Short Story: A New Species, A New Tragedy

An Explanation

Good day, this is a new nonconsecutive tale written to explain my findings in relation to the events described, as well as ensure any and all loose ends are tied up.

I am the narrator of this tale, and a God whom oversees the veil. My job is to watch, to push, and to record any and all events I feel important to keeping the balance of worlds, in this case however I am merely pursuing a matter of personal enjoyment and scholarly interest to myself.

It should be mentioned that due to said personal enjoyment, I have no need to explain this in as complex a fashion as my standard reports, and will write what I observe without necessarily feeling the need to explain.

At some points, I may choose not to explain things unless they become truly necessary, even if they may be relevant and helpful at explaining a situation. These points are usually ones where an individual or individuals have a personal secret or past which they may consider shameful or unsafe to share. I choose to respect these cases unless it is either absolutely necessary to preserve some element of ethics within my work.

All tales are written as I watch them, it is a barely noticeable task, but it does not come perfectly at all times, for in my writings, I have found an odd habit or two which may appear odd. This is a plight that all writers, especially the mortal ones, find themselves trapped in from time to time. Find ourselves a sort of… writing specialty, and have a hard time falling away from it.

This current tale is set in the floating isles of the hidden realm.

The date of writing, discovery, and events described is one thousand one hundred and thirty seven years with seventy seven days on the hidden realm’s calendar since my birth, to ensure the rough estimate is at accurate as possible, I invoke my brother, the king of the Gods, and my other brother, slacker of the Gods. Whoms age at time of writing were one thousand nine hundred and forty three years with one hundred and ten days, and five hundred and seventeen years with thirty seven days respectively on the hidden realm’s calendar.

The tale as it occurred

This is my official documentation on the newly discovered mortal race and floating isle. It must be mentioned how this is not quite as shocking as it may at first glance appear. The great amount of knowledge amassed over millennia by many mortals and gods is great, truly. But in terms of mysteriousness, the hidden realm is likely the third most unknown of all areas within my knowledge, sitting only behind the forgotten path and sanctuary of D. It is at least without question the most mysterious of the main four realms. So it is still surprising, mind you, but not surprising in the sense of being world shattering, more surprising in the sense of discovering an interesting tome in an old broken down home. Yes you perhaps did not know what you would find or even if there was something to find, but it is also not as though it was outside the realm of possibility to discover that specifically. Point being, this is a rather exciting time, but not necessarily a time of intense celebration for the floating isles. Like when the cataclysm ended roughly four centuries ago. What was initially interesting to me is the size and true isolation of the isle. If it were merely small, then it would not be quite as surprising. After all, given the rituals required to get to the hidden realm to begin with, it would be beyond simple to miss an isle if it were too small to even walk on.

The ritual to the water path requires a large body of water, be it still or running.

The ritual to the blood path requires blood of sentients to be spilled, be it in battle or sacrifice.

And the ritual to the old path requires a tunnel with a wagon going through it, because why not.

In a small isle, none of these things would be possible, or at least would be difficult, water cannot be built up, tunnels large enough to hold wagons (and usually the wagons themselves) cannot be built. The only one theoretically possible would be the blood ritual, but that would require either a person to make their way onto an isle by sheer chance, and also know the blood ritual to properly get off.

All of these reasons make a small isle easy to excuse, but a large isle, with people (more on them later), a decently high mana density, and all resources required to survive not being found? If perhaps the species from this isle were to be seen in paths with no explanation, and disappeared as quickly as they came, it could be explained away as aloof. But this species had no records in the past one thousand years, nor do they exist as even a whisper in my memory.

I had three theories for why this may be.

1: By some insane chance, they performed no combat, built no tunnels, nor had a body of water large enough to facilitate a ritual.

2: Like the rest of the lesser moon, this area had become a mana dead zone for a long period of time… despite the isle still floating and having mana now. Which could explain why I never saw the isle but is also the least likely of the three theories.

3: This could perhaps be some sort of leftover result of actions performed by the primeval empire, before they fell. Which would explain why I did not know of them.

Upon further investigation, the first theory was unquestionably proven true though it seemed to be less by chance and more by design, the second was most likely false, and there is scant evidence proving or disproving the third. The implications of the third option are… worrisome. After the treaty was signed, many spirits on the records disappeared in what can be considered protest. Some went on to become wanderers, acting in self interest or benevolence, others would haunt older abodes, becoming the stuff of folktales to the mortals who went through them, and some simply went mad.

