Beyond?

“A soul is a quantum energy wave, which can carry memories from one body to the next. It's not a container for your mind, or anything like that. If your soul connects with a mouse in your next life, then it doesn't mean that the mouse can magically make sense of your human memories.

So try to not reincarnate as an animal, try something that's at least able to form a straight thought. I suggest a goblin as a start. Then you can work your way upwards to humans, angels, dragons and at last... shamans.

But what am I talking about, you don't understand anything anyway.”

-The Great Shaman.

***Free City States of Nict, Capital***

***Azir***

I stand up and it's like a spell is broken. The civilians disperse in all directions, fleeing the scene. Within seconds the area is empty and only the guards and healers remain. My face darkens as I realize the situation.

That's it I guess. Despite everything I did really well in avoiding the usage of forbidden magic, until now. Just why did I have to fuck up so grandiosely.

My eyes wander towards Stella. The healer is still busy with mending some internal injuries and it seems like she lost her consciousness. Sola is already healed and well, kneeling beside Stella and the healer. She is gaping at me in disbelief.

I call out as the strange feeling wrings my heart once again. “I'll kill them all for hurting you.”

The soldiers step closer and one of them calls out. “Kneel down and raise your hands! You are under arrest until we can determine what exactly happened.”

Ignoring him, I kneel down and touch the corpse to my feet. Then I concentrate. The soldier repeats his warning and comes closer, but none of them seems to be eager for a fight. They give me enough time to teleport myself and the corpse into my laboratory.

***Free City States of Nict, Capital***

***Sola***

I don't understand anything that's going on. It was bad enough that my little sister threw herself in front of me, just a moment before the explosion. She turned her skin into metal, but wasn't able to complete the process in time.

Both of us got injuries, but without my younger sister in front of me I wouldn't have survived. I am not that good at body magic. I am not a prodigy like her. Why did she do that, despite me being always so mean.

And then the healer said that she lost her baby. Why? Then Azir showed up and went on a rampage. I don't even know how he suddenly picked that woman with the bomb out of the crowd! And that horrible scream when she died. It wasn't audible, but still everyone heard it in their minds.

That was surely forbidden magic. Soul magic, since when is Azir capable of something like that.

My gaze wanders to the two Dwemer who are standing close by. Both of them wear shocked and frightened expressions. I take a deep breath and correct my attire. Even if I can't do anything for Stella right now, I can find out what's going on with the dark magicians. And those two little punks are the key!

***Free City States of Nict, Capital***

***Azir***

I reappear in my laboratory and stand up. “Spidey!” Where is that damn little robot. I walk to my working table and grab a set of hover disks. They are mobile drones. Originally I created them to spy on the Dwemer, but they'll do a good job with my new task.

They should be able to do quite a lot of damage if I send them at full speed into an opponent. Next I get the staff which I got from my father. A few adjustments and reinforcements changed it from a basic weapon to a casting assistant device.

Finally Spidey scuttles into the room and I point at the dead body. “Take that over. We are going to battle!” The fist sized robot signals acknowledgement and jumps onto the corpse, burying itself inside its chest. I look away, there is no need to watch the gruesome scene.

I don't know much about biology or medicine, but I know that a body works with electrical signals. As long as it isn't dead for too long, you can control it by tapping into its nervous system. Teaching that knowledge to Spidey earned us a new set of spying tools.

At first he manipulated just small insects and sent them to the Dwemer's mansion. When he got more experienced with this skill he turned towards mice and other small animals. Manipulating a corpse is a first for him, but I hope that he manages it. I'll need all the help I can get.

While I grab a big collar, the corpse starts twitching and rises with mechanical movements. Spidey moves like a zombie, but it gets better fast.

I nod and my eyes wander to the glowing orb, which I created together with Stella. Not sure if I'll need it, but having it with me could prove useful. A few slight touches to the control board in front of the orb stop the spinning rings around it, then they tighten and enclose the orb safely in a silver sphere.

The orb is cool to the touch, that means that no radiation is leaking. I manipulate the runes on the orb and add an overload function to the containment field. That done, I push the sphere into one of my pockets and leave the laboratory with Spidey following in my tracks.

