53 Soul spli

Celtine knew something was wrong with her master before he collapsed. She knew by his breathing, it suddenly became erratic in the middle of his sentence.

Harriett called out to him but he seemed unable to focus his mind. The master fell against the hard wall and almost collapsed on the spot. He was barely caught in time by Harriett who jumped forward to grab his arms as he fell.

"Master!" She screamed in worry.

The head of Emp felt burning in Celtine's grasp and he finally lost all strength before falling over Harriett. She was unable to hold his whole weight properly and fell on her back with him and Celtine.

Her knees bumped against the stone floor as Celtine was thrown off of his shoulders by the fall. She extended her hand in time to protect her face but still got bruised on the elbows. It was painful yes but she had no time to think about it, the situation was obviously very dire.

"Master!" Harriett screamed even louder than before.

She was panicking. This was not helping at all. Celtine had already lost many things before, she refused to lose something else, she needed to save her master.

"Chass..." Her master whispered in the last moment of consciousness.

This was the sound it made but she knew by the wind, it was not the one he intended. Crys was what he meant to say. Was it chrysalis, someone named Christopher or something else? While she spun the sound in her head, she removed herself from the collapsed form of Emp and started writing on a paper.

<Problem with his soul, Heinrich, a fwan and a crys??>

She ripped it off her board and extended the paper toward Harriett.

She didn't see it, she was too busy worrying and shaking her master.

Celtine had to hit her twice before she was noticed. When Harriett finally looked at her through her tears, she slapped the paper into her hand and vehemently pointed the corridor. It shouldn't be hard to get to Heinrich, they were almost there after all. Celtine would have done it herself but she couldn't move fast, going herself would lose them precious time she wasn't sure they had.

Harriett finally understood what Celtine wanted her to do and just made a hum to accept before she dashed away as fast as she could.

Now she was left alone with her master, there was nothing she could do for him. Her wings started to hurt because of her stress. She moved them a bit... She endured the pain instead and placed a hand on his forehead to check his temperature. He was hot, burning. His heart was racing too, maybe as fast as when she had lost her wings. What was happening to him?

Footsteps came rushing in the corridor but it was neither Heinrich or Harriett that came. The steps came from behind her and surprisingly, it was Ivar and Brenia that appeared. They came here because of the scream, they must have heard it from elsewhere and came to see who was causing the ruckus like that.

"Emp?" Simply asked Ivar, confused.

"What's happening?" Cut Brenia, straight to the point like always.

Brenia was scary, very scary. She could kill her master easily while he was in this state, the thought made her skip a heartbeat. Dangerous and untrustworthy, but she was strong too. Celtine needed her. She wrote a new message as speedily as she could.

<Problem with master's soul. Harriett gone ahead. Heinrich can fix.>

That was the best and most concise way she could write about the situation.

"Got it." Brenia answered swiftly before moving towards Emp.

"How can he have a problem with his soul?" Asked Ivar even more lost than before.

"Stop asking dumb questions and help me drag him to that bloody mage."

The female warrior picked Emp from under his arms and raised his front half while Ivar reacted to her call and got a hold of his leg.

"Damn, that guy's burning." Commented the huntress.

"No time to lose then. We'll carry him ahead." Ivar told Celtine before they started moving through the remaining corridors.

Like that, Celtine was left alone. They were lucky those two came in when they did, the mage would have had to come all the way here otherwise, losing them more time. She got on her feet and started moving towards the residence of the mage using the walls to hold herself up.

More people would probably show up but she didn't have the time to wait for them, she needed to join up with her master and Harriett.

The way should have been short but to her, it felt unending. She had not practiced walking as much as she should have. Riding on her masters shoulders was so much fun that she didn't bother walking at all. She had just come to expect that he would carry her everywhere.

Obviously, it was wrong of her to think that, she could see it now. Even if her master was a great person, he couldn't let her tag along everywhere he went forever. Sometimes, he simply wouldn't be able to, like at this moment.

She needed to be better, for him and for herself. If he survived that was, if not, she would be dead too anyway. It was that thought that kept her mind stable. He wasn't dead yet, if he was, she wouldn't be able to worry about it. She had no reason to panic, he was fine right now, he would be fine later too and would not die.

