Arcane Transmogrification

by Robert Harper

  Contents

  Copywright

  Dedication

  CHAPTER 1

  CHAPTER 2

  CHAPTER 3

  CHAPTER 4

  CHAPTER 5

  CHAPTER 6

  CHAPTER 7

  CHAPTER 8

  CHAPTER 9

  CHAPTER 10

  CHAPTER 11

  CHAPTER 12

  CHAPTER 13

  CHAPTER 14

  CHAPTER 15

  CHAPTER 16

  CHAPTER 17

  CHAPTER 18

  CHAPTER 19

  CHAPTER 20

  CHAPTER 21

  CHAPTER 22

  CHAPTER 23

  CHAPTER 24

  CHAPTER 25

  CHAPTER 26

  CHAPTER 27

  CHAPTER 28

  CHAPTER 29

  CHAPTER 30

  CHAPTER 31

  CHAPTER 32

  CHAPTER 33

  CHAPTER 34

  CHAPTER 35

  CHAPTER 36

  EPILOGUE

  First Edition

  © 2018 Robert Harper. All rights reserved.

  I dedicate this novel to Bill Watterson.

  His comics taught me that my imagination is my greatest asset and the only limitations I have are those I place upon myself.

  Though, while growing up I had very little in common with the character of Calvin, I lived vicariously through his rebellion of life in general and his stubborn refusal to accept anyone’s worldview but his own.

  CHAPTER 1

  Light from the waning moon struggled to illuminate the dense forest floor. There in the undergrowth, a large cat lay curled upon the ground, fast asleep. The tranquil scene was interrupted as a sleepy-eyed young teenage boy slowly lifted his head from the middle of the mass of feline fur.

  Looking around in confusion, the boy, Danny, paused to glance at the moon above. Just from observing his gaze, one could tell his thoughts were not about anything celestial. Those eyes spoke of experience, pain, and loss.

  After a few minutes had passed, the ghost leopard lifted her head and, purring, rubbed her face on the boy’s back. This seemed to jar the boy from his dark contemplation. Turning, he smiled at the cat’s display of affection and reached out to rub behind a large furry ear. Right where she liked it the most.

  Danny’s hoarse voice croaked out, “Hey girl…what happened…where exactly are we?”

  A voice spoke out from the darkness, *You flew pretty far after that explosion, then struck the tree above you. That large broken branch covered in your blood managed to not only stop but catch you as well.*

  After looking quickly around in alarm, Danny turned to the cat in shock. “Phantom, you…you can speak now? It just used to be feelings, emotions, and memories. I can hear your thoughts like words now!”

  The cat licked her lips and laid her head down, not taking her eyes off of him.

  *What? Ohhhh! Yes, I have always been able to speak with you. You just been too stupid to hear me... Meow.*

  Danny’s excited smile faded at the response, “Did you just think the word ‘Meow’ at me? Wait...why do you have a masculine voice?”

  The boy squinted and leaned closer to the cat. Lifting her head, the cat rubbed her face against his before laying it back down again, this time choosing to face away from him.

  Danny’s face contorted in outrage, “Cranny, is that you?”

  Danny winced as his hearing was overwhelmed by howls of laughter from the now all-too-familiar voice. Waiting for the laughter to end, Danny just sat there, not the least but amused. Cranny’s laughter eventually ended but not without ending in a long drawn out sigh.

  Danny grumbled, “You done now?”

  *Oh you should have seen the way you turned and looked at that cat… Meow!*

  The laughter returned with a vengeance. Throwing his hands in the air with defeat, Danny laid back against the cat to wait.

  Cranny composed himself long enough to apologize, *Sorry, sorry, it's just been a long day…and night, and I needed a good stress reliever.*

  Folding his arms, Danny replied, “Well, I'm glad you’re feeling better, but that doesn't answer my question about what happened.”

