Jigsaw puzzle

She pulled back and kept glaring at him. Damien was confused and frightened so he couldn't even think about what it was she meant. Karathya entered a relaxed, upright stance that would allow her to perform a dodge or an attack depending on the situation. But nothing happened.

"I asked you a question. what in the outer will's name are you?" she lost her patience and cleave the table in two with one hand.

Damian tried to stand up and simultaneously step away from the threat. he succeeded in neither. he failed to get up, since the energy he received was gone as fast as it had come, and to back off because the chair was in his way. he fell on the floor and tried to crawl away.

That pitiful sight snapped Karathya out of her frenzy. she tried to apologize but before she could say anything an alarm started glaring. A white energy bubble engulfed Damian and white chains materialized to restrain Karathya. She dodged the first wave and also the second. before the third could materialize INT floated inside the room.

"I've had it with you. I'm trying to be a nice host even though you showed up unannounced and try to destroy a safeguard of my house. yet you still insist on breaking my stuff. what the fuck is your problem." The bursts of white energy that radiated from INT underlined his outrage perfectly.

"I could ask you the same thing. what the fuck did you do to this child." Karathya pointed at Damien: "he was supposed to be a normal human. how the hell did the sage manage to turn him into that."

INT had no idea what she was talking about, but he knew that, even though she rarely used her brain to its full capacity, she wouldn't be upset because of a small matter. He scanned Damian with his mystical senses to try to discover what the sage had actually accomplished by ripping his body to shreds and reassembling it anew.

"What do you mean. there is nothing wrong with his … by the great mother. That crazy bastard really outdid himself this time." INT couldn't believe what his unimaginably precise senses we're picking up.

They perceived magical energies of any kind and depicted them as different colors or other visual effects depending on their nature and intensity. to his mana sense Damien had been practically non-existent when he entered the house. there wasn't even the slightest fluctuation to be measured.

Now instead, Damian looked more like a proper living being too his perception. every cell in his body was filled with varying amounts of magical energy that was completely still. just waiting to be used for a purpose.

The second thing the sage had added was a proper energy signature that every individual, sentient creature had to possess. it was generally referred to as life force. even though things like plants we're technically alive, the lack of any consciousness or life force disqualified them as sentient.

Life force was something completely unique. Like a fingerprint, there were no 2 life forces that looked the same. from shape to color there was always a small difference. members of the same species would generally have similar looking life forces in shape, but they were always distinguishable from each other.

At first there was no difference between Damian's energy signature and a normal human's. at a closer look, though, it was just a façade. It was a multicolored mist that recreated the typical form of a human's life force. it took considerable effort to part the mist and gaze at the last masterpiece the sage had left this world.

The life force INT could perceive from Damian was something like a badly put-together jigsaw puzzle. it consisted of many different dots that glowed like stars on a background that was so black that it gave the impression of sucking anyone in that looked at it. there were also thin threads of varying colors that attempted to bind the stars together to a sort of constellation.

The problem was that the threads were cut in some places. this hindered them in doing their task. The stars were also moving around like they had all a mind of their own. sometimes they collided and bounced off of each other. some of them tried to merge into one but in the end, they failed and repelled each other.

For someone who was versed in the appearance of life forces this was a bizarre sight to see. It contained many properties from completely different life forms. the threads were normally the mark of humans and other humanoid species. they were supposed to shift and form new shapes. representing the ever-changing nature of those life forms.

The stars on the other hand were the mark of powerful beasts that, while intelligent, also relied more on their instincts and strong will to remain mostly stagnant and steadfast. They wouldn't bend their beliefs or doubt their own actions Unless strictly necessary.

They were also less adaptive or treacherous. they preferred a straightforward way of thinking that would bring them to their goal as efficiently as possible. nonetheless their life forces were supposed to be made of 1 singular big star that radiated the power they had. no matter if physical or magical.

The black background was the most puzzling. Normally it would have belonged to individuals that had defied the natural order and were shunned by every other race. even the outer will itself consider them fools for overstepping their bounds.

The disdain for this race had a sound foundation, though. no matter which race they belonged to before their transgression, they would evolve into entities that could do nothing else except sucking the life out of anything they came across.

They were a destructive force of nature. resembleing a lesser version of a black hole for energy. nothing could withstand their touch on its own. the life force of these beings was generally represented as a black Whirlpool that pulled everything in that got even remotely close to it.

The black background of Damian's life force was similar but was also very different. just like with the stars it wasn't just one Whirlpool. there were many of them that exerted a pull on the stars, trying to draw them in.

When they came too close for comfort the threats would pull them back and positioned them so all the whirlpools around the stars would exert the same degree of force. making the star sit still for a moment until it itself decided to move again.

It was like watching a bizarre Galaxy that functioned on its own rules, not giving a damn about the natural principles that dictated the life of every living being in this reality.

INT felt dizzy after gazing at Damian's life force for too long. Karathya shouting at him was enough to make him focus again and stop his analysis.

"If I ever get a hold of that lunatic, I'm going to end him. life force is not a play toy. it admittedly looks way more interesting than a normal human one, but you have to set boundaries somewhere."

"I'm getting a splitting headache just from looking at that. did you know anything about this." she pointed an accusatory finger at INT.

"Are you crazy. I'm also having a hard time looking at this. not to mention that I have no idea how it actually works and how he still looks like a human being. in theory it should be the closest thing to impossible there is. I've heard of two life forces coexisting to a certain point, but these are hundreds upon hundreds stacked together."