They didn't even know what sort of problem he had. Since he was so calm before, it might not be that terrible. Maybe they were overreacting. Someone falling unconscious didn't mean they would die. A lot of people fainted all the time and didn't die.

He would certainly wake up later and ask them why they were so worried, he had told them it would be fixed before the next day after all. Maybe the problem with his soul was very small and not dangerous at all.

But, when had a soul problem ever been small? Her own couldn't accept the fact her wings weren't there and caused her endless pain. What sort of trouble was his own into? A problem of the soul couldn't be easy to heal or else people would understand souls better. Maybe Emp would die after all.

She shivered and almost made a misstep. She really didn't want him to die. Then again, if he did, she would potentially not be able to notice it before she followed. Maybe it was better that way, not dying of course, but rather, not knowing. Even if she lived through, what would she do then? Find a god on her own? That was crazy, she would never make it, it was better to die then.

Finally, she reached the door of the teacher's room. Inside, hurried footsteps and loud voices made themselves heard. She turned the handle and pushed her way inside.

Celtine really didn't like human mages but if he was her only chance of saving him, she would not cower away from him. Just like she would not reject Brenia's help, she couldn't afford to let her own fears destroy her master. He was the best thing left in her life and his only hope at getting the rest of it back, no amount of fright would ever push her away from him.

Opening the door, Ivar and Brenia turned their head to see who was coming in and when they saw it was her, they beckoned her to come closer. Brenia even offered her a hand. Her heart shook but she still took it, anything to go faster.

Around her, the room was very different from those she had seen up to now. She had seen master's room, she had seen Mable's room and the personal office of the old woman but this one was nothing alike.

Everything was so bright in here but so cold too. There were no candles or fire of any sorts burning, only floating ethereal lights, pale blue and white, were letting everyone see clearly inside. They hovered in the corners and sometimes floated too close to someone who just batted them away in annoyance. There was no warmth being emitted from them, cold as death but bright as daylight.

Master Emp had been laid down on the tall desk occupying the center of the room. Mountains of shiny junk and books had been thrown down from it to make enough space for him.

Like the old woman's office, bookshelves stood in a row against the far wall but almost half of it housed strange objects instead of books. There was a large glowing blue mushroom growing in fifteen different layers in a jar, a large horn covered in runes she did not understand, a bunch of different powders and the list just went on.

The bookshelves weren't the only place full of weird objects, the ceiling was also used to hang a large amount of charms and small ingredients tied onto some dangling length of string. It was a bit like how Harriett insisted on dangling garlic on the mantel of the rooms fireplace except here it was everywhere and mostly made out of parts from hunted creatures. If the mage needed something, he only had to raise an arm to grab it. It must have been practical but the taller humans must have hated it.

Currently, Harriett was worrying alone in a corner while the two students stood midway between the door and the desk. Celtine wondered why Harriett stood so far but then understood that she had probably been told by the mage to get out of his way. Speaking of the mage, he was nowhere to be found. She hoped he was behind one of the two doors leading further into his living space.

Ivar expected her to ask so he told her all that happened while she was walking here.

"The teacher got your list and then went over there to get the fwan. The other slave kept clinging to him and Emp so he told her to wait in the corner or he would kick her out. I can understand why she's so fidgety though, it's as much her life as his own."

"At least we were nearby to help move him here. In don't think a scrawny mage and a week girl could have moved him all the way here at a decent speed."

<Thank you for your help.> Wrote Celtine.

Brenia just snorted and Ivar felt the need to explain what he was doing there.

"It's nothing, I was coming back from practicing my archery when I heard her scream. There was no way I could just go back without knowing what was that scream for and who made it. At first, I thought it was Brenia when I saw her but after she almost punched me for it, we found you."

There was a very short silence in which Ivar just fixed Brenia before he ended up asking what he wanted more bluntly.

"What were you doing in that part of the school, isn't your room the other way?"

"Why does it matter?" Asked back Brenia, clearly uninterested.

