Chapter 22: CHAPTER 22: control
When I woke up the others were already actively packing the camp in preparation to leave.
I stretched and crawled up. I could see that my breath made little clouds. The ground was moisty, and the grass carried the weight of multiple drops of dew.
Soon Alex noticed that I was awake. "Hey Gustave, good morning. How do you feel?"
"Morning Alex. I think I am doing better than yesterday."
I stretched again. For some reason I couldn't get the stiff feeling out my back.
("Could this be one of the early sings that I'm getting wings? If so, is it a normal thing for demons to grow more limbs over time? Or just something that is unique to me because I dint start out as a demon? No, it should be more common since Yerald knew of it and could point it out from seeing my back once.")
I rubbed my back for as far as I could reach it.
("Now that I think of it. Is whatever happened to me worsening? At the beginning I felt bad for every soul I ate, but yesterday I did so but didn't feel anything afterwards. Well, it could also be because I'm just getting used to it, or because that soul was different.")
I glanced over at the nun. She was still sleeping. This worried me, she had been sleeping for so long. But I shrugged it off. As long as she slept, she couldn't feel the pain after al.
Suddenly Yohan pulled me over. "Gustave, we need to discuss something."
I was confused. ("Was this about what happened yesterday? Or was it about what they were talking about when they thought that I was sleeping?")
Elisa followed us to the place the fire was earlier. There we sat down.
Yohan smiled at me. It was a warm and pleasing smile that made me feel more at ease in this situation. Then he spoke.
"In about two days we will reach a village, we plan to stay there until the weather gets better. But the chances are high that we will encounter travellers on our way to the village and everyone will immediately recognise you as a demon."
I nodded. I already knew that. And I still felt sad about it since it was a constant reminder of wat I had lost.
"So, what now?"
"Well, since my daughter can use magic maybe she can teach you some illusion magic that you can use when humans are around."
I nearly sprung up from excitement. "Really? Can she really teach me that?"
("Even if it isn't real, it is the closest I can come to being human again!")
"Y… Yes, I think so."
She muttered in her usual soft voice.
"Then why don't you start right now? Afterall we don't know when we start encountering other people."
I smiled. "Thank you."
Elisa and I walked a few meters in the forest to have the least amount of distractions. Event tough I could still exactly tell Elisa what was going on in the camp. But I decided not to tell her that because she will probably keep walking until we reached a place where I could not, and I didn't want to walk for that long.
Eventually we stopped in a place with a few big boulders that had probably rolled down from the old crumbling mountains in the distance.
We sat down each leaning against a rock.
"First you need to know how to use your mana, or as some people like to call it mental fore."
I tilted my head with a questioning look on my face. ("Why not just call it magic?")
"Okay. Close your eyes and focus on everything around you. Every plant and creature. You need to know exactly where they are, even without seeing or hearing them. It's sort of sensing with your mind that they are there."
I closed my eyes. Since I felt the magic of that book before I sort of knew what I was looking for. I stayed still and listened to everything around me. But hearing wasn't wat I was supposed to do.
Eventually I became aware of my own position. Now I just had to expend my awareness to find the other creatures.
So, I moved my own consciousness away from me. Eventually I reached a barrier. Like something was trying to keep my consciousness by myself.
I was scared. ("Should I go beyond that border. What if I can't come back? No, I have to try this, I don't care about my current self anyway. Plus, this might help.")
I passed through the border. It was a dark void like the place I was trapped in. but this time I could see numberless colourful spectres of light. I recognised them. ("Are those souls?")
Since the creatures hadn't died, all souls had a unique variety of colours. Some spread through the entire creature that it belonged to, what allowed me to see their shapes, however it was rare and only happened to the bigger creatures that also possessed more intelligence.
For some reason some of the plants were also visible. They didn't have a core like soul as the creatures and were dim and colourless, but I could most definitely notice them.
Now I was wondering if I could break through their barrier like I broke through mine.
I moved my consciousness towards a tiny mouse that was walking through the grass. The mouse felt the pressure and ran away. It didn't know what it felt or wat the pressure wanted. All the mouse knew was that it had to run away.
Despite its desperate efforts, me casting up to the mouse was inevitable. I pierced the barrier of the mouse's consciousness and invaded its mind.
Once there I could see through the eyes of the mouse and feel its emotions. But it still moved on its own.
I felt the agonising fear and confusion the mouse was going through. It stopped its movements. I knew that this was merely because it felt my pressure now everywhere and wasn't sure which way to go.
I inwardly smirked. ("If it doesn't know where to go, then I will help it.")
The mouse seemingly noticed my intensions and was once again paralysed with fear. It made a few attempts to kick me out of its mind. But it would do just as much as if it were to punch my actual body.
The mouse noticed this too and this realisation only worsened it's fear.
While the mouse was being scared focused all my pressure on the little creature. With only my will I managed to force the mouse to walk in the direction of Elisa and me.
At first it was hesitant since I was merely telling the mouse to walk. That however changed when I heightened my control over the mouse to the point where I could move its body as if it were my own. It was an interesting experience to control the mouse.
Then I got an idea. ("Wat if I open my actual eyes?")
And so, I did. upon opening my own eyes, I immediately felt dizzy. It was like I looked with one eye trough the vision of the mouse and with the other trough my own. With the double vision it was hard to focus on anything.
This was enough distraction to lose the control on the mouse and the shared vision stopped. The mouse quickly realised that it was free and ran away like a rabbit being chased by a wolf.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Caeruleum
Caeruleum Thanks for the power stones.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone