Chapter 1: Chapter 001 – Efficient and Reliable

He’d seen the night sky more times than he could count. Late night drives were some of the best memories he had. No traffic, cool air…

That’s why it confused him so greatly to be flying through it faster than he’d ever gone before.

Stars flew by him like streetlights so fast that he’d mistaken them for lines on a road, but there was no road. There was no ground at all.

He felt sick, but there was nothing he could do. He couldn’t resist the force that pulled him through the universe at a speed that made no sense to him.

“I hope the old man is okay… wait... what...?”

He could barely hear his own thoughts as the space around him began to bend and warp. His body felt like it was being stretched and warped as he spun helplessly through the vast expanse of strange lights and colours until…

THUD

It felt like his entire existence had just been forced through a compactor and thrown on the ground. The cold ground beneath him was harsh on his skin.

“It worked! The goddess answered our call! At last!”

A dozen voices rang out all around him as he lay there on the cold ground looking up at the ceiling of the cave. The dank smell of the wet cave was penetrated by the harsh smoke of torches and incense which tickled his nose.

“Thank the goddess above, for we shall finally see justice!” One voice cut through the rest, and the cave quieted after a moment passed. The voice belonged to an elderly woman in fine blue robes, adorned with gold and gems.
“Please tell us, young hero. What is your name?”

The old lady stared intently at the boy with a wide smile on her face. All other eyes gradually rested on the boy in anticipation.

“Those cultivators have blasphemed the gods for the last time.” An onlooker cried out passionately.
“Let them rue the day they first borrowed power from dungeons to defile the realm of gods!”

Cheers erupted in agreement among the members of the summoning.

However, the boy lay motionless on the ground, his breathing shallow and his eyes glassy. Though conscious, it was soon clear that something was wrong.

“Perhaps he is fatigued after the journey to our dimension, master.” A moustached man spoke respectfully to the old lady.
“She did promise to send us the soul of a righteous child. He may need a moment’s rest…”

The worry in his voice was thinly veiled. The woman he called master was also beginning to show signs of doubt.

“Surely the goddess wouldn’t have failed us… Our sacrifices this time were immeasurable!” Another man’s concerned voice rang out.
“Somebody try to wake him up. He must be the one. He must!”

“Give him a healing potion, now!” Another man shouted.

Chaos slowly befell the group as they considered the summoning may have ended in failure. A man was about to pour the glowing contents of a small flask into the boy's open mouth when a shrill voice froze the cave.

“Stop! Do not touch him!” The voice belonged to a young girl surrounded by candles near the wall of the cave.
“That is not the promised soul, if it can even be called a soul.”

The woman known as the master turned in shock to face the girl.

“You dare utter such blasphemy before the sacred child of the goddess of light?” She expressed her disgust despite her own doubts.
“To suggest for even a moment that the goddess failed to send us the promised soul…”

The girl drew a deep breath and closed her eyes, raising one hand in the direction of the barely conscious boy.

“The summoning was successful.” She spoke slowly, carefully examining the boy. “It was certainly transported here by Nora, the goddess of light, blessed be her name, but that is not a soul as I know them.”

The rest of the group began to stare at the boy with glowing eyes.

“It’s true what she says…” One man declared.
“The vessel is intended to contain the soul of the promised human child, but this soul is completely incompatible.”

“Don’t speak such nonsense!” Another man shouted in anger.
“This summoning cost unspeakable amounts of magic! All but one of the pixies I procured is completely depleted, to say nothing of the stones…”

He pointed toward the altar used in the summoning ritual where several small cages rested, an eerie cloud and the smell of death around them.

“Silence yourselves! The goddess must have had a reason, and we have one more option…” The master looked somberly around at her colleagues.

“No…” Another elderly lady went pale at the master’s words.

“It is the only way.” The master replied coldly.
“The vessel we created is no longer viable, but it still contains vast stores of energy and a soul touched by the goddess herself. Should one of us sacrifice our own body, we will be able to summon the correct soul.”

“It cannot be me, my estate would crumble without…” The moustached man pleaded.

“And my business would dissolve!” Another woman complained.
“And we’ve done so much to support the church…”

The rest of the members began to make excuses while the master shook her head in disgust.