Given that most gods (me included) aren’t anywhere near old enough to have actually experienced the terrors of the primeval empire, the reactions within our ranks are… mixed. Some are excited for the chance to do battle against an ancient force like their precursors did, while others are nervous for the destruction it could cause if a battle were to erupt. Obviously there is little chance at this point of the empire actually re-emerging to full strength, given how much more developed many societies and magics have become, and the fact that many spirits young and old have sworn off its practices.

Still a war of any sort, regardless of scale or result, is not a particularly desirable circumstance.

Could you imagine the work I would have to do? The amount of recording necessary for such an event would be staggering at best, and not particularly interesting. I know of some writers who are rather infatuated with the research and writing of war, but I personally am not. Perhaps it is a factor of my age? After seeing one war it is not difficult to see the repetitive themes present within all of them. But on the other hand, I do not recall, nor read in any of my reports, any heightened enjoyment of war in the past. Its likability for me may well have gone down over the centuries, but not down from a point of notable enjoyment.

Perhaps it is a symptom of my nature? I was born to monitor, record and corral the general order of the world, so perhaps by instinct I dislike things which cause complications?

On the other hand I have had no issue with all things of such nature. I dare say I quite enjoyed watching the escapades of the assassins guild last century, even as their actions destroyed any semblance of solidarity left between the Imps and Cherubs after the calamity. I suppose it could simply be that battle is not my forte, while political intrigue is?

Whatever the case, I suppose it necessary to review how this isle was found, and what it could mean.

The exact discovery of the island was unfortunately not a clean break, it was a process of minor discoveries leading to a slow but sure realizations1. Making it somewhat more… difficult to assign any sort of direct assertions. This makes it more likely this discovery was a random coincidence rather than some sort of scheme. The earliest of these discoveries was that of the map of Carthan three thousand years ago2. While at first the map was taken to be a mere relic, myth, or guesswork, it was confirmed to be real and relevant one thousand years ago3. Due to the general difficulty of those times however, any official nation sponsored expedition taken was not particularly large scale, and only found three of the smaller isles after one decade of searching4. However, various private expeditions were made to various degrees of success for the next two centuries5. After many expeditions were made, the fortieth came to an unfortunate realization, the isle they found was gradually degrading with age, and would likely fade to nothing by the end of the century. I was too busy to record this, but to the best of my understanding it seemed to be a failsafe by the primeval empire. In the case of the old war going south at their blood-path borders, they would rob the isles of any and all mana and nutrients, leaving them unlivable and doomed to slowly but surely fall to earth. Fortunately the primeval empire fell before this could be enacted fully, given they were beaten in a surprise flanking on their monster-path and web-path borders, but it is unknown to what extent it succeeded in its aims, even if the blood-path borders were not the issue, they still needed resources, and the floating isles were ripe for the picking. This killed much enthusiasm in expeditions, as there was now a rather dangerous chance of the isle you were searching for being dead. Regardless, to my understanding the occasional expedition was taken with little success over the centuries until roughly three hundred years ago, when the federation of isles was formed after the calamity6. Since the calamity left a few of the isles… generally unlivable (not unlike what the primeval empire had done now that I consider it) it was decided that, worthwhile or not, it would be best to find and consolidate all usable isles for the sake of preservation7. As one who’s entire purpose is the recording and research of all that occurs, I believe I can empathize. Hopeless endeavors doomed to cost more than they give? I am not so sure. Perhaps it is a part of being mortal?

With all that said, we have reached the point where a new series of expeditions were started, and as such it is a straight shot towards the events of the present. To make a tedious tale interesting, a recent expedition managed to find the new isle by traveling to one of the few portions of sky even the primeval empire was said to have a tenuous grasp on, and the map of Carthan marked as ‘maybe having isles, maybe not’, and returned to tell of how to reach it.

