The Psychoplasm - The Shadow's Awakening (Book 1)

By Hassan Rizvi

In a world of individuals defined by elements, a stray, undefined Elemental had been created. However, after triggering certain events, his memory had been wiped out, twice. The novel is centred around his experience as he reincarnates as different Elementals, slowly building up his hatred, before changing his approach and being reborn in his original body. The undefined Elemental strives to remember who he was, what he did to trigger such memory swipes, and what his purpose in life is, while a body of darkness slowly takes over the world...

• Language: English
• Publisher: Hassan Rizvi
• Release date: Feb 14, 2022
• ISBN: 9781005578312

Book preview

Chapter One: The Last Des’bo

I enjoyed life, albeit fully aware of our isolation from the outside world. I was young and was treated with care. I had friends with whom I could play. My time was enjoyable. The last moment of calmness I remembered was that of fixing together blocks of darkness in an isolated, low-ceilinged building.

I think it goes there... a voice mumbled. One of my friends.

I don’t think so. That makes it look ugly, another friend responded.

Don’t miscla-calc- m-m... miscalutate my understandings, he responded. I blinked.

What does that mean? I asked.

It means that you guys should believe what I say he responded smugly.

O- I started, staring outside the large window ahead of us.

Did my ex-excellence get to you? he asked.

L-look, I responded.

What the-! Another friend exclaimed. Before I knew it, I was unconscious.

I awakened in a decorated room. A voice cursed.

He’s the one. I shall entrust him. the voice decided.

B-but dear! You said out childr- a female’s voice responded. ‘Female?’ I asked myself. There were no female Des’bo.

I understand, but I cannot reproduce, darling, the masculine voice responded.

D-don’t worry-,

I understand what I’m doing. Do not worry. He will take my place,. A crash was then heard. The masculine voice cursed. Get them all out! The voice screamed before another voice was heard. The new voice was a sly one. I heard running. The woman had run to ‘get them all out’. Two men now stood in the room.

Well, well. Seems you’re the trash that stole her from me, the sly voice started.

You never deserved her-

Sh! I won’t hear another word out of that- hole, king,

Why? What happened? Why would you attack?

We have mystic weapons.

What? Wh-

I want to kill you,

Could I have a reas-

I want to kill you now.

Please! I want to know wh-

You stole her. You stole my girl

I- he paused, then cursed. S-she got in the portal, didn’t she? he muttered to himself. I- I can’t believe my stupidi-

Die! the sly voice interrupted. I heard a cutting sound, and then a grunt.

Do it. End me. I was stupid. I neglected my duties. Dark Skull. You may go. Leave, now!. I then fainted, confused. Before dying, I remembered strange pink blades floating around.

Chapter Two: First Life

I have many names. I was often classified as one of the last Des’bo. However, I was no Des’bo now. I was Sparx; an electric Elemental.

I found this out after hearing a conversation between my parents and a doctor. I slightly opened my eyes, witnessing an electric glow surrounding my body. I sighed within myself. What was happening? I realised many years later, when I had grown enough, that I had reincarnated as an electric Elemental. I knew not how, but it had happened.

I was then in my reading years. This level was not too far off my educational level before death, but I still already knew how to read. Therefore, I took an approach in which I was assumed to be a reading prodigy, although I had no care for reading.

At school, we learned about many things. We learned about Elemental history, how to speak, science and many more various subjects. I had taken an interest in history, and this was how I had interpreted general history about my race: The Des’bo (shadow Elementals) are a species that supposedly destroyed the equilibrium between the Elementals, as they were formed entirely of the forbidden shadow element.

The Elementals were the ruling power over the world, having kings to rule over the planet. The kings boasted incredible strength and immortality, making them almighty powers, second to none. However, regardless of this, they often had ranks of warriors constantly surrounding and protecting them. This initially made groups of Elementals cynical, and, therefore, revolted against the kings, which contributed to causing the greatest ancient wars. However, after many years, the cynicality had been reduced to virtually nothing, creating unwavering levels of trust through the kings and Elementals. The immortality of the kings also assisted in this level of trust, as Elementals knew these kings have been leaders for countless generations. However, the shadow Elemental kings died after long-ruling periods, wavering the trust of the shadow Elementals with the king slightly. This level of trust (the level of that with the Elemental kings other than the shadow Elementals) was established three hundred thousand years after Elementals came into existence.

