The Body Retrieval Arc
What is this? I feel nothing, connected to nothing, tethered to no physical space. I'm just floating. Where am I? I can't see anything but darkness. What did she do!? Or did we die? No, calm down. Even if I am dead I should be able to move, right? Or see. With a thought and the calming of my mind, I can suddenly see my surroundings. I'm in a city, standing in the middle of the street. Cars and people are just passing through me. I look down to see that I have no body. Meaning my grimoire is gone and I have no idea whose possession it's in. I forget about it and attempt to walk but instead, I glide through the air.
I come to realize that I'm not dead, I'm in spirit form. Our consciouses split, and she somehow undid my spell. I'm actually proud. If I'm a floating consciousness then I need to find myself a body for the time being. I fly around the city until I find a neighborhood of homes. I enter the one closest to me and find a man having breakfast with his family. He'll do for now. Normally the spell would require me to place my hand on his forehead and run aura throughout his body. In a similar fashion to overtaking their aura network. But, I have no hand to do so. I fly over to him and into the back of his head.
"Energy Enchantment: Divine Possession."
I focus aura at the center of what would be my forehead, between my eyebrows. I pull the energy that's building in that spot throughout my body and now, his body, the hardest part of this spell. While he's still cleaning his plate, I begin to fuse my aura with his, wrapping my aura around his like a thread in an attempt to start the binding process. I sense an imbalance though, there's more of my aura than his, meaning he's human. Damn it.
The spell can only be performed when there are two strong sources, humans have a weaker network than elementals. Which reminds me of what Lilith does, and why I figure she's anything but human, or elemental for that matter. She could've possessed this man with ease. I haven't been able to figure out the components of what allows her to do such things. But, one day I will. Ugh, I drop the spell connection between the man and myself. I exit his body and his head slams into his plate of food. His wife and daughter scream and leap out of their seats. He'll be fine, eventually.
I swiftly exit their home before their shrieking begins to annoy me. I find another house, and this time I make sure they're an elemental. A petite young woman with dark frizzy hair and a caramel complexion, she possesses a wind seal, that'll do. She's home alone, cozy in bed drinking tea. I enter her body and repeat the first steps of my spell. Her aura is dense, making it a tougher process. Since it's harder to bind my aura with hers, it takes me a bit longer. After about two minutes of trial and error, I have both auras bonded together, and the process is complete. She continues to sip her tea oblivious as I look through her eyes.
She won't know I'm here until I make my presence known to her. So let's do that.
"Hi, darling. I'm going to need your body for a bit."
She jumps up out of bed, spelling the tea. Aw.
"Who's there?!" Her voice shakes. I'm particularly bored of this part. The "why is this happening to me, who are you." Blah. I push myself through her consciousness and take control. I forgot how easy this was. I believe Alyssa's ability to absorb magic was helping her to suppress me. She was absorbing my spell magic without even realizing it. Her suppression was so strong that I couldn't even speak to her or let my presence be known until she absorbed magic from a source other than me. I have to thank Brianna and the spar they had for allowing me to break through.
Although imprisoned, I enjoyed my time watching Alyssa. There were times when I wish I could've communicated with her. She lived a very lonely childhood. Neglected by Harris and her siblings while trying so hard to be seen by them. All she had was Patricia and David, they have my eternal gratitude for that. Even if David is a spy sent to keep tabs on me, he was always there for her. Patricia is also a sweet woman who provided Alyssa with guidance.
Now, to figure out where I am. I step outside and walk down the street where I stop a random passerby. He looks at me confused as I ask where we are.
"District Two, Wendy. You okay?" He chuckles. "And your voice, it's-"
"Oh, never mind that, darling. Thank you." I turn away and study my surroundings. The Districts look different these days, I didn't even recognize that this was Athys. Uboni hasn't changed much from all those years ago. But this District looks run down and ragged. People walking the streets looked drained of energy and tired. The buildings are falling apart with minimal repair.
It seems that I've lucked out in this entire splitting consciousness situation. I just need to go one District over to find my body. I couldn't thank my daughter more. I should feel bad about tearing everything down that she holds so dear. But I believe she'll thank me for it one day. She's living in an illusion, one I'll wake her from.
"Excuse me, darling." I turn back to the man. "Could you point me in the direction of the train station?"
"I think the doctor sounds like a better idea."
"No, the station does," I walk in closer.
"Uh, It's two blocks that way." He points left.
"Great! I just need money for a ticket."
"And you expect me to-"
"Well, of course, darling." I smile.
He pulls out a dollar and hands it to me. I thank him and head on my way when I forget there's one last thing I need to check. This woman's ability, or whatever manifests for me. Sometimes it can be different. I focus both of our auras on the seal but nothing happens. Don't tell me I picked a dud. Suddenly I feel an excess of air building in my chest. It pushes up into my mouth, forcing me to turn my head to the sky where wind booms from my mouth. It creates a ball of air that shoots through the center of a cloud.