With their return, they described a new species with strange properties. And the even stranger scenario this species appeared to be in. For when the travelers found the floating isle, they were shocked by what they saw. The isle, large as it was, was almost entirely flat, with thousands if not tens of thousands of rectangular boxes lining the ground one after the other. These boxes were pitch black to seemingly stand out against the unnatural white floor of the isle, and had a strong chain surrounding them to keep them locked. As the travelers explored the isle, both by flying through its sky on their griffins and walking upon its ground by foot, they came to one corner of it. This box, unlike all of the others they had seen thus far, had no chain, and looking to its left there were not only one hundred and eighty four other boxes similarly missing their chains, but two boxes actually opened, albeit empty. Finally losing themselves to curiosity, the travelers decided to open the first box, to at least understand what was stored there. You can imagine their shock when they opened it to find a corpse. Each subsequent box also had a corpse, with the obvious exception of the two empty ones. At this point, it became suggested that the isle may well have been some sort of graveyard, with these boxes serving as coffins. Since I prefer that name, it is how I will refer to the boxes from now on. Even if this was revealed to be untrue. Regardless of the box's true purpose the travelers were quite thoroughly spooked. They were absolutely frightened to the point of considering an immediate retreat for safety's sake. Before this decision could be made in earnest however, one of the travelers noticed something in the distance, moving ever closer. This would not be particularly hard, given the completely flat, white, featureless stone ground of the isle made looking into the distance rather simple.

This individual had a rather small height, roughly a little taller than the average twelve to thirteen year old.

Upon their feet and head, rested wings. One on the left side of their left foot, one on the right side of their right foot and one on each side of their head, placed roughly above the right of their ears.

Using these wings, while they could not fly, they did have the ability to glide upon the ground itself very quickly. To compare, it is similar in appearance to the form of those strange peoples known as ice skaters.

Once this individual had reached the travelers, there was an immediate and perhaps predictable panic from all involved, until they noticed the individual was motioning them to follow. To cut down on unnecessary details, such as a bizarre yet tedious five minutes of the travelers attempting to pantomime telepathic communication via forehead touch, leading to the young stranger backing away8, it was decided simply following the stranger was the best course of action.

To do so in a somewhat expedient manner, it was decided that the individual would be followed on gryphon back, but flying would not be allowed. This was essentially forced by the stranger, as they refused to move once the griffins began flying. Fortunately griffins are still rather fast on foot, but the inconvenience was still felt.

One of the travelers was rather annoyed at this, but given that all five were boring I hope the reader understands my decision to not describe much detail. Frankly I think it would be better if the isle remained lost a little while longer if it meant someone more interesting were to find it. But I suppose I must count my blessings… if this event were only slightly more important in the grand scheme of things I would be forced to describe those boring morons in detail, and nobody would like that.

Whatever the case may be the journey continued without incident, and had reached the center of the isle. Upon reaching said center, the stranger walked up to a coffin, identical to all the rest, and pushed it sideways, revealing wheels on its bottom and a small hole underneath.

Despite initial apprehension, three of the travelers chose to go down, and explore the mysterious entrance. Twas not particularly otherworldly, surprisingly enough. It appeared to be a rather drab stonework of gray color and little else, with even the furniture being seemingly made in the same style and material. In hindsight, I suppose this was done to ensure a long shelf life for the abode, but at first glance all it appeared to be was primitive… There is a point to be made about society somewhere in there, but I feel such statements are beneath me.

The travelers did not ponder any sort of philosophical implications, instead they looked around the room, until their eyes naturally fell upon an aged looking bearded man, with a height and wings like those of the first stranger, but notably his wings appeared to be somewhat brown and droopier. At first, just like with the younger stranger, the travelers attempted to communicate with the older one. Unfortunately this worked out about as well, though this time the older stranger tried his hand at playing a bizarre game of acting out their intentions just as the travelers did, and he forced the younger stranger to help him.

But once it was decided this would not help, one of the travelers once more attempted to use telepathy, and actually managed to come close enough to start the process. Only to then get head butted by the older stranger, who immediately seemed to assume the process was some sort of attack. Both strangers, evidently not understanding the process of telepathy, immediately ran off into the endless stone hallways of the isle’s interior. I suppose the travelers assumed the strangers were merely a tad spooked, but this notion was quickly challenged upon hearing the scream of their topside companions.

Said companion was found with roughly thirty five spears going straight through her, each going in its own direction.

Fortunately the other companion had taken the griffins to the sky, and could be seen circling the isle. On closer inspection however, one of said griffins had a noticeable snag, as it too had a spear going through it. Though not quite as deep as to kill the beast, it was certainly more than enough to slow the creature down. It should go without saying that at this point, two of the travelers were thoroughly spooked and wanted to get out of dodge, while the one in the sky was already considering leaving his companions. This feeling was not held by the third of the ground bounded, if you will remember he was the one who was somewhat annoyed at the stranger for their perceived slight, and at this point he was quite furious. Though admittedly more at the greater level of insult than the death of his companion. This anger led to him requesting a sort of… hunting expedition, to kill the strangers and take revenge.

