While Percy had kept an eye out for any sign that could lead him back to the mysterious girl, he had failed to find any clues as he roamed the space between worlds. He wasn’t sure what the problem was, but he figured there wasn’t much he could do about it at the moment.
In the end, he jumped into the first Red beast he saw, hoping it would be a suitable host for the magiscript challenge. The possession went relatively smoothly too. The creature allowed him to join without any hiccups, though it didn’t relinquish control over its body completely. This one wasn’t passive or timid like the gecko, nor chill and nonchalant like the floating cat. Just… really, really friendly?
‘I suppose I can work with this.’
Having to share wasn’t the most convenient turn of events, but Percy reminded himself that he was taking over the bodies of others. Naturally, going solo wouldn’t always be an option. In any case, it should be fine as long as the beast allowed him to do what he wanted.
Settling into the new vessel, Percy soon examined their soul’s condition. It was alright – he’d seen worse. Sadly, Mend wouldn’t help him much here. Even with his improved efficiency and his potent Orange mana, his pitiful stash wouldn’t be anywhere near enough to bring his host back from the verge of death. As always, the best he could hope for was to temporarily patch the cracks up.
‘Maybe I can come up with a spell for that too, at some point...’
A few minutes later, he managed to tap into the body’s senses. The first thing he felt was the gentle warmth of the sun, licking at the front side of their body. At the same time, a blanket of soft sand simmered beneath him, hugging his back. Next, he tried to take a breath, only to realize he couldn’t.
It was ridiculous – but perhaps not so surprising – how often his hosts had died of some form of suffocation. Though, unlike Takeo or the monkey, this guy hadn’t been strangled by a vine, nor drowned. It had choked.
Percy felt an object in their throat, blocking their air canal. Upon regaining consciousness, his host desperately tried to cough it out, to no avail. Of course not. If it was that easy, he wouldn’t have died in the first place. Luckily for him, he had Percy to help him this time.
Pulling a sliver of teal mana from his stash, Percy moved it to their throat, pushing against the obstruction. A few seconds later, their joint efforts were enough to dislodge the object, letting the creature spit it out.
‘What do we have here?’
The beast greedily gasped for air the first chance it got, though Percy ignored it as he examined the instrument of his demise. It was a large, spherical object. Pink and… hairy? Almost like a miscoloured coconut. In fact, his guess was probably not that far off, as he could tell via his connection to the creature that this thing was edible.
‘Wow. Did you try eating it whole?!’
Friendly or not, his latest host clearly wasn’t the sharpest tool in the shed.
Not being in a rush to move on, Percy allowed the beast to go about its day, while examining their surroundings. As he had come to realize early on, they were currently standing on some kind of beach.Though it looked very different from what one might expect.
Gazing around some more, he quickly noticed it was more like a desert than a beach, as the sand extended in every direction, all the way to the horizon. Rather than a sea, it was dotted with lots and lots of small oases. Their sizes ranged from tiny puddles to lakes wider than Bogside town. And they seemed to be filled up with regular water, the crystalline liquid shimmering as it reflected the bright sunlight and the clear blue sky both. At least, the colours were right this time.
What caught his eye were the tall palm trees lining up the oases’ coasts, boxing them in, like natural fences. Percy had never seen a palm tree back on Remior – at least not outside illustrations – but these definitely looked a little weird. They always came in pairs, their trunks intertwined with one another, as if the trees were engaged in some stationary dance, embracing their mates passionately. Their crowns lightly touched, looking like they were kissing, with lots of pink coconuts adorning their shared canopies.
‘Odd… But also cool.’
More importantly, Percy spotted plenty more creatures like his host, allowing him to get a better look at them from the outside. His host was clearly an adult – not losing to the tallest of them. They were birds, their beaks short and hooked. As for their plumage, it varied from one individual to another, ranging from the brightest yellows to the gloomiest blues, to exotic pinks and warm reds. A quick glance revealed his own feathers were a relatively unassuming brown – that very thought dampening his host’s mood.
‘Hey… For what it’s worth, I think you’re handsome.’ Percy tried cheering the bird up.
Overall, the creatures faintly resembled parrots – as much as any alien ever could. That said, they had six limbs. Other than their wings, each of them sported two pairs of talons. Most of them walked on all four, but they seemed capable of standing on their hindlegs too – if they wanted. At least, that appeared to be his host’s preference.
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Clenching one of his “hands”, Percy noted it had a decent range of motion. He only had three digits on each limb, but one was opposite the other two, so he wouldn’t have much trouble holding an object, or drawing runes with it.
