Chapter 4

 

Jiom was an average serf. He would wake up, manage the fields, eat, then sleep.

 

One day, an injured man in a green robe stumbled into his field. He had a big cut on his left leg. Jiom hurriedly went to help him. 

 

Strangely, there was no pool or trail of blood. He brought the stranger to his hovel. He boiled a clean rag in some salty water and, when it cooled a bit, washed the area the stranger was bleeding from. Jiom then proceeded to tear a bit of the stranger’s robe into a strip, and then tightly wrapped it around his wound. 

 

When he was young, Jiom’s mother told him that to clean a wound is important when injured. Miasma would float in and infect you if you didn’t. She told him the proper step.

 

One, boil a pot of water for 6 minutes after adding and mixing in six pinches of salt. 

 

Two, find a clean cloth and allow it to boil in the pot for 3 minutes.

 

Three, remove the rag and let it cool until you can touch it without harm. 

 

Four, clean the wound with the new rag to remove any miasma that might have entered the wound. 

 

Five, tightly wrap the wound so miasma doesn’t enter.

 

Jiom repeated this 4 times every day until the stranger woke up. The stranger, in his gratitude, taught Jiom to call on the elements to cast magic. Jiom practiced day and night, and his teacher watched. After two years, Jiom’s hovel was attacked. 

 

16 armored knights surrounded it, while 5 rushed in. Jiom watched in terror as his teacher and his foe fought. 4 knights died before his teacher did. Jiom was angry. He remembered how his teacher mentioned spirits and beings from different planes, and how they help wizards for an exchange.

 

‘Spirits of this World, please help me avenge my teacher! I sacrifice my body as payment!’ 

 

….

 

….

 

….

 

Bloody, I am Bloody, not Jiom, Bloody.

 

I had absorbed the soul weaver, or should I say, Jiom? He was an old wizard, who managed to control the spirits. He was possessed for 6 years following his teacher's death, before he learned how to manipulate souls and spirits. 

 

First, he would inject the soul or spirit with a mix of his mana and the wood element. 

 

Second, he would turn the spirit or soul into string by manipulating his mana.

 

Third, he would consume the string.

 

After many years, his body became more spirit than man. He started a magic school to pass on his teaching, before he decided to turn himself into a spirit. 

 

He became a pseudo immortal. If he wasn’t completely destroyed, he would never die. But, when trying to turn me to string, my instincts forced me to absorb him. Jiom the necromancer is dead. He has become a part of me.

 

I am tired.

 

…

 

…

 

…

 

I had fallen asleep on the soft ground, somehow. The grass felt nice on my skin. I tried to float, before I saw that I had an arm. 

 

No, not just an arm, an entire human body. I inspected it. I had one mouth, a nose, two eyes and ears, two arms and feet, ten fingers and toes, no exoskeleton, long hair, and I was female. I tried to stand up, only for my body to explode into a mist of blood. 

 

…

 

Around me, there were no body parts or anything. Just me and some grass. I was not crying for an hour. 

 

‘Human…. Make me become human again!’

 

Become, human, become, human, become, human.

 

My body began to shrink and I once more became human. The feeling of the warm sunlight and the cool grass on my skin, made me happy. I inspected myself once more. I was the same as before, except for the fact that I was male. 

 

I cautiously began to stand. My knees were tickled by the long grass as my height grew. I had stood! I moved my feet to take a step. Then another, and another, until I was running around. I laughed as I jumped into the air, and then I exploded…

 

…

 

I need to get used to the human body, or else I will explode randomly. So I will practice! First, I will turn the grass into a skirt. Then I will find a human town, and make a lot of friends!

 

…

 

Being human is tough. One mistake and I explode. It has been 6 weeks since I started practicing, and I have learned a few things.

 

I will explode if I try to do things as if I were mist, if I try to float, use a tendril, if I ‘die’, or make an eye. 

 

I will not explode if I use mana, walk, jump, eat, get hurt, or make things.

 

I sometimes explode into mist when I sleep.

