The Lich Without a Soul Vessel

Roland hastened to placate Shuang. "I never said I wanted you as my lab equipment. All I need is for you to be my assistant, Flower Fairy Shuang!"

"Well, that's more like it," Shuang muttered, still not entirely satisfied.

They moved to the center of the level, where a large open space waited. Roland spoke a swift incantation, and a platform rose from the floor, glimmering with mystic light, its surface covered in runes drawn from precious magical materials of every color. At the center sat a five-pointed star. Evan studied it and recognized it at once — an alchemical creation array, and moreover one of the life-creation arrays, one of the ten forbidden array forms. Unlike a summoning array, this one genuinely created life from nothing.

Yet no such creation array had ever succeeded, not once, since its invention. Life was simply too complex; more often than not, what emerged from the array was already dead, no more than a heap of lifeless flesh, and the cost of the attempt was staggering, the result unable to be preserved for long. Over time this creation array had become a kind of expensive junk-array — and because it also offended the Church of the Creator, it had been placed among the forbidden arts.

Suspicion filled Evan's eyes as he looked to Roland. "You recognize it?" Roland asked.

Evan nodded. "I recognize it. This is a creation array — a forbidden one, at that. What does this have to do with your experiment?"

Roland smiled. "Without a flower fairy, this array would be nothing more than a joke. I've run the experiment countless times. With a flower fairy involved, things are different." He turned back to Evan. "Would you mind — fetch me the third item from cabinet two."

Following Roland's direction, Evan opened the drawer marked with the numeral three in cabinet two and drew out an item, accompanied by a written description: Giant Bat Fiend, a species that had inhabited the Victoria Forest roughly thirty thousand years ago, a close relative of fiends, now extinct.

Evan cradled the specimen and, following Roland's instructions, placed it within the five-pointed star. Roland then added a large translucent mass, which Evan recognized as a kind of agar, and after a moment's thought, some meat and bone as well — genuine bone, freshly taken.

Last of all, Roland placed a gemstone. Evan's eyes flickered — a soul gem. Within the stone, a human silhouette seemed to be crying out. This, too, was forbidden. What exactly was he attempting here?

Roland turned and gave Shuang instructions on when to release her light motes. With everything in place, he steadied himself and began chanting a lengthy incantation, one that ran a full five minutes. Then he pointed his wand and activated the array. Mystic light flared and the array began to run, the glow intensifying steadily, the lines between the runes seeming to rise up as if to form a three-dimensional structure.

The creation array hummed, drawing an enormous surge of power in an instant. Sky City, currently racing south at full speed back toward Heathermere, faltered — the effect was plainly felt.

Heathermere glanced toward that magic tower, her brow furrowing, and murmured to herself, "Has Roland actually succeeded this time?" She took control of the tower and activated a reserve mana crystal, feeding it into the array. In an instant, Sky City resumed its full speed. Though some aboard sensed that brief shift, it passed quickly, leaving behind only a flicker of doubt before it faded away entirely.

Above the creation array, a phantom shape began to take form — a massive bat taking shape, an ape's head atop a bat's body, its eyes shut tight. Below it, the agar was being consumed at a rapid pace. Across the enormous bat's body, blood vessels and muscle became visible, along with internal organs taking shape. Within the soul gem, a silhouette appeared, screaming without sound, and was drawn into the array. The array's light flickered wildly before at last a phantom shape identical to the giant bat emerged.

Roland watched, tense, then signaled to Shuang. She took flight, and motes of five-colored light appeared around her once more like fireflies, scattering down in profusion. The instant they entered the creation array, the five-colored motes blazed up, almost blinding. Aided by that light, the phantom shape at last fused completely with the massive ape-headed bat.

Shuang, though, looked utterly drained, and flew back to settle on Evan's shoulder. Evan had no attention to spare for her — his eyes were fixed on the changes within the creation array, unwilling to miss the slightest detail.

The ape-headed bat's eyes snapped open. The instant they opened, blood-red light shot out several forearms' length. Its mouth gaped in a soundless shriek. Roland's expression changed; he pointed his wand, and an invisible barrier spread instantly outward. Black mist seemed to rise from Evan's own body as well, but the moment Roland acted, the mist flickered and vanished without a trace.

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The barrier rippled like water, one wave after another. The creation array grew unstable, several of its glowing lines suddenly snapping, the entire array losing its light in an instant. The giant bat fiend had entered the world — a monster extinct for over thirty thousand years, now present once more.

The moment it emerged, it let out a silent shockwave. Evan recognized it as a kind of high-frequency sound wave, capable of shattering gold and cracking stone — but it could not break through the barrier Master Roland had raised. The giant bat fiend seemed to grow furious. Seeing the high-frequency wave fail, it spread its wings, a black glow rippling across them, and prepared to force its way out by brute strength.

