Chapter 6: The Marking And The Soul Anatomy.

Finally, the royal trio arrived before a door. Alex's father opened it and they went inside. There, in the well-lit room, a fairly young man sat on a couch to the right. He stood up and Alex's mother lied Alex down on the couch.

"I wonder where your crest will be." Elara's voice said within Alex's mind.

"Me too. Also, who is that man? He's really young, I doubt that he's a wizard or something. Maybe some student that came to watch?" Alex responded to Elara. He wondered who that man could be. He wasn't in the room when Alex was born.

"Actually, it is the wizard." Elara answered and Alex got confused but also scared. Is he going to die? Does this guy have enough control over Xen to do it correctly?

"Wait, wait, wait! Hold on a second, this guy is going to give me that crest? What if I die?" Alex quickly asked, at which Elara calmly answered,

"No, you will not die. Magic exists, did you forget? He's using magic to restore his body to that of a 20 year old."

"Oh, that makes sense, I guess." Alex said.

"So, what will be his name?" The wizard asked Alex's parents. Alex's mother looked at Alex's father, then back at the man and answered.

"Alex. His name will be Alex." The man nodded and stood over Alex, looking down at him.

"I was given the same name as I already happened, that's rare, right? I mean, with the amount of names there are." Alex said to Elara.

"Not really, I kinda manipulated your parents' memories and made them name you that. It's easier to not change what I call you." Elara answered. She also added,

"Get ready, it's gonna hurt."

"Wait, what do you mean?" Alex asked confused, and in that moment the wizard began the ritual. Alex kept asking Elara what she meant, but got no answer. Suddenly, he felt pain, not on his physical body but on his Soul. It felt burning hot and freezing cold at the same time, he felt like his Soul was getting destroyed yet only the surface of his Soul was having the crest imprinted on it. After less than a second the pain stopped, but he could've sworn that it was more than a second.

"W-what the hell was that!? What happened!? Why did it hurt!?" Alex asked.

"Well, this 'Identification Crest' is just a different application of a spell that was used to mark slaves. It creates a connection between the Soul of the one casting this spell and the Soul of the person being marked, which allows the caster to take on some of the marked person's physical traits. For example, hunters kept human-cat demihumans as slaves and marked them with this crest, which created a connection between their Souls. Through that connection, the hunter was able to temporarily copy some of that slave's physical traits, such as the eyes or ears, which allowed for easier hunting." Elara explained after combining her knowledge attained from analyzing Alex's father's memories and the crest itself.

"Alright, so it forms a connection between my Soul and this guy's Soul, is that what hurt me? He doesn't look hurt though." Alex asked, pointing out that the young-looking wizard was not in pain at all.

"No, the formation of the connection doesn't hurt, but you don't want to be his slave, right? Basically, he cut the connection, which is just your Soul and his Soul extending towards each other, as soon as it formed, which is what made you feel pain." Elara explained further.

"Ah, okay... Wait, how come it hurts me but not him if the connection is both of our Souls?" Alex asked, again curious why the wizard didn't feel pain.

"Because he cut the connection on your side, so it only hurt you." Elara answered.

"Alright, I guess." Alex said. His mother picked him up and the royal trio went back to where they came from.

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"So, can you tell me where my Identification Crest is?" Alex suddenly asked as he was being carried down the hallway.

"It's on the palm of your right hand. It covers your palm and will continue to grow as your body does. It's pretty small for now." Elara replied to Alex's question. Alex tried to move his newborn body, especially his hands in a way that would allow him to see his right palm. Finally, after a moment of struggle caused by trying to use muscle memory of a 16 year old body in a newborn body, Alex could see his right palm. There, a small blue mark in the shape of a dragon towering over a mountain range could be seen. The details of how it's supposed to look like is how Elara described it to Alex, because the pattern right now is too small to notice any finer details.

"That's so cool! Does that mean I'll be working with dragons or something? Like training dragons or something?" Alex asked excitedly, already imagining himself flying high up in the sky on a dragon's back.

"Nope. It's just a symbol, nothing more, nothing less." Elara said, instantly crushing the young man's dreams of being so close to dragons every day.

"You're so mean. Can't you play along or something?" Alex responded in a sad tone. Elara sighed and responded,

"Actually, there are actual jobs that allow you to interact with dragons. But you're a prince, remember? You'll probably have some government job or something." Alex got even more disappointed, knowing that such a job was so close yet he wasn't able to do it.

"Alright, that aside, what else can you tell me?" Alex asked after a moment of silence.

"As in?" Elara asked.

"As in how the magic works, or how Souls work, or anything useful?" Alex explained.

"Ah, magic. I have no idea right now. I'm trying to analyse it but can't for some reason." Elara responded, earning an internal gasp from Alex.

"You don't understand something?! How is that possible?" Alex said, almost completely shocked that this entity who would answer all his question didn't know something.

"Who do you think I am? I'm not all-knowing, all my knowledge comes from analyzing things or people." Elara explained, her tone of voice annoyed a bit.

"If I knew how to then I would've gotten out of your Soul and erased your memories from mine." Elara quickly added.

"Well, you did say something about analyzing my new parents' memories and bodies, I guess..." Alex said, the moment he described going through his mind.

"Again, that aside, what do you mean by 'gotten out of your Soul'?" Alex asked after a moment. In the next instant, Alex saw a small orb in his mind.

