1 Master's Heaven Sent

"Are you ready?" He asked, looking down at the girl on the table.

She resolutely nodded her head.

Thoughts raced through the old man's mind without a single change in expression. The girl noticed his stopped hands and tried to think of something to lighten the mood. As an idea popped into her head due to her quick wit, she hid her oncoming smirk.

"Master," Her brows furrowed seriously. She pressed her lips together tightly in an attempt to hide her grin. Her expression always reflected her thoughts, "I'm counting on you." She spread her arms wide as she lay on her back on the stone slab beneath her. She made sure her arms didn't reach outside of the circle. She couldn't risk the spell with her carelessness. "I want to be able to fly, you got that?" Her smirk came on full as she said this. They both knew something like that was out of his hands. "When you kill me, make sure you avoid stabbing all the way through to my back, just in case it cripples my future wings." Her eyes glimmered as she stared up at the old man.

The man faintly chuckled. "Why are you still so sure my runes are wrong? I've properly laid them out as human. You will be human in your next life."

She shrugged and shook her head at him, "You were the one who said 'human' and 'bird' were most similar and could be EASILY MISTAKEN for one another..." She rose one eyebrow at him, "I wonder who it was who messed up the runes for the greenhouse and turned all our food to roses that one year?"

The old man shook his head. "Well, if you do end up a bird... Maybe I will end up eating you." He backed up out of the circle and checked over his work for the n-th time. Of course, he was only doing so to delay what had to be done.

The girl gasped in fake shock, "You wouldn't!"

He shrugged. "Who knows?"

She groaned and crumpled her body into fetal position. Being careful not to spear the runes, as usual. "Now I wish I'd studied memory manipulation! I'm sure there's some legendary spell out there that could transfer memories from one world to another!" She paused, pointing out the most difficult part of the equation, "With a specific target... that has yet to be set..."

They both knew how ridiculous she was being. Neither of them even knew what bodies they were going to end up in in the next world. How could they create a magic before their death, that would activate after their death, and follow their soul through the veils they passed, and somehow latch onto the host body and incorporate itself all on it's own? That was far too much. Even simply targeting someone required preparations in advance, the target before hand, runes, a complex magic circle, racial magic, or/and a chant depending on which spell is used. That would be the simplest part.

Though the magic they were currently attempting wasn't much further out of the bounds of impossible.

All she could hope for was that her soul could retain some level of her current intelligence.

The two didn't notice the quiet around them as they both entertained their own thoughts. The thoughts and emotions that raced through their minds like a tornado. Everything they were working towards, everything they hoped to achieve, everything that could go wrong... The girl thought about her past that brought her to this moment and everything she'd done for it. She wondered over her future. The old man's emotions and thoughts were just as complicated, if not more so.

One thing they were both certain of.

This was not science.

Science was a specific profession. Based on facts and tests centered around constants and their variables.

This was certainly not science.

After all, there was no way to 'check their results'. After they went through with it, it was done. There was no turning back and there was no knowing how it had gone. They could only put their theories to the test and cross their fingers.

The old man sighed and leaned back on his heels. He'd delayed as much as he could. "Alright." He stared at his circle of runes, not daring looking the girl in the eyes. "You ready?"

"Chirp, chirp. Gotta remember to wake early, right?" She giggled. "Otherwise I'll die of starvation! ... Again." Her eyes darkened. "GO!" She screamed and tensed her body, her teeth clenched in a smile.

The runes were already shining. Magic flowed from the crystals into the circle, activating it.

The girl turned her head to get one last look of the grey beard and dull blue eyes she knew so well.

She couldn't see him through the flash of light. Just like that, she was gone.