The Soul Engine Ch. 28 (Original Fantasy) (Patreon)

A/N: Avina walks Mikael through using his magic~

EDIT: Enjoy this chapter two hours early because Patreon have broken their own Scheduling System with this new UI rollout of theirs. I could tell it was probably broken on the backend, but I figured I'd try it out anyways. Not surprised by this result, lol.

We'll be back to our regular posting schedule for TSE tomorrow, even if I have to manually post the updates from now on.

-x-X-x-

His decision made, Mikael looks down at his glowing Soul Engine.

“… How do we begin?”

Smiling slightly, Avina places a hand atop the outer case of her creation, running her fingers along her device almost as if she’s a mother stroking the head of her child. A weird analogy when talking about the thing that’s literally replaced his heart, but that’s the first thing that comes to Mikael’s mind all the same.

“Focus. Reach within yourself and try to find something that feels like pure power. Then… draw it out.”

Mikael can’t help but shoot Avina a dubious sort of look at that. The freckled young woman maintains her serious look for a second before cracking a broader smile and ducking her head.

“I know how it sounds, Mikael. But I am actually serious. This sort of thing… normally it takes months of hard work and focus for someone to draw out their magical talent after its discovered. But normally, it’s also discovered at a young age, sometimes by accident, sometimes through rigorous testing. You, however, are special. For two reasons.”

His Soul Mechanic holds up two fingers at that last bit and then makes a show of pulling one down with her hand.

“Number One, you’re a Summoned Hero. All of the texts I’ve read made it clear that your kind either sinks or swims. You’re not born into our world, you’re thrust into it. As a result, you have nothing at the start, but you also have unlimited potential.”

Then, she pulls down the second finger.

“Number Two, you have my Soul Engine in your chest. Don’t tell me you haven’t already felt it while drawing upon the Soul Engine’s power. The strength flowing through you. The energy coursing through your veins. You’ve already got experience with this sort of thing. All you have to do is do that… but this time externalize it.”

Hm. Okay, that actually made a lot of sense. Part of Mikael was a little concerned about the idea of just… expelling energy from the Soul Engine though. It was his literal life force, after all. But at the same time, this was magic they were talking about. He couldn’t just ignore the possibilities, now could he?

Giving Avina a nod to make it clear he understands, Mikael lets out an explosive breath and closes his eyes, focusing inward. His hands are atop his knees as he sits there, steadily breathing in and out while searching for that… feeling. His Soul Mechanic is right, of course. Finding the source of his power is easy for someone like him. It’s literally his heart, after all. The Soul Engine is a part of him, and something he’s already established a connection with.

Reaching a little bit further, Mikael thinks he picks up on what Avina is talking about. It’s the same energy he’s felt flowing through him before when he fought, when he needed a burst of speed or strength. But… more. Honestly, it’s surprisingly intuitive. Almost natural, really. Mentally grasping at that power, Mikael slowly begins to pull it out of him.

Unbidden, his left hand comes up off of his knee and turns over, cupping seemingly empty air. Then, Mikael feels a warmth in his palm that causes him to open his eyes. He blinks in shock at the teal flame he sees there. It’s the same color as his Soul Engine, he quickly realizes. But then that makes sense, doesn’t it? His magic IS unique to him after all. No one else has a Soul Engine in their chest, he assumes. And so no one else has a connection to this… Soul Energy he’s currently manifesting.

“… Magnificent.”

Blinking, Mikael flushes a bit. He’d got so caught up in staring at his hand that he’d forgot he wasn’t alone. To be fair, Avina is staring right alongside him. Her naturally pale face and stormy grey eyes are alight with the teal coming off of the flame in his palm, even as she leans in close, gaze glittering with curiosity.

“What does it feel like?”

Tilting his head to the side, Mikael considers the question for a moment before shrugging and going with the honest truth, even if it’s also rather vague.

“It feels… warm.”

Avina gives him a deadpan look at that, the brilliant artificer’s inquisitive mind not really appreciating the incredibly unhelpful answer. But Mikael just gives her a sheepish grin and shrugs again. He doesn’t know what else to tell her.

“… I’m going to touch it.”

That, of course, makes his eyes widen. He looks between Avina’s adorably determined face and the flame in his palm and gulps.

“I’m not sure that’s a good idea, Avina.”

Pouting at him, his Soul Mechanic frowns.

“Whyever now? How can we figure out what it’s capable of if we don’t experiment?”

