🏠 Arvia, Acica Kingdom, Lower Realm, Doha.

A cold indistinct voice sounded through Jayde consciousness.

"Soul transfer complete."

"Contract with Proteus Artifact activated."

"Contractor's body severely damaged, insufficient energy to heal fully. Starting emergency healing procedure."

What the fuck! Jayde thought, groggy and confused she tried to move, but severe pain instantly flooded her body making her freeze.

"Contractor please lie still while the healing procedure is in progress."

Soul transfer ... Divine System ... repair, Jayde tried to focus, confused about what was happening.

Didn't I just die, she thought. The bomb detonated, she remembered feeling the pain of her body disintegrating.

Soul transfer... Wait didn't the voice say something about soul transfer? With her mind running around in circles Jade tried to make sense of what was happening, she had an ominous feeling especially about that soul transfer thing.

"Contractor emergency healing has been completed," the unemotional voice sounded again.

"Who the hell are you?" Jayde demanded, wait that isn't her voice! Shocked Jayde eyes flew open.

"I am the guide for the Doha Proteus Artifact," the unknown voice said.

Looking around her, Jayde couldn't see anyone, more shocking than seeing no one around was the small clearing she was in.

Crypso 3Q3U was a barren planet, but surrounding Jayde was a lush scene, with tall trees with emerald green leaves, how the hell did she land up here?

"Please wait while the memories of the previous host are integrated," the Proteus system said.

"W..w-hat? Wait!" Jayde stammered.

What fucking memories, what the fuck is going on, Jayde thought frantically.

The next thing blinding pain assaulted Jayde's mind and thousands of memories that didn't belong to her were stuffed into her head.

Gritting her teeth, Jayde bore through the pain, trying to understand all the new memories that were suddenly available.

"Oh, so this body's previous host was Jayde Freehold, thirteen years old," Jayde mumbled to herself.

"Wait — WHAT THE FUCK? THIRTEEN!" she exclaimed.

Jumping up, Jayde looked down at herself, FUCK she really was in a child's body. Jayde found herself standing in a pool of blood, with pieces of flesh lying all around her.

Seeing the piece of flesh, a memory flashed through Jayde mind as she quickly recalled the last couple of memories of Jayde Freehold, where her uncle had flayed her alive.

Holding her arms out, Jayde inspected her tiny arms, seeing jade white skin covering her arms, she quickly looked down at her legs, although horribly underdeveloped they were also covered in a new layer of skin.

Lifting her right hand, Jayde rubbed her forehead, she could feel a headache coming on, as her thoughts scrambled to try to understand what was going on.

"Yo Proteus artifact guide or whatever, where the hell are you?" Jayde called out.

She needed to chat with this person, and find out what the hell was happening. If this was the afterlife, then she had been screwed — royally.

"Contractor, please limit your movements, I have managed to heal the most serious of your wounds, but you will require rest to complete the healing," the Proteus artifact said.

Spinning around Jayde still saw no-one was around.

"Enough games, show yourself," she snarled.

"Contractor that is impossible, I am current in the Proteus artifact, which is contracted to your soul."

"Stop calling me contractor, call me Jayde," Jayde mumbled, trying to understand what the artifact just said, while each word was understandable, she felt that it was talking another language, as everything it said was so confusing.

"Explain to me exactly what the hell is going on? What contract? How did I get here? Why am I in this body? Who the hell are you? and more importantly, WHY AM I NOT DEAD!" Jayde spat out the question rapidly.

"Jayde if I may suggest — it would be better for you to relocate to a safer environment before we discuss anything further. The blood on the ground is going to attract spirit beast very soon, and in your current condition you are in no position to defend yourself."

The moment Jayde heard spirit beast, data flooded her mind about spirit beasts. Alarmed Jayde quickly looked around. The system was right, this was not the place to talk, and the strange creatures in her memory seemed quite daunting.

Thinking about the plan of the previous Jayde Freehold, Jayde decided to follow through with it and head to the Dark Forest, although she wouldn't actually enter the Dark Forest itself, as this body was too weak to defend itself, but Jayde needed to find a safe place to rest, gather information and digest the memories in her head.

Turning towards the Dark Forest, Jayde tripped over something on the ground. Looking down she saw a beautiful sharp dagger, bending down she picked it up. After examining the knife she realized that it looked familiar to her, after thinking about it, she realized that this is the dagger that horrible second uncle of this body had used to flay the skin off.

He must have dropped it when he left, she thought, oh well, finders keepers, and with that, she looked around for something to hold the dagger. Finding a bunch of rags a little further on, Jayde searched through the ragged bag, inside the bag Jayde found some food, a gourd of water, a flint, a small jar of oil, as well as an old blanket.

At least she had some supplies, making a makeshift carry bag she loaded all the supplies into it and secured it onto her back, then using a piece of cloth she made herself a belt and fastened the dagger to her waist.

Feeling more secure now that she had supplies and a weapon Jayde set off towards the Dark Forest.

