In the room on the top floor of the inn in the city, two figures met. One of the figures, clad in black, knelt on his left knee and greeted the person in front of him, then started reporting.

"After leaving the Adventurer's Guild, I followed the target back to the inn. I waited for a couple of hours but the target stayed indoors so I came back to report. I had one of my subordinates stay for surveillance and report if there's any changes."

"Good. That'll be all. You can go back to the Den and regroup with the others." The other figure, an old man missing an arm, coldly said.

"Yes, what?"

"I'll take it over from here. Tell Varia I'll be back by the end of the month. Go now." The old man ordered.

"Yes Lord Silva!"

After the figure in the black left, frost started spreading throughout the room. Silva's expression grimaced and seethed from resentment but there was hunger evident behind his cold eyes.

It's time to get what's mine Bones! You thought you could run from Me? Fool! Count down your hours!

Evening came and there was a knock on the door. Bones got out of the bed and opened the door but saw no one. He was about to make a step forward and into the hallway when he sensed a sudden spike in mana density in front of him, causing the air to distort.

"What is thi-"

*snap*

The sound of fingers snapping together was all he heard before the bubble of highly compressed mana burst right into his face and sent him crashing back onto the bed. Bones held up his hands against his face and groaned. The concealment cream evaporated from the blast and was completely removed along with half of his face. His facial bones suffered multiple fractures and most of his teeth were either broken or gone.

[the sound of footsteps]

Bones heard the sound of footsteps coming from the direction of the hallway. He peeked through the gaps between his fingers and saw a figure entering the room, hanging a "Do not disturb" sign on the doorknob and closing the doors, turning the key and locking them. When the figure turned to him and Bones clearly saw who it was, he lowered his hands beside him and meekly chuckled.

"A bit harsh for a greeting, don't you think so? It's been a lo- " He was interrupted mid-speech, again, when Silva appeared before him in a flash, gripped his head with his hand and smashed it against the bed frame.

"You're mine now!" Silva spat out before everything went black. Bones' vision and senses were cut off and even his mana flow stopped. It was eerily quiet. The experience he felt in complete darkness was numbing, confusing and suffocating. Alone with his own thoughts, Bones couldn't comprehend what was happening, what Silva did to him nor how much time had passed. All he knew is that he wasn't dead, yet.

After the attack on the new year's festival in Hagos, Silva escaped north and laid low in the hideout close to the border. While waiting and dealing with his grievous injuries, he utilized the whole network of Defiant Hounds at his disposal to find Bones. His search turned futile the first month as the search turned in the wrong direction and only picked up reliable information related to Bones from an informant in the Thief's Guild in the town of Ascot. From there, Silva followed Bones closely, truly picking up crumbs left behind, until Bones signed an entry form with his own name at the entrance to the town of Arbington.

Silva still felt weakened from his fight with Rayne. He lost an arm and one would think such loss would force him to stay in hiding but missing a limb wasn't Silva's primary concern. The attack on Hagos was in the making for years and it almost all went down the drain because of Bones. It would be a simple matter to take revenge by outright killing him but he couldn't do that. He wanted Bones' body, but most of all, he was running out of time!

Silva's lifespan had long expired - over two hundred years ago to be exact. To prolong his pitiful life, he resorted to any unsavory means necessary. He mastered the Arcane, used Mind Control and finally, he found the solution in Soul Magic. His twisted lifestyle rewarded him with a sinister skill with too many restrictions and downsides to count, but Silva was unfaltering in following his path.

The body he occupied right now was too damaged from the fight, resulting in shortening the time needed to switch to a new body by almost two years. He could feel the sudden changes in his body, like he did every time it was nearing its end. The rot and decay has already started and he needs to change bodies, fast! His original plan was to allow Bones to reach at least the second tier and to be strong enough to handle the weight of his soul, but not grow enough to resist him before attempting Soul Transfer.

It took everything to hold himself back from lashing out when he first found Bones, but he needed him and wanted to know how, whoever Bones really is, managed to infuse his soul - to a skeleton no less! - and without apparent suffering from the backlash he feels after every jump to a new body. The new vessels weren't compatible with his soul and would start to rot in a decade or two, just like now, depending on how much his soul strained the body. Every time he "jumped" bodies, a little bit of him was lost to him. Such was the price for going against the natural order of things.

Silva's breath slowed and became irregular. He watched intently at the non responding Bones in front of him, at the changes his body went through since the last time they saw each other and… he didn't approve of the racial upgrade to Revenant.

"What have you done with my body?" Silva said out loud with a face full of disdain. He gave Bones one last glance then closed his eyes. The connection between them has already been established and with anticipation, Silva delved into the figure formerly known as Muriel Jones.

Silva's consciousness traveled over the bridge connecting them and into a sea of darkness from where what seemed like infinite tunnels spread in all directions. He picked a tunnel at random and rushed through.

Some time later.

I need this jump to succeed but… what the hell is this?

Silva furrowed his brows. For hours he's been searching for the weakness in Bones' soul to take advantage of. To erode the memories and devour his feelings, to leave an empty slate for him to attach his own soul to, but there was nothing of sort in this inner world within Bones, only glimpses of what Bones experienced since becoming an undead.

A few meters in front of Silva, Bones stood still, with a blank expression on his face.

