The Lone Wanderer

“…multiple shallow incisions in your soul, before intentionally leaking soul mana through them to lure the fiends…”

Percy struggled to keep himself awake as he listened to Sol’s explanation for the dozenth time.

“…push it through your channels until it reaches your core and then clamp down on it as hard as you can with your mana. You need to do that before it has the chance to go on a rampage…”

It was hard, because he also had to focus on helping her and her father with the healing process, while snatching as much of her mana as he could, one drop at a time.

“…slowly grind it to nothing, while disseminating the mana throughout your soul to absorb its tra–”

‘Sol… I think that’s about all we can do…’ he suddenly said, cutting her short.

He didn’t know if he would retain any of this information later – despite the several times she’d repeated it – but the size of his clone’s wisp had already plateaued. Everyone involved knew it would only be downhill from here.

“So, is this it? Are you ready to go for it?” she asked.

‘”Ready” might be a strong word…’ he smiled bitterly. ‘But let’s go with “yes”.’

“Yeah, that’s what Percy just told me. Delaying at this point will only make things worse.” she said, probably speaking to her dad.

Percy felt his consciousness slipping, but he stubbornly held on. It would be quite a pity to pass out now and waste all their efforts. After all, whether they succeeded or not, it wouldn’t be much longer until his suffering was over.

Soon, some more foreign mana enveloped him. It didn’t belong to Sol, though he recognized its owner, as Mi had spent the last couple of days assisting with his recovery. Though he was pouring a lot more mana into his daughter’s core right now.Nôv(el)B\\jnn

Allowing foreign mana into one’s core – and especially such a massive amount all at once – was tantamount to giving a stranger the power to determine one’s life or death. Suffice to say, mages generally avoided it, unless they deeply trusted the other party.

But Percy shook the pointless thoughts out of his mind, as the mana shrouded him, forming a thick layer around him.

‘Is this to shield me, or to make me less appealing to the fiends?’

He was definitely interested in hearing more about it, though he ultimately refrained from asking. Unfortunately, he had neither the time, nor the mental capacity to learn another trick right now. Whatever this was, it would have to wait until he returned.

“All done…” Sol said, though her voice trailed off, as if she was hesitating about something.

“Percy… I’m sorry about earlier. You were right. All this would have been avoided had we talked things out, but I was too eager to get myself a trait to wait and listen.” she added a moment later.

Suffice to say, Percy was taken aback by her apology, not having expected this from the girl. Evidently, he’d misjudged her. As it turned out, she wasn’t that bad a person once he got to know her. She was just an impulsive teenager.

In fact, Percy felt a little guilty, as he knew he was partly at fault for this mess too. After all, he was the one who’d put himself in this precarious position in the first place. Not to mention how self-centred he’d been during their subsequent cooperation.

‘Don’t beat yourself up too much. If you hadn’t tried to absorb me, I wouldn’t even have the means to return here. This might all end up for the best.’

Feeling a little bad that he’d ended up taking more than he’d given, he decided to throw a little bonus at them. Something he wasn’t originally planning on sharing.

‘And one more thing… By the next time we meet, make sure to strengthen your soul as much as possible. I don’t have a method that would work for you, but I’m sure you’ll find a way. After that, clear and temper ALL your mana channels as much as possible.’

“What for?”

‘It’s a surprise.’

Leaving it at that, the two bid each other farewell, before the girl finally expelled Percy from her pores, allowing him to drift away into the distance. Naturally, he was still blind and deaf, completely incapable of telling where he was going or what lied before him.

But that was ok. He didn’t need to do that, as the cord pulling him to his main body would take care of navigation. And boy did it do just that, as it forcefully yanked him right off, dragging him away from this world the name of which he had yet to hear, pulling his disembodied wisp through the cosmos.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

‘Fuck! Does it have to be so fast?!’ he wondered, his very soul trembling under the pressure.

His only hope was that his speed would allow him to pass through the blockade of fiends undetected. A hope soon dashed…

Suddenly, he felt a powerful force clamp down on his side. If this was a fiend’s jaw, it certainly appeared many times larger than any he’d encountered before. Though perhaps that was due to his own smaller size.

Luckily, the oversized teeth slid right off him, tearing a mouthful of Mi’s mana along the way. Evidently, Mi’s spell had applied some kind of oily coat around him, making it much harder for the creatures to grab a hold of him.

‘But it won’t last long…’

Percy didn’t know if he was still in the vicinity of Sol’s world. He shouldn’t be, right? Given his current speed, and what he knew about the plane of souls, he should have already travelled halfway across the cosmos by now. Then again, he might not be travelling as quickly as he’d thought. Perhaps, his perception of time was skewed, as it often was in this place.

