“So this ability would put me back together while my soul was still around,” Jason said. “Once it’s gone, though, it’s gone.”
“The aspect of the ability you are being offered that prevents resurrection is not an artificially imposed restriction. It is a function of the combined physical and spiritual state you would attain on accepting the power. Body and soul as a single gestalt entity. One of the ramifications of this state would be that once the physical element dies and it becomes fully spiritual, it stays that way. Rather than an ordinary soul, you would be closer to an astral being, like myself. You would be no more able to resurrect than I am.”
“Could I end up as someone’s familiar?”
“I don’t know,” Shade said. “We have reached the limit of my knowledge on the topic, although any familiar summons is voluntary. One more thing to mention about the state your body would take is that entities both spiritual and physical in nature have significant advantages when operating on an interdimensional scale. This aspect is not something that would help you much at your current rank, but would show its value over time.”
“So you’re saying that your dad made sure this power is the good stuff, in return for making sure I stay dead next time?”
“That is a part of it,” Shade confirmed. “Clearly, the power is designed to serve several agendas. Those of the World-Phoenix and the Reaper, certainly. But also to serve yours.”
“Because it would give me the tools to fight the Builder?”
“In part,” Shade said. “There is a balance between great astral beings, just as there is a balance between the gods of a world. They keep one another in check. This is why the great astral beings do not give blessings to their favoured supporters that contain as much magic as can be withstood without it destroying them. It is to avoid escalation and to minimise mortal interference.”
“Except the Builder interferes anyway.”
“Yet he does not grant blessing of excessive power. This ability you have been offered is a product of a bargain struck between great astral beings. It operates outside of the normal balance. There is a price to taking it, but the power is far greater than you would normally receive.”
“That much I figured out.”
“World-Phoenix frequently blesses those who serve its interests with a similar ability, although this seems to be an enhanced variant. These are generally high-ranking individuals whose tasks involve traversing the astral. Your intention is to find a reliable path between this world and the one you just left, yes?”
“Yes,” Jason confirmed.
“That is what makes this power most advantageous to you. This ability will not give you the power to traverse realities, but it will make otherwise unfeasible solutions more viable.”
“Do you think I should take the ability?”
“My advice is to decline,” Shade said. “The benefits are many, but the danger it poses to your long-term survivability is not a risk I think you should take. It’s valuable now, but silver rank takes a decade or more to pass through. Gold rank will take even longer, with no assurance of ever reaching diamond. In the decades that takes, you could be saved many times over by powerful healers, so long as you don’t render yourself immune to such effects.”
“I’m not intending to die that much.”
“You’ve died twice in as many years, Mr Asano.”
“The first one doesn’t count. It’s not my fault I was sucked into another universe and had my body disintegrated.”
“There is a counter-argument to advice,” Shade said. “I believe the Reaper will be contacting the death goddess of the other world and asking her to reduce the efficacy of resurrection magic. I suspect your multiple revivals are at least part of the impetus, even if it was not healing magic that brought you back.”
“Oh, great. What if I get back and people find out that I’m the reason healing got nerfed? Can gods just up and change how powers work?”
“Within limits. They cannot affect the people with those powers, only the rules of magic within which the powers operate.”
“Doesn’t that invalidate certain essence powers?”
“No,” Shade said. “Essence powers have a natural balance. In any location where the local death god impedes resurrection, that same change will enhance the non-resurrection effects of relevant abilities. The Healer will be involved in the change for this very reason.”
“And part of the Reaper’s no-resurrection plan is pushing this power onto the World-Phoenix to offer me?”
“The only requirement the Reaper made was that any ability you were given sets hard limits on your power to revive from death. Everything else comes from the World-Phoenix.”
“Which raises the question of what the World-Phoenix wants,” Jason said. “I’m not above helping someone out in return for mutual benefit, but there’s a difference between cutting a deal and being pushed into one without being told the details. Also, I’m not sure what I have to offer. I can’t imagine anything I can do that can’t be done better by someone else. I doubt the World-Phoenix is hard up for volunteers.”
“The World-Phoenix does not like to act directly. It prefers to set things in motion that will ultimately achieve the end it desires.”
“So I’ve heard,” Jason said. “What does that mean for me?”
“Most likely,” Shade said, “is that the World-Phoenix believes that you will naturally act in a way that furthers its goals, so long as you have the tools and the opportunity. Therefore, it has offered them to you.”
“I’m not going to reject the power out of hand. I’m not ungrateful for being brought home and back from the dead. That doesn’t mean I’ll play along with its agenda, no questions asked, though. It is true that she won’t use the power to unduly influence me, right?”
“Blessing powers do not offer control over their recipients,” Shade confirmed. “Even an unusual case like this one.”
“I’m just going to leave it be for the moment, then,” Jason said. “I can reassess it later.”
“Prudent,” Shade said approvingly.
“What say we get out of this weird dimension and hit the road, then,” Jason said. “Now that you’re back in action, I have some more flexibility in my transport options. Having you turn into a magical carriage would look a bit odd driving down the street, though. Even a horse would be more subtle, but not great in the rain.”
“I’ll see what I can manage,” Shade said.
Jason’s familiars returned to his body, and he went back through the archway, emerging in the empty hospital ward.
“I believe that I can manage an acceptable form of conveyance,” Shade said from Jason’s shadow.
“Exactly how much control do you have over the form of mount you take?”