Chapter 022

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‘ ‘ for thoughts.

“ “ for speech.

* * for actions.

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It took Jack a few hours to reach the hill where the friendly kobold tribe resided. He soon found a kobold sentry, who lead him into kobold wonderland, and guided him to the Chief’s chamber with the large fuel-less bonfire.

Kobold Chief: “Welcome Human Jack. Did you kill the lizardss?”

Jack: “Yes Chief. I killed all the lizards I found in the Infested caves.”

Kobold Chief: “What about the eggss?”

Jack: *sighing* “Unfortunately chief I couldn’t save a single egg. The last level had the boss mommy lizard who kept all the eggs near her. She kept on hatching her eggs during the battle.”

Jack: “I had to retreat to the previous level multiple times after killing newly hatched lizards. I am lucky to not have died. All lizards are dead however.”

Jack: *shameful expression* “I may have missed three-four eggs which were unhatched during the boss battle. But you must understand, the battle was terrifying for me and I was almost dead multiple times. Your warriors and shamans can handle the cleanup; I am not going near that place for a long time.”

Chief Kobold: “That iss acceptable, Human Jack. Wait, while we make preparations.”

Jack then waited for almost an hour, as the kobold shamans barked and hissed among themselves preparing to send Jack to their father spirit. Soon the preparations were done. There were two kobold shamans with what looked like rough leather drums.

Near the fuel-less bonfire, there was a pelt of bear skin on the floor. The drum wielding shamans were standing beside it. One of the kobold shamans instructed Jack to sit on the bear skin pelt. The Kobold Chief approached Jack with a clay cup in its hand. The liquid was swirling in the cup in hypnotic patterns. It was of brownish-red color, very similar to that of dried blood.

Kobold Chief: “Drink thiss. It will aid you in your journey to meet the Father Sspirit.”

Jack: ‘So Lady Salamander cautioned me against drinking stuff. Since I have her egg-gem gift, might as well trust her all the way. Seeing how much she valued her unhatched eggs, I doubt she would use up one of just to fuck with me. Not that she requires tricks to fuck with me anyway.’

Jack: “That won’t be necessary Chief. I wish to make the journey on my own terms, instead of relying on your concoctions.”

Chief Kobold: “You ssure human jack? I cannot guarantee your safety, if you don’t drink thiss.”

Jack: “If I die, then so be it. My decision is final.”

Chief Kobold: “Sso be it, we will respect your wishess. The sshamans on the sside will begin playing the tune of our sspirit father. Focuss your mind on it, and once in rhythm you must walk through the bonfire.”

Jack: ‘So I should meditate on the drum beats? Ok…’

Jack: “How do I know when I will be ready…and how long will it take?”

Chief Kobold: “You just will. As for how long, that depends on you. It could be anywhere up to ten hours. Are you ready?”

Jack: *grasps the egg gem in his left hand and sits cross-legged on the pelt* “I am ready Chief.”

The chief Kobold barks an order, and immediately the drum wielding shamans start playing the drums, while Jack starts meditating. The kobold shamans were playing a steady rhythm with the drums. However, Jack could sense that the drum on his left was slightly out of phase with the drum on his right.

While meditating, he could slowly felt the drums beating in sync and he felt a strange energy in his mana centers. It was as if all his mana centers were slowly vibrating with the rhythm of the drums. After a while, he felt that all his mana centers were bursting with energy. During his meditative trance, he felt an almost irresistible urge to move.

It was as if Jack’s body was on autopilot. His head slowly started swaying back and forth as he gradually stood up. Still swaying back and forth with the rhythm of the drums, he walked forward with his eyes closed still meditating. He approached the fuel-less bonfire and instead of stifling heat he felt earlier, Jack felt as if he was approaching the warm embrace of a lover.

As Jack stepped through the spirit portal without harm, the Kobold Chief and most of the shamans were shocked, to say the least. It had taken Jack only 45 minutes in the meditative trance to resonate with the beats of the spirit drums.

Chief Kobold: ‘That human Jack iss terrifying and amazing! Even for me, the mosst accomplished shaman of our tribe, it takes almosst half an hour to commune with Father Sspirit… and that too with the aid of the sspirit elixir. For someone visiting Father Sspirit without the aid of the sspirit elixir under five hourss iss nothing short of a miracle’

Jack felt the rhythmic vibration from his mana centers slowly dampen as he opened his eyes. Before his trance, he was sitting cross-legged in the kobold dwelling. But now, he was standing on what looked like a field of fire! But there was something strange.

