M.D.Syl
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Chapter 105 colorless
🕑 Added 2023-08-12 17:36:02 +0000 UTCThis chapter is dedicated to Little.
Honestly, I’m shocked I got a new patron right after I announced my future break. It gave me an amazing boost in confidence about taking a break, something I was terrified of doing. Thank you for that. ^;^
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Enjoy the chapter everyone.
Chapter 105 Possessed.
Acceptance is the ideal of embracing all that is different.
Yet, what about the ones who oppose acceptance? Should they perish?
A line has to be drawn, a law has to be made.
Those who oppose the law and oppress the weak, shall perish!
Noxi, Guardian of Light.
No! I’m not dying like this! Latsa! <Lift!> I weave a silent ‘Minor Telekinesis’ and pull my hands away. I use my mind and manage to distance them from my throat. I gasp for a breath of fresh air, panting heavily.
My hands keep struggling against the invisible telekinetic force that holds them away from my throat. The sight is disturbing, and the fact I can’t feel my hands from the shoulders down is downright terrifying.
What the hell is going on?! Why can’t I feel my hands? Why are they acting like that? Some sort of magic? A curse? Someone is using some spell on me? But who? And how? Doesn’t matter, how do I break it? Maybe something in the book… a potion?
Can’t really search with my hands being like that… “Zoe!” I shout out, hoping she’s near my door. But I get no response, I have to go looking for her.
Getting up from my meditation pose without my hands is tougher than I expect. When I finally manage to get up, the realization dawns on me. It’s Luard’s soul! The reason mages eat the meat with the soul is to prevent possession! And now he’s possessing me! But only my hands, why only my hands?
Maybe because I only drank one bottle? It’s only a fifth of his soul, and this fifth is only capable of possessing my hands… This doesn’t matter… I have to get him out of my body, or fully absorb him… I don’t need Zoe, I just need to eat some of his meat…
But I can’t! How the snowy hell did I get myself into this situation?! Usually, the hag has to manipulate me into those, but this time I dug my own pit… I should’ve just looked it up before I tried consuming… I was too concerned with morality to think about the possibility… this was really stupid…
I find Zoe in the nearby room, absorbed in my book. “Zoe, can you look for anything about possessions in the book?” I ask her, my hands still struggling against my magic. I hope my broken hand won’t be damaged further…
“Possessions? What’s happening to your hands?”
“King Luard is trying to possess me, could you please look up for anything about possessions?” I force my voice to remain calm, raising it won’t move her faster.
She flips pages at a very slow pace, looking a little while at every page, one page, two pages, three pages.
Ok, enough! “Can’t you do it any faster?!”
“Sorry, Master! I’m going as fast as I can!”
“Let me look at the pages just flip them.” I crouch near her, my reading speed is obviously faster. “Flip, flip, flip, flip!” I order her.
She stops moving pages and looks at me with awe. “How can you know what they say?”
“I read fast. You’ve stopped moving pages, faster!” My hands are struggling against my telekinetic hold. I have no idea if the effect will spread to the rest of my body or not.
She reaches the end of the book after five minutes. Despair wells in my chest, there is nothing but empty pages at the end of the book. She mentioned not to write on them, but she never added anything there. Then, words appear on the empty paper.
Body possession.
Do not consume a soul without the meat, child, less you become possessed.
Great… would’ve been more useful if you wrote it there from the start, don’t you think? The bitch wanted me to learn the hard way… As snaking usual... rot!
Should you become possessed there are three ways to exorcise yourself.
- Eat enough meat of the creature the soul had originated from.
- Cut off the possessed limbs.
- Spend time in meditation in order to assimilate the soul into your mana stream. The amount of time varies according to the creature’s strength, it may take a day, it may take a week, it may take a month, or it may take a year. Every other option requires an advanced spellcraft, enchantment, or alchemy that is not available to you.
“Zoe, get me some rope.” Another trick meant to force me to consume human meat. Stupid hag, you won’t learn. Stupid me for falling into this snowy pit. I’m going to try option three before the other two…
“How can you read so fast?” Zoe asks, her voice filled with awe.
“I do a lot of reading. Zoe? A rope?”
She gasps with excitement. “Can you teach me how to read so fast? I mean Tasiya taught me how to read, but she never taught me how to read fast as you do.”
I raise an eyebrow. “Tasiya taught you how to read? When?”
She averts her gaze awkwardly. “When you let me read the book, I went to her and asked her to teach me…”
“Why didn’t you come to me? I would’ve taught you. I'm supposed to be your teacher.”
