Wearing Power Armor to a Magic School

“Death is a story told in threes.” Professor Belnor proclaimed with a swish of her hands, reconjuring the humanoid mannequin from before out of thin air.

“The death of the corpus.” Her voice echoed, causing the standing mannequin to quite literally keel over and ‘die’.

“The death of the Ure.” The mannequin remained prone, motionless and lifeless, whilst the space above it erupted into a magical holographic display. Within which was an animation of a rapidly-magnifying picture, moving from organ, to tissue, to cell cluster, before finally… zooming into and focusing-in on a single lonesome cell. One that seemed to ‘pulse’ with life, until finally, it stopped.

“And the departure of the soul.” A shadowy, wispy, ephemeral cloud of ‘smoke’ emerged from the still and lifeless mannequin, rising up higher and higher until finally, it simply disappeared from view.

“The bodies which our souls inhabit are not merely biological vessels of flesh and bone. Nor is it merely a vehicle through which the irreplaceable soul of a sapient resides. No, these bodies which we call our own, are not at all bereft of the complexities of the soul which we otherwise hold in such high regard. For there is magic in the most fundamental building blocks of our material form, the result of the abstract processes of life, forged through factors both arbitrary and extraneous. We, or rather, our bodies — are both magical and biological. Which results in the phenomenon we now understand as The Three Death Principle.” The professor paused, tapping her feet several times in rapid succession, and prompting the recessed surgical theater to lift up to ground-level.

“Allow me to elaborate.” She once more gestured towards the hologram, which now grew so large that it took up much of the glass dome of the elevated surgical theater. Within that projection, was the cell from before. Except this time, the animation had been reset, and it pulsated with life far more vividly than even before. “Within our bodies, comprising our very being, is the fundamental organism known as the Ure. It is within this Ure, that the biological meets the magical. As it is a well known fact that it is only with mana, that life is even possible. The integration of which however, is often overlooked, if not entirely misrepresented by many a misinformed scholar. It is as such, my responsibility to correct those misunderstandings. Starting now.” The professor snapped her fingers, zooming in so close that the various organelles of the cell could be seen.

There, we were treated to what was the most prototypical looking eukaryotic cell imaginable, as the EVI began furiously cross-referencing this to our internal databases; highlighting everything that was comparable from the large and universally recognizable nucleus, to the ever-important bean-looking rockstar that was the powerhouse of the cell — the mitochondria.

[CROSS REFERENCE ANALYSIS] Notifications dotted my HUD, absolutely filling up my visual real estate with annotation after annotation of nth tier scientific analyses.

However, as quickly as those successful identifications rolled in, so too were several regions of the cell quickly demarcated in yellow and red circles, annotated in question marks that hinted at what were ostensibly foreign and unknown constructs; incomparable to any known cell in the database.

It was this region of the cell that the professor began honing in on, as she began pointing at the anomalous cellular components, and describing them simply as: “-the magical aspect of the otherwise biological entity. The fundamental components of the Ure that gave it life, and the sole reason why death is the way it is. For you see, students, life is a careful balance, a marriage of two forces — the biological, and the magical. Your biological processes are one half of the equation, the magical being the other half. One cannot exist without the other, nor can one aspect sustain itself without the other. These two forces must always be in balance, in equilibrium, in [homeostasis].” The EVI quickly chimed in, providing a paraphrased descriptor of the professor’s otherwise long winded explanations.

“Some processes may exist independently, whilst others are intertwined. Both, however, are needed for the processes of life. In most deaths however, the biological often gives way first, leading to the death of the corpus — the first death.” The professor once more paused, making a point to illustrate a typical ‘biological death’ on a second hologram. Most of the examples were quite bland, consisting of old age, accidents, or some combination of bog-standard deaths. Though some that came up consisted of what I could only describe as scenes pulled straight out of an AMV of some hyper-realistic medieval fighting game. “The death of the biological, however, does not immediately mean the death of the magical. The magical, in fact, manages to persist for some time; its independent processes being the last vestiges of life to persist until finally… it too dies due to the death of its other half.”

A hand was raised from the crowd at this point.

It was, surprisingly, Qiv Ratom.

“Yes, Lord Ratom?”

“Professor, if I may interject, is the corpus not dead at this point in time? As in, haven’t all signs of life ceased at this point in time?”

“That is correct, Lord Ratom.” Belnor answered with a firm nod.

