"So what exactly are you? You kinda look like a weasel or meerkat with bat wings," Kayo asked, skipping over stones, "And can apparently shoot wind, rocks, and possess people."
"I spirit, did think that obvious."
"Yeah, well, where I'm from, we don't usually get spirits unless they're booze."
The meerbat, with a tone that suggested confusion, asked a question of its own: "What mean? Spirits everywhere as I know. Where you from?"
Kayo thought for a moment. Would revealing he's most likely from a different world be too risky? Spirits and magic seemed to be the norm, judging by the spirit's tone, but as far as he knew, just being an otherworlder could get him executed down the line.
Better play it safe, at least for now.
"I'm from a distant land far far away. We're quite isolated from this here place. In fact, I don't believe any of our people ever stepped foot on your land... Or know it exists."
The meerbat took a moment of its own to ponder on that thought, but ultimately decided not to push it further.
"If you won't dwell on it, I will, because my question is sort of related. How did you learn my homeland's language? Or is it some form of magical translation, courtesy of the mind?"
"Spirits access mind of host, and I learn language from your. But I can tell it incomplete. That because your mind fogged."
"Fogged? In what way?"
The meerbat's voice took on a hint of fear, "Actual fog over mind. Can't see further than surface thoughts, that why I bad language. Can only get bits and pieces and words, not rules and grammar."
"Shit, I'm more secretive than I thought."
"No," the meerbat continued, "Is not privacy, is protection. Strong one."
"So you can't read my mind, but you'd be able to otherwise?"
"More complicated than that, but for sake of easy, yes."
The spirit in my mind is a bitch-ass motherfucker.
No response.
Alright, either he's just good at seeing through me, or my mind is somehow safe from invasion. Cool.
"…Do you trust me?" Kayo asked, a question he wasn't planning to.
"I do. You save life. Why?"
"Even if you can't read me? I could be plotting how to get rid of you every second, especially now that I know you wouldn't be able to tell."
"No benefit to that. Pact temporary, can't push it. Magic rules."
Honestly, I expected a lot more paranoia from something that almost got eaten, but I'm not complaining!
"Very well, that's very nice of you, I suppose."
"You trust also?"
"I have no other options," said Kayo solemnly.
"Suppose that true."
Suddenly, the two of them came to an intersection. A three-way one.
Right is always right has already failed me here once, I can't keep gambling on chances forever.
"Left," the meerbat blurted out of nowhere.
"Are you sure? How would you even know?"
"Wind slightly stronger through it. Must lead to opening."
"You can sense wind that strongly?"
"I am of the wind and stone. It extension of body. Metaphor again."
"I have much to learn about spirits, huh?"
"Yes. Can teach you."
• • •
"So if we made a real pact, I'd get wind powers?" Kayo asked, trying to comprehend the mechanics.
"No," the answer was blunt.
"No?"
"You get teacher, can make learn 'wind powers'."
"Nothing can ever be for free, huh?"
"Never."
Can't say what I was expecting. But a cheat skill or whatever these isekai things usually do would be more than welcome.
There were so many more questions Kayo wanted to ask, but too many of them would most likely just make him even more suspicious. He was already a stranger from a land this spirit never heard of, speaking an alien language, and apparently has some form of protective spell on him despite not knowing magic existed.
Fortunately though, his silence was broken by distant light.
I really hope that's not a cave angler fish or something of the sort.
When he came closer, it truly was an opening, but too small to fit through.
"Don't suppose you could magic this thing open, eh?" Kayo asked half-jokingly.
"No, can't."
He stopped, "You can't? What's the good of you when you can't do the one thing you're apparently natural at?"
"Not when inside host. Spirits act on material when summoned. No body, no hands, metaphorically talk."
"So we're stuck here."
"Also no."
I'm getting sick of this.
"Okay, if you have an answer to something, I want you to just say it. You don't have to wait for me to ask the proper question."
The meerbat giggled, "Fine, fine. Can't magic from here, but if you not strong enough to break yourself, I can teach quick easy spell to do."
"Thank you, was that so hard?"
The meerbat denied, seemingly not grasping the idea of sarcasm yet. Kayo sighed deeply before calming down a little.
"Very well. What do I have to do in order to magic?"
• • •
Kayo sat on a nearby stone, eyes closed, away from the light peering though. He mustn't be distracted by anything, not the tiniest bit of interference, according to his backseat driver. That was simple enough when the whole cave was as good as dead, but clearing his own mind of all thoughts was much harder. He was so used to background noises in the kitchen that he subconsciously never had a quiet, cear mind. At least the meerbat had the decency to be quiet.
"I can't do it, there's always something in the background," Kayo complained, "Usually a song."
"Try think of blank color and TV static, then slow fade it out."
"Yeah, I can tr- Hold on," Kayo opened his eyes and stood up, "You know what TV static is?"
"Yes...?" the meerbat sounded genuinely confused, "Have TVs. This world and spirit world both do. Why you assume we don't?"
Kayo was too embarrassed to admit he'd assumed he was in some kind of pseudo-medieval fantasy world. How would he even describe 'medieval' had he been right?
"Well, I- Nevermind that, I made an assumption I shouldn't have. I'm sorry," he stuttered out before sitting back down.
This is what I get for trying to speedrun magic.
• • •
Hours passed since he began failing repeatedly. Sometimes, his thoughts stacked instead of emptied. Sometimes he sat a bit weird, distracting him just enough to break his concentration. Sometimes a stray noise down the cave made his adrenaline spike, expecting the four-legged thing to show its ugly mug again.
"How long is this supposed to take?" Kayo was becoming increasingly impatient, being so close to the outside and yet so far, "Because in the case I'm trying to cram weeks or months of training and meditation into less than a day, I've got bad news for you: I don't think that's possible for me."
"I meet people who do in less than hour. Other do in less than day. Is not long, just hard."
That made Kayo's motivation drop a little. He really expected it to take at least entire weeks to awaken to magic, so this could've been an opportunity to discover some one-in-a-billion talent if he got it faster. But no, the world had other plans.
"I'm gonna try one last time. If it doesn't work, I'm hitting the hole with rocks until it becomes bigger."
The meerbat reluctantly agreed and let Kayo do his thing. His final attempt brought him back. He thought of that black, inky void he 'saw' when he first died. He tried to recall the utter sensory deprivation of the dark water without any of the pressure, without the eyes. He knew it was still watching him. That feeling lingered ever since he woke up, but his mind pushed it into the background enough since then that it became part of the nothingness.
Kayo opened his eyes angrily, wanting to shout about giving up... But no words came out. The cave around him drifted apart like a house of Lego, the world outside shone brighter than the Sun, and the sky was water. Lightning strikes circled him, but he could never see or hear one. He just knew they were there. He stepped through the gap where the cave's walls used to be, and when his foot touched the grass... All was back to normal in a flash, with one exception: he was outside. Next to him stood the meerbat, fully manifested. With a smile and a small gesture with its paw, it flew off like a fighter jet.
"Wait! Come back, what the hell was that?! I need answers!!!"
But the spirit did not look back.