Now in any other conditions, I am certain the other travelers would have loved to tell said companion to shove off and to stop talking nonsense. But this anger prone companion WAS the leader of the expedition, and as such they were duty bound to follow his orders until either he was dead or the expedition was over. After deciding that simply killing the man and pretending he died some other way was not an option, the remaining two ground bound travelers agreed to the orders. To be fair, such a lethal course of action was only an option because the strangers themselves killed one of the travelers for seemingly little reason other than perceived insult or attack, and even attempted to kill the griffins to ensure the travelers could not escape. Frankly I wouldn’t be shocked if the strangers went mad while all alone on the isle. The travelers and the strangers quickly began to battle. With the strangers employing hit and run tactics while the travelers employed a more classic sort of formation, with each member of the group's mastery of flesh magic, psychic magic, or elemental magic respectively giving them the means to repel these attacks. As this battle wore on it became clear that soon, someone else was almost certain to die. Now as shocking as it may be to hear, most mortals don’t like dying, so the travelers, even the one hopeful for murder, began considering a boring retreat as opposed to a glorious danger. This was to be put into practice… until the isle itself began moving.

Twas subtle at first, with a slight shaking barely noticeable in the heat of battle. But as said battle wore on, the changes became more noticeable, as the coffins began to sink into the isle itself, with no command or input visible from the strangers.

Whatever was occurring, the change was not predictable, as once the coffins had lowered completely into the ground, the stones then moved to cover them. It was as though the isle itself was protecting these coffins. In a sense it almost reminded me of the powers guardians possess, as they warp the laws of reality for the sake of their domain, but when I asked the guardian of the hidden realm, they had no clue the isle even existed, and even after checking was unsure if it were the result of some long dead guardians desires, or some unrelated magic. So whatever the case it is clearly strange, and not something I could explain easily. Mayhaps if my immediate predecessor left physical records of his experiences as opposed to singing songs for people, I could have some sort of clue to what this island was, but they did not, thus I do not.

It is an unfortunate feature of my role. With so many different ways of performing magic existing, and with some occasionally having features redundant with other ways, it is difficult to parse the exact cause of various phenomena unless you have access to its history.

As this process reached its end, the travelers found themselves in even greater danger, seeing as they no longer had cover from the strangers' bizarre and agile fighting style. But this increase in danger was two-sided, because now the wizard of the group could use their spells with absolute impunity without the worry of wasted attacks being blocked. At most they could only be dodged for a short time, and not for long.

Once a large-scale spell was cast, the strangers had very little they could do, as a large wave of aqua magic came flooding towards them. Evidently, they had little to no experience with traditional magic, or at the very least elemental magic, as the younger stranger simply dropped his spear, his face entwined with horror as the wave rose and rose. The older stranger, perhaps in response to similar feelings of fear or perhaps simply due to some sort of trained defiance, charged the wave.

This was a fatal decision, as the man was pushed back, and subsequently frozen solid once the aqua magic reached its second phase. Finally, to fully kill the old man, the ice itself cracked to pieces, leaving the older stranger literally and figuratively departed.

The wizard himself was actually rather shocked by this outcome as well, remarking that there was an absolutely mad amount of surplus mana on this island. So much that he lost control of the spell. He was not fully aware of how right he was, as when he turned around he discovered his wave had not just struck those before him, but those behind as well, killing his fellow travelers in a similar way. In a twist, the cowardly younger stranger was left as the only survivor, evidently the wave had concentrated most of its malicious intent on the three now dead individuals. The traveler flying on the gryphons was also living, as he had stayed in the air and watched from afar even as the battle commenced, evidently not sure whether or not to fully commit to booking it. Seeing this turn in fortune, he decided that then was the moment a decision had to be made, and had the gryphons lower to the ground.

The wizard traveler was stuck in a state of shock and horror, staring at the corpses of his fellow travelers and mumbling occasionally. The younger stranger was lying on the ground, laughing at what I must assume was something very funny.

