บท 32: Inheritance

"Get him on the table." A faint voice called out. Frey tried to focus on it. He opened his eyes, but he couldn't make anything out. Everything was blurry. He tried to move, but something held his limbs down. His back was so cold. Something was moving around inside of his organs. He tasted blood. "Do you have anything for this?"

"No, I can't heal anyone." A voice more familiar than the first said. "I can only prevent the spreading. His system will have to work it out. We can only wait. Listen to me Frey, you have to..." Everything went dark again.

120 years ago.

"Mana," Doevm said, "Is the energy of the world. Magicians take this power and manipulate it. They can call upon the elements of the world like gods. Humans believe that having mana strengthens their souls. They are half right. Mana is a temporary thing. Magicians bind mana to their bodies. When their soul leaves their body, the mana leaves as well. When one reincarnates, the vessel for the soul changes and all accumulated mana dissipates."

"Life essence is one's internal power manifested. Mana is from the world, so one can manipulate the world with it. Life essence is from the body, so one can manipulate the body with it. It strengthens, enhances senses, speeds up, defends, and regulates the body. Life essence and mana are one in the same, yet different from one another. They both are power that is unique to the individual."

"So which category is my power under?" Arthur asked. "I can bring out my soul and enhance anything with it, even inanimate objects like my sword. When I use my soul, neither my mana nor my life essence drains."

"I don't know." Doevm raised his skeletal hand and summoned an Undead, "Go get me the book on the gods." The Undead bowed and left the throne room. "Your power is unique to the heroes. What you have described to me has never been seen before. The closest thing I can think of is inheritance: when a power is passed down through parents to offspring. When two beings reproduce, their souls temporarily bind together and form a new one with similar properties." Arthur nodded as if he understood.

Doevm sighed: "You're going to save the world and you don't know all of this? Let me put it like this: if I sense your parents right now with my mana sense, they will look similar to your soul. The same goes for if you imbue part of your soul into something like a tree. The high elves make Treeants by this, and the Treeant souls look similar to their creators. They also share a bond. Treeants share the same emotions and reactions as their owners, even after their owner dies."

The undead returned with an ancient tome bound and locked. Doevm put his hand over the book and the sealing was undone. He flipped it open and wiped the dust off: "The theory of the ancient mages, here it is. This could also be another reason behind your unique power." He flipped a couple of pages and held it up for Arthur to read.

"I can't read that handwriting." Arthur squinted as if that would help his illiteracy.

"Oh right," Doevm laughed, "I know all languages, so I never realize the difference. No matter, the book reads as follows: The theory of inheritance of acquired characteristics, by Maximus Draken. Through my research, I have come up with a theory of why the offspring of magicians are more likely to possess mana, and to why the number of mages in the world is constantly increasing: reincarnation. When a soul leaves its body, it doesn't leave everything behind. Most memories are wiped, but some reactions remain. If a mage dies, it disperses all its mana. When that same mage reincarnates however, it will be able to handle mana easier. It remembers mana in muscle memory. This leaves me at an impasse. Why only mana? Why isn't combat remembered? Shouldn't everyone instinctively know how to fight by now? Further research is required." Doevm shut the book, refastened the locks, and handed it to the Undead.

"So, I reincarnated a lot?" Arthur asked. "I had this power built up from previous lives or I got it from my parents." He paced in the dim library, forgetting all about the sparring session he came here for. "Is it like my wife, Gwenevier's, power? She can resist poison."

"Yes," Doevm nodded with his hollow head. "Although I have no idea if your power is from your parents or your past reincarnations. What were you doing in your previous lives that you gained that power? Were you a hero in your past life as well? I need to continue Maximus Draken's research and research you more to find out. For now, I can only guess you can manipulate your soul as a third kind of power, but how would you grow it? Maybe you can eat other souls with your own?"

"That sounds kind of dark." Arthur brought out his soul and let it cover his arms in a sort of armor. "So if I eat a soul, does it get reincarnated? Can I break the cycle of life and death?"

