Chronicles of the True Wizard

Reminded of his previous worries, Felix went back to slowly forming mana batteries then stowing them in his inventory. Overall, they were forming far slower than he knew he was capable of in part because of the mana around him and in part because he wasn’t entirely focused on the task at hand.

As he formed the batteries, Felix juggled orbs of mana around his head, shifting their attunements, energy levels and state. He spun them around, made them collide and dance. It was something to keep another part of his mind occupied but it was also something he was doing as a habit, an evolution from fidgeting before the integration.

It was also a sign to just how second nature mana had become to Felix, how familiar it was. He had only relatively recently discovered mana and yet again, he still felt like controlling mana had always been a part of him.

Suddenly Felix’s ribs were crushed and his lungs collapsed as his body was slammed into a hard surface. He felt his head smack against it then felt his skull vibrate from the impact. His ears reverberated a harsh sound and he wasn’t sure if it existed or was caused by his brain rattling around in his skull.

In an instant, his body was battered and bruised. He vaguely felt that his bones in his elbows, shoulder blades, skull, ribs, pelvis and heels were fractured just from the impact. His head was still ringing and he didn’t want to open his eyes just yet so as to not berate his brain with more sensation.

He tried to restore air into his lungs, but felt he couldn’t no matter how hard he tried to expand his chest. He felt his flesh immediately reacting and trying to stitch together the scrapes he had sustained but most of his injuries weren’t on the surface, so he knew it wouldn’t do much good. His natural regeneration was working as hard as it could but it felt far too slow to matter at this point.

As he adjusted and recovered his senses, Felix felt his neck being crushed and his chest compressed. His eyes shot open and he was immediately greeted by the sight of the most disgusting face he had ever remembered seeing.

He looked into the eye that was examining him as the other four darted around the room. Each one was a different color and their pupils contracted and dilated completely independently from each-other. There were also 4 different pupil shapes among them which seemed excessive to Felix.

Felix traced Erolan’s only other still eye and saw he was examining one of Felix’s unfinished mana batteries that he held in his other hand. Felix’s eyes darted around to try and glean anything else he could from around him but saw nothing other than Erolan holding him to the wall.

Instinctively, Felix identified him even though he had already done so before.

[? - ???] Erolan (Lvl ????)

Felix heard a surprisingly smooth, human sounding voice, “Oh, sorry. Force of habit. Try again.”

[C - Human] Erolan (Lvl 1973)

Human is a rarity?

It’s a skill and it’s been a damn long time since he’s used it. Now focus.

Before he could focus on anything he saw two of Erolan’s other eyes, that had been darting around, suddenly look directly at him.

“Who are you speaking with?”

Felix could draw no breath so he couldn’t quite respond, not that he had any intention of doing so. He was worried though that it wouldn’t matter either way and that Erolan had some way of reading his thoughts considering, he somehow knew he was communicating with Grim.

“D grade? You are an odd specimen aren’t you? I observed you as you sat and performed countless miracles with mana all around you… like it was nothing.” Erolan’s leaned in until his face was just half an inch from Felix’s.

Felix tried to cast a Force spell to push Erolan off of him but, even though he could prepare the spell form in a fraction of a second, he wasn’t able to finish it. Pain shot through Felix’s entire body, significant enough that it took him a moment to find it’s source. Something, likely Erolan’s fingers, had buried themselves in his forearm causing enough pain for him to let go of his spell.

“More miracles. You cast spells without… anything. As easily as you…” Erolan exhaled and blew on Felix’s face, “breathe.”

Felix cast the fastest spell he thought might help, because he had to do something and actually managed to fully cast an vastly overpowered Fire Blast into Erolan’s chest. Felix had been hoping it might be enough to let him breathe but all he managed to do was lightly burn himself as the fire bounced off Erolan’s skin.

Erolan looked down and frowned then punched Felix in the gut hard enough to fracture his spine, not from hitting the wall but from his fist. Luckily he had let go of Felix’s neck at the same time so Felix was able to gasp for air just as he hit the ground.

He immediately pumped mana into his boots as much and as fast as he could but right as he left the ground, he felt something grip him around the ankle and smack his body into the ground like a whip.

Felix was pretty sure the majority of his bones were fractured at this point, at least that’s what it felt like. He scrambled to his feet, avoiding any spells since Erolan could somehow detect them, then looked over his shoulder. Erolan seemed to just be letting him go so he didn’t question it and started running.

