Chapter 78: Book 2 Chapter 24: Life Support

Author's note

Another new subscriber to welcome, slipped in just hours before it was time for this chapter to go up. Let's all welcome Remigius to the club!

Aerien’s POV

My mind was in a bit of a haze. It is very easy to loose track of time in a place like this. Gaerien had said that we were getting close to the capital, but from how she was talking it sounded like it would be at least another day. Well, it felt like only a few hours had passed since that conversation when I felt, rather than saw, a very strange thing going on inside of this space.

Something about this exhilarated me. I could feel my spirit quake as I detected a strange energy. It reminded me of when I went to the main dojo in Japan and studied under the grand master. It was THAT kind of energy. It terrified me, but I could also tell there was no hostility from it. Despite the fact I felt as though it could destroy me at any moment, something about this feeling just made my heart dance and a smile spread on my lips.

This had to be her, right? That queen is doing something right now. It feels like her energy is piercing right into me. It is less like being enveloped and more like getting stabbed by a blade.

She must have a crazy amount of spirit energy. That’s the cause of this sort of thing, right? I had always been aware of some kind of strange sensations in my previous life. A strange tingling of energy on me. I knew I was not alone in this sensation. Everyone has known the feeling of being watched. Most people dismiss these feelings, but once I started to pay more attention I could begin to determine a lot more from these sensations. Things like whether a person had good or bad intentions. Things like how much of an overall threat a person was if we were to get in a fight. I had never really known the basis behind these sensations until Gaerien had told me.

All of it comes from spirit energy. Spirit energy carries people’s thoughts. It carries their intentions. All activities of the brain are manifested as spirit energy. On Earth, this energy was so incredibly potent that anyone could sense it with relative ease. Here in this world, as an elf, I preserved the ability to still sense this spirit energy despite the quantities being much smaller. This was the first time though I had sensed anything even resembling the high power levels of spirit energy I had sensed from those few people in the world who could utterly destroy me with their bare hands due purely to their superior skill.

As I continued to follow this energy in my mind, I began to notice it was moving around inside of this inner world space. The source of it was out inside of that asteroid field full of ice, magma, and the occasional hurricane right now, and it was rushing straight toward me. I knew she was here to help me, but the presence of such an overwhelming energy triggered something primal in me, and the next thing I knew was the entire world going blue for a moment, before I could see out over the stom again, this time from a much higher vantage point.

As I looked down, I noticed my younger self was no longer in my arms. My arms, though, were now a pale sky blue for some reason. As I looked about a little more, I realized I had somehow become my spirit projection. I closed my eyes and focused the energy flowing through my body into my solar plexus where I knew my younger self still was, and then I turned my head to look the direction I felt the strange intrusive energy coming from.

Before long, a small point of light flew in and approached close to my navel. As I looked closer, I could see something that looked almost like a worm with wings, but it had an angular head and scales covered its body. Not only that, but the small little thing gave off a feeling like it was a hypodermic needle pointed straight at me. It may be small, but if I handled it wrong then it would surely pierce me in a second, and likely do so much more as well.

Alright, I had to calm down. This appearance probably looked impressive, but I am certain a millennia old queen with that kind of power is not going to be impressed by just size. In fact, in a way this could even be seen as rude. I’ve GOT to find a way to calm down and make a proper introduction. Or, should I just greet her first? “So, you must be the queen of the fae I have been hearing about.” The way my voice came out surprised me. My new giant form did not speak, and it was not booming and deep either. Instead, it was my own voice as it was when I was a young man. Well, my age had been reversing since coming into this world, so that’s no surprise. The more surprising thing though is that my voice seemed to be coming from everywhere around us, as though the space itself was talking.

Well then, that ought to show my intentions are not hostile at the very least. Now, to get myself back to my natural state. With a little focus, I managed to dismiss the whole giant form thing and was back in my normal body, still holding my younger self in my arms.

