Page 93 of A Soul to Touch

One of her brows quirked. “Once human?”

“She is now a Phantom.”Mayumi shrugged, having no idea what that was, but he wasn’t looking her way to see.“She mated with him just after the Demons arrived here. I believe he came from that world – although he is not a Demon himself.”

“What is he then? I’ve never heard of some ‘spirit of the void’.”

“His name is Weldir, and he is a God. Or at least, part of a God or a descendant of one.”She felt Faunus shrug beneath her thighs.“I’m not quite sure. I have only seen him once in full form, and I have no memory of him before then. But he is everywhere within the Veil. He is the cause of the black mist, and it is his entire essence spreading out among the trees.”

With her lips pursed together tightly, Mayumi thought on what she’d seen of the Veil. She’d been near it many times over her life, often on scouting missions. There were two kinds of mists that frolicked through the Veil.

A white one that appeared to be natural condensation, and then a black one. She never would have guessed the latter belonged to a being.

“So when I called you a forest God, I was kind of right?” Mayumi tried to laugh.

“No, I am no God.”He turned his head to show his orbs had brightened in their yellow hue.“But I appreciate the sentiment.”

“What is he a God of then?”

“The afterlife of all the souls who are consumed by Demons, himself, or Duskwalkers. That is his task, to give them a home since they are not permitted into any afterlife you humans normally have. We call him the spirit of the void because that’s the only place he can linger in his physical form unless he uses a large amount of mana to do so in this realm. He is made up of spirit and mist here.”Then Faunus looked to the side and into the forest, his head having a thoughtful tilt to it.“I have no idea why I was born, what my function or purpose is. Not knowing has been a cause of great distress for my kind.”

“You don’t have to have a required purpose to be allowed to live, Faunus,” Mayumi softly said as she patted his back. “Humans have no purpose and yet we are here, uselessly living.”

“Yes, but hewantedus created, Mayumi.”Faunus shook his head with a lowing snort before facing forward.“But we don’t know why. At least, I don’t.”

Mayumi leaned back once again on one arm and kicked her legs back and forth down the sides of his torso.

“Well, how many of you are there?” Then she cocked her head with her brows knitting together. “Wait... You only spoke of your mother and Weldir, or whatever you called him. Does that mean... Wait! Are you all related? Like siblings?”

“You caught on quick,”he chuckled appreciatively.“There are nine of us that I know of for certain, but there could be more. One, however, is not my sibling.”

Mayumi reached her leg forward and kicked the back of his ram horn.

“You seem pretty smart, I guess,” she teased. “Are you the oldest?”

He shook his head.“No, not by far. I believe I was the third born.”

She kicked the back of his horn again, and this time he turned his head sharply and gave her a light growl. Then he opened his fangs and chomped at the air, silently telling her he’d bite her foot.

“How old are you then?”

Not believing his silent threat at all, when he looked forward again, she tapped the underside of her boot against the back of his horn.

His only reaction was to huff.

“I remember many autumns, but I couldn’t tell you the exact length of my life as I remember very little about the beginning. I believe the amount would be at least in the early two hundreds.”

“I see,” she said, raising her hand to cup her chin.Old as fuck then.“What about the others?”

“There are two younglings currently who still cling to our mother. I am unsure of how far apart they were born, but I believe she is keeping them young on purpose.”

“Why and how can she keep them young? Babies grow up.”

“There are two I call the twins,”he said instead of answering.“I believe they shared the same womb, and I have never seen them apart. They are very playful but also rough. Then there is the antler-horned Duskwalker.”

She realised he was stating them by the youngest first.

“The one with the fox skull? I’ve seen sketches of him,” Mayumi quickly butted in. “He is known by the Demonslayers. As is the wolf-skulled one with the twisty horns – the one who takes a bride every ten years.”

“That is Orpheus. He is older than me, although not as developed.”

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