The Lone Wanderer

‘Spectral Art, huh?’

Evidently, involving one’s trait in their magic resulted in yet another flavour of spell. In any case, Percy was glad Weaving had more to offer than just the long-term project he was working on.

‘What did you do? I can feel my body again!’ Enki suddenly exclaimed, bringing him out of his thoughts.

It was only now that Percy remembered he had yet to link himself to his host properly. Finding a few still-open cracks, he slid through as many of them as he could, the boy’s senses finally feeding into his mind.

The first thing he noticed was cold all around him, coupled with an oppressive pressure trying to squeeze him into a ball. Luckily, his host’s body seemed to have been perfectly designed to survive in this exact environment. Twitching his fingers, he explored the resistance some more, determining they were probably underwater. It wouldn’t be his first time possessing a sea-dweller, but it was his first sentient one.

Opening his eyes, he saw nothing but darkness. A few faint shapes settled in place a moment later, the exotic landscape beneath him softly illuminated by a dim red glow burning somewhere in the distance like a dark sun. To his left, Percy spotted a large, forest-like structure. Though there weren’t any trees inside it, but rather a series of huge, pale corals. Was this the “Marble Reef” the boy had mentioned?

Then came the pain. It mostly originated from his chest, an agonizing jolt branching outwards to his extremities with every thrum of his heart.

‘Enki, I’ve fixed your soul, but your body is still a mess. If they really have an antidote for whatever bit you in that orphanage of yours, I suggest you get a move on.’

Nodding grimly, the boy took control of his body, shooting towards a certain direction like an arrow. Percy was taken aback by the sheer elegance and speed of his host’s strokes, having never seen anybody swim like that before. He felt the water press against the membranes between his digits, as Enki wormed his way through the cold abyss. Even at Orange and with his boosting art active, Percy doubted he’d be able to keep up with the boy in his natural environment.

Along the journey, he marvelled at the native flora and fauna, ranging from the deep sea fish with luminescent lobes and mouths full of needle-like fangs, to the strangely shaped chunks of algae drifting aimlessly in the darkness, to the exotic crab-like creatures grazing the cold seabed – only visible through faint reflections captured by their smooth shells…

Eventually, Enki reached some kind of town. Surprisingly, the place didn’t look much different from what somebody might find on land. All the buildings were made of carved chunks of stone, though they were decorated by glowing pearls of all colours and sizes, illuminating everything. One important difference was that they didn’t have any streets – or even doors for that matter – as people here clearly didn’t need to walk on the ground. Instead, they swam from building to building, entering through the wide windows.

The people themselves looked vaguely humanoid, though their skin was a pale blueish colour. All of them sported the same membranes between their clawed digits as his host, a set of gills decorating the sides of their necks, allowing them to breathe.

Their clothes weren’t anything special, all of them donned simple seaweed skirts, only a touch more intricate than what he’d personally crafted for his monkey host a few months back. Other than covering their privates, they didn’t seem to be interested in fashion, most of them leaving their chests bare.

The one detail that really drew Percy’s attention was their eyes, however. And it only captured his attention more than everything else, because of a simple reason – the strange dichotomy he spotted.

Nine out of ten locals seemed to have a regular-looking pair of eyes, the irises coloured in a bright topaz colour, split down the middle with a vertical pupil. But every now and then, he spotted somebody who stood out from the rest, their eyes glowing in a bright pale light.

‘Yeah… That’s not normal… Clearly, there’s some kind of magic in place.’

In any case, this wasn’t the time for sightseeing, he reminded himself. Enki had already slowed down greatly, and it seemed the boy was having trouble breathing. Evidently, he was close to having another episode, caused by the deadly venom that had claimed his life once already.

The locals gave them concerned glances, but Enki just ignored them, his eyes fixated on a large building in the distance. It wasn’t until he drew nearer that he slowed down some more, this time not due to his affliction – just so that he wouldn’t crash into something.

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Entering through a window on the second – maybe third level – the boy hastily swam through the winding corridors of the sunken structure. Many people seemed to recognize him, but he didn’t have time to greet them as he continued swimming, aided only by the gentle glow of the pearls adorning the walls.

Only once they reached a certain person did Enki finally stop. She appeared to be a woman, her features slightly softer than many of the other locals they’d seen on the way. What’s more, some fond feelings seeped through their bond. Apparently, the boy saw her as some kind of mother figure.

“Enki, what’s wrong?!” she asked, her voice tinged with concern.

Not that Percy would have known, had it not been for his connection to his host. These people seemed to communicate in a very strange manner, a few gurgles escaping their throat as a high-pitched sound rippled outwards with each spoken word.