He dulled his pain so he could run freely, even if it did make his injuries worse. He made it to the basement stairs and starting jumping up five steps at a time. He glanced over his shoulder and saw Erolan calmly following him at a very casual pace with no worry he would lose Felix.

Felix heard the unfittingly smooth voice bellow out from behind him, “You dulled your pain enough to run. Fascinating.”

Felix made it to the main floor of the castle and immediately scrambled to the door. He looked over his shoulder and didn’t see Erolan so he started casting a force spell to push him along.

Before he had even fully assembled the spell form, Erolan’s foot broke the skin on his thigh. Felix smacked into a fallen pillar he had previously created and fell to the ground. He vaguely felt blood pouring down his leg from a series of three puncture marks on the outside of his thigh left by Erolan’s clawed foot.

Felix had gotten the message at this point and didn’t touch mana in any way. He just stumbled towards the front door, moving as quickly as he could manage.

His health had dropped to just a sixth of his maximum, which was far more than he was expecting. He risked a glance over his shoulder saw Erolan in the middle of the castle main hall, bending over a pillar. He seemed to be examining it but Felix didn’t think about it until he heard Erolan’s smooth voice once again, “Hmm… What happened here…”

Felix didn’t answer him, he didn’t even register the words, he just ran through the castle doorway and into the courtyard. He stumbled over the corpses he had left behind and tripped a few times but looking back, Erolan was nowhere.

He didn’t even think about casting a spell and just focused on healing as quickly as he could. He directed as much of his focus as he could to manually directing his cells, pushing them to rebuild faster. The rest of his focus was dedicated just to moving as fast as he could without tripping.

He didn’t actually think he could outrun Erolan but he didn’t seem to be actively chasing him so Felix’s only hope at this point was to hide. He had no idea what would happen to the quest if they both lived but right now but, it was the only option he could think of.

Felix pushed through the small opening in the castle gates and looked over his shoulder once again. Though he had just looked a few seconds ago and he was nowhere to be found, now Felix saw Erolan standing in the middle of the courtyard looking around at all the carnage like he didn’t have a care in the world.

Felix winced upon hearing his voice echo through the courtyard behind him, “Oh youth. How wonderful it would be to be… young again. Maybe I’ll have to…”

He monitored his health and saw it had climbed all the way to a third and his bleeding leg and arm had already closed up. Felix decided it was enough and veered off to the right then jumped off the cliff.

His steam producing enchantments were still going but they had long since run out of water. That didn’t matter to Felix as he immediately cast a series of spells and shot himself off into the city. The enchantments were still running without water, which hopefully meant they would mask Felix’s use of spells. He didn’t bother looking back but he didn’t need to as Erolan’s sudden screaming was the only intentional sound in the entire hidden kingdom.

Felix almost dropped his spells when he heard it but managed to hold on despite the shock. Erolan’s scream echoed throughout the kingdom and lasted far longer than Felix could have managed himself.

After a long moment, the screeching morphed into a laugh that was far louder than Felix would have thought possible.

Felix managed to dart into the city a few hundred meters before he heard Erolan somewhere behind him, “This was once the source of much of my anguish. I called this ‘The greatest mistake I had ever made.’’”

Eorolan couldn’t contain the laughter and it leaked out as he continued, “but this… this was more like… my rebirth.” Then Erolan broke out in raucous chortling.

Felix didn’t dare trap himself in a building and instead just weaved through them as fast as he could. He also didn’t bother trying to be stealthy just yet, he wasn’t nearly good enough to fool Erolan, he didn’t even consider the possibility.

“I noticed you made modifications to your body.”

Felix heard what sounded like an explosion behind him but he didn’t check.

“Troll flesh, I believe?”

Another explosion, and to Felix, it sounded almost wet in a weird way.

“There’s something else in your skin too.”

This time, Felix heard a more distinct wet squishing noise right after the explosion.

“Bones…”

Felix realized the explosion was more like a pop, like Erolan had thrown a water balloon at a wall.

“Definitely not the decisions I would have made.”

Felix already knew what was happening, but he had no idea why or how. His theory was confirmed when he saw chunks of blackened flesh splatter against the wall to his left.

