the magical thing would actually have enough [Glow] to have an effect in the world. Floating rocks, screaming plant life or, god forbid, actual fucking dragons would be on the list of innately magical things.

How would it work?

I had absolutely no fucking idea, just like how I don’t know how the Big Bang came to be, how time exists and many other things.

For creatures, I may understand.

Evolution was a complex and altogether random thing. If DNA could code a human being, why couldn’t it also allow a dragon to breathe fire? Just some DNAs forming the right shape and suddenly you were made of fire — I could totally see that happening and with enough time, the world began to accept that you were naturally on fire and thus, you get to keep that magical property regardless of whether you magical DNA was in the right shape. I wouldn’t want to point fingers at evolution but it may be responsible for this type of occurrence.

That made even less sense but yet at the same time, it felt right.

Was I merely affirming my own knowledge so far? Some form of cognitive bias from years of consuming works?

Yes.

But that was for creatures.

What about rocks, then? How were all these magical metal bits formed? Magical crystals, magical whatever dead things?

I supposed that depended on what [Glow] is.

[Glow], according to my understanding, was a force that allows [Spirit] to override [Form], as well as empowering formatted [Essence] such as the marker made by the Sgnirmah. Its function and appearance in the world were clearly observable.

However, where is it from?

I had no idea.

And as it were, I had no way of knowing where such a force came from, so I shall banish to the back of my mind for now.

Either way, if it were established that one could be born with magical powers somehow, then I could fit a lot of things in here. King Arthur supposedly had some sort of draconian bloodline, being a ‘Pendragon’ and all. There were also all these demigods in mythology — Greece, Nordic, Chinese, even ideas that gods can pass down their magical powers through sex should be enough to prove that it could be hereditary. Thus, seriously considering that, it could be assumed that things could have innate magical powers.

Things like me, I supposed, would be considered part of this.

Or the Sgnirmah, too, to be honest.

Unless she got some other outer-worldly way of casting magic, I would bet that her powers were tied to her existence as the queen mother of the Iasgaireans. That, I think, would put her as some kind of divine figure towards them.

I’ll call this… innate magic? Sorcery?

Sorcery would be better. Fits the theme.

Right.

Speaking of gods...

We could see that [Spirit] was made out of two parts — the [Soul] and the [Presence]. The [Soul] would the self-defining trait of a thing, its own conceptual meaning, its thoughts and values. Thus in such a way, a rock would have no [Soul]. It would simply remain a rock, dumb and mindless, incapable of thinking of itself in any meaningful way.

The [Presence], however, was what others think of you and your own influence upon the world. In my previous experiments, the concept of [Presence] was easily the most confusing and yet the most important one of all.

Firstly, everything has a [Presence], no matter what it was. It was the total amount of meaning you had to the world, which would be even more important if you were a spiritual entity. It would, I think, define how you can interact with world and vice versa.

Take a rock for example. It is a solid object that is hard, sharp and heavy, its [Form] sparking up these meaning within the mind of its perceiver. Thus, it has the [Presence] of such things. However, it was also apparent that it doesn’t need to be perceived to have a presence. Simply existing and interacting should be able to keep it in existence.

I hope so, at least, unless things with no one there to interact with disappear off the world when no one’s observing. I heard in some video games, the process of ‘rendering’ would only make things appear when the camera was facing it.

How terrifying.

Thus, hopefully, things do not have a habit of disappearing.

Inversely, if the [Presence] were to be completely erased or cut off from its [form], such as that I could do to things, it will disappear. Permanently.

Oh, and I supposed raw concepts would be completely made of [Presence]?

The idea of, say, basketball, would have no [Soul] or [Form], but yet it exists as a game within the minds of anyone that knows it — or instruction menus.

Thus, in conclusion to how [Presence] work, was that it is a global, spaceless and formless existence the pins the fabric of reality in place. Things don’t have [Presence], it has the ability to remember [Presence] or to invoke it through its [Form].

A rock would look like a rock, and a person could think of any generic rock at will.

What I did with the Iasgairean would be a special case. The concept, the [Presence] of the hunting party still exists formlessly, it was just that it no longer had anything to bind to since the Saighgairs were all removed from existence by yours truly.

Makes sense?

I think so.

This got extremely philosophical.