-

Oren’s POV

Oren looked over everything in front of her. As she took in the pattern of the lights and the light streams that flowed from them, she began to see a pattern. She had heard before about the energy pathways anthromorphs used in training their warrior cultivation, as well as a number of points that served as reservoir for that energy. She had never really thought it mattered much to her, but this greatly resembled what she had heard of some of those.

More significantly, the man holding the child was sitting right at the core of the energy structure, and it was very clear there was an immense amount of energy flowing through this system. She had presumed she could likely have taken on that giant before, but as she got a better look at this energy system it became clear it was in a weakened state. All of the immense energies flowing through it were all dedicated to the sole purpose of keeping that child alive.

Well, she did not fully understand what the situation was, but there were two things that were completely clear. The first is that her goal aligned with this entity in front of her. The second was that he was aware of it. From this, she could conclude things ought to progress smoothly from here.

‘Yes, it is as you say. I have come to heal that child’s spirit. Before that though, may I ask who it is that I am addressing?’

“My name, your majesty?” The male spiritual entity responded in all politeness. “Well, you are inside of my spirit, so I suppose that should answer your question. I am Aerien, and so is she.” He says, indicating the child in his arms. “We are two spirits inhabiting the same body. I am not sure what you have been told, but since the incident that caused me to fall into my current state, I have been dedicating all of my attention toward preserving the few remnants of my other half.” After these words, the spirit, the ‘other Aerien,’ directed some tender and sad eyes toward the limp child in his lap. “I survived the incident without harm, but her spirit was battered and destroyed. She has not left my arms for even a moment since that happened.”

Oren was somewhat taken aback by this situation. Two spirits in the same body? This child’s soul just became stranger and stranger. However, from the few intelligible things she could get out of Isanil outside of her frequent and incessant gushing about how amazing the child’s ability to summon energy and how she could make dryads smarter, she had managed to pull out one useful bit of information. This child was the same as the recently arrived greater faeries. They had lived a previous life. Now that she was seeing this spirit in person, she could fully believe it.

That aside, she was also quickly able to see how this situation was greatly tilted in her advantage. ‘I see, so you wish to have my help in reviving your other half?’ She saw his eyebrows twitch at her words.

“How much do you know about how to construct a human spirit, your highness?” He asked, his politeness only just barely present as a formality at this point. “Or rather, elf I mean. An elf’s spirit. That is what she needs. For the best I can tell, it needs to be reconstructed from scratch.”

Well, this is a shrewd individual. He had gotten the angle she was trying to take this down just by hearing her words, and he had taken back momentum in the conversation. He seemed to have a level of awareness that was far higher than those others. The only humans she had ever met like this were kings and ambassadors. Well, he was a cultivator of the previous world, an existence that was apparently so rare as to be unheard of and unknown in that world. Of course he ought to be a bit sharper.

‘Do you know how to construct a spirit from scratch, as you say?’ She decided to turn it back around on him.

“I do, I created the entire manifestation I am currently sitting inside from the energy of heaven that was running through my younger side’s spirit at the time. I am certain I can do the same for her using the same energy that is running through my own. It may be a little more difficult, but I have previous experience doing it.”

So, it sounds as though he has some real skill in spirit crafting. Impressive. ‘If you are that capable of it, I presume the reason you have not done so already is for fear of what will happen to that child if she is left alone?’

“It is as you have deduced, your majesty.”

‘Well, if that is the case, this may be a far easier operation that I had presumed upon entering into your spirit. Very well, I will play no more insulting games with you. Once this is finished, you shall belong to me. As you had clearly realized, I was attempting to extract an oath from you as a condition of providing my assistance. However, I have judged you worthy, and I am certain someone as intelligent and capable as yourself will not do anything foolish. If you leave the child’s spirit in my care, I will provide the energy necessary to sustain her while you begin the process of repairing her.’

The other Aerien before her did not say a word. He merely unfolded his legs and took a standing position as he held the child spirit in his arms. With this sign of acceptance, Oren flew into the torso of the phantasmal giant, and then into the core of it’s energy structure. She was immediately bathed in the warm and powerful energy. It was turbulent, and definitely not a pure example of any one type of energy. It was mana, it was also spirit energy, she could even feel the corrupted arcane energy within the mix along with what seemed to be other energies she had never heard of or even felt before.