“Only barely in the D grade…”

Felix heard another pop from some Devoured but this one was farther off and to his right.

“What a wonder you are…”

Felix darted through buildings and kept himself behind cover as much as he could. This area of the city was covered in extravagant mansions and equally extravagant yards. Unfortunately those yards were rather open as any vegetation they had once held, were long gone.

“You know I dreamt about making such… clean… modifications. Only I didn’t even consider modifying my body until I was… much older.”

Felix heard another explosion like sound except this time, it was obviously not a Devoured and involved a much more stone like material.

“What’s your secret? An rare race perhaps?”

He loudly giggled once again, “Something… rarer than rare?”

Erolan laughed out at his own joke then the laughter vanished in an instant, “That still doesn’t explain the mana… miracles.”

Felix was increasingly tempted to talk to Grim but considering Erolan had detected that before, there was no guarantee he wouldn’t be able to detect it now. Felix was starting to have the inklings of an idea but he needed Grim’s confirmation because he still didn’t really understand much about souls. He assumed it would be harder when Erolan wasn’t so close to him but he didn’t risk it, not yet.

“I take it it was you that woke me?”

Erolan laughed out, “it it.” Which for some reason caused him to cackle.

Another stony explosion sounded out behind him followed by a series of wet explosions that almost seemed like a chain reaction, at least audibly.

“I noticed you destroyed one of the set pieces.”

Felix heard a series of loud noises but he couldn’t identify them. These were far off to the right and actually ahead of him. Felix had no idea if Erolan knew exactly where he was and was circling him or had a vague idea of where he was and was searching for him.

“I haven’t had this much… control. Haven’t had his much… soul in my body… in a long time. I almost forgot what it felt like. Maybe with this I could have…”

Erolan screamed out all of a sudden, “NOOOOOOOO!”

Felix had no idea what was happening but he just ran. He checked his map and saw that he was approaching the Wyverns cave and just hoped that the burnt area would be enough to distract Erolan for a few moments so he could head out a different way.

“I was mad at first… furious. Now, I’m just… curious.”

Felix thought to himself alone so he didn’t risk detection, He has to be rhyming on purpose, right?

“How did you manage to so… thoroughly destroy my body and the seal?”

Felix checked his map once again and saw he was just a kilometer or so from the burnt area of the map so he started veering right, towards the denser buildings of the kingdom.

“Is this where… you destroyed the seal? What…”

Felix immediately turned using his map to direct himself and shot off towards the castle. He flew as fast as he could without crashing but didn’t dare push himself over the rooves. He needed to stay hidden.

He was gambling in a sense. If Erolan was at the burnt area, the Wyvern’s old domain, that meant he was at least a kilometer away from Felix, likely more. Felix was gambling that his mana senses didn’t have that kind of range.

He had no idea if he had been right but he felt much better with his decision when he heard Erolan’s voice from far off behind him.

“This can’t be… It’s not… obliterated enough… These buildings are too…”

Erolan laughed out again, filling the entire underground kingdom with his raucous chortling.

Given his mana senses didn’t seem to reach Felix, Felix made another gamble and talked to Grim. Even if he wasn’t talking to him directly, Grim had access to his head and Felix was confident he had been watching everything, including his thoughts, for the last few minutes.

Felix wasted no time and cut right to it, Will it work?

It took Grim a second to do the same, If you ca- Yes.

Felix mentally nodded then shot directly towards the ceiling above the castle. He didn’t look over his shoulder but he knew Erolan saw him.

Felix shot through the air faster than he would ever fly under normal circumstances and prepared a series of Force Bombs right as he got within a hundred meters of the ceiling.

He looked back over his shoulder and saw a tiny spec that he knew was Erolan, still standing in the burnt area around the Wyvern’s old cave. Felix only looked at him for a fraction of a second but he could have sworn Erolan’s head was cocked.

Felix released his spells into the ceiling and reopened an almost perfectly square hole that had been completely hidden just a second ago.

As soon as the light from the world above poured through the hole, Felix heard Erolan screeching once again. This time it was loud enough that Felix winced as he flew through the hole and shot himself over the city of Ky’bel. He mentally thanked himself that he didn’t weld the hatch shut or anything like that.

He immediately used his vantage point to look around and confirm that no one else was in the world event with him. The System had already said that would be the case but he had to confirm for himself, otherwise there was a much higher chance his plan would fail. He had to be the only one around.