"That's a Soul. More specifically, your Soul. Look at this." As Elara finished her sentence, the Soul was cut in half. Alex's newborn face went pale, earning a concerned look from the maids around him.

"Wait! What the hell are you doing to my Soul?! Put it back together before I die!" Alex screamed at Elara.

"Calm down, it's just a realistic representation of your Soul. A normal Soul can't be seen by physical beings. And you, obviously, are a physical being." Elara explained calmly and Alex let out a sigh of relief.

"You better tell me thing like these in the future!" Alex said, feeling blood return to his face.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Anyways, see these different colors?" Elara asked and Alex looked at the split orb. There were three different colors, the outer layer had a bright yellow color. The one in the middle an orange color and the one in the center was bright blue in color.

"The outermost layer is called a 'Soul Casing'. It's the first defense in case something or someone attacks your soul. The attack would have to be very precise to cut through this layer. You can live without this layer, even if it's completely erased. And also, it's on the surface of the 'Soul Casing' that the 'Identification Crest' appears." As Elara explained, the yellow layer lit up slightly.

"The one in the middle is called a 'Core Shield'. It's the last defense. You can live without this one too." Elara explained and the orange layer lit up instead.

"And the one in the middle is the 'Core'. It contains all your personality, memories, consciousness and things like that. I myself live within your 'Core', here." Elara said and zoomed in to the representation of the 'Core'. There, a smaller Soul was dimly glowing.

"That's my Soul." Elara said as the small Soul lit up. Alex nodded and was suddenly transported to the 'Incomplete Complex World'. Now in his teenager body again, obviously.

"Hm? Need me for something here?" Alex asked, confused as to why Elara transported his there.

"I'll show you your actual Soul, not just an illustration. Don't worry, you won't die." Elara explained and Alex's Soul appeared. The surface was just like in the representation, yellow and completely smooth, except for a symbol of a mountain engraved into it.

"What's that symbol about?" Alex asked as he reached out to the symbol. He thought that his hand would phase through his Soul, but surprisingly he touched it and moved it a little.

"I told you earlier that the 'Identification Crest' makes a symbol on both the physical body as well as the Soul. As for you being able to touch the Soul, in this dimension nothing really exists, including us and your Soul." Elara explained and also touched Alex's Soul.

"So basically, we and my Soul are on the same level in the sense that none of us exist?" Alex asked Elara and grabbed his Soul with both hands.

"Yeah, basically that." She replied.

"Also, since I live inside your 'Core', I can also die if your 'Core' is destroyed. Or I'll separate us if I have time. Just know that if I die, it's your fault." Elara added matter-of-factly after a moment of silence.

"Woah, hold on a second. If my 'Core' dies, then you do too? And how easy is it to destroy the 'Soul Casing' and 'Core Shield' exactly?" Alex asked and let go of the Soul, scared that he'll damage it. Elara, seeing Alex remove his hands, rolled her eyes and squeezed the Soul really hard.

"Don't worry, it's not that fragile. You could attack it with as much energy that all objects in the universe have combined and not even a scratch will appear." Elara responded and also let go of the Soul, which disappeared an instant later.

"W-what the hell, that's super durable. But, what about that symbol? Wasn't it engraved into the surface? Just how strong is that guy?!" Alex asked, now worried about where he found himself.

How is this wizard guy strong enough to scratch his Soul, let alone leave such a detailed symbol? Are there more of them? Are any of them hostile? All these questions were running through Alex's head, who was getting more and more scared with each passing second.

"Again, don't worry. The guy can't use attacks of this strength on a normal basis. Even now, he is still very tired and because of how deep the symbol is engraved into your Soul, he probably collapsed from exhaustion the moment the door closed after you left." Elara explained, trying to calm Alex down a little. To her, it was kind of funny seeing Alex worried over what she knew was nothing, but the ability to hear and see Alex's thoughts was annoying to her because of how many questions he was asking himself.

"Oh, that's good, great even." Alex said and places his hand on his heart, calming down.

"But you still have to be more careful than the average person in order to not damage your 'Core'." Elara said, earning a questioning look from Alex, who thought about what Elara said and responded,

"Because I'm from the royal family and I'll be more likely to be targeted?" Elara shook her head and said,

"Nope. It's because of how your Soul is different than everyone else's in this world. The people in this world were created by some higher being, they were meant to be there and thus had their Souls made in a way that the 'Core' doesn't depend on the physical body and is a separate thing. The universe that you come from is different. Your universe was created as empty, with no life on it. Over countless years life evolved, and humans appeared. Their Souls are makeshift and 'Cores' attached themselves to the humans' sentience within their physical bodies, meaning your 'Core' is dependent on your physical body for survival." Alex's head hurt for a moment.

"So... basically my 'Core' is attached to my physical body, while everyone who lives in this world has their 'Core' separate from their physical body?" Alex asked cautiously, trying to confirm if he understood correctly.

"Yes. that's it. And because of the connection, physical damage to you can travel all the way to the 'Core' of your Soul and if it's strong enough then it can change your personality, memories and some others." Elara said calmly.

"I... get it. I think." Alex nodded his head, conveying understanding after a few moments.

"Sweet, because I'm not explaining it a second time." Elara responded as she waved her hand and teleported Alex's consciousness back to his physical body.