Rennish looked at the door as soon it was closed and blew a raspberry at it. He sat down on the ground outside it and pouted. Ed walked away from the door and looked around. He had no idea where they were and guessed his magic map would be useless in a land not traveled by humans.
The cave door they had come from was a large, hot sandy region of somewhere. The sand was almost gold-colored and scraggly excuses for trees popped up in groups clinging to life. Ed saw no clouds in the sky and no signs of animals. It was the perfect place to put a door no one would use without a purpose.
"They just dumped us in the most forsaken part of the world and told us to have fun?" Rennish said out loud. "What jerks. And they wonder why I want to be human again so badly. I can CHOOSE to ignore them then." He was picking up small rocks and chucking them into the sands watching the dirt pop into the air. Sweat was already forming on his forehead.
"Quit whining Rennish. We can't do anything about it now. Thankfully they let us keep what we had on us. We barely made it out of that chapel with our hides." Ed said still walking back and forth looking for anything that suggested which way to get to civilization. With no signs of anything near them, Ed walked over to Rennish and sat down next to him before he put his satchel in his lap. He rummaged through looking for anything that might help.
The map they had purchased from Plim in CunStead had moved its image, but they were so far out that no roads or landmarks were present. It might be useful later, but not now. Their clothes and other items from the Inn were in his bag now and a small package wrapped in the shimmering white paper. Ed put it on the ground and looked around for anything else. A small container of water and a small sack with "Lunch" written on it was the only other items he found that was new. His coin purse was still inside its pocket and significantly more coins were there than he remembered.
He opened up the "Lunch" sack and found two sandwiches and what looked like a carrot. He put them back in the bag and took a sip of the water. It was cold and tasted slightly of lemon. It seemed to stay the same weight no matter how much he drank, and he was thankful for that. It was a cheat of sorts but at least they wouldn't shrivel up and die.
The small package ended up being a wooden box. Horribly inconvenient but it was some kind of cedar which was good for storing paper. It was resistant to humidity changes and kept paper from drying up or rotting. They were kept for important document storage in homes in wetter climates. Several pages laid inside along with a compass, and Ed started with the first page.
"Dearest E,
Below are some instructions on how to use your magic in case a useless excuse for a spirit fails again. I have locked him into his human form since he seems bent on being as selfish as possible. Maybe fear of death and dismemberment will motivate him to become more useful.
Be careful with the compass. It is known as "The Way Finder". It was crafted a long time ago by a soul in the land you are in now and gifted to me. If you put mana or divine energy into it and think of what you are looking for you will be directed to it. Be clear and concise on what you are looking for. The finder, like all magic, will lead you astray if you do not bind its contract as tightly as possible or look for something that might have more than one meaning.
Attached is a list of the other 14 souls. Please memorize them as you will run into these people. Your souls will be attracted to others like souls so don't worry about using the finder. You have no way of knowing the distance of anything with it, only the direction.
Finally, there is home towards the setting sun from where you stand. It is outside of town but prepared for your visit. Remember not to judge when you meet the people of the south. They were souls created just like yours mostly. Some were created in other ways and you will know them when you see them. Think of me if you need me and I will come as soon as possible.
Expectantly,
Y"
He folded the note and looked at the list of names. The first was obvious and he scanned the rest...
Darby Lenice
Fort'en Kirgas
Loran Lovelass
Edwin Zachary
Ko'Loss
The Dirge
Joust VanKarsten
Lilianne Morasse
Morgan Firrenze
Ostrand Bertrize
Fellias FooPaas
Torlad BlancPaas
Minos BlackPass
El-Priyam Jorgensen
--------------------
The names were normal enough, he would have to be careful to memorize the names, so he didn't miss them when he met them. He had hoped for an age, or race, or something so he would be asking every Morgan or Fellias he met if they were gifted…
EmPriyam, that name made him wonder though. Could it have meant Priya? She never mentioned her name as anything other than Priya so he dismissed it as mere circumstance. He packed up everything else, tucked the papers back in the box, and they put the Finder inside the pocket where his coin purse lay. Unless you knew of it you would never be able to get into that pocket as it was sealed magically.
