‘Even if I can’t use Mana as a ghost, there must still be something that I can do. Maybe if I maintain contact with the memory orb, I can directly draw from its death energy instead. At the very least-’ Emil began to think to himself, but was cut off as the captain and his group entered the room. He had run out of time. If he tried anything now, surely they would notice. However, as Maynard and Mabel walked by his ghostly form, he had a realization.

Did it actually matter if they noticed? He was dead now, after all. What consequences could he face if he was already a ghost? It wasn’t like they were actually capable of doing anything in response. Captain Maynard began to open the storage unit, and as Emil stared at him, an idea came to his mind.

Emil reached for the veteran guard’s shoulder. As expected, his hand passed right through. The only result was causing a visible shiver to go down his body. But if the physical and spiritual planes were truly separate, then his ghostly touch shouldn’t have caused any kind of reaction. The answer was apparent to him.

Simply speaking, they weren’t completely separated. After all, there was still the captain’s own soul inside his body. That soul was connected to his body, so when Emil touched it, the man’s spirit could indirectly sense him. In hindsight, that idea was fairly obvious. But even so, it meant there was the potential for him to exploit that inherent connection.

He had used magic to manipulate the physical body and spiritual form separately. But he had yet to attempt to use one to affect the other while the being in question was still alive. At this point, it was at least worth a try. After all, what did a dead man have to lose by humoring his experimental ideas? As he had that thought, the captain began to search through his personal effects.

“Well then, weird was definitely the right word for these things,” Maynard remarked as he picked up one of the memory orbs. “But I swear, something must be off with this place’s temperature systems. It’s only felt colder by the minute.” He held up the item in the air, and began to examine it.

The black color of the sphere contrasted against the brightly white environment of the hospital. But even more than that, its darkness seemed to almost drain the light of the air around. Like wherever it moved, the air become dimmer and gloomy.

The captain could now understand why prolonged contact with such an object could mess with the minds of the hospital staff, that much was for sure. There was something about this orb that made even his hairs stand on end. There was an inherent sense of wrongness to it. He could instinctually just tell that this thing was unnatural, dangerous, even. Yet beyond that subconscious feeling, he couldn’t tell what this orb actually was or what purpose it served.

What the-” Maynard exclaimed. A wave of vertigo suddenly hit him as his body ached. Bright spots filled his vision as everything turned sideways. He stumbled back and dropped the orb. As it hit and bounced against the group, Mabel and the others in the group rushed forward to help the captain. Maynard placed a hand up, gesturing for them to stay back.

Captain Maynard tried to steady himself, using the nearby furniture as support to keep from falling. His teeth clenched as a migraine stabbed his brain. He wanted to groan in pain, but he forced himself to suppress the urge so as to not embarrass himself in front of the others. There was an intense heat in his stomach, making him feel like he was about to throw up.

Something was very wrong with him, but what? He was generally in good health, maintained a fit body, and rarely got sick. No sensation came from the orb itself before he had dropped it. Rather, it felt like the initial wave of cramping and aches had started from the middle of his back. It was then that his body froze up, every muscle became tensed and rigid.

The piercing headache only grew sharper, as his vision doubled. But instead of everything becoming two in his sight, it was different. He saw everything from one perspective, but at the same time, from a slightly different angle. For a moment, captain Maynard was even able to see himself, as if he was staring at his own back.

A wave of emotions and thoughts flooded his brain. Visions went through his mind, but there was nothing coherent, only a random mix of small, individual fragments. He slowly lost strength as the world faded. But right before the captain passed out, it felt like he was somehow two people at once. He closed his eyes, and slumped into the corner between the wall and storage units

“Captain Maynard, are you alright? Captain Maynard?!” Mabel cried as she shook the man’s body, her hands gripped onto his shoulders. Slowly, he opened his eyes and looked up at her before glancing around the room. The expression on the faces of everyone there was that of concern, clearly worried for him.