As far as he could see, orange-red flames dominated the entire landscape. However, three meters around him, there were no colors visible! It was as if he was leeching the fiery energy from his surrounds into him. Jack also felt ecstatic and invigorated, like he usually felt after eating a soul!’

Jack: ‘Could it be that subconsciously, my Spirit Eater abilities are leaching spirit energy from the surroundings? And what is Lady Salamander’s egg-gem doing?’

Jack focused his attention on the gem in his hands. It was throbbing in sync with his heartbeat. With each throb, a grayish omnidirectional pulse was radiating from the gem. As the pulse radiated outward from the monochromatic field around him, Jack could make out that it was the same violet fire which coated Lady Salamander’s body.

Jack: ‘So looks like I have two layers of defense. One is my spirit eater abilities passively leaching spirit energy around me, the other is the egg-gem radiating Lady Salamander’s power, pushing the orange flames outwards.’

Jack: ‘This gem seems to have a massive internal store of mana, and is slowly radiating it. I wonder what will happen if I channel fire mana through it?’

Jack: ‘So I guess I am in some elemental plane of fire? Where exactly am I supposed to go now? Meh might as well pick up a direction and start walking.’

Jack started walking through the plains of fire. After a few minutes of aimless wandering, suddenly countless fire spirits materialized around him! They were of various shapes, the border of their forms constantly shifting and morphing like flames. Many of them looked nothing more than animated blobs of fire, while some resembled flaming humanoid figures. But the majority of them were in the shapes of beasts.

Jack was completely surrounded. However, he noticed that all of them were out of reach of the violet fire Lady Salamander’s egg-gem was radiating. He felt as if all the spirits were furious at him. One of the blobs of fire couldn’t restrain itself and it rushed at him.

As soon as it was in reach of the pulse of violet flames, it retreated and Jack could hear a mental scream of agony. After the mental cry of agony subsided, he heard a voice in his head which sounded like crackling flames. He wasn’t able to determine which spirit was addressing him.

Fire Spirit: *telepathically* ‘Leave this plane, abomination! You are not welcome here.’

Jack: “Abomination? I just came to meet your ruler.”

Fire Spirit: *telepathically* ‘You are a Spirit Eater. Don’t pretend otherwise. Abominations such as you would come here only to feed on the lifeblood of our plane.’

Jack: “Yes I am a Spirit Eater, but I do not wish to feed on this plane. I was gifted this gem see? It was guaranteed to grant me safe passage. You know that I am very weak and am only surviving because of this gem. Take me to your ruler, and let him decide my fate.”

Fire Spirit: *telepathically* ‘Nonsense! An abomination such as you is not fit to walk here, much less meet the eldest of us! Your protection cannot last forever. When it expires, we will rip your soul to shreds.’

Jack: ‘Oh boy. Looks like I am in a pinch.’

Jack: “Is this how you treat envoys? You give me no choice then.”

Jack then channeled fire mana into the egg-gem. The gem acted like a catalyst, and there was an explosive pulse of violet flames radiating from him. Even in the monochromatic field near him, purple ripples were visible, as they expanded outwards. This pushed the spirits a few meters back, and filled his head with multiple screams of agony.

Soon, the spirits approached him and he was about to augment the gem’s capabilities with his own mana again. Before he could do so, a rift around 5 meters in radius appeared above him, and all of the spirits stopped in their tracks. A huge hand made of ethereal orange flames appeared and enclosed Jack, forming a fist.

The flaming hand was unaffected by the violet pulses from Lady Salamander’s egg-gem. Furthermore, the radiance of the flames was dazzling. Even the monochromatic leeching field around him was unable to dim the color of the flames in the slightest.

Jack: ‘Well fuck me. Looks like one of the big boys noticed me. What the fuck is going to happen to me now?’

The hand of flame dematerialized and Jack was transported to another location. He observed his surroundings and noticed that both the monochromatic field and the pulse of violet flames were contained. His body seemed to be coated in a layer of ethereal fire. But he didn’t feel hot in the slightest.

He was in what appeared to be a throne room. Around half a dozen meters ahead of him, there was a humanoid figure completely made of light orange fire sitting on a throne of flames. The figure radiated an obscene amount of power, and Jack held no delusion of his chances.

He carefully approached the powerful fire spirit, until suddenly, lips formed on what appeared to be the spirit’s face, and it spoke in an ancient voice radiating authority. Hearing this voice, Jack could not help but kneel and bow. He felt that just that the mere pressure of the voice would cause him to faint.