“If that is the case… then how is it that the Ure is still, in a sense, alive? Moreover, how are the Ure not helping to maintain the body’s life functions?”

“That is an excellent question, Lord Ratom.” Belnor acknowledged with a warm smile, before turning to the rest of class. “Is there anyone who believes they may have the answer?”

A few eyes glanced down towards Qiv at this point in time, many of which were accompanied by the tentative twitching of hands and arms. It was clear there were some who wanted to try their hand at hypothesizing an answer. Though many simply refused to do so, clearly out of a concern that doing so would be an encroachment of the great Lord Qiv Ratom.

Belnor, either not noticing the trend or choosing to simply ignore it, chose to move on. “Well then, I will be more than happy to answer, Lord Ratom.” She continued with that amiable demeanor. “The death of the corpus, is in a sense, a purely biological affair. As despite the magical aspect of the Ure acting as an integral partner in a body’s homeostasis at a [cellular] level, it does not play a vital role in the gross processes of its overarching physiology. This is why I specifically selected the term persist instead of survive. As all Ure following the death of the corpus, are no longer capable of survival, but are merely persisting until such a time where they too will die.”

The professor took a moment to highlight several aspects of the hologram once more, showing the cell as it was in its healthy state, before transitioning to a state wherein all of the various biological processes have more or less stopped. Despite that, the self-described magical organelles continued to function, even though it was clear that the rest of the cell was no longer viable.

“This is not to say that the Ure is truly alive at this point, merely that the magical [organelles] at this point in time, are still functioning. This will be an important distinction to note when dealing with the third and final death.” She spoke as she demonstrated the slow, but eventual cessation of the magical organelle’s mystery-functions, before it too succumbed to death.

“To summarize, the first death is defined by the cessation of a body’s biological processes. Whilst the second death is defined by the cessation of the last mana-based processes of the Ure.” Belnor once more gestured to the hologram, which highlighted the point of those two ‘deaths’. “It is the third and final death however, that truly marks the point of no return; the point of true death. As everything prior to the third death is more than within the capacity for modern healing to rectify, if not entirely reverse.”

The professor paused yet again, gesturing to the ‘operating theater’ behind her, as it was suddenly and inexplicably filled with what I assumed to be illusions of magical healers. Each of them were dressed in what I could only describe as an extremely simplified set of mage’s robes, to the point where they more resembled surgical scrubs with a golden trim, and inscribed with a set of magical scripts; the likes of which ran up and down the length of their clothes. On top of the operating table was someone who just looked outright dead to me, but that the holographic projection above showed was still at the very cusp of a second death.

“So long as the third death is not yet reached, contemporary healing is more than capable of reversing all of the processes of first and second death.” The professor announced with a charismatic vigor. A proud and wide grin began forming at the edges of her face, as she gestured at the room behind her. “We live in an era of miracles, an era where contemporary healing has seemingly triumphed over most of the forces of death. We bask in the fruits of the resultant efforts of eons upon eons of tireless and ceaseless study, wherein the biological and the magical have become akin to clay and putty in the hands of the skilled and learned healer.”

The little ‘skit’ behind the professor marched on, as it flipped through hundreds of patients’ worth of grievous injuries and horrible maladies in the span of just a minute, before finally ending on a note of palpable optimism where the presumably-healed patients from before all lined up behind the professor unscathed and unscarred.

“These are all the lives I have personally touched following my mastery of healing, all of which would have otherwise succumbed to their injuries if it were not for the skills and knowledge bestowed upon me from those that have come before me.” The professor continued, her chest puffing up with pride, her whole vibe shifted to something resembling a sweet old lady reminiscing on both her glory days, and the wonders of ‘modern society’. “We have defeated the two deaths, in more ways than can be covered in a single lesson.” She continued, but soon, started to radically shift her expressions; from one of pride and optimism, to one more reluctant and sullen. This change in expression was matched in equal measures by the change in her tone of voice. “But we have not, nor will we seemingly ever, defeat the third and final death — the untethering of the soul from its mortal and worldly confines.” She spoke with a deep and steady sigh.

It was at this point that the lights in my brain started coming on one by one, that one word managing to elicit the most recent memories on the fate of the black-robed professor.

Untethering.

I physically leaned forwards now, something that garnered the attention of the entire gang as it was something I rarely did, if ever, in any other class.

