Chapter 19: Astral Plane

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In the past two weeks Edward had learned quite a lot about magic, and although he was far from being able to say he had mastered even the basics of magic, he had focused on subjects that would help him change the human body.

This was both for his serums and to find a way to break the Human Limit with his Chi. The second objective wasn't achieved yet, but the first one was, so his serums could be called products made from both science and magic.

Magic allowed him to understand many things about magic, one of which was how the DNA was forcefully controlled and changed to fit what the user wanted.

The body and the soul were deeply connected, but not equal as the soul lorded over the body, and Circe was changing people into animals by manipulating their soul, changing their Soul Form. One's soul, or Astral Form, looked the same as the body in normal cases.

Thus, Circe was changing the shape of their soul to become animals, so their body, their DNA, changed to look like their soul.

For the first Lizard Serum, he didn't know that, and it was why it ended up becoming a defective product. Edward was forcing the body to go against the soul for his first serum.

The serum had worked well on a relatively less complex creature such as the rat, because it's soul was weaker than a human. However, when Connors took it, his body managed to fight the physical change for a week, even regrowing his arm.

But after a week, his DNA couldn't fight his Soul anymore, and thus he transformed. So for the next Serum, the Elephant Hybridization Serum, he made sure that the serum would only provoke the changes he wanted to happen.

As for the Lizard Anti Serum, he didn't need magical knowledge to complete it because they were only infected by a defective serum, not a complicated magical spell from a legendary witch such as Circe. Obviously it was simpler to give them their original form back.

Something to note though was that despite the soul having a stronger influence on the body, the body could still influence the Soul Shape. For example, if someone loses their arm, then their Soul Form would also lose their arm.

Anyway, the point of this explanation was, since the soul was involved, then it would obviously react to the drastic change. No matter how much the Soul Form changed, the core of the soul would remain the same unless another stronger force influenced it, which was a whole lot harder to accomplish.

For example, the people turned into lizard hybrids, although they weren't really conscious of their actions, their souls still witnessed everything that happened, and determined the change to be a harmful one.

Thus, when the Anti Serum changed their Soul Form back into humans, their Soul Core did not fight, and the process was harmless, they felt pleasure and relief from deep within their soul.

For Barbara to feel pain as she turned back into a human… It meant that her soul, her true self, did not want this change. Did not want to become human once again.

Despite knowing this, Edward didn't say anything though, it wasn't time to worry Diana, he could tell her later.

But Barbara didn't seem to want to go along his plans as she started screaming while her skin turned back to a human's "Stop this! No! Don't leave me!"

Edward felt his hand being crushed a little harder, and Barbara's struggles proved to be useless as the final patches of fur disappeared, revealing the naked body of a blond haired woman.

The binds from Stephen disappeared, and the woman threw herself at Edward with hysteria as she shouted "GIVE IT BACK! IT'S MINE! GIVE…"

Edward knocked her out with a sigh. He looked at Diana, and as expected, she looked horrified. She looked at him in the eyes, and asked "Edward, what happened?"

Edward remained silent though, he knew that telling her would tear her, and although he knew leaving her like that, not knowing what happened to her friend, would be worse, if he could delay the terrible explanation by a few seconds…

"Edward! What happened?!"

Edward sighed and looked at Stephen, who nodded and disappeared in a portal alongside Barbara. Now alone, Edward took Diana's hand, noticing his hand maybe really had been broken by her earlier as he felt the pain, and said "How long have you known her?"

Diana replied "For years, she is my best friend." It was Edward's turn for his hands to grip Diana's a little tighter as he dropped the bomb "While transformed, the hybrids do not control their actions, but their soul, their true self, is aware of what they are doing. If they are repulsed by what they did, then ejecting the abnormal physiology and mindset will be a huge relief. However, if they liked what they became, then…"

Diana's face quickly switched between horror, disbelief, grief, anger, and many more emotions as he talked. Seeing she wasn't moving or saying anything, he tried to hug her, but Diana took a step back and said quietly "I need some time." And she disappeared.

Edward sighed, and a portal appeared on his right. He walked through it, and Stephen said "You did everything you could to help her. You can't help her more than you already did. It's not your fault she got lost in her own power."

Edward shook his head and said "Failing, especially after working so hard, is hard. It's rareness makes the blow even harder."

Stephen snorted and said "Praising yourself even now, I think you're fine. Come, I want to show you something cool."

Edward expected Stephen to open another portal, but he instead sat down, and Edward saw a translucent version of Stephen appear from his body.

Edward sat down too and the two flew out of the building near instantly. As the Astral Form isn't restrained by the laws of physics, it could move at mind numbing speeds. Well, actually, at the speed of thoughts, but the concept was a bit foreign to the average restrained mind.

