Soul Bound

I awoke later that evening to silence. I did not have any dreams during my slumber, nor do I really want any. The only dreams I'll probably get are just going to remind me of my fathers death. Then again, without any dreams, I'll come to the conclusion that I won't want any dreams because it would remind me of my father's death, and remind me of my father's death. It's a paradox that I can't fix, but the more I try to forget, the more I will remember.

I sit up from my sleeping position. Now, because of my rest, I am full of energy and sleeping my day away is no longer an option. Oh, I know what I can do. I found that book yesterday. Or was it today? I can't tell, sleeping in the middle of the day confuses me. Well, let's go see what it has to say. I think I'll just start from the beginning though. I don't really care about the master level enchantments anymore.

I stand back on four legs and stretch my muscles. All this stress is making my bones hurt. I walk over to where I had dropped my satchel on the ground and ruffle around in it to find the book. Upon finding it, I pull it out of the satchel and begin inpecting it. Now with more light, I can get a better look at the book. This time looking at it, I can see that the cover is engraved with a certain symbol that covers the front and the back.

I take the book and walk back over to the couch, plomping my self down next to the arm so that I can hold up the book easier. I inspect the cover once more to see if I can spot anything different or new. Everything seems the same, let's get started then. Opening the book, I move past the contents page and onto what looks like the first chapter. Actually, is a chapter called a chapter in a tome? Is this considered a tome? I'd consider it a tome. Is there a difference between a tome and a book? Stop! Don't get distracted. Starting.

Introduction and basics

Hello young earth pony and welcome to the new and exciting world of enchanting. Before we begin, let me tell you that enchanting is not an easy activity. At some points, it may even disgust you. But if you are detemined to enter, then let us continue. Enchanting works in three steps. Capturing, designing, and applying.

Capturing: Capturing is the task of finding and containing magical energy. This step will be covered much more in depth in the second chapter.

Okay, so they are chapters. That's good to know.

Designing: Designing is the task of creating an enchantment. Some enchantments are already given in later chapters but designing your own is possible, it's just a lot harder and failure is much more likely. It is recommended to stick with the preset enchantments until you are an advanced enchanter. This means mastering all novice and intermediate enchantments. In the step of designing, one must use their knowledge of magic while considering the attributes of the magical energy they have contained. With practice, more advanced enchanters are able to sense the attributes of the magical energy, but without this sense, one must figure out the attributes based on where the energy came from. Some magical energy may be stronger or weaker than others. Designing an enchantment is very difficult and must be taken cautiously.

Applying: Applying is the task of exactly what it sounds like, applying your designed enchantment. Applying is almost always performed the same way, excluding a few master level enchantments. First, one must take their designed enchantment and hold it in their mind, clearing it of anything else. Next, you must touch the chosen piece and will it to change; will it to be what you have designed. Finally, you must complete the task. This part will be the most difficult to do and will involve to transfer of one's contained energy. This may take several tries and will leave the enchanter totally exausted. Only the most advanced enchanter can perform an enchantment without being fatigued. How fatigued you are is also based on how much magical energy you may exert.

Your final warning is to not over exert your capabilities. If one exerts to much energy, they have the chance of ripping their own soul out. Many ponies have died trying to go all the way.

Welp, that's a lot to take in. I scim over the steps a few more times to make sure I can remember everything. The next few pages of the book tell about the history or something of enchanting and why it's needed. I really don't care about that right now. I might come back to that later. From what I can tell about this book's age, the history of it doesn't quite seem as useful as it once may have been.

I wonder what it means by different kinds of magical energy. From what I know, there's only three types of magic. Chaos, Harmony, and Passive magic. Maybe it means that the energy of it's type will base what kinds of enchantmkents are available, Like Chaos magic will create a destructive enchantment. Well, I guess it should tell me what it means in the next chapter. Moving on.

Capturing

Like I said before, capturing is the task of finding and containing magical energy. Before I tell you how it's done, let me give you a little magic lesson on enchanting. Unicorns are naturally gifted with the power of magic, along with this gift, they are given easy access to enchanting using their natural magical output. Earth ponies on the other hoof, have no connection to magic. This makes enchanting nearly impossible and finding the magical energy to do so even harder. But through long study, we have discovered that earth ponies do in fact have connection to magic through the life force of other beings, so enchanting is still possible for us, just very difficult to ensue. In order for an earth pony to gain and use magical energy, they must absorb the soul of another being. This sounds scary, but the soul is transfered into magical energy and contained by the earth pony. The energy is not a living soul, nor does it have any affect to the earth pony containing the energy.

In order to extract the soul from another being, the being must be nearly dead anyway. In fact, the closer to death the being is, the easier the extraction becomes. But that also comes with the fact that if it dies before the soul is absorbed, the energy will disperse, making it unabtainable.

Before going into the steps needed for captuing a soul, remember that an enchantment is based upon what creature you absorb the soul from. For example, a bird's soul will be more equiped to enchant something to move swifter and lighter, while a dog's soul will be more equiped to give a forceful and powerful enchantment. The enchantment's strength is also based on the will of the soul. An elephant soul will have a more powerful enchantment then a racoon soul.

Holy crap, I have the ability to absorb souls. That sounds awesome! Kind of messed up and slightly evil, but awesome! I wonder if this was sopposed to be that part where it said it would disgust me. It doesn't seem too bad. Maybe a little bit against most pony's morals, but nopony will care if they don't know about this stuff right. Yeah, I think it would be best to keep this secret for now. Someponies might think that I'm performing necromancy or some dark art mumbo jumbo.

On to the subject of capturing a soul though, where would I find a strong soul to use? I mean, I guess I could capture some while out hunting with Dandy tomorrow. Wait a moment. Isn't there a nearly dead pony in my basement? Yeah, I'm sure that would put his soul to a better use than just sitting there awaiting death. I'm sure this would be a lot less painful than just letting him die naturally. Than again, I wouldn't be gaining anything if I just let him die. Yeah, I'l just steal his soul, he wasn't going to be needing it much longer anyway.

With that, I close the book and shove it back into my satchel. I strap the satchel back on and head for the door. I walk out and close the door behind me. I continue walking but I get tugged backwards. I turn around and pull cape unstuck from the door and then go to the basement. I open the door to the basement and say, "I've come back to steal your soul."