A Body to Call My Own Pt.3

“I'm not going into that pit, Shi-nii!” Tadashi yelled as I pulled him by the chain toward the hole.

To escape the stares of strangers in big cities, we flew through the clouds, past dragons and pegasus until I reached a quiet little town. 

For a small town, the cemetery was huge. Were there more dead than alive in this place?

“You had your turn, Tadashi. The villain's plan backfired, now it's my turn to try.”

“The villain's plan was yours, Shi-nii!”

Damn... that's true.

“You’re right, but don't be a killjoy. Come on, man, we're lucky there's an open coffin here just waiting for us. Souls aren't good at digging, so taking the opportunity is the least we can do.”

“One more reason to not go in! Don't you think it's weird that so many coffins are open?”

“We've seen elves and dwarves, and you question the open coffin? Maybe people here like to see their relatives in the flesh visiting their gravestones...” Out of the corner of my eye, I looked at the open coffin, containing a somewhat recent body, part of the skull showing. “Maybe a little more bone than flesh.”

His bones were definitely a little less polished and white than mine, but still, it would serve to fulfill my hidden desire to be undead.

Between the pillars and mausoleums, our heated debate seemed to be the only living thing in the cemetery. I know, I know, cemeteries aren't exactly the most happening places, but in a world with so much magic, I thought I would find at least one or two ghosts.

Hmm… come to think of it, we’re basically ghosts.

Well...Ghost or not, Tadashi proved to be more resilient than I thought. With tremendous strength, he clung to the ground, preventing any advance on my part.

Suddenly, some noises filled the funeral silence that surrounded us, ending our argument:

“Where did you leave that fucking ring?” a distant male voice asked. 

“It must be in the last grave we looted—” the other male voice, which was somewhat more innocent, was interrupted by the dry sound of a sharp slap on the back of the neck.

“Don’t say what we did it out loud!”

“Okay, I'll be more careful... and thanks for coming with me. This ring belonged to my father, it brings me good luck.”

“Fuck if it brings you luck, I just don't want them to find a clue that connects us to the crime!”

So it's not the culture to bury open coffins...

Who would have thought, right? Oh, yes: ME!

Grave robbers — those two were the worst kind of people. Even from a distance, their black cloaks and stealthy footsteps gave them away: they were not the fighting type. Sneaky bastards! Too weak and cowardly to rob anyone directly, yet repulsive enough to loot those who could no longer defend themselves.

Stealing from the dead was something that affected me deeply. By attacking the dead, they were attacking me indirectly. A massive desire to get even spread throughout my soul.

I am the one who never loses... I will not be humiliated by those two clown!

You're trying too hard to create a narrative, Shi-nii. Two minutes ago, you were happy that the digging was done, man. Aren't we also kind of stealing the body too?

No, on the contrary: we are giving value back to the dead — giving life to something that would otherwise end up not even being used anymore.

That's just robbing with extra steps...

As we resumed our discussion, the two thieves approached, one of them carrying a dull sphere of light in his hand. It was one hundred percent magic, and if they can use magic, they must also be able to see us.

“If we stay as souls, we're too exposed. Let's get into the body and beat these guys up. Consider it a test drive. If you don't like it, I promise we'll try another option.”

All right then, let's go. But the next body we have will be cleaner!

The two men approached one of the many open coffins — exactly the one we entered.

“That was the last one I dug up, it should be here. I vaguely remember hearing something fall,” said the weaker henchman.

“And you didn't even think to look?”

“I don't know, I thought it was the sound of a bone breaking,” said the weak one, shrugging. “Shine the light down there so I can look—”

His words were cut off by a pleasant surprise.

“No need to look, my friend. Here's your ring!” replied a dry voice from below.

A rotten hand rose from the hole, handing him the ring.

“Huh... thanks. Who knew it would be so easy?” The henchman took the ring, cleaning it with his black cape. “Wait...”

“AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!” The two thieves screamed, backing away from the hole.

Amidst strange crackling sounds and a low guttural growl, the figure, somewhere between a skeleton and a zombie, came back to life.

“I see. Unlike the other body, the voice isn't going to be this one's strong point,” Tadashi complained, his voice dry and faltering, a pile of dirt coming out of his mouth.

It’s like I can feel… or rather, like I can’t feel anything!

It was true, the body not only responded to the soul, but was totally sustained by it. It was like a big puppet that we ourselves moved. There was no sense of touch or pain, after all, all the neurons and receptors had rotted away.

Suffocating was too mild a word to describe what it felt like being in that body. While Tadashi was in control, I had to guide every step — from the moment a decision was made to the muscle responding — each movement requiring a push from my soul to get it started. 

Not to mention that dead cells are terrible spiritual conductors.

While Tadashi controlled the body, I was responsible for moving our mana, and consequently, that shitty body.

The best comparison I can make is that the living are like a Ferrari, while we are in a Flintstones car — my feet having to move the car, not the other way around.

