Lowly Ascent

(This is it?)

Cain stared at a wooden chip in Ivan's hand, he felt no fluctuations from it.

Ivan replied, "Yes, I confirmed it when It was received. The producer is an accomplished Alchemist and Rune Maker, charms are their specialty and can be made with the most common materials!"

'I suppose...' Cain was skeptical but could activate the charm before the ritual, he would confirm everything then.

(Thank you, Ivan. I will commence the ritual, and take Darla with you. She can wait outside, I need utter silence.)

"It will be done, I wish you the best!" Ivan stepped out while taking a confused Darla from the other room. She was estranged as to why she needed to leave the Raven alone.

Cain stood alone, shuffling into the ritual room. He found himself in complete darkness.

'Time is of the essence, let's hope I can complete everything before the charm runs out.'

At the will of his soul energy, Cain used a simple trick to light the candles around the room, revealing a slab and some tools beside it.

Floating beside him, the Charm of Immortality began to sparkle as Cain activated it. The wood chip turned into light and went inside the Raven's body. Cain took no time to sit down on the slab and control the objects around him.

Needles dipped in the various vials full of pathogens while a scalpel cut into Cain's frail body with utmost precision.

'Although the runes of Netherane have no power here, they hold purpose in this ritual.' The needles touched his body, moving in different patterns, constructing weird symbols no one but Cain understood.

'It's strange, I feel no pain. My wounds are not bleeding either, thankfully it didn't just stop the scalpel from breaking through my skin.'

The ritual continued, Cain made sure no errors occurred and carved out most of his body halfway into the charm's duration.

'Now for the fire.'

A small pot of oil floated above Cain's head. It tipped over and he doused his entire body before lilting a match.

'Here goes nothing.'

On the match's contact with the oil, Cain's entire body was covered in flames. He felt the heat, but no pain came from it. All the while, his wounds closed up, leaving the pathogens and runes inside him.

'This was so much easier with the charm. Those pathogens would have been the worst part of this whole thing.'

Cain had completed the ritual, all that was left was to wait for the fire to stop. All the while, Cain's eyes dilated as his soul went through another transformation.

'I-I can feel the essence of the world. I know now...why there are no Origins! T-This?! How can such a place exist?!'

He began to laugh hysterically, but his body could only caw.

Caw! Caw! Caw!

'Hahaha! To think this place is nothing but a shell, it's all shells! This is a realm of souls! An Ethereal place that does not exist physically!'

He hysterically rambled, 'No wonder the dream worlds couldn't merge! They couldn't without an Origin, since their bodies are concentrated shells made from Soul Energy, that block anything going in or out! Only when they left their dream world, and hence their bodies, could merging be possible! It all makes sense! No wonder the Path of the Soul is a Main path! Hahaha!' 

The colorless world was graced by the End, existing so close, all physical things long dispersed. Only ethereal things could resist destruction. The orbs hanging from the Earth Roots were the same, nothing more than crystallized energy that could exist between the physical and non-physical.

Unfortunately for its inhabitants, there was only one choice, they were not pure energy that could exist everywhere, they could only exist as souls, and the whole world was one ethereal plane.

Cain looked at himself and smiled. 'Perhaps only with a soul like this could these people walk in the lands above, nothing more than ghosts, but, they would only have the strength of a grown man or two. Well, they would need to have an Origin to even make it there without dying.'

'Hah, it all makes sense now, no wonder the natural progression was for shells, there was no need for Origins, or were the Origins taken? This is important, yet I doubt I can find an answer. The idea of the soul evolving like the body is an interesting thought though, we are vessels, who said what we contain can't grow like our containers.'

He sighed again, 'At least I know why the mist didn't work, it needs physical blood to exist. It is a weapon that feeds on one realm to attack both. Hehe, even with this handicap, this place is perfectly catered for me!'

With this one breakthrough, many things came to light. As an Augmented Soul, Cain was able to look into the nature of the world and as someone from outside, able to see the differences.

'My Soul Energy is now even stronger, making my soul sturdier as well, it's a positive feedback loop. My shell is now under my direct control and I can change its form and properties as I wish. I can even sacrifice some soul energy to expand it!'

There was no hesitation, the charred Raven transformed in an instant, rapidly expanding.

'I can always get more Soul Energy! Finally, a human form!'

As Cain transformed, the door busted open to a young girl flushed with concern.

"Raven, I heard you cawing. Are you okay?!"

Ivan stumbled in the doorway, exhausted. "Lord, I couldn't stop her, my body isn't as strong as it used to be. I take full respo-"

Both Darla and Ivan's eyes widened seeing a young man on the floor, approximately in his 20s. He had short black hair, pale sleek skin, and when he looked up, his red eyes caused a feeling of terror to rise in the two.

Cain opened his mouth, but suddenly he coughed up blood on the floor. The liquid was green and black.

'Shit, the charm stopped!'

Out of nowhere, blood leaked from Cain's pores, and pain assaulted his new body. It was like slapping sunburnt skin thousands of times, poking, prodding, full-on gunshots!

"Arggghhh!"

Cain clenched his teeth and rolled on the floor covered in his blood. His skin turned darker and his veins twisted unnaturally, protruding out of his skin.

Ivan immediately recalled the symptoms of the pathogens he gave Cain and connected the dots of some of the things Cain was experiencing now.

"L-Lord!" The Doctor rushed to his side.

The last thing Cain saw was the horrified and confused look of Darla, tears forming in her eyes.

...

"Ugh....what happened?"

Rustling his body, Cain groaned and moped as his eyes were assaulted by a ceiling light.

"This is...the recovery bay?"

Looking around, he was in a familiar room Ivan had shown him during a tour a while back. 

'To think I would be in a place I never visited. This place is usually where the subjects in bad condition are put. They're not cheap and Braun would rather not waste lives.'

As he got his bearings, Cain examined himself in curiosity. 

'It seems my shell is a copy of my body, good. I can also always regress to a Raven, it's not like I'll lose portions but instead, the shell will be sturdier. Actually, I should continue to expand my form just to make my human form stronger.'

Thinking about how to calculate his resources for his soul, Cain didn't notice the doors slide open. Only when a flood of people pushed into the room did he tilt his head up.

Cain saw a group of people with a young girl at the forefront. Darla's eyes were full of tears, she joyfully called out to him.

"Birdie!"