Spirit Investigator (6)

Edited by: Kuro and Lille

This chapter is sponsored by: A certain someone who knows their name, as well as the amazing ThisPrince! Thank you so much for supporting me and my work :D

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When Grey and Emery got to the parking lot of the apartment complex, they ran into Nora who was coming back from the agency.

The three had a lot to talk about so they went to Nora's suite where she lived alone. Emery's adoptive parents were home so it was hard to talk about important information pertaining to work. That was why they chose Nora's place.

Grey and Emery relaxed in the living room while Nora changed into more comfortable clothing. She was tired of wearing heels and a skirt all day and couldn't wait to change into some pants.

After she came back, they all sat around the couch and talked about what had happened during their day.

"I'm not surprised he asked for information on his father," Grey said as he sighed, "Do you think he will ask for a lawyer?"

Nora replied, "I'm not sure honestly. He looked conflicted. I told him what his father thought about it so he must be torn between respecting his father's decision but also avenging him. I don't know how much love he feels for his mother though."

"Well, it doesn't matter what we think he should do, as long as he's content and doesn't regret his decision, then it's all good."

Emery looked over at Nora who looked pale and exhausted. He knew that she probably ran into that demon, as she was shaking a bit but trying to calm herself down. "Nora, did you see him again?"

She always trembled after meeting that demon, it was like the demon was still staring at her, making her highly uncomfortable.

"I did, he asked me why I didn't urge the kid to take revenge on his mother. That I would've done something different, just like my mother did."

Grey knew about her "family" situation, and the horrors she had gone through as a child because of that demon. He felt it wasn't his place to say anything about it though.

"There's got to be a way to get rid of him." Emery gritted his teeth. He hated that he was powerless even with his physical body. He died saving Nora from that demon, even if he didn't remember it. Grey in his body was proof that he, Emery, shouldn't have been in this world like this.

"I know how to get rid of him, but it will take some time. I wasn't given the information on the method, so I might need to do some further investigations…" Grey felt that they should at least know this.

"What? Really!?" Nora and Emery shouted at the same time.

"Whoa there, calm down you two. I've seen Emery's memories, but for some odd reason, I can't see how Emery found the method to get rid of Nora's demon. I was told it was by sealing the demon into an object but that was all the information I was given.."

"Wait, I was the one that found the method?" Emery questioned once again just to hear Grey confirm it. He felt useless for so long, so he wasn't actually useless?

"You did, but because you found it, the demon decided it was time to kill the both of you. You died protecting Nora and she was able to successfully seal him afterward. It's all thanks to you, Emery."

Emery and Nora were in shock, especially Emery as he just couldn't remember, but he knew Grey was telling the truth.

"So I didn't die in vain…" Emery mumbled to himself.

"Of course you didn't. Do you remember what I told you both on the day I came here? Souls who get caught up in making the world progress and move onward are the most unfortunate and their souls need to be healed. Did you think you were useless because I was here to help you?

"My mission is to have you help Nora seal the demon named Jon. It's not to make up for your failure, but to make sure that you live the way you wanted to before you died."

Grey's words were impactful to Emery. He felt that the weight of his thoughts was lifted off his shoulders and he felt more free.

"What will happen to me once you finish the missions? Will I be able to go back into my body?"

"You will not be able to go back into your body, Emery. Unlike coma patients who have an opportunity to do so, your body and soul have already died the first time this world has played out. By contacting me, you have given up your right to be in this body. Once I finish the missions, you will have to wait to reincarnate.

"As for me, I can choose to stay in your body waiting until the natural death of it, or I can automatically leave this world. The body will die after I leave, so it could be considered a spontaneous death."

"I see… That makes sense." He felt reluctant, but at the same time, he wasn't surprised. The more he interacted with Grey, the more he realized that his soul did not yearn for his body any longer. All he wanted was to see through everything until the end, which meant sealing Jon.

"So you just live the lives of these people if you want to stay behind?" Nora said as she felt broken-hearted. Her longtime best friend would be leaving this world after everything was over. She didn't want that!

"It is within the contract that I can stay behind if I want to. It is a reward from the original owner of the body. Once the original soul has allowed me to come into their body, they have no attachments to their body. They won't feel a sense of longing to be in their body anymore. What they want is for their soul to heal and to reincarnate. If they stay in their body and refuse this help, in these kinds of worlds, the soul will continue to play out the same role until it is exhausted and disappears forever. Your soul will be fine, but his will not."

Emery and Nora both shivered at the thought of Emery's soul disappearing forever.

