Chapter 90 Meditation Soothes The Soul

  “Let me just preface this with a simple fact: Souls are complicated and even more complex.” The healer began as he oriented on Isaac to begin answering his questions. “The soul is many things and is also entirely its own construct. Your core, your mana pathways, what truly makes you you on the inside, even the mana that flows through you can be called your soul.”

  Isaac sat and listened as patiently as he could. The information was nice to know but he was also a bit impatient for rather obvious reasons. His wife was unconscious and his insides were screaming at him for the same reason. So, instead of interrupting the healer to ask questions, Isaac stayed silent. If Lenna could have seen him then she would have thought that he was dying. Isaac never just stayed silent.

  “When a deity uses your soul as a conduit, they have to be let inside first. If they try to do too much to or through you without your consent, then they might just accidentally shatter your soul. This would be a collapse in the Soul’s Integrity.” The healer went on. “A deity might choose, or you might offer them, to use your Soul’s Integrity as the price for performing a miracle. The Soul’s Integrity is like a stone wall around the city that is your Internal Soul. Whenever the Soul’s Integrity is used or damaged, it is like removing some of the stone blocks. When it is used, it would be like selling the deity stone blocks in exchange for whatever miracle was performed.”

  Isaac couldn’t hold back and asked a question that would help the healer move towards the information that he actually wanted a bit faster: “But how do the stone blocks get replaced?”

  “New ones must be put in their place. The soul naturally wishes to be whole so it will happen naturally over time as it sort of puts itself back together.” The healer explained. “The easiest ways to speed this up are rest,” Isaac frowned. “sleep,” Isaac wrinkled his nose. “and meditation.”

  Isaac recoiled. “That would split me in half!” He cried out in shock. “That much mana going through my already damaged core would shatter me. There wouldn’t be anything left to put back together.”

  The healer’s eyes widened and he flinched slightly at the sudden outburst. “I have never heard of meditation hurting someone recovering from Soul Integrity Degradation. Meditation soothes the soul as it lets the mana itself wash away the damage. It acts like clear water on a dirty wound.” He assured Isaac. “It is always advised that you meditate to aid in recovery for at least an hour a day. I do not know how much mana you think is going to flow through your soul while you meditate, but I cannot imagine that it will be enough to pop you like a bubble as you are suggesting.”

  Isaac took a deep breath to calm down and focus. Meditating had never felt like he was being pressurized but there was definitely an absolutely ridiculous amount of mana flowing through him while he did it. With how much even a trickle of conscious mana usage hurt, Isaac had immediately multiplied it by a thousand in his head as soon as he had heard the healer’s words. “Okay, I’ll try it.” Isaac told the healer.

  “If you are that worried, we can move you and your wife to the church of Halya nearby.” The healer offered. “The priest there is old but knowledgeable and his level is in the high teens, probably.”

  “You aren’t a cleric of Halya then?” Isaac asked the healer.

  The healer paused for a moment before he shook his head. “No. I am not. But one thing that all clerics know is that gods try to get along with each other. That means that their servants should do the same. We will almost always attempt to help each other when able, even if we worship different gods.” The healer told him.

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  “I would prefer to do it under the full moon but that won’t be happening.” Isaac confessed.

  “You are on specifically good terms with Lua?” The healer questioned and leaned in slightly.

  “Yes, Lenna and I both are.” Isaac replied. “I trust Halya but, it is hard to explain exactly how I know, but she is weaker than Lua and not by a small amount at that.”

  The healer nodded. “Indeed. The ancient deities are far stronger than the gods of more recent eras.” He agreed. “Those that enjoy our worship but do not need it, do not need it for a reason.”

  Isaac nodded slowly in return. He had a sneaking suspicion that the hooded healer in front of him was an elf and not a human like most of the others that he had seen in Vespera. “It is also far too bright here. If I am going to do this, I would like to do it in a dark and isolated place. Preferably one with a way to keep my obscene mana signature from calling every powerful creature for miles. The last time I meditated outside of Safeharbor, a red dragon showed up looking for a snack.” Isaac explained. “But,” He turned to look at Lenna. “I don’t want to move her if I can help it.”