He stood up and dusted his pants. He looked over at Rennish who was still fussing over rocks and complaining about the heat. He had been the whole time Ed was reading but he ignored him. He couldn't tolerate it because, at this point, he was not in any position to fully control what was happening. The best course of action was forward.
"Goodness Gracious man, be quiet," Ed said, putting his hand out to pull Rennish upright. "Yes, your human now. Yes, you must suffer like the rest of us. You got what you wanted, didn't you? Human form?"
Rennish stood up and undid the cord that tied his shirt together and pulled it out of pants, allowing it to billow out as the wind blew, cooling him with the breeze. "Listen, Ed, you can't trust a word they say. I KNOW these people better than you. If you could remember EVERY life you had lived right now you would know better than to fully trust what they are doing."
"I get that Rennish but we can only move forward. And you are supposed to teach me something anyway." Ed said wiping the dust off Rennish back.
"Yeah, yeah I will teach you that. It will be harder in this form, but I can still do it. You have to learn to take what they say with a grain of salt. Especially Ysennia. She is the goddess of creation and destruction. She loves all creation, but she also loves destruction. Bear that in mind when you talk to her. She will enjoy the end of you as much as the beginning."
"Okay, deal. We have what looks to be a few-days walk towards the rising sun. She has set up some kind of arrangement for us and told us to head there." Ed pointed away from the sun and towards what looked like the more hostile path to take.
And they headed off, Rennish finally taught Ed how to manage his powers. He gave him small things to practice and because he was slightly better than average according to his soul, he picked it up faster than most. When Ed focused his power on being intelligent or a mage, he learned these faster and he was not wasting that ability. That ability to buff himself up by focusing his power into one attribute or another was the first thing he had really learned.
He mastered how to do small things like light fires. How to channel his power into his hands and other areas to pinpoint where divine power or magic would go. He learned the difference between mana and divine power. Divine power was taken from the energy of the cosmos. It was the creation magic that could make things out of nothing. Mana was the magic that created life. With divine powers, he could make a golem, but without the ability to impart mana to it, it would stay a doll forever.
Ed had the ability to store up both, he was a capacitor of sorts, a battery of powers according to Rennish, and his storage was large. That was part of why the candle incident was such a problem. Rennish knew of this and admitted he hoped Ed would have figured that out on his own so he could go on just being a visitor and not really have to work like this.
Rennish admitted he was petty and jealous in life and as a spirit. His life before had been hard but he was gifted as a creator because of his natural attunement to the cosmic powers. He had taken the offer from Golliad as a spirit because he thought it would have been easier than living. He was wrong and found the divine to be driven taskmasters. Because they lived solely on Divine powers, they lacked real mana and therefore lacked life. Only when a divine being was corporeal, and therefore fed with mana and divine magic did they develop human emotions and feelings. And most of them had been human spirits so long ago they forgot things like empathy and joy. Only the job fulfilled them, and they felt no need to have those emotions any longer.
Ed practiced taking a small handful of sand and turning it into pebbles. He would then use mana and compress it between his finger and the pebble to shoot it at the small shrub trees and other rocks as practice controlling his flow of either. When he could master small amounts of either he could work on larger things. But Rennish swore he would never the world's greatest because again he was destined to be only slightly better than average.
"What does that mean, only slightly better than average" Ed asked while they sat for lunch one day. The sandwiched replenished every day giving them one proper meal they didn't have to hunt for themselves.
"Just what it means, slightly better than average," Rennish said with his mouthful. Hunger was one thing he was not glad to have back and was grumpy when not full, so he ate like a pig when possible.
"But slightly better than who?"
"I don't know Ed, just slightly better than average. You have to find that out or decide or something I don't know. Divine powers and magic are weird. The person who defined that for you set your limit. You may be better than a group of 5-year olds or a group of aged sages. You will have to find out." Rennish wiped his mouth with his thumb and then licked the crumbs off. He was not going to waste anything.
"You really are useless. You specialized in creation; you should know how to tell." Ed said between bites. The sandwich was filling, made with spiced meats and mustard, unlike anything they had eaten before.
"Yeah well, I need to see the original scroll and be in my spirit form to get some kind of idea. But then it's only a general idea and that copy you have won't work. That's just a normal copy. Nothing magical about it."