"Wendy!" The man quietly shouts while looking around and checking for soldiers I would think. "You know we aren't supposed to use seals in public."
I ignore him and head to the station. After a few minutes, I reach it and board the train. I would've loved to experience the section reserved for the royals. It looked a lot better than these tiny, confined seats. A child with short, shaggy black hair takes a seat next to me.
"Hello, darling," I say looking down at him. "Where are you headed?"
"District Three," he says, looking up at me with beady eyes. He looks to be about nine years old.
"How interesting, so am I."
"I don't care, your voice is strange and ugly."
Hmm, quite rude. I turn away from the boy and close my eyes. I'll sleep through the rest of this I suppose.
"My name's Theo," the boy suddenly says. Why is that name so familiar to me?
"You wouldn't happen to be visiting someone named Charlotte in District Three, would you?"
His eyes get big. "Yes! I'm running away from home to live with her."
Oh, alright then. I don't know what to say to that. But, "I think I'll join you. I'm a friend of Charlotte's"
This works out, I can see if she has any information on The Coven. It'll be better to know what I'm going up against before I go charging in.
"How do you know my grandma?" Theo asks. It's odd that she's a grandmother now. "I knew her when we were younger," I say.
"But she's old and you look young."
"I'm a lot older than I look."
"What's your name anyway, lady?"
"Helen."
"Oh, like the Goddess?"
Ugh, I visibly cringe. "No, just simply Helen." After two hours of travel, we finally reach the district. The two of us hop off the train and I follow him to Charlotte's home. I immediately recognize it from when Alyssa visited. He walks up to the front door and knocks. A few moments later, Charlotte opens the door with the biggest smile on her face. "Little Theodore!" She bends down to hug him, or more so squeeze.
"It's Theo!" He groans. "Hi, grandma."
"What're doing here?!"
"I wanna live with you now. I hate everyone back home. Rose is mean to me." He pouts.
"Oh, you poor little thing." She rubs his back with a somber expression.
"And who's this?" She looks at me.
"Happy coincidence that I ran into your grandchild."
"Your voice…." She shakily replies.
"Hi, darling." I smile. She stands there for a couple of seconds completely frozen.
"I-I-I'm sorry. I'm just shocked," She finally speaks. "Come in, both of you." She waves us in, I notice the burn on her palm.
"Been practicing the possession spell, hm?"
She hesitates for a moment before cracking a smile. "Oh, this?" She shows her bruised palm. "I can't keep anything from you. But yes, unsuccessfully. As you can see"
Theo and I take a seat on her couch and I do a double take when I see her cats.
"Offspring of your familiar. I hope it's okay"
I remember, if it weren't for them I wouldn't be outside of Alyssa right now.
"Of course, you slipped Alyssa something, and the magic residing in them caused a reaction with our aura connection."
Charlotte was always my most loyal follower. The fact that I even have followers has always bothered me though. I like to be alone, but they can be useful.
"I sensed something in Alyssa, I couldn't quite put my finger on it but I wanted it to come to the surface. I couldn't have guessed it was you. But, A Valentine princess as a daughter, huh?" She takes a seat on the single couch in front of us. "She bears a striking resemblance to you. I couldn't just question her then and there though. When you disappeared, I figured you gave up on the path and decided to live alone. I didn't realize you had a child during that time."
"I had decided to give up. I was banned from the coven and was at my lowest. But a knight in shining armor came looking for me. I suppose I should say king in shining armor."
"What the hell are you two talking about? This is boring," Theo says.
"Watch your language, Theodore!" Charlotte scolds him. "Go to the kitchen and get yourself a snack. I'll have to phone your parents to let them know where you are. He sighs, walking off to the kitchen and she turns back to me. "Well, she seems like she has her head on right."
I sit up forward in my seat. "A lot has happened since we last saw each other and as you can see, I need my body back. I need your information on the coven. How strong is the current elder?"
She smiles. "I'm not sure how helpful I'd be. After you disappeared, Alejandro and I were cast out as well. Now he's dead, and I'm alone….but, I do know that Elaina's daughter is the new elder.
"Her daughter?! She would be-"
"About twenty-four, yes. The youngest elder witch in The Coven's history….The Coven isn't what it used to be. They still hide away. Only a few come and go to get supplies from the local shops."
Of course, it would get passed down to her daughter.
"It seems this new generation is misguided. Even my own daughter clings to the very thing I wish to destroy. It's fitting that it's Elaina's daughter that I'll have to kill."
"Kill?" Charlotte looks surprised.
"If she refuses to give me my body. Is she formidable?"
"She's become stronger than her mother from what I hear. Their family remains the best summoners I've ever seen."
I have to admit, I'm a little excited. "Do you know where they're keeping my body?" I ask.
She shakes her head "no."
With that, I stand to my feet and head to the door. No time to waste. "I'll be going now, Charlotte. Thank you."