  “She is fine.” The healer told him. “Once I finished healing her, she woke up for a minute to check on you. She didn’t say anything but she seemed to want me to focus on you. She has either been sleeping or meditating since then. If she was awake for too long, I would worry about her soul bleeding out through her massive mana leak. As long as she is asleep or meditating, then she will be fine.”

  Isaac was silent for a long moment as he thought about what he should do. He needed to be in fighting condition as soon as possible. He could handle not being at full power but he at least needed to be able to teleport, his entire fighting style had evolved around his shadow-step. Near instant repositioning was just that unfair. He looked up at the handful of holes in the roof. “Can we cover all of the holes or move into a new warehouse that is completely sealed off from the light?” He asked the healer and the boss.

  The healer looked to the boss for an answer and the boss nodded. “There is an empty one nearby, only about a block away, but it will be cold.” The boss told Isaac. “The fire is half of what is keeping you alive right now. That wolf cloak of yours is the other half.”

  Isaac looked down at himself with a frown. The boss was right. He was not equipped for low temperatures. He would need his armor to help keep him warm at least. “Is there anyone here who can use cleaning magic?” Isaac wondered. “My armor and what I am wearing would be enough.”

  The healer looked at the boys, who were sitting nearby totally not eavesdropping on their conversation, and the boss shook his head. “Not yet. Two of them are in training but they aren’t even able to cast a simple light spell, let alone a cleaning one.” The boss replied.

  Isaac sighed. “I guess this will just have to do.” He said and forced himself to his feet. His insides protested at the concentrated effort, not at the movement itself, and he realized that it was his soul and internal mana reacting to his purposeful movement that was causing him pain. He drank the last of the water that was in his cup and sat it on the ground next to where he had been sitting. “Exactly how strong are you two? I tend to call Tunnel Horrors from dozens of miles away when I meditate in the Innerworld. If there is one a few dozen miles below us and it gets hungry, well, I am not exactly in any condition to fight it at the moment.”

  The boss and healer shared a look. “Strong enough to tangle with one for a little while, but I’m not sure if we could actually kill it. If that does happen, the boys will need to take your wife and make a run for the temple of Halya nearby.” The boss told Isaac.

  Isaac nodded. “That is as good of a plan as any.” He agreed and walked over to the darkest part of the warehouse, it was a corner a little ways away from the fire and the door, close to where Shamesh had impacted the wall actually. He slowly sat down and crossed his legs. “Make sure no one freaks out too loudly and pulls me back unless, well, you need me back for some reason or another.” He instructed the boss and healer. With one final deep breath, Isaac closed his eyes.

  The ground was cold but soon it was forgotten about. It took Isaac a little while to let the thoughts of Lenna slip from his mind, even longer than it took him to let go of the pain that he was experiencing. Everything relaxed. All of the tension of the past two weeks drifted away in the pleasant black stream of darkness. He felt like someone had taken him apart, dusted out his insides, and then painlessly put him back together. The flow was so nice, so comforting, he could just drift away in it for a while. He felt like sleeping adrift on the pure black stream. Responsibilities were a thing of the past. Cares were something that were other people’s problems. Other people… other… ‘Lenna!’ Isaac’s consciousness cried out and he was abruptly shocked back into total consciousness.

  Isaac dropped to the ground and landed on his rear with a thud. “Ow.” He groaned and started to stand up. His core still hurt but the edge was noticeably missing from the pain. “Well, that actually worked.” Isaac said and stretched. “I do feel a bit better.” He told the healer and looked over to see all six of the vigilantes staring dumbfoundedly at him. “What? First time seeing a demigod meditate?”

  Amaranth Serentia V'Nova Wexler