Spellheart 9: Chapter 54 (Patreon)

I focused, concentrating to try to tame the current of thoughts threatening to carry my mind away. If I allowed the memories to flow into me of their own accord, I’d receive nothing but jumbled bits and pieces. It might be years before I’d fully integrated the life of my doppelganger into my own. Maybe never.

If that happened, his experiences would be lost to me. And maybe his power too.

So instead, I focused and started the stream where I wanted. From the beginning.

I brought myself back to that battle when he and I had been one and the same. My memories matched his earliest one moment for moment, right up until the part where they didn’t.

I could feel my companions calling to me. The Matriarchs of the Hearthwood Clan lined up on that now-barren isle, devastated by my wrath and volcanic fury. I’d been ambushed and had tapped into the tectonic forces of the planet itself to defeat my enemies. I’d done it, too, but at a terrible cost.

The earth zeal wrapped around me, embracing me and whispering in my ear as it asked me to abandon my flesh and blood vessels and join with it.

The greater part refused. I listened to the call of my family and lovers and shrugged off the earth’s embrace to rejoin them.

But the earth’s grip was strong, and little of me remained. A tiny soul fragment.

Parting from me was my doppelganger’s first true thought. It knew everything I knew before that, but when I pulled myself free from the earth zeal’s grasp, the flesh and blood version of me left what remained behind.

My perspective shifted, and half of the memories ended. I found myself staring at my own back as I walked away.

I opened my mouth to shout and yell. I was still in here! Something went wrong!

No words came out. I was a being of stone and magic, after all. The original me was walking away.

My lovers and companions turned to regard me, and I didn’t like the looks they had on their faces. Even my own face looked angry and ready for a fight. I stared down at my hands, confused by their hostility.

I thought about fighting. If I had the strength I’d possessed moments ago, I could crush them all, including the flesh-and-blood imposter before me.

But I didn’t have that strength. The flesh and blood man who wore my form had taken it with him when he separated from me. I was weak, hollow, and in so much pain.

I needed to sleep. Even now, I could feel consciousness slipping from me. I looked to safety and found it in the ley lines beneath me. Picking one, I dove into it and merged with the earth. Flowing into a ley line was easier now than ever before. I was earth zeal, and earth zeal was me.

I lay there within the ley line, drifting within its embrace for an unknown amount of time. In those hours, days, or weeks, I came to understand what had occurred.

I was a copy. The original was gone, leaving behind a tiny discarded soul fragment and the lingering impression of power, like a footprint left in damp beach sand.

A soul fragment as small and weak as mine was should have dissipated into nothing. At most, I should have become a mindless elemental. That was what would have happened if not for the World Titan Fiendbody.

My body cultivation technique wrapped around the tiny fragment of my soul, protecting and nurturing it while it was weak. The same powers allowed me to regenerate from any wound, even the complete removal of my heart. Apparently, just a scrap of my soul was enough to regenerate a whole entity. Even if that entity wasn’t quite the same as what came before.

Days passed as my soul’s wounds scabbed over and grew into something stable. I was hungry, and the ambient zeal could only nurse my growing power so much. I was starving more than I’d ever starved in my life.

An earth elemental brushed past me. Like a desperate animal, I lashed out and consumed it. Others died then. First dozens, then hundreds. Eventually, I consumed thousands of elementals, integrating their power to restore my own.

All the while, my element resonated with me. I had discarded my humanity and was no longer flesh and blood. Earth zeal flowed through my body and spirit cultivation, bringing me in tune with my power like never before.

This sense of oneness surpassed even what I had felt during the most enlightening moments of cultivation, and it continued on and on endlessly instead of brief bursts that appeared and were gone in hours.

It was an unexpected advantage. With this, I could push my Earth cultivation further and faster than even my flesh and blood twin could, assuming I was willing to do what it took to obtain the raw power needed to fuel it.

I extended my senses, feeling out for all the other elements in the area. Many of them were in the Wizard realm, with more than a few in the Sorcerer realm.

