I lay on my bed looking at the large soul marble from the raccoon, it was a glittery full silver colour. 

The black whirlpool from the raccoon had been largest that I had seen yet, and had taken all of my reserves to zap into crystalline particles.  

- Damn critter has driven me into two corners now. Once into the "do or die" battle, and second because I'm out of power again. 

 "And who ever heard of a big orange raccoon!"- Me 

I got up and walked back out into the square, and stood rubbing my nose while looking at the rubble from the damaged building. 

- It hasn't changed yet. I wonder if it will repair over time, or the damage will reflect back to the live world. Either way this might be the source of material that I need to craft a wand, or staff to hold my firing marble. Maybe I should look for a capital or a large church that might have a Septer on display long enough to reflect here. 

 "Having something like that would be like honey!"- Me 

 I picked up a broken chair leg and swung it around, turned and walked through the gate and over the bridge. I paused, looking up the gravel road. 

- This didn't go so well last time. It can't be all giant hunger ravaged animals and sinister does. 

I started back up the road towards the ridge. A noise from the right caused me to dodge to the left and swing the chair leg frantically. A bird flew past. I quickly stood back up from where I had landed after tripping when I swung. 

- Yep, getting closer to that combat master goal. 

I continued walking. Just before the ridge, a shape lunged out of the field. I swung like one of the knights from the faire, frantically trying to make sure my improvised club didn’t go sailing off into the field beyond. I hit the side of a lunging goblins head with an oddly hollow sounding thud. 

"I really hit something?"- Me 

I looked down to where the goblin had collapsed in a heap. 

"I really hit something!"- Me 

The now malformed goblin started to de-rezz. 

I didn't have the power to spare to deal with the larger black whirlpool that goblins always seemed to manifest, so I just watched and waited to collect the small marble that was left. 

- Shoot, I should have checked to see if the violet lightening from the ground flow had any different effect on the de-rezz. I probably had enough power to spare. 

I stopped my hand from reaching my nose.  

“No getting lost thinking out here!"- Me 

I continued on, and walked off the gravel road when I got to the ridge. Small phantom plants started at its base, gradually getting thicker and bigger as you got higher till finally the tree line started. 

-  Guess when they logged the trees back, the smaller plants were left behind, and it seems they are still part of the phantom forest. 

I searched around till I found a very small grass stalk pointed at the perfect angle. 

- Let's try this a bit differently this time. 

I slammed my hand down on to the point of the phantom grass, piercing the skin of my hand. 

"Ouch! that hurts!" 

- Now let's see if we can open this lock while it's inside my hand. 

This time I chained together magicicles in thin flat plane, like a blade and tried to cut off the top of the blade in my hand. It just bounced and shattered. 

- Of course, it wouldn't be that easy. Let's try something like a saw blade. 

I tried a circular saw, then reciprocating, and finally vibrating at different frequencies. 

- I can't stay like this for much longer without pushing my luck. I might have to pull this out and zap it open. 

"I need sharper blade."- Me 

- Diamond coated blade, no. Diamond tipped drill bit! 

I started linking magicicles in a collapse pattern, but this time I locked an outer pivot point to a second collapse pattern, then a third, fourth, and continued till I had a huge wide frame cylindrical shape. I had also put a "X" shaped tip at one end. With all the practice from the mill I could build two or three structures at a time now making my build times surprisingly fast. 

- I wonder if the pivot points will interfere with each other when they get down to size? This should be interesting. 

I smiled as I started to push the outside of the cylinder towards its axis. When the pressure started to ramp up, I slowly increased the strength, and when I couldn't get it to budge, I gave it a huge heavy spin. The collapse continued down, dragging all the free magicicles in the area with it. 

 "Yes!"- Me 

 I almost ripped my hand off the blade as I stopped myself from fisting the air. A small needle shaped crystal core rotated rapidly in my hand. 

- Now to see if this works. 

I tried to move it towards the blade, with decidedly mixed results. It was extremely awkward, as the crystal needle really didn't want to move, and its rotation made it hard to keep a ‘grip’ on it. 

- I'm going to have to come up with a way of moving it easier. A handle? Maybe a chained frame work? 