Once the wizard was somewhat pulled together, the two travelers went over to the still laughing stranger, tied him up, and took him back with them to the isle of Arbos. Unfortunately those among the dead were rather important to the isle, so there was an immediate uproar as soon as they arrived, in fact some in leadership were already floating the idea of executing the young stranger and accidental murderer. Fortunately for preservation of knowledge, an explorer of renown happened to be on the isle, and upon hearing the tale immediately did all within his power to stop this grim conclusion, wishing to gain as much information on this mysterious isle as possible. That is how this tale came to my attention, and leads us to the current chain of events.

The young stranger still appears somewhat mad, but given a short time of only twenty five years that is not shocking. There have been various attempts to get into his head, but none have borne fruit. In other news, back to twenty five years ago when the isle was first discovered, after a few months of arguments, it was decided that returning to the isle was the best move, so the cowardly traveler brought with him a band of thirty to explore it in more depth. This search was actually somewhat successful, as there were no more hostile elements within the isle upon arrival. The first thing they did was rip up the ground and extract one of the still chained coffins, unsure of whether to expect a corpse or worse. The opening of said coffin took more time than expected, requiring a wizard of elemental magic and another of flesh magic to work together to force the chains open, but the prize within was… shocking, for all involved. It was a baby boy, only a few months old by the looks of it, with small, barely visible wings on their head and feet.

Upon opening another coffin they found yet another baby, this time a girl, of roughly the same age, also with wings. The explorers, now more confused than nervous, repeated this process a few times, and discovered yet more babies. They were all alive, some cried, some laughed, some simply stared blankly, and yet more napped as though nothing were wrong.

It is my theory that these coffins were built into being a sort of… preservation apparatus, as the coffins were continuously filled with fresh mana, the children were effectively frozen, as the large mana density warped time to a greater and greater degree while keeping the children alive. This has been attempted before with little success, but I would not be shocked if the factor of them being babies had something to do with this attempt succeeding, as they were so young they could not mess with the mana and the mana itself could form no opinion on them quite yet, giving the process a stability it normally doesn’t have9. It is also likely the coffin itself had some sort of enchantment to ensure the mana was managed properly, as even if the babies had little sense of self to begin with, it would not be shocking if the mana still messed with them. Since the babies had no noticeable individual mutations (the wings were universal among them, implying this was a conscious trait they were born with as opposed to a whimful change) and normal personalities (as far as babies go) they were likely protected somehow, perhaps by the isle, or perhaps by the coffins. Speaking of which, the isle made no particular moves during any of this, perhaps it died with the older stranger, perhaps it merely began resting, or perhaps still it was incapable of acting at the time for whatever reason.

It did nothing to hide its secrets, though I suppose it arguably didn’t need to. As the explorers entered the isle’s depths and explored its chambers, walking through various twists and turns and dead ends, culminating in the discovery of sculptures and parchment. In terms of what they depicted they were for lack of a better term… inimitable, illegible, incomprehensible… shit. The art was absolutely shit. I don’t even mean shit by my admittedly high standards, just shit in totality. Was there a chance of this being purposeful? I certainly would hope so. I personally assume it may have been done to pass the time, given the different ‘styles’ and general lack of consistency. Some of the ‘art’ was merely five squiggly lines arranged in different patterns, and no it is not lost on me that this may have been their language, but I somewhat doubt this, given the lack of these symbols anywhere else. I actually doubt they had a written language, based on their lack of writing or symbols on the walls, and the likely age of the group… whomever they were. At the very least, I have come up with a hypothesis for them. If the reader remembers earlier in this tale there were one hundred and eighty four coffins with corpses within. What the travelers did not notice was that each of these corpses were older than the last, with the coffins immediately preceding the empty coffins being the ‘youngest’ so to speak.

I can only speculate, but perhaps these strangers would always keep in groups of two, one older one younger, not by chance but choice? Whenever the older would die, the younger could simply put the dead within their original coffin, and then open up the next coffin in the sequence to ensure both company and the passing on of information?