“I will lead by example, you weak-hearted fools, so that at least one of you may be inspired to take up my responsibilities.” The master closed her eyes and gestured to the boy. “Place him atop the altar at once, and begin the ritual again. We have little time to waste.”

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Two men dragged the boy by the arms to the altar and tossed him on top of the stinking cages. Now resting on his side, he could finally see more clearly what was going on around him.

The strange old people who spoke of magic were dancing and chanting in a circle around the old lady called the master. Unfamiliar lights flickered all around them that made the boy feel uneasy.

“Hey…!”

An impossibly small voice caught the boy’s ear, but he offered no reply.

“Hey, human!” The whispering continued.

Out of the corner of his eye, the boy then took note of a small creature in a cage next to him on the altar. It was no larger than a bird, but it was the shape of a winged child.

“We’re both about to die, but you’re not in a cage! Do something!” The creature continued to beg, trying not to be heard by any of the people chanting.

“Die…” To the boy’s surprise, a dry voice trickled out of his mouth, undetectable to any but the small creature before him.
“Don’t…”

“So you were awake!” The creature gestured happily up at the boy.
“Listen, you need to get up as fast as you can, grab my cage, and run as deep into this cave as you can. Do you understand?”

The boy’s eyes lazily turned to observe the creature directly.

“Can’t… move…” The boy grumbled as the chanting grew louder in the distance.
“Passenger…? No…”

“Listen to me.” The creature stomped its foot and pointed at the boy’s face.
“I’m a pixie, so trust me. You’re disoriented from the journey, but your body will move if you tell it to. You just have to get up and move!”

The pixie looked desperately frustrated, turning back frequently to check the progress of the ceremony behind it.

“Move…?” As he mumbled, the boy turned his head and noticed his arm lying limply on his side. At the end of the arm was a hand with five fingers. He stared at it for a while in confusion, but when a fire suddenly erupted in the centre of the circle of people, consuming the elderly lady in the process, his hand twitched in surprise.
“I can move…”

“We’re running out of time! Come on!” the pixie panicked.
“Grab me and run!”

Slowly the boy moved his arm, clumsily knocking over several cages in the process. His legs also began to move as he discovered them. After some fumbling, he managed to place his hand atop the small cage in front of him and grip it tightly.

The ceremony before him was beginning to intensify as the fire enveloped the one called master. Suddenly, the young girl amidst the candle spoke in excitement.

“It’s working! The goddess has acquired the soul and awaits its vessel’s completion.” Her eyes glowed brightly and she began to float above the ground while she spoke.
“The goddess has spoken. Complete the ceremony. Hurry!”

The altar on which the boy was clumsily grasping the cage of the last living pixie began to feel hot - unbearably hot.

“Ouch.” The boy mumbled, and he felt the life being drawn out of him by the chanting old people nearby in the form of an evaporating mist.

Still expressionless, he managed to roll off the altar a moment before a loud crash resounded through the cave. The deafening sound was accompanied by a plume of smoke that obscured everyone’s vision.

“The sacrifice! Check the sacrifice!” The floating girl’s voice thundered as her colleagues coughed and sputtered.

However…

“It’s gone! The vessel, the blue pixie with it!” A woman shouted as she scrambled around the altar.
“They’re both gone!”

“All hope is lost…” The floating girl fell to the ground in tears.
“The goddess will punish this failure…”

Before the smoke had cleared and the lamenting had ceased, the boy had managed to carry the small pixie in its cage a fair distance deeper into the cave, tripping and stumbling all the way.

“Headlights…” The boy mumbled as he bumped into the wall once again.

“Lights?” The pixie asked.
“Sorry, I’m all out of power right now. But I think we made enough turns to lose them. Rest a while.”

In the cold, damp, pitch black cave, the boy came to a stop, and fell to his hands and knees, dropping the cage beside him.

“What… am I…?” The boy mumbled, frustration evident in his voice for the first time.

“I thought you were one of those human freaks. Are you alright? You sound sick.” The pixie was growing increasingly concerned about its ride out of the cave.

“Where are my…” The boy mumbled, searching his body for something.
“Skin… so soft… bones…”

The pixie wished it could fly away as the boy began to shout.

“Where are my tires?!”

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