"I'm just wondering. The strong and beautiful Brenia meandering in the halls late in the evening, what could she be doing?" He said with a grin.

"I will really punch you this time. No I do not have some secret relationship with someone on this side. I just felt like walking a bit."

"Really?"

She punched him in the shoulder prompting a groan of pain from him.

"Told you I would do it. I was trying to figure out a way to restore the dignity I lost yesterday. Are you happy now?"

"What lost dignity?" Complained Ivar while rubbing his shoulder. "Yesterday was great. Everyone had a lot of fun."

Celtine felt that it must not have been that big of a deal. With the way Emp talked about it this morning, it didn't seem to have made an impact on him or anyone else. She was probably fretting over nothing and overreacting to Ivar's questions but she was glad they were there. their silly words were making the wait much easier for her. If they could free her mind from the present situation even if just for an instant, they were a welcome distraction.

Their banter went on until one of the doors opened letting the mage back in with the fwan. Celtine had never seen one before, not because she came from the wing tribe but more because fwans were a very rare species to begin with.

The fwan was tall and lanky, he had similar body proportions to a human except for his arms and head that were far longer than they should. His skin was pale, greyish and almost translucent, his strides slow and long and his head hairless. The fwan wore an ordinary green tunic over a dark shirt and pants with pockets opening from lower on his leg than they would on human pants.

He only had four fingers and four toes, a nose that was flat and low on his face and more importantly, three pairs of eyes above one another.

Only the lowest pair was opened right now. They looked perfectly ordinary as they scanned the room and everyone in it.

"Alright Fonao, take a look at the soul of this one would you?" Asked the mage pointing at her master.

"Right away."

The fwan's voice was monotone and rhythm-less. For a singing adept like her, his voice was very disturbing.

Fonao stepped closer to her master Emp and closed his eyes. The next instant, he opened the top-most pair, those were not ordinary, they were pale and ominous, looking at them was like looking at a lightning strike. Those eyes locked on to her master and before long, the fwan spoke again.

"The man as two souls. He is bloated, he will be dead in under an hour."

Everyone was shocked by what the cursed-blood said. How could her master have two souls!

"How is this even possible?" Ivar voiced for everyone present.

"You two girls have to tell me now, what did he do? How did this happen?" Questioned Heinrich sternly.

"We don't know. All we know is on the paper already I swear!" Answered Harriett speedily.

Celtine wrote a more precise answer but the teacher did not wait for it to start acting.

"Fonao, check with both pairs, see if there is a way to fix it."

The fwan opened his second pair of eyes without closing the third. Those were without pupils, full and stormy like the surface of a pond in a rainstorm. They examined her master from head to toe in conjunction with the third pair. They stopped a moment at his bag, then his ring, they darted on to his shoulder and finally started detailing every part of him.

Celtine finished her note and gave it to Ivar to read aloud.

"She says that her master had problems understanding himself and others so they went to the temple of Love. There, he declared he had a problem with his soul and said he needed to see you."

"Who told him to come here?" The mage asked further, burying his gaze into her.

"The seal forbids us." Answered Harriett for Celtine. No one had to know about Love.

The mage grumbled and turned his attention back to his helper.

"Did you find anything?"

"The man has many extremely powerful magic items on him, one is embedded in his flesh, none are causing this situation. There are no exterior influence on him yet his limbs stretch to the horizon, unlikely to be the cause either. Both souls are trapped, one is foreign but partially fused to his own. The foreign soul is stormy and should be the cause of this present situation. Both are now in pain and struggling or fighting for a limited space. The removal of the foreign soul is the only way to save him but disturbing them now could damage the strained soul domain and disperse both."

"So it's like a tumor."

"A tumor?" Asked Brenia again.

"Yes, something attached to his soul that should not be there. Girl, what is the last thing on the paper you sent me? Is it important?"

<I don't know, it's the last thing he whispered as he collapsed. It's an incomplete word.>

Heinrich the mage read her new message carefully and pondered on what to do for a while. In the end he release a sigh and turned towards a cupboard.

"I guess it has to be it then, I don't see another way. How did they even know I had that?"

