Chapter 153: Chapter 153

Once they got back, Sylph helped him into the shower and turned it on. Damien let out a relieved sigh as the healing water cascaded over him, taking the raging headache away bit by bit. After several minutes within it, Damien shook his head off and rubbed the water out of his eyes.

“Thanks, Sylph. It felt like my head was about to split in half.”

“No problem. What made it so much worse than normal? I’ve seen you cast more than twelve spells before.”

“I cast them all at the same time, keeping them there with mental energy,” Damien said, rubbing his temple. “It wasn’t a lack of Ether, it was a lack of mental strength. It was like trying to concentrate on twelve different things at the same time. Not easy, and clearly a bit too much for me in a realistic scenario.”

“Well, better problems with mental energy than Ether,” Syph decided, moving out of the way as Damien emerged from the shower and started drying his hair off with the towel. “Mental energy can be trained much easier than controlling Ether, so at least you can progress there.”

“That’s true,” Damien admitted. “I just never tried handling that much mental energy at once. It’ll probably be something I work on this year.”

They headed back into the main room, where Damien pulled a change of clothes out from his travel pack. His mage armor had already dried, but the same wasn’t true for everything else. He swapped into the new outfit in the bathroom, then hung the soaked garments up to dry.

Sylph had a slip of brown paper in her hands when he returned. Damien raised an eyebrow as she let out a small sigh.

“New message from Delph?” Damien guessed.

“You guessed it,” Sylph said with a nod. “And I’m not sure it’s good news for us. We need to figure out what we’re going to do about manifesting our companions.”

Damien sat down on his bed and rubbed his chin.

Henry, do you think you’d be able to somehow manifest a version of yourself that doesn’t blast your true nature to every single person in the area?

“I’ve been thinking on it,” Henry said, shifting within Damien’s mind. “And it’s a fine line. I don’t think I can trick Whisp into thinking that I’m a companion from the Plane of Darkness that they already know of. She’s going to recognize that my energy signature is wrong.”

There’s a but in there somewhere.

“If I don’t try to pass myself off as something that already exists and instead attempt to make it seem like I’m an undiscovered creature from somewhere deep within the Plane of Darkness, the people that could cause us trouble might not even start to wonder about the Void.”

So instead of pretending to be something normal from the Plane of Darkness, you’ll be something weird that they don’t know of in the first place, so they don’t have any reason to suspect you’re an entirely different thing. I suppose that makes sense, but what are you going to do about appearance? The whole mouths-and-eyes everywhere shtick is honestly a dead giveaway that you’re an eldritch creature.

“Working on that as well,” Henry said. “I’d be more concerned about Sylph. You’ve got to have a companion to manifest one, and she doesn’t.”

“Henry says that he’s got some ideas on my end,” Damien said. “I’ll have to look into exactly what manifesting a companion involves, but I should be okay. What are you going to do, though?”

“I’m not sure,” Sylph said with a pensive frown. “I could pass off the weapons I can create out of my flesh as the manifestation, but I think we’re expected to be able to do more than that. I literally don’t have a companion, so if I’m expected to bring out some little creature, I’m out of luck.”

“What was your plan when you first joined the school?” Damien asked, cocking his head. “You had an artifact then. That’s hardly alive.”

“I didn’t have much of one in that regard,” Sylph admitted. “I had no idea that we had to manifest our companions. I really didn’t know much about the college at all. It was just an opportunity to escape what remained of my master’s influence.”

Damien crossed his arms and sighed. “I see. We need to figure something out, then. That starts with figuring out exactly what ‘manifesting our companion’ would entail. Shall we drop by the library?”

“I was about to suggest the same,” Sylph said, hopping to her feet. “We can stop by for some food on the way back as well.”

“What a coincidence,” Damien said, a grin tugging at his lips. “I was about to suggest the same.”

Henry made a gagging noise within Damien’s mind. “You’re both so lame.”

Says the eldritch creature using modern slang.

Damien hid a laugh as Henry muttered an insult at him, drawing back into the back of his psyche. He stood up and followed Sylph out the door towards the library.