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She had wondered if she would have the power to maintain the child as he had been without nearly draining herself and loosing so much of her power that she fell below the royal level. However, if she was allowed to stay inside of this energy core, she could surely replenish herself even as she poured her energy into this child. It was surely not going to be at this same level of intensity once he began to redirect the majority toward forming a new spirit for the child, but it would still be just enough to allow her to maintain herself, and she could certainly request to recieve a bit more of this energy to restore herself after the entire procedure is complete.

As she drew closer to the pair, she was quickly becoming aware of the large difference in their current manifestations as compared to the physical world. The two of them were far far larger than they were in the physical world. In this world, your size was a manifestation of your relative strength. In that sense, this energy giant that completely dwarfed her size was likely a manifestation of the nearly infinite energy this child was able to summon, while the two more autonomous spirits that resembled their physical form were still smaller than oren was. However, they were not quite as much smaller than her as the child’s physical form.

Back in the physical world, if she was not careful it was possible for her to accidentally inhale an anthromorph through her nose and barely even notice. It may be a crude point of comparison. The manifestations inside of here would be capable of hugging her nose and sticking an entire arm inside her nostril, but their body was in no danger of making it inside even if they crawled in head first. It might be a highly crude way to compare, but it was easy to understand. Oren may have lived a long time and had great knowledge, but she still preferred explanations like this that were simple and easy to understand wherever possible.

This child had great power, and was able to call upon an even greater power that greatly exceeded even the royalty level. Indeed, Oren was certain she had not made the wrong decision.

She brought her massive nose up to loom over the pair, and then coiled a section of her body in order to form a large indentation in the center where the girl could be placed. The older spirit looked down and quickly understood, placing the smaller child spirit where she was supposed to go. He continued to hold onto her hand though, even as he laid her body down. Continuing to feed her the energy that was sustaining her.

Without even saying a word to one another, having only just met, the two understood their roles. Oren could see his legs tensing. He was just waiting for the moment she began feeding in her own energy in order to take over the role from him.

‘Unlike you, I do not have an unlimited supply of energy to provide. Once I begin, you will have to act quickly.’

“I understand.” He responded in a stiff all-business tone. It was not a servile tone, it was a lot closer to what one might use with an equal or in a military setting. Short, crisp, and efficient communication.

Oren found all of these subtle shifts in his demeanor interesting. She had been watching anthromorphs for a long time in her seemingly endless life, so she got used to reading the little quirks in their behaviors and what they all meant. This person… he had clearly lead a rather interesting former life. The mere fact he was able to interact in this way with someone of her stature and standing was proof enough of this, but a lot of that could also be the result of his driven desire to save this child.

She let out a long slow breath and turned her head down, and then immediately began pouring her own energy into the child. ‘Ok.’ She said. And, in the next second, his hand let go of the child’s and he immediately vanished. The surrounding energies immediately began to grow more faint. They were still powerful, but they were becoming far less intense. She focused on the spirit body of the small girl, pushing her spirit energy into her. Her nose was beginning to bleed. She could see now why, despite the power he was able to summon, her male half was unable to do anything more than simply preserve her. If she began to break down this quickly even with her support, it meant she really had been very far gone. This made the case both more and less complex than she had imagined going in. It was a task that absolutely required two consciousnesses to address.

She was conscious of some form of bright flash of light not far from this position, but Oren could not spare the attention to see what was happening. The degradation was getting worse. The skin around the sides of the mouth had begun to crack, and blood was now leaking from her eyes as well. The more disturbing part though was that despite the excruciating pain she must be in, the child did not even make a sound or twitch a muscle. She was just a collection of spiritual fragments barely held together by the sheer will of her other half who was absolutely determined not to loose her. She was beginning to gain a whole new appreciation for this man. She was certainly very interested in pulling information from him once this immediate issue was settled.