"I apologize that I made it sound like you were forcing yourself into people's bodies and living their lives like imposters. It just feels so unreal to me that there are souls who go into people's bodies and live out their lives."

"That is a valid reason, but don't worry, only one soul and body from each world is picked at a time. It's extremely rare for people like me to run into each other. Also, this contract is consensual. We don't force ourselves into people's bodies just because their soul has a chance to disappear. Emery, with the memories of his death, yearned for this… begged someone to help him change his fate so that he could make sure you stayed safe, Nora."

Well, the Villain System was different as it forcibly sped up the destruction of the souls and the world…

"I see… Thank you for being honest with us." Nora said as she looked a little flustered that she had gotten upset so quickly. She was still on edge with everything that had happened today.

Emery coughed to get rid of the awkward mood. "Well, now that we got that out of the way, let's talk about Grey and I's day."

Nora nodded and began to listen to Grey and Emery talk about how they went to Alston's home and how it had been a difficult one for the Agency to solve.

"This 'Mother' sounds like a dangerous person. We should do more research about the house's history and those who had lived there before going in." Nora wrote it down in her journal. She felt it was easier than using a computer. She didn't like using it that often and was quite basic in skill.

Grey nodded. "I agree. One wrong move and we could put our lives in danger."

Luckily, the Alston family was going to be living at a hotel for the duration of the investigation. If Grey and Nora could come to a solution on the case, all the better.

"Okay, moving on. The next one is a personal request from someone Grey knows." Emery mentioned Grey so that he could take over the explanation.

"That's right. He's my lover that's followed me from world to world. You could call us soulmates." They already know that Grey world-hopped so he didn't see any harm in telling them about God System being his lover.

"Soulmates?!" The two shouted at the same time.

"That's real?" "How romantic." Nora being the former and Emery being the latter. Emery was a bit guilty of loving romance movies and novels.

"Yes, they are real. Everyone has a soulmate (or a few), but most don't ever meet their soulmate(s). Anyway, he's in a coma right now and I heard from Emery that you are trained in helping coma patients back to their bodies, well, that's if the situation allows you to."

"That's right. At the agency, the Spiritual Agents are split into different groups. Guides are able to help people move on or go back into their bodies, investigators are taught like forensic scientists to look for clues, and lastly, the seers have incredible insight as well as some being able to see the past and/or the future. The first and last are innate, while the middle can be easily taught. There aren't as many seers as there are guides, but there are more investigators than the two combined. It's also common for us to go in pairs or groups."

The agency was an interesting place.

"I see, I would like to see how you guide people when they are in a coma if you don't mind?" Grey accidentally helped guide the client for the last case, Mr. Winter, so Nora was not able to do her job.

"That's fine, just leave it to me!"

After their talk, they decided to go see Shamir the next day and investigate the house afterward…

*****

Grey contacted Shamir's parents and notified them of their arrival. They rushed to the hospital as Grey and Nora were checking in at the front desk.

They showed their badges and were given their visitor's passes.

They decided to wait for his parents to come before they started, so they waited inside the room.

Shamir saw Grey and he floated in happiness toward the man. He went in for a hug but stopped when he realized he was going to go through Grey. He drooped his head down as though he was sulking.

Grey saw how cute the man was and finished the hug. "I'm back."

"Welcome back, Grey. I've been waiting for a long time!"

It has only been a day. His lover was still cute though.

Grey introduced Nora to Shamir and they settled around Shamir's bed waiting for his parents.

Nora was prepping for the guide and was giving Grey an explanation.

"I will recite a passage in our book that talks about how we draw our energy from the inside and outside of our body, open the door into the person's body, and guide the soul back to where it belongs. It's a strenuous process, so I may need you to transfer your energy over when I begin to run out. If we run out of energy in the middle of this process, it may damage Shamir's soul."

Running out of energy in the middle of this process was why a lot of groups had multiple people. It was rare for there to be pairs.

Drawing energy from the outside requires manipulation of energy from inside the body. It took a lot of energy to manipulate things outside of one's body, nonetheless use it to open the energy field of another person.

"I understand, I will make sure you don't run out of energy." He had a lot more spiritual energy than anyone here, so even if he went through four coma patients in a row, he wouldn't run out. That was his inference though.

"We apologize for being late!" Mrs. Holland called out to them, a bit out of breath. They had speed-walked through the parking lot and hospital and had to run up the stairs because the elevator was taking too long, so they were a little tired.