Their trip went unimpeded, and it didn’t take them long at all to find something of interest in the library. As soon as they walked up to one of the podiums at the front of the huge building, a portly man greeted them with a kind smile.

“What can I help you with today?”

“We’re looking for a book that covers some information about manifesting our companions,” Damien said.

“Ah,” the librarian said with a small chuckle. “Year Twos getting ahead of the curve, are you? That’s always commendable. You aren’t the first to ask, but luckily Blackmist has quite a few copies of the book you’re looking for. It goes out of stock pretty quickly every year.”

As he spoke, the librarian inched out from behind his stand and hopped to the ground beside them. He started into the endless aisles of books, Damien and Sylph trailing behind him.

“We only need one, if that would help,” Damien said. “We’re roommates.”

“Ah. How polite of you. That will certainly help, and I’m sure someone will appreciate the notion,” he said, reaching a shelf near the front and snapping his fingers. Faint golden motes of energy fluttered out from his fingers, rising up to a book at the top of the shelf and pulling it free. The book floated down into Damien’s hands.

“That book should handle everything required in Year Two,” the librarian said. “Is there anything else I can help you with?”

“That’s it for now,” Damien said. “Thank you.”

The librarian nodded, returning to his position at the podium. Damien turned the book over in his hands. It was bound in hard leather and wasn’t particularly thick. The plain title on the front read, “Manifestation”.

Their prize in hand, Damien and Sylph returned to their room. Mark glanced up at them from within his room as they passed, giving Damien a slight nod as he passed. There was no sign of the Gray siblings.

Once they were inside, Damien sat down on his bed, flipping the book open. Sylph sat down close beside him and peered over his arm.

The books contents were rather simple. It was split into two main sections. The first was figuring out how to communicate properly with your companion in order to form a strong enough connection to manifest them in the Mortal Plane, and the second one was the practical requirements for it.

Damien flipped straight to the second half, skimming through it. It wasn’t good news. Like Sylph had feared, they were expected to manifest their companion in two main ways. The first was a combat mode, which was what Jayce had used against him in their fight. The second, and more difficult, was a full manifestation of the companion independent of the summoner.

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The more he read, the harder it got to pay attention to the book in his hands. Sylph was pressed against his right arm and the top of her head was only a few inches below his face as she squinted closer at the book.

“Stop that,” Henry complained. “You’re not the only one that has to live in your head. I don’t need your teenage hormones in here.”

Damien flushed, flicking Henry back with a small application of mental energy. His companion’s muted laughter faded as Damien blocked him out.

“Are you okay?” Sylph asked, straightening back up and glancing away from the book at him.

“Yeah,” Damien said. “Just Henry being, well, Henry.”

Sylph nodded her understanding, then returned her attention to the book in his hands. She flipped the page, letting out a pensive hum, and continued reading. For a moment, Damien considered offering her the book since she was completely blocking his line of sight of it.

She inched closer, muttering under her breath as she flipped to the next page. Damien decided it would probably be best if he held onto it.

They remained there for several minutes as Sylph flipped through the rest of the book. She then straightened with a sigh, flopping back on Damien’s bed and letting out a groan. “I’m in trouble. There are ways to get around the combat form, but not the normal manifestation.”

“And I don’t think somehow figuring out a way to manifest what remains of the corruption within you is a good idea,” Damien agreed. He rubbed the bridge of his nose. “Maybe Dredd will give you an exception?”

“I don’t think they’ve got the power to do that,” Sylph said, scrunching her nose. “Especially not with how much Whisp knows about us. We don’t need to give her any more weapons. No, I need to find a way to actually manifest something. The book said that companions often don’t actually communicate verbally, so it can be borderline braindead, but it can’t be inanimate.”

Damien flopped back beside her. “What if you just summoned a companion?”

“What?”

“You know, with a summoning circle,” Damien said. “It’s not like you have one, right? So, hypothetically, couldn’t you summon one?”

