The Soul Engine Ch. 27 (Original Fantasy) (Patreon)

A/N: Mikael has officially entered his sadboi arc, guys. But don't worry, it doesn't last long!

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“Stay still.”

A metal tool taps against his clavicle, making Mikael grunt as he aborts the heavy sigh he was in the process of letting out. It wasn’t the first drawn out sigh that had poured out of him in the past few days, but admittedly, this wasn’t the time for him to be sighing. Not with Avina wrist deep in the Soul Engine, fiddling around inside of it with a set of specialized looking tools.

It had been five days since the Grand Melee, Mikael’s victory, and Zadicus’ death. But the city was still in a state of utter anarchy. Civilized anarchy perhaps, but anarchy all the same. What Mikael had heard was that the people of Alether had finally risen up and thrown off the shackles of their oppression. With Zadicus out of play, the City Guard was apparently headless. Whoever was supposed to be in charge over there had merely been a Yes Man for the Lord of the City, not any sort of military commander or soldier.

As a result, the City Guard hadn’t lasted longer than a day before crumpling. Most of the guardsmen had either died, fled the city, or simply taken off any identifiers and joined the populace in their revolt. That last option had apparently been less successful than most of them had hoped, because even if they wanted to forswear all previous loyalties, the ringleaders who had sprouted up amidst the rioting weren’t so inclined to let them.

According to the reports, there were street courts popping up all over the city, where men were pulled before community leaders or just mobs of people and their crimes were judged by the angry citizenry. Not many survived their ‘trials’. Did Mikael feel guilty about the part he played in making that happen? Perhaps a little bit. But at the same time, for every ‘good’ guardsman that was perhaps punished unfairly for simply doing his job, there were ten who were guilty of corruption, abuse of power, and far worse crimes than those.

All in all, Mikael had washed his hands of the whole situation. It wasn’t his fight. It never had been. Alether wasn’t his city, Ocreatha wasn’t his kingdom, and Vaclatora wasn’t his world. Even if he was stuck here all the same.

Another heavy sigh threatens to escape him, but this time Mikael manages to hold it in, staying as still as possible as Avina runs the last set of tests on his Soul Engine. Or at least, that’s what she told him they were doing today. Indeed, for the last five days, they’d all stayed holed up in the Lord’s Tower. Avina had taken the ring from Zadicus’ finger and put it on, taking control of the tower defenses.

She’d kept the barrier up and the four of them had stayed put. Mikael was a little bit surprised that Bula hadn’t asked to be let out into the city to take part in all the fighting, but to be fair, the fighting had been done for a while now anyways. And to be extra fair, word of her enslavement might not have reached every corner of the city just yet. To many in Alether, Bula was still Zadicus’ Chief Enforcer.

With the Lord’s Tower under their control, they’d had more than enough supplies to make the last five days the most relaxed time period Mikael had had yet in this world. And yet… and yet, he was not exactly overjoyed. Or thrilled.

Mikael ultimately found himself in a strange state. On the one hand, he felt strangely powerful. Energized in a way he’d never been before. The Soul Engine in his chest is glowing brightly, even after five days without a ‘meal’. Of course, he’d ‘eaten’ hundreds of souls during the Grand Melee… but then he’d had to burn through a lot of that power to overcome Zadicus’ control of the tower defenses so that the evil wizard couldn’t have his way with Mikael or his friends. And yet he didn’t feel any weaker for it. He felt… perfectly fine.

On the other hand, he was melancholic. Physically he might never have been better, but mentally and emotionally, he was listless. The life he’d had before coming to this world a few weeks ago was gone. His memories were lost to him. He was never going home. Frankly, a little grieving period felt appropriate. He deserved to be sad over what he’d lost, didn’t he?

“… I’m sorry about your memories, Mikael.”

Apparently Avina agrees, because she suddenly speaks up even as she continues her work. Not even bothering to glance away from the Soul Engine, his Soul Mechanic nevertheless frowns slightly, saddened on his behalf.

“There’s still a possibility we might be able to get you back to your world though. The Hero Summoning Ritual is ancient beyond words. Its origins are shrouded in mystery. Even if none of the old writings in Ocreatha or Zuveria have answers, it’s possible that other parts of the world do. I… I’d be happy to travel with you in search of such answers. Wherever you want to go.”

