Day Six of being Transmigrated...
"Och!"
Edwin jolted awake as another small rock clattered down from the cave wall and bounced off his shoulder. He glared up at the rugged stone ceiling with its protruding rocks. This was the third time a falling stone had woken him since last night.
He checked himself. Both ears had fully regenerated. The wounds on his back were gone. Even the deep knife wound in his stomach had vanished without a scar.
His face twisted slightly.
He was still willing the sigil at the base of his Inner Lattice to keep the cinder contained.
"How the hell did that dog William control his awakened ability so effortlessly?" Edwin muttered, almost admiring his would-have-been assassin.
He stepped out of bed, stretched, and walked toward the corridor. He had changed out of his torn clothes into simple animal-fur garments and boots. The environment had completely changed overnight.
As he moved through the corridor, a hanging torch slipped from its bracket and nearly burned his foot.
"Is the world falling on me? What's going on?" He grumbled, bending down to pick it up and hang it back in place.
The corridor opened into a wide chamber.
"Och! That hurts!"
A huge, abnormal rabbit flopped onto its belly, chin slamming against the stone floor. It was Kelo, Azazel's aberrant.
"Huh? Did I just hear it speak?" Edwin's heart skipped.
"What do you think? I'm mute?!" a sharp female voice snapped from Kelo's mouth.
"..." Edwin stood frozen, mouth open. It was his first time meeting a talking aberrant. Old Edwin's memories had none.
"Filthy human…" Kelo tried to stand, slipped again, and crashed back down. "You…"
Edwin's head throbbed.
"Over here, lad!" Azazel's voice called from the far side of the chamber. The old man was roasting meat over a fire pit.
"Wait… is that…?"
"Antelope!" Edwin recognized the smell and hurried over. Shaman Zu and Zara liked antelope meat; they bought one every fortnight.
The fire pit was surrounded by thick logs arranged in a square for seating, with a deep hole at the center for the flames. Azazel handed him a skewer with a thick chunk of antelope meat.
"Lad, I thought you'd be a corpse by morning."
"Well, it's already lunch now," Edwin replied. He had slept later than expected.
"Looks like my potion wasn't wasted on…" One of Azazel's skewers slipped from his hand and fell toward the fire. "Brat!" The old man snatched it back just before it burned.
Edwin sat down, eyes closed, biting his lip. "The damn cinder… I'm still trying to keep it under control." He opened his eyes. "I'm feeling dizzy."
"That explains why my juicy meat slipped off my hand," Azazel said. "Have you noticed anything else falling out of place? Rocks, torches, stumbling?"
"A couple of rocks kept waking me up all night. One even hit me this morning."
Azazel nodded. "By now you should know cinders belong to separate families, and each family is unique. These families are what others call paths. Each path grants a seeker abilities different from all the rest. Once you choose a path, it cannot be changed."
"You didn't give me the chance to choose," Edwin said, staring hard at Azazel. "Before the village kicked me out of the awakening, I wanted the warrior path." His voice tightened. "But you took that from me. I wanted to be strong…"
"Aaah!" Kelo slipped again.
"Human!" Kelo shouted in rage. Blood suddenly trickled from Edwin's nose.
"Lad, are you dying?" Azazel asked.
No words came out of Edwin's mouth.
"Hahaha!" Azazel laughed. "Why would anyone want that lame path?"
"The two most powerful men in my village are both warrior path Illuminated Seekers. They can conjure and control blazing flames," Edwin said. "Calling that lame…"
"You're just an ignorant fool," Azazel retorted.
"Anyway, the cinder you assimilated with grants you the ability to make your targets slip or stumble. Right now you're failing to control it. If this keeps up, you might die from Myrr exhaustion."
"What?!" Edwin jumped to his feet.
"Even though awakening lets the soul generate excess Myrr, it's not enough to sustain constant use of your ability. If you can't contain the cinder inside the sigil, it will burn and consume your soul, turning you hollow as it dresses your body."
Edwin was shaken. He almost dropped his skewer.
"Listen, brat. This will solve your predicament. Each level of a seeker has three stages: Assimilation, Resonance, and Condensation. You've already completed the first step of assimilation. For the final step, think of how humans learn any new skill: at first every small detail demands full focus, but after enough practice you can do it without thinking."
"To fully assimilate, you must be able to will the sigil to contain the cinder with your subconscious."
Edwin listened intently. "How do I achieve complete assimilation?"
"It's simple. Practice until it becomes second nature." This wasn't the answer Edwin expected.
"I'll take you somewhere tomorrow, the day after, or any other day."
"Old man, you forgot to explain resonance and Condensation." Edwin was not interested in any of Azazel's plans.
"Now the brat has become rude. You've changed, boy."
"It's called growing up. And you don't know me. We only met recently, and I don't know you either."
"You haven't even achieved full assimilation yet. What's the rush?" Azazel chuckled.
"I don't have time. I need to get back to the village. I don't want to worry my great-grandfather any more than I already have." Current Edwin was not acting old Edwin. The past few days he had spent at the farmhouse felt like his years without any family or friends were broken. Shaman Zu cared a lot for Edwin. And he didn't want the old man to die of grief over his great-grandson's death.
"Oh, you also want to see Zara, Mama Valentina, and the others…" Kelo slipped again. "Filthy human!" Edwin fell to his knees; he dropped the skewer, his arms clutching his head.
"I don't remember sharing anything about myself with you people." Edwin lifted his head and looked at both Azazel and Kelo.