In one of the lower drawers, he collected a teal colored crystal a bit larger than his palm and placed it on the desk at Emp's side. So it was crys for crystal?

"This is a soul crystal, it was extracted in a very deep cave and is extremely rare. It's called that because of its resonance with human souls. It's speculated that it should be possible to expend the soul domain of someone using those and so I was using it to study a way to learn about soul magic. What we will attempt to do here is to gather the parasite soul and force it into this crystal, it will be its new home."

"Wow wow! Wait a second. You're planning on messing with the soul of our friend and place a chunk of it into a rock? Are your fancy magic tricks really safe? Is there not a more... normal, way to help?" Asked Brenia, clearly reluctant.

At least there was a common point between her and Celtine, neither trusted mages.

"No, there is no other way, you think fixing a soul is as easy as giving him medicine? No, nothing can touch a soul except for magu. Even if Fonao here can see it, he can't interact with it and neither can I, unless I use magic to do it. If we do not attempt this, he will die on this table."

<Do it then.>

The fact that there was no way to do it without magic made it all the more stressful for her but like she had decided, she could not let her fears be in the way. Brenia too was uncomfortable but since no one else seemed against it, she could only stare at the mage preparing to cast his spell.

"Have you ever done something like this before?" Asked Ivar, hoping to reassure the others a bit.

His plan failed.

"No, never. No one is mad enough to let someone cast magic on their soul so there were never any volunteers to try it and the laws of Steelwood forbids us to risk the lives of slaves unless it is to save the life of someone else."

So he was going to attempt something he never tried before on her beloved master? Celtine felt chocked but Harriett flat out fainted from the revelation. She fell backward onto the wall and ended up half sat against it and half laying on the floor.

At least she wasn't pacing nervously in the corner anymore.

"Are you serious!" Yelled Brenia after she went past the shock.

"It's even more dangerous than you think since I can't see the souls. I will be casting the spell but Fonao will be the one to guide the magu for me since he is the only one who can see what we are doing. In any case, it remains his only chance so let me do it and whatever happens, do not interrupt us."

"Once you start casting that spell, what happens if you get distracted?" Asked Ivar, ever practical.

"At best, the spell fails and we need to start over with a fresh crystal I do not posses, at worse both souls are lost forever."

If only one thing had to be said about Heinrich, it would be that he was honest, brutally so.

"Then I will stand by the door and stop anyone from getting in."

Brenia declared that in a very serious manner and left the room, she even dragged Harriett with her in case she woke up in the middle of it all. Maybe she really wanted to help, or maybe she really did not want to see what would happen.

"I'll move out of the way too then."

Ivar tapped her shoulder twice in an effort to reassure her and left.

Celtine now stood alone, observing Heinrich fetch items from across the room. He didn't seem to be bothered at all by her presence and ignored her completely while he accomplished his task.

The fwan took the opportunity to talk with her while the mage gathered what he needed.

"Your wings are very pretty, red fading to pale pink. These colors are rare for your species are they not?"

Celtine was a bit surprised and confused. How did he know what her wings looked like, they weren't there. Even though they were hurting, she moved them a bit...

She wrote him that she didn't understand what he meant.

Seemingly unable to see her words, he had to open back up his first pair of eye, closing the other two for now. His face revealed surprise when he did so, even if his words did not sound surprised at all.

"I had not noticed they were there no more, my deepest apology. You must have cared for them a lot, your soul still extend to their shape perfectly despite the fact it barely reaches your legs. You have my condolences."

His words reminded her of what the human magician said after they were gone, about the phantom pain. Did that mean she was right all along?

"Alright, get ready to move Fonao, don't hold back energy for this, if that boy dies we are in deep trouble."

In total, he had gathered around fifty different things on the table around her master. Were they all necessary for this spell? She would have never thought human magic could ever need so many things to work, until now, the magician she met only used a few each time.

"Is he important?" The fwan asked.

"The favorite of the ancient. He's going to kick us around until our deaths if something happens to him."

"I see, I will not disappoint you master."

The fwan rolled back his sleeves, revealing the slave seal on his left arm, a candle inside a skull. Was this supposed to represent the mage?