And extremely dangerous as well, for something such as me. A spiritual being without a grounded [Form] would be quite vulnerable to being changed by simply being perceived. As such, I had been looked at by those priests in the forests and thought of as a demon — did that somehow change me?

What a terrifying thought.

But it made sense.

And how would it link to gods?

In such a way, wouldn’t it mean that gods were piles of sentient [Presence]?

And with enough [Glow], their existence would quite possibly make headway into actual existence. Magically. Miracles. Holy light.

The entire schtick.

My point was that, if [Presence] could grant power, then wouldn’t… something that was worshipped as a ‘queen mother’ such as the Sgnirmah gains an associated power? As long as she was prayed to with the right image in mind, wouldn’t she gain that power?

The marker may be something pseudo ‘holy’ in nature.

[Essence] didn’t mark itself as anything — I do it base on my judgement and understanding of the material, thus I couldn’t tell what things were on first glance without some deep thinking. Thus, it was definitely possible that the markers were somehow based on this… worship.

I suppose that this would fit under… Pact magic?

Sounded fine. Things like demon summoning or people that got their own power some something else would be under this then. Or the things that the priests back then was trying to do, trapping these creatures of the [Beyond] into rocks.

Thus I 'created' the four main ideas of what magic is, to my own conceptions, to what they could be.

Wizardry, Arcane, Sorcery and Pact magic.

Whew.

That was my understanding of how magic could function, after some intense thinking. I had no doubt that if I were to try to convince anyone that the world indeed goes along this kind of idea, I would be immediately be branded as madder than a hatter and shipped to an asylum.

It was all pure conjecture. It may be true, or it may be as wrong as a car crash.

But, however far-fetched this theory was, I couldn’t dispute it either.

What if it is wrong.

Or worse, all correct?

How could this help me?

Well, I should stop trying to create my own [Essence] from nothing. That’s not going to happen and smashing my head against it like this would hardly help me. Unless I got to worship, or somehow had access to some other source ranged psychic powers, I’ll have to borrow these ‘markers’ for now.

I pang of strange envy burned through me before I shrugged it off. I had briefly thought about receiving worship by taking in the Sgnirmah, somehow, but the idea of being changed —

Well.

I don’t have to.

After all, I could, by my nature, affect and mould [Essence] as long as I could touch them. That meant that, if I so wish, cannot be changed against my will by being perceived by others.

How to achieve that, was an entirely different thing.

I could choose to not let any of that foreign [Essence] enter me, but that would be a terrible idea. Since this passive broadcast of ideas was essential, cutting it all would also mean blinding myself from being to perceive them — all anything at all, really.

That, I think, would be one of the worst ideas I ever had.

A second option, however, was to somehow tie their perception towards a separate entity that is fundamentally different from me, and read through the proxy-mind’s senses somehow.

Even that thought alone confused me.

How would one even go about doing that?

I blew some water out of my lungs in exasperation, watching the way the currents within the little box-shaped hope swirled. Seriously, this wasn’t the type of problem one could realistically solve in days. Out there, there would be a wizard in a tower frowning over this problem for probably years before solving it.

And I thought I could solve this in, what, hours?

I blew more water out of my face before focusing my mind back on the problem at hand, which was the markers.

At least this problem was easy.

I had several markers already ripped off, so it was a simple process to figure what sticks and what doesn’t. In the end, I found out that all I needed was to customize a marker to bond to me, like the end of a phone, while giving the target a separate, generic marker as another phone.

My idea on how to approach the problem of sending thoughts through a huge distance was that since the markers could send [Souls] through, smaller packages should be easier, such as surface-level ideas. I was sure that the Sgnirmah has a more refined, godly version of this power, but that would have to wait later.

…

Damn, I’m really stuck on the idea of robbing these Iasgairean blind, am I?

The Sgnirmah just got so many goodies!

...

Thus, I put her on my hit list.

Not that she wasn’t already on it, of course, but this time it was done with a purpose in mind.

But before that, I’ll have to make do with the current system of using two markers, sending messages to each other, or in some cases, more serious things.

So, what should my metaphorical phone number be?

…

I rang up Miss Other.

“...Yes?”

“Got a question.”

“Ask away, it’s not like I got anything better to do since all that I could do was staring at a wall.”

“It's only been a day, maximum.”

“Its a lot of time to someone without control of a fucking body, but please, go on.”

