Chapter 3 – “Spirit Body”

With an elegant swish of her arm, space next to Kai suddenly distorted. In that place, something that his mind could finally grasp, other than the translucent woman herself, appeared. It was a humanoid shape, sharing the same translucent hue of the woman next to it. It had no discerning features, just being the outline of a human shape in form.

Lining the limbs and various spots of the body, short lines connected to radiant dots, like constellations, could be seen. It created an intricate picture of complex beauty that captivated Kai's gaze and marveled his mind to no end.

"This is a spirit body, fundamentally the framework of a being and its soul." She explained. "The lattice of intertwining lines you see are the meridians, pathways, and so on."

"The framework?" Kai asked, still a bit stunned by this spirit body's appearance. "Is this what will allow me to cultivate?"

"Not exactly. There are generally two roads down the path of cultivation. Body and Soul. You already meet the prerequisite of body cultivation as you already have a physical manifestation, your body. But a spiritual manifestation, a soul, is something that you do not possess."

"This spirit body you see here," She continued seeing that Kai was listening intently. "Will allow you to also embark on the road of soul cultivation, but that is not the main reason as for why I'm giving it to you. In the world I'm sending you to, everything has what you would consider a soul, an essence of its own being. Be it a rock, or a beast, everything has at least some semblance of it." She said floating around him, putting her soft hands on his shoulders.

"But the world where you come from is utterly devoid of souls and spiritual energies. Meaning that you also are without soul." She whispered into his ear.

"So you will be giving me a soul?" Kai interjected curiously. It wasn't the first time he was called soulless by another woman, but it stirred his curiosity as to what it entailed.

"No. As I said before, a spirit body is merely the framework of a soul, not being the soul itself. You could see it as the body and the brain, whereas the spiritual side of a living being has a spirit body and a soul working very much alike their physical counterparts."

"Without at least a spirit body," She continued. "You would not be able to exist within the world I'm sending you. Your existence would be like a vacuum, but this one on a spiritual plane. If one such thing happened to appear in that place, your entire being would be entirely annihilated as the world would seek to fill the void as if it was a black hole."

"That... doesn't sound all too pleasant. But also makes an odd amount of sense." He conceded with a frown. "But then, why don't you just give me a soul? I mean, if you can do all that I've seen you do up until now, wouldn't it be within your skillset to simply give me one?"

"I could grant you a new soul," She explained, moving away from his side to directly in front of him, arms crossed under his wonderful bosom. "but that would fundamentally change who you are. You would not be the same person after, like a newborn baby in an adult's body, conflicting with your sense of self, and I doubt you would want that. Simply birthing a new life from scratch would yield the same result, if not better. Although you would be at some severe disadvantages cultivating on the road of the soul without one, this isn't an option if you want to stay yourself."

"But, "She continued "Without a soul, you would not be able to enter the cycle of reincarnation, which all souls enter upon their physical demise; to be reborn anew as whatever entity the river of souls deem you worthy." She droned out, her tone of voice definitely indicating she was strictly disapproving of giving Kai a new soul.

She stopped her explanation and scrunched her eyes as she stared Kai down.

"Do you wish to be granted a soul?" She asked with a chilling glint in her azure eyes.

"The cycle of reincarnation is something I had never had in the first place, so I won't be missing it. And, I will not change who I am just because it will mean more hardships thrown at me." Kai responded, truthful in his words but also unwilling to find out what she would do if he actually chose to accept a new soul.

"Wise choice." She agreed with obviously fake amenability. "As for your second boon, you will get it when you arrive in the world. The only thing I can say is that it will help you interact with the world around you, suited to a medium that you should be familiar with." She paused and smiled. "With the third and final boon, you simply have to take the first step if you truly decide to embark on the path of cultivation."

"Okay..." He nodded, trying to speculate what this woman might've cooked up for him. "What's next?"

"I send you off." She answered, her already translucent body turning even more opaque than it already was. "Farewell, my sweet Kai. Don't die too soon now, it would leave me rather ∼ disappointed." She said in a sing-song voice, the chime of her tone tickling Kai's senses.

"I never got your name!" He shouted into the aether, realizing that she was already leaving. But her sudden disappearance act didn't halt, and she only chuckled, a devious glint in her eyes.

"You'll have to find that out on your own if you truly want to know. But I warn you, it definitely won't be easy, my sweet little Kai." She said, a teasing smile tugging at her lips.

Now floating in the aether, the only thing registering in his mind was the spirit body in front of him. He felt rather uncomfortable and apprehensive, the sudden isolation and having his senses blinded was unnerving, to say the least.

But before Kai could think further, the featureless spirit body started moving, the constellations glinting radiantly in his eyes. It approached Kai, forming a shimmering haze between the two of them. As the spirit body was sucked unhindered into his body like it has always been meant for him, he felt a type of wholeness that he hadn't felt ever before.

