The weather was miserable. The sky was gloomy and threatening rain, but it refused to actually grant the earth below water. Helena however was feeling pretty good. The interviews with the police were all fairly short. Helena and her new companion had even managed to grab breakfast at the market before heading to Aoi’s house. Best of all, most of her wounds had healed.
On the other hand Camila was looking around warily as they moved through the marketplace. “Are you sure it’s okay to go wandering around the city without police protection? I mean, we didn’t have any issue ambushing you before.”
“It will be fine. The streets are slightly dangerous. But Aoi’s house is completely safe” Helena shrugged. “I’d be willing to take on every mage in the city in Aoi’s domain. I’d offer to fight them all at the same time with Lyudmila and Kseniya there. I wish he’d be dumb enough to attack us.”
“If you say so,” Camila replied. She turned back to the people walking around and frowned. “Hey, why’s everyone staring at me?”
Helena looked the other woman up and down. “You’re the most out of place person I’ve ever seen. Even here in the Immigrant Realm.”
The police had let Camila pick out a change of clothes from the donation box after she had finished questioning. She’d chosen a close fitting shirt and trousers ensemble that apparently was normal in the real world. Or at least so the jiang-shi had claimed. Now she looked like one of the tourists from across the bridge, which made her talisman seal and rigid posture stick out even more. Add in the fact that she was flying about three inches above the ground in order to avoid hopping everywhere and Camila stuck out like a sore thumb.
Of course Camila probably saw it differently. “I’m out of place?” Camila looked around the market. “There’s a jackalman selling chupacabra as pets over there! There’s a demon offering wealth for people’s souls.” Camila gestured to where Mr. Ythencial was peddling his wares. “And there’s five fairies flying above us with water balloons.”
Helena chuckled as the fairies all groaned in disappointment and flew off. “You should let fairies have their fun when they’re invisible. Maybe pretend that you can’t see their chi. And yes, you’re out of place. You’re wearing clothes from a non magical realm, but you’re obviously a very powerful magical being. Also you’re flying in public which means you’re clueless about city etiquette. You’re supposed to walk when you can.”
“Really?” Camila dropped to the ground then hopped forward a few times trying to keep pace with Helena before taking to the air again. “Screw that. That hopping nonsense is way too slow. And what did you mean about seeing chi? I’m not some Eastern martial artist here. Capoeira was made in Brazil.”
Helena pointed to the seal attached to Camila’s forehead just below the woman’s short curly hair. “Jiang-shi. You sense people by seeing the chi from their breath. Your brain will interpret it as sight. You’ll want to practice it later so you can separate the two senses.”
Camila blinked a few times as she floated along. “Okaaaaay then. Guess today’s gonna be more ‘how to be undead in a magical world.'”
“Probably,” Helena replied.
“Would have been cooler if I’d got summoned to another world. Even if I’d been sent off by truck-kun instead,” the woman muttered. Helena was pretty sure she was missing something, but she let it slide. They’d left the crowded streets of the marketplace for the parks and mansions of the merchant quarter, which meant they were close to Aoi’s house.
Behind the Hall of the Gods there was a smaller building. Most people thought it was a large storage house. After all it was just a wooden building with a few ropes hung around it. There was a torii gate, but no visible shrine or donation box. Not even a fountain for cleaning. And the idea of a simple priestess living in the merchant district next to the biggest trading houses in the realm was unthinkable.
Aoi was good at breaking expectations.
Helena’s thoughts were interrupted as she stepped face first into an invisible wall. It wasn’t physical, or even mental. It was spiritual and it stopped her straight in her tracks without hurting her at all. It was a trick she really wished she could learn.
Camila wasn’t as lucky. There was a smell of ozone and the woman bounced back from the impact with the magical barrier. “Ow!” She gently reached forward and tapped on Aoi’s defenses. “What the heck is this?”
“A ward against evil and impure spirits. In other words, us,” Helena answered ruefully. “She should drop them now that she knows we’re here.”