 

On that note, when in human form, my body is akin to that of a human. I need to eat and sleep, and can be hurt. I can still absorb the fractured souls though.

 

Jiom had a lot of knowledge about magic and souls. I wonder if I can do anything to make myself more sturdy. 

 

…

 

Three weeks have passed. Jiom’s memories did have a solution. I needed to make a sturdy rune and integrate it with my soul. 

 

Runes seem to be a method nature uses to move mana. They are generally carved, and can be created by using qi to move and then twist off a thread(s) of your soul. The thread is then shaped into a rune. The rune then gathers surrounding mana and turns it into a spell.

 

Qi is made from mana. It allows the body and soul to interact and communicate with each other. Among many things, using qi can strengthen your body and soul. My transformation is an application of qi. 

 

Mana is almost ever present, and it allows the soul to communicate and interact with its surroundings. It can be used to create a controllable fire ball, among many things.

 

The rune I will make is a sturdy rune. It is a right triangle, with the square’s corner perpendicular to the triangle's hypotenuse. The square’s sides are equal to the size of the hypotenuse. The rune doesn’t have to be perfectly shaped. In general, the closer it is to being perfect, the better the effect.

 

Through experiments, I have created and absorbed three of these runes. Now, when in human form, I don’t explode into mist unless I want to.

 

…

 

A week has passed, and I have managed to make a grass dress. I managed to inscribe it with 10 sturdy runes! I don’t want it to break on me, or decompose. Likewise, I created a shirt. It too had sturdy runes inscribed on it!

 

I believe if I continue heading south I will reach a road soon, and I am nervous. Will humans see me? Can I talk to them? Will they like me? Do I need money… Wait no, I seriously need money, humans are vicious to those without it.

 

…

 

I managed to find a $20 bill on the side of the road. I don’t think it is enough. I will see if magic will allow me to create new ones. 

 

‘Elements of the world, combine and recreate this bill!’

 

Money, money, money, money.

 

I managed to get a copy, but, if I remember correctly, money has some sort of serial number. So, I asked the elements to modify it enough that it would not get me arrested. I created 40 copies. I would make more, but I don’t want to lose any. Should I make a basket or a pouch to carry my money?

 

…

 

A week has passed, and I have been practicing magic while walking down this road. My food and water have been gathered by it, and my mind no longer feels drained after using it. So, I evoked the elements to make a dress using my mana, and it worked…

 

I feel stupid. Maybe I would not have had to wait as long to find humans if I did this earlier. I was thinking like this while walking, until I crested the hill I was on, and saw a big human city in the distance. 

 

‘Hurry, I must move faster’

 

Faster, faster, faster, faster, faster, faster, faster, faster.

 

I was as fast as a bullet, as I rushed to the city. I ran and ran. It grew closer and closer. I jumped with joy towards it. Cars passed me as I began to slow down. I inspected the city in joy. Which promptly crashed as I realized that if I didn’t come up with something, I would be homeless.

 

A grey soul passed by me, and I absorbed it. Nothing helpful was learned. I stopped, and searched through my memories for a solution.

 

 I can forge documents using magic, but I don’t think I am strong enough to mess with human databases. 

 

I can just fake it, but I doubt humans would hire me without an I.D. 

 

I can pretend I am a victim of human trafficking. If I find a trafficker nearby. 

 

I guess I will try that then.

 

‘Spirits, souls, and elements around me find and show me all those who capture and enslave humans, only to sell them to others.’

 

Find the slavers, find them, find them.

 

My senses expanded as they spread through the metropolis. It led to a warehouse, ten miles away. I made my way to it. 

 

The inside of the warehouse seemed normal, on the surface, but my senses had led me to a hidden cellar. There were dozens of women and children bound and drugged inside. Fury enveloped me as I rushed to it. This sort of thing is not done by one or two people.

 

 I must bring their captors down. First though, I need their accomplices. Then I need a backer. I also need to be either abducted, or make the people think I have been.

 

'World, help me find the accomplices...’

 

‘… find help…’

 

‘…change their memories…’

 

I cast a series of spells as a plan formed in my mind.