Heinrich took a bell on the table and rang it once before reciting a string of unknown words. This was a spell, she knew, but it did not seem to be in any way related to souls. After his long string of words, he rang the bell once more before placing it on the ground and smashing it under his boot. Surprisingly, the bell getting crushed did not make a single sound.

"Good, now no sounds coming from outside of this room will be heard. We can work in peace."

After that, the real work started. There was nothing that Celtine could do but stand motionless, watch and listen, hoping that her master would be alright, that their magic would work. Until now, magic had always been used against her rather than for her and it had worked every single time. There was no reason for it to not work this time as well. At least that was what she hoped.

First, the mage stripped him naked. Celtine hid her eyes out of shyness and opened them only later when the mage started casting his spell. Thankfully, they left him with his underwear.

The words the mage chanted she didn't understand but the meaning behind them was clear enough. The objective was to gather the soul, force it out of her master's soul domain and into the crystal.

Celtine did not know what a soul domain was but from their earlier words, she knew that if it was broken, her master's soul would scatter and disappear. That would make him die, she didn't need them to put it into words to understand.

As the mage's chanting progressed, each and every ingredients where used and either discarded or placed somewhere on top of her master. Liquids were poured down his throat and at some point, Heinrich even stabbed a large needle into his side. She almost rushed forward to stop him when she saw this but held herself back knowing it was the only hope her master had. Emp didn't react to it.

Twenty minutes passed before the mage placed the crystal on her masters navel and the second step of the operation began. The fwan finally started moving. He covered his hands in some kind of purple paste and moved them over her master, pushing and pulling something she could not see. It was like watching someone massage the air, it was very strange to look at.

As time passed, the fwan moved faster and faster, always keeping the precision he expressed in the beginning but multiplying the speed of execution far past what a human could possibly accomplish. His hands always hovering around the crystal, gathering what seemed to be only air around it. Celtine guessed he was moving the soul around since only his third pair of eye was opened but unable to see it herself, she could not be sure.

After a long long time of doing this, the fwan simply said "Cut" and removed the needle with a swift gesture. Emp shook heavily, scattering all the objects balanced on top of him all over the floor. The mage took hold of the crystal to stop it from falling over and put an end to his spell while the fwan finished doing his hand movements. Emp had a final powerful convulsion and almost at the same time, the fwan stopped moving and declared "Done" in his usual tone.

Celtine was pretty nervous and eager to know how it went but did not move in case it wasn't over yet. The mage took the crystal and placed it on a shelf nearby, it seemed to be exactly the same as before, or almost, maybe it was just a bit more brightly tinted then before? Celtine couldn't tell.

Heinrich then placed a hand on Emp's forehead followed by his heart and made no comment at all. Since it was seemingly over and no one was speaking, Celtine wrote down the question that was torturing her.

<Did it work?>

The mage heard the scratching of her feather and moved his gaze to look at her and the message.

"Well, you are alive aren't you?"

That was certainly true but it did not mean that her master was safe.

"The true question is how well did it go?" He asked turning over to Fonao.

Isn't it the same thing?

"I couldn't remove the whole of the second soul, it was too well fused with the first. In order to not damage the first, I had to cut it off just over the link which means that a bit of the parasite soul remains. From what I see, it has started to dissolve itself into the first, his life should not be in danger but I do not know what impact the residual soul will have on the first."

As if this was enough of an explanation, the mage turned back toward Celtine and told her how his physical condition was.

"As for his body, the temperature is falling back and he is breathing normally."

<Then he is fine?>

"As far as I can tell yes. You can go get the others now if you want, we are done. He just need to rest for a bit."

Celtine took a huge breath of relief and almost fell over from the news. She had not noticed how tensed her muscles where until now. Once it was confirmed he would be well and fine, all the tension disappeared and she had a hard time keeping herself straight.

She first wrote that he was out of danger in preparation for the people outside and walked up to the door so that she could let everyone know. She turned the handle again and after the door started moving inward, all the sound from outside that was previously blocked now rushed in.