“I… it was awkward…” She blushes and observed her nails.
"If you're too shy and awkward to admit you don't know something, you'll never learn a single thing. Why would you not want me to be aware that you don’t know how to read? No shame in that, it’s up to your upbringing. I can’t teach you to read fast, it’s something you get when you spend enough time reading… wait, what stories have you talked about if you couldn’t read?”
“Stories the bards tell at the tavern,” she says with eyes full of life. “Did you know that there are interesting stories at the library, like about the history of Red Cedar City, and this sorcerer hero Tolste Glass Hand, he saved this city and…”
“Right! It’s all very interesting but I need you to get me… wait, glass hand?”
“Yeah, that’s his name, I don’t know what glass means though. It’s not mentioned in the story.”
A sorcerer who uses glass, that’s odd. Not important! “Zoe. Please get me a rope before I run out of mana.”
“Right away master.”
I get Zoe to tie me up to the chair, ask her to focus on my hands, and do my best to sink into my breathing pattern. Without the correct pose, the meditation loses some of its effectiveness, and the progress—although faster than without any souls—is much slower. It's impossible to tie up my hands and keep the meditation pose, it'll have to do. Why the hell did he have to possess my hands? I can’t cast spells now… What would've been better? My legs? He could've walked me off my own window... my heart? Head? Hands isn't so bad actually... Snakes!
*
“Zoe told me you are possessed. Is everything alright?” Kolag's worried tone wakes me up from my trance.
“I’m fine. I can’t control my hands. It should pass with time, but I’m not sure how long I’ll have to wait. It may be long… At least my broken hand will heal by then. I had Jolla tie it up tightly, just to make sure the broken bone won’t turn into any serious damage.”
He stands there, frozen in place. “Is that because you drank Luard’s soul?”
I nod. “It’d be more accurate to say it’s because I drank his soul without eating a piece of his body, apparently this is the result if…”
"I’m sorry. It’s my fault.” He sounds as if he got the confirmation he wanted.
I sigh. Of course, he wants to confirm his guilt in this… “This isn’t your fault, don’t blame yourself over this. I just need to bear with it until it passes.”
“Pha! Just eat a piece of that twisted shaman!” Balgrum enters my room, dragging mud on my carpets.
“You’re familiar with this issue?” I ask him with a frown.
He snorts. “You’re not the first shaman who hafe ghosts in their spirit! You eat more, and ghosts go away. You eat heart, and ghosts go away forever.”
“But I can’t eat, it’s another human being!” I protest. Kolag nods in agreement, fixated on the orc.
“Grah! It’s dead meat. Why you humans insist on making yourselfes weak? Tie yourself like sheep. It’s wrong!” He points at my binding with a sneer on his face.
I raise my chin. “No. Power without morals or direction is wrong. Would the clan and its power survive without a chief and a shaman? Without anyone to give it directions or tell them what to do?”
Balgrum shakes his head. “If the clan don’t hafe a chief they fight, and the strongest wolf will become the chief. Shaman we hafe to find. Until there’s shaman, the clan hafe to wait in one place. We eat our prey! No one ties themselfes up like sheep!”
I’d facepalm if I could still use my hands, he missed my point in its entirety. “I can’t do that!”
“Why not? It’s dead flesh, you put it on fire and eat. It tastes good with salt.” He smiles at me with a mouth full of sharp carnivorous teeth.
“It’s wrong!” I insist.
He shakes his head like I’ve failed some sort of test. “Then my clan leafes! We won’t hafe a weak shaman!”
“So much for your tests and your word. Didn’t you guys say that I shouldn’t let anyone tell me what to do?”
“But you don’t tell us what to do either, you’re weak! Stop me from leafing, oh powerful shaman. If you can’t efen stop me from leafing your room of stone, you can’t stop the clan from leafing.” He turns to leave, just like that.
“Rod’ena.” <Vines.> The mana flows down my legs to the floor, and vines sprout out of the stone surface, they wrap around his feet and drag him backward. He growls and struggles violently, reaching for his axe. I direct one of my vine to wrap around his wrist, but he swings before my vine reaches him, cutting off one of my vines.
“Rod’ena!” <Vines!> I duplicate it with an alteration pattern, drawing more mana from the necklace on my chest. My head pulses with pain when I grow 8 vines, wrapping them around all of his limbs. This is the first time I’ve channeled this many wood patterns.
He manages to rip two of them with sheer strength. He draws a knife from his belt.
