Man With Many Faces E-Book

Sayan Kuanyshbekov

• Herausgeber: BookRix
• Kategorie: Fantasy und Science-Fiction
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2018

Beschreibung

First book of the series. When his allies were poisoned and brainwashed by his enemy, demon Morphus, Sabgyn Finnerman thought that life couldn't get worse than that. Turns out he was wrong, it could get much, much worse. When he finds himself possessed by countless spirits of the dead, he has only one thing he needs to do- infiltrate enemy's city as a local baker!

Leseprobe

Sayan Kuanyshbekov

Man With Many Faces

BookRix GmbH & Co. KG81371 Munich

Prologue

She was chasing me. The Dragon Marked One, girl named Shadelin was trying to stop my escape and capture me. My name is Sabgyn; I am the Tiger Marked One. Well it sounded way cooler when I first heard it, but after a while it got old. I don’t know what went wrong, and why my could be girlfriend is trying to turn me into barbecue. I knew something was wrong the minute she started getting angry and throwing fire ball projectiles at me.

 I have to keep running. Everything was fine several days ago, all eight members of Marked Ones gathered to discuss our plan of action of overthrowing tyrannical regime of Demon Morphus and his brothers. It was a gradual plan that consisted of striking his subordinates, the Overlords, at unexpected times in order to weaken Morphus’s control over the kingdoms. But then, something began to change in my friends, their life force, I could sense it, was becoming cloudier and darker, as if some sort of poison has been eating them from the inside. I can sense slight changes within people I know well enough. Telling things based on people’s emotions is a straightforward thing for me. Yet, I am not sure what could have caused this type of poisonous change.

That’s it! Poison! No wonder the Snake-boy kept insisting that we should try his cooking, I politely refused because I happened to want to throw up. It had nothing to do with the food, I just happened to be feeling motion sickness from traveling by carriage. No wonder indeed. I suspected a member of our team was a traitor, but until now I didn’t know for sure. That damn snake. He poisoned all of them, and now I am the only one who remains out of the group, everyone else is now under Morphus’ control. There is no doubt about it. It was somewhat obvious due to the fact that they literally proclaimed their loyalty to Morphus as soon as the change took hold. When I realized their eyes were completely red I realized something was definitely wrong, and my fears were confirmed when my allies tried to restrain me.

Luckily, I was able to run away. Now the swiftest Marked One I know is chasing me. I leaped over trees, most of the city, now I finally reached the border, if only I could now slip through… But, my hope was gone when I saw a pretty girl drop down out of sky right on top of the other side of the waterfall.

It was Shadelin; dragon has caught up with me. She had a smirk on her face that might have been adorable if it wasn’t so terrifying. I hoped I would be able to outrun her, but I was wrong. Shadelin looked down in my direction and said: “Why run, I can always catch you, Tiger-boy.”

I thought to myself, why does she always have to flirt with her prey, does she have some sort of interest in playing with her food?

She paused, winked with her left eye and loudly yawned: “You can’t escape, so why not do yourself a favor and join us?”

I stood my ground and shouted: “And be enslaved to Morphus? Have you forgotten what he did to people, our families, friends, loved ones?”

Shadelin’s eyes briefly turned to their original golden color, before turning back to red. She laughed in a manner that made my bones chill. I was hoping that remembering something about her past could make her snap out of it. Morphus was truly responsible for so many deaths, be it direct or indirect way. She said: “You’re hopeless, now I have no choice but to kill you.”

I replied: “I would like to see you try.” Yep, now I knew I was doomed.

We both drew out our weapons. She flew down from the waterfall and landed on the ground near me, using the momentum of fall to her advantage as she clashed her sword against my staff. Staff absorbed the impact, but I could not, it caused me to fall and tumble. I quickly stood up. Shadelin wasn’t waiting, she immediately attacked, and I avoided being staked only by luck. I jumped away. She said: “Let’s have some fun, shall we?”

I murmured ‘Oh no’.

She unleashed her spiritual form and was now using its power to augment her. A golden glow emanated from her body, covering her body within itself. The glow was gradually getting brighter. She demonstrated her power by swiftly landing a side kick on my body before I could react.

I tasted blood; I think she broke my rib. The pain however was endurable for the moment because she was trying to decapitate me. I fell back and tried to avoid her sword. My best efforts resulted in me getting scratches on my clothes. And I just paid for them!

Shadelin’s spiritual form enveloped her like an armor of sorts, and strangely she didn’t seem to get exhausted using it, every time I used mine it drains me dry of my life force, but she looks like only getting more energy out of her form. Her attacks suddenly became stronger; one of her punches sent me flying away about ten meters, no less.

She jumped and tried to land a fatal blow on my heart. I had no choice but to use my own spiritual form. Luckily I was quick enough and Shadelin’s attack was negated. By own form was colored reddish brown and it was far smaller than the one she was using. But I sensed my form barely withstood the impact from her attack. The power of my spiritual form pales in comparison to hers.