However, as Mabel was the person closest to him, she couldn’t help but notice that there was a difference in him. It was his eyes, and the way they looked at her and the world. The captain she knew always had a hard light to his eyes and a tough expression on his face. But now, it seemed different, more relaxed and bright. It was almost like that of a much younger man. One of the hospital workers was nudging past the others, making her way to him.

“Sir, would you like me to escort you to a room for a quick examination? We have plenty of free beds, if you need some time to rest,” she respectfully offered. The older man shook his head, and with Mabel’s help, rose to his feet. However, as he stood up, his leg pressed against the fallen memory orb. Careful about the way his body was angled and hand moved, Maynard stealthily picked it up. Without anyone seeing what he did, he carefully hid it within his fist as he got off the ground.

He patted the dust from his officer’s uniform. However, once again, it was only Mabel that noticed another difference in him. This time, it was in the subtle ways he moved. The captain’s movements were usually brisk and efficient. He should have effectively been slapping the dirt off his clothing.

But now, as he rubbed his hands against his clothes, the way they moved was slow and went across every inch of fabric. And then as he finished and stood at his full height, there was now his posture and the way he carried himself. Was Mabel finally losing it at her old age?

Yet she could have sworn that his every little bit of body language was abnormal, almost like he was a different person. Perhaps it was simply her imagination. It had been a very stressful morning after all, and the captain’s sudden collapse certainly didn’t help with that. Maybe she was just overthinking things, and needed to make some tea and rest whenever she had the chance to go home.

“I-I’m fine. I just think… I need to go use the bathroom… and take a moment to catch my breath, that’s all. Could you remind me where the nearest one is?” Maynard asked. His nose twitched and forehead wrinkled as he spoke. The way his mouth moved was slow, and his voice was hoarse. From the way he talked, it was almost like he was forcing the words out. To the onlookers, they assumed that it was the result of whatever caused his sudden faintness.

The hospital worker gave him the directions to the nearest restroom. It was just to the right of the room, down the corridor, and then the last door before the next hallway intersection. He opened the door, and walked into the bathroom. The inside was the same white coat of white paint as the rest of the hospital. In the corner there was the toilet, but to the side wall, there was a sink with a mirror above it. The door slowly closing behind him, Maynard approached the sink.

He gripped his hands on each side of it, and looked into the glass of the mirror. In its reflection, there was the face and body of the captain. However, deep within his eyes, there was the ghost of Emil. Maynard’s own soul had been pushed down, forcibly kept too deep to do anything. Through the act of possession, Emil was the one currently in control of this body. At least, he was mostly in control of it.

It was a constant struggle to keep his soul in check. However, Captain Maynard was a normal man, while Emil was a practiced Mage turned Necromancer. In a contest of strength and the physical body, the captain would definitely have wiped the floor with him. However, the older man seemingly had no practice or understanding of the use of magic. But even if he did, it may not have helped anyway.

A human soul would never, under normal circumstances, have any experience in interacting with other souls. As such, the older man’s spirit couldn’t do much but subconsciously fight as vainly as it could against the invading force. So at least in this respect, Emil held a significant upper hand. As long as he could maintain his focus, he might be able to hold tightly onto his possession of this body.

However, it wouldn’t be as though he could simply control this body forever and move on. He had no intention of such a thing. Emil would just borrow it for a short time, just long enough for him to figure out the current situation. First things first, he needed to find out what happened to Theo. He could sense that the undead was still somewhere out there.

Luckily, unlike the mayor, it hadn’t been destroyed by whatever caused his own death. However, the connection between him and it was murky. Like the invisible line between them was being caught up in something. He could almost reach his will out to the roach, to feel for its location and communicate with it. But it was like there was a thick miasma of fog keeping him separated from it.

Now that he was away from the others and alone, Emil could potentially get some answers to his questions. He looked inward, toward the captain’s mind and soul. Perhaps somewhere in this man’s memories, he could pick up a couple of pieces for the puzzle of his own missing memory. To be closer to finding out exactly what happened last night in the cemetery.