Transmigrated as a Ghost

Following Lyra through the underground passageway that led to the heart of the castle, their group took many twists and turns that Marcus felt would be impossible to navigate.

He wondered how Lyra could even remember the way, but after around an hour they made it to a mithril door that Lyra opened up with ease, revealing another hidden room that was under the castle.

'Yep, looks like no one has been down here in quite some time.' Lyra said over telepathy as she dragged her finger through a thick layer of long undisturbed dust that sat on one of the tables in the room.

After that Lyra directed Marcus to the stairs that led up to the false wall that would allow them entry into the castle.

'Wish me luck,' Marcus said right before passing through the wall.

On the other side, he quickly recognized the room he was in as one of the many cellars that were used for storage in the castle.

'Guess I did not search hard enough.' He thought, since he had missed the hidden passage.

Still, it was understandable that he would miss it since it was covered by many shelves full of different alcohols and seemed completely unremarkable.

Quickly Marcus scouted out the surrounding areas and found that they were empty and devoid of any people.

'The coast is clear, you can come in.' Marcus sent back to Lyra via telepathy.

A few moments later when he reentered the cellar, he saw the wall and shelves on it move forward before sliding away to open up the passageway.

Both Lyra and Marek then walked inside, naturally still invisible, and Lyra swiftly closed up the passageway behind them.

'When I was here yesterday your cousin was busy working in his office. I believe there is a good chance he is there or if not, it is likely he is with his family in the nearby bedroom.' Marcus said giving his directions.

'Okay I will lead the way. Make sure to stick close to me so that none of the detection formations go off.' Lyra said.

However, as she began moving Marcus stopped her and said, 'That is the wrong way. Volos and his family are located on the other side of the castle.'

With a confused tone Lyra said, 'But the duke's room is this way. It is the largest and best protected in the castle. I think I know my own house the best.'

Yet as Marcus explained it to her, Lyra soon realized that her parents' old room was now empty, and her cousin had taken up his quarters on the other side of the castle where important visitors used to be housed.

'I do not know if he has done it out of respect for your parents or he simply feels unsettled by being in the same room. But he has not taken up residence in their old room.' Marcus said to Lyra giving his thoughts on the matter.

And as she heard this a smile slowly formed onto Lyra's face, as she wanted to believe that her cousin had done this to honor her family, especially if he was still the man she once knew.

Now knowing where her cousin was staying, Lyra expertly led the way taking them through back areas that were less patrolled by guards, and soon they were standing in the end of the hallway where his room was located.

Unfortunately, they had now met their first roadblock, as standing right outside the room were four guards who were all at attention.

Each of them was at least level thirty-five, and the strongest was at level forty-one.

Certainly, this was no threat to any of them, but they needed to handle this carefully as to not cause a huge uproar in the castle.

'Lyra do you recognize them.' Marcus asked wondering if maybe diplomacy was an option.

Sadly, it seemed that she had never seen these guards before, so that option was out.

'If I open the doors for a few moments, do you think the two of you could slip by unnoticed?' Marcus asked after having come up with another idea.

Both Marek and Lyra told him that they should be able to do that with out any problems.

Marcus then told them his plan, and the two of them readily gave their consent.

'Okay be ready. Once I give you the signal, I will open up the doors, but I cannot keep them open for too long without it being suspicious.'

After saying that Marcus slipped into Volos and his family's chambers and went straight for Volos' office.

Just as Marcus figured, there he was working on a stack of paperwork with heavy bags under his eyes.

'Sorry. But I will be taking over for a couple minutes.' Marcus thought right before he possessed Volos.

Immediately Volos' soul was suppressed as while he was not a low level, Marcus' soul was just far stronger and crushed any resistance before it could even begin.

'Ugh what the hell? How hard has this guy been working?'

As soon as he was in control, Marcus felt the heavy strain Volos had been putting on his body, that was full of aches and pains and had certainly not gotten any good rest in over a month.

In fact, it was so bad at first Marcus felt the urge to keel over and fall asleep.

Luckily his regeneration skills kicked in and actually began healing Volos' body, making it feel much more comfortable to inhabit.

Standing up and cracking Volos' neck. Marcus loosened up the man's horribly stiff body before making his way towards the entrance.

'Damn it has been so long since I possessed a body, I forgot how uncomfortable it can be when you are flesh and blood.' Marcus thought as he got used to Volos' body.

Once he had made it to the large set of double doors, he opened them up slowly and walked out to face the guards.

"Could one of you send word to the kitchen and have them make me something to eat." Marcus said in his best worn out tone he could.

And during this moment, both Lyra and Marek slipped by while invisible, managing to get past the four guards whose attention was on Marcus.

"Certainly, your grace." One of the guards said as he bowed his head.

"Stefan, go to the kitchen and have the night chef make something for his grace." The highest-level guard said.

Bowing his head, the lowest ranking guard did as he was ordered and quickly walked off towards the kitchen.

"Will that be all your grace?"

Nodding his head, Marcus said, "Yes. And make sure to knock when it is ready. I will come and get it myself."

After that Marcus closed the doors shut and walked back to Volos' office and sat the man back down where he was before possessing him.

As he came back into control of himself, Volos shook his head and realized that something was wrong.

Not because he noticed Marcus' possession, but because his body felt much better than it did before.

However, before he had time to really think about it, he was startled by a disembodied voice that came from right behind him.

"It is good to see you again, Volos."

Turning around Volos looked for the source of the voice, and suddenly Lyra repapered right in front of him.