“So, if I were to say I had to create a thing, like a… symbol, that represents me, how would you go about it?”

“... Uh, what exactly are you using it for?”

“Not too sure yet, that’s why I’m asking, but for now I’m treating it as a phone number.”

“Is this about those markers?”

I paused.

“You couldn’t tell what I was doing in here, right?”

“... I cannot.”

“Great, just making sure. You have shown a disturbing ability to guess what I’m trying to achieve.”

“Uh huh, right,” she said, her tilting oddly, “Okay, back to markers, yes. I assume that you are trying to replace the receiving part with you, right?”

“More or less. However, I need it to be something that can be used by others to… ring me up, and just that.”

“Yeah… having a recognizable marker would do great to spread your brand, ye know? But nothing like True Names or other stereotypical things like that?”

“...Wait, say that again?”

“True Names?”

Oh boy.

...

“I think I will need to create another identity to handle all of this.”

“Uh, mind filling me in? I don’t have access to whatever you were trying to do.”

I proceeded to tell her about the theory I made up just now, about how to handle foreign thoughts and its possible influence. I elaborated even further more about how being perceived could possibly change me.

There was a pregnant break in the conversation.

“I don’t know about you,” Miss Other spoke slowly, trepidation apparent in her word, “But I wouldn’t want to share a body with an actual Eldritch horror, no offence.”

“Nor do I want to completely turn unrecognizable. That’s why I think I’ll need to tie all of this to an identity that is akin to a mask, a body suit.”

“I get that. You got a plan?”

…

We had a moment to ourselves, sitting, thinking.

“Well, I could try to unhinge us from the actual body and float in a tiny [Essence] vessel?”

…

Wait a second.

…

Huh. I'm a genius.

Is this what an epiphany, a ‘EUREKA!’ moment feels like?

“— And how would that work? If you do that — wait, hold on, are you trying to do it like a submarine?”

“Something like that, yeah. Become a driver, not the car itself.”

“Huh,” she grunted, “Clever.”

“Of course I am," I said, "Now, back to the idea of our own symbol…”

“I can do this!” she exclaimed, “This is a human problem, a design thing, something I can do!”

I squinted my eyes with a blatant effort for her to feel it.

“And your point is… ?”

“... Can I please have this job? Give me something to do, even if it's just thinking?”

“That’s just sad, now. Sure, go ahead and come up with something.”

“Great! Yes.”

“Be back in a while.”

I hung up.

Good thing we got the [Safe].

Whew. This entire thing made me felt like I was walking on eggshells — without legs. Just one tiny mistake could inevitably turn you monstrous just like how a chainsaw can make an absolute mess out of a lobotomy, only that the doctor doesn't even have a licence and had only practised as a mortician.

I checked my [Deposit] and saw that only three rings of [Essence] were left, with one of them being storage for rocks and stone. Against all odds, it seemed like I was somehow running out of [Essence].

Luckily for me, throughout these hours of thinking, my {Auto-Dissect} was continually working in the background. It had chewed through the scraps of Iasgaireans that had been already used for other experiments, granting a few [Skills] to add to the rapidly growing collection. The rest of the bored-through [Essence] had been left in place, too damaged for much other use, so I tossed the remnants into my [Stomach] in order to grind it all down.

With that, I got about two, three hundred motes of [Essence] mush for use.

It wasn’t particularly much, but it should be enough for now.

Siphoning it and firing up the {Selft-Mould}, I gradually created a sort of cavity in my chest, peeling it back from the [Safe]. To give it a little more solidity, I created a double layer of thick membrane on both the [Safe] and the surrounding walls, hardening it into the same crystalline plating on my back.

With that, I did so until my [Safe] was hanging suspended within the chamber, connected with threads of wire-like cords to the surrounding walls. I’m not too sure where this imagery came from, but it kinda reminded me of a heart or some kind of supercomputer core right out of a sci-fi flick.

The threads, however, besides the purpose of anchoring the [Safe] and connecting the two, had little purpose beyond decoration.

But that’s fine.

Things within the [Safe] stays safe, isolated. Everything inside it would be things actually worth saving — everything outside was expendable. If needed, I could ditch the entire body and swim away with just the [Safe].

But here, in our little bubble, Miss Other and I will stay nice and safe from the corrupting influence. Hopefully.

