From Corpse to Crown: Reborn as a Mortician in Another World-Chapter 75: The Threads that Fray

He was an excellent mortician, but Lucian had never thought of himself as a teacher before. It was a simple task to quote rites and design glyphs. He could even dissect spiritual thread, because he had slowly been gaining skills like a seasoned mortician...but none of it was designed to be taught.

Like most students, he was given sets of things to memorize, not a script for mentorship. But still, Alice sat cross-legged in front of him. He could have sworn her eyes were sparkling, and he could almost see her heart beating triple-time beneath her ribs.

He couldn’t snuff out such enthusiasm. That would be cruel--and besides, she had the ability to draw glyphs.

So he adapted.

+

They were in the Garden Above Ground again, but in a patch of dirt instead of the rock table. It would be a learning experience for them both. Alongside him was the Echoheart Grimoire, open this time, to a section called "Simple Glyphs for Trainees."

He used a regular stick to draw a wide arc in the dirt. "This glyph is for emotional containment. But you aren’t suppressing it. It’s like a jar instead of a lock."

Alice leaned in, fascinated. A few minutes in, she already asked for a small break to grab some paper and a quill. He nodded, and Merry, watching them both, smiled.

"Remember when you asked me questions about glyphs?"

Lucian made a face as they waited for Alice to return. "I already grasped the basics--that’s completely different."

She laughed so hard he thought the hair stick keeping her dark blue hair in a bun was going to fall off. "Beginner or advanced, doesn’t matter. There’s always a little nervousness. I didn’t want to teach you anything wrong either."

Alice returned a few moments later, and the lesson continued.

Lucian was sketching slowly now, making sure she understood each step.

"All right. This circle is to anchor. Then you draw the inward spiral, to gather. Finally, to hold the glyph, you add this hook at the end."

WIth each line he drew, the chalk shimmered with faint magical power. Alice watched closely, her eyebrows knitted. "I thought you said it wasn’t suppression?"

"Yes," Lucian agreed. "You still feel it--but the hook shapes the way it leaves your body."

He completed the glyph and it glowed with soft particles of golden light, like it was remembering something. Without looking at her, he said quietly, "The notes say it’s a gentler rite, when you have to put children to rest."

Lucian’s Grimoire responded to his words by flipping to the right page.

[CODEX: GENTLE RITES FOR CHILDREN] 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

Emotional Containment: Used for children who never got to regulate their emotions. Morticians permitted to cast: Lucian, Merry, Elian

She visibly flinched at the weight behind his words. "I’m surprised Elian’s permitted to draw this one."

"Just because he tried to hunt me doesn’t mean he’s a total monster, I guess. One redeeming quality." Lucian deadpanned, and Merry giggled. He dusted his hands off and gestured to a clean space of dirt beside his glyph.

"Now you try."

Alice read through her notes before picking up a piece of chalk.

"Okay."

She drew the circle, slowly and deliberately. Lucian noted her strokes were much cleaner than his. When Alice reached the hook for the spiral, she hesitated. Her hand was frozen above the glyph.

It trembled, and the chalk snapped in half, bouncing onto the cobblestone floor of the gazebo.

Lucian and Alice didn’t move, both waiting for the other to react first. When neither of them did, her shoulders started shaking.

"I wasn’t thinking of a child," She whispered. "I don’t know what I’m trying to contain. I’m still afraid."

Lucian pulled a second piece of chalk from the box and put it in her hand. "That’s perfectly fine. We draw the glyph, but sometimes we don’t shape the emotion. Spirits in this world still talk, remember? Or it just might be the glyph, telling you what it is."

She swallowed hard. "What if it tells me something I’m not ready to face?"

Lucian smiled softly.

"That’s called growth. Your magic is getting stronger. Facing it is how you level up, but you don’t have to right now if you don’t want to."

I just didn’t have a choice. Lucian thought bitterly, but wanted to give Alice that chance. She was just a beginner, after all.

Alice tried again. This time, the second glyph didn’t shimmer like Lucian’s.

Instead, it pulsed with a soft warmth, like warm breath from the dirt.

Alice stared at it in awe. It held, and held strong.

She laid her hand over the center and focused.

Lucian watched like an ever-patient guardian. Her shoulders stiffened for a moment, and then her fingers curled.

But then something magical happened.

Her shoulders and fingers relaxed, and he watched as the glyph turned a bright pink before it faded into the earth.

Alice exhaled.

"For a second...I was afraid of not being real," she whispered. "that I was just made to be a puppet. A Hollow."

Lucian was completely caught off-guard. "I...well. How do you feel now?"

She turned to him. "I think... I’m just beginning."

Lucian opened his mouth to answer, but the Loom and his Grimoire stirred violently.

He opened both his hands, palms up. "Show me."

The Grimoire pulsed once and flipped its pages.

[CODEX UPDATE: SYNCHRONIZING WITH GRIEF LOOM]

Aura shift has been detected.

A new presence is approaching.

IMPORTANT: They are marked by sorrow and faith. Their repentance is incomplete.

LIFE PERCENTAGE: 50%

DEATH PERCENTAGE: 60%

Lucian’s brow furrowed. "110%? How is that possi--glyphwork. Merry, have people used glyphs to increase their magical potential before?"

The druid mortician nodded, but concern colored her voice. "Only in the olden days, when they thought tattooing glyphs could make you invincible. It was true, by the way. But there was a chance the glyphs would tamper with your body. Sometimes they rejected the morticians."

He glanced toward the town of Staesis. Somewhere, Elian was traveling toward the town.

And if I remember correctly, the path I took was through Candlemere. So he might be at the edge of the waxen fields.

Elian was once again on his tail, but it didn’t feel dangerous enough for an attack.

"Whatever happens, Lucian, we’ll be ready for him," Merry said softly.

+

Candlemere

-

Elian’s coat had bits of wax and pale ash sticking to the edges, but he didn’t mind. It was comforting, having remnants of his childhood stuck to his present. His own cane sank slightly into the soft soil as he approached the Tallowman’s workshop.

Elian’s cane had runes of copper instead of silver on it. "Increased conductivity," The Spymaster explained. "You need less energy to create the same glyphs."

He had a feeling the Spymaster was just lying through his fangs, but didn’t argue back then. Elian wasn’t supposed to have opinions in Atreaum.

In Candlemere, the wind smelled like dried flowers and applewood smoke. Much more pleasant than the Crown’s incense.

There were no guards.

No glyph traps.

Just one door, slightly ajar.

Elian knocked once.

The voice from inside was warm. Gentle.

"If you’ve come to confess, only the first story’s free."

Elian chuckled as he opened the door.

"Well, I have a long one for you."