"Am I a god?"
At the crack of dawn, a pale skinned teen muttered as his gaze was fixed on the sky, the stars still shimmering.
A chuckle escaped him and built up into wild cackles.
The river, unbothered, flowed making gentle splashing sounds. Hadrian looked around him.
Still on his knees, Hadrian entered his Authority space. The familiar dull white space filled with fog appeared before him.
Ghost-like tendrils rose from the fog and formed into dancing information In front of him;
[ Name : Hadrian ]
[ Authority : unity ]
[ Authority attributes : ]
[ 1. I ; Take over the Mind, soul and body of another existence. ]
[ 2. Chain ; All vessels are one. ]
[ 3. Substitute ; Mind. Essence. Flesh. ]
[ Current vessels : ]
[ Basic lifeform : 6 ]
[ Sentient lifeform : 1 ]
[ Mutated lifeform : 0 ]
[ Ascended lifeform : 0 ]
Indeed. Hadrian was now left with two wild dogs, the owl and three rats. To regain all his blood, flesh, bones and energy he needed to sacrifice most of his vessels.
Thinking of this, a spot on the fog cleared up. On it were life-like replications of all his vessels, lost or not, standing still like statues.
Strange…. Hadrian thought. They don't disappear here even after I've lost them.
He twirled, sinking into the fog, his consciousness returning to his bodies. He did not want to stay there too long. As of now, staying in that place left his body vulnerable, and he was currently in the middle of a forest.
I wonder if I'll ever be able to enter with my body and vessels. Or split my consciousness so that I may exist both outside and inside that space.
Hadrian stood up and moved towards the city. Dog Hadrians moved close to him. With his body back, he found himself rather protective of it.
In the sky, light already showing up in the horizon, howl Hadrian scouted. He'd already fed it three rat vessels and the dogs were each fed six rat vessels.
In the city, sewer rat Hadrian created more vessels while some rat Hadrians stayed close to the damaged inn in case the owner passed by. His other rat vessels scoured the city to try and find the mages but having a direction is always good, or you'll end up achieving nothing.
A dead body took that long to turn into a vessel….
Hadrian's face hardened in concentration.
A human soul is bound to be more potent than "basic lifeform." and a Mage even more.
This is one of the reasons Hadrian focused on regaining his own body first.
Will I go around reviving dead bodies ?
Hadrian shook the thought away a moment later.
There's a noticeable difference now that I have obtained a "sentient lifeform." Obtaining higher ranked vessels will be necessary, otherwise, from ten metres away the mages would obliterate me if my vessels are just regular humans and animals.
The time it takes to revive one corpse won't be a worthy investment. And who knows whether the time was actually short since it was my own body.
As he thought this, Howl Hadrian flapped its black wings, its head tilting to see the orange streak of the rising sun.
The wind was cool and the forest came to life. So did the city.
At noon, a black owl perched on the window of a tavern. After rat Hadrians waited outside the broken inn, the familiar face of the man who'd hired them to do the cleaning showed up.
Hadrian had already made it back to the city and followed the man. He'd decided to scare the man by "speaking" to him through one of his vessels. The owl was the perfect choice.
At this time the tavern had only eight people in it. The way they spoke though, you'd think it was twenty.
Hadrian was patient to get the man alone. Didn't want rumours to start spreading.
In the future perhaps. Right now, if more stories of animals spread, it might make people cautious of them when they are around.
Considering his vessels would have to be within ten metres, if someone saw a strange animal constantly close to them; they'd get suspicious and his targets were relatively powerful.
As he waited, he went to the market street and turned a chicken to his vessel. He was going to treat himself tonight. He didn't remember the last time he had a proper meat meal.
Two hours later, Hadrian followed the man back to what seemed to be his home.
Without the inn, is he also jobless? Another victim.
Rat Hadrian squeezed himself into the moderately sized wooden house.
While still in Calos district, the poorest in this city, the man lived in the wealthier part of it.
As his small legs scurried close to the walls, Hadrian saw a small girl in the house playing with rocks. A daughter?
Howl Hadrian perched on the first floor window of their chambers. The wife, and probable mother of the girl, was taking a shower in their washroom elsewhere in the house.
The man entered the chambers, ran his hands through his short brown hair, let out a heavy sigh and threw himself on the bed.
After thirty seconds staring at the ceiling, he let out another sigh, got off the bed and began untying his pants.
It was then he noticed a shadow on his partially carpeted floor move. His head rose and his eyes met a large black owl on his chamber window, its yellow eyes peering at him.
The man took an instinctive step back, his heart jumping to his throat.
"Williams." Howl Hadrian spoke. He'd heard his name in the tavern and while following him around from others.
The man's eyes widened, his lips parted and he held his breath. Looking into those yellow eyes, he brought himself down to his knees.
"Please…. " the man pleaded. Hadrian could hear him swallow. "Please…. " He said, "whatever it is you wish for… "
Hadrian let a pregnant moment of silence pass.
"The Mages who fought at your inn, their names." Howl Hadrian's sharp voice resounded in the chambers. You could hear a sliver of Hadrian's original voice.
Hearing the question, the man raised his shaking head for a moment, his glance landing on the black owl. His heart raced.
He trembled and his gaze fixed onto the floor once more, "Trustan and Haldon." The owner muttered, wondering what a spirit would want with two rank two Mages.
"Where can I find them?"
"Dorans street…. " he said, his voice shaky.
Both of them? Are they of the same gang?
Hadrian wondered.
Looking at the man prostrating himself In front of him, Hadrian's sight changed and he saw past the man's flesh and bones and into a light grey sea of essence fog.
He'd already done this with multiple humans, including Williams. Now, he wanted to see what happens when he tries to grasp the essence.
Humans essence fogs were just as Hadrian expected, more potent than the vermin's and birds he'd turned into vessels.
He called onto it and ghostlike tendrils rose. As soon as they made contact with Hadrian, he sensed the man's emotional distress and started hearing whispers of the pleas and prayers in the man's head.
Is this the "mind" part of my attributes?
Up until now, apart from memory glimpses and vessel control, Hadrian had been wondering about the "mind" part of the 1st and 3rd attribute.
If only my path was clear as the other Mages.
For each rank, Mages would gain the information in their souls about abilities they could use.
Williams' essence fog fought back. Some tendrils would break into wisps back into the sea of fog.
If I didn't have a "sentient lifeform" this would be more difficult.
Rat Hadrian elsewhere in the house saw the wife leave her bath and walk towards their chambers.
Hadrian sighed. His original plan was to turn this man into a vessel and use him to get close to the Mages. Seeing the daughter, however, made him hesitant. Right now, he'd just been testing his ability on a human's essence.
Howl Hadrian flapped his wide wings, leaving the window. The man flinched when he saw the shadow disappear. His wife walked in two seconds later, a towel wrapped around her with her hair wet. She looked at her husband on the floor and her lips parted.
Hadrian, in his human body, walked with his eyes narrowed, biting his lip.
My highest ranked vessel affects the easiness of grabbing the essence.
He'd already noticed this. As soon as he got his body back, the "sentient lifeform" the time to take over basic lifeform had reduced to six seconds. And if he used all his six essence grabbing bodies, he could turn a rat, dog and any other in this category into his vessel in a second.
Six seconds is good enough. For the Mages, however, they might be rank 1 or 2.
He cursed as he took a turn into an alley to find the chicken he'd turned into his vessel stand there, waiting for him. He smiled.
His other vessels headed for Dorans street.