Outside I get a dead bunny from the cooling box and step onto the doorstep of our house. I whistle softly and within a second Ghost appears in front of me. He looks greedily at the bunny in my hand.

Holding it out to him I whisper. “Here, nice little kitty. Let's make a deal, you listen to me just once and then we go for a little hunt?” The big cat growls at me. “Down! Don't move!”

After a moment of indecision Ghost decides that lying down is the easiest way to get the bunny. Training a warcat isn't easy and consumes a lot of time. I can't say that he always listens to my commands, but he does follow most of them... when he wants to.

I drop the bunny in front of him, then I snap the collar shut around his neck. Tracing the runes on the collar with my index finger, they start glowing and a whole set of buffs and strength enhancements envelops Ghost.

There we have it, I just enhanced a lethally dangerous animal with enough support magic to make it even more dangerous than a battle tank from a high-tech civilization.

Ghost growls and claws at the collar. The bunny was gone with two bites, just a small snack.

“Don't!” I command him.

Ghost continues to growl, but he stops and lays his long ears back. I grab the fur on his back and mount the big cat. Okay, he didn't kill me, yet. “Run!” I pull on the fur on his ears to guide him into the right direction and off he goes.

I cast a shrouding spell which should make us invisible to most people. I came up with it after Helen gave me the hint on our enemy's concealment spell.

It's becoming evening and there shouldn't be many people on the streets, so hiding my little team with magic isn't really vital. The population is sticking to the entertainment areas and shops at this time of the day. Though it's better to be safe than sorry. Someone riding a warcat and with a zombie following him is sure to cause a raised eyebrow.

The wall of our garden is taken with a single jump and the cat continues on its way out of the park. I look behind me and find Spidey following us with big leaps and bursts of assistance magic. As a magical construct he can cast small spells on his own, though I guess that the body won't hold long if he continues like that.

Urging Ghost to slow down a little, we enter the town's area for normal people. He is still leaping wildly and his biggest jumps take us on top of buildings and from one house to the next. Who would have thought that a non magician is playing an important role in this affair. I stop Ghost on top of a small shop and order him to stay put.

Casting enhancement magic I jump down onto the street and enter the shop. There were a few lone people outside, so I turn the plate which signals the shop's state to closed and draw the curtains in front of the window.

“Hey, what do you think you are doing?” The baker in the homey room stops his work to face me. He comes closer to the counter, which is separating him from the customers, and points at the windows while searching with his other hand for something that's outside of my field of vision.

I jump towards him and pull him over the counter. A miniature crossbow appears from under the counter and I knock it aside, breaking his fingers. “You are the middle man!”

“Wha...”

But I don't let him speak and invade his mind. As a non magician he can't put up any resistance and turns into a drooling piece of meat.

The organization of the black magicians is a well oiled machine, which works only with hired individuals and tons of bribes. Nobody knows anything. Even the assassin knew only that she lived her life in a country which is unknown to me. Then it was torn apart by war and she was hired by the army. After a time of fighting different nations she was hired for a new assignment.

She was blindfolded and brought here. In a dark room she was trained with others to disguise herself as a normal civilian of Nict. Her trainer was the baker. If she hadn't run across him during a stroll through the city, the track would have ended with her, but she recognized him and it was one of her most vibrant memories.

Of course she doesn't know how she was brought to this strange country, but the baker knows where he goes every night to train young recruits in the art of being a civilian. He always knew that he was doing something strange, but the payment was good enough to shut him up.

I smile and let go of him upon finding out where my next stop is. The shuddering bag of meat slides down behind the counter and disappears from my view.

Next stop, Town Mono, the sewers.

***Free City States of Nict, Capital***

***Valda***

It is the morning after the bombing and I was invited to the palace as a ~guest~. Of course Helen and Lucas didn't forget to invite Yoran, Quarma and Valeria too. The four of us are lined up along a small office table in an even smaller room.

Who would have thought that Helen is the type to hold back like that when it comes to her personal space. Across from us are Helen, Lucas and Sola. The atmosphere in the room is bad, as expected.