"Ya would dare stop this ancient from goin in? Who da ya think ya are? Ya barely are a first year student, I was out kickin monsters and beastmen before ya were even born! This be my school not yers! If I say I'm goin in then it means I'm goin in!"

"And I tell you the mage said to not have him disturbed! I'm not scared of an old man! Get away from that fucking door or I'll wrestle you out of the way myself!" Yelled back Brenia.

The door finished swinging open to reveal the ancient, the duke of the eastern grove, trying to shove Brenia out of his way. Behind him, about fifteen servants were desperately clinging to him in order to hold him back and Ivar was sprawled on his back further in the corridor. Harriett was back up as well now and shacking just at the door side. She was probably trying to figure out what she should do when Brenia would be defeated too.

The second slave was the first to notice Celtine in the door and cried her name, everyone stopped their pointless fighting and looked her way.

To answer the question she was sure they all had, she raised her board in front of her.

<Master Emp is out of danger now, you can all come in if you want.>

"Thank all the gods and the forest! I'm so glad!"

Harriett felt so relieved, she shared her joy with Celtine with a big hug.

Celtine didn't like to receive hugs that much because more often than not, they would touch her wound and it would hurt but either way, she was fine with that specific one.

Brenia and the school director stopped fighting each other and everyone walked in the mages room. Even poor Ivar was dragged in by the servants.

Having heard what was happening outside since Celtine had opened the door, the mage berated the ancient about how him barging in could have killed the student. It wasn't everyday that a teacher was seen scolding the director, or a student doing the same yet both had been witnessed on the same day.

The duke Jazay apologised to both him and Brenia.

"Yer a good women." He told her. "Ya stopped me from doin some foolish mistake. Ya know, I have a few grandsons who don't have a wife yet, it'd be good to have a crazy one like ya in the familly."

She just looked at him angrily and he gave up immediately.

"Fine, I won't say no more but if ya change your idea on it, I'll fix up somethin."

Thinking about Brenia, Maybe Celtine should have put back on her master's clothes before she fetched everyone. Everyone staring at his half nude form was a bit awkward.

Now, all they had to do was to wait for Emp to wake up. The hard part was over but a worrying question still remained. Would the Emp that would wake up be the same as the one that fell unconscious? Messing with the soul of someone was never a good idea to begin with.

***

Later, in Dark-glint.

"How can ya tell me there's nothing wrong with him! A guy that can stay up working with me for thirty hours straight can't fall down unconscious like that for no reason!"

This was the voice of Marcelia.

"He does have a fever but there is nothing wrong at all with his body Marcy. It was like that when you rushed in to get me and it's still like that now. I can see this is bad but I just don't know what he has." Answered the voice of the village's healer.

A chair got kicked away and the door to Marcy's storeroom was slammed open. What were they arguing about?

"If it's not him than its the other one that's in trouble."

Where they talking about him?

"What are you doing?" Asked a third voice, it was the village head.

"I'm going there to get him."

"Are you serious? Do you even know where he is?"

"Somewhere in Artefine."

"Marcy that's ridiculous, you can't just go in such a large city and walk around hoping to find a single kid just like that. He might even be dead by the time you get there."

"I don't care! I will not just sit here and watch him die. I can't."

He was fine though. Or at least, he felt like he was fine. He opened his eyes to look at the room. There were three people inside the kitchen with him. Emp was laid on the table while Marcelia was gathering a bunch of equipment and the other two were trying to convince her to stay. She was upset, she was crying while trying not to.

"I get it, I know he's not mine but..."

Emp tried to figure out what had happened. He was talking with her about lovers. That was right, she said he reminded her of her own and that if she ever had a kid, he would have looked a bit like him. Then there was nothing, had he collapsed? Now the healer was here and Marcy was worrying for him. She cared a lot about him. He was glad for it, he was reminded of the things Manley told him about his adoptive father.

Wasn't his teacher kind of the same?

"Teacher." He called.

Everyone was startled and turned his way in shock.

"Emp!"

"If I had a real mother, I'd like her to be a bit like you."

Marcy shoved the other two aside to get up to him, laughing from both happiness and relief.

"You slag of an apprentice."

