• Note from Ephyris:
  I made a map!

“What happens when you try to leave your domain?” Meyriv asked Rynisia

“My body becomes gradually weaker until I collapse.”

“Hmm. May I see your hand?” He asked suddenly

“Sure.” She held it out for him to examine.

He couldn’t help but notice how perfect it was. No scars or calluses marred her skin.

After a few moments he nodded.
“Your soul isn’t in your body.” He said in a matter-of-fact tone.

“Wait. Then where is it?” She asked with a frown.

“It appears to have fused with the natural wellspring that emerged here. I already suspected as much, but I just confirmed it.”

“So why do I still experience things from my body?”

“Because your physical senses are the ones you are used to. The senses of your Garden are broader in scope, but of necessity your mind tunes most of that information out.
I had to learn to focus my more ethereal senses to be able to function even if my body is destroyed. My soul isn’t directly in my body either, it’s controlled by a projected frame so my soul can be in a more defensible location.”

Her eyes brightened,
“So can I do the same thing in order to travel?” She said hopefully.

“A normal person could, yes, although the spells required to transplant the soul cannot be done by someone else, and they are quite challenging. The theory has been known for centuries, it is the difficulty that prevents more mages from accomplishing the feat…Oh, and because doing it wrong results in death. Or worse.”

“You said ‘for a normal person’. Is it different for me?” She asked.

“Yes, I was just about to get to that,” He assured her. “You can certainly learn to use a projection to control your body, and in fact you are already doing most of the steps. However, the problem is the distance between your actual soul and your projection is still complicated by some…communication limits. The greater the distance, the more difficult it is to control it.

Ryn frowned,
“Then why can you travel wherever you wish?”

He grinned. “Don’t tell anyone, but my soul is hidden very close to my body at all times. I’m quite proud of how I created a severed realm as an anchor. I’ve never gotten to gloat about it because telling anyone the details would be a liability.”

“I’m glad that you trust me so much!” She beamed.

He merely nodded amicably while thinking, Actually, it’s because telling you doesn’t make much of a difference. The conduit you control is effectively a back door anyway. But there’s no reason to mention that.

“What was that?” She said

He looked at her impassively. “I didn’t say anything.”

“I thought I heard…never mind.”

I really need to guard my thoughts more carefully with her around. Meyriv reminded himself.

“So why can’t I do the same thing?” She prodded

“I didn’t say that. But your soul was already transplanted in a very unconventional way into a natural wellspring. And at this point it’s completely fused with it. While it may be technically possible to stuff the entire wellspring into a severed realm, I certainly wouldn’t know how. It’s on an entirely different scale than what souls normally have. And that’s without considering the entire forest symbiont that requires your tending.”

“So…I can’t?”

“Not with our current knowledge, no. But…” He paused, thinking.

She leaned forward, “Well? Don’t leave me in suspense! I want to get out of this valley!”

She is cute when she’s excited. He thought, then, Where did that come from? And since when do I care?
He shook off his distraction and continued,
“I have reason to suspect that there are those who do know a way around the distance problem. When we defeated that mage at the fortress, her soul was nowhere nearby that I could detect. Instead, she controlled her body from that talisman she carried, and she destroyed it rather than letting us gain possession of it. Perhaps to hide this exact secret.”

“And so we just need to find them and discover how they do it?” She said with excitement.

He nodded. “It’s worth a try. I can’t guarantee it will work, of course. There is a good amount of guesswork involved.”

“Okay! Then your next task is to find them and—”

He held up his hands, “Hold on, we need to discuss some things first.”

“Oh. What things?” She seemed a little put out.

“Now that my curse is under control, I’m no longer totally dependent on your power in order to function. I would like to renegotiate our arrangement.”

“You don’t want the power any more?” She said in a shocked tone.

“I didn’t say that. I simply have less urgent need of it. Now it is you who are depending on my expertise and mobility in order to free you from this area. I want to work as an equal, not as your servant.”

“Oh. I see.” She felt a pang of sadness. He sensed why.

“You are still worried that I will not return.” It was not an accusation, merely a statement. “If your power over me was all that made me return, would you truly be happy with that? That would make me a prisoner, not a friend.”

“…I hadn’t thought of it that way. I guess you’re right.” She said softly.

“So are we agreed?” He asked

She took a deep breath.

“Yes. But…please come back.”

“I cannot guarantee that I will return…but I can promise that short of my total destruction I will. And as soon as I can manage.” Meyriv assured her.
- - -

Meyriv dreamt he was a soul adrift in a vast cavern.

Rock formations as large as small mountains stood in the center of the cavern, encrusted with gold and jewels.

He sensed something watching him. He would have shivered if he had been able.

A whispering thought washed over him from a vast, alien presence.

She always was a precocious hatchling, but what defiance! To waste her inheritance so…

Meyriv shook himself from the trance.

Who are you? He asked it.

It retains cognizance in my presence? What was done to it?
The rock formations began to rumble and creak.

What did it do to deserve this? And at such cost!
O Eirian mine…why do you scorn your mother so? Why use my gift to gild an insect?

The rumbling continued.
Meyriv realized the sound was laughter, but on a colossal scale.

More thoughts rippled through the cave.

Poor thing. Someone should put it out of its misery.

