Chapter 1: Touching Souls

Mei Si tripped and skinned her knee. Tears dripped from her amazingly blue eyes, as bright as the cerulean sky. Her hair, a bright purple, made her look kind when accented by her full, pouty lips. “Mei, watch where you walk or you'll join Grenth far too early.” Her mother pulled her up, a lithe woman wearing black robes which matched her midnight hair.

“Jack pushed me, mom.” She took a knee on the ground, her mother tending to the bleeding with a bandage. “Use magic.” Her eyes pleaded for the quick release of her mother's touch, who was skilled in the ways of Grenth and Dwayna.

“Your little brother did not push you. And you're ten now. You have to see the harshness that this world is capable of and make it through some problems using mundane means.” Jack was behind Mei several feet, glaring at her defiantly for being blamed. He was two years younger, and they had one other sibling who was five, Dartimien.

Mei got up, and her mother took off ahead. The streets of the small village were fairly busy, a settlement south of Drascir. There were enough children for them to play with, and a primary school set up by the locals for the children. The town was well off due to having several excellent heroes trained in Elemental and Necromatic abilities. Mei's mother was one of the Necromancers who contributed a great deal to the catacombs near Ashford Abby.

Mei limped back to her brother, “Jack, let's play....”

He turned away from her and ran off in the other direction. An old man on the outskirts of town often took in Jack to learn of the properties of the elements, specifically fire and air. When he was upset, he went there. Mei returned home, huddling in a corner with her cat and her mother's books, reading the theoretical properties of death.

Mei stood over the corpse, watching her mother make incisions. The body had been cold for some time, the last body found in a line of murders in the small village. There were no strangers in the area that any knew of, leaving the murders to an unseen element, or a native of the village. Some blamed grawls or charr, though Mei's mother pointed out there would be more murders if such was the case.

“Mei, you are old enough to be part of this now. I want you to feel the flow of energy through the corpse. Find the soul and see what it does. By doing such, it is believed that one can find the soul. If we find the soul, we can ask it who killed him.” Blood started to flow from the body as Mei approached. She was recently given the garbs of an apprentice of the necrotic order.

Mei's bright eyes had begun to dull, and as she peered into the body, they became even colder, her skin losing its blush and her once bright purple hair dulled a bit more. Her mother was a little concerned, her father more concerned, but Mei pursued her desires to learn her mother's art. She traced the body, looking beyond the physical world. Energy swirled around the body and she held her hand out, the blue and purple wisps ebbing about her hand before floating off and dissipating to the underworld. When she touched it she released her own energy, marking it so she could trace the soul.

“What did you end up doing, Mei?”

“You once wrote about a theory that we could mark an escaping soul with our own energies. I've been looking into this myself with animals, and found that there is a little bit of energy, but not enough to work with. I transfer my own energy into the soul so that I'm connected to it.”

“But there are risks with such a transfer.”

“We'll never know the risks until we try.”

“Mei, you idiot. See what you can do with it. I will study you for anything that might go wrong. Make sure not to get dragged entirely into the Underworld yourself. You are connected to it, and I want you to maintain an anchor here.” Her mother was unsure whether to congratulate, be jealous that her daughter had completed the test first, or scold her.

“I have an anchor. I was studying earth magic with Jack. A combination of earth armor and earth wards cast upon me in the form of an enchantment should be able to maintain my connection to our world. My spell on the soul is a bit like an enchantment, and after I finish what I need to do, then I can disconnect and the earth enchantments can be dropped as well.” Mei stated everything as simple fact, no question or hesitation as to the effects or possible draw backs.

“But who is maintaining the earth enchantments? And who made these enchantments. Such spells don't exist in most schools today.”

“Jack created them with the help of the old man and he is maintaining two while the old man maintains two others. They are still awake and working on them. When I fall asleep my connection to that soul will activate.”

“And that will....”

“It will pull me through to the soul. I will temporarily enter the Underworld so I can speak with the dead person. It will allow me to see what happened. The murder will be solved.” The mother objected some more, bringing Jack into the conversation, but neither Mei nor Jack budged on what they planned to do.

After their mother gave up, Mei and Jack entered their room. Mei sat in the middle, legs folding under her as she entered the trance connected to her enchantment. Jack focused on the enchantments he cast earlier, the spells being far more draining than most enchantments due to the inability to refine it much and that the spell was more demanding than most in the first place.