Felix caught his own momentum and shot himself down to the street in the outer district right as Erolan’s screeching passed through the opening Felix had reopened.

Felix did his best to hide behind a building and just listened as the only plan he could come up with, progressed.

“This… my city… we’re…”

Erolan started laughing once again but without the cave to echo it, it wasn’t quite as ominous to Felix. It was no longer coming a little bit from everywhere at once. Erolan was about a kilometer behind him, on top of a building and slightly the right.

Being able to pinpoint his location from his voice alone made Felix feel a lot better but it definitely didn’t make him feel good about what was happening.

“It all makes sense now… you’re so young… your hubris…”

Erolan moaned loudly such that if anyone else were in the city or around it, they would have heard him clearly.

“I’ve been turned into an integration event.”

Felix heard a building collapse around where he knew Erolan was then heard his voice way off to his left, no longer behind him but further away.

“You know. I bet The System didn’t even consider my waking up. You… you just had to defy the odds though, didn’t you?”

Another building collapsed to Felix’s left and suddenly Erolan’s voice came from a half kilometer in front of him.

“You know… if you weren’t so strong… so much stronger than…” Erolan moaned again, “all the other integrateds… the undercity probably wouldn’t even exist right now. System had to have something at the right level for you to fight.”

Felix thought only to himself again, Nova.

“I take it everyone else is in my personal vault? In the statue?”

Felix’s heart started beating even faster, which he didn’t think was possible given how fast it already had been. If Erolan knew that, his plan was much less likely to work.

“System probably won’t let me in there… How did we end up here… alone? I wonder…”

Felix actually felt himself calm a little bit. Whether or not it worked out, Felix didn’t really have a choice but to try. He still hadn’t thought of anything else. Luckily for Felix, though he was understandably completely insane, Erolan was actually kind of easy to read. Felix heard his every emotion in his voice as he spoke. Felix knew what Erolan wanted, at least something he wanted, and he intended on giving it to him.

Suddenly Felix heard another building collapse followed shortly after by another. Buildings all around him in every direction were collapsing completely at random. Though it was just a matter of time until Erolan found him, Felix had no idea what he was doing. If he continued destroying buildings at random, it would take him forever to find Felix.

Felix’s throat was cut off once again and Erolan’s face appeared right in front of him.

“Something… about you… you decided to…”

Erolan screamed the word, “TRY!” right into Felix’s face then continued at a normal volume again.

“Someone at the edge of B grade? Why? Just… hubris?”

Erolan peered at Felix from so close to his face that it almost seemed like he was looking into him.

“I guess you need that kind of hubris to excel, the trick is knowing where the line is… You don’t seem to really understand the difference between the grades yet.”

Erolan just looked at Felix and though his intonations varied wildly giving away his every emotion, his face remained completely unmoving, stoic. In Felix’s mind, it was far creepier than if his face did actually move at all.

“I’ll figure out all your secr- soon enough. I had a lot of… time to think- imprisoned, and I realized I have many regrets- my past.”

Felix just assumed his weird speech was a product of his being sealed with nothing but his own mind as company for at least thousands of years but he had no idea why it only seemed to be happening now.

Erolan sighed, “I thought about my upcoming evolution and- over the decisions… I even reversed my evolution, devoured a- myself so I could go back, the timing was obviously… unfortunate-”

Erolan suddenly stopped speaking and just screamed into Felix’s face.

“hand and all but… I realized there were too many things I wish- differently. Modifications I wish I hadn’t made, others I wish- People I wish I hadn’t angered and… so many… more.”

As Erolan spoke, Felix’s relief mounted. It took every bit of his will to control his body and his reactions, to hide them.

“Your race and whatever other secrets you might hold… they sound like the perfect… restart? The- you’re currently an integrated… It’s too perfect- opportunity to pass up. Don’t worry, this won’t take long.”

Erolan leapt into the air with Felix’s body held by the neck. He hopped over the rooves of buildings and towards the center of the city. He dug his claws into the side of the second layer and climbed upwards with ease then continued his parkour towards the innermost layer.

He walked through the garden in front of his house and placed a hand on one of the Devoured gardeners as he walked by. The gardener exploded in a shower of mostly dry, blackened chunks of flesh, a few of which painted Felix’s body as he was dragged through the grass.