A boulder nearby shifted, revealing an eye larger than a wagon wheel. It had a vertical pupil colored burnt orange mingled with crimson. It fixed its gaze on his trembling, flickering apparition, and he felt naked before it, as if his soul was being battered by a roaring waterfall of force. He was transfixed all the same and he longed to stare into that glittering abyss forever.

Away with you, insect!

The dream faded.

- - -

The villagers in Ryn’s Harvest (as they had taken to calling it) waved to him as he passed through on his way to the coast. He smiled and nodded in response. Everything is still so surreal…I can’t believe the nightmare has ended.

Meyriv reached the ocean. This was going to be unpleasant, but he couldn’t think of a faster way to cross the water.
He took a deep breath and stored his body and possessions in his anchor. With the increased access to power he’d recently been able to increase the volume he could store. It wasn’t large, but it was better than nothing. Almost a cubic meter of space.

Watching from his anchor, he began to drift forward.
I wonder how fast I can get it, since the air barely touches it…

The answer was: very, very fast. The waves below passed in a blur. At least until he noticed how fast his connection to Rynisia’s wellspring was weakening.

At this rate, once I get to the mainland I won’t be able to rely on your help much. He informed her.

He felt worry wash over from her. I’ll be fine, He reassured her. I have a lot of experience making the most of limited resources.

He estimated he was halfway across the ocean before he forced himself to take a break. Traveling in this way was very efficient, but being without a body for such a long time caused a lot of unpleasant side effects.
He froze a small platform of water and reconstructed his body there. Only once his soul stopped throbbing and he had reasserted full dexterity of all his limbs did he allow himself to hide back into his anchor to continue his journey.

Meyriv finally spotted land on the horizon. He estimated it had taken him about eight hours to cross the ocean. I bet that’s better than most birds. He mentally patted himself on the back for his brilliance.

A few minutes later he dumped his body into the shallow lagoon with his clothes.
Wouldn’t want to disturb anybody’s beach-side stroll by popping into existence out of nowhere.

As he had predicted, at this distance he was only able to draw a small portion of power from Ryn. It’ll be even weaker once I get all the way to Lem. I’ll need to conserve my energy.

He looked at the sky. It was evening, and the stars were starting to show. He wandered inland, looking for a road to get his bearings.

About a kilometer from the coast he found it, a pocked cobblestone path that had obviously seen better years.
Right, the land route is not the preferred method of travel in this area. Without the Empire to maintain it, why should the road be any better? He mused.

He started south. It was a great deal slower than traveling via his anchor, but far more comfortable. He fought back a bout of nausea just from thinking about it. What is it about souls that requires a body to maintain stability? He wondered, as he had many times before.

He walked through the night, enjoying the cool coastal breeze.

He became lost in thought and was rudely interrupted when he tripped over a pile of cut logs and nearly stumbled into some traveler’s camp.

A lone figure had been keeping watch with his back turned, but he quickly turned to see Meyriv.

“Who’s there?” The man shouted. His companions bolted to their feet to see what the noise was about.

“Sorry, just a traveler. I didn’t see your camp here.” Meyriv replied, already backing off to continue down the road.

“Wait just a minute. Nobody honest travels in the dead of night.” The man accused.

Meyriv stopped walking and sighed. “The temperature is so nice, I’m surprised more people don’t.” He replied calmly while mentally cursing himself for his clumsiness.

A few details about the camp started to stick out to him. The fire pit was large and well-used. More than would be expected from only a couple days of use. The men had clothing that was patched and well-worn, and all of them carried multiple nicked and battered weapons.

Lucky me, I think they’re bandits.

“If you’re really just an innocent traveler, why don’t you sit down and we can ask you a few things?” The watchman suggested.

Meyriv didn’t see how it could hurt, so he sat down.

Two of the other men were sneaking around to flank him, but he pretended not to see.

The watchman, who seemed to be their leader, waited for them to get into position, then gave a gap-toothed grin. “You’re real daft for somebody who skulks around in the dark, I think.” He taunted.

“Not daft so much as I have nothing you want. I’m not carrying anything of value.”

“That’s a shame, but we can’t have you running back to town telling stories.” The bandit said with feigned regret.

Meyriv considered how to deal with the bandits while minimizing the pain. Even with his new resilience, he wanted to avoid it whenever possible.

“Tell you what, pretend you didn’t see me and I’ll leave your weapons intact.” He offered.

“What?” The bandit asked, thoroughly confused until Meyriv made his spear’s handle snap in half. Vertically. He also conjured a bright flash to make it seem more impressive.

Almost simultaneously, the bandits in front of him backed off. One of the bandits hiding behind him cursed, which amused Meyriv greatly.

The leader gulped.
“Eh, we were just bein’ careful. You can get on with yer’ travelin’.” He said, trying to cover up the failed ambush.

“Most gracious of you sir. You have my thanks.” Meyriv bowed with all the mockery he could muster and strolled out of their camp, taking pains to step on and/or kick the bedrolls he encountered along the way.

You’re going to leave bandits there to prey on the next travelers? Rynisia asked. Her voice was fainter at this distance.

Yes. I didn’t want to expend the energy to destroy all their weapons. As for more permanent solutions, with my luck one of them would have a wife and kids somewhere that would pain me for the rest of their life if I killed their ‘poor, defenseless father’. Ultimately, the bandits aren’t my responsibility. If I had the energy to spare maybe it would be a different story.

I see. Why are so many choices so complicated? She mused.

Welcome to the real world. He thought, while also conveying agreement.