Blind Incarnation

I was walking down by a river. By my side was a woman, slightly shorter than me. We were holding hands. I knew her; we were close.

It was cold, and we both wore winter coats. In spite of the weather, we still continued our stroll. We had no destination in mind, nor any other reason to do so; we merely wanted to, and that was enough.

“We should probably head back. We don’t want to freeze to death,” I told her.

“Yeah.” Her reply sounded sad.

“Let’s sneak out again tomorrow, okay?”

She nodded, then sighed. “Hey, can I ask you to do something insane?”

“As long as it’s within my power, I’d be happy to.”

“Run away with me.”

“Huh?”

She looked me in the eyes. “Let’s elope.”

* * *

I opened my eyes. Still groggy, I tried to make sense of my surroundings. Was I dreaming? Where am I? Everything in my vision felt unfamiliar. I was in a bed which somehow managed to feel both comfortable and uncomfortable at the same time. Did I fall asleep here?

I slowly shifted my weight and sat up, looking around to the other side of the room. There was a large window past the nightstand to the left of the bed. Daylight leaked through the cloth curtains, softly illuminating the otherwise dim interior.

It was only then that I noticed a lump on the other side of the bed—a person. They were lying on their back, and their face just slightly peeked above the covers.

The way the sunlight entered the room, it left the bed mostly dark, and, as a result, my eyes had to adjust briefly before I was able to make out their face.

It… was not the face I expected to see.

Who is this!?

The sudden realization alarmed me, and it caused me to slide backwards on reflex. Given my positioning, I slid right off the edge of the bed. My entire body began to topple backward, and I braced for the impact.

… Huh?

A hand had reached out and grabbed my shirt, holding up my body and preventing it from falling. The shock had wiped away my grogginess, and I finally remembered the previous day’s events. It wasn’t a complete stranger on the other end of the bed; it was Lucia, my Chainbearer.

So why was I expecting someone else at first? As had happened time and time again, I was left puzzled by my own thoughts.

Lucia pulled me forward, and I stabilized my balance. Letting go, she then said something to me, but I couldn’t make it out.

“What?”

She said something else.

“Huh?” I couldn’t understand what she was saying at all.

A look of irritation washed over her face, and she carefully enunciated another sentence. It was still complete gibberish to me. “I have no idea what you’re saying.”

“Ah…” Oh, I understood that grunt, though.

She moved her hands into a peculiar pose. One was outstretched to the side, and the other was extended forward, palm-up. She made a series of strange movements with her arms, before finally entering a final pose that consisted of pointing her index and middle fingers—at me.

“Osfen los ilten-al isnenvus-al roh.”

For a brief moment, it looked as if the air was sparkling, though perhaps that was just an illusion.

Then, finally, she spoke in words I could understand. “There. We should be able to talk now.”

“That dance thing you just did. Was that… magic?”

“Don’t call it a dance,” she snapped, before quickly softening her expression. “The movements are not magic in and of itself, but they are a crucial part of it. To cast a spell, one must complete the proper movements and then declare the full name of the appropriate god.”

“Was the ‘name’ that incantation?”

“Precisely. Spells are the echo of a holy technique belonging to a god. The casting of a spell is, in truth, merely paying reverence to a particular god in exchange for mimicking a fraction of their power.”

Oh… that’s kind of cool, actually.

“At least, that’s the myth people use to justify the existence of magic. Who knows if it’s true?”

Oh… that’s kind of disappointing, actually. Talk about wishy-washy worldbuilding.

“This particular spell is a relatively simple but powerful one, and it supposedly invokes the power of Osfen, God of Tongues. By using it, the caster acquires the ability to speak in the target’s native language for several hours. You, of course, were the target of the spell.”

“That’s convenient.”

“Indeed. That said, while this is sufficient for the time being, it will be more practical in the long run for you to learn my language. Otherwise, you will be unable to communicate with anyone besides me, unless they know how to use magic.”

That was true; last night, I had been unable to understand the waiter, for example. Even simple tasks would be impossible for me to do without Lucia if they required interacting with someone.

“That makes sense, but won’t learning a whole language take a long time?”