----------------
A final day's walk led them to an Oasis where a house stood in the middle of nowhere. It was the same color gold as most of the sand around them and almost blended in, like a mirage. It was mostly two stories, but a third smaller addition sat on top in the center of the roof. It had logs made of a wood that had died off or been driven extinct earlier, that made up the edges and the middle areas were a stucco. It looked ancient but inviting and because they had been wandering for multiple days, they would have welcomed a tent or even an overhang of rocks.
They walked up to the front door and saw light inside the windows. When they opened the door, they found that it wasn't really a house but an Inn of some kind maybe? The letter E was engraved on each door and the image of a candle and a lute formed a crest in the middle of each door. It was unsettling to Ed but he couldn't put his finger on why.
"Welcome expected guest!" said the man behind the counter. He was dark-skinned and covered in a dark dusting of fur. He had features reminiscent of a bull but still had human features as well. And he was stark nude. If not for the counter Ed would have seen more than he expected that day.
"Thank you?" Ed said, trying to hide his visible confusion. "Reservations for two, I think."
"Yes, you have a guest waiting in your lounge. You will need a bath and a new wardrobe has been sent ahead Master Erust. Welcome back from your pilgrimage." The desk man said pointing up the large staircase. "My name is MiNoosh. I am your humble servant here and pleased to be the first to see you after so long away."
"Thank you, I am glad to be back from the desert. I need to bath and make myself presentable. Can you show me to my room?" Ed said.
"What room? There is only one room here, your room. This building was made just for this day. It was commanded by the heralds that you would appear here and that here, you would recuperate from the time away from the world. I have built-in everything you may need to readjust. My room is here, behind this counter, and towards the kitchen. You will find a servant upstairs and anything you may need. Your traveling companion has been given a space across from yours as a courtesy to you Master Erust. Please be at peace now." MiNoosh said with reverence of one who was devoutly following instructions.
"Thank you MiNoosh." Replied Rennish before Ed could say anything, leaning in over his shoulder. "Has anything been left for us?"
"Yes, in your rooms each a large container has been stored according to the instructions. Please open it and make yourself comfortable. Anything you need will be taken care of. Welcome to your home in these lands." He bowed to Ed and faced away from them.
Ed was suddenly worried. Something was very off. He had the feeling that the gods had messed with something again that he was not going to like what he found.
Up the stairs, the house was split in the middle by a hallway. It was larger than he expected inside and the door on the right had an E on it while the left door had an R on it. The E door was far grander than R door which looked like it was made for a servant of high status but not someone important.
Ed correctly assumed the E door was his and walked in. Inside the large room, a tub made of marble sat on one side of the room towards the oasis. Flowers floated in the water and oils and towels lined the sides. A bed with linen covers and pillows sat on the other side of the room. In the middle, a large chest sat sealed and dusty. It was the only dusty thing in the room as if MiNoosh was afraid to even touch it. Everything else in the room was hand made and opulent.
Rennish investigated his room and found a similar setup but everything was obviously less opulent than Ed's room. He had a tub made of wood and hammered copper, a bed that was comfortable, but sheets made of a more common woven cloth. And in the center stood a small chest, undisturbed and surrounded by chairs.
As Ed walked to his chest a young feminine figure appeared from the back of the room near his bed and spoke to him. "Erust, you have returned home after a long time away. I have drawn you a bath on the promised day of your return." She walked to him and began to remove his jacket and bag. "Please let me help you clean yourself and prepare you for your visitor."
Ed nearly jumped from his skin and looked with surprise at the sultry voice. She was dark-skinned and wearing nothing as well, but she was also not fully human. She had the face and features of a beautiful woman with sandy colored hair that fell down past her ears. Her body was curved and arranged much like a human woman. But she was covered in sand-colored fur with a short, bobbed tail and tufts of black fur between her fingers and toes. She looked like she was part desert lynx or some other feline meant for this kind of environment. Ed was surprised but realized her cat-like part must have been what made her so silent. She had human feet but she must have the toe pads of a cat.
"Oh, uh yes, but I can help myself. Please turn around until I am in the tub and you can help clean me then." He had no desire to offend her and came up with the quickest compromise he could think of.
"Yes, master, as you desire." She said softly with a look on her face that almost said she was disappointed. "Call me Ashra, Master Erust. There is much you must catch up on."