Erolan walked into the house and over to the trap door where he tried to do something Felix couldn’t see then got frustrated and simply ripped the trap door free. He hopped down and dragged Felix through the sarcophagi looking preservation containers to the middle of the area.

Felix felt himself get swung around then felt his body smack down against something hard. When he looked around, he realized he was now lying on the same table where Erolan had been chained up, just hours ago.

Felix felt his head get lifted from the table then heard a flicking noise accompanied by a sharp pain in the back of his neck. He knew his pain was dulled but suddenly, he felt nothing. His entire body went limp. Erolan arranged Felix’s limbs on either side of his motionless body then disappeared from sight.

Felix could still vaguely feel his neck slowly healing itself and knew that given enough time, he would be fully restored but it would take hours that he didn’t have. Not that he thought Erolan would let it get that far anyways.

After moving around the room outside of Felix’s vision for a few minutes then disappearing entirely for an annoyingly suspenseful hour or so, Felix once again saw Erolan’s face as he stood over him. He wasted no more time and started cutting through Felix’s armor with the sharp claw on his finger. It wasn’t a trivial affair but it also didn’t seem to be very difficult for him either.

Erolan stripped Felix completely naked, discarding his Kraken Slayer set onto the floor. Once that was done, he carefully rolled Felix onto his side and started measuring and marking specific locations on his body.

“Do you know how a soul is attached to it’s body?”

Felix knew that Erolan knew he had no way to speak with his body paralyzed so he simply let him continue.

“There are specific points along the body… seven of them… where the soul is particularly… attached. It is bound to the entire body yes… but at those seven points, the connection is much stronger.”

Erolan continued to work as he spoke and for some unknown reason, explained his process.

“Right now, I am going to sever those connections one by one on your body. Don’t worry, I need to make sure your body stays alive.”

It wasn’t like Erolan explaining himself helped Felix in any way. He was completely stuck and though he could cast something, Erolan would surely catch it and stop him. It annoyed Felix because he was like an evil super villain trope, giving their victim enough time to think of something while they explained their entire plan. He had no idea if this was just who he was or if the thousands of years stuck in his own mind had warped him but it just made Felix feel weird about the whole thing.

It was a stupid thought to have at a time like this, when his body was being meticulously peeled off of his soul. He couldn’t help himself though and any thought to distract him so he didn’t give away his relief was welcome, even if he was paralyzed and that chance was already low.

Felix had already inferred what Erolan was about to say next and if he was right, his plan had somehow, miraculously, worked.

“Once you are left with just a single connection, I will bind my own soul to the other six. At that point, your soul will be exposed to mine and I will simply drive you out. Your body will be mine and I will return to your integration, as you.”

Erolan continued to make incisions traveling up Felix’s body that he didn’t really feel until he made one on Felix’s neck that he actually slightly felt through his dulled sense of pain. The next incision was on Felix’s forehead followed by a quick series of movements within the cut.

He hadn’t realized it before because he couldn’t see or feel most of the other incisions but it seemed Erolan was doing more than just making a simple cut.

As soon as Erolan was done with Felix’s forehead, Felix started to feel all of his senses dull themselves. To him, it felt like he was falling asleep, like he was falling into an out of body experience. His vision blurred, sounds shrank around him and the feeling of his body that remained gradually lessened.

With the final incisions on the top of Felix’s head complete, Felix just barely registered what was happening around him. He felt like he just couldn’t connect with his own senses and there was nothing he could do. The experience, while different, was very familiar to Felix. It felt just like when he had woken up during his evolution and just like he had then, Felix entered his Soul Garden. This time, he found Grim pacing back and forth.

“I can’t believe that worked.” Grim said with almost disappointment.

Felix dropped himself to the ground and just lay in the grass, staring up at his simulated sky above, “I think I might be the luckiest fucker to ever live.”

Grim hesitated as he pivoted, “I don’t know… you… you did it. You got him to-”

Felix sighed, “Accidentally do the stupidest thing he could have possibly done? I didn’t think he’d do that. I was just hoping…”

Grim shrugged, “It worked out I guess.”

Felix closed his eyes, “That was idiotic. I don’t really care if it worked out or not.”

Grim sighed, “It is what it is. I… didn’t think… We should have planned better.”

