Page 14 of A Soul to Steal

He offered Aleron another smile, but it didn’t feel as genuine as the others before it. Still, it was pleasant enough that his green eyes glinted, and Aleron’s wings tightened against his back pleasantly for being gifted it.

Humans had never given Aleron smiles. Emerie had offered a few, but they had seemed to be tangled in sadness. Raewyn, his Elven friend, she had gifted him many, but it didn’t feel like this male’s.

It did not make pleasure ripple down his spine.

Perhaps it was due to them just being for Aleron, rather than shared between him and his kindred.

“Yeah, I was.” His expression softened, before falling away into a relaxed state. “I’ll teach you some sarcasm, so it doesn’t come across so shocking in the future, and maybe you can do it to me. Since you have a skull, it’ll be even harder to gauge if it’s true or not. Think of it as a game.”

His feathers puffed.“Yes, I would like to play a game.”

“But first,” Gideon stated while holding a finger up. “Tell me more about Weldir and this world. Does it have a name?”

Aleron turned to stare at the direction they just came from, seeing the mist below them and the way it danced throughout the horizon. When higher up, it became possible to see the world further beyond, as if only what surrounded them was shrouded in a veil.

“This place is called Tenebris, and it is where all those eaten by Demons and Mavka come to spend their deaths.”

“You said it was round, round how?” Gideon asked, turning to look in the same direction as Aleron. He gasped and stepped back in surprise. “Wow. That’s actually remarkably beautiful.”

His orbs flared yellow.I think so, too.

Although before them was shrouded in mist, the tops of trees were visible throughout the many valleys. The mist frolicked heaviest where there were many active souls, so they could just barely see the tops of houses from where they’d come – the town of Fishket, as Aleron had been informed.

But beyond that lay a clear view.

Just after Fishket, a cliff side opened up into a vast area of meadows, hills, and then further on, a mountain. A gigantic waterfall glittered in a shroud of its spray, and Aleron had once dipped his wing through its fall whilst passing by. A rainbow shone just in front of its streaming fall, which is what had once caught Aleron’s attention and brought him there.

Everything was bright, green, and looked alive.

Birds above swooped and dived, and he knew without a doubt they were the souls of birds that had been eaten by Demons. He’d seen many, many other animals here, who were skittish and didn’t seem to be in a dream state. They were at peace, happy even, whenever he wasn’t nearby.

However, not all of Tenebris was this... beautiful – as Gideon had called it.

He lifted his gaze to the misted sky.

“You cannot see it from here, but if we were to fly directly up, we would find more of this world, more land. It is round, like everything is contained within something.”He lowered his skull back to Gideon, to find his expression had once more fallen in surprise.“That something is Weldir’s stomach.”

The human paled.

Gideon lifted his uncertain gaze to the sky, wondering how thefuckhe was supposed to be in someone’s stomach. ConsideringTenebrislooked like Earth, it was difficult to swallow such a horrifying thought.

Not particularly into vore – a desire to be consumed or to consume another – a cold shiver ran down his spine.

How could a stomach hold trees, houses, people? He found the idea startling. If none of this was here, would it look like the inside of an organ? Was it all just some kind of mystical mirage that could be touched?

Holy shit, am I being digested right now?No, that couldn’t be it, considering he’d been here for years. The ground wasn’t mushy or wet beneath his boots, like he was standing in stomach acid.

Peering up at the blue sky, the bright-yellow sun, and white clouds, he realised it actually appearedbeforethe mist. Like a refraction – a projected image.

However, as he lowered his face to take in the oddly serene landscape, it was obvious the person who created it did so with care. Sure, there was a blurriness to it that, once he becameaware of these details, made it even more obvious it was nothing but an illusion.

“What’s the point in creating all this if Weldir can just put humans to sleep?”

Aleron’s head swayed, his glowing orbs shifting to a dark yellow. The more Gideon looked upon him, spoke to him, the more at ease he felt with the Duskwalker.

He didn’t look too bad, and Gideon had been honest when he stated that he cared more about a person’s heart. There was nothing worse than a pretty face and a rotten heart – he’d much prefer the opposite.

“I am not fully sure. Although not everywhere is like the Fishket town where I met you. He claimed it is because the humans wake too easily.”He stepped off, leading them away from the rocky, mountainous hill they’d been climbing.“Allowing the spirits here to roam in a half-awake state, interacting with their memories and a world that is similar, keeps them docile. Interacting with others allows for it to feel real.”

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