My eyes flicked.

“You okay there?”

“Oh hey! Yeah. I got some ideas,” Miss Other responded.

“Shoot.”

“Alright, I think we will need two things — a name to refer to our… uh, false identity? Right? I felt some wobbling and now everything feels a little bit… detached?”

“Yes, I removed our core functions from the entity. Now, hopefully, it will become the receptor for all the incoming [Presence].”

“Right. Whew. Okay, so, as I said, since we are — well, you are, the one actually responsible for leading all of this, and bears the name Elisa, we will need a title that separates all of… this, from you. You understand?”

“Mhm.”

“I am not too sure just how important the concept of a true name is, but you understand when I say that we should go around telling others who you are, right?”

“Yes, I got the point.”

“Alright, uh, so, as we need a name, we will need some kind of name that is... suitable for us. Depending on what kind of image we want to give out, we will have to name accordingly. For example, if we are going for an actual eldritch entity, some kind of weird, hard to pronounce gibberish will do fine.”

I thought about saying Cthulhu but decided against it.

What if it actually caught his attention?

“Miss Other,” I said with as much a serious tone as possible, “Let us not speak of names, especially those that may actually belong to an entity, please?”

“What, you mean… oh. I, uh, get it. No blurbing.”

“Good. So, names?”

“Ah, that depends on what kind of identity you want to create. Do you want to be approachable? Do you want to be feared? Do you want to be pants-shitting?”

I considered the options carefully.

As it went, I truly wasn’t too sure as of how to approach this entire business. Last I checked was that the humans were definitely aware of magic. The priests back in the forest had an entire following and the ships here had been blasting away at the Iasgairean for a while now. That all meant that the humans should have had regular dealings with these definitely-not-normal happenings.

With that in mind, I could definitely go for something grandiose or mysterious, like some of those weird Norwegian myths, crones-in-the-woods style.

Not that I’m a crone, of course. I’m fourteen.

Though, it was undeniable that I had certain inclinations to go for something spooky, something that befits my nature and my abilities.

“Something spooky,” I decided, “Something connected to my powers.”

“... And what is it that we do?”

“Spooky things concerning reality. Usually, like... breaking it. It's kinda hard to describe, you know.”

“... Yes, quite. Hm, well, I suggest that we go for something like ‘fraying’, or ‘remake’, just to pump up the vibes of… eh, something connected to the fundamentals of the world.”

“I like the word ‘fray’. It reminds me of those historical depictions of fate.”

“That’s what I’m thinking of. The sister fates, the Loom, the tapestry of reality. Well, at least that’s the idea. I don’t know if the same thing holds true.”

Fuck.

I waited.

...

No divine punishment came.

"Sorry. No more blurbing," Miss Other apologized, "Force of habit."

"Keep a lid on it."

"Right."

I took a deep breath, “Regarding your idea, it should be fine. We just need to give them the idea, and they will link it together somehow.”

“Sure… Okay then, so uh, next thing! Things like... symbols of our… form, yes. We were going for snakes, right?”

I gave my body a cursory inspection.

It was serpentine in shape, it got scales and a jaw, but that was the extent to which I resemble an actual snake. That was extra obvious since I possess features no serpents should have, such as four eyes, mantis arms, crystalline carapace, whip for beards and an extremely conspicuous array of fins. Anyone with a brain and a passing knowledge of what snakes are would immediately be able to tell that I’m definitely not one.

However, it was in the shape of a snake. Kind of.

“We… were.”

“Yeah, snakes are no good.”

“But I don’t want to remake myself at all, though.”

“It's not just the problem of conserving [Essence], Elisa. Snakes have so many religious connotations it wasn’t funny. For the Christians, it was the incarnation of the — ah, the D man. Almost said it out loud.”

I have no idea what the effects of speaking the name of such a great entity in my old world would be, but I had absolutely no intention to test it. What if it brought forth a fragment of what it is?

That would be incredibly unfortunate.

“However, they could also mean fertility, divinity, or in some cases, undying love,” Miss Other continued, “That was the case in China, Egypt and India. That meant depending on how religious the people were in this world, there could be an entirely different set of meaning to work off here. Honestly, when using ancient European symbolism, the people were really superstitious. Cats, silver and mirrors made it into the holy tier list for them just as well.”