Powerful Fire Spirit: “Welcome to my domain Spirit Eater. You caused quite a ruckus there. I trust that you will behave here, unless you want me to be annoyed. That would be very unfavorable for you. What brings you here then, Spirit Eater?”

Jack: “I was hoping for a spirit contract?”

Powerful Fire Spirit: *laughs* “A spirit contract, with me? What makes you think I would entertain such a notion, and from you nonetheless?”

Jack: ‘And the bargaining begins…’

Jack: “Well many reasons. You are powerful enough to just burn away my soul from this plane…whatever that is.”

Powerful Fire Spirit: “While that is true, maybe I just want to toy with you?”

Jack: “Well I am a traveler, so you can’t kill or trap me permanently, so isn’t it for the best we have some sort of agreement?”

Powerful Fire Spirit: “True, but like you eat spirits, I could eat away all your spiritual growth and reduce your level, to the day you were born in Terra, to deal with you.”

Jack: “But that would be a one-time deal. I could easily level up again and wreak havoc on the spirits present on Terra just to satiate my grudge. Besides, if we reach an agreement, you could restrict my spirit eating activities in exchange for a drop of your power.”

Powerful Fire Spirit: “Or I could rip out the abomination your soul is harboring and send you on your way.”

Jack: ‘I don’t think it is joking. It is seriously considering that.’

Jack: “But wouldn’t that consume more of your power than just granting me a bit of it, and leashing this ‘abomination’ in me?”

Powerful Fire Spirit: “True. But abominations like you aren’t held in favor by spirits like us for obvious reasons.”

Jack: *displays the egg-gem to the Spirit* “This gem is very significant, I wager. And I bet that it is the only reason you didn’t rip away the abomination in me and send me on my way. Let us cut the foreplay, and get right to it, shall we?”

Powerful Fire Spirit: *laughing* “Making demands from me? If circumstances were slightly different, I wouldn’t have hesitated to punish you thoroughly. However you speak the truth, and your position permits some insolence. I sense a certain dethatched dispassion from you, willing to do what it takes. You are willing to get the job done, despite costs which others would balk at. This makes you a potentially valuable piece to have. How about I state my terms?”

Jack: ‘Potentially valuable piece? Looks like I am but a mere pawn in the game of chess it wants to play using me…’

Jack: “Of course, mighty spirit.”

Powerful Fire Spirit: “Well then. The most important aspect of our pact is that you will allow me to chain the abomination festering in you. You cannot feed on elemental spirits, unless they are infected by The Blight.”

Jack: “The Blight? What is that supposed to be?”

Powerful Fire Spirit: “If you are fortunate, you will remain ignorant of it for a long while.”

Jack: ‘The Blight? That sounds ominous. I don’t think I will get a straight answer, so might as well move on.’

Jack: “What exactly do you mean by elemental spirits?”

Powerful Fire Spirit: “Thorough aren’t you? By elemental spirits, I mean any spirit strongly attuned to the elements of fire, ice, water, wind, earth and lightning.”

Jack: “Souls of mortals and the undead are exempt from this restriction, no matter what element they are attuned to. Also if any elemental spirit is hostile, I should be able to use my full arsenal against them, including my Spirit Eater abilities.”

Powerful Fire Spirit: “Yes, mortal soul entities and undead constructs are exempt from this restriction. And I will mark you, so that no elemental spirit with even a hint of sanity will dare to attack you first.”

Jack: “Hmm, that is reasonable. But, you should have an exception for elemental spirits who are willing to be devoured by me.”

Powerful Fire Spirit: “Why do you think any spirit would agree to be devoured and cease existing?”

Jack: *smiles* “Sometimes, existence itself can be the biggest burden one shoulders.”

Powerful Fire Spirit: “Simple, but profound words. Fine, I agree. My next term is that if you travel to planes other than the principal material plane, which is what you refer to as Terra, and encounter spirits of affinities other than the ones agreed upon; you will not feed on them unless they are hostile or are infected by The Blight.”

Jack: “Agreed. Naturally, those who wish to be devoured by me are exempt.”

Powerful Fire Spirit: “Done. My next term is that, you will not feed upon spirits in service to Gaia unless they are corrupted by The Blight. This is not negotiable, no matter the spirit’s hostility or its wishes.”

Jack: “Yes, I agree.”

Powerful Fire Spirit: “My next term is that in future, I may occasionally call upon you to render certain services. These will be within your abilities, or at least in the realm of possibility, and you cannot refuse these requests.”