"Who are you? What are you?" Silva said briskly and Bones jolted out of it, his senses slowly coming back to him. When he saw Silva, he pointed a finger at him and yelled, "What have you…", but stopped in shock. The hand he raised and the finger he pointed had flesh and skin on it. Bones lowered his hand and looked down. He had a casual robe he always wore back when he was still in his tower. One of his hands had calluses and wrinkled skin while the other remained a familiar set of bones. His hands quickly reached out to a familiar face - well half of it - and the beard full of whites that hung loosely down his chin.

"W-what is this? Where are we?" Bones stuttered, but Silva didn't reply. After a moment of silence, Bones figured that whatever Silva planned didn't go exactly as he wanted it to go. He turned to look around and saw nothing but darkness, yet he saw himself and Silva clearly.

"Why is it so dark? Where did you take me? Doesn't seem like we're in my room or even the building… Are you using a skill on me? Same mind control you did on the others … on Solin?" Bones spoke out loud, but Silva remained silent, a lot going through his head. Bones took it as a sign Silva wasn't up to the talk so he focused back on himself. He felt nostalgic looking at the robes he wore. Even his old, wrinkled face - he missed it too.

Strange. I thought he would understand. That he was like me but he seems clueless… Silva was as confused as ever. He then harrumphed loudly, drawing Bones' attention to him.

"Well, that's something I guess. Ready to talk?" Bones remarked, curving a smile.

"What are you?" Silva asked.

"That again? What do you mean? You know exactly what I am!"

Silva held his tongue. His head swirled to the side - something in the darkness drew his attention away. He stayed still, focusing on it until he recognized a giant silhouette in the shape of a man, lurking in the distance. Its form consistently changed and shifted between the shades of black and hid behind a veil of darkness, peeking, jumping from place to place, observing the two figures intruding upon its world.

Bones saw Silva suddenly jerk his head to the side and look intently at something in the distance. He followed his gaze but saw nothing but darkness. When he turned back, he locked eyes with a frowning Silva. Silva never encountered anything like this before.

"This… isn't me." He said, gesturing at the darkness around them. "I thought you'd be more like me but you - disappoint me."

Bones' eyes twitched but he didn't interject to comment on the insult.

"My skill allows me to intrude into the inner world within your soul. I'm here because my skill allows me to be here, but everything else you see is your inner world, Jones."

The inner world differs from person to person, but the one thing they all have in common is that it is a world filled with memories both happy and sad, and fears and dreams. Bones' soul was pitch black and never ending, something he never heard of or witnessed before.

"My inner world… You said you thought I'd be more like you, that I'd understand - what exactly am I supposed to understand?" Bones asked.

Silva paused, his expression changing a few times until he made his resolve.

"That, like me, you have a deeper understanding of Soul Magic. I hoped to find out how you successfully transferred your soul to a new vessel without suffering the consequences, but you don't seem to be, or was at any point in your life, at my level of understanding. So how did you do it?"

"Hm…" Bones thought carefully about what Silva said and pieced together what was happening. Or at least what was supposed to happen but isn't happening for some reason.

Silva, that bastard wants to take over my body! Oh we're more similar than you think we are!

"I'll tell you if you tell me how you planned on taking over my body. What do you say?" Bones asked. Silva smirked and agreed.

"Alright. Once upon a time, when death was just a breath away, an old mage prepared for the ritual in hope to save his pitiful existence…" Bones wasn't shy of divulging the details of the fateful night when the attempt at the ritual failed, to Silva's impatience. When he was nearing the end of his story, Silva's face changed from that of confusion, to surprise, then back to even more confusion.

"Wait wait." Silva held up a hand. "A ritual? To gather enough mana and you used high quality mana crystals?" Silva asked in disbelief. "And what happened?"

"I blew up."

…

"Well that was to be expected. Even I can't contain such a sudden influx of mana inside my body, or any of my previous bodies. However, what does your story have to do with you being the skeleton?"

"I blew up and the next thing I knew, the system infused my soul into the body of a skeleton. I believe you know the rest of the story? Wasn't long before I met you in the library."

"Right, the night the undead army was summoned… I forgot. I thought there was more to it but… the system?"

*laughs*

"Of course it was the system! Gods, what am I even doing here…"

Bones raised an eyebrow. "Well, how about you get us out of here and let's find you a more suitable container! Vessel! I meant a suitable vessel."

*hmph*

"It's no use Jones. Or is it Bones? Which one do you approve more of?" Silva asked, but didn't wait for a reply. "Never mind. Doesn't matter. What matters is that we are stuck here!"

"Stuck? Why would we be stuck? It's your skill! You got inside me, now get out!"

"...That came out wrong."

"You don't get it. I have nowhere to go back to." Silva retorted. "What the hell do you think happens to a body without a soul? You dimwitted sorry excuse of a mage!" Silva dildn't hold himself back anymore. The time to play it cool had passed now that he knew he wouldn't be able to transfer his soul the usual way.

"You seem to be losing patience, Silva. Is something wrong? What happened to your body?"

"Don't act coy! You think you'll be able to leave this inner world if you just waited? We're not in equal positions here. We're in what you'd call a stalemate, boy. I can't win because apparently there's nothing to win over and you can't leave because I'm here. As for my body, it is a corpse void of life and no doubt just a shriveled husk by now. If you didn't get everything I've said so far, let me spell it out for you … Our souls are battling for the rights to this body and only one of us is leaving this place!”