We were both on the quest of immortality when we first met, and we had finally come up with a different plan that might be the final piece that may be needed for it to finally work. When I say 'different', I do literally mean it because it wouldn't be the first time that Immortality was sort after and in a way that was different from the time before. We had to put into account all the other times that people had tried to obtain it and had written what they had done down, or seen, or heard of and decide upon how we would confront the quest ourselves, making sure that we don't die trying or give up because it was not 'real'. No, it was real, it was seen everywhere whether people wanted to see or not, we just had to piece it all together!

Alma had done most of the work, considering that he had already lived a long life before meeting me, but the shamans had a piece that he had not seen yet...Reincarnation...

Immortality is not just immortality...

It is a soul being able to survive, a brain being able to hold many many memories and many many thoughts...There's regeneration, so that the body doesn't die, there's disease immunities, as well as magic to put it all together...

'If one wanted to find how immortality is achieved, one needs to find and attach all the pieces.'

This very old line was indeed its own answer...Which meant that 'all the pieces' meant a part of everything! A shaman's power to reincarnate was just one of the pieces...That's all there was to it...

But before that, Alma had already gotten a few pieces of the puzzle towards immortality.

***

Alma's first quest was surviving through his own demise. Demon's aren't like human's or shaman's, so I had not understood and perhaps still don't...It had something to do with his half humanoid mother, I believe. Perhaps he was naughty and went against his father?

Anyway, he was going to be destroyed and for him to survive, he clung onto whomever was to reap his soul.

The reaper were supposed to be immune to the demonic trait of soul possession, but Alma's persistence and hidden abilities had won over. Alma had not taken full possession of the body, having attached his soul to the other soul, he learnt the spirit or angel's routine and normal behavioural aspects and only completely devoured their soul when he was sure to not be found out.

The problem with all this process was that it took a long time and Alma had problems because of it.

Not only because he was a demon, now in a spirit or angelic 'body', making things already terribly hard for him to endure because of constant pain to his hot demonic soul, but also that of his mind forgetting of who he was.

Then, the biggest problem, was that his soul was dying. His soul was dying because the body did not hold it well, as his demonic, hot form was burning the body's flesh away, giving Alma even more pain to suffer through...

Knowing upon this problem and having some good times where he's able to think and do something about it, Alma finally came back to the planet's surface and saw himself that there are things that can be healed.

Of course, while he's looking for what he thinks as a 'cure' to stop the body from dying and stop from putting his soul in the gutter that will not last on its own, there were other problems too!

Alma was not a strong person when it came to fighting. It wasn't like he knew how to use magic at this time, nor was cultivation something he had done before either. The only thing that he had for him was the fact that he was a demonic soul. Upon having no choice but to fight off some 'angelic' or 'spiritual' order, to obviously make him return what he had taken but also have his soul reaped, they did not hesitate and attacked Alma.

With his demonic part of himself, that he hated, to win these fights, he fought with everything he had, even with the body that he had possessed to his advantage. And, the purity of the angels just can't withstand a demonic soul that was able to use an angelic body...It was a paradox...And so, Alma had won out...

With the fights practically making Alma have no choice but to quickly transfer his soul, or to heal, Alma tried to quickly find something to help himself!

He had tried two things before finally coming into direct contact with the regeneration cells that were within a creature, what Alma called a lizard.

Not wanting to become part of the animal in particular, just wanting to learn how the cells worked, Alma still ended up moving his soul to the lizard body.

Learning how to create and use the cells within the lizard ended up also helping Alma regain some of his memory back and also able to endure pain a lot better.

Due to his demonic soul, the lizard did indeed start to perish, and at a faster pace than that of the angelic 'body' that he had prior, but it came in handy as it helped Alma learn to regenerate a lot faster and so...When regeneration became something that could be done without even thinking, which was when his fourth lizard didn't die due to his demonic soul, Alma was ready to move on and find something that will help regain the rest of his memory.

He'd forgotten why, or what he was doing.

All this time, everything he'd done was to survive, it was to live but...There was some undeniable and strange feeling going through him that made him think that there was something important that he had forgotten.

And...Coincidence or not, he'd already taken steps towards that goal...