Dual Soul Reincarnation

Chapter 6 - Noble Causes

[The Voice]

Zirana spent more of the following day rescheduling out her next month or so of work. She still worked in rest days and even marked time for me too. I tried to argue against it, a little out of guilt and a little out of concern for her already tight schedule, but she wouldn't budge on it, even arguing that it could exacerbate our little emotions issue, which I couldn't argue with. She then went to meet her father to discuss how to proceed with this potential demon case.

Having time to think, the King too felt that caution was the best course of action and that we should act as if some new demon was roaming around the castle at every moment. What followed in the first week was a series of changes as we learned more about the threat. At first it was a simple warning to the entire castle: if you appeared to black out for any period of time, you were to immediately report to the nearest guard and explain everything. This was rather effective, as on day three one of the top cooks reported and an investigation found that a dish intended for the princess had been poisoned.

This was enough to sway many of the advisors in taking this threat seriously, which allowed for Zirana to push for temporary changes to the confines of the castle dungeon's cells to make any prisoners as a result of these possessions more comfortable. They did not want to release them for fear of the possibility of them being preferable options for the demon. Release from the castle was discussed, but it was feared that throwing them out without a job was just as dangerous and that His Majesty would prefer to be able to have them working back in the castle as soon as this was resolved.

The first week was the most productive. We had run-ins with about three more possessions before things stalled. Soon came another rest day.

~

"Now Martin," Her highness spoke happily, "normally I would simply ask what you wish to do for the day, but I do have a few errands I couldn't fit into my schedule even with all the planning I did."

We were standing in front of her vanity. Zirana handed Lazuli a potion she had pulled out of a drawer next to her vanity. She had actually pulled out two, leaving me curious as to what she had in mind.

"That being said," she continued, "these are rather trivial tasks in what I think might be an enjoyable excursion for the both of us."

Wait. Excursion? I said, a mix of shock and worry coating my voice.

"Yes." She said before quickly drinking her potion, Lazuli following suit.

We both watched in the mirror as a transformation began. Very similar to the spell that dissolved Zilmish's disguise the previous week, tiny sand-like particles began to envelop the princess starting from the top of her head. It was kind of creepy actually, like tiny grains of reality were seeping out of her body. Oily and frayed auburn hair began to form which led to me focusing on the hair in general. I then noticed that from the bottom of her hair particles seemed to break off and float outward before disappearing a short distance from her. This process continued at every point on her body. The most disconcerting part was at her face, where entire features moved to different places, leading to different points in time where she would have half of her original body part and half of the disguised part.

Similar in fashion to her hair, her dress also shaved off various parts while adding in other place, eventually becoming a rather average looking set of clothes. A dark-red tunic and pair of baggy brown pants with noticeable wear.

By the end of it, she was brown eyed woman, with short-cut auburn hair. Her face looked completely different, the most notable feature being the series of freckles running along her now smaller nose.