“Do your friends always slam your face into a wall when you come to visit?” Camila asked with a bit of an edge in her voice.
Helena shook her head. “No. Some of them are much more unreasonable.” She looked over at the jiang-shi, “This barrier is why we’re safe. Aoi’s not much of a fighter, but she’s one of the strongest humans alive when it comes to barrier magic.” The invisible wall Camila was tapping suddenly stopped sparking. “Step inside and you’ll understand.”
Camila hopped inside and her eyes flew open. “Whoa! This…” The jiang-shi looked down at herself. “I feel incredible! Like, I knew I was stronger before, but now I actually feel stronger. A huge level up.”
“That’s the power of Aoi’s domain,” Helena said before she stepped inside.
Power rushed over Helena’s body like a curtain of freezing water. She could feel exactly how much magic was in her system, how much was flowing over to Camila. Within the temple she could sense two giant presences, a blazing star of power and a sinking void that consumed magic. And next to those terrifying presences a small pinprick of light. The source of the strength that was pouring into her.
Helena took a deep breath and dampened all those senses, much like how she dampened her ability to see lesser curses. She didn’t need the distraction. When she’d cleared her mind she headed to the house, Camila hopping after.
The doors opened as they approached revealing Aoi in a simple plum yukata. “Good morning, Helena. And welcome to you as well, Miss. Please come in. There are many guests today so it would probably be best if we all introduced ourselves at once.”
“Thanks,” Camila and Helena both said as they entered.
The small living room inside was usually very sparse. Tatami floor and white walls. A family shrine in one alcove, a table in the middle with tea on it. A few ink paintings hung on the walls. It would have seemed fairly empty without people.
Today it seemed crowded. Lyudmila was sitting at the table, her expression that unique mixture of annoyance and joy Helena loved. She’d stuck to her traditional witches’ dress, though Helena noted that Lyudmila had kept the thin gold circlet instead of a hat. A pile of mystical tomes was sitting next to her.
Meanwhile the right side of the room was taken up by the flight of small mechanical birds, everything from jays to finches, that hopped and fluttered about their green haired mistress. It seemed Kseniya had been able to come.
“Hello, Lyudmila, Kseniya. It’s been a while,” Helena said with a wave.
“Just long enough for you to do something incredibly stupid,” Lyudmila said.
Kseniya’s smile grew wider. “We’re happy to see you.” She turned her attention to Camila. “But before we continue, why don’t you introduce your friend?”
Helena waited until Aoi joined the group around the table then went around the room. “Camila these are my friends, Aoi Hoshimi, chief shrine maiden, Lyudmila Doroshenko, my best friend whether we like it or not, and Kseniya Doroshenko, the closest thing to a sane magician you’ll ever meet.” She gestured to her new companion. “Everyone, this is Camila Correia Barbosa, formerly of the outside world, a newly freed jiang-shi. At least as free as I’ve managed to get her.”
“Ola,” Camila said, waving her hand awkwardly. “Good to meet you all. Especially meeting more magicians. Since I’m gonna be around Helena a long time I wanted to find out if you’re all crazy and sarcastic.
“Just her,” Lyudmila said.
Aoi nodded. “Yes. Magicians only require sarcasm or overconfidence, not both.”
“Helena and my sister are overachievers,” Kseniya fake whispered to Camila.
“Good to hear!” Camila replied. “Overachievers are the best people to have on your team.”
Lyudmila’s frown deepened. “Until they go bounding out into danger. Why didn’t you wait for us to arrive, Helena? Your little plan nearly got you killed! If Camila here had been a little bit slower you’d be dead!”
“That’s-” Helena caught herself. Lyudmila was understandably upset. Rushing into the fight had been dangerous. “I’m sorry. But it couldn’t wait. He said he had my bane Lyudmila. He was threatening people I knew.”
“What?!” Lyudmila looked shocked. “I hadn’t heard that. Sorry. If he had your bane…” Her expression turned into a wry grin. “I take it he made a mistake?”