“But perhaps I am getting a bit too ahead of myself.” Belnor continued, as she whisked away all of the illusions and holograms from behind her, leaving only the mannequin and the hologram of the lonesome cell above her. “Let us circle back to the second death, and the point I made regarding the persistence of these magical organelles following the first death. Let us talk about the fundamentals of the soul, and the manifestation of the processes of this third and most final death.” A few swishes of the professor’s hands would cause the mannequin in question to take center stage, as layers of its body would begin peeling away, revealing the organ systems beneath. However, instead of settling into any one organ system, the ‘animation’ simply ‘cycled’ between all of them. “The soul, despite it being the core of our very essence, is nebulous and undefined. There is no one organ system, no discrete point in the body through which its presence can be ascertained. The soul is, instead, bound to our body by virtue of the combined processes of all of the magical and mana-based processes present within our Ure.”

I raised my hand at that, my mind now running at a million miles an hour.

“Yes, Cadet Booker?”

“Professor, are you saying that the soul is an emergent property?”

Belnor’s eyes widened at that answer, as she cocked her head, before nodding deeply. “In a sense, Cadet Booker. Though that is the scholarly interpretation of the manner by which it ‘arose’. Nevertheless, that is a valid descriptor all the same. Now, moving on—” The professor quickly gestured towards the hologram of the cell. “—there is likewise no particular one Ure, nor any particular set of Ure we can point to in order to ascertain just where the soul is tethered. Instead, and taking a phrase from Cadet Emma Booker’s vernacular, the tethers by which the soul is bound to our body, are instead the cumulative and intangible emergent property of the sum of our magical processes.”

The whole class furiously began taking notes at this, as the holographic projection behind the professor morphed and shifted once more, this time turning into something completely different.

“Allow me to illustrate.”

What was now above the professor… was an entire jigsaw puzzle set.

“Imagine the soul and its tethers as two pieces of a puzzle, completely interlocking, and seamless in its integration.” The hologram above began assembling the jigsaw set, one side forming the vaguely recognizable shape of an elven body, and the other taking the shape of what I could only describe as a stylized cloud. “One half of the puzzle represents the body, and the other represents the soul.” The two corresponding halves lit up as the professor spoke, before finally, they began locking into place. “It is these tabs and divots, these uniquely shaped connectors, that represent the tethers which bind the body and soul.” The puzzle pieces’ ‘connectors’ were highlighted for emphasis.

The animation paused for a moment, as the bottom-half section representing the body started to change, turning a sickly green before losing all sense of color that more than likely represented the death of the body. “And it is these tabs and divots, these tethers, which are lost one by irreplaceable one, following the completion of the second death.” As if on cue, the little jigsaw tabs between the two halves of the puzzle began withering away, as the top half representing the soul slowly but surely, began dislodging, before finally, floating away altogether.

“This is the third death.” The professor announced with finality. “The point in which the soul, the very source of one’s being, the very ability for one to regulate the influx and efflux of mana, is finally released. At which point—” Belnor paused, gesturing to the hologram as it reverted back to the mannequin and the magnified cell. “—there is no means of reversing the process of death. As there is no means of retrieving a lost soul, reforging individual tethers, and no valid rituals of actually reconnecting the soul to the tethers as might otherwise be possible with a simple puzzle. Many have tried, and while many have succeeded in creating entities such as the spellbound, no one has truly succeeded in the complete retethering of a wayward soul following a complete third death.”

A moment of silence descended on the class, as a million and one questions descended over me, consuming every bit of my very being.

I didn’t know how Professor Belnor did it, but we somehow went from middle school cell biology to a Castles and Wyverns deep lore podcast in a blink of an eye. And whilst I definitely vibed with both, the looming question of Mal’tory’s fate and how it factored into all of this just kept tugging at the corners of my consciousness.

This growing concern however, was quickly addressed. But not by myself or anyone else in the gang, but by Rostarion of all people.

“Yes, Prince Rostario Rostarion?”

“Professor, if I may… what would you make of the rumors surrounding the forbidden arts of retethering? Or, as some may say, the restoration of life during the third death?”

The professor eyed the hamster with a severe expression, her eyes eventually glimpsing his notebook which from my vantage point, was filled to the brim with notes pre-prepared prior to class.

“Mortals will do everything in their power to defy death, Prince Rostarion.” The professor began. “It is also worth noting that such an act, retethering as you put it, has in fact been attempted countless times before; more often than not without the approval of any guild or council. For the purposes of this class however, I wish not to comment on such atrocious acts. As in order to attain the ends which they seek, they must sacrifice more than what is morally acceptable, and even so… what appears on the other side, is often never the same.”

