Chapter 55: The Body and the Soul
William lay on his bed, eyes closed, his breath steady. His body rested, but his mind refused to sleep. He couldn't stop thinking about that strange energy that had surged into him during the shark battle—warm, dense... alive.
"Angel," he whispered inwardly, "you there?"
"Always, Master," came the calm reply, her voice familiar, yet... somehow different. More present.
"I need you to check something. That energy that entered me during the fight—did you analyze it? What was it?"
A brief pause. He felt his awareness synchronizing with Angel, like they now shared a mental space.
"I analyzed it," she finally said. "But there's no simple answer. It wasn't mana or spiritual energy in any known form. It's not physical either. It's... something tied to your body, but it emerged through the soul."
William sat up, intrigued.
"The soul?"
"Yes. The energy didn't anchor itself in your muscles or nervous system. It flowed through them—but its origin was much deeper. Like it came from a spiritual dimension linked to your biology."
A chill ran down his back. Something stirred in his memory—an old theory he'd heard once in his previous life. The voice of a professor echoed in his mind.
"In my old world," he began aloud, as if narrating to himself, "there was a controversial theory. Scientists used a special spectrometer on amputees... and it revealed the silhouette of the missing limb."