Master Roland smiled. He pointed his wand, and a net of magic appeared in the air, dropping down over the creature's head and snaring it at once. It struggled ceaselessly within the net. Roland pointed his wand again, and the net of light seeped into its body — and at once it went still.

"Congratulations, Master. You've broken through the limits of life-alchemy — though it seems this isn't something you can write up as a paper, given that it challenges the Creator's authority," Evan offered.

"True enough. The Church of the Creator has long held back the advancement of magic. That said, this doesn't really count as creating life from nothing — its soul comes from the soul gem, and the rest of its body was built from that fossil. It seems the fossil contained the entirety of its information. It must be so. I'll report this to Ortlando first — publishing a paper is out of the question, not with the current climate," Roland said.

"Master Roland, what will you do with the creature? Does it retain any memories of its former life?" Evan asked. Since a soul gem had been used, Evan wouldn't pry into where the gem itself had come from — but the question of its consciousness concerned him.

"Its memory is a complete blank. What you just saw was pure instinct at work. Well, I don't know how long it will live, but for safety's sake, I think I'll simply take it as a pet and bind it with a master-servant contract." As Roland finished speaking, the giant bat fiend rose from the ground — not of its own will, but drawn up by unseen force.

Roland traced a five-pointed star array upon its head, then drew a drop of blood from it, forcibly binding it as a pet. This kind of contract was the lowest tier of binding — for Roland, all benefit and no drawback whatsoever, while for the giant bat fiend, there was no benefit in it at all.

Once the contract was set, he released the net of light. Only then did the giant bat fiend begin to stir, all trace of its earlier ferocity gone, docile now as a puppy.

Evan's mind was still reeling from what he'd witnessed. Though it hadn't been true creation from nothing, that magic could reach such heights left him unable to help but marvel at this world's magical civilization. He understood now that magic accomplished many of the same things science did — and things science had never managed at all. He glanced once more at the creation array. He knew it had left a deep impression on him; though he'd read of it in books before, he'd dismissed it since it had never achieved its intended results, and only because it was counted among the ten forbidden arrays had it lodged itself so firmly in his mind. Clearly, since it appeared in the books — and magical books, at that — there had to be something profound hidden within it.

Evan and Shuang returned to their quarters. Shuang clearly hadn't recovered yet, though her spirits were high — she'd earned three gems, after all, and that alone left her rather pleased with herself. Evan looked at her and shook his head; she had entirely overlooked the magnitude of what they'd just witnessed. Perhaps her thoughts really did run along the same lines as an ordinary person's.

Scarlett had dinner ready. For Shuang, a kind of pine-nut pastry with a spoonful of honey on the side; for Evan, bread and grilled sausage with a bowl of soup. Evan ate distractedly, his mind still turning over the creation array. Something stirred in him. He finished his meal in haste and went straight to the alchemy laboratory.

He took out an assortment of materials and began drawing on the table. A creation array took shape — though far simpler than Master Roland's. He had no intention of attempting life-creation; what he wanted was to synthesize matter.

He had no core to draw power from. After a moment's thought, he took a mana crystal from his ring. Synthesize what, though? An idea struck him, and he dashed out of the laboratory to rummage through the cupboards. Shuang had already gone off to her little room to sleep.

"Master, what are you looking for?" Scarlett asked, curious.

"Honey. Where's the honey?" Evan asked urgently.

"The honey's here, let me get it. Master, what do you need it for?" Scarlett asked, quickly locating the honey as she spoke.

"Thank you. I only need a little," Evan said, lifting a small amount with a gold needle. "I need it for an experiment."

With that, he hurried back into the laboratory. He placed the tiny bit of honey at the center of the five-pointed star and activated the creation array. Light flared, the mana crystal rapidly shrank, and a mass of honey appeared in the air. Though exhausted, Shuang, hearing that Evan was running an experiment involving honey, sat bolt upright and flew straight into the laboratory. She caught sight of the rapidly growing mass of honey above the array and understood at once.

"You conjured honey out of nothing?" Shuang exclaimed.

"Hardly. This honey I've made is worth a fortune — far more than honey from nature. Didn't you see how much the crystal was consumed? It seems mass and energy are conserved," Evan said. He understood now: powerful energy had been converted into matter, transformed into honey — and the crystal was worth who knew how many times the honey's price.

Even as he spoke, in that moment, his consciousness merged with the creation array. A flood of information surged through his mind like a torrent — vast in quantity, yet fairly simple in nature, no more than a few dozen distinct structures, the most abundant among them a simple molecule. In his mind's eye, Evan sensed what seemed to be three indistinct spheres arranged in a triangle. He knew instinctively — this was a water molecule.