However, the shadow Elementals and gleaming Elementals reincarnated after death, meaning they essentially lived forever. Many other Elementals were afraid of them just due to this. The kings being able to live immortally was a privilege only for themselves; a whole species being immortal was almost unthinkable. They were also the most powerful Elemental species. As such, they were isolated and treated as beasts through a declaration stated in the year 313,014. In desperation for friendship, the shadow and gleaming Elementals ‘took sides’; they formed treaties (often one-sidedly; the Elemental kings only accepted them through the fear that they could be destroyed if they did not agree) with the element they thought was the most optimal. Due to this, certain elements had unfair advantages over others despite the fact that many of these elements may have had a natural elemental disadvantage over others. For example, the fire Elementals had control over half the Elementals in existence, including control over the earth and water Elementals, which were considered to be deadly counters to the fire Elementals. However, with the assistance of the majority of the shadow Elementals, they maintained dominance over these Elementals.

Therefore, two centuries after isolating the gleaming and shadow Elementals, a unanimous vote amongst the kings eventually led to the eradication of the shadow Elementals. The gleaming Elemental were left alone, as they did not pose much of a threat. Although the fire Elementals were reaping benefits through the shadow Elementals, they were fearful of the overwhelming power embedded within them. At the start of planning this disaster, they dubbed shadow Elementals the title ‘Des’bo’, an ancient terminology long forgotten in historical texts. A handful of kings were vaguely aware that it was a discriminatory term and so they used it accordingly, not stating the meaning of the term publicly. They portrayed the word as a word with actual meaning, not mentioning its use as discriminatory terminology. The shadow Elemental king was not present at this meeting, and he also was not aware of the meaning of the terminology. Therefore, he resisted minimally as the terminology slowly seeped into the roots of the Des’bo until, after many centuries, they treated the terminology as if it were their true species name.

The fire king, in sacrifice for most of his empire, contributed to eradicating them. It was disguised as a disaster at that time. However, as time passed, the Des’bo were thought of as villains. The truth was slowly unravelled without causing waves of criticism to spread throughout the Elemental kingdoms as Elementals now naturally despised the Des’bo. This continued to such a level where the world was clearly aware that the kings were wrong, but still supported them as they despised the Des’bo to that extent. I did not know exactly how they slaughtered us in a way that did not allow us to reincarnate. I was supposedly one of the only survivors of this calamity. However, after I died to those strange and ominous pink blades, I reincarnated after a few decades. The story was that the shadow Elemental king had stolen the wife of a water Elemental general, and then the situation I had been in before death had made more sense.

Through the spirit, the Des’bo knew the amount of time they were ‘dead’. We then took a ‘spirit’ form for five years after our ‘death’, which allows us to see the world for five years after death without a physical body almost as if we were ghosts.

I knew vaguely of the gleaming Elementals, but I did not believe that they were in a state so similar to ours. I felt a pang of empathy. I remembered something from my life as a Des’bo about how gleaming Elementals purposefully tried to keep their numbers down to divert attention directed towards them. At the time, I thought they were stupid for doing so. However, after hearing this story (that I barely believed), I realised that they made a wise decision.

Outside school, my socialisation was scarce. After the assumed death of my friends, I was too afraid to interact with others my age. Therefore, I lived a boring life, returning home daily to study and going to school to study. I went out to restaurants when my parents invited me, but apart from that, my life was a repeated routine. I enjoyed studying, especially history, because I could laugh at how the stupid government had thought and talked about the Des’bo.

I started to pay more attention to the electric element at around fourteen years of age in this new body. I enjoyed the Spell Science subject in particular. However, I grew up within my house instead of moving out like many other Elementals I knew, my parents neglected me, and I died young.

Before dying, I remembered a lecture; the first lecture I paid any attention to.