I managed to get the pointed end against the blades surface, and pressed it down. It went into the grass blade smooth with hardly any resistance. Magicicles started to leak around the edges, some began rotating around the crystal needle. I pulled the crystal drill bit back out and away from the resulting small stream.  

- The hole 's not that big, and it looks like it's already crystalizing along the edges. A bigger drill bit, or may be a hollow needle? 

I drilled another hole as the first slowly "healed" over like tiny a crystalline dot. 

- Well, this way I can control the size of the flow. I might be able to use larger phantom plants with their higher pressures. 

I kept an eye out as I slowly filled up. 

 "This is way sneakier"- Me 

 ….. 

On the return to the village, I searched the field edges while I kept my eye open for any more encounters. I found several small grey marbles. I also zapped two more goblins and a glossy black, dog sized, hedgehog. I also zapped their de-rezz with customary glee. 

I sighed in relief as I crossed the bridge, which turned out to be pre mature. As I walked through the gate, I stopped abruptly at the sight of a young man wearing a similarly surprised look to the one I wore. Both of us just stood staring for a bit. 

"Hey kid. Do you know what's going on here?" - Young man 

- Good thing the language is the same from my last life. 

"Sort of. And who you calling a kid? You're not any older than me!" - Me 

The young man pointed at me. 

"I'm calling you a kid! Show some respect for your elders, you brat."- Young man 

I pointed back at him. 

"First, go find a mirror. Second, you should know enough to be polite when you're asking for something"- Me 

His face clouded in anger as he barked back. 

"Damn brat! If I was younger, I show you what happened when snots talked back to soldiers!"- Young man 

I rolled my eyes at the now young idiot. 

"Ok. When you finally get a clue, I'll be in my room"- Me 

I turned and headed over to the rich house that I had claimed. 

"Hey. Hey! I was talking to you!"- Young idiot 

Ignoring the fool, I reached the door and opened it. 

"You can't go in there! That's Lord's house!"- Young idiot 

"I can, I have, and I will!"- Me 

I didn't bother to look back as I slammed the door closed. I could hear him yelling something as I walked up the grand stair case to my room. 

…. 

I got all but the black hedgehog of my new marbles processed when I heard pounding on the house door. I went to the front room that opened out onto the square, and leaned out the window. 

"What!"- Me 

The young idiot looked up at me, opening his mouth to yell something, paused, then continued in an even tone. 

"Uh, could you explain what is happening here?"- Young idiot 

He waved his arms around in a 'everything here' gesture. I looked down for moment, then sighed. 

"Ok. Wait there and I'll open the door"- Me 

- I guess I really should be polite to the first person I have meet here. 

I walked down the stairs case and opened the front door. The young idiot was standing there looking trepidatious. 

"We should talk inside, that way we won't get interrupted"- Me 

"You sure, the Lord won't mind, will he?" - Young idiot 

He looked in-side, then around the square to see if anyone was watching. 

“No.”- Me 

- Given the circumstances even the Lord that owns the living side of this house would probably have other things on his mind if he knew. 

I moved out of the door and beckoned the young idiot into the empty front hall, closed the door behind him, and lead him into the sitting room. 

“This is one of the few rooms that has anything to sit on.” - me 

I pointed to the fancy antique couch as I sat down in the equally impressive chair across from it. The only other furniture in the room was the cabinet against one wall that displayed a collection of thoroughly unless China. I watched as he stood, obviously very uncomfortable, he then carefully sat down on the couch. I just watched, remained impassive, and waited him out. A tactic the had worked well in negotiations during my second life. It didn't take long. 

 "Well, I'd like to apologize for offending you earlier, my lord. You being important enough to be staying in the Lord's house and all." - Young idiot 

 He fidgeted as he talked, then stopped with a scared look when the couch made a creaking noise. 

 "It's that I'm very confused now. There's no one else, but you, my lord. No food, no alcohol, and everything is gone from my son's house. I've been living there with his family since I can't work anymore, and now I don't even look like me anymore!" - Young idiot 

He grew agitated again, shifting around till the couch creaked again. 

"It's like everyone took everything and left me to die here! What's happening!" - young idiot 

 He was now looking at me with fear and confusion in his eyes. 

"Well, your right about everything except one thing. No one else left. You did" - me 

"But that ..." - young idiot 

I put my hand up and interrupted his outburst. He stopped with his mouth open. 