I shift in my seat. Since I heard that Azir went missing yesterday I didn't find any rest. And Stella was hurt badly enough that she is still in the healer's faculty. Then there are the rumours about Azir using soul magic in front of a whole crowd of people. Hopefully that's not true.

Helen places her hands on top of the table and glares at us. “I want the truth. Who, or what, is Azir?”

Yoran smiles at Helen. “Pardon? Azir is our son and your daughter's fiance.”

Helen's expression becomes dark. “Yesterday someone attempted to kill my daughters with an explosive enchanted artefact. Both were wounded and Stella still hasn't regained her consciousness. When Azir arrived at the scene, he went amok and killed a woman who was armed with an explosive item. He used soul magic in front of several people and I had a hard time in covering everything up! Then he proclaimed in front of the crowd that he would kill everyone who hurt Stella and ran from my security detail.”

She takes a deep breath. “And since yesterday, all of our efforts in uncovering the black magicians are going to hell, because someone is murdering one of their agents after the other. Do you have any idea how much effort it took to identify just a few of them?” Helen is fuming and her tail swings, left and right, like a whip behind her.

I look at the ceiling and try to think. From what I heard just now, it seems that she doesn't have a clue regarding Azir. So Stella told her nothing. “I think it would be better if you talk to Stella about this matter. Is she hurt seriously? I can't imagine Azir acting like that if nothing grave happened.”

Sola answers my question with an emotionless voice. “She lost their child due to the bombing.” Valeria gasps and I close my eyes. I guess that's a reason to go on a rampage.

Helen's expression turns frightening. “So, please enlighten us on his capabilities. So far he killed the woman at the scene of the bombing, a baker whom we believed to be an agent, several unknowns throughout all cities and even a handful of our own officials who are working for the anti magic bureau. It's like a damn lumberjack is walking through the city and mistook some of my agents for trees!”

I lean forward and try to choose my next words very carefully. “My son is special. He knows... many things...”

Lucas shakes his head. “We know that he is special. Don't try to evade the question.”

Quarma places her hand on my shoulder and pushes me back into my seat. Maybe it's better if I let her speak, I don't feel up to the task.

“Azir is a special case. I hunted black magicians for all my life and I am proud of it. If you take our laws literally, then Azir is a black magician.” She waits for a second before she continues. “Since he was little, he knew a lot about magic. The most difficult spells are a joke to him. Among his unique abilities are soul and mind magic. I suppose he went on a personal vendetta against the black magician's organisation.”

She sighs. “But if I've learned one thing from watching Azir, then it's that he isn't evil. He did his best to be a good member of society and never used his knowledge and abilities for ill. If he killed those people, then it's because he interrogated them and found them guilty.”

Helen shakes her head. “You can't break through someone's magical defence just like that. Even the best mind magicians need to work together in order to break someone.”

Quarma shrugs her shoulders. “If you get into direct contact with someone and bet your will against hers, it's possible.”

“But that's madness. If you lose such a fight, you are nothing more than a mind-wiped drooling idiot!” Sola calls out.

Helen stares into the table in front of her. “Some of them were found as mindless drooling idiots.”

“BWAHAHAHAHARHAR...” Lucas can't hold it in any more and everyone looks at him like he is a madman. Finally he gets his laughing fit under control and focuses Helen. “Dear, he is perfect. We need to cover his tracks and stop the rumours. If that story is true, then he is just weeding out some very troublesome people in high places. It doesn't matter what the other clans think.

If they learn that we have someone who can walk around undetected and assassinate high officials, then let them tremble in fear. Maybe we should even proclaim that they were black magicians. I am sure that we can dig up some evidence now that we know what to search for.”

Helen's expression becomes troubled. “Even so, if he is killing the people who are responsible for my daughter's injury, then that's fine with me. Though we still have to catch him soon. If he gets caught another time displaying his skills, it might not be possible to shut people up with money and threats. The recent murder scenes were a little... violent.”

I bow to Helen. “I'll make sure to bring him back.”

Sola was looking through us during the entire discussion, like her mind was somewhere else. But now she seems to return. “How do you intend to bring him back? Can you beat him in a fight if he dislikes stopping his killing spree?”

I smile at her. “I don't have to fight him. He is my son, he'll listen to me.”

.