Does anyone know what the spell ‘Stealth-Shock’ is? my teacher asked. No response came from us. I was confused, as I had assumed I knew all of the electric spells by this age. My teacher smirked. No? Well, we’re going to be learning about it today. my teacher opened his notebook before looking at us. So, Stealth Shock is an alternate form of ‘Spark Bomb’, which is a combination of ‘Triple Shock’, ‘Double-Bladed Edge’ and ‘Electromass’. These three spells you have already studied with me, so I won’t go over them again for now. However, ‘Stealth Shock’ is an interesting spell. It utilises water as a catalyst so that it spreads out, covering a wide range. Now, why is water a catalyst to spread electricity? the teacher asked. A student raised his hand to answer the question. However, this last question was irrelevant for me. To summarise, Stealth Shock allows the energy source of the user to remain fixed in a certain place. The surrounding electricity, although it does not do much damage, blocks the target’s senses so that the user can move freely, as the user’s energy source is located in a fixed place (the place the user used the spell). I found this lesson interesting and made a mental note to test this spell later. To conclude, I never tested this spell. I was also interested in how stupid the teacher was, as he did not know the cause of the energy source being fixed on the spot. I remembered mentally laughing at how stupid he was for not understanding his own element properly.

I then reincarnated as a water Elemental.

Chapter Three: Hydrus

When I reincarnated as a water Elemental, I paid attention to ‘Elemental Breakdown’, a period I had studied in which children, before the age of five, were isolated due to their overflowing internal energy and their lack of energy control. It interested me that it was possible to beat the elemental king as a child, as they were theoretically more powerful than one.

My life was bland, and my hatred for elementals grew. However, once again, I had taken interest in ‘Spell Science’. I remembered a particular spell known as ‘Ice Shard’.

Children, what is ‘Ice Shard'? silence followed the statement. Idiots! It is a water-type ice spell. Combination of ‘Cold Splash’ and ‘Cold Current’. Listen carefully! I will not repeat. Their temperatures are infectious, and they both near zero. They freeze, and a weak ice weapon can be used. it was a useless spell in my eyes, but it was one of the water-ice borderline spells. I wondered why such a useless spell was so important in the element.

Chapter Four: Steele

They say it was the name of the metal king, but I did not care. I wanted to die. I wanted to be a Des’bo again. As Hydrus, I had committed suicide. However, before doing that again, I was planning to memorise the metal elemental tree and potentially cause some mischief within the country. I wanted to be part of something significant relating to the destruction of those who had destroyed us.

’Generate: Metal’. We’re rich. Do you know why? ‘Generate: Metal’ allows us to produce any metal. Anything. We can build the best stuff. We can sell the most gold. We are gods compared to others. Remember that. I remember my Spell Science teacher informed me. I belched. What a useless spell; purely cosmetic.

Chapter Five: Aire

Some people said it was a girl’s name, I did not care. I, once again, desired death. However, it seemed that, as Steele, getting involved in gangs was a good idea. I had triggered international trauma. Tensions between relations. I could spark a war. I smirked. I wanted to progress on the war effort more in this new body. Being murdered was not what I had in plan as Steele, but it had happened. There was nothing I could do about it.

’Black Hole’... you know what, today’s lesson is about artificial gravity. As gas Elementals, we can create an artificial sense of gravity through spells like ‘Atomic Pull’. We can literally force people to move. We can control gravity, children. my teacher started. I would not let him continue. At least not for me. I blocked his voice out of my thoughts and focused on building up the war.

Chapter Six: Flore

As Flore, I was more appealed. I had died a war-like death as Aire, executed at the hands of devils just before the war commenced. The action led to the commencing of war. After my ‘Elemental Breakdown’, as Flore, the war had ended, and I was satisfied with the detrimental results.

’Grassy Cerberus’. That’s the spell we shall cover today. It involves plants that move. Imagine that huh? Carnivorous herbs... You know what? That should be a spell name. Anyway, Planty Cerberus is a deadly spell that... I was no longer listening. Was he so stupid that