- Hah! Got yah! 

I kept the smile from my face at his unconscious submission. 

“First you can call me Volt, not my lord. I am not, nor likely to be, your lord. Sir is fine.”- Me 

- And you probably won't notice that I'm leaving you to make assumptions about my status. 

"Second, I will both explain, and show you, what I know about this place. I ask you to control yourself while I do so. Do you understand?"- me 

He nodded, seeming to respond to my commanding tone. His sat straighter, and the panic receded from his eyes. 

"Good."- me 

I paused as if to make sure he was going to follow orders, then continued. 

"Then you should probably tell me your name before we start." -me 

"Ahh, yes sir. My name is Kol, but they called me Sooty as I was a charcoal man before I joined the Lord's Auxilium." - Sooty 

 Since your young again, Sooty seems appropriate"- Me 

- And that answering grin means that your proud of that nickname. 

"Follow me"-me 

I got and walked up the stairs and into a different bedroom than I normally used. Aside from the woodwork and fixtures there was only a full-length ornate wood framed mirror mounted on one wall. 

"Look into the mirror."- Me 

I indicated that he should stand facing the mirror. 

"What do you see?" -me 

"That's me, just like I was when I was young!”- Sooty 

"Not just like, you at now exactly like you were. But that is not what I wanted to show you. Look beyond your image and tell me what you see."- Me 

Sooty paused thinking before talking. 

"You and the room, sir"- Sooty 

"Yes, but only a reflection of this room. The place we are in now is like the mirror, it is a reflection of the live world. You died an old man on the other side of the glass and are now reflected here. I'm not sure how you got here, but I do know that both of us died and awoke here. Reflected as are younger selves." - Me 

I paused to see how well my mirror analogy was sinking in. He seemed to be focused on his image, and somewhat disassociated. 

- It seems like that quack doc I spent so much money on was right about how we mentally step away from our selves while looking in a mirror. 

"But the priests said that we would go to the god's houses when we died"- Sooty 

I slapped my hand down on his shoulder to jolt him back into himself, emphasising what I said next. 

"I don't know if they lied. I do know that you, me, and crap lot of hungry monsters ended up here. It's up to us to find out if we got lucky, or the gods decided to screw with us.”- Me 

I patted his shoulder lighter this time, like a companion would. 

"It's not all doom and gloom. You don't need to sleep, you don't get tired, it takes a while to get hungry, and most of the monsters can't use magic."- Me 

I smiled and walked out of the room. I was half way down the hall before I heard Sooty speak up again. 

 "What do you mean by most of them?"- Sooty 

….. 

We stood at the edge of the bridge looking over the fields. The usual show of birds and other small creatures moving amongst the grain was playing out. 

 "As you can see there is a lot happening out there. Most of these are small creatures, like birds and rabbits. Not much of a threat to us. But there is a lot more hiding in the fields, I've been attacked every time I have gone out. Goblins, dog sized hedgehogs, magic casting serpent men, and giant animals."- Me 

I pointed back at the rubble just visible inside the gates. 

"That was caused by a very unhappy giant raccoon. Thankfully the orange bastard was pretty slow and I out ran it."- Me 

I turned back to the field, and gestured up the gravel road. 

"The main road leads past the ridge and to the phantom forest. Never go into the forest! The giant monsters that appear here are small fries compared to what appears there.”- Me 

I looked at Sooty to see how he was handling everything. 

- I think he is just listening, but isn't really thinking about it yet. I think it's time for a demonstration. 

I passed him the second big sized chunk of wooden rubble that I had grabbed as we passed the damaged building. 

"Here. You are going to need this to demonstrate what you learned in the Auxilium shortly."- Me 

He took the impoverished club with a questioning look. 

"Ahh, yes sir."- Sooty 

I drummed my chair leg against the wooden lamp post at end of the bridge. The sound was loud enough to reach a long way into the fields. 

"Now we see what we attract with our fishing expedition." - Me 

Sooty looked at me confused. 

"Fishing? But we would need ..."- Sooty 

His comment was cut off by the grunting snarl of a monster. A boar with silvery fangs and metallic tinted bristles rounded the corner at the next intersection up the gravel road. 