Felix ignored the comment as he had already thought it, it was obvious. Instead he asked something he had been wondering, “How did he come back if the seal was destroyed?”

Grim shrugged, “He probably had chunks of his body or something else bound to pieces of his soul buried all over the place. When his full body died…”

Felix groaned, “It simply bounced back to one of those pieces.”

Grim dropped his shoulders, “Yup.”

Felix shook his head, “Damn. We easily could have foreseen that.”

Grim nodded, “We definitely should have.”

Felix chuckled a little, “Well, thank… the system I guess? for hubris…”

Grim smirked which was an odd sight as the arcane symbols on his book face slightly contorted. As odd as it was initially, it almost immediately got the point across, “The irony.”

Felix took a deep breath, “… I’m sorry.”

Grim sighed, “You don’t have to apologize to me. I could have stopped you. It’s both of our faults equally… actually, mine more so because I could have known. You’re just learning all of this stuff for the first time.”

Felix shrugged, “It’s my body, I pilot it. I could have been a lot more careful about all that.”

Grim stopped pacing and stood over Felix, looking down at him, “Honestly, I’m impressed. I knew you would fight no matter what, even though those odds were…”

“Dogshit?” Felix offered.

Grim shrugged, “Yeah. I know it’s your nature to never give up, never give in. To fight until the end.” Grim cocked his head towards the sandy area, gesturing towards the stone monolith that represented Felix’s conviction.

Grim continued, “Still, I don’t think I would have tried let alone have thought about that…”

Felix rolled his eyes, “Complete clusterfuck of a plan?”

Grim nodded.

Felix sat up and put his arms on his knees, “So is there anything to do now?”

Grim walked towards the tree just a few meters in front of Felix and didn’t even turn as he spoke, it wasn’t necessary, “Just wait it out.”

Felix felt bad asking, introducing doubt, but he had to, “Is there any risk…?”

Grim spoke at the exact same volume and though his voice started to become hard to hear through the wind, the Soul Garden was Felix, he heard everything, “That he’ll overpower your soul? Nah. If he goes through with what he said, he’s just gonna kill himself. No remnant, no nothing.”

Felix sighed in relief, “Any chance I just push him out?”

Grim shrugged, “Remember what happened to those souls you tried to harvest? The ones you put in your soul space?”

Felix nodded, “Even though he’s in the B grade?”

Grim shrugged, “Unless I’m gravely mistaken.”

Felix inhaled deeply then slowly exhaled, “What if he did win? What if he pushed me out, what then?”

Grim pulled out a book and took a seat against the tree, “You’d become a remnant. Kind of like a ghost I guess. Your soul would live on without a body.”

Felix thought about it for a few seconds, “I’d have to find a body then. Could I have become a sprite?”

Grim chuckled, “Hah! Yeah, I guess you could have. Either way, it would take a few thousand years at least to reattune you to a body of any kind.”

Felix nodded slowly then, he couldn’t resist, “How much longer do you think…”

Grim shrugged as he read, “Not too much longer. You could probably try and go back now if you want. Healing from all the incisions is going to take much longer than his suicide will.”

Felix nodded more intently this time, now that he had some kind of assurance and direction, “In that case… I should probably stay here to accelerate the healing.”

Grim shrugged then continued reading his book. Felix on the other hand walked over to the wooden platform he had floating in the water and started meditating. Instead of meditating as a skill, Felix simply tried his best to clear his mind and relax. He was still a little pent up from nerves and adrenaline.

Just because his body had sustained all the injuries, didn’t mean there wasn’t a lasting effect on his soul. The experience that had just happened, him staring certain death in the face and knowing it was his fault, was still fresh. Then the relief when he realized that he wasn’t going to die, that he was so inordinately lucky that he would actually make it out of this situation. It was a roller coaster that he needed to process.

The feeling that lingered the most though, the one he felt above all the others, was disappointment. Getting into a situation like that sucked, but what was even worse for Felix, was that the biggest reason he was going to make it out, was simple luck. His clusterfuck of a plan was possibly the longest shot ever, where he had to rely on a bunch of assumptions and just pray he was right and his enemy was what exactly what they seemed to be. The fact that it had actually worked out was a miracle. By Felix’s account, he had deserved to die.

It took him some time to finally process everything and simply accept what had happened but once he did, he decided it was time to go back. Felix breathed in one last time then returned his consciousness to his body. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .