‘That’s a crazy spell!’ Percy mentally exclaimed as his main body filled him in on Micky’s new ability.
Usually, the original wouldn’t bother informing the clones of such things, since they would learn everything when they returned to Remior and fused back into his soul. By the time the new set of clones got sent out, they would know anything that might be of use to them.
This clone had been an exception, since he didn’t need to personally register Shapeshifting Sentries to take advantage of it. The main body could just send him a couple of liquefied minions through the cord. Not to mention that it was an ability that could prove extremely useful as Percy helped the Melodians expand their territory and claim the Mirror Lake.
‘How much longer until she sends out another signal? We’ve been floating out here for days…’ Micky groaned, not sounding nearly as enthusiastic as Percy.
The Huehuan enjoyed their otherworldly adventures as much as Percy did, though he really had zero patience for the part of the journey where they had to search for a host. It had only been two days since they separated from the main body, and this wasn’t even Micky’s first complaint.
At least chatting with the originals about their recent invention had broken the monotony slightly. The clone hadn’t been able to help his main bodies test the new spell, since he didn’t possess a body of his own yet. The originals hadn’t wanted to disturb Percy’s relatives either, which was why they’d ended up bothering Nephthys and the clone possessing her.
‘Well… Sol has been producing the signals regularly for the past decade, like we agreed. We’d have to be really unlucky for her to suddenly stop right as we’re trying to visit, and it shouldn’t be long until the next time she reaches out,’ Percy replied, trying to placate his friend.
It seemed to work, for now at least, yet he fully expected Micky to start pestering him again in a couple of hours. Perhaps they should look for a way of adding more specialized features to their Shimmering Constellations mindset at some point, to allow Percy to choose whether to include Micky’s mind when creating a clone, or to keep his fellow aspect dormant during the boring bits.
Then again, Percy liked having his friend by his side. It kept the journey more fun for him as well – for the most part – and Micky had contributed plenty of useful ideas in the past, making his inclusion worth the headache. Also, they still didn’t have access to a mind mage skilled and trustworthy enough to commission new mindsets from.
Shaking the pointless thoughts off, Percy took a minute to appreciate the complete silence that permeated the space between worlds, before deciding to examine his surroundings to pass the time. Focusing outwards, he allowed his senses to stretch toward the infinite darkness, eventually touching countless silver stars that glowed with various degrees of intensity in every direction.
With practiced ease, he studied the souls surrounding him one by one, though he did so leisurely. Percy wasn’t planning to take a detour before returning to Melodia, nor did he expect to stumble upon a promising host during such a brief and half-hearted scan.
However, it appeared that the universe had other plans for him.
‘Micky… is that what I think it is?’ he asked, staring at a giant silver star that shone more brightly than every other in the region combined.
The radiant sun didn’t burn quite as intensely as Nephthys’ soul used to, meaning that its owner hadn’t even reached the pinnacle of the Self-Discovery stage – let alone Elemental Acquisition – though its dazzling glow still couldn’t be compared to a mortal soul. Most importantly, the star was fragmented, its pieces slowly drifting apart and dimming noticeably by the second.
‘A dying god!’ The Huehuan mentally gasped, before taking on an admonishing tone. ‘Please tell me that you’re not thinking of doing what I think you’re thinking of doing.’
‘Are you insane? I’m not suicidal!’ Percy hurriedly said, shooting the idea down.
He had no intention of even attempting to possess the deity. If it hadn’t been for Nephthys helping him carry a piece of her soul back to Remior, Percy would have never managed to drag it over such a vast distance by himself. Even if this happened to be a friendly god willing to cooperate, Percy was under no delusion that he’d be able to stitch the pieces of the deity’s soul together.
The strongest people he had ever possessed had been Violets, and he’d needed either his main body or its full support to grant Archibald and the then-Starry Queen their second cores.