"That's an armoured boar!" - Sooty 

The boar turned its head out way at Sooty's exclamation, lowered its shoulders, and charged in our direction. 

"Oh, slime guts!" - Me 

- The one time I wanted a goblin! 

"Run! Back to the gate!" - Me 

I turned and sprinted towards the square. I could hear Sooty's steps pounding on the bridge behind me. 

- Do we have enough time to close the gate? Or am I going to have to use magic? I don't know how that will go over? 

"Grab the other gate!" - Me 

I ran to gate door on the left and pushed hard to get it moving. 

- @#$%! I should have closed this heavy damn gate a long time ago. Idiot. 

As I heaved against the door, I could see the boar dashing down the road at as. 

"This is going to close!" - Me 

Sooty seemed to be having an easier time moving the gate. Even starting later than me, he had closed his leaf and was waiting with the locking bar by the time I got mine closed. 

The sound of the locking bar slamming home was accompanied by the sound of the boar's hooves on the bridge. Frantic skittering sounds were abruptly ended with a massive thud as the gate heaved. A cloud of grey dust leaped from the gate and slowly began to settle. 

"Thank the gods that was only a young armoured boar, an adult would have gone right through this gate!" - Sooty 

I shuddered as I pictured what that would have looked like. The gate shuddered again as the boar hammered against it, sending a new cloud of grey dust flying. 

"No offence sir, but I don't like your style of fishing"- Sooty 

My laugh was cut off when the gate shuddered again. 

"I think we should find a smaller fish, and let this guy cool off." 

 ..... 

We walked to the village edge opposite to the river. There were a lot of winnowing houses and long covered open air paved galleries. Most of them had stations with tables beside large, wooden slated combs standing up from the ground. I stood staring at one of them. 

"That's a Staven comb, it makes threshing a lot easier. I heard that I came from one of the Southern kingdoms."- Sooty 

- @#$%ing hypocrites. If I ever get back there!  

"I've seen one before."- Me 

I walked past the threshing sheds and into a large open dirt lot. The road continued past that, out into the fields. 

"Since we didn't come across anything in the village so we'll have to see what we get from the fields."- Me 

We stood waiting for a while, before Sooty spoke up. 

"What are we waiting for?"- Sooty 

"You know we're already dead. Now you need to see what happens when we take enough damage and go back to living."- Me 

Sooty looked at me with an odd look. 

“And here is exactly what we need for our demonstration.”- Me 

 A goblin had chased a quail, or maybe a chicken, out into the open yard. 

“Hey, ugly!"- Me 

My yell distracted he goblin long enough for the feathered streak to dodge out of sight back into the field. The goblin whipped its head around, shrieking in frustration, and locked his eyes on to me. 

"Oh yuck, I don't think even your mother could love that face!"- Me 

I taunted it in the same tone that I would use on clingy women from my second life. It had the same effect on both. The goblin screamed in fury and charged directly at me. I crouched with my club behind me ready to swing. 

"Stupid butt head!" - Me 

- Got to time this right, I'll step to the left and slam its head as it goes by! 

I watched the goblin's crazed eyes as it ran towards me. 

"Just about...."- Me 

A club swung from the right and slammed into the bridge of the goblins nose with a loud hollow thud. The goblin did an impossible acrobatic flip in the air, as I staggered back in surprise. 

Sooty stood over the Goblin and brought his club hammering down on the prone goblins head. He looked at me. 

"You're not very good at this are you?"- Sooty 

I frowned back at him. 

"As I've become all too aware of lately." - Me 

I paused as I straightened up. 

"I suggest you take a step back."- Me 

I pointed at the goblin's body that was shedding grey dust. 

He looked down then stepped back. I grabbed his shoulder and pulled him back even further. 

"You'll want to be back further. Goblins tend to be pretty nasty when they de-rezz"- Me 

"De what?"- Sooty 

He gasped as the tiny sun rose and a lot of black gas started to seep out of the corpse. 

"That's miasma!"- Sooty 

He took another step back and raised his club in defence. 

 Run before in infects us!" - Sooty 

I grabbed his arm as he started to turn. 

"Calm down, we're safe at this distance. Just keep watching." 