Mikael grunts. It’s nice of her to offer, but even as she speaks of hope, he can hear in Avina’s tone that she doesn’t think it’s possible. The loophole that bastard Quinn found in the ritual seems pretty fucking ironclad. The Summoned Hero is supposed to be given the choice to go home once he’s completed the condition he was summoned to complete in the first place. But by making the condition ‘die for me’, Zadicus had gamed the system. You couldn’t choose to go home if you were dead, now could you?

And apparently whoever had invented the ritual hadn’t thought about that or put any sort of failsafe in place to avoid it. Nor had they thought about the Summoned Hero being resurrected after death either. Otherwise Mikael would have gotten some sort of option to go home the moment he woke up in the basement. Perhaps it was best he hadn’t. Showing back up on Earth with no explanations, a soul-sucking device in his chest, and half his memories replaced with those of killers sounded like a recipe for disaster.

Ultimately… Ultimately Mikael didn’t think he was ever going home. It was just like Zadicus said. Nor was he ever getting his head fixed. He was going to have to live like this now… half Mikael and half monster. That said… amidst all of the melancholy, amidst all of the despair, Mikael hadn’t been ONLY thinking about himself these past five days.

As Avina works away at his Soul Engine, he slowly lowers his eyes from staring off into nothing to his Soul Mechanic’s face. After a moment, Avina glances up at him before returning to her work.

“What? What is it?”

“… What did Zadicus mean when he said the loan was never the point? Whoever that was talking to him through the skull… did you recognize the voice?”

Avina hesitates for a moment before shaking her head.

“No. It was too garbled. It didn’t even sound human. Whoever it was, I think they were masking their true voice somehow.”

Mikael nods at that. He would have to agree. The skull’s voice didn’t SOUND like any normal voice would. It sounded deep, dark, and heavily modulated. Still.

“They talked of a Zadicus’ ‘charge’. Like it was someone he was supposed to be looking after. And the way Zadicus spoke… it was pretty obviously implied to be you.”

His Soul Mechanic’s shoulders slump at that and she lets out a sigh of her own.

“… Yeah. I got that much too.”

Mikael gives her a moment. She’s earned at least that much from him. After all, if it wasn’t for Avina, he would still be dead. Maybe he was never going home. Maybe he was never getting his mind or his life back. But at the very least, he’d gotten revenge. And all of those inane sayings back home about how ‘revenge is a dish best served cold’ and ‘if you seek revenge, dig two graves’… it was a bunch of bullshit. Mikael was glad Zadicus Quinn was dead. He was even glad he’d done the deed with his own two hands. At least he got some fucking closure.

“… I wasn’t always Avina the Soul Mechanic, Mikael.”

Avina scoffs in dry amusement at her own words.

“Heh, of course I wasn’t. ‘Soul Mechanic’ is a title I made up on the spot when I finally managed to bring you back. When I finally managed to make the Soul Engine WORK. Before that… I was a nobody. And before that… well, I was someone I really don’t want to be associated with anymore.”

Biting her lower lip, Avina takes a moment to gather herself.

“… A long time ago, something terrible happened. And I survived. I lived when everyone else died. I wasn’t supposed to. And in fact, I didn’t think anyone knew that I lived either. But I fled anyways. I ran away all the way to this city, to Alether. And here I’ve been for… more than half my life. One might say I grew up in Alether, even if I wasn’t born here. I scavenged, and I survived, and I made something of myself, no matter how small it was.”

Avina has a faint smile on her face as she describes her time in Alether. Then, the smile drops.

“Eventually though, I got the itch. I wanted to create. But I needed money. So… I started looking for ways to earn extra coin. Somehow, Zadicus found me. He was just Arena Master then, but he found me and offered me the first loan. I was desperate, so I took it. And I started the work that would eventually lead me to creating the Soul Engine.”

Glancing off to the side, Avina huffs.

“… I suspect now that Zadicus knew who I once was. Or maybe he didn’t, but whoever was on that skull definitely did. For some reason, they had him watching me. Keeping me in line. I don’t really want to guess why that might be. I… I don’t want to be that girl I once was anymore.”

Looking back at him, Avina’s dark eyes are almost imploring.

“It’s better for everyone if my past stays dead and buried, Mikael. I… I want to tell you everything one day. I promise I will. But for now… I think it’s best if we leave Alether soon. And Ocreatha altogether. Wherever you want to go, we can go. Just so long as its away from this Kingdom.”