Backfired on you, huh, Shi-nii?

I-I... I'm tired, but it's still VERY cool!

Tadashi stretched out in his new body, warming up for the fight. However, as soon as we turned our backs on our enemies, a surprise attack almost hit us in the head. Tadashi intercepted the blow, his right arm twisting backward — an uncomfortable crack echoed as his arm assumed a position that would be impossible for a living person.

“A shovel? You guys are so pathetic you can’t even wield a proper weapon.” Tadashi complained, turning to the two frightened men.

The brave thief took another shovel from his companion, preparing to attack again.

“Ah, a shovel duel? Heh, okay then, En garde!”

The zombie and the thief exchanged a few blows, but little by little Tadashi realized:

I was the worst kendo student in my school. I don’t know whether my attacks or defenses were worse, but I could still manage to strike and counter with surprising ease. Defending felt like breathing in, attacking like breathing out, so instinctive it almost happened on its own.

I certainly didn't suddenly become better at combat, so why?

10 seconds... No, it was at least 30 seconds, or maybe even more than a minute? Was it just my impression, or were his attacks in slow motion?

It wasn't that he was slow, it was that we were too fast. Fighting is very easy when you can observe every detail of the enemy's attack.

My suspicions had been confirmed. The density of our soul was immense, but only to contain all the contents of my memories. However, in this world, that basically translates to infinite mana.

Pretty much by chance, we spawned ridiculously OP!

It didn't matter if we were in terribly dead shape, we were much stronger than the thieves. The shovels clashed until one of them flew into the air, unfortunately it wasn't our enemy's.

AREN'T WE STRONG AS HELL?

Yeah, but with a rotten body, things wouldn't be so easy. It wasn't just the shovel that flew away, but the entire arm. I knew that creaking wasn't normal.

“Now you'll pay!” shouted the brave thief, using a somewhat weak thunder spell, which was basically shielded naturally by the mana we emanated

I don't know if our use of soul energy was right, but I don't think it mattered. Our level was much higher than those shitty mobs. Discredited, the thieves looked at Tadashi, who ignored the fight and went to retrieve his arm.

“I can still move it even though it's separated!” said Tadashi, giving a thumbs up with his dismembered right arm.

“D-do something, you coward!” the brave thief shouted, scolding his companion to act.

The owner of the ring decided to snap out of his paralysis, pulling a firearm from under his cape. The weapon was a cross between an automatic pistol and a revolver, looking super cool, but not so functional.

“Take that, you bastard!” Aiming randomly, the young thief fired the gun.

Using his dismembered arm as a racket, Tadashi stopped all the bullets with the greatest of ease, a putrid smile plastered on his partially decomposed face.

“That was fun, but here are your bullets,” Tadashi said, holding the severed arm and opening its dead hand, releasing all the bullets it had caught

Silence filled the room, emphasizing the sound of the bullets hitting the floor. Tadashi hadn't missed a single one — in fact, he even had to stretch his hand to catch a few that the thief had missed by a long shot.

The two bandits started running, seeing that they couldn't match their opponent's power.

"That was too easy. I could get used to this kind of power..." Tadashi said, his voice cracking as he tried to laugh." Still, living in a place full of mirrors would be hell… and missing an arm isn’t exactly comfortable."

Still, I don't think that power belongs to the body; quite the contrary, it's only holding us back.

“Huh... So you think we're even stronger then?”

There's a good chance... Well, let's test it out. Let's take advantage of the temporary body.

— — —

A few hours passed.

I don't want to dwell on this part too much, since... it wasn't very pretty. If the dead were sleeping there, we definitely woke them up.

Strength and agility tests had impressive results. Using our souls as fuel, we could increase the body's capacity substantially, especially considering that it was basically zero.

Then we spent a good 40 minutes trying to do magic, but I think it was too difficult to teach ourselves.

So we went back to basics — learning to control this “mana” thing.

“Okay, put your palms together and take a deep breath. Let's try to meditate and feel this energy flowing through our bodies,” I said, Tadashi instantly wanting to hit me.

“I don’t have two hands, man!” We even tried to fit it back on, but it was like a cheap toy — once it came off, it just wouldn’t snap into place. “Besides, now that you mention it… I don’t think I’ve breathed in the last few hours.”

With no other option, Tadashi then pressed the soles of his feet together and tried to meditate, until a long beam of light began to fill our vision.

“Hey, I think I’m starting to sense a light here. We’re getting somewhere!” Tadashi cheered up, but the lights weren’t spiritual, they were literally fire.

The deafening sound of a torch-bearing crowd’s march reached us, shouting:

“We will purge the cursed magic!”

What? 

We were both confused until we heard the leader of the crowd say:

“They're there! The corpses are waking up and coming out of their graves!” said the unmistakable voice of the brave thief.

Damn…We got outplayed.