She proceeded to punch him in the shoulder before grabbing him in a strong hug. She was so tall compared to him that it was a bit like getting hugged by a bear.

"Don't scare me like that again or I'll... I'll do something!"

Receiving a bear hug from Marcy was pleasant. He did not know what had happened but as long as she was happy, it was fine. He did not know if he had said the right thing but it was definitely the only thing he wanted to say.

***

Bestiary entry on the fwans

The fwans are a race of cursed-blood that is usually found way further north than our empire reaches but because of their high value, many go out of their way to acquire one as a slave. Before I expend on the subject of their characteristic eyes, let us do a quick study of the rest of their being.

Fwans are easily recognizable for their many eyes, their long arms and their translucent skin. In the dark, that skin looks mostly pale grey but if a bright light is shone on them, it is possible to look at their muscles quite clearly.

Fwans can boast of an incredible lifespan, going up all the way to four hundred years in some cases. After many studies, it has been concluded that this long life is not entirely natural. Those cursed-blood are born with the strange ability of being able to slow down their own metabolism. This is the state in which they are most often seen in, so much so in fact that many thought at first that this was their natural state of being.

While their metabolism is slowed they never take any swift or rash actions. To outsiders, they will seem as though they are very slow in every one of their movements. Their heartbeat slows down so much that it seems to have stopped and they will not willingly waste a single effort, every move is calculated to expend the least energy.

What is most impressive is that they can reverse that state on the flip of a coin and from a snail they can become faster and more agile than many self-magic users. The perfect control they posses over their bodies make them naturally talented in many martial arts and extremely precise as surgeons or jeweler.

That accelerated state would be superior in every way to their normal slow pace if not for the fact that using it reduces their lifespan and fwans value this above almost all else. When their life is threatened or they see immense value in a cause, only then will they unlock their physical potential. More than once a foolish warrior pushed over the line of a fwan before getting thoroughly beaten by him.

The last noteworthy thing about fwans aside from their eyes is that they do not breath like us. They both inhale and exhale at the same time and they do so constantly. They can, in their accelerated state, increase the amount of air that goes in and out of them to prevent themselves from being out of breath with efforts but not the other way around. A fwan cannot hold his breath, it is extremely difficult for them to stop the air flow and this is their main weakness.

After all, how does one beat something faster and stronger than them? Against the fwans, one simply needs to use gas or powders efficiently. The fwans will absorb both at a frightening pace. A well placed spell to conjure some poison gas and they are done for.

Now, on to what most consider the main selling point of a fwan, the reason why they are so valued on the market by everyone, their eyes.

A typical fwan is born with six eyes set in three rows of two. The bottom row is an ordinary pair of eye everyone else has. There is nothing particular about them. It is the most often used pair by the fwans.

The second row is much more interesting, that one can see magu, or magic if you prefer. Using it, they can see enchantments on objects, spell affecting people, spells that are being cast and even identify what they will be and so on. The applications of this ability are many, easy identification of magic items and weapons, guarding a gate to prevent any magical intrusion, the detection of curses and magical poison on and near important figures and overall great assistants for mages.

The topmost pair is the least understood aside from the mythical fourth pair. The third set of eyes can seemingly sense souls and the auras emitted by them. This one is extraordinary in its complexity but very few things can be made with them. In general, this pair is used as a lie detector, looking directly at the soul of their interlocutor, they can see lies, uncover secrets and identify the true emotions of everyone. There is virtually nothing one can hide from a fwan because however much you train your face to hide your motives, a fwan will see through. Many reported feeling unwell when enduring the gaze of this third pair of eyes. Whether this is a purely psychological effect or not is still unknown.

All these eyes can be used together or independently but the fwans prefer to use each pair one at a time. From general understanding, using all three at the same time causes heavy headache on them. From individual testimony, looking with all of them at once also makes for a very distorted image of reality.

As for the fourth pair of eyes, it has only been observed once in our history and this, not in our empire. According to the legend, the fourth could see through the flow of time and witness both past, future and present scenes from far far away. I would be tempted to believe this but no one knows if such a phenomenon will ever happen again.