Chapter 19: New Member

Wade ran his fingers along his perfectly intact ribs and used his left arm to unhook the round-headed mace from his waist. The bones showed no signs of wear except for a few specks of mud that had fallen from the cave ceiling. 

The events of that snowy night felt like a dream. Yet he had somehow brought something from that dream into reality.

Sitting at the cave entrance, Wade poked Mia’s cheek with his finger. The little phantom beside him seemed listless. Soft and squishy – the texture felt real under his bony fingertip. 

This wasn’t an illusion. The small phantom had appeared by his side when he awoke. Though Mia’s form looked more translucent now, less energetic than before. She sat perched on Wade’s shoulder, arms wrapped around the skeleton’s neck instead of floating about as usual.

Mia’s existence confirmed it – Wade knew he had truly killed those pirates in the village, had truly seen that low-tier demon. This meant the version of himself active in the village wasn’t his real body.

When he appeared in that wooden house, he’d been completely naked. The round shield and mace normally strapped to his bones were missing. That had been something like a “doppelganger” – while his true body remained asleep in this cave, his consciousness or soul had traveled to that frozen plain using a false duplicate.

The most plausible explanation pointed to that twenty-sided die. The die that only existed in his dreams seemed to possess some incredible power – a power that allowed him to transcend boundaries and project an avatar into the physical world.

It felt like experiencing an ultra-realistic dream where none of the injuries sustained carried over. He’d dismantled his own left arm, had his ribs smashed, yet awakened completely unharmed. 

Which was real? Which was illusion? Wade couldn’t tell anymore.

Sitting down, he pondered: Had the cave-dwelling Wade dreamed of the frozen plain, or had the plain-dwelling Wade dreamed of the wasteland? A philosophical conundrum with no clear answer.

Wade decided to stop thinking about it – pointless mental gymnastics. He preferred action. Returning inside the cave, he blocked the entrance and lay down for more sleep.

Mia draped herself over Wade’s ribcage, looking far more exhausted than her skeletal companion. She’d overexerted herself – during that final moment beneath the village’s water reservoir, she’d unleashed tremendous power to shatter the Flame Imp.

Wade never expected such a small phantom could wield such potent ice magic, enough to defeat even a low-tier demon. But that hadn’t been her true strength – she’d overdrawn something essential to achieve it.

He remembered clearly how this tiny spirit – small enough to cup in one hand – had courageously positioned herself between him and danger. Seeing Mia’s weakened state now tugged at his nonexistent heartstrings.

If only he could restore her vitality. But how? He still didn’t understand the nature of their connection. When Mia absorbed souls, she could transfer part of the energy to him. Perhaps the reverse was possible – could he nourish her in some way when she was weak?

Worth a try.

Focusing intently, Wade searched for that intangible thread connecting them. Soon he sensed it – the link binding him to Mia. Recalling how he’d once coated his bones with soul fire, and knowing phantoms fed on magic and soul energy, he attempted to share his flames.

In the darkness, faint phosphorescence enveloped the little ghost like a cloth doll. It worked. She tilted her head, likely puzzled by this sudden warmth. Soon she realized Wade was sharing his fire with her.

Like a kitten, she climbed up slightly and nuzzled against his jawbone. “Good girl,” Wade stroked her gently. Having this little phantom to ease the loneliness of this lightless cave wasn’t so bad after all.

“Rest now,” Wade conveyed through their link. Mia must be exhausted. Though he’d shared his fire with her, she remained too young and needed proper rest to recover. Nodding, she settled into Wade’s palm, curling up like a baby bird nesting there. She’d apparently decided his right hand made an ideal bed, leaving Wade no choice but to maintain the position.

He mused that after waking, he’d need to renovate their home. With a new member, keeping things as crude as before seemed unreasonable. The little one needed a proper bed – couldn’t keep sleeping in his palm forever. Should expand the space too, maybe craft some furniture. His hands were deft enough – with proper materials and tools, making a few pieces shouldn’t be difficult.

As these plans formed in his mind, drowsiness crept in. Strangely, despite having just awakened, he already felt tired again. Was sharing his fire draining him? Better not make a habit of this then. To prevent Mia’s outbursts, he’d need to find something in this wasteland for her to feed on…

Ah, and that village… If he could return, he absolutely must retrieve that valuable sword. The massive explosion had collapsed the entire reservoir – the blade was likely still buried in the permafrost. Come to think of it, had that Flame Imp, that low-tier demon, interacted with the pirate leader? 

And what of that twenty-sided die from his dream? Did it have some origin story? Could he venture into the outside world to inquire about it?

Amidst these scattered thoughts, Wade slipped back into slumber. Once again, he found himself in that blank space. The floating icosahedron appeared before him.

But unlike previous dreams, this time he could see the die’s color. It wasn’t grayish-white – the entire surface gleamed blood red. 

Wade grabbed the die, rotating it to a peculiar angle where he could peer through the edges between facets to observe the hidden twenty-first face. Only the heart-carved face differed from the others – currently pale white, but with the faintest hint of red at its lowest point. 

A mere speck of color, like grains of sand settling in an hourglass. Studying it closely, Wade noticed the red tint gradually spreading – visibly but extremely slowly. Previously he couldn’t perceive this change because he’d never seen colors here before. Now he understood – this twenty-first face constantly recharged itself with color like a battery.

This suggested he’d been able to open that door last time because the heart had filled with red. Some kind of artifact requiring charging before use. From his last experience, Wade had gleaned part of its capabilities.

Carefully setting the die down, he no longer treated it as mere plaything. Instead, he turned his gaze upward to study that door with transparent frame and the fire-like blaze beside it. 

He couldn’t mistake it – he’d just seen this flame recently. This was the form of the pirate leader’s soul after Mia had extracted it.