Jack: “How often do you mean occasionally?”

Powerful Fire Spirit: “Only if the need is great. I doubt it will be more than once in few years though, in the worst case scenario.”

Jack: “That sounds vague, but I accept.”

Powerful Fire Spirit: “You must place the gem of darkfire you possess in my care.”

Jack: ‘I expected as much. But why exactly does it covet this gem?’

Jack: “What exactly is the significance of this ‘gem of darkfire’ to you?”

Powerful Fire Spirit: “That gem of darkfire, can be traded for favors from a certain influential faction of The Infernal Plane by beings such as me. After you seal the pact with me, it will be useless to you as you will be freely able to travel elemental planes without its protection.”

Jack: “Infernal plane? What do you mean by that?”

Powerful Fire Spirit: “The Infernal plane is another plane of existence. However, it is one of the few planes which exist close to both the material planes and the spirit plane. Sort of a bridge between the material and spirit world, if you will”

Jack: ‘I think I am starting to understand. Material planes are constructed mainly of matter, and spirit planes are constructed mainly of consciousness. Terra is the Principal Material Plane, the main focus of existence if you will. And this plane is one of the spirit planes. Also this gem is some kind of currency? I should make it non-transferable then.’

Jack: “You can only use the gem to barter favor directly from that certain influential faction of the infernal plane. You cannot trade this gem for favor with other factions, or for favors on their behalf. You must also not use this favor against me.”

Powerful Fire Spirit: “Hmm, you drive a hard bargain. But you truly are impressive enough to possess it, so I will agree. And I have one last term. You will allow me to read through your memories.”

Jack: ‘Wait what…it wants to mind-fuck me?’

Jack: “Why?”

Powerful Fire Spirit: “It is essential for a spirit pact. Only by knowing you, can I shape spells compatible with you.”

Jack: “Agreed. But you will restrict yourself to my memories of Terra and her associated planes, and not my own home world. And for all this, what do I get in return?”

Powerful Fire Spirit: “Fine. In return for these terms, I will grant you a bit of my power. You may imagine a single powerful spell, or multiple weak spells. And I will shape them you. The exact nature of spells depends on you and your imagination. However, all spells thus shaped must be attuned to my affinities.”

Jack: “What are your affinities?”

Powerful Fire Spirit: “Mainly they are soul and fire. A pact with me will also allow you to use the special affinity Soulfire instinctively in your other spells.”

Jack: “What exactly do you mean by Soulfire?’

Powerful Fire Spirit: “Soulfire is both fire and soul affinity acting in harmony. It only damages hostile targets, but makes their souls burn with flames.”

Jack; ‘That sounds somewhat OP. Ally friendly with the damage potential of fire? Nice!’

Jack: “You are obviously gaining far more than me in this pact, and I have one final term.”

Powerful Fire Spirit: “And that is?”

Jack: “In the future, certain residents of Terra may become my followers. I wish for you to consider them for spirit pacts or impart them a couple of gifts. I will be your pawn, but I too may need powerful pawns of my own. A little boost from you will benefit both of us greatly.”

Powerful Fire Spirit: “Hmm, that is quite open-ended. I will consider other residents of Terra that you bring, but whether I agree to a pact or gift with them is solely my discretion. Be sure to bring interesting and worthy followers, or as a penalty I will strip a few levels worth of experience from you. But if I form pacts or bestow your followers with my power, I will grant you additional gifts.”

Jack: “Exactly how much is ‘a few levels’?”

Powerful Fire Spirit: “Let it be, 10% of your level at the time of introduction. Now do we have a pact?”

Jack: “Yes mighty spirit. I want a summoning spell. So what should I do now?”

Powerful Fire Spirit: “Enter meditation, and imagine all aspects of your summoning spell. I will read your surface thoughts during it. Once the concept of your summoning spell is crystalized, you may move on to the next spell you desire. However, the more spells you wish for, the lesser is each spell’s power as I will only gift you a fixed amount of my power. After this stage, you grant me permission to read your memories on Terra, and the pact between us is finalized. Now meditate on your desired spells, and inform me once you are ready to seal the pact.”

Jack: ‘This is it. The bargaining is done. I should be utmost focused on what kind of summoning spell I want now and meditate on it.’

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A/N: Well, I had some free time. So here you go, another chapter! This chapter is by far, the most conversation heavy chapter I have written. But this is an important crossroads of the plot, so I wrote the detailed conversation instead of just summarizing long conversations like I did, for example with Lady Salamander.

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