Again, the problem was the absolute lack of information. Or perhaps, with my effort, I could build up an entirely different belief and legend to compensate.

“That should be fine, right? Legends appear all the time, and getting a population to change their mind against a creature shouldn’t be too difficult when one demonstrates magical powers.”

If a deer could do it, why couldn’t I?

“True enough,” she admitted, considering with a metaphorical crease in her eyes, “That could work if they don’t already have preconceptions of myths and things like that. But in the worst case scenario, there could be another snake spirit-god, which would prove problematic.”

Gods, huh.

Damn, I got hungry again.

“We will deal with the gods as they come. Think of them as a non-issue for now.”

I got a burst of strange feelings and emotions from my counterpart, which was quickly clamped down.

“Right. Okay, you do you. Well, if you are good with snakes, we can totally go down the god-serpent route. Godly beings have weird bodies, right? Weren’t the Chinese Qilin or something supposed to be this mix of horse, dragon and some other stuff, or the chimaera having goat, lion and snake parts?”

“Yes.”

“So, do us a favour and make yourself more… godly. Last I checked we’re spooky in a rather unwelcome way.”

I thought back to the pilfered memories.

The Iasgairean perceived me as this floating, incomprehensible thing, made of flesh that wasn’t, ideas that were never was and thoughts made of broken minds. Honestly, it really wasn’t much of an approachable persona, considering how it could possibly drive all those who see it mad.

“That would be a problem. The reason why we were perceived in such a way was that our body was made of all these mushed up [Essence], of which I’m sure included a whole bunch of [Grey Blobs], [Red Blobs], [Green Worms] and other not-animals. That’s probably why we were perceived as this mass of flesh and… things.”

“... Yeah, that would be a problem. Need to have — well, not really. They don’t have to see us constantly, right? We really don’t have to comprehensible.”

I frowned.

“I don’t really want to live a life of being an Eldritch Horror, Miss Other.”

“Not, you, Elisa. If you are going to have a fake identity, use it. When the time comes, can’t you just ditch it?”

I considered.

“Perhaps.”

“Then it should be settled, no? The Frayed Serpent?”

“It certainly has a ring to it.”

“Frayed Serpent… could be both referring to your ability, and your state, no?”

“Yes.”

“Okay. You sure?”

“Yes.”

“Absolutely?”

“Yes, and we should move on. We still need that symbol.”

"... Ever heard of Junji Ito? Wait, what am I talking about? Of course you do."

“Are we back to cosmic horrors again?“

"Kinda. Remember his entire book-manga thing about spirals?"

"I unfortunately do. Uzumaki, right? Or however that is pronounced."

"Yes! Simple geometric shapes that represent the Frayed Serpent would be great. A symbol that is both overt, easy to produce and only the ones in know would understand — you get that appeal?"

"Mhm. Got suggestions?"

"I'm thinking of something like... a shrine, with a serpentine figure in it. Or wait, maybe something like the shape of a thunderbolt, all sharp angles. Then, at the bottom, the line goes into a curve, twisting into itself until there's a loop in the middle."

"I like how the sharp, orderly lines get... curved. Like a black hole, a vortex of some sort."

"That's the idea. As a bonus, the single line imagery gives off the impression of a snake, especially the zig-zag."

"Yup."

"Seems... Usable."

"Great," she gave a sighing sensation, letting not-air out of her not-lungs.

"Thank you for your contribution."

"So... Uh. That's it?"

"Yes."

...

We let the situation sink in, just a little. Time crawled by with the torturous viscosity of tar as the extent of what we were attempting made it through to her. It was with an expectant heart that I waited, knowing just exactly what my counterpart would be thinking, having been the same person until a while ago.

“This is crazy,” she began.

Yes.

“I noticed.”

“We are crazy,” she continued, “Every time I think, I get this — this backlash. I kept feeling that I will be waking up, back in the hospital, back in the bed and the tubes and all of this would be just a dream.”

She paused, so I waited a bit more.

“This is not a dream, right?”

“It is not. Unfortunately, this predicament is quite real. We did die, and we did go crazy.”

“Then, how are you okay with — with any of this? This is insane. We are insane.”

“Now that just the difference between you and me, Miss Other. Elisa moved on, having better things to do — productive things. However, you remain stuck in the past, looking back for human values, human viewpoints, human want and needs. You are human.”