“He used moly flowers. I’m honestly mildly insulted,” Helena said. A thought occurred to her. “Oh Camila, could you hand your flower over to Aoi? She can preserve it for later. It’s worth a fair amount of money as a spell reagent.”
Camila flopped her stiff arms a bit. “You put it in my left pocket, remember? A little hard for me to reach…”
Helena winced. Of course that would be a problem. “Sorry.” She pulled the flower out and handed it to Aoi. Only deities could pick the flower safely, and it had a number of uses in herbalism. It was worth two months’ rent on its own.
“Do you think he might figure out your actual bane?” Kseniya asked quietly.
“If he hasn’t figured it out already he probably won’t,” Helena muttered. “It’s disgustingly obvious outside my home realm.”
“I remember how clever you thought you were when you chose it too,” Lyudmila said.
Helena glared at her friend. “I don’t want to hear about youthful stupidity from you. Unless you want to compare immortality spells?” Lyudmila raised her hands in surrender.
Aoi poured tea. “As amusing as I find your friendly bickering, I imagine our new guest could use some attention. Why don’t we discuss what we know about jiang-shi, and how we can use that to help Camila?”
“Thanks,” Camila said. “It’d be really cool if I could get my arms to bend. Or put on my own clothes.” The woman awkwardly gestured to the tea down below her reach. “Or eat without help. And I’d really like to be able to practice capoeira again.”
“That’s going to be very difficult,” Aoi admitted.
“But we might be able to offer some help,” Kseniya said. “I patched this spell together before we came to the realm. It isn’t exactly what you want, but it could be useful.”
The young magician held out a scroll and Helena took it while Camila looked over her shoulder. Kseniya’s penmanship was one of her weaker skills, but Helena quickly grasped the details of the magical matrix. “This is reinforcement magic. But designed as a power battery?”
“Yes. I based it on my own spells,” Kseniya said. “If you use that Camila will be able to store magical energy in her body. If she releases a lot of it at once, she should regain complete mobility, for a limited time.”
Camila’s head snapped up. “So I’d be able to change and stuff? Great!”
Kseniya shook her head. “I’m afraid not. Once you start using the charge, you’ll use all of it. The design is several reservoirs, but you’ll only be able to break it up into five pieces. You could use it for normal tasks, but only five times a day.”
Helena tapped the runes, “It looks like their maximum value is based on my personal power. Given the current magical drain I’d guess I could supply about two minutes in each reservoir so… ten minutes a day of free movement in two minute chunks.”
“Oh.” Camila deflated a bit. “Well I could practice.”
“That’s just what we thought up in a few hours,” Lyudmila said. “And even if we can’t find a better spell, Helena’s skill and refinement will grow. That means more and more time with unlimited movement.”
Camila brightened up at that. “Right! Gotta start somewhere. This magic stuff is all over my head, so if I’m demanding a miracle just ignore me ‘kay?”
“There’s one big problem with this,” Helena said as she poured Camila a cup of tea, then bent the woman’s arm to let the jiang-shi drink. “This assumes I’m the one giving her energy. Which means I’d still be her ‘master’. I don’t want Camila as ‘my’ jiang-shi. She’s a person, not my slave.”
“I understand. But creating a power source for a jiang-shi is very difficult,” Aoi said quietly. “I don’t know anyone who has managed that.”
Lyudmila grimaced, “Before we handle that problem there’s something we should take care of first.” She looked over at Camila. “How are you feeling?”
Camila looked surprised at the question. “Eh? I’m doing great considering what’s happening. I mean, I can’t bend my elbows and knees. And I’m dead. Oh and I’ll never get to see my family again. But I’m not someone’s zombie puppet anymore so things are getting better. Gotta look on the bright side, no?”
“That’s what I thought. Aoi, could you read the instruction on the talisman?” Lyudmila said.