‘Or are the fiends chasing me all the way to Remior?!’

In any case, it didn’t seem like getting away was going to be easy…

A second fiend bit down at him, followed by a third and a fourth. Mi’s shield held, but it was thinning fast. Percy would be lucky if it managed to fend another blow.

Out of options, he began to draw upon the mana he had snatched from Sol. In the end, he’d barely replenished a fraction of his stash, but it would have to do. Gathering it at a point within his wisp, he willed it to coalesce into a thin needle. He didn’t know where the next attack would come from, so he’d have to wait until after he took some damage to try and fend off his pursuer.

Some unknown period of time later, another fiend swiped at him with its claw, peeling the final layer of Mi’s mana off, as well as a chunk of Percy’s clone with it. Just like that, he was already back to the terrible state he’d spent the last few days recovering from!

But he didn’t panic, only clenching the needle more tightly.

It wasn’t long until the next fiend reached him, though this attack went down a little differently to what he was expecting. Rather than getting bitten or mangled directly, Percy merely felt something close around him, as a powerful force fought against his main body’s pull, dragging him away from Remior.

‘Shit! It’s a large one!’

This was probably the largest fiend he’d encountered so far. Unlike the others, this one didn’t threaten the integrity of his soul directly, happy to swallow him whole. Of course, that was plenty problematic in and of itself.

Given the creature’s size, it would be even harder to fight his way out with the tiny needle. And he did have to fight his way out, as the fiend was already pulling him further and further from his destination, undoing all his hard work!

‘No, you don’t!’

Lashing out with as much strength as he could muster, he fought to dig a path out of the creature’s stomach – that was where he assumed he was, though he hadn’t felt himself splash into acid. Still, he did feel an intense burning sensation envelop him, trying to dissolve his soul into nothing.

Swiftly running out of time, Percy pushed more and more of his stashed mana into the construct, stabbing at the fiend repeatedly, causing it to spasm.

‘This isn’t working…’

He was taking more damage than the creature, shrinking rapidly. Even his mental faculties were starting to get affected, causing him to grow groggy. His exhaustion was piling up, and his memories faded one after the other, as his past became harder and harder to recall. At some point, he even caught himself sitting motionless inside the monster’s belly, having momentarily forgotten his purpose!

‘No. I can’t afford to stop. If I can’t bust myself out, it’s over!’ he thought, harnessing the agonizing pain to jolt himself awake.

Unleashing a barrage of lunges with renewed vigour, Percy desperately fought to extricate himself from the trap. At the same time, he focused on what mattered the most, keeping it at the very forefront of his collapsing mind.

‘There are only three things I need to remember.’

His promise to Sol, the healing art they had taught him and the method to absorb a fiend.

That was it – all this clone currently amounted to. Nothing else mattered. His main body already possessed all his other memories, and the universe didn’t really need a second Percy. His one and only job was to bring these latest acquisitions back to Remior. Everything else was disposable.

Percy stabbed and kept stabbing, as more and more of his soul melted down, his size shrinking. And with it, more memories faded, one after the other.

His life in the Avalon mansion?

Gone.

Elaine? The pilgrimage to Phoebe’s temple? His time with Baldy? Huehue? Micky? The Guild? The Vault? Gabe? Nesha? Sengo? Metatron?

All gone.

It wasn’t important.

‘Injure myself… Lure a fiend… Absorb it… Heal… Return to Sol… Injure myself… Lure a fiend…’

His mind was on a loop, repeating the girl’s teachings, while never pausing his assault on the creature for even a second.

In the end, Percy failed to dig a hole through its stomach, however. It simply wasn’t meant to be. He was way too weak, and the fiend way too large.

But his efforts hadn’t been for naught either. He did manage to irritate the monster enough to spit him right out, into the endless void.

Not that he was in the mood to celebrate, of course…

At this point, almost nothing remained of Percy. His mind was nearly gone, and he lacked the mental capacity to even comprehend his situation. His thoughts had been reduced to vague words and blurry images.

‘Injure… Lure… Absorb… Heal… Return… Injure…’

Had something attacked him again, he wouldn’t have stood a chance. As fate would have it, however, that didn’t happen. Maybe he was too tiny for the fiends to bother with. Or maybe the large one had carried him away from the rest of its kin before throwing him up.

Either way, the cord continued to pull him towards Remior, as he picked up more speed with each passing second.

At this point, Percy couldn’t even be considered a person. He had been reduced to nothing more than a damaged message!

But the message did reach his main body, eventually. What the original Percy would manage to make out from the scattered memories remained to be seen, though one thing was certain…

Percy had died today.