Trying to adjust to her new body was frustrating for Jayde. It was weak. The legs were too damn short. After a lot of stumbling and tripping, Jayde eventually got the hang of maneuvering her new body.

Jayde was busy cursing her luck that she couldn't even die properly, as she picked her way carefully over the rocks and exposed roots when her thoughts were interrupted by that disembodied voice again.

"Jayde I am sensing a small cave to the north-east of you."

Sensing?

What was this thing that it could sense the environment around me, she thought. Is it some type of computer?

"Um Proteus artifact, are you a computer?" she asked out loud.

"Computer?"

Jayde could hear the question in the tone of the Proteus system.

"Yes a computer its a machine, a man-made device," Jayde tried to explain.

"No, I am a divine artifact, created to help cultivators like you to reach your full potential," the Proteus System answered carefully.

Divine Artifact? Cultivators?

Jayde was even more confused. As soon as she heard the word cultivators a whole lot of information assaulted her mind, but she was too weary to even think about it, and just pushed the data to the back of her mind, once she was safe she would analyze the memories stored in her head and interrogate this so-called divine artifact.

Moving north-east, the landscape was utterly alien yet familiar in some way. Jayde could hear the birds and smell the freshness in the air. The green grass beneath her feet gave way to a rocky landscape.

Looking ahead Jayde could see a mountain. The mountain rose into the deep blue sky, the steep craggy face seemed familiar, but Jayde couldn't think of what it reminded her off.

As Jayde gazed at the mountain in front of her, she could make out a rocky mountain path, Jayde followed it. After a couple of hours, the trail seemed to snake around the side of a mountain with a sheer drop to the right. A few trees twisted out of the side of the mountain with strange thorns. The alien purplish leaves underlined that Jayde was in an unknown environment.

The mountain path Jayde was following suddenly ended. Loose stones were scattered on the path causing her to trip as she got closer to the rock face. Exhausted, thirsty and sweaty Jayde was feeling irritated, she was pissed that she had wasted so much time and energy just to come to a dead end.

"Yo Proteus System, there is no cave here."

"The cave entrance is right in front of you," replied the Proteus system.

Looking carefully Jayde finally saw the cave, the entrance was so tiny she almost missed it. The cave was built into the grey rock of the mountain, the greyish stone guarding the entrance to the cave was jagged and uneven and was arranged in such a way, it would be nearly impossible for anyone to spot.

"Ahem, Proteus System can you scan for life signs?"

"Scan? — If you are asking if there are animals or people in the cave, there are some dingbats, but they pose no danger to you" answered the Proteus System.

Wrapping one of the rags around a sturdy stick that she had picked up earlier, Jayde took out the flint as well as the small jar of oil in her handmade carry bag. Pouring the oil over the rags, Jayde then used the flint to set the cloth alight. Holding the torch in her left hand, Jayde entered the cave cautiously. The inside of the cave was dank, and the only sound was dripping water.

The cave's general shape was ovoid, it was about 15 meters in diameter, the walls smoothly curved to the floor, the walls above arched about 30 feet up. As Jayde explored further into the cave, she came across a frigid pool of water. Water ran down the fissures, feeding the pool, while dingbats flew above like small shadows.

Seeing a strange heap near the rear of the cave, Jayde curiously walked up to investigate.

Once she got closer, Jayde saw a skeleton, examining the remains Jayde could see no visible signs of death, from the bone structure Jayde could tell that the person was male, quite old, whoever he was he had lived a hard life, as Jayde could see numerous old breaks in his bones. It seemed like he had lived and died here quite some time ago.

Looking around Jayde was pleasantly surprised with the number of items piled up around the rear edge of the cave, everything was covered in dust, but Jayde could make out that there was a stone campfire, cooking utensils, bedding, a large stack of wood which was covered with a waterproof tarp, and oil lamps. There were also several chests and boxes that she didn't open, there would be enough time later to investigate what was in them.

Moving closer to the wall, Jayde noticed an old desk and chair and above the desk were shelves packed full of books.

Too tired to explore further Jayde carried some of the wood to the campfire and using her torch which was about to expire, lit the wood. Since the wood was dry, it caught fire quickly. The heat from the campfire soon sucked the frigid air around Jayde, and she started to warm up.

The fire crackled, projecting long shadows on the surrounding walls. The light cast by the flames lit up Jayde tired and dusty face.

Removing the gourd of water from her makeshift carry bag, Jayde drank some water to quench her thirst. After placing the gourd back into her carry bag, Jayde stared into the flames, mesmerized, without meaning to she soon drifted off to sleep, her small body exhausted.

A couple of hours later Jayde woke up, sitting up she rubbed the sleep from her eyes, she was upset with herself that she had fallen asleep so carelessly.

Standing up, she stretched to get all the kinks out of this new body from falling asleep on the hard floor. Noticing the fire had died down, and there were only a few burning coals left, she carried some more wood from the stockpile and fed it to the fire.