The child’s already grey skin was beginning to look more like it had the rough cracked appearance of a dark elf at this point. The cracks around the mouth were starting to become open sores, and they were beginning to appear on her hands. Her feet, for some reason, seemed to be spared. There was a second large flash of light. The child’s body twitched.

It’s working! That man is making progress! Motivated by the success of her partner in this effort, Oren began to pour even more of herself into the child. She could feel her own power draining from her. That man had certainly better have the capability of repaying the energy deficit she was putting herself into. If she were left in this state, she would no longer be able to control Isanil as she had been. This was becoming a major gamble.

With a third flash, the degradation slowed. The timing on that was good. Oren was beginning to feel weak from her expenditures. She could sense there was some energy leaking into the child’s system now. However, due to how much she had weakened from the beginning of this process until now, she still needed to concentrate. Until she saw signs of the degradation reversing, she could not afford to assume the child was safe without it. Her arms had become thin enough to see the shape of the bones. With only a little more, the damage could become irreversible. Actually, the damage should have already been irreversible, it truly was a miracle that this child was even alive.

It took a long time. The flashes had stopped, and instead there seemed to be a less intense but now very steady stream of light from outside. Whatever “he” was doing out there, it’s effects were showing. The degradation seemed to be reversing in the same order it started. The bleeding stopped first, the lesions in the skin though took far longer to heal, and the now emaciated form would likely take even longer to recover. However, she was able to finally take a look at what this second spirit living within this body was doing.

One of his hands was in the air, it was receiving a steady beam of light from what seemed to be the head of the energy giant. This energy was being used to work on the new spirit body he was constructing. As for his progress with this task, there were three spheres of light stacked upon one another in front of him, colored blue, indigo, and violet. From the topmost blue sphere, there were energy vessels extending and beginning to form a rough outline of a head, arms, and legs.

There was a look of focused concentration on his face, and then he brought his hands together and turned to receive the energy from the giant with both hands. The moment he was prepared, the energy intensified and it was like he was being attacked by that energy. He received this intense beam however, and compressed it between his hands, before the beam of light finally died off. He was now holding a green sphere of light, which he added to the stack. As soon as this one was introduced, a blue anthromorph shell appeared around the forming energy network, and a pained expression appeared on the child’s face.

This process was repeated, the rate of flashing light increased at this point. This time, it was a yellow sphere. The child gasped and their breathing became intense. An orange sphere was added, the child began moaning and screaming. This caught “his” attention. He looked back at Oren, and more specifically the child, for several long seconds. Finally, he got a determined look on his face and looked back up toward the giant’s face. The intense light did not seem to bother his eyes like it did hers. He received one more blast of light from it, and formed it into the final red sphere among the seven primary energy nexuses that are possessed by anthromorphs.

As soon as this last nexus was put in place, he was back before “the other half” of himself in an instant. Her face, neck, hands, and arms were still covered in now scabbed-over sores, and the blood that had come from her nose and eyes still left tracks across her face. She continued to scream, and was now thrashing about in her pain on Oren’s coiled body.

He did not even seem to hesitate at her ghastly marred and emaciated form. He simply reached out his arms and cradled her, gently breathing assurances to her. He placed his hand on her chest, and Oren could feel the surrounding energy rise and intensify again. Her emaciated arms inflated and returned to normal immediately, and the lesions on her skin were closing at a visible rate. She calmed and relaxed into his arms, and he wiped the blood from her face and then gently held her head to his own chest as the intense energy in this area calmed down and came to a level that Oren presumed is what would be considered “normal” for the inside of the core energy nexus for a manifestation of otherworldly energy that was being channeled through a living being.

“He” let out a sigh of relief. “There is still a lot more work to do, but she should be stable now. Thank you. I really do mean it. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart.”

Indeed, she had made the right call. He seemed to value this other existence within himself quite a bit. Now, time to see if this was all worth it.

Subscribers' comments of the chapter

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