Suddenly Shadelin started to manipulate fire; she manifested fireballs in her hands and started to throw them at me. I tried to avoid her offense, but I still got burned badly. Well not so badly, but it stung. Now she was doing a strange movement; it reminded me of octopus moving its legs. Then, a horrific realization hit me; this is the same movement Shadelin used to summon a lightning and it is pointed right at me. If she hits me, I am as good as toast. How can I survive this?

In a split second, I comprehended an important fact; as tiger I am element of balance, able to use the half potential of any element as long as I also use its opposite counterpart. But to do so I have to know the opposite power. It could have been much easier if it was matter of fire and water, but lightning? It’s pure energy!

Wait, energy, and it opposite is negation! Negation being opposite of lightning, was dispersing electrical energy instead of collecting and shooting it. Luckily my thoughts came to me as fast as lighting (no pun intended), because Shadelin shot a lighting at me. With no time to lose I blocked the lighting with my right hand; in order to negate power, it has to be absorbed, and contact is necessary.

My theory was right, I absorbed the power, but it hurt my hand so much it was numb, almost like Shadelin’s technique was full of her anger, burning coals of her temper, desperate to turn me into ash. Then, involuntarily, my left hand shot a weaker lightning toward the ground, I jumped in order to avoid shock but the dragon girl got zapped. She fell down.

Another part of my power, if I use power, I have to, no I must use its opposite, even if I don’t want to. This kinda gave me precaution about using power of water, for at any moment I could use power of fire. I ended up setting several buildings on fire because of that. And it happened mostly because my head turned to flaming torch.

Shadelin quickly came to her senses: “That hurt, you will pay pussycat.”

Her spiritual form began to change it became a 12 meter tall avatar of her spirit; a dragon. It was glorious, long serpent-like body, wings similar to bats, muscular legs, and many fangs, but I found it extremely scary because it had a blank stare and it was completely black and red. Her original form was golden yellow. Apparently, poison not only affected person’s mind but also her spirit. This worried me.

I assumed my own form of a beast. A gigantic tiger. But its size was almost half the size of dragon. I was worried. Both of us gave our avatars weapons, sword and staff. I floated inside head of my avatar, usage of this power was draining me, I was already feeling weaker. After a few seconds, the dragon swung at me. I made the tiger jump, and slash the dragon with staff, she blocked it. I kept trying to land a blow against her avatar, but it was just too fast for me to catch off guard. When I finally saw my opportunity and swung my staff at dragon’s head, she stopped me by holding tiger’s paw, and then she proceeded to restrain the other paw with her other claw. My tiger’s claws were trapped, I couldn’t budge. I hoped dragon would just use this opportunity to push me away, but instead she made her avatar get tighter grip on my avatar’s paws and was pulling them in opposite directions. She was basically ripping my manifestation in half. Because the spirit of manifestation is created from soul of user, it hurt like hell. My body was in complete agony. As my torn in half form of tiger was fading from sight, I fell down to the ground. My body felt so heavy, but if I don’t stand up I will be killed. I made an agonizingly successful attempt to stand up and raised my staff. Dragon was upon me in an instant. My staff got knocked away.

She chose to attack me by herself without usage of her dragon manifestation. Because my body was overflowing with pain I couldn’t react fast enough. She grabbed me by the throat and flew us to the top of the waterfall. At top, I somehow managed to release myself from her grip and landed on ground. She attacked me with her sword, I tried to move but I wasn’t fast enough; she chopped off my left hand, it fell down the waterfall. It hurt so much, only adrenaline and the thought of not dying kept me conscious. Then, she slashed at my legs, I fell to my knees. She was playing with me. I was so weakened that I couldn’t do anything when she inflicted scar upon scar upon my body, she destroyed my left eye, and my body was completely bruised. It was a cat playing with its prey. And ironically, I was not the cat. Letting a sigh, Shadelin inflicted the final wound; she pierced my heart with her sword. She whispered: Good-Bye, Tiger-boy

She took out her sword out of my body and pushed me into the waterfall. Last thing I heard was: How ironic, this place was a battlefield, how fitting that you shall rest here,

I went deeper and deeper into the water. My body was dying, but I can’t die, not like this, not now. I can’t accept it. Please body, respond, please! I begged and pleaded, but my body went deeper into the water. Please if there is anyone who can help me, help me live!

I was sure none would respond. But to my surprise I heard a distant voice. It wasn’t quite like a sound, it was a feeling, from somewhere, not this plain of existence, as I slipped further and further into the darkness, the voice turned out to be multiple voices, seemingly human of origin, but lacking corporeal form

One voice said:” To live you desire?” My spirit nodded. The voice replied: “Your body is beyond fixing, I am afraid you will die by yourself.”

I asked if there are no more options left. Voice replied: “Unless, we make a deal. We will heal your body, but you will give us your body as a host.”

I asked:” Are you going to kill my soul?”

“No, we are just going to inhabit your shell as our own until we finish our unfinished business”

“What if I refuse?”

“Then you go away into afterlife”, the voice paused and asserted: “Do you accept the offer?”