But to me, they were just prey.

I realized then and there that I’d be willing to do anything to regain what I’d lost. And so I did.

Beneath the earth, far from the touch of the sun or the sight of any living thing, a slaughter like no other took place. Elemental of stone and magma fell and were consumed like logs on a fire, all to fuel my returning power.

But eventually, it was not enough.

All living beings needed to balance their cultivation with growing vitality, also known as life zeal. It was the reason humans were so sought after among the Ten Thousand Worlds. They had vitality to spare.

Once, when I was a living human, I hadn’t ever thought about the need for vitality. Why would I? It was always in surplus.

But suddenly, I had lost an advantage I had always possessed, and its lack was concerning. I could progress no further until I obtained more. And there was little to be found beneath the earth.

So, I sought out the creatures on the surface. They had vitality aplenty. Elves especially. They greedily harvested it from their surroundings for their own cultivation. A battlefield would be best. Blood would be spilled aplenty, and I could take some unnoticed. Only then would I be able to progress further than I had as a living human.

After much searching, I found my battlefield and emerged under the sun for the first time in ages. Before, I’d taken on a massive and monstrous form. But I didn’t want to be a target, so this time, I aimed for something smaller in roughly my own shape.

There had been plenty of iron in my trip underground, and I had even more mastery over it than I had before, so I quickly fashioned a crude metal body for myself. Within it, I crafted the Elemental Subjugation Talisman.

Thousands of elementals still churned inside me, like food waiting to be digested. I didn’t want to lose control of myself as more elemental power flowed through me, so the talisman served the dual purpose of helping me digest my food and maintain better control over my own inhuman instincts.

The vitality from the battlefield seeped into me, but it took some time to figure out its physical form.

It was blood, thick streams of blood as thick as my arm. Elven blood, I was fairly certain of that. But it was thicker than it should have been, and far more powerful. Elven blood shouldn’t linger as a physical substance for this long. Normally, it dispersed into blood zeal. The only way it could linger this long would be if it was unusually flush with vitality. Vitality potions had to be plentiful around here.

At first, I was uncaring. I didn’t know these elves, after all. What did I care if they died? Quite the opposite, I should be happy since I was benefiting from their deaths.

But as a few sobbing screams echoed through the area and resonated with the metal of my body, I realized I was curious. A bit of investigation told me that this wasn’t a battle at all.

It was a slaughter.

But more than that, something about the zeal in the air felt familiar. It was Mind zeal, and there was only one faction I was familiar with that had this kind of proficiency with that rare aspect.

Anger mixed with my curiosity, and I explored the ruined town to wait and watch.

“Bring out the false god you worship!” A harsh, elven voice shouted. She wore a uniform of dark amber and controlled powerful mind magic. And just as I suspected, she wore the symbol of the Cult of the Unblinking Eye on her chest. “Bring him out!”

Him?

That drew more of my attention. What kind of man could arouse the ire of the Cult of the Unblinking Eye?

I crouched, half-merged with the earth and undetectable. The elf in command was only a Wizard, so fooling her senses was simple enough. And if she couldn’t detect me, none of the others would.

Before me, it looked like the entire remaining population of this settlement was lined up in the town square.

They hung their heads, blood and tears mixing. I studied the scene for a while, unsure what to make of it. Eventually, the harsh-sounding elf in uniform raised her voice again.

“All of you have a choice! Submit your minds for interrogation, or make use of the gallows there. We will ensure your wisp goes to good use,” the elf gestured to a raised platform equipped with several nooses.

The first group of elves hung their heads silently.

“No takers?” the one in uniform asked.

None of them moved, and each was promptly hung by the neck until dead.

“Next!” the uniformed elf shouted. Another batch of elves was brought forward and executed just as quickly as the first. The Cult of the Unblinking Eye was even more brutal than I had assumed when acting within lands they already controlled.

Just what had aroused the ire so?

Eventually, someone broke. “I’ll speak! I know where he is!”