In any case, the boy remained silent, merely pointing at a nasty-looking bite mark marring his lower calf, some brownish blood slowly oozing out.

Gesturing towards a bed, the woman directed them to lie down, helping them strap themselves in place so they wouldn’t float away. Next, she approached them after preparing a syringe filled with a deep purple liquid.

‘Enki, please ask her if this contains any life mana.’

The boy raised an eyebrow, but still did as he was told.

“No, it’s just the antidote.” the woman said, forcing a strained smile.

Then, she injected them without delay, probably recognizing they were running out of time. Only once every last drop of the liquid was flowing through Enki’s veins did she take a moment to explain a couple things. Apparently, the heart-stopping venom of the marble-dwelling eels wasn’t that difficult to counteract. Beyond that, the boy shouldn’t have much trouble recovering by himself.

Percy merely sighed in relief, but he didn’t say anything. As long as they didn’t have to go through the greedy second core waiting restlessly in their abdomen, they should be fine.

It wasn’t until a few hours later, after the pain had already begun to die down, and the danger looming over their head had largely passed, that Enki seemed to remember the passenger in his mind.

‘So, Percy… Now that that’s settled, mind telling me what’s up with you?’

Percy shrugged.

‘Long story short, I bounce from body to body looking for new magical knowledge. You just happened to be the latest one.’

‘Then you’re out of luck.’ the boy smiled bitterly. ‘I’ve never practiced magic much. As you know, the fire affinity is by far the weakest one – I can’t even hold a tiny flame for longer than a second before it gets extinguished…’

‘Is it because of the environment here?’ Percy guessed.

The question caused Enki’s eyes to widen, however.

‘Don’t tell me?! Are you a land-dweller by any chance?!’ the boy suddenly asked, a wave of excitement seeping through their bond.

‘Is this your first time meeting one?’

‘Yes!’ Enki nodded. ‘There’s no land on Atlantis – our entire world is covered by a deep ocean.’

‘Hmmm? Then, how do you even know what “land” is?’ Percy couldn’t help but wonder.

The boy appeared dumbfounded for a moment, seemingly stunned by the stupidity of Percy’s question.

‘How else? Naturally, our visitors share stories of their home worlds.’ Enki spoke matter-of-factly, as if he was explaining something obvious to a toddler.

‘Visitors?!’ this was Percy’s turned to be shocked, however. ‘You’re telling me you have regular contact with other races?’

‘Of course! Did you think we’re some bottomwater savages?’ the boy rolled his eyes.

‘Well, ok. They don’t visit remote places like this town – we don’t have the proper infrastructure to host a land-dweller here.’ he clarified.

Though Percy was still confused. Every world he’d been on that had some relationship with a foreign race, it was always one of hostility. That remained true whether it was Remior, Huehue or the Vault of Magic. Other than the races which banded together – probably temporarily – to conquer Micky’s world, this was the first time he’d heard of two civilizations cooperating peacefully.

‘I call BS.’ Percy insisted. ‘I’ve been to plenty of places, and the one thing they all have in common is they’d rather take what they want by force.’

Hearing that, Enki grinned.

‘Ah, I understand the source of your confusion. Well, in our case, that’s not on the table. From what I’ve heard, our military force is practically non-existent, so we couldn’t touch another race even if we wanted to. And, we also have something way too valuable for others to risk harming us.’

‘Why wouldn’t they just take it if you can’t even defend yourselves?’

‘Well, they could – in theory – but that would just be a waste. You see, they wouldn’t be as good at utilizing our resources as we are, so it’s better for everyone involved if we sell our superior products for a fair price.’

At this point, Percy had plenty of questions, but he figured his Status might be able to answer a few of them.

___

Enki (Percival's clone)

Mana cores:

• [Mana core 1 – Red – Fire]
• [Mana core 2 – Seed – ???]

Spectral trait:

• [Weaving]

Spells:

• [Phantomscale Gauntlet – Refined]
• [Spectral Art: Soul Stitching – Refined]
• [Soul Harvester – Refined]
• [Reinforcement – Refined]
• [Mantle of Deceit – Refined]

Decrees:

• [Phoebe’s Decree] – Grants access to your Status.
• [Moirais’ Decree (Incomplete)] – Grants the seed of a second mana core. Requires potent life mana to germinate.
• [Metatron’s Decree] – Open a one-way portal to the Vault of Magic at will.

___

‘Wait what?!’ Enki drew a sharp breath.

‘How do you have Ea’s Gift?!’

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