“Hod myrsha.” <Ground pull.> The pull of gravity triples for him.
“Myrsha.” <Pull.> I pull the bone knife to me and weave a silent ‘Minor Telekinesis’ to hold it before it hits me.
My head screams at me, and the wood magic patterns nearly break. I feel the trail of blood on my upper lip. “There! I stopped you, happy now? Is this enough? Or do I have to keep you here for a day?”
He keeps on struggling. “Graah! You won’t be able to!”
“Hod myrsha.” <Ground pull.> “Latsa.” <lift.> I lift a nearby vase with a “Minor Telekinesis” and drop it above his head, letting the vase smash on his face. I keep it up, moving random objects and let them drop right on his head. He screams and struggles, then passes out when I break the seventh bit of wooden furniture on his head.
I breathe a sigh of relief and let the vines go.
“Get some of that rope and tie him up,” I order Kolag who watches the whole ordeal without moving a single muscle. I can’t see his face behind the helmet, and it looks as if he’s apathetic. But I know he probably have a shocked expression on his face.
“You’re bleeding.” Kolag wipes my nose with a handkerchief.
Maybe I overdid it… 6 vines would’ve been more than enough… “Thank you. I hate wood magic…”
“Wouldn’t his tribe hear about it? What if they attack the city and enslave all of these people? You told me that we cannot provoke the orcs.” Kolag ignores my comment and asks with a worried echo.
“Orcs respect strength. He wanted to leave because I limit my strength by not eating Luard and tying myself up. Yet, I showed him that I’m strong enough to keep him here even with my hands tied up. If he still insists on leaving after he wakes up, I’ll let him go. Now tie him up!”
“Can’t you simply overpower them the same way with the slave issue?” he asks as he ties up the orc.
I shake my head. “No, the slaves are something they treat as their livestock. No matter how much they respect strength, if I take their possessions away, most of them will turn against me. This however, is decision making. It’s about my position in the clan. I’m supposed to defend it. It’s different.”
A couple of minutes later, Balgrum is tied up on the floor, leaning back the leg of my bed. Two more tense minutes pass, and he wakes up with a grunt. His face is covered by bruises, blood trails down his lips, and his cheeks are so puffed up, that I can barely recognize him.
“Leave my room oh powerful chieftain, I dare you!” I say in the same mocking tone he used ten minutes earlier.
“Kahkahkahkahkah kah…” he bursts into a throaty laughter. “Hafen’t had a good tumble with a shaman in years! You beat me. The clan stays. I still think you should eat, but you’re not weak, efen when you’re tied up like sheep.”
“Good! Let him go, Kolag.”
My armored boyfriend hesitates. “If I want to take slaves from your clan, do I need to challenge your people to a duel?” he asks Balgrum.
Balgrum exposes his sharp teeth to Kolag in a snarl. “Grrrr you want sheep to serfe you? Or you want to cut them loose?”
“What is it to you?” Kolag’s echoing voice is cold, threatening. I have the feeling that he sees this orc as nothing but a savage to be killed. The only reason he doesn’t hack the orc with his claymore, is the fact that the orc is useful to me. Or maybe because he is Lezere's father, or the fact that the orcs will most likely go out of control if Balgrum dies.
Balgrum licks his upper lip and the blood that’s trickling out of his nose. “If you want a sheep to serve you, then you challenge a wolf for a contest of strength. The prize can’t be more than a single sheep. You have to offer something of equal value to challenge. Remember! You cannot take more than one sheep from a wolf, and no one can die in your contest of strength.”
Kolag nods and unties the muscular orc. Balgrum gets up, cracks his neck, and pats Kolag’s pauldron. “You’re a strong rhino, thick skin. Good for the wolves to test themselves against, kahakah. He turns to leave, his laugh is oddly familiar, like Lezere’s except throatier.
“You’re going to challenge them, aren’t you?” I ask Kolag.
“Someone has to do it. Noxi detests slavery. If I have to free one slave at a time, I will!” His voice echoes with determination.
At least he found himself a new goal… Maybe he'll do some good... I hope he won't make anything worse... “Good luck! And Kolag? No diplomatic incidents. If something happened with the orcs that causes them to attack, they know I’m tied up here and cannot help. So please, be careful!”
“I will!” He leaves me to my tormenting meditation.
*~*~*
Interlude 105.1
Salik
Salik finally has an accurate headcount of their remaining forces. Needless to say, his army is in shambles. Without the orc force to back it up, there’ll be no fighting force at all.
