I joined Bombasar and Jalani in the backyard of the Salty Winds after father escorted me there. The Witch Doctor had the distinct air of a man who did not want to be present, and he made that clear.

“Prince, why teach this outsider the arts?”

“So what if he learns a little?” Bombasar said. “How else can he understand how great we are?”

Jalani grumbled something under his breath, but I didn’t mind. I looked around the backyard. It was evening and rather gloomy. There were lanterns flickering in the wind and the murky green grass had almost a gray hue. To my surprise the backyard contained a rather large cemetery. Thick fog idly wafted between the tombstones. In the middle of the rows of tombstones was something weird.

There were tombstones scattered in a loose circle. Inside the circle was a stone altar between lit torches.

“What’s that?” I asked.

“Well, now,” Bombasar said. “That be an altar for a spirit. Bombasar uses it for talking to one. A big one.”

“What do you do with spirits exactly?”

“Bargain,” Bombasar said. “We form contracts. De spirits be people. They be having their own business. So we talk, joke around, maybe trade favors. See if something can happen.”

“Tsk,” Jalani said. “That be not how it works. There be contracts, pacts and agreements. You be different because of Skill Evolution.”

Bombasar leaned towards me to whisper conspirationally: “He got it backwards, mon. There be Skill Evolution, because Bombasar be different.”

I shared in his smile with delight. “I know. I have a Skill Evolution.”

“Hah! Bombasar believe you! Now, what you know about dem spirits?”

“I know there is one in the house you gave my family.”

Bombasar frowned. “Ah, that so? Jalani you remember anything about this?”

“Yes, the old smith lived there?”

“With the wooden leg?” Bombasar said. “He became a spirit, huh?”

“He is making a lot of noise,” I said. “Maybe he doesn’t like us being there?”

“Ah,” Bombasar waved a hand impatiently. “Then you better learn Spiritcasting and deal with him. Now tell me, what you know already?”

“I know there’s different types. And I know they use mana.”

“Everything uses mana, boy,” Jalani said dryly.

Bombasar waved a hand. “Why don’t you show him some Spiritcasting, Jalani?”

The Witchdoctor muttered some words under his breath and the shrunken skulls on his staff started to rattle. They let out a low guttural groan and soon a white, bony hand burst out of the nearest grave. Clacking and rattling, a skeleton rose from the grave and walked next to Jalani.

“Wow!” I said. “That is so cool! How does that work? Is that necromancy?”

“Nah, mon,” Bombasar said. “It be Spiritcasting. See, the buried here, they be Bombasar’s men. Jalani made a pact with them.”

“What kind of pact?” I asked Jalani.

He frowned at me, but I could tell he liked to explain things. “These be spirits of the fallen. Bombasar retrieved them from the sea. They get burial and offerings. In exchange they help when called.”

“And what about your staff?”

“This be a fetish,” Jalani said. “That be where the pact is stored.”

There was a lot to know. Naturally I asked exhaustive questions. I learned that Jalani had made what could be called a binding pact. That meant that he had full control of the spirits when he called them. This was only possible because these were spirits of their old crew and they had agreed to it. Based on the level of Jalani’s Skills and Class he could command multiple spirits or call stronger spirits. He was especially adept at controlling wind spirits, of which there were many around Pirate Islands. If you were low level, you could only command the spirits to do simple tasks. It all sounded a lot like necromancy to me, but when I suggested that Jalani was offended.

There were other kinds of pacts too. They all had a lot of rules, which Jalani enjoyed explaining to me. Maybe because he could tell they confused me. Spiritcasting seemed to be based on some kind of ritual casting. Bombasar, however, seemed dismissive about pacts. He seemed to prefer bonds, which were looser and based on bargaining.

“Now,” Bombasar said. “First lesson. You be trying to sense the presence of a spirit here.”

Bombasar hoisted me on his shoulder and lit a candle for me to hold. Then he walked to the skeleton.

“Old Bolo be there,” Bombasar said. “Or part of him at least. If you be having talent as Spiritcaster, you will sense something."

I closed my eyes and meditated. It was really hard to resist the habit of using my Mana Sight. But I knew instinctively that it wouldn’t help me here. I did see some action going on around the skeleton. It was clearly being animated because of mana. This was totally necromancy!

Anyway, I didn’t see a spirit though. I focused on the skull of the skeleton, because I figured that was where the spirit was. I just tried to listen. I fell deeper into the meditative state and just breathed and let my awareness expand outwards. Maybe my Heightened Senses helped. But after a while I heard something; a whisper or a sigh.

I opened my eyes and looked at the skeleton. Something flashed in my vision. Like a shadow of a movement. A flash of something. I gasped.

“Oho,” Bombasar said. “Quick study, this one. What you see, mon?”

“Tsk,” Jalani said. “It has only been a moment. He be seeing nothing.”

I ignored them both and just fell back into trying to sense Bolo’s spirit. It took some trial and error, but I think I got the process down. It was like trying to listen at a frequency. It was easier for me to do it through listening, rather than sight. I combined my meditative skills and Heigthened Senses and kind of just… tried turning a radio knob until the static was replaced.

There! That sigh again! I held this state, this frequency of the mind. Then I slowly opened my eyes.

I saw it then. A wispy gray light bobbing up and down inside the skeleton’s skull. It sighed, and I could tell it noticed that I noticed it. It sent a pulse of emotion. It was dull and and generally disinterested.

Hello.