“Thank you, professor.” Rostario responded with a deep bow. “I merely wished to address a curious topic which would otherwise consume the class following such a riveting lesson.”

Many murmurs were heard following that, as despite not knowing what Rosatrio’s social game was here, I couldn’t deny the fact that he had in fact addressed the elephant in the room.

It was following that exchange however, that another question from before finally reemerged. One that I felt compelled to follow up on.

“Professor?”

“Yes, Cadet Booker?”

“You said at the beginning of this lesson on death that you’d be explaining why plants and animals in the Nexus don’t just despawn-, I mean, harmonize.” I quickly corrected myself, but found that the EVI had managed to successfully implement a stutter between that little self-correction; saving me from the awkwardness.

“Indeed I did, indeed. We are just getting to that, Cadet Booker.” The professor answered with an encouraging smile, as she gestured once again to the hologram of that dead and lifeless cell. “The third death, despite its finality, is a slow and gradual process — typically taking minutes if not hours depending on the species and specific state of the individual in question. Even in its shortest timeframe, environmental mana would find itself seeping gradually into the body through the gradually deteriorating manafield projected by the loosening soul. It is exactly because of this gradual exposure to environmental mana, that the body does not harmonize. Moreover, when factoring in the opposing internal ‘pressures’ of the already-existing mana present within the Ure’s magical organelles, harmonization becomes even less of a likelihood.”

I nodded along carefully, jotting down notes, as another thought suddenly slammed into me.

“I have a hypothetical question, professor.”

“Yes, Cadet Booker?”

“Seeing as gradual exposure to mana is what prevents harmonization, does that mean in instances where a manafield is compromised, that the rapid and uncontrolled influx of mana is what causes liquefaction-, er, harmonization?”

“That is correct, Cadet Booker.” The professor nodded. “That is why I prefaced this entire lesson on death by categorizing it as typical deaths. Deaths that supersede the Three Death Principle, do indeed exist. One of those, being the compromisation of a manafield, thereby leading to uncontrolled mana influx and thus complete harmonization.”

I nodded along, my eyes narrowing further in thought. “And, as a hypothetical question, Professor. Would that mean that… in the case of a living being without a manafield, that there would be a chance for survival provided that mana is exposed to them slowly and gradually?”

That question prompted Belnor’s eyes to squint as well, followed quickly by a rapid sigh. “Simply put, no, Cadet Booker. Moreover, survival would be outright impossible considering the inherently destructive nature of mana on the biological aspects of a living being. What you are hypothesizing is a creature, a bastardized interpretation of life, lacking in the very components that allow it to merely exist. If such a thing, dare I even call it living, were to be exposed to the lowest amount, confined to even a single form of mana… then their Ure which have not adapted to resist mana, would either suffer irreparable damage outright and thus die, or liquefy instantaneously. In fact, now that I think about it, even following death; liquefaction would indeed soon follow.”

“Is this something that’s been tested before, or simply a matter of hypothesis, professor?” I drilled further, digging deeper into the very-relevant topic.

“Ancient experiments, Cadet Booker. Homunculi — not life — forced to exist momentarily in a manaless vacuum, before dying either due to exposure to mana as described, or due to its own maladaptive form being unsuited for life. I would, however, wish not to dwell on such abominable experiments. My answer to this question is final. Is that clear, Cadet Booker?”

A part of me wanted to once more defy these assertions outright, here, and now.

However, that same part of me was tempered by the two previous attempts of this. One of which required constant and consistent undermining of deeply-entrenched worldviews nearly a week straight, in order to truly break through. The other, being poorly received, before being swiftly censored by the shadowy apprentice.

Moreover, there was that mystery meeting I still had with the Dean that could be on this exact topic after the class.

I’d have to play this smart.

“Yes, Professor, thank you for answering my questions.” I nodded, as I knew I’d already won something of a victory today by virtue of the comment regarding cells.

I needed to lay breadcrumbs, leading to parties truly interested in hearing more approaching me first, as was the case with Etholin. It’d be easier to convince adjacent realmers who were curious on their own volition first, before attempting to deal with the likes of the more bull-headed like with Qiv and Auris.

A moment of silence punctuated our exchange, which was suddenly and abruptly filled by the harmonious sounds of what I’d begun to associate with the classroom bell.