Salik sighs. You cannot count on orcs, they’re too unpredictable. Inara refuses to listen, she’s convinced she has them figured out, but Salik had seen things in his life. Orcs may speak of honor, but they only ever respect strength. Strength and those who can bring them more food and slaves.
Salik heads toward the Palace kitchen. He’ll find something to eat before dinner, and maybe a good drink.
“Here.” Zoe hands him a plate with lamb and potatoes on it before he even make his second step. “You always head for the kitchen when you’re done for the day. I’ve made this myself, tell me how it is.” The brunette flips her long hair, and brings him a flask full of alcohol. Salik can smell the ale, his favorite.
“You don’t owe me anything, Tulips. I appreciate the gesture, but…”
“Just eat.” She points at a table at the garden’s corner. “I want to know how good it is.”
Salik shrugs, he won’t turn down free food, and if it can make the girl feel better, why not? “Mmmm… it’s good.”
“Only good?”
“Delicious! I’ve never eaten such a lamb in my entire life.” Salik hopes the accidental sarcasm wasn’t apparent in his voice. Why can't women accept simple compliments?
“And I’ve never seen such a handsome tall man in my entire life.” Zoe replies flirtatiously.
Salik flinches. That comeback was horrible. The girl is young, he reminds himself. She makes mistakes. “You’re too young for me, Tulips. I’m over ninety years old. If not for my potions, I would be a wrinkly old geezer, or dead by now.” Speaking of the potions, Inara needs to make new ones for him. He should remind her, or he’ll run out of them soon.
The girl tucks her long sandy hair behind her ear. “I don’t care if you’re old or if you need potions to look how you currently do. You clearly need someone to take care of you.”
“We have enough maids in the palace and…”
“I mean a woman who loves you. You’re alone. You need a proper woman to take care of you. See this?” She points at a stain on his shirt he never noticed before. “This wouldn’t be there if you were married.”
Salik snorts, that’s not the first woman to insert herself into his life. “Yeah… I like it that way.”
Zoe folds her hands on her chest. “I don’t like it that way! A man can’t live alone. And I like you.”
Salik sighs and lift the tip of his hat to look into her eyes. “Tulips. Kid. Lass. What you’re feeling is gratitude. You believe that offering your body to me will pay some debt you think you owe me for saving your sister. There’s no debt. I’d save anyone in that position.”
The young girl looks into his eyes, why does she have to look so much like Anixa. “No. I really like you!”
Fate must be toying with him. Maybe it’s bloody Nuriss again. Will that harpy ever leave him be? Did she deal with Koshavi to set this up? Salik wouldn't put it past the bloody whore above. He shakes his head and sighs. “If you still feel this way in a year or two, come to me and we’ll talk. Until then, there’s nothing to talk about.”
The girl places her hands on her hips. “So you’re telling me you don’t bed any woman who’s younger than you? Never! Do you only go for wrinkly old ladies?”
“I was never the man to settle down with one woman. That’s why the Temple of Koshavi exists. The Zephyrs welcome any man as long as they’re getting paid. They are kind enough, and know what they’re doing,” Salik replies nonchalantly.
“But that’s not love! That’s… it’s wrong what they’re doing!”
Over the years Salik found that speaking directly and plainly gives the best results. No room for misunderstandings. Women love to speak in hints, but this one is oddly direct. Yet, this directness is false, it’s a hint. He knows she truly wants something else. “And how is what you’re doing right now is different? I’ve seen plenty of women who ask to be bedded just because they needed a hug, warmth, comfort. If you need a hug, I’ll give you one. If you want to let me into your skirt to thank me, there’s no need. Regardless, you and I have nothing in common, Tulips.”
“So you don’t think I look good enough for you? You fancy Master Inara, don’t you? I can see how you look at her!”
That’s not true. Inara isn’t his type. And Zoe… Zoe looks a lot like Anixa. If Salik had to pick, he’ll pick the girl in front of him. Salik loved that woman, but Anixa is either too old or long dead by now, and this girl is simply another person. Another person who looks so similar to his past wife. Another person that toys with his feeling, arranged by fate, or most likely: The bloody bitch of war-Nuriss. “No. You look great. You’re even my type. But you’re young, and you’re making a mistake.” Salik pushes his plate and turns to leave. He had enough. He is not here to babysit little girls.
The girl hugs him from behind, crying into his shirt. Salik sighs, he turns and hugs her. The girl clings to him, still crying as he rubs her back slowly. He pushes away his primal urges, he’ll visit the temple of Koshavi later. The girl just needs a hug after all. She lost most of her family, it’s understandable.