Stephen formed a chain that connected Edward to himself, and Edward suddenly had a weird feeling as his surroundings changed.

The world became extremely colourful, until Edward realized it wasn't his world. They were travelling to other dimensions.

As they flew, Stephen said "Wonderful, isn't it?"

Edward nodded, and said "Indeed, it is. To think those beautiful realms hold such dangers, such monsters…"

Stephen smiled and said "The price to pay to see such wonders, is to protect Earth from those inhabiting them. You know, many give up and go live ordinary lives."

Edward looked at Stephen, who shrugged and said "It's not really surprising though, many seek Kamar-Taj to be healed, not to fight for Earth. This includes me. The majority leave once they obtained what they sought, getting a second chance at life."

Edward asked the sorcerer "Why didn't you?"

Stephen smiled and replied "One of my cool moments. I realized the futility of my life before this. Not as a surgeon, of course, but the way I lived it. Fuelled by greed, power, money… No, I wasn't just fuelled by them, I was an addict, a slave to them. Like many were before me, and many others will be."

Edward smiled back and said "I'll admit, it's a bit cool."

Stephen laughed and asked "What about you? What set you on this path?"

Edward shrugged and replied "I didn't really have any big realization, nor was I imbued with a great power that turned me responsible, it was more… pushed into me."

Looking at a nebula they passed by, he continued "I was an ordinary person less than a year ago, but then I was attacked by an assassin because I was Diana's neighbour. Then, I went to a dojo to train myself, and I had to stumble upon the one martial artist in New York that practice Chi and was willing to pass it down. Then, everything happened by itself, stuff would happen everywhere I went."

Edward sighed, and added "Sometimes, it feels like it was just fate who put me there. As if things had to happen this way, I had to train martial arts, I had to help create a monster, I had to become a hero…"

Stephen approached Edward and said "If there is one thing I learned through my years of tutelage under the Ancient One, it is that there is no such thing as fate, or a predetermined future. Agamotto once said: 'As abstract as it seems, time is nothing more than a concept of reality, and like all concepts, it is not set, but incredibly malleable.'"

Stephen finally stopped, and thus so did Edward, in front of a giant void filled with no stars, but different kinds of structures of all colours. Before them was a platform on top of which a big magical array.

Stephen then looked at Edward and said "Basically, he meant that time is not definite, and can always be changed. Some people, many of whom are Sorcerers, try to divine the future, or change the past, but no one can have a full grasp over time. Hence, no one can absolutely control another's fate."

Edward nodded, and asked "So is time travel a thing?"

Stephen chuckled and said "It is, and in different forms at that. Neophytes of time manipulation better stay away from it though, as it is hardly a good thing to do. Sorcerers mostly use a safe way of time travelling, although we try to avoid it as much as possible."

Edward raised an eyebrow and asked "And what is that?"

Stephen only smiled though and said "You will learn of it when the right time comes. My advice for you is not to meddle with time, although I guess I don't have to worry about this with Serenity."

Edward rolled his eyes, and asked "Yeah sure. So, where are we?" Stephen looked around and said "The Astral Plane. I find this to be a great place for relaxing and thinking. It is also a place where the soul has far more powers than in any dimension. It can be a fun place to experiment in, if you know what you are doing."

As he said that, a giant version of him appeared in the void, imitating Stephen's Astral Form. Stephen grinned and said "Don't abuse of this place though, it's a playground, not a lab."

Edward nodded, and the two of them returned to their bodies at a much faster speed. On their way to the Astral Plane they took a lot of time because Stephen wanted to show the wonders of the different dimensions to Edward, but they only crossed a single dimensional barrier to get back to their bodies.

As they both awoke from their trip, Stephen said "The book warned about not going to random dimensions without any means of defending yourself, but this also applies to this dimension, or even to this Earth. There are many people capable of seeing and hurting a soul."

Edward nodded as he got up, and Strange handed him a book as well as a strange double ring that connected two fingers together.

Strange said "Before you leave, this is the spell book for teleportation, and a Sling Ring. This is a very practical spell that will allow you to move anywhere on the globe with only a little bit of focus, and doesn't require any kind of contract. You won't have to walk the way to the Sanctum or be dependent on me to get books. I am a busy man."

Finally, he created another portal that led to Edward's and Diana's apartment, and said "Miss Prince has already left, so here you go. I hope it's the last time I create a portal for you."

Edward snorted as he walked through it "How considerate busy Sir."

Author's Note: Wow, you did an amazing job yesterday! If you can keep it up today too, we're gonna burst through the rankings! Thanks for the reviews too!