Seth's conscious floated in the world of spirits as he approached the sole light remaining, he tried to see what it was, but I didn't have any form, just an endlessly transforming blob.
("A child of man? Fairly sure it's been a while since we've had one of you here, I wonder, why now?")
A voice emanated from the blob; it was fairly rough sounding yet had an ethereal echo to it.
'It's been a 'while' it says. I wonder how long a 'while' is in spirit terms?'
("Well, now you're here we might as well do this, you who have been given a task by the divine may you do your utmost to achieve it")
"To achieve it? Honestly, it's so vague I have no idea how to do it"
("Surely it can't be that complicated right? Defeat some beast, punish some cursed fellow or save some people from suffering, at least that's the usual stuff")
"If it was that straightforward, I'd have nothing to complain about honestly"
("What? Then what is the task given to you?")
"It's uh, 'To see the world'" Seth said whilst scratching is chin, at this point he noticed his body was in the shape of a normal human only featureless and pure white.
("What kind of rubbish… wait seriously?")
Although the blob had no face it felt like at that moment, his composure broke, and a look of disbelief rose on it.
"Yeah, he didn't really say anything else"
("What in the… what could make one of the divine give out such a st-") It stopped and somehow cleared its throat with a cough.
'What the hell it has a throat?'
("-Vague mission, well it must be because of whatever the state the corporeal world is in so who cares, now then!")
Seth could almost feel the atmosphere around him change at the end of that line.
("Young one, it is customary for a spirit like me to assist the chosen for their divine task, you're definitely lucky being matched with me! From now on we shall be partners, however! My power is not one to be used easily, while I will be there to help you along you must take the majority of the burden yourself, it's to build character!")
'I've been wondering this but how old is this thing, from the way it speaks it sounds like it could be ancient'
("Although I may resemble just a light in your eyes now, that is only because we are in the spirit world; To grant me a physical form I must use your spirit as a medium, thus we must make a pact!")
"And how do we do that?"
("We must first perform a merge of spirits, then tie the origins or the souls as you call it to one another, that is what a spirit pact is!")
Seth could feel his own face grimace at the words 'merge of spirits', after all it had only been a little while ago he almost lost himself to the same thing.
"I almost died doing a merge and now you want me to do it again?!"
("You almost die- wait you didn't attempt to use it on the spirit ley-lines, did you? Are you stupid? Do you wanna' die?!")
"How the hell was I supposed to know what not to do that divine bastard didn't tell me a single thing and just dropped it on my head!"
("'Divine bastard'? Hah that's pretty accurate, but really? This just feels so wrong, normally you'd get at least the basic rundown on spirit magic… something must have happened") the blog stopped shifting in thought for a minute or two before speaking again.
"Don't you know what happened to the world and all? Isn't the spirit world the core of ours?"
("The latter part is correct; however, we do not know what happens in the physical world at all, we exist in different dimensions so we cannot observe it; the only thing connecting the corporeal world to ours is the spirit ley-lines which essentially act as veins")
("Anyway, you don't need to worry about dying when performing a merge with me, it's compared to jumping with a lake knee deep and being a ant in a stormy sea; not even comparable and completely safe")
"Well, if you say so I guess"
("Good, now let's begin")
The blob of light slowly extended a tendril of itself, as this happened Seth also extended his hand until the two touch and began to overlap.
[Spirit Merge Initiated]
Seth could feel his mind be submerged in a different world, it was rough and dark with wind blowing strongly as large crackles and bangs sounded around him, a sense of overwhelming power filled and the feeling of belonging made him proud.
Soon that feeling faded and so did the light of the spirit world, eventually he felt himself return to his body of bones and he heard a system message sound off.
[Spiritual Pact Completed – Storm Emperor]
'What a powerful name! What is he? A tiger? Dragon? Something even better?!'
As his mind ran through his imaginations excitedly his mana vision kicked in and the blue glow returned to his eye sockets, his vision faded in and the caught the sight of something sitting in front of him.
It stood about a meter and a half high, its shining silver fur flowed over its smooth body that featured black stripes that cascaded over it like lightning bolts, it had piercing eyes that had an ethereal gold glow and out its mouth strong looking teeth grew.
Its features clearly fit that of its namesake, it stood proud at its new partner that was observing its glorious form.
'It's almost perfect'
And yet
"And yeeeeet…"
("Well, what do you think of my proud form? I bet you're shocked out of your pants!")
"Correct me if i'm wrong, but aren't you…"
Seth almost wanted to hold the words back in his non-existent throat
"A Capybara?"
("Correct you have some great knowledge, son! And you… well you definitely aren't what I was expecting, what exactly are you?")
'A fricking capybara?! How mismatched is this?! I'd expect a capybara to have the title 'Lord of the Hotsprings' or something not 'Storm Emperor'!'
("Hello? You can hear me, right?")
Snapping out of his stupor Seth quickly replied
"Oh, uh, yeah well as you can see, I'm kind of undead and well… a skeleton"
The beast breathed out in exasperation.
("Well, this just gets weirder and weirder, I thought I was seeing an illusion at first but to think an undead would be granted a divine mission, what has this world come to?")
"You tell me! Being a skeleton is one thing then suddenly being granted the title 'Missionary' when in my life I never once got a message, I'm not sure whether to see this as a dream or a nightmare honestly"
("It's neither unfortunately, at least you seem human enough apart from your appearance, so I don't particularly care in the end, after all the physical form means nothing")
'To a spirit sure…'
("Oh right I should let you know, I did say a second ago I won't lend you my power easily and that means I can't hold this form for long")
"Yeah, you did say that; What does it depend on then just for future reference I doubt it would be this limited forever right?"
The capybara nodded his head and then continued
("The duration and amount of strength I can use will depend on your spirit since that is what grants me physical form")
"Spirit again huh, how do I go about increasing that then?"
("From what I know from previous experience although it's been quite a while, the spirit is produced by the soul to bind the body, strengthening one of the three in some way will lead to the other ones increasing")
Seth stopped to think about those words
'My system doesn't directly represent any of the three, right? I don't think 'spirit' would correspond with any of the stats nor soul, as for body… strength maybe? I don't feel that's correct though; maybe vitality would be the right thing? Well, I'll have to test it out in the end'
("I'm about to hit my limit so I'll revert for now")
With an almost comical 'pop' sound the capybara disappeared in a puff of smoke.
'Uwa- that surprised me, does it really have to be so dramatic'
("Now then-")
Seth couldn't help but jump when he suddenly heard the voice from the side of his head, he quickly turned and saw a small version of the capybara floating by his side with almost baby like proportions.
("What?")
"Nothing, just surprised me, I thought you'd disappear, or something till' I called on you"
("Don't be stupid how am I supposed to guide you if I only appear when you call on me? Now wipe that stupid look off your face there's something else I need")
"Like what?"
("A name!")
"Uh, I'm not good at naming things you know?"
("Tough, it's a custom for the contractor to give the spirit a name for their residence in this world, now do it! And make it decent at least!")
'Talk about pressure! Oh god uh, let's see it's white with black stripes, Zebra? Snow? Fuck, I have no idea!'
He quickly ran a check on everything including the title it has.
"Storm!"
("Don't just use my title!")
"Pebbles"
("I'm not a damn pet!")
"Downer!"
("Do you want to die right now?!")
"Fuck, fine, uhhhh oh! Silva!"
("That- oh that's not too bad I guess we'll go with that")
And so Silva, the capybara with the title 'Storm Emperor' joined the party.