  *Of course, I was going to try and catch you on your way back into the land of consciousness, but things have been crazy. Come to your sanctuary, and I will show you what I mean.*

  Danny rubbed the cat’s back and told her, “I will be back in a bit. So, get some rest.”

  Focusing on the unnatural calm he now felt permeating his body, Danny quickly fell into a meditative state.

  ***

  After dying a most embarrassing and mundane way back on Earth, Danny, a twenty-seven year old chemist, had been reincarnated into this new world and into the body of an unborn infant. Here, all creatures of significant intelligence can gain access to their own mental sanctuary through meditation. The benefits of the mental sanctuary come in the form of increased intelligence, agility, or strength.

  As he had expected, Danny came into his mental sanctuary, sitting down in a chair at the center of a large room. While the room of the sanctuary he was currently in had once looked like the bridge of a science fiction starship from a poorly budgeted B-movie, it now appeared sleek and refined. Everything had odd angles, and there were no curves to be seen. Lighted crystalline channels ran uninterrupted between every surface. Whereas the control panels used to consist of buttons and knobs, they now had a holographic keyboard floating above them. The old monitors that lined the front of the room were replaced with holographically projected ones. All the moment needed was an overabundance of lense flares, and Danny would be the lead actor in his own blockbuster movie.

  Two chairs sat at a long console in front of him, below the large holoscreens. Danny looked to the one on his left and saw Cranny sitting there working away at a keyboard. While they were technically the same person, when Danny had reached a milestone with his sanctuary infused intelligence, he had received a split consciousness in the form of his previous Earth-self. His split consciousness just took on the form of his previous self to help maintain their sanity.

  Noticing something out of the corner of his eye, Danny looked over to realize the other chair was now occupied as well. Glancing around the room, it finally registered that it was filled with other people, working at the different stations. Having watched a plethora of sci-fi movies in his previous life, it filled some sort of expectation that they be there.

  Cranny turned around and smiled, “Welcome Danny, to Sanctuary 2.0.”

  The other chair in front of Danny spun around, and a woman he vaguely recognized but couldn’t place looked at him in surprise. She quickly stood up at attention and saluted, shouting, “Captain on the bridge!”

  The activity in the room came to a complete halt as everyone stopped to stand at attention and salute in Danny’s direction. Danny looked around, unsure of what to do.

  Erratically nodding his head to the room, Danny made a awkward gesture while stuttering, “Uhh… um… as you were?”

  Everyone immediately turned and got back to work. Danny turned to stare incredulously at Cranny. The other man just sat there, smirking over a cup of steaming coffee.

  Putting down the cup, Cranny cleared his throat and began, “Where were we? … Ah yes. After being impaled on that tree, you eventually slid off and fell to the ground. Besides the large wound in your shoulder, you had multiple bone fractures and breaks all across your body. As expected, there was also extensive internal bleeding. I used nearly all of your remaining mana, with Air Affinity, to prevent the branch from piercing your heart. With that crisis over, I quickly came to the realization that you would die from your injuries
before I could use your slowly recovering mana to heal you.

  Having no other viable options, I decided to use that large mass of mana we had been storing outside your body for days. Unfortunately, you were in no shape to help me separate a smaller portion of it for use, and I couldn't manipulate that much mana the way I really needed to on my own. So, I just compressed and centered it on the wound at your shoulder. Stopping the blood loss was the most important step. We could always heal your bones later.

  It easily healed your shoulder, and I was pleased when the excess healing mana fixed the rest of your body. I had expected the excess to just dissipate into the surrounding air, but it didn't. Healing you didn’t even use half…

  It was quiet there for a few moments, then you started screaming, and I thought you would never stop. You eventually passed out.

  Now, I have come to the conclusion that the excess mana did something to you. I tapped into your pain receptors for a moment, and it felt kind of like an extreme burning sensation. The pain was all centered on your shoulder and slowly started to spread outwards. Whatever was causing the pain was consuming all the mana you were regenerating, and I was operating on only reserves and on my natural connection to your body. Before whatever that change was reached it, your heart almost gave up due to the strain. A few of your other organs decided they didn't like what was happening either. It was everything I could do to keep them all functioning. Once, the change reached your connection to the source of mana, it started to spread even faster.