I had no choice; in order to live I would have to become vessel for spirits. “I do”

“Very well, come my brethren, come …” Dozens of spirits gathered toward the spirit with whom I spoke, hundreds, now thousands, all of them aiming at my body. They encircled me, and then entered me through my eyes and mouth. I didn’t feel a thing, only a feeling of being violated in so many levels. I was no longer alone in this body. I felt presence of thousand others, could see them inside myself. My body somehow began to change, the wounds were going away, and painfully my left arm grew back to its original form. I saw the surface through my eye, no, my eyes, my left eye’s sight suddenly returned! But I felt detached from my body, I felt its movements but it wasn’t me doing them. My body was being controlled by a ghost. My body, or should I say, I climbed out of river that the waterfall led to. The body was in perfect condition.

Well, at least I am alive, sort of. Those damned souls, every single one of them. I can hear their voices, even though I am no longer drowning. Somehow I am looking at world from outside view, like my body wasn’t being entirely controlled by myself. I mean, I could still feel the muscles in my body tensing when the body stretched, but the actions were coordinated but not planned. It suddenly occurred to me that my body started moving forward, which led me to notice that the ground was lower than before. Then I realized how idiotic my idea sounded, so examined myself, I was astounded- my legs were longer! I freaked out in the inside, but for some reason my body was still. I came close to a pond and saw my reflection upon it, and I almost thought it was an enemy, for this face did not belong to me. Well, after a mauling from dragon, and miraculous healing I didn’t expect to look one hundred percent myself, but this, this was too much for me to take in at once! My hair, usually dark brown and hard, was darker and looked spiky, my face was hollower, not like losing weight but similar effect nevertheless. But most striking were the eyes, my eyes are always brown, no matter the occasion; it frequently made me jealous of disguise magic user who could change their eye color for any occasion. But now, my eyes were blood red, and I am not talking about whites, but the pupil and the iris. It looked like the eyes of man who came from torture. Maybe, hell.

“Close enough” I heard a voice respond to my thoughts. It was a strong voice, I looked around myself but I couldn’t detect anyone, where the noise is coming from? Is he an enemy, then how far from me?

“Closer than you think” the voice was clearer. I felt a tug on me, but it wasn’t tugging my body, it was the same feeling when I unleash my spiritual form, but the reverse, instead of pulling out spirit from inside, my spirit is pulled inside. While my body dropped limp to the ground, I felt myself falling into the deepest part of my soul. I landed with a smack, who knew my soul looked like a barbershop filled with tables and chairs? Personally I would have preferred a rainy desert. In that instant my surroundings changed into what I desired. I wondered if this was heaven. “Nope” I turned around, now instead of a disembodied voice there stood a man whose reflection I saw on pool. He had an angry expression, but somehow he looked extremely calm. “Greetings Sabgyn”. I was shocked. How the hell did he know my name? Well, maybe better question would be why he is talking to me, not attacking me? Lately there are a lot of people who would like to see me dead. And that’s a fact, just ask the dragon-girl, or better yet, don’t ask her. So, who is this man?

“I can hear your thoughts you know, I would recommend not to wonder away.” Well that was embarrassing, he says he heard me thinking, is there no such thing as privacy here, wherever here is?

“If you want to I can stop hearing you thoughts and we can have a conversation, well if you don’t mind starting to talk.” Okay, here it goes. “Who, what, where, how?” Well, I could have said it better, I guess. The man responded “No need to be alarmed, I am not here to kill you, in fact I can’t kill you, on the account that I inhabit the same body as you are.” What, is he serious! “Yes, I am quite serious, in fact I am the representative of thousands of souls that now inhabit you.

I finally found my courage to say “Thousands of them? Wait you’re a soul?”

“Yes”

“So, are you guys dead or something” I was afraid I made the question sound extremely rude, but to my surprise the man smiled. Well, at least that proves he used to be a human.

“In physical sense, yes, we are quite dead. But we were stuck on earth because we have not fulfilled our sworn duty. We have to complete our task to go to our final destination. Until this day we had no way of fulfilling our task, for we lacked a body. We tried to inhabit wonderers, but they were either spiritually deaf, resistant or refused the deal. Some of them even were too weak to house us. In fact I am surprised your body is capable of holding all of us, you must be someone special”

“I am Tiger Marked One” I replied. It used to fill me with pride when I said it, because I considered tiger a gallant and valiant beast. But lately, I am repeatedly shown how inferior tiger’s powers are in comparison to other animals. My fiasco battle with dragon is one more proof for it. It’s almost like the other animals could wield the true power, pure utilization of elements, while I only can use only half of true power, with humiliating drawbacks. When every other animal spiritual form used elements it seemed to empower them, but in my case it does the opposite, it drains me. I didn’t have to wait for man’s answer.

“That explains quite a lot, like the reason your body didn’t explode” I started freaking out, my eyes wide open with terror, and was that what happened with their previous hosts?

“Do not worry, if your body was too weak it would have given up the second we entered your body. Now the symbiosis is complete.”

“Symbiosis?” I asked. I knew what the word means of course, but didn’t quite get how it applied to this.

“Yes, you get to live; we get to fulfill our duties. Basically you get life, we get body. Oh, by the way, like your new arm?”

“Yes, thank you. You said there are more of you”