[Some unknown time later]
Ryan woke up and found himself on the stone-cold floor of that little hut. Surprisingly, he didn't feel any discomfort or changes other than the forgotten knowledge in his head. He saw the visions of the dark ages of magic and necromancy, the history that has been removed and forgotten from the pages of time. He saw a shady figure explaining things to him. Although he couldn't hear his voice, he understood clearly, nonetheless. It was as if the figure's thoughts were directly transmitted into his mind.
Ryan took a moment, gathering his thoughts before standing up with a grunt. The memories of the visions he experienced were still fresh in his mind, lingering like a vivid dream. He glanced around the room, noticing the same symbols carved into the walls, radiating with an eerie glow.
He took a deep breath and approached the mirror once more. The word written in black runes at its center seemed to pulse with energy, beckoning him closer. As he drew near, the surface of the mirror shimmered, reflecting not his own image, but a dark, shadowy figure.
"Who are you?" Ryan asked, his voice echoing in the small hut.
The figure in the mirror remained silent, its form shifting and swirling like smoke in the wind. It seemed to be studying him as if assessing his worthiness.
Finally, after what felt like minutes passed, the figure spoke, its voice carrying an underlying strength and authority that sent chills down his spine.
"I've already told you, I'm you, but not the one you have been talking to before. I came from the future and as you can see, the travel between space and time cost me my corporeal existence. And without my body, my soul will eventually disperse, but I've poured everything I knew into your brain. All you need to do is get stronger and take revenge on those who have wronged you, including that bastard of a gatekeeper of souls, who sent you here to die." The swirling mass spoke, explaining his situation.
"You want to kill that gatekeeper? Since you traveled across space-time, I'm guessing it's either you have failed or you spent your entire life mastering necromancy and then you came to the past to give your past self 'me' this knowledge?" Ryan mused.
"I expect nothing less from myself. Yes, I didn't chase after revenge blindly, but actually used my best years to master magic beyond anyone's comprehension and gathered information on those bastards who threw us in Azkaban. And only after I've finished, did I travel into the past," the figure explained, its voice laced with confidence.
"But your spell botched up, huh?" Ryan grinned cheekily as he glanced at his own reflection, noticing that his eye color turned purple for a split second.
"Jokes aside, you need to master the soul transfer spell first if you want to get out of Azkaban without turning into a flesh-craving zombie. Death is a dangerous game and death magic is worse and you are a baby when it comes to spells like this. So, give it your all or it'll all be in vain," the voice echoed in his ears.
"Understood, no need to repeat it twice. But before we begin, tell me, which motherfucker threw me in Azkaban and pinned the multiple murder cases on my head?" Ryan demanded to know and by his tone, he was ready to crush everything before him if he learned that this was all an illusion.
"Lucius Malfoy murdered Abraxas Malfoy and his peers and to throw any suspicion off of him and make him the golden boy of the pureblood supremacist groups, he had you, one of the new rising wizards, framed for those murders. With Abraxas holding a big position in the ministry, you couldn't fight back and ended up in Azkaban. That bastard Lucius then manipulated fake evidence and made sure you stayed in there."
"Fuck!" Ryan cursed.
"Yeah, fuck! Fuck his wife and cuck that bastard! Listen, Ryan, if you manage to master 100% of what I've put in your brain, then you'll be able to evolve even further than what I've achieved. And when that happens, you'll be unstoppable. Kill that gatekeeper, rule the world, bend the laws, and not to forget, cuck that motherfucker Lucius Malfoy. Make his life a living hell, torment him slowly, and finally when he loses hope, deny him an easy way out and let him suffer a slow and painful death." The swirling mass continued to talk but it was getting weaker and weaker with each word.
"I promise. I will make that bastard Lucius Malfoy suffer a fate worse than death!" Ryan clenched his fist.
He never wanted any of this. He died that day and just wanted to get it over with, but that gatekeeper of souls... A second chance he said. What a joke...
"Harry Potter... Steal his body... Make it your own..." the voice echoed before disappearing altogether.
"Harry Potter, huh? Let's see, then." Ryan stared at the mirror for a moment longer before turning away and heading back outside. The sun shone brightly overhead, its rays bathing his body in warmth.
..
..
Ryan began his training outside the hut.
The first spell, Animus Transtulit.