‘Not as good as a human hand. Or even the monkey’s for that matter…’
He frowned. It wasn’t perfect, but it would do. Next, he pulled up their Status, just in case there was any big surprise there. Sadly, there wasn’t.
As always, the Status listed only the spells that he could theoretically cast in this body. Synchronization and his Secret Art weren’t among them, as he lacked his bloodline or a second core, but that didn’t mean that everything else listed there was useable.
‘I suppose the Status isn’t smart enough to recognize I don’t have enough mana for the Soul Harvester. Though a smaller Mantle should be doable.’
Either way, he didn’t want to bring any cyan or teal powder to the Vault, unwilling to hand Metatron such a useful gift. That said, he’d use his fused mana if he had to. That one wasn’t a secret from the titan – after all, it was from there that he even learnt about it in the first place.
While Percy was busy assessing his situation, his host went about his day unfazed. He strolled casually along the soft sands, acting as if he hadn’t just evaded death. Every now and then, he waved at his peers or greeted them with a throaty squeak. Eventually, he stopped underneath the shade of a particularly large pair of palm trees, where many of his friends had gathered.
Lifting his eyes from the Status page, Percy examined the other creatures from up close. He guessed these ones were all males, betrayed by their more vibrant coats and slightly larger builds. They were pointing at a group of females bathing in the clear waters of the nearest lake, snickering at one another. His host looked like he was having fun.
‘I kinda feel bad I’m about to take him to the Vault.’ Percy sighed.
This place was essentially a paradise. No predators in sight, abundant food, a nice environment, and lots of friends or potential mates. It was pretty much a dream come true, whether one was at Red or White, a beast or a sapient.
But he’d do it. Percy had never thought twice before eating a slice of ham, or a chicken’s drumstick. It would only be hypocritical of him – not to mention dumb – if he sacrificed an opportunity to spare a bird’s feelings. Still…
‘I suppose there’s no harm in letting him stay here for another day. We do need to collect some food first too.’
Percy planned to gather a lot of supplies before going to the Vault this time. Sizian meat was the only food they had there, and each piece would cost him an arm and a leg. Not caring about his host’s advancement in the slightest, Percy couldn’t possibly justify spending a credit on every meal – he had yet to even earn any! Plus, he didn’t want to burden Gabe with that again.
Of course, starving wasn’t an option either. He fully intended to spend at least a couple of weeks there this time. Possibly longer. The obvious solution was to simply bring some food with him through the portal.
Over the next few hours, he coaxed his host into helping him gather a pile of coconuts. At first, the creature resisted. He was having way too much fun just chilling with his buddies to waste it collecting food when he wasn’t even hungry. But Percy managed to get through to him, mainly by making it appear like a game. They took turns controlling the body, competing to see who’d pick the most coconuts.
Naturally, the creature wiped the floor with him – being much more used to his own body. Not that Percy cared about his loss too much, his eyes dripping with enthusiasm as he stared at the pile of coconuts sitting before him. It was about as tall as he was.
‘Ok, these should last us for a while. The only question is how to get them all through the portal.’
Looking up at the trees, his gaze locked onto their leaves, each longer than he was tall, and wider than his arm. A single leaf would probably tear in an instant under all this weight, but what about a hundred of them?
Fortunately, the parrot proved to be a decent climber. A good thing too, as his wings didn’t seem large enough to support his weight in flight. Some more placating and a few games later, Percy grinned in appreciation as he scanned their handiwork.
Hundreds of coconuts were resting inside a green sack. Without anything to tie the leaves together, a few coconuts slipped through the gaps whenever he tried dragging the sack. But it was fine. Most of them had remained inside, so the majority would probably make it through the portal.
Activating the Decree, both of them marvelled at the sight, as the circular gate manifested before them. It wasn’t Percy’s first time seeing this, but that wasn’t nearly enough for him to tire of watching a titan’s magic at work.
He got a wave of confusion back. Naturally, the creature hesitated, unsure why it had to leave its home and its nestmates behind. With a heavy heart, Percy used the promise of a second core, and unimaginable magical secrets to coax his new buddy into stepping through the portal. Sadly, none of those things appealed to the parrot. It seemed satisfied with everything it already had.
It took Percy a couple more hours to convince the bird the trip was worth it. And, he only succeeded by omitting a very important detail – the fact that there was no coming back. Tricking the parrot did leave a bad taste in his mouth, but he knew this was the only way.
‘Even if I leave him here, he’ll die when I go. I can’t fix him on my own. But Metatron will…’
Dragging the leafy sack through the sand, Percy tossed it through the portal first. A few coconuts spilled out in the process, but he just kicked them all right behind it. Then he stepped through the magical gate too.
It was finally time to learn some new runes.