Mr. Holland was getting old so he couldn't even utter a few words as he sat down to catch his breath. He was wheezing a bit as he was not used to running. He was a businessman, not an athlete! He was hoping that his son would wake up today, so he rushed beyond his limits.

"Since everyone is here, let's get started." Nora stood up and looked over at Shamir. "May I grab your body's hand?" Consent was important whether it was non-verbal or verbal.

"That's fine," Shamir replied as he stood next to Nora waiting to see what she was going to do.

Nora grabbed Shamir's hand that was lying on the bed and closed her eyes. A different language flowed out, a language that Grey was not familiar with.

Luckily, System 225 was able to translate what she said. Of course, he was the only one who heard the translation.

[I call upon the Gods in the heavens, the forces that control the spiritual energy of our world, and the spirits of the dead to help me today to guide Shamir Holland's soul back to the land of the living.] Who the Guide calls upon was vague, as agents across the country had different Gods or God they believed in. It was to be inclusive to all the agents of each religion.

A blast of cold wind rushed through the room even though the window and door were closed. Mr. and Mrs. Holland looked around but couldn't see anything.

[Shamir Holland's soul is not meant to wander the world of the living as his body is still alive. Come, let us open his spiritual shield so that we shall guide his soul back into his body where it belongs.]

Mr. and Mrs. Holland could not see spiritual energy, but the rest of them could see thousands of strings come forth from Nora's body, and they slithered down her arms that were holding on to Shamir's hand. Those strings then covered Shamir's body into a cocoon, trying to find a doorway in the spiritual shield to force it open. They could only keep it open for a certain amount of time so Shamir's soul had to quickly go through or he would be trapped outside of his body until the body died on its own.

Grey was holding onto Nora's left shoulder and monitoring her energy levels. He did this so she was not interrupted, just as planned.

[Take my hand, I shall use the spiritual energy given to me to help you. Close your eyes, take a deep breath, and feel the forces pulling your soul closer and closer to your body. Do not fight it, embrace it. Allow me to guide you…]

She held out her other hand for Shamir to grab it. Shamir did so and felt the thousands of threads creep up his arm. It didn't feel disgusting, but it felt like it was pulling him in the direction of his body.

Shamir, though he had never heard of this language, was somehow able to understand it.

As she said this, Grey could feel her energy levels reaching her bottom limit so he slowly released his spiritual energy into Nora to keep her afloat.

There was a silence that permeated the room, but Grey and Emery could see Shamir's soul turn into a ball of light as it was being wrapped in the threads that Nora had created. Slowly, with the help of Nora and Grey's energy, it moved closer and closer to Shamir's body which was lying lifeless on the hospital bed.

It stopped on top of the cocoon that surrounded Shamir's body and a crack emerged above his solar plexus. Like a butterfly ready to leave and spread its wings, this crack was wide enough for Shamir's soul to come in.

[Shamir Holland, enter your body, and realign yourself with the world of the living!]

As Nora said this, Shamir's soul slipped into the crack and it hastily closed with the help of Nora and Grey's spiritual energy.

She let go of Shamir's hand and everyone held their breath as they stared at Shamir who was lying in the bed.

A moment later, Shamir steadily opened his eyes to see the hospital lights above him. They were bright so he tried to slowly blink his eyes to get them adjusted. He could not move his body, but he knew that there were people in the room as they hovered over the bed.

He could hear soft sobs coming from his mother, and his father asking if he was really awake.

Grey pressed the button to get nurses and doctors in the room to get Shamir checked up. He felt that he needed to comfort Mr. and Mrs. Holland as they were uncontrollably crying. "He has just woken up, so even though he can't move or talk, he can still hear us."

After this, they left it to the medical professionals to help Shamir and his parents. Grey promised that he would go visit Shamir the following days and accompany the man when he had time.

When Grey, Nora, and Emery got into the car, Grey thanked Nora for everything.

"Thank you, Nora, for helping Shamir. I owe you one."

"Hey, we're friends, so of course I am going to help. Also, you're welcome. Thanks for giving me a portion of your spiritual energy. I was surprised at your control, you could be a guide too."

"I will leave that to you, Nora. Plus, Emery's gift in investigation is something to marvel at, so I will continue to use his gift." Investigating needed patience and attention to detail, unlike ordinary people. Emery was quite gifted at it and he was an amazing hacker. It would be a shame to have him also do guide work when he already had his specialty.

Emery chuckled. "You know it! I was the top of the class at the agency."

After helping Shamir, they had a lot of work to do. While System 225 helped Grey look for the sealing technique, Grey, Emery, and Nora continued their investigations of the Alston's house.