Sylph turned her head to look at him. Damien could feel her breath on the side of his neck as she considered his words. “Is that possible? I thought Hen, ah, your friend said that I didn’t have the space to do it or something.”

Damien swallowed, gathering his wits back as he prodded Henry.

“Must you do this now?” Henry asked. “And yes, I was listening. You can block me out, but I can’t do the same to you while I’m inside your body. As for Sylph, it’s… complicated. It’s possible that she could summon a companion, so long as it wasn’t too powerful. It depends on how much room her soul has knocking around.”

It’s based on magical energy, right?

“That’s a rough way to state it, but largely,” Henry said. “Magical energy is just a numerical way to state how much brain power you have. Splitting your attention to maintain multiple spells at once – that’s magical energy. The stronger your soul is, the larger it is and the more you can do.”

So is there a way we can figure out if Sylph’s soul is big enough to handle a companion?

“Yes,” Henry said after a moment. “Normally, I would just go into her body and inspect it. That is no longer a good idea. When I rebuilt her with the Corruption, her mental defenses were significantly improved as a byproduct. Pair that with her core–”

Wait, I know the rune circle is still on her, but shouldn’t her core have been repaired when it evolved?

“No. It was partially healed, but damage like that doesn’t fix itself that easily. It takes time. Her core can still shatter if it isn’t allowed to fully heal. Now, as I was saying, if you want me to take a look at her soul and see if it can accommodate anything else without popping like an overfilled pastry, you’re going to have to bring her into your mental space.”

I can do that?

“I suppose I spoke incorrectly,” Henry said, letting out a dramatic sigh. “I’m the one that has to bring her in. But inviting someone into your mental space isn’t exactly the same as visiting it yourself. Don’t forget, you’ll be in complete control, and souls are vulnerable outside of their bodies. You have to take care not to accidentally injure her.”

I’m not going to be flinging magic around for no reason, but I’ll keep that in mind. No training in my head. Can you do it, then?

“I wouldn’t have told you about it if I couldn’t,” Henry grumbled. “I’m taking over.”

Damien only had a moment to prepare before Henry’s chilled presence pushed him to the side as his companion took over his body. He stiffened, then let out a sigh.

“Henry?” Sylph asked, sitting up a little.

“Damien came to me for help,” Henry said, commandeering Damien’s mouth. “We’re going to find out if you can handle anything else in that battered vessel of a body you’ve got.”

“Okay,” Sylph said. “What do I do?”

“Just keep your eyes closed and lie down,” Henry said. “I’ll be bringing you inside Damien’s head for a bit. Try not to trip over anything weird, and don’t touch anything pointy.”

Sylph nodded and laid back down. Henry sent a tendril of mental energy out, touching it to Sylph’s head. Her body instinctively resisted his power, but Henry crushed the girl’s mental defenses and pressed inwards.

It only took a few moments for him to make contact with the shimmering white spark that was her soul. Henry supposed that having built a large portion of her body had made it easier to navigate.

Her soul was wreathed in crackling green and black flame that made it impossible to make any details out. Henry wrapped the entire thing with a blanket of energy, then slowly formed a connection with Damien’s soul. He took extra care to make sure no energy could flow down the line, as he didn’t want to accidentally crush her with the unfathomable weight of an eldritch creature’s soul.

As soon as he finished the connection, a translucent white line formed between their heads. Both of their bodies went slack. Damien felt the world blink out as he appeared on the grassy hill he’d grown used to. Henry appeared before him in his shadowy form and, a moment later, Sylph shimmered into being on the grass behind him, completely naked. Damien’s eyes widened and he flicked his hand. Her usual clothes formed around her before she could even roll over or stand up.

“Forgot about that part,” Damien said, his cheeks bright red. “I’m sorry.”

“Oh, spare me,” Henry said with a groan. “I was in the way, you didn’t see anything. Let’s just get on with this and skip the uncomfortable part, shall we?”

“It’s fine,” Sylph said, pushing herself upright and looking around. “So, how do we do this?”

“I’m already getting started,” Henry said. “All you have to do is sit here and not bother me for a few moments. This first part is a bit intricate.”

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