The others kneeling next to the panicked elf dove for their fellow villager to silence her before she could speak, but they were too slow. The Wizard cast a single spell, freezing them in place.

“Speak!”

“H-he’s in the granary... please spare the village...” the timid elf whispered. Everyone else glared at her with lethal intent.

There was that word again.

He...

I scanned the surrounding area for a granary. I found it while the Wizard was still asking questions. Within, I found a young man.

He had short, curly brown hair and a thin build. He also wore glasses on his face that were distinctly non-elven. He had one hand over a sucking chest wound, and I could hear his breaths all the way from outside.

His cultivation wasn’t all that high at all. He was just a True Mage. That was pretty low for a human. He probably didn’t awaken until roughly the same time I had.

But there was something different about him. Something that spoke of power beyond the norm.

He sensed me despite my disguise, eyes suddenly turning alert as he jerked his head in my direction.

“You don’t look like a cultist...” He muttered, forcing himself upright.

Seeing I’d been spotted, I emerged. I opened my mouth to speak, forgetting that I hadn’t built a voice box yet. I would have to correct that sooner or later.

“You’re... not human? Or even elf? Huh. That’s unexpected. You’re an elemental? I thought all you guys were hostile to living things?”

I waved my hand back and forth in a so-so gesture. This human contained a lot of vitality, and ripping him open would spill that vitality into the earth. It was what I’d come for, after all. But after adding the Elemental Subjugation Talisman to my own structure, I found my curiosity winning out more often than my bloodlust.

“I’m Issac, if you can understand me.”

I nodded.

“Ah. That’s a yes, then. Listen, I will probably die here once the Demigod from the Cult of the Unblinking Eye figures out where I’m hiding. I’m just hoping to draw him away from the village. I have something I don’t want him to get.” Issac took a slow, shuddering breath.

“If you promise to save as many villagers as possible, I’ll give it to you instead.” He frowned. “No. Not just the villagers. For something this precious, I want you to promise to do whatever you can to oppose the Cult of the Unblinking Eye. They put on a good show and a friendly smile, but they’ll suffer no other faction to live. I just wanted to live a peaceful life here. They came for me. Promise you’ll avenge me, and you’ll have my secret.”

I gave him a steady and level stare. What did a True Mage have to give me that was worth anything? I might help him save the villagers just because I wanted to, but it wasn’t like—

He pulled a small book block from his coat pocket. It was no larger than a hand, but it immediately drew my attention. It was a cellphone.

“This isn’t mine. It was given to me by the person who brought me here. It’s got an app on it that’s... very useful.”

He held out the phone. “Promise?”

After a long moment of silence, I nodded. He handed me the phone. Gingerly, I took it. There was only a single program on the phone that stuck out, and it wasn’t one I’d ever seen before. It was labeled ‘QCA.’

“Follow the tips the QCA gives and do its quests. They’re worth it. The items in the shop can be really useful. Plus, it’s got more techniques and spells than the entire Cult of the Unblinking Eye library has. I think that’s why they want it. I couldn’t unlock all its features, but maybe you can.” Issac stared me down. “Uh... you will save the villagers, right? You won’t just leave with the phone?”

I turned and tucked the device between my iron plates. I would have to build a safe compartment for it. This was every bit as valuable as the Sunspire King’s crown. Or maybe even The Wanderer.

Issac stared at me expectantly. I gave him a thumbs up.

He returned a bloody smile. “Good. Now go! I don’t want the Demigod catching you here.”

I turned and left.

Not long after, something shot toward the granary like a bolt of lightning. I’d made it out just in time. The Demigod Issac had been waiting for finally arrived.

I had expected the granary to vanish in a puff of smoke and for the lone human holed up inside it to die instantly. But instead, it was the Demigod who screamed in pain. Apparently, Issac had some tricks of his own, True Mage or not.

That was good. If he could keep the Demigod busy, I really could save his precious villagers.

I traveled through the nearest ley line, summoning spikes of iron as I did so. They were a crude approximation of the blades I could make using the Blacksmith’s Workshop, but I couldn’t access that anymore.