“We have covered the material which should serve as a solid foundation from here on out, students.” Belnor announced, effortlessly switching towards a winding down of the otherwise consistently intense class. “In summary, healing will be focused primarily on addressing common injuries and illnesses of the corpus, and on methods in preventing the first death. Some lessons will focus on a reversal of the first death, whilst a handful will focus on the theories behind healing and its role in dealing with second death. With that, you are dismissed.”

The band entered almost immediately following Belnor’s dismissal as the same tunes from the past three classes echoed throughout the hall.

We waited our turn to leave the room, which at this point was seventh amongst the top ten groups.

However, upon departure from the hall, something peculiar happened.

As I noticed several groups starting to clump around us, all of which were either outright strangers who’d rarely interacted with us before, or familiar faces such as with the likes of Etholin and Gumigo.

“Is it true you have seen the microverse with your very own eyes, newrealmer?” Viscount Gumigo spoke first, his flighty and boisterous personality carrying through even in spite of the more inquisitive stance he currently had.

“How is it that you managed such a feat?” Another voice erupted from one of the members of the crowd.

“You claim to be manaless, but it is clear you are simply mana-deficient. Just how is it that a weak-fielded race such as your own managed to independently develop advanced mana-imbued microscopy?” A tall, otherwise oftentimes silent member of Etholin’s group spoke in a surprisingly well-put and eloquent manner, throwing me off as even more questions bombarded me all at once.

“How do you manipulate light through lenses without the sufficient manipulation of manastreams to either forge or actively shift the quality of lenses?”

“Is it an artifice?”

“An artifact?

“Was it a wild guess you just ran with, and just found confirmation in this class?”

“Was it a bluff, newrealmer?”

“No, of course it wasn’t, she was the one who described the concept prior to Professor Belnor’s full explanations, you imbecile.” One of Gumigo’s smaller alligator buddies spoke up defiantly, daringly meeting the two skeptics’ arguments.

“Maybe she learned of it in the week leading up to class from the library she so often frequents-”

“As Lord Ratom said himself, she would’ve called it an Ure, not a Cell, you buffoon!”

Infighting soon erupted between the gathered students, as I struggled to quell the rapidly developing situation. “Hey hey hey! There’s no need to bicker and argue here. I can answer your questions but it’ll have to be a one question at a time sort of deal.” I practically shouted, finally eliciting the attention of the gathered group as they each nodded to varying degrees of acquiescence. “Alright then, let’s start with the first question. Viscount Gumigo? To answer your question, yes. I have indeed seen the microverse with my very own eyes. In fact, it’s quite common for people of my realm to be able to peer into said microverse. With the way things are set up in our education system, it’s a guaranteed fact that almost everyone would have at least glimpsed upon this small and mysterious world once in their lives.”

“This sounds like a sort of ritual.” Gumigo shot back with a set of narrowing eyes. “Is there perhaps one monumental artifice that peers into the microverse in your realm? A relic of the past that you now all worship?”

“What? No. Sorry, let me clarify. Learning about the microverse is something that’s a standard thing in my world. That’s all I meant from that, and what I was implying by the fact that all have peered into it at least once.”

“But what purpose is there to learn about such-”

“That’s enough questions from you, Viscount! The newrealmer promised all of us answers! Now step out of the way before I… what the—”

Any stray noise would’ve found it difficult to compete with the crowd of nobles and their uproarious bickering around me… and yet somehow, sharp oncoming clicks pierced through the loud air like a knife; cutting everyone else off in the process.

All-too familiar footsteps came my way, giving me all the information I needed to know as to who it was who was approaching. Though the faces of everyone around me was already enough to make that clear.

“Ahem.” Another voice suddenly entered the fray, a familiar one that had the same edge to cut everyone’s chatter short just as it had done back at the mixer. The EVI was quick to assign this newcomer a name — Apprentice Arlan Ostoy. “I am afraid I will have to borrow the newrealmer for now. She has… prior engagements planned and I would be remiss in my duties if I did not remind her of her obligations.”

I stood there, refusing to even acknowledge him for a moment, before turning to refocus my entire attention on the much smaller man. I didn’t respond to him right away, merely glaring down at him with unflinching and unfeeling lenses as I could just about make out a small fearful quiver that resulted from the staredown.

Then, and only then, did I respond.

“Let’s make it quick.”