Chapter 2: Chapter 2. A new body.

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I sat there; I don’t know for how long, not knowing what to do.

I killed somebody. But I killed before, so why does it hurt so much? The people who tried to rob me when I was in an alleyway- No! That’s not my memory!

I hit my head, feeling a slight thing in my cranium.

Shocked, I started to touch my head, trying to feel my face.

It was a skull. 

It's sure then, I am a skeleton covered in mold. I ceased to be a human. I am a monster.

I wanted to scream, to cry, but this bone body didn’t allow me to do that.

Maye hours later, I calmed down enough to think rationally.

I need to find my bearings. I might have these memories, but I can’t be sure about them being accurate.

Standing up in this body was quite a challenge. I had no ligaments, yet I could move just fine, probably the mold acting as some sort of muscle replacement. What I couldn’t understand was my buoyancy.

When I stood up, I put too much strength into my feet, making a jump that reached the ceiling of this place.

Surprisingly I didn’t hit myself. When I touched the rocks, my head went through them before falling back to the ground on my backside.

What is the…

I tested this again, by touching a nearby wall.

Similarly, my fingers went through, as if it was made from air.

What is happening here?! I managed to touch, even choke that guy, so why am I becoming air now?

I bent my fingers, trying to figure out what was happening.

Could it be… This can’t be that.

I got on my knees and placed my hands on the ground.

I concentrated and my left hand went through the ground.

It was a strange sensation, feeling as if I put my hand in water.

So, this is the trick. This makes no sense. How the hell does this even work?

Deciding that I will need to do more experiments, I slowly stood up, then I took a step.

My feet sank into the ground as my hands did, so I quickly pulled them back.

Now, doing the same thing as with my hands, I once again took a step.

This time my feet didn’t sink into the ground.

I started to slowly walk till I could move at a somewhat normal speed.

The trick was willpower. I need to want to touch the ground or something, if not, I would go through them.

This is going to be a pain in the ass, always concentrating on what I want to touch.

I breathe deeply, trying to make my head clear while continuing to walk around.

Right, first thing first, bearings. The memories that I have might not be accurate, I need to double-check. Lucky for me, this place looks like a laboratory, there must be different books here. But first I need clothing. Being a modern, educated man walking naked is quite embarrassing, skeleton or no skeleton.

Searching through the basement I couldn’t find anything to wear other than a simple golden mask that had two holes for eyes on it.

I put the mask on, since it was better than nothing then continued to look around.

I also found a brown, leather bag and a pair of brown gloves.

I tried to put the gloves on, but my fingers were too long for them, only noticing that something wasn’t right with them.

Well, this whole situation isn’t right, but this is also strange.

My fingers and toes were too long, definitely not belonging to a human.

Is this body made of different creatures? Am I some sort of skeleton Frankenstein monster?

Frustrated, I threw the gloves on the ground and checked on the bag.

It was empty, with its bottom covered in a thick ink-like blackness.

…It can’t be.

I grabbed a nearby book, which was too big to fit in it, and put it near the hole. Immediately the book somehow got sucked into the bag, disappearing in the darkness.

This is a magic bag… No way, this is actually a magic bag.

When I was little, I used to read fantasy books and novels. I was always amazed at how people could do wonderful things.

The blood in my veins started to boil while my heart started to beat faster than ever, the scientific curiosity burning in me

I want to know. I want to know how it works!

Curious about testing out the limit of this bag, I put everything that I saw into it.

It took me an hour, but I managed to empty out the entirety of the lab. The only thing left was…the corpse.

I slowly walked and kneeled down to it.

Being a biologist, I studied human anatomy a little, so I wasn’t disgusted by the gore. What grabbed my attention was the mold.

Which was more than mold. 

On a closer examination, I noticed small black tumor-like things appearing under his still intact skin. I picked one, which immediately busted, releasing a small green cloud.

Spores. This is quite an interesting specimen. a fungus that is capable of reproduction by physical contact and spores. It also seems to devour the cells it comes in contact with…and replace them.

This reminded me of something.

These are the symptoms of the Death Cheating Mushroom! On a closer inspection, I now noticed that there were smaller patches of black spore sacks on my bones.

So, it didn’t spread by physical contact. Some of the sacks must have ruptured when I grabbed him, on the throat. I’m going to need to be careful with what I’m touching from now on. Or If I had gloves.

Deciding that I had no other choice, I started to take off the cloth of the body. Considering what he did to me, donating his clothes to me is fair.

He had everything I needed.

Pants, a black shirt, and a cape with a hood. I left his underwear since I was made of bones and it wouldn’t fit me. As for the pants I was lucky that they had belts in this place! 

As for the gloves I had to compromise and put them on, although they were extremely uncomfortable, till the edges of my fingers punctured holes in the leather.

Well, I do not see any spore sacks on them, so this will be better than nothing till I find a better pair.

I didn't bother with the shoes, my feet were too big for them and I didn't see any point in puncturing them. 

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Other than articles of clothing there was also a dagger, several empty glass containers, and a brown leather purse full of coins made from different metals.

I will study them once I find a place where I would feel in security.

Once I decided I was ready, I breathed in deeply with my imaginary loughs and opened the door.

*****

??? POV:

“Very good, My lady. Look out for your posture, we cannot allow you to attend the Great Ball without PERFECT etiquette!”

Please, somebody, kill me.

While she was walking around ‘elegantly’, the only daughter of the great and powerful Van Hevensin noble family was slowly dying from boredom.

For months, she has been preparing for a single event that will happen in 3 years!

Why the hell do I even have to participate in this?!

Boom!

The great door opened up with a huge thud, several full armored knights entering in a hurry,

“Milady, we need to escort you to the garden.”

“Why what’s happening?”

“There is an intruder in the mansion, causing all sorts of trouble.”

An intruder? Here?

While the notion of somebody breaking into their home sank in her mind, she was escorted to the garden.

There were already several people gathered there, noble ladies who were chit-chatting between each other and noblemen who tried to act tough with their over-decorated swords on their sides, even though several guards had already come to protect them.

When they arrived one of the most prosperous women greeted her.

“Oh, Sharon, it's good that you are here! I was worried that that intruder might have harmed you!”

“Good day to you as well, honorable mother.” the young lady elegantly bowed while a little bit lifting the two sides of her skirt, as etiquette dictated. “I am completely fine. I was practicing for the Great Gala when I was notified about the intruder.”

“That’s good. You always need to improve your etiquette when you are so talentless.”

After the comment, she turned back to her friends who giggled at the young lady.

Yes, that woman was her mother and what she said just now was one of the nicest things she ever said to her. Being a ‘high-birthed lady’, she only interacts on special occasions or if she needs something from her. She was not alone though, with her five siblings, they received the same treatment from their parents, maybe except for Patrick, but he’s next in line to become the next family head.

She turned around facing the mansion in which she lived her entire life, not leaving it once, except for going to balls and tea parties.

I wonder who that intruder is.

To answer her question, the window that was on the fifth floor shattered into pieces, as a man jumped out of it.

The person fell onto his feet, showing no sign of any pain.

It wore a black robe with the hood up, gloves, and a golden mask that high members of the church would wear at ceremonies.

Seeing the person, the noble ladies started to beat in fear and excitement and she didn’t understand where it came from.

The guards quickly reacted, drawing their weapons and pointing at the intruder.

“Halt! Take another step and we will attack!”

The intruder stayed still for a while before starting to run toward the guards.

Shocked, they moved back, their weapon still pointing forward.

Then something unexpected happened.

The intruder jumped at the possible last second, soaring above us as if it was flying, before landing before the wall that bordered the estate, which was almost 40 meters away from us.

Several people, including some of the noblemen, screamed at the diabolic act, their hands covering their faces. Except for the noble lady, who just stood there her mouth wide open in aver

The intruder turned around and made an over-exaggerated bow, before jumping right over the 6-meter-tall wall, disappearing from sight.

*****

Oh.my. GOD. I almost had a heart attack!

When I opened the door, I immediately found myself in a rich mansion, filled with people wearing old-timey clothes and armor.

very lucky for me, it seemed like this body was very fast, even without any muscle mass. This and the bonus of being quite buoyant made it possible for me to escape.

What did stop me was the view outside.

How should I explain it… it was familiar and alien at the same time?

The sky was blue, and the grass was still green, but it was… pallid. Everything that I looked at had a hint of gray and coldness in it.

At least I am out.

The mansion was in the middle of a plateau as if it was an island in the middle of an ocean of grass. in the distance, I could see buildings, with some rising smoke in the distance.

Civilization. Hopefully, I can find something there that can help me figure out what to do now.

When I took several steps, something fell near me.

It was an arrow.

From the top of the wall, I just jumped over, several archers gathered, their bows aimed at me.

Shit!

I started to sprint, arrows falling all around me as if it was raining. How non touched me was nothing short of a miracle.

While running, I discovered that I wasn’t getting tired. Hell, I couldn’t even feel the air flowing into my body, meaning that I didn’t breathe.

It’s probably the mold. Perhaps my entire consciousness is in the stuff, while the skeleton is nothing more than a frame to move me around. I didn’t feel anything when I spread the mold to that guy, what would happen if I let it connect to it? Would my consciousness spread? Maybe it would absorb its mind as well. So many questions, so many unknowns… No, for now, it’s not important, I need to focus on the current problem. Yes, one problem at a time. I need shelter. Somewhere to think in peace.

It took me a while to reach the tall walls, just realizing how big this place was.

The gray stone construct that probably surrounded the entire settlement was humongous, probably taller than the empire state building, making me wonder how big the buildings behind the walls were.

Ok, now comes the tricky part. I can’t possibly climb this thing. Go under it? No, there must be some support there. I could try to go through it, but I want to bring all my stuff with me. The entrance? It’s probably guarded, I could try to sneak past them, but I am not confident enough to be able to escape from them if they find me.

I looked up at the wall, my hands crossed.

This is a city. A civilization built in medieval times, guessing from the level of technology I saw in that mansion. Meaning this thing was built at a position where trade routes can easily reach it and people can get water. If people in this place are humans, they need water to survive, so there must be a river or something here. They can’t possibly guard an entire river…right?

I once again sighted, my brain working like a machine, trying to figure out my plan of action.

Step one, find a river. Step two, swim the river while avoiding possible guards. Step three, find a place to hide in the city, probably somewhere no one would look. Step four, study and read all the books that I have stolen, trying to figure out what happened to me and figuring out what to do next.

Damn it, this is going to be such a pain to deal with in the future.

Fuck me.

 

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