The Wizard executing the villagers didn’t even know what hit her. One moment, she was standing there issuing orders. The next, she had a dozen hand-long shards of iron sticking out of her back.

Her subordinate True Mages and Mage Acolytes died quickly after that. The hard part was convincing the remaining villagers to follow the strange golem who popped out of the ground and attacked their captors.

It would have taken far too long for them to walk, so I wrapped my iron Sword Storm blades in clay spheres and then wrapped that clay around the elves I was to save. This way, I could carry them easily. I needed to be gone quickly because whatever trick Issac had used against his Demigod assailant was nearly over.

I led the newly freed elves to a small mountain valley far away. In many ways, it reminded me of the Hearthwood.

Days passed, and one scattered band of frightened elves became two. I hadn’t forgotten my promise to Issac as I rounded up anyone he might have known before his death and brought them somewhere safe. All the while, I explored the gift he'd given me. His cellphone was proving particularly useful.

Welcome to Quantum Cultivation Assistant!

• New User Detected! Name: Soulshard of Theodore Waltz
• Race: Iron Golem Cultivation Realm: Middle Sorcerer Realm
• Note: Certain dialogue options have been rendered obsolete due to your inorganic nature. New equivalents have been generated and provided.

Cultivation Insights

• Body Cultivation: World Titan Fiendbody (Gold Bone)
  • Progress to Diamond Skin: 32%
  • Note: Crossing the threshold to Diamond Skin will require substantial improvements to zeal flow through your body. Your current vessel will not survive the transformation.
• Spirit Cultivation: Earth Aspect (Mid Sorcerer)
  • Progress to Late Sorcerer: 74%
  • Tip: Your Spirit and Body Cultivation are in resonance. Ancient twofold cultivators possessed secret techniques to bring both cultivation methods into resonance. Review them in the library.

Zeal Balance

• Stored Zeal: 340,000/6.4 million
• Tip: Your spirit cultivation technique can store much more Earth zeal! Build a dantian or core to help you contain it.

Emergency Protocol

• Status: Expended. To replenish the Emergency Protocol, you will need to repurchase it in the shop!

The Emergency Protocol was likely what Issac had expended to get the upper hand on the Demigod who'd just attacked him. Losing it was a shame, but maybe it would appear again in this shop thing he mentioned.

This first menu would have been a valuable tool for anyone starting their cultivation journey, but there were several more waiting to be explored as well.

It wasn’t until I dug through several more menus to learn about these merit points that I realized the item’s true value. No wonder the Cult of the Unblinking Eye was desperate for it. Even more desperate for it than they had been for The Wanderer, it seemed. Issac was truly unlucky to make his home within territory they'd laid claim to.

Merit Shop

• Current Merit Points: 100
  • Note: Your recent act of saving villagers from the Cult of the Unblinking Eye has awarded you 100 merit points! Keep your promises or complete missions in the missions tab to earn more merit points! Merit points can be exchanged for abilities or items in the Merit Shop.

Items for Sale

• Greater Adamantium Soul Ore - This rare ore can instantly convert iron to Greater Adamantium, an alloy of incredible strength and magical properties. Cost: 200 Merit Points.
• Blueprint: Laser Cannon - Detailed design schematics for a zeal-based energy weapon fueled by Earth zeal. Note: requires several unique materials. Cost: 400 Merit Points.
• Crimson Star Ruby - A gem formed in the heart of a dying star. It resonates powerfully with Earth zeal and could be the key component in creating energy-based weapons. Cost: 800 Merit Points.
• Manual of the Artificer - An ancient comprehensive guide for creating items of incredible power. Includes knowledge on enchanting and smiting. Cost: 1200 Merit Points.

Note: Items refresh every 24 hours and may not be available again!

There was a library, too, though it had even more items for sale, and it looked like most of them stayed around all the time instead of just for a day.

I glanced between the menu and the small valley, now turning into a tiny settlement. It all felt so very familiar. Perhaps I could make this new life work for myself, after all.