… He doesn’t fully understand, but even still, Mikael gives Avina a nod and a small smile.

“Everyone’s entitled to their secrets, Avina. Thank you for telling me as much as you could.”

Then, because it’s obvious that the subject is making her uncomfortable, Mikael glances down at his Soul Engine.

“… What’s the verdict, doc?”

Avina blinks at that, before looking back to her work as well. After a moment, she finishes up whatever she was doing and closes the Soul Engine back up, sealing the outer casing once more. Then, she gives him a sardonic look.

“Congratulations. You’re a wizard, Mikael.”

For a moment, he just stares at her blankly. Then, he chokes out a response.

“Excuse me?”

She gestures at his chest.

“You have magic now. Specifically, you have a magical talent.”

… Right, of course she wouldn’t know. But fuck was it jarring to hear her repeat a line from the most popular magical fiction back home. And fuck was it frustrating that that damn book series was what he remembered, instead of more important things like his goddamn family. Grimacing, Mikael forcibly suppresses such depressing thoughts, instead focusing on what Avina is actually saying.

“Explain? Please?”

His Soul mechanic has the good grace to look abashed as she nods her head and rises to her feet.

“Right, sorry. Simply put, magical talent is not learned in this world, Mikael. It is something you’re born with.”

“Wait, its genetic?”

As Avina’s blank look, Mikael flushes.

“Err… its inherited?”

She starts to nod, but then tilts her head to the side and raises a hand to make a so-so gesture.

“Sort of. It’s inherited a lot of the time yes. If a family is known for magic, most of its members will have a magical talent. But magical talent has also been shown to crop up in non-magical families as well. It’s… incredibly random, at times. Zadicus Quinn, for instance, definitely wasn’t from any known magical family as far as I’m aware. But he had a magical talent all the same. One that he passed onto you when you absorbed his soul five days ago.”

Mikael chokes on his spit. Never mind the similarities to a certain property he’d JUST been thinking about. But did Avina just say what he thought she said?

“You’re saying I’ve absorbed that bastard’s magic?”

For a moment, he’s amazed by the idea. Then, Mikael blanches as he thinks over the magics Zadicus was known for. He hadn’t seen the bastard cast a single fireball in the few encounters he’d had with him. There was that hand flame in their first encounter, but even that hadn’t made another showing when they’d fought that final time.

No, Zadicus’ magical talent had seemed to lie in summoning rituals, mind magic, and magical contracts. Otherwise known as kidnapping people, fucking with their heads, and enslaving people to do his bidding. Needless to say, none of those were things Mikael himself wanted to suddenly start doing.

“You have, yes… and I can tell you’re concerned because of what Zadicus was known for. Let me set your fears at ease, Mikael. Magic manifests differently in everyone. Just because you absorbed Zadicus’ magical talent does not mean you will be predisposed to the same magics that he was. It doesn’t… or rather, it shouldn’t work like that.”

Mikael raises an eyebrow at Avina and the pale, freckled young woman flushes under his gaze.

“But you don’t know for sure, do you? Because this is all new ground. Look, I appreciate all you’ve done for me as my Soul Mechanic Avina… but you say it yourself. Soul Mechanic was a title you made up AFTER you finally succeeded in getting the Soul Engine online and bringing me back. So really, you don’t know for sure that I didn’t inherit Zadicus’ predisposition to certain less than savory magics, do you?”

Mulish, Avina crosses her arms over her chest and huffs.

“… No, I don’t know ‘for sure’. But all of my research says it shouldn’t be. Still, if you’re that worried about it, there’s only one way to know for sure.”

Tilting his head to the side, Mikael gestures for Avina to go on.

“You let me lead you through the basics of drawing out your magical talent, and we see exactly what it is you can do without any sort of training. If I’m wrong and you ARE predisposed to Zadicus’ types of magic, well we can decide how you want to handle it. But if I’m right and you have your own magics, possible unique from anything else in the world… well, surely that’s worth exploring, right?”

His head still tilted; Mikael considers Avina’s words for a moment before slowly nodding. Yes. Yes it was.

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A/N: Mikael has MAGIC now. That's nice, isn't it? So long as his magic isn't memory-alteration and slave contracts and summoning rituals akin to kidnapping anyways. Next time, Mikael and Avina talk some more while exploring that magic~

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