It would be somewhat risky of course, given that if the older died too quickly, the younger would be left unprepared. But it would at least ensure both a minimum of mouths to feed and a maximum of time to wait. Besides that it clearly worked, so perhaps they had some sort of insurance? If my theory holds water of course, but in that case, what were they waiting for? If each of these individuals lived an average mortal life of sixty years (the younger stranger had no real control or ability with mana, so his lifespan nor the lifespan of his predecessors was extended even in an area with higher mana density than average), and had to on average open up the next coffin halfway through their lives, then this process would have started roughly five thousand five hundred and twenty years ago. What were they waiting for? What necessitated and insured devotion to this task? They would have begun before the map of Carthan was even made, perhaps explaining why it was light on details. Though I suppose the map of Carthan even having a hint that an isle might have existed there, at least tells us in the past it was probably known… somewhat. This age would make them older even than the primeval empire… the only thing I could think of being older would be the occasional myth or legend drawn or carved by my third onward predecessors. But their works are… shall we say… up to interpretation. All that being said, this is a mystery likely lacking convenient answers. But what of the new species found? Well in all there were forty nine thousand eight hundred and seventeen babies found on the isle, with roughly half male half female, interestingly there were only females on one half of the isle and only males on the other half, the corpses were on the side with only males. If my theory is true this may be because whomever set this up wanted to ensure no children were born on the isle while the process of waiting was ongoing.

In the twenty five years since they were recovered, thirty five have died of various causes. A name has also been decided for the species, that being Klaid. Roughly seven thousand children have been born with one thousand mothers currently pregnant. It is rather interesting to see these numbers so empirically, as they seem large at first glance, but it is easy to forget how easily mortals breed after reaching maturity. The most interesting findings have been the various traits of children born. The result of unions between two Klaid has been another Klaid, this is to be expected, but at the very least it supports the idea that this species is stable and not the result of random mutation or speciality. The union between a Klaid and an Imp has been dubbed a Pan. These hybrids have the larger size and horns of imps, plus the winged feet of the Klaid. These hybrids have a harder time skating across the ground but are notably stronger than Klaid, making them a potentially great power. The other hybrid, born of unions between Klaid and any other species, are called Plucks. This insulting name is a result of them having the small size of Klaid and yet none of the wings or abilities, making them seemingly worse in every way, though their naturally small size is apparently helpful enough. What makes Plucks interesting is there have been two hundred children born that do not share these traits at all. They have the larger size and strength of the average mortal and all of the wings from Klaid. There is seemingly no correlation with what makes a Pluck and what makes these surprise successes, some are born from Klaid mothers, while others have Klaid fathers. The non Klaid mortals run the gambit from all races other than Imps (a union with those always results in Pans, without question) so it seems to just be a matter of random chance.

With all that said, I will continue to monitor this new race, to see what will come next for them.

1: So for the sake of simplicity I will simply reference all the reports providing primary evidence and analysis of these discoveries, in the cases of reports not covering the data properly I will explain as best I can.

2: While this was before my birth, my second predecessor did in fact make paintings of this event as it occurred, these are labeled as the Carthan series in the third hall of my abode.

3: My report on the Hidden isles of the Hidden realm is kept in the thirtieth hall of my abode. It is recommended that at least the last thirty lines are read to understand the basics.

4: My report on the Gryphon expedition is kept in the five hundredth and first hall of my abode. It is recommended that it is read in its entirety to understand the basics.

5: I have reports on three of the allegedly thirty nine expeditions which occurred, given their relevance and other factors. These are my report on the Living isle, housed in the five hundred and first hall of my abode, my report on the race for the golden isle, housed in the five hundred and second hall of my abode, and my report of the fortress isle siege, housed in the five hundred and second hall of my abode. It is recommended that at least the last thirty lines of each are read for context. Of the other alleged expeditions, fourteen returned with nothing to show, twelve did not return at all, and only ten returned with tangible gains.

6: My reports on the forming of the federation of isles takes up the whole of my five hundred and seventieth hall. To get a generic understanding read any piece of propaganda found within the isles.

7: My information on this decision is kept in the five hundred and seventy first hall of my abode. It is housed within my report on the apocalyptic power of the paralact, information on the decision itself starts on the third line of the second page and ends on the fifty second line of the fourteenth page.

8: Interestingly, they didn’t back away using their ability to skate across the ground but instead tiptoed backward as a normal mortal would, implying this ability was not quite as convenient as it first appeared.

9: Such mess ups include: Mutating into a hideous monstrosity; Melting away to nothing; Losing all sense of time and not noticing body withering away; Becoming a madman who kills people mana doesn’t like; Exploding; General loss of sense of self; And never, ever, actually resulting in true immortality as they wish for it. The only slight success stories are usually (ironically) due to unreplicable separation magic. Such is the case in the stasis chambers of heroes, and I suppose these strange coffins now (also the floating isles themselves technically do this, but not in the way many want or expect).