Granted, that had all happened before Percy’s artificial advancement, and he did currently have an empowered cord linking him to the original, so possessing a White might not be out of the question. However, a demigod would be pushing it, and the gulf separating the Colour and Concept realms was on a whole other level.
Fortunately, Percy didn’t need to possess the dying deity directly to sate his curiosity, since the god wasn’t alone. Scanning the surroundings of the silver star, he spotted a dozen or so additional souls. Five more belonged to deities – with another dying among them. The soul of the second unlucky god hadn’t deteriorated as much as the first one, yet it was worsening faster, having clearly suffered recent but even more serious injuries.
The survivors didn’t appear to be on the same side. Most were wounded – though not quite enough to place them at risk of death – and the wild fluctuations their souls exhibited suggested that they were currently locked in combat.
Most relevant was the fact that there were nine mortals among them. They were split in groups of three, with each group hovering extremely close to a deity. Six were alive and healthy, though the trio next to one of the dying deities were dying themselves.
‘Why are there so few souls here?’ Micky asked. ‘And how did a bunch of mortals get involved in this mess?’
‘It must be outer space,’ Percy speculated. ‘I think half the deities were traveling together, carrying a few mortals in their internal worlds like Lanthaniel did for us. They got ambushed by enemy gods, and each side managed to take a deity down.’
It was the only thing that made sense. It would explain why only three deities were carrying mortals, and why most of the mortals were in relatively good condition, despite being surrounded by warring gods.
Isolated within their carriers’ internal worlds, the Colour mages might have not even registered what was happening outside. The three that were dying had probably ended up in that situation indirectly. Perhaps, the world housing them had started collapsing after the demise of its owner, leaving the mortals without air to breathe or freezing them to death. Had they been hit directly by the enemy deities, there would have been no trace of their souls left for Percy to examine.
Micky sighed in exasperation. ‘Okay. This time I know what you’re thinking of doing. You do understand that a god will be able to stop us from leaving if we get spotted, right?’
Percy mentally shrugged. ‘We’ll be careful. We’ll possess one of the dead mortals, figure out what’s going on, check if there’s anything valuable we can salvage from the broken internal world, and dip before the other gods are even done with the fight. Even if we end up finding something worth staying for, we’ll take precautions to avoid getting trapped.’
Dying gods meant affinity-changing treasures, on top of whatever else the deities in question had stored inside their internal worlds, so this was too big of an opportunity to pass on.
‘What if we like our host? Are we going to leave them behind to die?’ Micky asked.
‘We haven’t even met them yet,’ Percy replied, figuratively rolling his eyes. ‘No matter who it is, we’re not going to return to the Vault this soon for their sake. At most, we’ll leave them in a good condition. If the gods on their side win, they might be able to rescue our host, but that’ll be up to their own luck.’
‘Well, you’re the one who always gets in trouble helping strangers. As long as we’re on the same page about our escape plan, do whatever you want,’ Micky conceded.
Percy knew that this could go terribly wrong if he wasn’t careful, but he’d never had a chance to watch Concept mages fight, nor had he ever seen a dying god before. Well, he’d seen Nephthys, but the Amenthei goddess had mutilated her own soul to help him carry it to Remior. The Slumber would have killed her eventually, but she had still been in a relatively good condition until she met him. Percy wouldn’t mind witnessing the birth of an affinity-changing treasure with his own two eyes – or at least the pair of eyes that he was about to borrow.
Either way, Percy was more than a little curious. Who even were these people? Were they from a couple of rival factions? Were they lesser or greater springs? Or was it a greater spring bullying deities from a lesser one? It seemed unlikely, since the two sides appeared evenly matched, but the weaker world might have simply managed to pull off a successful ambush. Whatever the case, there was only one way to know for sure, and maybe even grab something valuable on the way out.
‘I’m sorry, Sol… Doh… Latt… Zoris. You guys have waited a whole decade already. I suppose you’ll have to wait just a little longer,’ Percy thought as he picked the mortal in the most salvageable condition and dove into the cracks in their soul.