“Well, yes, in a way. You’ll have been taught this either way, so I guess there’s no harm in telling you. The way our power works is fundamentally different from yours. We don’t have Uua, and so if we want to use magic, we have to work directly with Eani. To do that we need to light the Eani, and doing that takes something away from us, weakening us in the process. However, if we have a familiar-kin, instead of using Eani, we can use their Uua to perform magic instead. Meaning our strength doesn’t reduce.”

At that moment a lot of things suddenly makes sense. The Fasuru are immortal spirits with knowledge most humans can’t fathom, and yet they seem to have no problem lowering themselves to become familiars. So, this is why. If they use magic on their own, it weakens them a bit. I’m guessing that over time it piles up and can make even the strongest Fasuru a weakling. This also explains why even after thousands of years there are still so many weak Fasuru.

“So, the vessels are just familiar-kin to the gods.” I say, using Luoi’s terminology. He likes to call humans who have familiars ‘familiar-kin’.

“Yes, but there is one big difference. Familiar-kin keep their minds. Vessels don’t.”

“What do you mean?” Even as I ask that question, some part of me understands what he means. There is a reason the vessels could be trapped in those cases after all.

“It has to do with the fact that you humans are animal-spirit hybrids. You have the body, instincts and more of an animal, but you also have souls… spirits which hold the true you. When we spirit-kin possess someone, for some time nothing goes wrong, but if it lasts for too long, your soul begins to clash with ours, slowly escalating the conflict until it gets to a point where only one can live. At that point, it becomes a fight between something that has lived for an eternity against something that has lived for a few decades at most. In the end, unsurprisingly, we win, and the human’s body becomes nothing more than a vegetable.”

I am appalled. Does this mean that every time I let Luoi possess me I had been risking becoming a vegetable? No wonder he usually doesn’t stay in me for too long. “Can’t the people fight back?” I ask.

“They could, if they knew what was going on. But the clashes are usually subtle things that most humans ignore, not knowing what is going on. And so, unless the spirit-kin doesn’t want them dead - mentally dead - they can’t really do anything.”

“How long does it take for the soul to start clashing?” This is what I really want to know at the moment.

The deer flicks an ear as it reclines on the ground. “It varies. For some days, others last weeks… months, I’ve even seen one that lasted for years before it started. Even now, I’ve heard rumors of a human who has let a Fasuru possess him for over ten years without any adverse effects.” He turns to look at me. “You can relax, I have no intention of killing you, or I wouldn’t have told you this. Just don’t let any other spirit-kin possess you.”

“What if I do?”

It shoots me a look. “Then, I won’t be happy. Also, being possessed by more than one of my kin reduces the time needed for the clashing to start happening. The more spirit-kin possessing you, the less time is needed for the clash to begin. And at that point, instead of the human soul to have only one opponent, it will have multiple.”

I shake my head. “Well, I didn’t need to know that since I have no plans of getting more than one familiar. You are enough for me, Luoi.”

“Really,” Luoi says. “What if I told you that the more spirit-kin possessing you, the more powerful you become. If you have enough in you, you could probably take down the Laen all on your own.”

I repeat. “I only need you, Luoi. I only need you.” There is no way I am going to risk letting another Fasuru in, especially with what I just learned from Luoi. For some reason, Luoi seems pleased by my reassurance. He really doesn’t want anyone else possessing me, does he. “By the way, if the ‘gods’ returned, they’ll probably return to their vessels, right?”

“Of course. And that’s why I think those humans are stupid. Trampling over the dignity of the Upper-ones by trapping their vessels in cases of glass. But they’ll only have to worry about it if the Laen fall.”

I stay quiet for some moments. “Do you think that can actually happen. The Laen falling.”

Luoi looks at me. “Ian, you need to understand something. We spirit-kin are immortal. You humans are not. Everything formed by humans will one day fall and crumble to dust. The Laen, while it will undoubtedly last longer due to the nature of its members, is no different. In the end, it’s only a matter of time, and time is something we have in abundance.”

* * * * * *

Later that evening, after I had mostly recovered my Uua, I finally tested out the Roes I had stored earlier. To be honest, I did not expect it to have as much power as it did. As I stared open-mouthed at the massive hole over seven meters in diameter in front of me, Luoi speaks. “Hmm, it’s passable I guess.”

“Passable?” I turn to look at him. I could level my school with only three of those Roes. Of course, it would completely drain me of Uua, but still, this is far better than just passable.

“There are spells that can achieve the same effect without completely draining your Uua, so yes, this is only passable, you need better Ultimates.”

“Can you give me some?”

Luoi shakes his head. “It’s best you create yours or check the library and find one you can modify to your needs. You’re getting to the point where you need spells suited to you, and that can usually only be created by you.”

“Alright.” I am a bit disappointed by his refusal, but I can’t exactly force him to do anything. He would probably whoop my ass if I tried to do so.

“Store some of those Roes in your Mage Bracelets. After a week or so you should have almost completely filled them. You never know when you might need an attack that powerful.”

Though we didn’t do much today, I am quite happy with how things turned out. At least I have something I can store in the Mage Bracelets. I leave the Lands and head home.