Doevm shrugged and got up from his throne: "No idea. Maybe if you eat a soul, it will get passed down to your offspring. It has to go somewhere after it dies." He got into a stance. "Ready? I think I'm finally going to get you this time."

"You haven't hit me in the six years we've been training so far." Arthur laughed and let his soul armor disperse.

"I'll fight for six more if I have to." Doevm said.

Four years later, Arthur absorbed Doevm's heart into his own soul. Contrary to Arthur's five-second theory Doevm did reincarnate. Doevm's soul fragmented. A piece stuck to Arthur. It stuck with him past when the demon king was destroyed. It passed on to Arthur's and Gwenevier's offspring. It passed onto their offspring's offspring.

Back to the present.

Frey woke again, but he was still so weak. "The plant, it's leaving him." Doevm was at his side. Something black circulated around his hands.

"That's impossible." Frey barely made out the figure of Kilot.

"Just look, it's crawling out." Something kept moving on Frey's side. Hands prevented him from moving, so he just stared up at the ceiling in pain. "It's like it's afraid of him. This is ridiculous."

Frey blinked and everything became clear. Again, he tried to move, but he was stuck in place. All around him were a bunch of large green trees. They moved, and his body moved with them. In front of the forest was a large army of Undead. Behind the army was a Lich. The plants shrunk back from the awful aura emanating from it, including Frey, but the High Elves pushed them forward.

In a flash, the battlefield was covered in blood. A Lich went around picking up corpses as if it was a girl in a flower field. The Lich looked at Frey. Its eyes burned the same blue as the flames of Kilot's fire. Frey couldn't run. He couldn't even move. His masters were dead. His allies were wiped out. The Lich walked away. Many hours later, Frey was hungry. He felt water below him, but he refused to drink. His brothers drunk, but he refused. One by one, his roots stretched out into the water and drank. He didn't want to, but he did it anyway. It tasted so good.

It was like he was watching someone else live. The plant was full, but Frey was hungry. It wasn't a physical hunger, nor a mental one. It was an instinct. His mind separated from his body. One by one, the plant's memories became his. The hunger vanished.

"I'll avenge my brothers." Frey roared as he sat up and opened his eyes. Doevm and Kilot were sitting on the couch and chatting. They looked over to him.

"OK, that's...something," Doevm shrugged, "Go back to sleep."

Frey got a splitting headache. He held his side where a dead plant was hanging from: "What happened."

"You died." Doevm said. "I had to use mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. You can thank me later." Kilot burst into laughter as Frey blushed.

"What really happened?"

"I'll tell you in the morning. Go back to sleep." Doevm pushed the covers back over Frey, who fell asleep immediately.

"As funny as that was," Kilot said, "What did happen? I'm curious." He walked over to Frey and gently removed the dead plant by the roots. The plant was still red, but it was completely limp. It didn't hold onto any of Frey's organs. "He should be dead by now."

"He is a descendent of Arthur." Doevm said. "He inherited the ability to eat souls. He ate the plant."

Kilot sat back down and put his head in his hands, "Arthur's kid? No, that's impossible. It's been to long for that. Maybe grandkid. That explains a lot. Arthur was massive and while we fought a lot, his heart was just as big as his body."

"I know." Doevm smiled upon thinking about his past life. "All too well."

"But still." Kilot squeezed the plant. "I've seen Arthur eat souls. Even from the start, Arthur could do it in seconds to weak opponents. How come eating a single plant's soul took so long? It's been a day since Frey got infected."

"When I died," Doevm held his hand over his heart. "I gave a piece of my soul to Arthur, who passed it onto his offspring. No matter how small it is, Frey's soul has a piece of me in it. The plant can be considered the offspring of the High Elves I fought. It sensed the piece of me and feared a repeat of the battle. That's why it didn't kill him immediately. That gave Frey enough time to unlock his ability."

"So does that make you two related?"

"No. I said he shares a piece of my soul, not my blood." Doevm walked out of the shack and went into deep thought. 'If both reincarnation and inheritance is true, then what happens to a soul after it dies? How does it change? The theory of reincarnation and inheritance contradict each other, yet Frey and I are proof of both of them.'