Soon a new fire was blazing away. After drinking some water from the gourd and eating some of the rations stored in her makeshift carry bag, Jayde examined the memories from the owner of this body.

The previous inhabitant of this body had really lived a miserable life, she thought seems like the people on this planet were just as cruel and heartless as those from her previous life.

All the knowledge about magic and cultivation was very confusing to Jayde, it was totally unscientific, there was no logic to it at all, and what really depressed Jayde was this body she had ended up in was useless, it couldn't cultivate magic.

How was she going to survive in this world? From the look of things, she could be crushed as easy as an ant. It took Jayde quite some time to accept this fact.

It was really a difficult concept for Jayde to accept, especially since her previous body was genetically enhanced. She never had to worry about being weak as her previous body had increased strength, speed, agility and healing ability.

For someone who used to be at the top of the food chain to now finding herself right at the bottom — it was really depressing.

Suddenly remembering the Proteus Artifact had said something about contracting with her to help her cultivate to becoming the strongest in Doha. Jayde figured it was best to find out what it was all about, the previous owner of this body had no knowledge of divine artifacts in her memory.

"Hey Proteus System, you still there?" she called out nervously.

"...."

Where would I go, the guide of the Proteus artifact thought, I am contracted to your soul.

The Proteus Divine Artifact decided to explain this small detail to Jayde.

"I am contracted to your soul unless you break the contract and pay the penalty, I will always be with you," the Proteus System explained.

"Oh—er—do you have a name?" she asked "Calling you Proteus System is quite a mouthful."

"My creator called me Isha-uah-ankh-antef-munkh ❶," the Proteus Guide answered.

"..."

Sheesh that is even more of a mouthful than Proteus System, thought Jayde.

"Okay, how about I just call you Isha," said Jayde

Not happy with the way that Jayde had shortened his divine name, the Guide of the Proteus Artifact nevertheless agreed as Jayde was his contractor.

"Great! Okay, Isha give me the run down, what is the gig here, why is my soul here when I know I died and how can you make me stronger when this body can't cultivate?" Jayde demanded, firing off her questions rapidly.

"..."

Gig? Run down? Confused about the words his new contractor was uttering, Isha figured that she wanted to know what had happened.

"Firstly your soul did not belong to System 516 Dimension, and when you died, I was able to — at great expense to myself I might say — transport your soul back to your body before you entered the reincarnation cycle."

For a couple of seconds, Jayde mind blanked out with that piece of thunderous news. In the Federation Jayde was considered brilliant, she was the top student from her batch, so it did not take long for the gears in her mind to start spinning.

"Okay let me get this straight, one there are over 500 different dimensions, and for some reason, my soul which should have been in this dimension ended up in another dimension. Two the theory that souls can reincarnate is actually true — whoa, hold a second if I was meant to be here then does that mean the previous soul inhabiting this body was meant to be in my old dimension, and if that is so, then how did our souls switch?" Jayde asked heatedly her speech getting quicker by the second.

Isha was quite surprised that Jayde was taking everything so well, and impressed that she had made the logical leap to the gist of how her soul ended up in Doha.

"There are thousands of dimensions, and yes your soul was never meant to end up in System 516, and you are correct that the previous soul inhabiting your body rightly belonged to System 516. Before you ask, I have no idea how your souls were switched," Isha decided to quickly clarify that before Jayde asked.

"But what I can tell you is that it would have taken a tremendous amount of power to switch souls between dimensions, and it is not done lightly, there are heavy penalties to pay for that type of spell. To my knowledge, only a god ranked mage could have the power to perform such a complex spell, and as to the reason why I am sorry to say I have no idea," Isha explained further.

Jayde sat quietly digesting the information that Isha had just given her. The ramifications were quite mind-boggling. Some mysterious person, with unimaginable power, hijacked her soul and switched it. For what possible reason would someone do something like that?

According to what Isha said whoever did would have been punished for doing it, was it to save or destroy her? Jayde needed a final piece of information before deciding whether she had a powerful ally or enemy.

"Isha when did you contract with me?"

"A partial contract was initiated when your blood spilled onto the Divine Tome," he answered, "The soul contract was only fully initiated when I sensed your soul after your death."

Recalling the memories of the previous soul, Jayde realized that the partial contract must have formed when the previous Jayde cut her hand and bled onto the golden tome, that made her curious why did Isha not initiate a full contract with the previous soul.

Reading her thoughts, Isha answered, "Because her soul was too weak, and it did not belong to this body, only this body with your soul has the strength to contract the Proteus Divine System," he clarified.

Well then that cleared it up, she had a powerful enemy, Jayde thought. Someone had gone to a lot of trouble to ensure that her soul did not end up in this dimension. It was not a comforting thought, but there wasn't anything she could do about it now.

Jayde was a realist, she knew that stressing over the matter right now wouldn't help, the best she could do currently was to learn as much as she could about this strange new world she had ended up in.

Looks like it is time to get serious and figure out a way to make this body powerful, and learn all I can about magic, Jayde thought with determination filling her body.

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