Aoi squinted at the writing. “It’s roughly says ‘In the name of the underworld gods, by the will of Hades and Persephone, be the person you wish you could be.'” Aoi blinked for a moment then gasped. “Oh!”
“What?!” Helena looked between the two. “What’s wrong with…”
She froze. The wording alone didn’t make it obvious, but with Lyudmila’s questions she realized it. She’d screwed up so badly. How could she have made so many mistakes?! Her hands began to tremble and she sat down.
“Huh? What’s going on here?” Camila asked whirling around.
Kseniya opened her mouth to explain, but Helena managed to cut her off with a hand wave. This was her fault. She’d take responsibility. “My spell didn’t release you from magical control. It made it so you’re manipulating yourself. These aren’t your emotions. These are the emotions you want to have.”
Camila blinked a few times in confusion. Then her face lit up in understanding. “Oh. I get it.”
The woman burst out laughing, leaving Helena blinking in confusion. Was this part of the problem as well? “Why is my huge mistake messing with your brain so funny?”
“Messing with my brain?” Camila shook her head. “This is what I wanted to be like, right! No moping. No terror. No self loathing. It’s great!” Camila smiled. “What’s the big deal? You should make one for yourself!”
“Uh, well.” Helena paused then looked up at her friends. “She’s got a good point. What am I missing?”
Aoi shook her head. “It’s not safe. Even if you control your emotions, you need to release your anger and sorrow in some way to stay healthy. There was a group of monks that used emotion dampening magics to break their ties with the world. Eventually they all either went violently insane or starved to death because they weren’t interested in eating.”
“Yes. It’s a big no no in the field of enchantment,” Lyudmila said. “Too many people self medicate all their bad emotions away and either go berserk or end up as a smiling shell. Moderation is key. This is a unique enchantment so I can’t say how long you have before things go wrong but…”
Helena nodded. “I need to think up a better enchantment fast.”
“Like, you can take your time with that, right?” Everyone looked over towards Camila. The woman’s smile was trembling. “I wanna get used to the world and all that. We should beat down that bastard who killed me first too, no? Wouldn’t want to get culture shock at a bad time.”
Helena peered into the woman’s eyes. She was terrible with people, but she could see fear there. It was obvious even though she’d only known Camila for a single day. “Maybe you’re overthinking this Lyudmila,” she said. If Camila could feel fear, wouldn’t she be safe?
“It’s possible,” Lyudmila admitted with a slow nod. The other witch had to have noticed Camila’s worry as well.
Kseniya stepped forward. “I think I might know a solution. You still feel some negative emotions, right?” she asked. Camila nodded. “Which means you just need a pressure valve.” She slowly reached a hand towards Camila’s seal. “Don’t worry. I won’t make any drastic changes.”
“Okay,” Camila hesitantly leaned forward to let the other woman touch the talisman.
Kseniya nodded, then tapped the yellow paper. “Let’s see. A little overpowering here. A tweak there.” A soft glow formed around Kseniya and her birds. The light flowed into the talisman as Kseniya used her ability to warp and change Helena’s original spell. “There. Now to fix things.” Kseniya leaned forward and whispered to the woman, “It’s okay to want to cry.”
Camila frowned in confusion, then her eyes shimmered as they filled with tears. “Yeah. You’re right. It’s okay…” Kseniya’s glow faded as the young witch hugged Camila. The jiang-shi woman let her arms fall, and she closed her eyes as the tears fell.
After a bit Helena hesitantly pulled out a handkerchief and wiped the woman’s eyes. Camila nodded to her. “Thanks, everyone.” Kseniya gave a final squeeze, then sat back down.
“It’s nothing,” Lyudmila muttered. Aoi smiled, while Helena pretended to not notice. Raw emotions like that made her stomach flop. But she was glad Camila was alright. Helena settled for wiping the jiang-shi’s eyes again.
“So with that settled we can return to your other problem,” Aoi said. “We should probably all sit down for this. It may take a while.”