Reveling in the comforting sensation, as if he had just taken on a warm coat on a cold winter day, he barely noticed the slight changes in his surroundings. The aether all around that failed to register in his mind and caused an odd sense of vertigo whenever he focused too hard, slowly turned into a kaleidoscope of warping colors, constantly shifting between shapes and accents. It didn't feel like he was moving, but he knew that he was.

There was only one thing on Kai's mind before a sudden and all-encompassing darkness claimed its entirety yet again.

I seriously hope that I hadn't just allowed myself to fall into the clutches of some celestial being... I had it tough dancing around in the palm of crime lords, but I must say - this is quite the step-up...

***

 

Standing in the void of a plane ascending even the aether itself, an azure-blue woman appeared, coalescing from the mystical energies of this plane.

"Are you sure it would be wise to unleash this one onto that small and curious world?" She called out into the void.

"What's wrong, have you begun to lose faith in me?" A disembodied voice suddenly sounded out, its tone thick with mirth; obviously male. Like the woman, energy started coalescing in the higher plane, however, unlike her, it didn't adopt any discernable form or shape and remained as a dancing fog of golden-black shadows.

"Stop it. That one was special..." She said annoyed at his disregard of her worry. The usually insufferable joviality of this man always got under her skin.

"Aren't they all? I mean, we picked them for a reason." The fog of golden black shadows said.

"Yeah, but this one... is dangerous. His hunger for power. It was beyond most I've seen from others before."

"So that was why you decided to appear before him instead of just sending him on his merry way with our oh-so gracious boons?" He asked, curiosity clear in his tone.

This drew a snort from the azure woman. "What 'gracious' boons are you talking about? We can barely send off any of our seeds with any worthwhile gifts. Unlike the Ancients or the Celestials with their thrice damned Soul Forges, we can only give the bare necessities for the transfer of a seed." She said exasperatedly.

"Oh, come on now my sweet little primeval princess, when has being at a disadvantage compared to others ever stopped us?" The fog of golden-black shadows said, the teasing obvious with his tone alone, golden-black fog or not.

"Gah! Didn't I tell you to stop calling me that accursed title?!" The azure-blue woman yelled out, her eyes turned into daggers as she seemingly shot holes in the fog.

"Ah-argh, okay - okay." The fog said, attempting to evade her gaze. "I'm sorry, I will stop." 

After letting the hot-headed woman calm down, the mist of energies spoke up again. "So why was it exactly that he intrigued you so much?"

"Humph!" She glared at the fog, but eventually let up her haughty displeasure. "He managed to peer through my words. He knew I wasn't telling him everything."

"Oh? He could?" The fog swirled, curiousness now saturating his smokey-smooth voice. "How interesting... Well, you have always been a bad liar."

"Ah - shut it. Anyways... but he's just a mortal, not even attuned to the plane of spirits!" She exclaimed exasperatedly." Utterly without a soul, and he still saw straight through me."

Pausing for a long silent moment, they just stared off into the void.

"He will either die within the first day or he will end up laying ruin to that small world." The fog said, and she nodded to his word, her expression hopeful but also serious.

 

***

 

The stinging pain of a hard object digging into his back awakened the bleary Kai from his deep slumber.

"Urgh, Christ." He groaned out loud. "What the hell?"

Confusion and a deep soreness racked his body, making him scramble to figure out what the hell had happened. But with the slight headache accompanying the haze clouding his groggy mind, made it quite hard to piece things together.

Sitting up and dislodging the apparent stone that was causing such discomfort, he had to hold his head steady as the headache flared from the movement.

"Was I out drinking yesterday?" He wondered groggily. "Shit, I can't remember."

Cracking open an eye, he was not met with the sight of some random girl's bedroom nor his own as he usually did one of either, but a sight wholly alien to him. Something that caused a slight pang of déjà vu that went quickly forgotten.

Before Kai was the dense undergrowth of a swamp, lush with green vegetation. The air was humid, sticking to his skin, and a variety of bugs could be seen flittering through the air and scurrying across the muddy ground.

 

 

The whole scene was captivating to the eyes, and as the dam that was the haze clouding his mind broke memories started coming back like a flood.

The sudden death of Callum, Kai's impromptu meeting with an extraterrestrial being, and the promise of what he had sought for all his life, all suddenly wracked his head with a deluge of emotions, unsure if he should be feeling sadness for the loss of his friend or excitement for the prospects of finally having the opportunity for a life worth living.

Kai just sat there, staring out into the green and lush swamp, allowing himself a silent moment to mourn the death of his friend that had saved him when he was at his worst.

But he didn't linger. Kai would never forget what he did for him, and he realized that this was the fate of Callum, and if Kai wished to change that, then Kai could only blame himself for not being strong enough to do so.

Getting to his wobbly feet, Kai steadied himself by using a soft moss-covered wall of the alcove he stood in to make sure he didn't fall over. He wanted to scout out his location, with being in an alien world and all, but the moment he got everything in order, an opaque screen of gold and black translucent shadows suddenly appeared before his eyes.

 

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"What the...?!"