Soul Merged
Psychic turned to the Archpriest and Lúne. “Is… Is everything okay?” he asked.
“Something has attached itself to you, Psychic,” the Archpriest said, gravely. “Whatever it is, it is not friendly. It is feeding off of you.”
“What?”
“We cannot remove it for you. We don’t know how. Watch your next steps very, very carefully. It may just trip you up and pull you down.”
Lúne took an amulet from the table, and held it out to Psychic. “Take this. Wear it for protection.”
“What are you talking about?” Psychic asked, nervousness bubbling up in his chest.
About Soul-Merging
When an Empowered achieves Ascension, they've gained full control over the subclass of their power manifestation. A standard Pyromancer would find themselves able to control and use electricity when they previously could not, or a terramancer would unlock the powers of ferrokinesis, for example. This full control makes them the true embodiment of their powers, and that includes internally, too.
In very rare instances, an Empowered who has Ascended can manipulate their own consciousness and soul as they temporarily- sometimes permanently- abandon their physical form. This normally happens when the individual is dying, but in the case of Necromancers, there's not so many limitations. The soul of the Ascended can attach to a living creature- another Empowered, preferably- and root themself into their consciousness. An Ascended is normally dormant in this state, but can share a fraction of their powers and, in even rarer cases, take control of the host. The only recorded cases have been of Elementals being able to do this, but it is still debated whether Corporeal Empowered could do the same.
Treatment
When an Ascended merges with an Empowered, there's no real way to purge them short of the Ascended deciding to leave. The system that the Malai engineered for that specific purpose was forgotten and lost to time.
Affected Groups
Empowered, generally Elementals.
Cultural Reception
Soul-Merged individuals were only recorded a handful of times in history, but were generally revered or feared as the sons or daughters of Gods, or prophets. Some cultures saw it as spiritual enlightenment from their ancestors.
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