1

  I was in no condition to keep pushing myself like I was, but as I kept digging, that exhaustion started to fade, along with my eyes. I was starting to fall asleep, I wasn’t sure what would happen if I did that now, again. I wasn’t sure if I’d wake up again, I wasn’t sure if I would be killed in my sleep, or fail Jupiter…

  As my consciousness started to fade, my body weakened, energy from the magic soaked my skin as I fell to the dirt. As I was on the brink of collapse, I saw something strange, was that a hand? I blinked a couple times, the energy was slowly taking form in a hand and had reached out back to me, I didn’t hesitate… I grabbed his hand.

  Magic left behind wasn’t supposed to have a will of its own, simply attaching itself to the closest person, but this is the second time that something like this has happened before, like the magic choosing me.

  As I grabbed the hand, I remembered…

  Before, with Orthosie, the man who jumped to his own death. Both spirits moved of their own will to attach to me, it was like a strange force of nature that propelled both of them, yet, it could have only been their own will. I was chosen by these two, considering the rest of the people in this graveyard were meant for me, who was I to be given this much responsiblility? to have this much faith in? who was I before I could remember who I was?

  My ears were ringing and my body was numb, only my vision stayed clear, but even my eyes started to burn and burn. This would be the third time I had absorbed magic into my body, supposedly you weren’t supposed to feel a thing, but I knew what it felt like so vividly, the throbbing in your head and the sting of pain, the feeling of fullness but the weight of a human life, I felt it all.

  I couldn’t form words, but I could still think.

  Something was wrong, I have moved on instinct or due to reflexes before, but this was different…

  2

  My body was distinctly not my own, I had nearly become foreign to my own body, instead, magic swelled and filled the gaps, it pushed my lungs giving them air, so much that I coughed out dust and dirt. My muscles were unknotted and my blood was cleansed, I could feel every inch of my body like it was dying and growing, even excess bodily fluids were expelled, I had been rejuvenated, in a sense, but it was just my body being forced to move in impossible ways, tearing some things but working faster, better, tying itself back together…

  I took a back seat in my own mind, I suspected this was the true extent magic could take, a manifestation of the soul held so much power, I felt like I was just being used as a catalyst for it. Magic grew in a torrent around the graveyard, in the distance I could see Jupiter shielding Europa as the wind picked up its speed. Soon enough it grew sharp enough to pierce the spirits, small as sharp threads of wind rending their blessed forms, and as more fell, magic started to soak the ground, rising from their graves.

  It was difficult to navigate my mind, the magic had swelled to deeply within it, leaving me with little space to myself. Each one of these swellings of magic was once a person, one who had gained consciousness, I could not blame them for wanting to hold onto any other scrap of it they could, but I needed my mind back, I had never heard of someone’s magic taking over another’s body, but maybe I was just that weak. Searching and searching brought me nothing, I needed to look deeper, but there was an answer in front of me already...

  Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

  Approaching me was a man, he had no defining features, let alone a face, but I couldn't have known what he looked like anyways, after all I had never seen him while he was alive. The only reason I could see him now is because I needed to "Ferryman, I have something I need to repay you for" I heard his voice, but it could have been anyone's, I couldn't have known what he sounded like. But.. I knew, I knew it was that man, Orthosie.

  "Consciousness took its toll on me, without anyone I could talk to I slowly grew mad... but in here, so many voices and souls, it all became so overwhelming." I let him keep talking, I was not making any progress with my mind, and it was best to hear out the words of a dead man, supposedly. "You've given me my home Ferryman, and for that I give you a terribly useless magic, but it's what you need to get your body back, I hope I'm of use to you, Ferryman"

  Magic is rarely a thing you can intuit, I would not be surprised if someone could never find out what someone's magic is after they gain it. Apparently, some people just weren’t compatible with each other and the magic would reject the body, so magic was often passed down only to people with similar values or relatives, few cases were known that magic would be passed to a murderer which was one small miracle we were all thankful for.

  Still, what was it that let me use it so easily? I did not even know these people, they just… trusted me.

  3

  "Eject.” My body became my own in an instant, I had found the problem, one large heap of magic that refused to give up the reigns. After reclaiming my body, it was racked with fatigue, but somehow in the best shape it’s ever been, my mind drifted to the time one person I had saved from a demon, a massage, apparently my body was difficult to fix because I was bigger than other people… but mostly because I didn’t take off my armor…

  For some reason the thought was a little funny now, but the idea of taking my armor off still scared me, and the longer I didn’t the less I wanted to do it, I had become comfortable living in my unreachable shell, but magic generated from my own body was the only thing to reach the inside, a place even demons couldn’t reach, it was the only thing that could really affect me… it made me think of Jupiter, nothing seemed to affect him, inside that huge block of armor could magic even reach him?

  My mind wandered, but I had to reign it back in.

  The wind had died down and surrounded me was a multicolored array of lights flowing from the ground into the sky, and in front of me was a sprit, much like the ones from my blessing, but this one was different, it had a face.

  The shape of a man became clearer, so did the large feathered hat and pickaxe on his person, long flowing fur clothes and a face with sharp features and a stubble of a beard. He had a wild appearance, but something about this man filled me with emotion, like nothing before, out of the corner of my eye I could see Europa recoil and Jupiter step back in shock, clearly this man was a force to be reckoned with.

  I spoke. "I'm sorry but I couldn't let you control my body like that, use that temporary form I gave you to act out your desires" I couldn’t read him at all, he looked over at those two, and then at me, his eyes narrowing.

  "..."

  It was clear that he wanted to speak, he had no weapon drawn, only that strange huge pickaxe, I made an attempt to talk to them again. "I don't have any memory of taking your magic, do you know what happened?" He lowered his stance "...", what was he trying to say?, Jupiter made no movements, so I stood my ground, with some distance between us I was ready to take on this spirt. "Elias" it spoke, my name no less "Oh how big you've gotten"

  "..."

  Who was this?, they know who I am, was I someone to them? "I'll make of this form what I can, Elias, find me, find my body, I know you can do it, no one else can." With that, the sprit turned and left. With only one last remark.

  "Elias, take care of Europa"