She raises a good point, but having her touch the flickering teal energy doesn’t seem like the best way to experiment. Mikael opens his mouth to say as much… only for Avina to stick her hand into the ball before he can speak. He blinks and then scowls, pulling his own hand back along with the teal flame.

“Avina!”

But the Soul Mechanic just holds up her hand, showing it to him front and back. Blemish free. And she doesn’t look to be in pain either. Instead, she grins at him.

“You’re right. It was warm.”

Mikael just gawks for a moment. He even contemplates taking Avina over his lap and spanking her for her audacity. But in the end, he holds himself back, even as Avina hums and reaches out again.

“May I?”

Honestly, asking for permission only after they deemed it safe? Mikael just sighs and nods his head, putting his hand back into the space between them so she could play with the teal flame in his palm.

Over the next half hour, they learn a lot about Mikael’s new magic. It’s incredibly versatile, with the possibilities seemingly being endless. His energy doesn’t actively harm or burn things unless he decides it should, and it can even offer healing if he focuses on rejuvenation and regeneration. He can bind things with it, but he can also burn things with it, as a few of the late Zadicus Quinn’s tapestries and curtains get to discover.

On top of that, there’s something else they uncover about his new powers. Namely, he’s got a new sort of sight. It’s hard for him to make out at first, but if he looks very, VERY closely at Avina, he can see it… her literal soul. It’s bound to her person, slightly lifting off of her body, and moves with her when she moves about. He’s basically got a sort of soul-sense now, it would seem.

It makes sense, Avina tells him. After all, the Soul Engine absorbs souls. And as Avina has said time and time again, souls are just little off-shoots of the Weave, through which all life and all things are connected. Ultimately, Soul Energy is just a step or two removed from Weave Energy. Whereas most other magical talents are directly tied to the kind of person they’re born into, limiting the scope of what that being can hope to achieve in magic, Mikael’s talent is far purer in form.

That’s all well and good, but when the half hour comes to a close, Mikael finds himself focusing on the one major issue with all of this. Its great that he has this amazingly versatile magical talent. Really it is. But as much as he’s excited and acting like a child with a new toy at first, he’s very much not ACTUALLY a child. And after burning some of Zadicus’ stuff in a very cathartic move, Mikael has to sit down again and focus on the elephant in the room.

“This new power is great and all, Avina… but isn’t it also a double-edged sword?”

Avina tilts her head to the side at that, furrowing her brow in confusion. Sighing, Mikael waves a hand through the air as he explains.

“Basically, aren’t I literally using my own life force whenever I cast magic, Avina? I’m suped up on all of those deaths from the Grand Melee at the moment so I’m not even feeling the drain, but if I’m not careful I could kill myself throwing around this much energy.”

His Soul Mechanic’s eyes light up in understanding at that… and then she smiles as she places a hand atop the Soul Engine and shakes her head.

“The Grand Melee isn’t why you’re not feeling the drain right now, Mikael. Sorry, I got so distracted by the magic that I didn’t mention the other thing.”

Mikael blinks, thoroughly confused again.

“Other thing?”

Nodding, Avina strokes the Soul Engine for a moment, staring down at it almost lovingly. No, not almost. That was definitely a look of love and adoration on the young woman’s face.

“My creation has managed to surprise even me. I mean, I made it to be… adaptive of course. After all, for all that it’s an artificial device, it’s meant to be installed in a living person. Or… err, a not-so-living person, but then its meant to bring you back and keep you alive. And it’d be a pretty poor replacement for your heart if it couldn’t evolve and grow with you, Mikael.”

What was she saying? He doesn’t interrupt again, even though he’s itching for her to get to the point. It’s clear Avina is beyond pleased about whatever this is and he’s finding it hard to ruin the moment for her.

“… Basically, the reason I’ve spent these last five days running so many tests on you is because the Soul Engine has become something more than I ever anticipated. It’s funny, there were plenty of spellcasters in the Grand Melee whose souls you absorbed. I know, I was watching. But you didn’t get THEIR magical talents as far as I’m aware.”

Avina furrows her brow for a moment in thought before shrugging.

“I don’t know why it was different with Zadicus. Whether it was because you were physically closer to him, or because your emotions were running hot, or what. But either way, when you absorbed Zadicus’ magical talent, it changed how the Soul Engine operates… specifically it made it self-sustaining.

Mikael’s eyes widen at that.

“Excuse me?”

Nodding as if his surprise is perfectly understandable, Avina smiles and gestures around them.

“As you likely recall from previous explanations, the Weave is all around us. Which is why it’s apparently possible for the Soul Engine to now draw energy straight out of the air itself.”