This spell allows Ryan to transfer his soul into another vessel, whether a living being or an inanimate object. Mastering this spell would enable him to escape Azkaban and inhabit a new body, freeing himself from his current imprisonment. It can be cast with or without a wand, but it's more difficult in the case of wandless casting.
The first step in mastering this spell was to master the ability to detach one's own soul from their body.
"Animus separatio!" Ryan waved his wand, conjuring a transparent purple mist that surrounded him.
[Pooff!] "Cough! Cough!" The spell failed and the mist exploded. The smell was as if someone smashed a dozen of rotten eggs in a leather factory. "Fuck!" He ran away from the area, holding his nose and cursing.
Blehhh! He vomited. The smell was too disgusting to handle.
After a while, Ryan calmed down and took a deep breath. The sun was still shining high in the sky.
He wiped his mouth and walked back towards the hut. He knew that he had to master this spell as soon as possible. He slapped his cheeks and started once again. This time, he was aiming at one of the stags lying near the lake.
"Animus separatio!" he exclaimed, casting the spell once more. The purple mist appeared once again. This time, he felt his vision going blurry and for a moment he was sure he saw his mortal body lying on the ground. It was like a split-second vision of a double self.
When Ryan woke up, he found himself lying on the ground, feeling slightly disoriented. He quickly sat up and looked around, noticing that the stag he had been aiming at was still lying next to the lake. It looked at him and yawned before going back to sleep.
"That fucker!" His right eye twitched at the stag's ignoring him. "Animus separatio!" Ryan tried the spell again, aiming at the stag. This time, the spell worked better than before. He felt his vision going blurry once more, but this time it lasted longer. He could feel cold air passing through his ethereal form. It was a bizarre experience and the longer he stayed like this, the harder it became to concentrate on anything other than the sensation of floating in nothingness.
Freedom! This was what it felt like! The thought crossed Ryan's mind and he knew he was on the right track. After a while, he felt his consciousness slowly returning to his body. When he opened his eyes again, he found himself lying face down on the grass next to the lake. He tried to get up, but his body felt like a slab of stone.
"Fuck!" He cursed under his breath. It seemed like he needed some more practice before mastering this spell completely.
..
..
Time passed by.
Ryan trained relentlessly, pushing himself to the limit. He cast the Animus separatio spell countless times, trying to master it. It was hard and exhausting, and that freaking stag kept staring at him as if mocking his incompetence. But he was determined to succeed, no matter how long it took.
After several days, Ryan finally succeeded in fully mastering the Animus separatio spell. Now, he was ready to move on to the next step of the process, which was soul transference, or soul transfer. He flew over to the stag. It was sleeping like a log beside the lake.
"I'll fucking do it this time," Ryan mumbled as his ethereal form flew into it's body. It was dark at first then he saw the soul of that stag, jumping up in shock, seeing another soul inside its body, or maybe it was because the stag thought it was still dreaming, who knows? "Yo, why don't you yawn, now?"
But before he could do anything...
"Huh?!" Ryan was now looking at the world through that stag's eyes and it wasn't fun at all. He can feel his four legs shaking uncontrollably. "No way..." He walked to the lake and saw his new face. It belongs to that stag. He is that stag now! He is a stag! A stag! "NO! FUCK NO! WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK!"
The stag looked around frantically and tried to run away, but it was futile.
After panicking for a bit, he calmed down. "Ah!" His wand was lying on the ground and as a stag, how the fuck is he going to hold a wand? "FUCK!" He stomped his hoofs angrily.
But soon, an idea popped into his mind.
"I guess, it's time to learn that wandless casting, oh, well..." Ryan cleared out the negative thoughts instantly and focused on the task at hand.
He walked towards his body, which was lying motionless on the grass, and started examining it closely. He tried to use his new hooves to wake him up, but that body looks pretty much dead, or maybe in a coma. At least, he isn't breathing anymore, so, probably dead. And if he wants to get back in his body before it starts rotting, he has to try wandless casting, no matter what.
"Oh! Hahaha... I almost forgot, this is a fake world, so, there isn't any way my body will rot. Humm... If my real body is back at Azkaban then this entire thing... Fake body that looks like real and even soul... Magic is really interesting..." Ryan mumbled to himself, but only the sound, "Baa~" was heard from his mouth.
"I'm lucky no one saw it..."
..
..
A few days later.
"Animus Transtulit!" Ryan successfully transferred his soul back into his body.
****
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[16 advance chapters]
Next, Ch: 6: Soul Killer
Ch: 7: Graveyard