Sachihiro

‘’You are fortunate to have been stolen by my Lord,’’ the man says nibbling on a leg-bone of something he brought for us to eat. ‘’There is no telling what could have happened to you out there where any unsavoury entity could have had its way with you,’’ he throws the now clean bone into the fire between us.

Is this guy for real or does he not hear himself when he speaks? He must see the scepticism on my face.

‘’I mean as soon as your patron left you uncovered there is no telling what could have happened to you,’’ he says cutting another piece from the sheep sized rodent roasting on a spit. ‘’Plucked away by any spirit out there and used in gods know what manner,’’ he giggles as he eats enthusiastically whilst I watch. I don’t know what to make of all this anymore but the nihilism that’s been over me these past few days is lifting, now I’m just melancholy. Attentive but melancholy, I cut a piece from the rodent we are eating.

‘’Think of it,’’ he says enthusiastically. ‘’Where you may have ended up, what may have been done to you wholly! Body and spirit!’’ He seems too enthusiastically for my liking.

I have been thinking about it, in fact its been giving me nightmares thinking about it but I’m not about to tell him that I also wonder what worse fate could have befallen me. ‘’When is Phosphorus going to return?’’ I ask after swallowing.

‘’Oh I don’t know,’’ he says with a shrug. ‘’My lord is busy busy busy, they don’t even think of time the way we do you know. It’s all very,’’ he waves his greasy hands in there air splaying his fingers as wide as his eyes. ‘’But don’t worry, I wouldn’t be here if he had forgotten you.’’

I wish he forgot. I look away from him to my own meat chewing slowly, I still watch him carefully but I’ve long since discovered that it’s easier to watch people when your eyes are turned away from them. Has Sapientia really abandoned me, should I even be hoping for help from another one of these things? What should I do, what can I do?

Till now the still unbroken spirit thread of promise in my metaphorical head has kept me from doing anything drastic whilst I recovered but after yesterday... I’m not 100% yet but I can tell the cool-down of my shikai state has ended and my body has mostly recovered from whatever damage it endures when I overuse spirit energy. The promise was very specific as all the words uttered by these creatures are.

‘’If I gain this body you provide I promise not to harm you or work against you in any way except in defence of my interests.’’ And whatever that its intentions where yesterday it reminded me I’m not safe until it gets Keir’s stolen body. Knowing what I know about spirits and the body I can’t see that going smoothly enough to not get me killed. Even if it does work I don’t know what this thing may consider its interest.

Is it in Phosphorus’ interest for me to escape? Is it in it’s best interest if I survive at all after it gets whatever it wants from me? I don’t know, and there lies the problem. As I saw today first hand, never trust a spirit. I inwardly sigh, but this whole situation seems more and more beyond my ability to permanently deal with.

If I could kill this thing it would be a no brainer, it double crosses me it dies. Currently though I have no stick big enough to threaten it, maybe a zanpakutō can kill a spirit. It shut me down quick when I reached for Honour the first time we met but I’d have to be strong or stealthy enough to get close to test the theory and if it failed...

‘’I’m gonna get some sleep,’’ I say standing and moving towards what I’ve claimed as my section of these catacombs. I really don’t like my long term survival odds if I make an enemy I cannot kill, an enemy that could have thousands of agents or maybe even come after me directly. Worse what if it goes after the kids in spite, and I can’t even kill it?

I lay my blankets on the floor and get comfortable, I’m thinking of doing something really stupid. What other choices do I have though, not many as far as I can tell. Still, I may be over paranoid about all this.

I stay up a long time thinking about Sapientia, Eros, Phosphorus, Keir and all their kind. I have a slave that’s in a lot of ways one of these things or so much of a hybrid she’s something else entirely I don’t know. I used to fuck her often enough and connect to her deeply whilst doing it and I never sensed anything sinister then. Not until I allow that other thing into her body. What the fuck was I thinking then anyways?

Have I sunk so low into foreign delusions that I keep a slave to be used by creatures I don’t even understand? Thinking of Katya and her temperament from the years of being her master; if any of these spirits are like her then they aren’t all bad. And though I use Lady Crystal’s words as an adage of caution she really does seem to have the spirit within her under control so I know people can work with these things. Mira and her djin passanger as well...

Sapientia has been fair to me as well not demanding much, though I might have paid for that by giving it two of my children to ‘bless’ in that temple all those years ago. I face-palm thinking about how careless I have been dealing with these creatures; is it naivety? Am I naive? I stay up staring at darkness thinking of life, my life, how it went to shit. I have to try contacting Sapientia, if that doesn’t work I don’t know, I’ll think more about peaking in on Eros.

I sigh deflated. Closing my eyes I try to relax, feeling for the spirit threads connected to me until I get to the one I want, ‘’here goes.’’

Nothing, I don’t feel her at all. ‘’Wisdom, where are you? I invoke you, please answer my plea to you. Help me Wisdom through this, at least give me information. Please,’’ I sigh, feeling no connection at all.

‘’I’ve been instructed to give you some instruction in the basics of everything physical about the spiritual. Are you listening? Good. Firstly, spiritual energy is completely useless by itself in the physical world, it doesn’t do or affect anything in any way by itself.’’ The Acolyte says wagging a finger at me.

‘’Oh also its doesn’t have form, this is very important because...ah... well I don’t know why but it is. Are you listening?’’