  That was when I noticed the zombie goblin. It came from, what I assume, was the direction of the battle. Danny, it was inches from you when Phantom showed up and tore into it like a blender. Phantom was bleeding from a few places, but it looked like she had faired a lot better than we did.

  In all the chaos with the goblin, I almost forgot to keep your body going. Then, the change reached your brain, and everything went white for a while. When it all came back, I found myself here in the improved sanctuary.

  I noticed we had mana again so I started up some of the little protocols I had previously created. That's when the new crew members started showing up. Air Scan, Earth Scan, and Mana Sight each created a new one. Every time I thought of something else I wanted to do, another showed up. I was really excited at first but they are not a very talkative bunch.”

  Danny looked around the room again and asked, “Did we hit the second triangle with intelligence? We shouldn't have been that close.”

  Cranny shook his head, “No, but our intelligence did rise a bit. I think the presence of the crew is part of your upgrade.”

  Danny tilted his head, “Upgrade?”

  Cranny nodded, “There have been a lot of changes, and not just to your sanctuary. Here, look at this.”

  A holographic, three dimensional display of Danny’s internal body appeared in front of him. Nothing looked different to Danny.

  Cranny reached behind himself and dragged a holographic keyboard around so he was still partially facing both Danny and the holographic display.

  “As you can see, nothing has changed much from this view. Your mana regeneration doubled. Which is fortunate because any more and I wouldn't have been able to keep up. I have no clue how much mana you can store now because we still haven't topped off the tanks yet.”

  Danny interrupted, smiling, “My regeneration ONLY doubled! I'll take that.”

  Cranny cringed, “I didn't finish. About a quarter of your mana regeneration is being lost to your body.”

  Danny looked confused, “How can I lose it to my body? Where is it going?”

  Cranny zoomed in the holographic image, and Danny was shocked to see it zoom in further and further. A group of cells was visible, doing…cell stuff.

  Danny’s jaw dropped, “Is this a live feed or just a re-creation?”

  Cranny nodded, “It’s live. Our cells have been changed on a fundamental level. My current theory is that our body uses mana now as an energy source. All operations that used chemical energy have been systematically replaced. We are still mostly water and carbon, but there is now a crystal-like nature embedded throughout our body.”

  Zooming in further, the cellular walls could be seen. Danny remembered from biology how the outside looked bumpy, kind of like the surface of a basketball. There were also the proteins and lipids sticking out, doing various functions. Danny didn't really remember what all they did, but now there was something new. Interspersed evenly across the wall were crystal-like structures. Danny only remembered seeing something shaped like that at the cellular level.

  Danny leaned in, alarmed, “Are those viruses?”

  Cranny shook his head, “No, those are now a natural component of our cells. I haven't figured out their purpose, yet. Now, look at your mitochondria.”

  The view panned over to a something that looked nothing like a mitochondria. It had the expected bean shape, except now its surface was angular and had countless ice crystal-like structures on its surface. Particles of light were flowing into it as streams of energy shot out to various parts of the cell.

  Cranny didn't wait for a response from Danny, explaining, “Took me a while to realize what that thing was. I can only assume magic is being absorbed naturally from where it is stored in our body and is then processed in some way, before being sent to the various parts of the cell. Why it needs to be processed, I don't know. The mitochondria is supposed to handle a few other important processes so I don't know how those is being affected. The rest of the cells’ organelles have the same crystals dotting their surfaces. Your DNA now includes nucleotides with a crystal structures, especially at the ends. In summary, your body is now a highly efficient magical machine.”

  Danny didn't know what to say and just shook his head.

  Getting up, Cranny motioned for him to follow. “Let's go check out the rest of the sanctuary.”