He looked at me like I was mad then looked back at the de-rezzing body. The black gas was coalescing into the black whirlpool. We stood and watched the rest of the process. As the small sun did it’s fade up trick Sooty spoke. 

"Was that divine light?" - Sooty 

I nodded. 

"I think so, but it's not entirely over yet. If you look closer, you'll see small amount of the silver stuff was left by the black pool, and is coalescing in the grey dust. I wouldn't touch it till it's done."- Me 

I squatted down to point out grey dust covered mercury like drops moving closer towards each other.  

"I think that the grey dust is the remains of our memories, and the silver is our experience, or power. You've already guessed at what the gold light and the black whirlpool are."  

I rubbed the bridge of my nose as I ran my other hand over the coalescing mercury to demonstrate its reaction to our presence. 

"We can absorb the silver, in fact I think that it's what we eat while we are here. The problem comes from the grey dust it's mixed in with it. If you absorb the silver now it will carry all of those grey dust memories with it. I for one don't have any interest in living any of a goblin's life."- Me 

I waved my hand in a brushing gesture. 

"If I haven't said it, you will get hungry eventually, and this is the only thing I have found that we can eat. It has to be processed first though."- Me 

- I have to look at the grey dust more. See if there are any differences in the grains. What could I use as a microscope? I think they used giant round water filled glass globes in place of magnifying glasses in ancient times. 

I stayed watching the silver coalesce in to a dull grey small marble. I picked I up when it was done and stood up to show Sooty. He was staring at me with a quizzical look on his face. 

"What?" - Me 

"Are you a mage?" - Sooty 

I held out the small marble to show him its grey state. 

"Why do you say that? - Me 

"In the Auxilium we had one. He talked like you." - Sooty 

I sighed, then held up the marble between my fingers, and processed the marble. The dull grey colour started to fade, slowly to be replaced by a glassy clear colour. 

"Here, when you get hungry eat this."- Me 

I lightly tossed the marble to Sooty, who caught it reflexively. 

- This way I don't give you the opportunity to refuse. 

"No. I'm not a Mage, but I can do some magic."- Me 

Sooty looked at me for a minute or so then spoke. 

"You say that you are not a lord, and the way you fight, you are clearly not a knight, but you are used to command. You're also clearly comfortable in one of the Lord's houses, where no commoner would enter freely, and you're obviously educated. I don't know who you are, but I do know you were born higher than me, and you have a better idea about what's going on."- Sooty 

He paused looking at the marble, then put it in his belt pouch. 

"So, if you don't mind sir. I'll stick with you." - Sooty 

He put out his hand to shake. I took it. 

.... 

I sat at my desk processing the marbles that Sooty and I had collected in the open yard. There were quite a few. 

We had been attacked over a dozen times as I had filled him in on everything else he needed to know. I didn't tell him anything about my past, or how I learned magic. 

Sooty did most of the work, quickly demonstrating his competence in combat. Goblin, wolves, and unusually large animals were all beaten with apparent ease. I spent my time talking, or zapping the black whirlpools spawned by miasma.  

I only had to fight when a horse sized, amber scaled, rat broke out of the field. I didn't let it get close before I locked a leader into its back and sent a brilliant blue arc snapping across the yard. A second, longer lasting arc from a closer range sent it into de-rezz. 

Sooty blinked, had opened his mouth to say something, then stopped. I shrugged my shoulders and zapped the rat's de-rezz, including encouraging the sun to leave early. 

We had returned to the village square after that. 

Sooty said that he was going to poke around a bit, maybe find his own bed. I figured that he needed some time to think about everything that happened. 

I picked up the now crystalline clear, gold flecked, large sized soul marble left by the rat. 

 "That was a big rat. Bigger than that six-legged cat"- Me 

- And now you're going to replace my lost electric conduit marble ... Ah, what should I call you? 

 "Zapper? Tazzer? Can't use Volt now. Edison? No that should be light based. "- Me 

- I'll figure out a name later. I’ll form the gold needle first.  

There was a large pool of slowly churning magicicles under the yard we 're we had fought earlier, but I had been reluctant to use it till I had a new gold needled marble to channel it through. 

- Maybe I can build something like the Mill under the yard, make it easier to access in the future, seems like a safer spot to hunt than going across the river. 

I brought my hand down from my nose and started pushing gold flecks together.