I grunt my assent nodding my head to the man.

‘’Good, Spirit has no shape but like water it takes on the shape of whatever its put in and stuff...’’ he upturns his head in though. ‘’Let’s see... Ah yes!’’ he says looking back at me.

‘’Take that ability of yours to make people miserable. That’s a very strong attack I should acknowledge, very effective and all that. But really it doesn’t do anything physical to the victims you direct it towards does it?’’

....

It takes a moment for me to realise it isn’t a rhetorical question and I grunt again in accent, my first half truth. Technically spirit oppression does nothing to the physical body itself but I’ve seen and now felt firsthand the physical effects regardless of what anyone might say about it.

‘’Right. That ability attacks the spirit directly, very effective against spirit creatures not ready for it but it can be worked around. Also very effective against most beings with no spiritual training but you must be careful as most people protect their spirit bodies instinctively.

‘’Mhmm.. now let’s see... Oh yes shape! Spirit energy has none but that makes it easily malleable into any form.’’ I give him a blank stare giving away nothing as he stares back expecting feedback, already I can see his patience fraying.

‘’Well you fuse it into aura and you get a spiritually empowered aura, you put it into a sword,’’ he gestures towards my bound weapons. ‘’it takes on the shape of a sword and spiritually empowers the weapon. Very crude by the way, swords and things, violence itself .’’

He moves differently now than he did last I saw him walking.

‘’Also I’ve noticed you like to diffuse your spirit energy all around, are you a chimney puffing smoke or just being rude? Some people might appreciate all the information you’re providing I’m sure but I really don’t want to know you this intimately.’’

‘’What?’’ I startle not having considered how the way I’ve been using spirit sense might be used against me.

‘’Secondly it’s extremely inefficient and clumsy, I mean doesn’t it take a lot of concentration to use practically smoke as a way to detect movement? Doesn’t it get tiring?’’

I grunt, calming down but having stopped what I was doing to listen to this dangerous man.

‘’Like I said, easy to infuse spirit into what you already have so do that,’’ he says then folds his arms over his chest looking at me. ‘’Now!’’

What the fuck does this guy want me to do?

‘’Don’t make a face at me. What you’ve been doing is also very wastful, I don’t know how you have so much spirit energy but normal people don’t so we learn to do things properly.’’

He stares at me, not elaborating at all. I could punch him, I bet I could be up and across the distance in a second. Give him a good wallop on the nose.

‘’I don’t know how else to sense spirits around me,’’ I get out through mounting annoyance.

‘’You’re an idiot,’’

‘’Fuck you!’’ I say with some heat surprising myself.

He shakes his head like he’s dealing with an idiots, I am not an idiot.

‘’Warriors,’’ he says with exasperation. ‘’I told you spirit energy is fused into what we already possess, what do you possess that you usually use to see things around you?’’

My all round sphere of awareness keeps me informed of everything around me but I won’t tell this old man my secrets. Besides I already have spirit energy layered within and over my awareness to make my spiritual sphere of- Wait, it can’t be that easy can it? I close my eyes focusing on them whilst ‘opening’ that inner valve that lets me tap into the spiritual within me.

I open my eyes again and I see, actually see for the first time since being in this place of death. All this, did he draw all these himself?

‘’You can close your mouth,’’ he says and I do but I keep gawking all around me. There is colour and light everywhere all around me, glowing symbols etched on the walls and floor. Dark lights floating like wind currents flowing down the passage, what seem to outlines of doors and cabinets where I know to have solid walls. Could any of those be the way out?

The Acolyte himself shines brightly with black flames blazing around him, ‘’its like I can see your aura?’’ I say marvelling at all that was around me this whole time.

‘’Very similar and likely you can at that,’’ the old man says pulling the flames inward until he wears the flames tightly n his body like a second skin.

‘’How do you do that?’’ I ask looking at myself and cringing at how conspicuous I’ve been. Not just me but my entire sphere looks to be steaming golden fire dust constantly, my sphere covers 10m all around me. I’ve been conspicuous in the spiritual this whole time, a very scary thought.

I bow at the waist at the Acolyte watching me with a wry grin on his face, ‘’thank you for the instruction, I am eager to learn.’’ I say. This old man clearly knows his stuff regardless of anything else he may be and right now I need all the knowledge and advantages I can get.

‘’That’s a relief; I almost thought I’d have to bash you over the head with a stick before you learnt anything. Now how about you include the rest of your senses in on the fun mhmm?’’

I almost face-palm at my stupidity quickly opening myself up, pulling deep within myself and just saturating everything I have physically in spiritual energies. I hear wailing, turning I see nothing new but the wailing persists until I realise its coming from the floating darkness.

The air smells different, I feel things slightly differently I realise moving my own fingers like I’m seeing them for the first time. I remove my axe waist marvelling at it, my spirit is interwoven into it is so beautifully. I can even feel my katana Razor, literally feel it like I do my toes though it’s still sheathed on my waist.

‘’Glorious isn’t it?’’

His voice even sounds different, more authoritative and it brings my attention onto him as he intended. He nods once in satisfaction then proceeds to instruct me on how to be less spiritually bright; its a much harder lesson for me to grasp but I am determined to succeed. I learn, keeping in mind what I’m dealing with.