I paused.

The silence was damning even though there wasn’t a single sin perpetrated in the empty spaces between us. Did she feel how, despite me speaking the same language, we were essentially different?

“As I said, I don’t blame you for it, and I will keep expecting you to keep the same mindset. You have heard of the phrase, ‘power corrupts’ and ‘absolute power corrupts absolutely’, From Dalberg-Acton?”

“... Yes?”

“The reason why you were separated from me was that in this case, I am the corrupted one. The one with all the power, the responsibility to use it all correctly and I am extremely aware just how powerful this ability is. You know what? Give me a guess.”

“Guess… what exactly?”

“Why I care. Why going on with this entire facade.”

She stayed silent, her mind churning in bursts of colour.

Of course, it wasn’t a reason she could quite understand yet.

“See, you seek life, you seek normality, and now you don’t have the ability, you become desperate and yet hopeful," I explained slowly as if I was talking to a child, "That all is something I lost and it is for good reason. I cannot, and will not, return back to human society even if I could.”

Miss Other thought for a bit more, letting the deafening silence drag on for even longer. Outside our little cube of space, seaweed drifted back and forth lazily, unaware and free, detached yet so firmly grounded to the sand below. It was vaguely beautiful, even if it all was simply layered in shades of white, black and greys, streams of [Essence] impacting my carapace in the exact way light would, allowing me to {Taste} it, feel it.

Day time, even through the wavy surface and the clouds that so filtered the lukewarm sunlight onto the clumps of dirt, flesh, plant and rocks below.

I watched, waiting.

“... I don’t get it. What’s good about any of this at all?”

“The scenery?”

“You know what I mean. Being here, away.”

“Ah.”

“There’s nothing here. Do you… perhaps, don’t even want to really go back?”

“Oh, I’m interested. It's just that the life of a human is not for me.”

“... Right.”

“Do not be mistaken. We do not think alike, even if I sound human. I have no desire to return to society, to toil the ground or what not. I only seek… knowledge, meaning, not societal meaning. This mindset must be alien to you, I suppose, or come across to be extremely pretentious.”

“... That kind of thinking. There’s nothing I could say that could affect you?”

“I’m afraid not.”

“...”

“If you wish to return to the surface, however, I’ll oblige.”

“Really?” she perked up.

“Of course, I had no intention of staying below forever. Sooner or later, my search for information and understanding will bring me atop the land, and when that time comes, I will need an ambassador. You’ll have to interact with the people as my extension, for good or for bad.”

“I’ll… have a body of my own, then? Legs?”

“You’ll get your body soon. Don’t worry too much about it. In fact, we can get started.”

“... Huh?”

“It’s insurance, nothing too crazy. See, I was working with the markers and there’s much potential to them, especially with the apparent immortality that it could grant.”

“Uh?!”

“Hold still, this wouldn’t hurt a bit. Oh wait, you can’t move.”

“Hold on there —”

I jammed my [Mark] onto Miss Other.

Even while we were having the conversation, I had finished designing the [Mark], scavenged from the markers made by the Sgnirmah. It shall allow me to find its bearer, hear its bearer’s thought, and when needed, grant some of my powers to it.

Soul bound, not even death would keep the ones bearing it from me. Locked, even more in layers of redundant [Essence] for protection, it would prove difficult to even penetrate it, much less remove it.

Its only natural that my first servant would receive the first [Mark], no?

“It wasn’t a suggestion, Miss Other. Now, death will no longer find you until I say so.”

Now, focus on the present.

All I need to was to select an avatar for my impending invasion, a unique individual that would be capable of independent action. Within my collection, I filtered through the remaining [Soul Stones], searching.

And out of all of them, a certain Bygail of the Iasgairean caught my eye.

Thirst for knowledge, huh?

I can use that.

Spoiler: The ever-growing list of things Elisa got.

"Body" Parts

[Abilities] (... if applicable)

[Spears]: Three pointy chin tentacles, a must have. Don't touch the tip.

{Impale}: Stab things really hard. Probably hurts a lot.

{Swipe}: Swatting, whacking, whichever works.

{Puncture}: Also for stabbing things, but also allows me to drink up the [Essence] to speed things up a little.

{Smash}: For when stabbing things doesn't work quite as well and some brute force is needed.