The room became cold, and Mei's soul lifted out of the room in a vortex, leaving her younger brother in a frigid room of nightmares, thoughts of death assaulting his resolve to maintain the spells. There was even more strain as her soul not only went a great distance, but also left the physical realm.

Mei's eyes opened again. They were ice blue, nearly matching the whites. Her hair was an incredibly muted purple. She imagined if she were alive in the realm, she would see her breath. Shadows lurked up and creatures lurked the corridors that looked like bulls walking on two hooves and greatly deformed.

The enchantment left a trail which she followed, pulling her to the soul. When she released the enchantment, the theory was she would sling shot back into her body with the help of the earth enchantments. The soul of the individual was soul, except for a blue streak that was left by her own enchantment placed upon him. He looked at his body bewildered.

“Sir.” Mei called out for him several times before getting his attention.

“Mei? Where are we? Why do we look so strange?” The man panicked. No one had ever been to the Underworld and returned, so no one knew exactly how people acted when they realized they were dead.

“You're dead. You were murdered. Do you remember what happened? I'm here to solve it, but I can't stay here long.” One of the lines to the real world began to weaken, causing her to lose her connection to her body. She worried a little, but it was planned out so that they could lose one of the lines.

“I...I can't remember. I was walking and then I was hit over the head. It was dark. A man was in front of me, but he was several feet away. Then my feet sunk into the earth and he split me in two.” The connection snapped, and another snapped with it. “It was the old man.”

Mei began to panic as she felt there were only two lines keeping her to the real world. She cut the enchantment, but she did not leave the underworld. The purple streaks in the ghost dissolved into the blue, leaving Mei stunned, jaw dropped. “This can't be. It failed.” She could feel a slight pull, and then noticed the reaction of the denizens of the Underworld. Shades and bulls stared at her, unsure what their next move would be. There were still two light connections on her, but she would have to follow them. “Brother, hear my pleads. Pull me back. The old man lied.” No other enchantments could be cast on her. Her body was an empty shell and it would only protect that physical form.

Creatures crept towards her. A shade leaped at her, clawing through her soul. It shredded a piece of her and she shrieked. Jack felt it in the back of his mind, a sharp and quick pain. He concentrated harder, the earth around him creaking and splintering up through the wooden floor. His eyes rolled back, and his skin turned the color of soil. Air twisted about him, the energy causing his hair to pale in color as he exerted himself beyond what he was normally capable of. Jack levitated in the air as he attempted to reach her through air magic, strengthening the bonds of the earth spells. “Mei, I'm here.” His voice reached her, whispering over and over those three words. She followed them as another shade went after her.

The room began to warm up when Mei returned to her body. Jack held her, her body still cold and her breath visible. With a start, her body jerked up, eyes opening to reveal they were permanently ice blue. Jack felt a chill when he looked into his sister's eyes. Her hair was a muted purple, forever stripped of the past vivid color. Over her left eye a scar appeared, deep and purple, the color of necrotic energy.

“The old bastard did this. He is the killer. His enchantments broke off to kill me.” She stood up as if she woke up from a bad dream, and little more. “You're warm, Jack. Have mother check that.” She exited the room, leaving Jack by himself, shocked by the appearance and accusations of his sister.

She was hardly outside of the village, walking towards the old man's hut, when she found him, standing there with a sword. “Mei, you are too smart for your own good. Few Necromancers will ever reach the ability and conceptual level that you have already mastered. I am sorry that your greatness shall never reach the masses.”

The ground became wet and swallowed Mei's feet. He unsheathed the sword and approached her as she began to cast a spell. Insects flew from her mouth, swarming the old man, consuming his flesh. The creatures were cold to his touch as they were a malicious manifestation of Mei's own cold body.

Another spell hexed him as he began to walk towards her. His body was unraveled, the essence transferred to Mei to heal her. His sword cut her across the arm, but she was able to maintain herself through her hexes. Another spell ripped more life from him, cushioning her from another blow from his sword. Lightning flashed in the sky, striking straight through the man. The old man dropped to his knees then fell over on his side.

“Mei, let's go home.” Jack stood behind her, still approaching and embracing her as she collapsed. Mei released warm tears which steamed up on her cold cheeks.