“Precisely, but there is no point in rushing it when you can just learn to cast Osfen’s spell yourself. From there, you can work towards actually learning the language naturally.”

I nodded several times, for some reason. I see, I see. “So that means I can learn magic?”

“Yes. Spirits are stronger magic users than mortals, as they are not physically taxed from casting spells. Chains are no exception.”

“Hmm… so you’re telling me I’ll be a wizard? That sounds awesome!” Inexplicably, I struck a childish pose with my fist pumped into the air.

Lucia stared at me for a second before breaking out into a giggle. Embarrassed, I lowered my arm and looked away. I don’t know what’s worse: the fact that I just did that, or the fact that I got the sudden urge to do it at all.

“Try not to get too far ahead of yourself. You will want to master the basics of Chains before moving on to magic. That should also have the byproduct of improving our range, so that we won’t be stuck in this situation forever.”

“Ugh, sounds like a lot of effort. Can I pass on that? I’d like to skip to the cool parts,” I joked.

She ignored my statement. “You seem so motivated compared to yesterday. It’s almost off-putting.”

If I don’t go out of my way to act overly motivated, I’ll probably lose heart again. “I figure that if I’m going to be doing it anyway, I may as well get excited about it,” I lied. For some reason, I didn’t want to tell Lucia what I had actually been thinking.

“Regardless, you seemed disoriented when you woke up. Why was that?” she said, changing the topic.

“Now that you mention it, I guess I was. I had a weird dream, and I think I was still immersed in it too much even after I woke up.”

“Was it a memory?”

“Huh? A memory?”

She nodded. “You are struggling to remember your past life, correct?” I nodded in return, and she continued, “Amnesia is normal for Chains, but your memories still exist in your subconscious. It is not uncommon, from what I understand, to recall them in your dreams or on reflex, even if you cannot do so consciously.”

“I can’t tell if that’s convenient or inconvenient…” I muttered. Since it was in the form of a dream, I could only recall a little of what I saw, and it was difficult to draw any conclusions without more context.

“Either way, I suggest you do your best to ignore them entirely. Nothing lies down that path but unveiling past regrets you can never resolve.”

She’s probably right, but still… I couldn’t ignore my curiosity, either. Why am I filled with so much sadness when I think about that dream? And… who was that girl?

As if to stall this exact train of thought, she changed the topic again. “So, how does your body feel today? Still aching?”

“Well, I was in bad shape yesterday, so obviously I’d still be—” By some miracle, my body actually felt completely fine, as if I hadn’t moved a muscle yesterday. “What the hell?”

She grinned. “You are experiencing one of the main boons of being a Chain. Remember how I explained that your physical fatigue is purely psychological, and that your manifested body cannot actually get tired?”

“… So because I forgot overnight that my body was aching, it stopped doing so?”

“Precisely.”

“You like to use that word. It sounds kind of condescending, you know.”

“Precisely.” In an instant, her voice went from casual to icy. Oh, that time it actually sounded condescending!

“I was kidding, okay? Please don’t be mad…”

“You can be a real pain to deal with sometimes. I hope you appreciate the great lengths I go to for your sake.” Her tone eased, and I think this sarcastic reply was her way of saying that she forgave me. At least, I hope that’s the case. I wish she would be more straightforward sometimes.

She then cleared her throat to grab my attention. “Now, to get back on topic, take a look at your clothes from yesterday.”

“Um, okay? Why—” There was nothing there. I know I had left them there. Did she move them? No. With our range limitation, I would’ve been jolted awake if she tried.

“Those clothes did not have an ‘objective’ existence. They were merely a part of your manifestation. They were functionally identical to regular physical objects while you were wearing them, but once they were removed, you no longer imagined them as a part of yourself. As a result, you stopped manifesting them subconsciously.”

“I only sort of follow what you’re saying, but what’s your point?”

“This is the most potent ability of a Chain: to manipulate your physical presence at will. The physical form you take now is simply the ‘default’ form that you imagine yourself to be, but it doesn’t have to be. You can subtract, like with the clothes, but you can also add, like—”

It finally clicked. “Like manifesting that sword out of nowhere?”

She smiled in response. “Calling yourself a ‘wizard’ earlier was undershooting a bit, don’t you think?”