I grinned and waved at the spirit. There was another pulse of emotion. That seemed to please the spirit. It was happy to be seen and treated with respect. I sent a pulse of emotion back. A question. What was it like to be a spirit?

This seemed to be too complicated for Bolo. There was a dull pulse back. Something of a shrug. I asked he Bolo knew how to control mana. Pulse back said no. Bolo could only control the skeleton. I asked why only the skeleton. Bolo said because that was what he was connected to, and that was what Jalani’s staff said. I asked a few more questions like this before the spirit grew annoyed at my questions. The skeleton rattled its teeth and I lost a sense of connection I had with it.

[New Skill Obtained: Spirit Communion (uncommon)!]

Description: Allows the user to perceive spirits and communicate with them through projected intent and emotion. Higher levels improve the clarity and reliability of these exchanges. 

[Spirit Communion Level 1!]

[Attribute Unlocked: Spiritual Power]

Spiritual Power: The strength of a person’s spiritual influence. Increases the force carried by their projected intent, their ability to manage spiritual connections.

[+2 Spiritual Power]

“You see old Bolo?” Bombasar asked.

“Of course he cannot,” Jalani said. “He will need days.”

“I got the Skill,” I said.

Bombasar grinned. “Amazing, boy! You be having a knack.”

Jalani looked at me with wide eyes. “Liar. Not even I learned it in an evening.”

I shrugged. “Bolo told me your contract contains him to be able to only use the skeleton.”

Jalani flinched. 

Bombasar laughed and clapped his Witch Doctor on the shoulder. “It be like that, no? The boy saw the spirit and even made it talk. And not only that! He immediately bombard poor Bolo with his questions! Haha! I saw them pulses.”

“Tsk, this be dumb luck,” Jalani said.

“Maybe,” Bombasar said. “We better see if you can do it again, boy.”

“What does this Skill do exactly?” I asked.

“Just what it says,” Bombasar said. “You be needing to know a spirit be there. And you be needing to talk to them. It be the same with people, because that is what spirits be.”

“That is not how it works, Prince,” Jalani said.

Bombasar shrugged. “Works for me.”

Jalani shook his head. “Spirit Communion be about finding attunement. Spirits be of the same world as flesh, but different floor. You must call them and tell them you want to communicate. Rituals and offerings are needed to compel them. If you do it right, they will come.”

Bombasar shook his head. “You be teaching the boy wrong. Spirits be on the same floor. Once you be seeing them, they come and talk.”

“That only works for you!” Jalani said. 

They started arguing about the specifics of spiritcasting in a pretty heated manner. I didn’t listen because the core of the argument was crystal clear to me.

Jalani relied on structure. He needed protocol, etiquette, rituals and pacts. He called the spirits and communed with them and offered mutual benefit. I suspected the spirits weren’t naturally interested in him, which was why Jalani thought they lived on a different floor.

That was not so for Bombasar. The man was a living force of nature. He just waltzed in the middle of spirits and declared that here he was. And the spirits would be naturally interested in him. This told me that just like everyone had their own path in the pursuit of magic, the same applied to spiritcasting, which of course was indeed another branch of magic.

And I had already discovered my path. It was just simple curiosity. 

While the Trola argued, I closed my eyes and listened again. Now it was different, because I could feel my new skill activate. Because of it, I could now cast my spiritual awareness further. I could still sense Bolo in the skeleton, but he sent a pulse of disinterest towards me. I only acknowledged him politely. Then I noticed a bunch of spirits.

There were half a dozen of these wispy things above Bombasar and Jalani. They were laughing and following the argument. Sometimes the spirits would argue with each other about something Jalani or Bombasar said. Then they noticed me watching them.

I was sent an overwhelming amount of pulses of emotion. Who are you? How do you see us? Dangerous? Prey? Initiate? Friend of Bombasar? Friend of Pirate Islands? Pact? Wanna see a trick?

The spirits swooped on me and it was a bit unnerving. There was a sense of mischief and a bit of danger. I could sense that one of them wanted to try possessing me. I immediately sent it a pulse of resolve. Come and try it.

The spirits flinched back and started sending pulses back rapidly.

Oho, strong will! Young Spiritcaster! Student of Bombasar! Treat this little lord with respect!

The spirits laughed, like it was a game, and I joined them and sent a pulse of mirth. They seemed to like it and they invited me into a strange game of sending rapid-fire pulses of emotion to see if I could keep up and always send the opposite pulse. Question? Answer. Cold? Hot. Strong? Weak. Beautiful? Ugly. Yellow?

That tripped me up.

“Uh… green?” I muttered to myself. The spirits all burst into pulses of laughter and swooped away into the winds.

[Spirit Communion Level 2!]

[+2 Spiritual Power]

Bombasar looked upwards at the spirits leaving and smiled to himself before interrupting Jalani.

“You be right as always, Jalani,” he said. “But Bombasar be his own man, do things his own way.”

“I know this,” Jalani said. “But if you are going to teach the arts to the boy, at least do it right.”

“It be looking to me like he a natural,” Bombasar said. “You noticed?”

“Noticed what?” Jalani said.

Bombasar just shrugged and patted me on the back. “Now then. How you be liking Spiritcasting?”

I grinned with excitement. “I think it’s very interesting. I want to see more.”

“Mmm, interesting,” Bombasar mused. “It can be that. But it be a serious art too. How about we up the ante?”

“What do you mean?”

Bombasar started walking towards the altar in the middle of the cemetery. “Bombasar be showing you the guy he bargains with. The big spirit.”