Debauchery of a Soul-Eating Wraith

Chapter 20: Wraithic Phasing

The answer from the Decadent Assistant came in a deadpan tone.

\'Why am I falling?\'

[The spell gives you the ability to move through and not be stopped by any barrier. The ground is one such barrier]

\'But shouldn\'t I be floating?\'

[The Spell doesn\'t work that way]

\'It doesn\'t?\'

[It doesn\'t]

\'But when I was a ghost, I floated.\'

[I made it possible then]

\'Well, can\'t you make it possible now?\'

[I can\'t]

\'So what happens when I cancel the spell? Do I get crushed?\'

[No, you don\'t. If you cancel the spell, you\'ll get forced back to the surface.]

\'Huh\'

Evian canceled the spell.

He stopped falling.

And then his surroundings suddenly became solid and forced him out.

In a second, Evian was propelled out of the ground and onto the surface. The chilly night air blowing against his naked body was the first clue Evian got that he was no longer in his bathroom or the vicinity of his room at all.

\'How did I get here?\'

[The angle of your fall and the angle of your exit differ]

As the Decadent assistant was speaking, a holographic screen appeared in front of Evian\'s eyes with an image demonstration of what it was talking about.

Evian quickly got the gist and his eyes brightened with an idea.

\'I can use this to travel!\'

[In a sense]

\'I can use this to infiltrate, investigate, and won\'t be stopped unless the ground is built to specifically keep me out.\'

[Indeed]

"Haha, Eureka!"

Evian had no idea why he spoke out loud. Likely due to his excitement.

"Did you hear that?" A guard nearby whispered to his colleagues.

"It came from over there!"

Evian heard them rushing over and Young Master of the Estate or not, he had no interest in being caught outside his room with no clothes on.

He used the Wraithic Phasing spell and his body fell through the ground right before the guards arrived and found him.

Despite being unable to breathe, being intangible didn\'t make him feel like he was choking or dying but it did feel uncomfortable.

It felt like he was not really living. And again, that felt a lot like how he felt back when he was in a ghostly form.

When he came back to the surface, he was somewhere else in the Estate and of course, there was another set of Guards on patrol.

Getting back to his room was not an easy task.

It involved a lot of sneaking around and close calls with the Estate guards but once he was at the building his room was attached to, he ran towards the wall and jumped at it.

The timing was key.

He made sure to use the phasing spell while his feet were off the ground and before he made contact with the wall. The moment he came out the other side, he canceled the spell and rolled himself to a stop to reduce the sounds he made.

Precise uses of the phasing spell were what Evian employed to complete the rest of the journey. Bypassing the multiple guards stationed at his door to land on his bed with a wide smile on his face.

-Hours Later-

Evian stood in front of the full-length mirror in his room, fully dressed, and tried a variation of the Wraithic Phasing spell; Limiting it to only some part of his body.

"Alright. Only my arm-" he mumbled as he cast the phasing spell with all his attention screwed up on his arm.

Eldritch energy started to ooze from Evian\'s outstretched arm and for a moment, success seemed at hand. Unfortunately, the spell started to spread and the moment Evian felt his flesh as well as the clothes he had on begin to shift from tangible to intangible, he stopped casting lest he fall through the ground.

"And you\'re sure this is possible?" he said sounding frustrated.

He spoke out loud but the question was obviously meant for his Assistant whose voice sounded almost immediately in his head.

[It is possible. The spell can be limited to specific body parts but will require concentration from you. Either you learn to do this or you get better at calculating angles.]

Evian had been trying this variation of the Phasing spell for hours as an alternative to having to instantly learn geometry so he could be precise with his exit from the ground whenever he fell in.

If he could make only one part of his body intangible while the others remained firmly planted on solid ground, he would not have to rely on always getting a running start or relying on precise timing and would be able to practice the spell in the comfort of his room or any space for that matter.

In theory, it sounded easy enough.

In practice, it was incredibly frustrating.

And then, after hours at it, well past midnight, with sweat beads forming on his forehead, the spell obeyed Evian\'s concentration and he finally succeeded.

His arm lost all feeling as it, as well as the sleeves covering it, became intangible and moved through the full-length mirror in the room.

"Freaky," Evian said with a smile at how light his arm became.

It was as if it no longer existed which made it funny when the fingers obeyed the commands of his brain and wiggled this way and that.

Doing it once was not evidence of mastery so Evian canceled the spell, only so he could cast it again over and over.

Then he tried with other body parts.

His legs,

His head,

And finally, only the top half of his body.

Next, he tried moving through the closed door of his bathroom.

The Principle was as follows;

He made one side of his body intangible and moved it through the door while the other side remained on solid ground and then he switched the intangible and the tangible sides in an instant for a smooth walk-through.

Evian failed on many attempts and each failure always resulted in him getting pushed out. But once he succeeded and managed to make it look seamless, Evian grinned with pride at his success.

So engrossed was Evian in practicing the spell that he didn\'t get much sleep that night. Thankfully, he did not need it.

***

-Morning-

The sun shone brightly above the Stygian Estate. Blessing all below with warmth and shine but it had no impact on the mood all over the Estate which remained as somber as ever.

The density of guard placements all over the Estate grounds had not lessened overnight and when the maids brought Evian\'s breakfast to his room, they were accompanied by Lord Stygian.

"Evian, I trust you\'ve had your rest. I need you to recount your experiences last night. Any new information could be useful"

Evian sat at the dinner table in his room, ladened with a hearty meal, and shrugged with his Father opposite him.

"Alright,"

It wasn\'t easy leaving out details of the Crew or the possible involvement of Lord Larnak without obvious gaps in the story but Evian found a way. Helped well by how full his mouth was on occasion.

Lord Stygian sighed.

"It\'s a shame the mastermind wasn\'t mentioned.

Koln hardly had his own ambitions. His skills go to the highest bidder. There should be enough talk among his usual associates for us to find a trail.

I have men also working hard to track who the three you killed worked for.

Don\'t you worry son, I will find the one responsible. No one sends men into my home to kidnap my son and gets away with it."

"Thank you, Father" Evian said with genuine gratitude.

He was touched by the seriousness in Lord Stygian\'s tone.

Lord Stygian shook his head.

"You ARE my son. Your safety is my responsibility."

As he spoke, the tall dark-haired man stood to his feet and walked towards the room\'s double doors. He paused there and looked back at Evian as though he suddenly remembered something,

"Ah, I won\'t be training you today. Too many matters to attend to."

Evian swallowed the delicious morsel in his mouth.

"I understand"

Lord Stygian left.

Evian let out a sigh once he was alone.

\'Yes, you follow that trail while I focus on my own thing. I\'m getting a feeling Evian, the handsome sickly bastard he was, might have left a mess behind for me to clean.\'