*~*~*
Power level: 3rd stage apprentice.
Mana pools status:
Crown-knot: Affinity 10: connected: 1 gem replenished per minute.
Neck-Bridge: Affinity 6: formed: max amount of gems drained per day: 73
Abdomen-storage: Affinity 5: formed: 11 gems. Conversion ratio: 6:1
Air: Affinity 4: formed: 22 gems
Fire: Affinity 2: formed: 11 gems
Light: Affinity 3: formed: 16/17 gems
Water: Affinity 6: formed: 33 gems
Earth: Affinity 1: formed: 5 gems
Wood: Affinity 2: formed: 11 gems
Gravity: Affinity 9: formed: 46/50 gems
Cantrip known:
Air: Shavi’s Breeze, Shavi’s Sword. Shavi’s Hair Dryer, Aria’s Enhanced Hearing. Aria’s Sonic Scream.
Fire: Nuriss’ Flame. Effrat’s Firefly, Effrat’s Fire Breath. Sorladika's Lesser Heating. Nuriss’ Ignite. Oniga's Soap Creation.
Light: Noxi’s Light. Lako’s Blinding Light. Rika’s energy hand.
Water: Water Evocation, Water to Ice, Ice to Water, Water to Vapor, Vapor to Water, Mayan’s Icy Spike, Ayla’s Water Jet. Ayla’s instant freeze. Ayla's Flowing Shield. Ayla’s Freezing Vapors.
Earth: Alice’s Oil Summoning, Reiko’s Acid Spray. Alf's Copper Bolt
Wood: Arigor’s Lesser Vines. Kolosu’s Vegetable Summoning.
Gravity: Lumina’s Kinetic Burst. Tukado’s Repulse. Tukado’s Lesser Shield II. Imari’s Minor Telekinesis. Imari’s Jump. Leo’s Pull. Leo’s Grounding. Alino’s Light Body. Alino’s Heavy Body. Alino's Orbiter.
Transmutation: Oniga's Laundry.
Spells known:
Light: Rika's Electric Channelb1
Gravity: Alino’s Weightless Bodyb1x2. Imari’s Lesser Flightb2.
Life: Brigit’s Lesser Cure Poison.
Focus capability: 17 patterns.
Social status: The Queen of Red Cedar City. Shaman of the Twin Moon Tribe. Inara, Daughter of Mysteries. Apprentice to the Maven of Mysteries. Sorceress.
Personal Wealth: 1465 Magic Gems. 1420 Golden Peas, 45 Silver Scales, 32 Copper Bits.
Personal Items:
Magical necklace. Contains 100 gems of general mana, can be drained like a mana pool. It’ll recharge by itself at the rate of five gems an hour.
1 potion of lightning body.
1 potion of mana, medium grade.
5 potions of Lesser Healing.
5 potions of Pain Tolerance.
An enchanted belt with eight pouches, the enchantment keeps the pouches’ content fresh. Each pouch may contain 10g of petals or six potion flasks.
Fresh rose petals, 6g
Fresh lavender petals, 10g
King Luard's fresh heart.
10 empty soul bottles. Glass with a diamond stopper, put in scaled leather wrapping.
The Great White Egret grimoire. Dedicated by the Maven of mysteries to Inara. 27/100
Present Companions:
Salik
Kolag of House Befar
Sharlafyn Nettledew
Jerro
Berthold
Loyal
Ryon
Zoe
Languages:
Toml’a <People’s tongue> Fluent
Sinteo <Speech> Fluent
Myrsha <Gravity> 8/10
Felul <Wind> 1/10
A'arkalu 1/10 <wolf tongue>
Injuries and scars: Melted skin; face, upper chest, chain scar. Left wrist broken. Broken ribs.
Curses: Possessed by Luard's soul shard.
-
Kingdom’s treasury: 923 gold coins. 136 diamonds. 200 magical gems.
Kingdom’s citizen: 3,877 humans, 1,840 human children. Twin Moon Tribe: 1,157 orcs. 294 orc children. 532 sheep-slaves.
Kingdom's army: 1,1157 Orc Warriors. 347 Footmen. 12 Peacekeeper Knights.
Notables at Court:
Tasiya Keyholder.
Jolla SilverQuill.
Talbot Bookkeeper.
Marasi Chef extraordinaire (spymaster.)
Old Gardner Tiom.
Balgrum Orc Chieftain.
