Mother of Learning. Arc 3 Incomplete

«I won’t report you, if that’s what you’re worried about,» Zorian said. Partially because he was deathly afraid of what the other boy would do to him if he tried. A necromancer, of all things… «You agreed to keep quiet about my secret, so it would be hypocritical of me to betray yours without reason. Still, necromancy? Err, I mean, soul magic?»

Kael gave him a weak smile. «It’s an interesting discipline, if unfairly judged. My teacher had an interest in it and I wanted to continue the tradition.»

Tradition, right. Zorian thought about pressing the matter further, but decided against it. Mistake or not, he could at least get some benefit out of this — he’d just met a decent-seeming necromancer willing to answer his questions. How often does that happen?

«So if the lich performed a soul meld on me, why am I still… well, me?» Zorian asked. «As I understand it, a spell like that would have fused my soul with Zach’s completely. We would both cease to exist as individual people.»

«Well, I must admit I am not an expert on soul magic by any means,» said Kael. «My primary strengths are alchemy and medicine, with soul magic being merely a side interest. That said, I assume the spell was simply stopped before it could complete the effect. It’s entirely possible Zach committed suicide when he realized his soul was being targeted.»

«It would have been a sensible course of action in his case,» Zorian agreed. «Though he didn’t exactly give me the impression that he was aware of the danger when I talked to him. I suppose it could have been the amnesia playing tricks on him.»

«Or he may have a contingency spell placed on him, set to kill him if it detects unauthorized tampering of his soul. You already said he may not be the originator of the time loop. Whoever placed the magic on him was doubtlessly aware of the danger, as the time loop you are trapped in is clearly a work of a skilled soul mage.»

«Right. So since the spell was only allowed to work its magic for a moment, we were spared from the worst effect,» Zorian mused. «And I ended up with some kind of a soul bond that drags me along for the ride. Possibly. There was obviously some soul melding involved, in any case. Can you find out what the spell actually did?»

«Maybe,» Kael said slowly. «Although this would involve spells. Soul magic spells, to be more precise. Are you sure you want to trust an evil, slimy necromancer with this?»

«Yes,» confirmed Zorian, rolling his eyes at Kael’s dramatics. Maybe it wasn’t the smartest thing to agree to, but he was honestly desperate for some answers and he was getting an honest feeling from Kael. He was usually a good judge of character. «It is true that I am leery of soul magic, but that doesn’t mean I automatically hate you now. Go ahead and cast whatever spells you need.»

After 15 minutes of mysterious spellcasting (which had no visible effect on him, and didn’t even give him an uncomfortable feeling), Kael was forced to admit he didn’t get much. The only thing the other boy could tell him was that he definitively didn’t have a classical soul bond with Zach — if he was connected to the other time traveler, it was through something more exotic and subtle than that.

«I’m sorry,» Kael said. «I thought soul magic as grand as this would be blatantly obvious but I guess I was wrong. Maybe if I tried it on Zach…?»

«There is no way to perform an examination on him without telling him the truth,» Zorian said. «I’m not sure I want to do that yet.»

«Of course,» Kael said. «Although I’m not sure what else I can do. I’d have to be a vastly better soul mage to help you with this, and if you’re right I just don’t have the time to become one. Even if you convinced me of all this right at the start of the time loop — and I’m not sure you could do that so soon, before I have gotten to know you a little — one month is not enough to get anywhere in a field like soul magic.»

«Uh,» fumbled Zorian after a few seconds of silence. «Maybe you could teach me soul magic?»

«You would be willing to do that?» Kael asked in mild amusement.

«You said there is more to soul magic than cursing people and enslaving the dead,» Zorian said. «And I really do need answers that only soul magic can provide.»

Also, if he learned soul magic personally he would no longer have to trust strangers to mess around with his soul. If someone had to cast soul magic, he’d rather it was him.

«Though I’m flattered you are willing to set aside your prejudices, the truth is you would never be good enough for what you want to do with it,» Kael said. «Although most soul magic can be performed by normal mages like you, the really sophisticated spells require a certain amount of soul perception — a skill that can only be gained by drinking a special potion made from a properly harvested dirge moth chrysalis.»

«And is the potion rare?»