Orfal now found himself back in the body of a dwarf. Every bit of his spirit body matched that of physical one aside from it glowing fiery blue and being transparent.
Orfal was inside the spirit void. It contained a deep darkness all around with sparse glowing dwarf spirits floating about. Each spirit was moving in likeness to their mortal body.
Some sanity started to return to Orfal. He was actually seeing the bodies of every dwarf on the submarine. He looked up and recognized his fellow coal worker shoveling coal into the furnace.
The fellow worker above him was also openly cursing and complaining about the other dwarf who did not show up for his shift but Orfal could not hear those complaints in his spirit form.
'I must be close to returning to my real body, but how?' Orfal thinks to himself. 'Maybe that book is somewhere around here.'
Orfal scanned other parts of the void and saw dwarf spirits hauling cargo, steering the submarine, cooking food and even fornicating. His blue spirit blushed as his gaze lingered on the last pair of dwarfs, tightly embracing each other.
He even could start to spot a smaller spirit body form on the female dwarf's body as blue spirit particles were exchanged between the two lovers. The small third spirit seemed to be in a transition phase of being created. It would taking on the form of a tai chi symbol in one moment then turn into a variety of nature runes in the next.
Orfal shakes his spirit head to snap out of the distraction and continues his search. A moment later he finds his target. The mysterious book that caused this bizarre out of body experiece was right below him.
The book had attached a chain to Orfal's waist. It was holding him above a shattered area in the void that looked like a cracked window. Orfal focused on the book's cover and noticed the runes had changed to something unreadable. The runes were somewhat dwarvish but nothing like the dialect used by colony tribes. His gaze did not last long on it though because behind the book through the shattered void window he saw his mortal body.
'what in Nastrond(1) is going on here,' utters a baffled Orfal.
His mortal body is bending its legs in a squatting position that Orfal would never have thought possible to sustain. His arms keep striking parts of his body in a rythmic pattern almost as if Sindri himself was hammering out a masterpiece forge. Then to top it all off his lungs are drawing in deep breaths of scorching heat that never seem to be exhaled out. All this was followed by blasts of dark steam bursting out every pore on his body making him look like a dwarf sized volcano.
'This book has turned me into a furnace!'
Orfal could sense a natural pull on his spirit to return to his mortal body but the chain prevented him from succumbing to it. So with nothing else to do he keeps observing his body hammer on itself.
Over time he notices a pattern to the strikes hitting his body. First every muscle on his body would be hit, then the joints and finally it would hammer on forty two pressure points before stopping. At the end this cycle of hitting a spark of golden light would illuminate in Orfal's body and start traveling throughout his blood stream. Then the pattern would start again with hitting his muscles.
Once three sparks appeared inside of his mortal body they merged at his heart then exploded outward to every inch of his skin. For a moment Orfals mortal body looked like his skin was painted gold. Then the sparks burned out and the gold on his skin turns into black flecks that fell off.
'I wonder if this weird ritual is turning my skin into gold?'
His body resumes hammer itself and this time it creates six sparks. The sparks again merge in the heart and spread outward but differently this time. The sparks travel through every blood vessel in his body. It looked surreal, almost as if Orfal's body was cracking like a dropped porcelain doll.
The sparks reach Orfal's outermost vessels then push out and cover his entire body. Now his body looks like a solid golden statue. When the sparks burn out the gold on his skin again turns black and falls off. This time a small pile of dark chunks is piling up around his feet. And the hammering resumes.
Three sparks, then six, and finally nine sparks in total are created. Each spark appearing after the sixth caused Orfals body to glow like a piece of iron warming up in a furnace. Orfal's body now looks similar to when an ignot approachs its melting point.
The nine sparks merge quickly but are met with great resistance as they start to spread outward. Orfal's spin is the first place they push into. Then his ribs, arms, legs, and finally his skull. A golden dwarf skeleton surrounded by a glowing body make a specticle that leaves Orfal astonished.
Orfal's spirit body starts to resonate with the state of the mortal one and it too turned golden all over and shone. The natural pull his spirit had to return to its mortal body changed--as if some barrier between it with his mortal body had been taken down.
The sparks on Orfal's mortal body eventually burned out and his body is left entirely covered in black scale, like a cast iron statue. The golden glow of his spirit body also dims. Suddenly the black scale on his mortal body brakes off reveiling a stunning dwarf figure that gives off an aura of majesty and strength. His natural skin tone also took on a slight golden hue.
'If I haven't seen it for myself I wouldn't believe my body could ever possess such, might!' glees a cheerful Orfal.
The dark chain attached to Orfal starts to slowly vibrate then shakes faster as a glowing black spirit leaves Orfal's mortal body and flows up the chain, entering the mysterious book.
Orfal is now staring at the book in excitement. He hopes he will finally be able to communicate with whatever being lives inside the book.
'@#$%! Who stole all my spirit power!' shouts an angry voice from the book.
Suddenly a cold shiver runs through Orfal's spirit body as he recalls the actions of his little wills during his time trapped inside his spirit realm.
[1] Nastrond- One of the hells, lair of the dragon Nidhogg that devours the wicked souls trapped there.