  Danny paused at the door to the hallway as he realized something, “Cranny, I have a body here now.”

  Cranny had stopped on the other side of the doorway to let a woman pass by. “Yes, like I said, lots of changes.”

  Danny looked back at the woman who had just come through the door. “Wasn't that woman... Isn't she that actress…”

  Cranny looked back quickly and interrupted him, “Yep, that's her, let's go.”

  Looking around Danny continued, “In fact all the women here are famous actresses... Didn't you say you created all of them? Well, except her over there. Wait, didn't we used to work with her at the lab? I remember having a crush on her...”

  Cranny’s eyes widened, and he jerked his arm up to look at his empty wrist. “Look at the time, we need to get going. There is a lot more to show you!”

  “Wait, why are all the men in red uniforms? Hey, they are the only ones in red uniforms...”

  Cranny’s voice called out to him through the now empty doorway, “Hey Danny, you gotta come look at this!”

  CHAPTER 2

  Danny walked out into the hallway of the sanctuary to see that it had taken on a similar appearance to the bridge. Gone were the familiar tall rectangular shaped hallways; now they were shaped more like a pentagon with an elongated top.

  Danny couldn't help but ask, “Are all the rooms sci-fi themed as well? What's up with that?”

  Cranny slowed down and pondered this for a moment before replying, “Yes, the rest of the rooms have taken on this similar appearance, except the library. Just the wooden panelled walls of the library now have a crystal pattern inlaid. I can only guess that this look is a combination of our interpretation of our upgrade added to our overall desire to see our previous technologically inclined world. I believe the technical term is overcompensation.”

  Danny nodded in agreement as they reached the door to the mana room. The door here was not two panels which separated, like the one to the bridge; instead, it was in the shape of a pentagon which opened like an iris.

  Walking through, they entered a small entry room with another pentagon shaped door on the
other side. To the left was a holoscreen with a plaque above it that simply read, “Runic Lexicon (6)”.

  Cranny pointed at it and explained, “This is how your runic language skill is represented. Tell the screen what you are looking for, and the appropriate runes will appear. I suspect we will need to find more of these at some point. I am surprised we were not given more by the order, but I suspect that was a test of some sort. Unless they were scared and just didn’t trust us. Stupid of them if you ask me.”

  Moving to the other door in the room, Cranny paused before entering. The expanding iris doorway revealed a spherical room with large pentagons all over it like the pattern of a soccer ball. The doorway was situated in a way that it looked slightly down into the room. In the center was a massive hovering crystal structure that randomly fluctuated between all the colors of the rainbow. Along the walls, a ring of pentagons halfway up the sphere appeared to contain different people.

  Cranny jumped into the room and, to Danny’s surprise, floated to the crystal in the center. Gesturing for Danny to follow, Cranny waited until Danny had made it safely across.

  Cranny patted the glowing crystal and explained, “This center crystal represents your mastery of mana manipulation.”

  Danny's eyes couldn't have opened any further, as Cranny continued, “It is without a doubt an effect of the change you underwent. While I would call this a serious cheat, the path to getting this was not one I would care to repeat. I haven't yet had a chance to determine what this mastery means.” Cranny gestured to the ring of pentagon “cells.” “These are your magic affinities. Come with me so you can meet them.”

  Floating across the room, they stopped themselves in front of the cell labeled “Fire Affinity (6)”. Inside the cell was another Danny, his appearance similar to the one in this new world. Bright flames poured from blackened flesh on the lower half of his body and from halfway down his arms to his hands. The top of his head was burnt as well, with firelike hair lifted up in the air similar to a candle’s flame. The rest of his flesh had a red tinge to it, and his eyes glowed with a soft red light. Danny couldn't help but imagine the destruction he could wreak if he could take on this form. The fire-Danny turned to him with a feral grin and reached out a hand as if beckoning him. Danny was surprised, as he had assumed these were immobile apparitions, symbolic Danny manikins which were showing him different affinities as though they were the latest fashions.