His mouth agape, Mikael just stares for a moment before shaking himself out of his stupor.

“… Wait, doesn’t that mean the Soul Engine isn’t… even a proper Soul Engine anymore? Isn’t it more of a Weave Engine or something now? You’re saying that I basically don’t have to consume souls anymore. That I’m sustained by just… existing in this world?”

Frowning slightly, Avina hums.

“… I suppose you’re not wrong. Though as it’s creator, I veto any change to the name. It’s still the Soul Engine… and I am still your Soul Mechanic, Mikael. Understood?”

She’s almost adorable with how stern she tries to get. Mikael grins, snorting in amusement even as he dips his head in acknowledgment.

“Of course, Avina. Soul Engine and Soul Mechanic it is. Still… this changes things, doesn’t it?”

Avina nods, agreeing with him readily.

“Yes. You effectively have a baseline level of energy that you can’t drop below now. Well, not without seriously trying. In fact, you’re functionally immortal.”

Wait, what? Mikael hadn’t thought of that. He would have gotten there eventually sure, but he… he hadn’t made the leap yet. And yet…

“So long as you don’t stay in the same place for too long, at least.”

A spike of worry lances through Mikael at those words. He can’t help but be filled with concern.

“Hold on, what do you mean by that? How long is too long?”

Rolling her eyes, Avina shakes her head.

“There’s no need to be worried, Mikael. By ‘too long’, I mean being trapped in a small space as big as this room for as long as a decade. Like I said before, the Weave is constantly replenishing itself off of the souls that rejoin it upon people dying. And people die every day. While it’s true that you’re sucking the ambient Weave out of the air wherever you go now, you’re not going to be a detriment to your surroundings unless you wind up trapped somewhere for years on end.”

Tilting her head to the side, Avina purses her lips together in thought, even as Mikael reels at the ramifications of what she’s saying. The mad scientist of a young woman hums some more before shrugging.

“Hell, even if you do wind up trapped… say buried underground or something, so long as you stay still and conserve energy, you could last for centuries in such a-mmph!”

Avina is cut off by Mikael’s hand over her mouth as he hurriedly silences her, his eyes wide with panic.

“Don’t say things like that, Avina! Don’t you know you’re tempting Murphy?!”

She furrows her brow at him, mumbling in response until he removes his hand. When he does, she repeats herself.

“Who is Murphy?”

Mikael blinks… and then realizes he doesn’t actually know. He just knows that for some reason, Avina was tempting Murphy there. But who was Murphy? What did it mean? The experience is jarring as he’s struck in the face with the state of his fractured mind for the first time since this whole conversation about magic and all that started.

Slumping back in his chair, Mikael brings a hand to his forehead and rubs it with a sigh.

“I don’t… I don’t know.”

It dawns on him then. His mind. His fucked up memories. He was going to be stuck like this forever. And yeah, he’d known that already. These past five days had, in large part, been spent trying to come to terms with the fact that he was never getting HIS memories back, and that he was stuck with the memories of killers, soldiers, and warriors that Zadicus fucking Quinn had foisted upon him.

… But it’s different now. Because ‘forever’ isn’t just to the end of a normal human lifespan. As Avina said, he’s functionally immortal. Forever is… forever. Unless he ends it early. But he doesn’t think he was ever the type of person to contemplate suicide. Even now the idea is anathema to him. But was suicide so abhorrent because all of the dead men in his head wanted to live so badly? Or because he himself wanted it?

Fuck him. Immortality with this shit was going to be pure torture, wasn’t it? To say nothing of his current companions eventually growing old and dying and leaving him all alone with just his own sorry self for company.

“Mikael?”

Avina’s voice is laden with concern. He knows she cares. For all that Mikael recognizes she’s manipulated him at certain points in their relationship, he can’t really bring himself to be mad at her for it. And he knows that Avina cares for him. But he can’t deal with that right now. He can’t deal with her right now.

“Thank you for everything, Avina. But I’d really like to be alone for the moment, please.”

“I… if that is your wish.”

Whatever she might have said, his Soul Mechanic seems to think better of it. After a moment, she wordlessly rises and leaves the room, leaving Mikael all alone with his thoughts.

-x-X-x-

A/N: Mikael is still a sadboi even though he has magic now. But not to worry, it won't be for much longer.

See, Avina has a Plan for how to get him out of his funk! It rhymes with 'throw Bula at him'. Wait no, not rhymes with, that's the actual whole-ass plan. Whoops.

Leave a Like if you enjoyed please, and if you have the time, toss me a comment as well!