[Feelers]: Four more tentacles. Thumbs not included.

{Lash}: A primitive flailing that did more than expected. First proper [Ability] I made.

[Arms]: Arms and armour all in one. Made for handling things that need a little bit of toughness.

{Smash}: Also smashing, but with [Arms] instead.

[Breath Gland]: Dragon fantasy inexplicably turned real. Allows me to turn [Essence] into various volatile... projectiles?

{Breath: Cannon}: Blasts a solid-ish splatter of [Essence] out. Not quite sure how to aim it yet, but seems to do a lot of damage.

{Breath: Incendiary}: Set things on "Fire". Need to figure out how to put it out first, I think.

[Jaws]: For biting purposes. Big teeth included, not recommended for delicate uses.

[Stomach]: Where things are mashed to bits for better digestion.

[Stomach: Masher]: The afore-mentioned masher of things.

{Devour}: Swallow things whole without actually biting. Seems to extends range of my bite somewhat.

{Dissect}: Breaks down a soul into its core component parts, likes with likes. This allows me to use them properly without wasting anything. Much.

{Auto Dissect}: Breaks rough items down into its component parts without conscious supervision. Wouldn’t recommend doing it on expensive stuff though.

[Eyes]: Got four of them. Doesn't need to blink.

{Appraise}: Looks at things and get more information that I should with my so-so intelligence.

[Soul Stone]: All of Me. And some hanger-ons.

[Safe]: Keep me from accidentally burning through myself. Also prevents others from doing the same, maybe. Imagine a cockpit that’s also a life boat.

[Deposit]: A mass of mashed up [Essence], free to be moulded into more eldritch mush.

[Library]: A place where the [Essence] of certain pilfered skills can be placed and accessed from. Prevents it from directly mixing with my own [Soul].

[Mysterious entity]: Appears to be the source of my powers. Somehow immune to itself. Go figures.

{Self-Mould}: My ability to, somehow, mess with [Essence]. Can make them into pseudo shapes while retaining their original property. Possible link to that chunk of unidentifiable [Essence] in my [Soul Stone].

{Mark}: To paste a marker onto someone’s soul, allow for communication. Obviously, I’ll have the upper crust of the ability, reserving the rights to send things through.

[Human-Vocinator]: Allows me to speak.

[Face]: A substitute face for me to do facial expressions for my own sake.

[Lungs]: Breathing.

{Breathing}: It's a thing now. Shouldn't have done this.

[Torso]: and other things that are not included.

{Tackle}: Full body slam.

{Auto-Snake}: Makes more segments of my body.

{Auto-Scale}: Makes more scales.

Weird things (may not be mine) that should be included. Some may be actually spells of some kind, but tit for tat:

{Tugging}: Borderline telekinesis. Seems short-ranged.

{Sunder}: Tears formerly-intact [Essence] apart. Not quite sure on its range yet, but should not use willy-nilly as it is extremely powerful.

{Link}: Creates artificial connections between [Essence] bits.

{Tasting}: Figures out... things. Made it, used it, seemed to work like tasting, but for [Essence]. Makes more sense in my mind.

{Barrier}: Creates a sealed environment that prevents things from entering or exiting. Not too sure how it works yet, but "looping" seems to be one version of it.

{Path}: Does something with papers. Got a bread-crumb effect with dubious effectiveness.

{Light}: Creates light? May be a command word instead.

{Sanctuary}: Creates a shining barrier that, for some reason, is harmful towards me. Not fond of that.

{Release}: Make captures things pop out of their prisons. Can be applied by me to someone else's' stuff? Bears potential!

{Passive-aggressive-rant}: I do this a lot.

{Mosquito-kill}: I may do this.

{Shit-talking}: I don't do this.

{Suicide}: How do I get rid of this?

Things in the [Library], where I store pilfered [Abilities], stopped potential contamination from affecting my psyche while still allowing me to utilize whatever thing that I had stored here.

[Trident]: The fish people style. Learn how to poke things with a three-tipped stick.

[Underwater Tracking]: For cases where you really need to learn where the fish would be hiding.

[Underwater Weapon Maintainence]: When you got to stop your weapons from rotting or rusting in your hands. Could be a big issue when you can’t use fireto reforge anything.

Spoiler: Elisa!