Page 46 of Eternal Sacrifice
“The door was locked. You just have magical unlocking hands.” Justice raised his hands in the air and then shook them. “You should see the things you can see now that you have magical eyes, too.”
He picked the book up, leaving it open between his palms as he thrust it into the air. Mystical gold lines hovered above the yellowed pages. The magic hit me, along with the whispered words of secrets that should have been lost. They called out to me, cozying up with the war inside me as they coaxed my flames with the knowledge that had been denied. Whispering into my mind the true power of soul fragments.
“Fucking cool, right?” Justice pulled the book back to the floor, breaking me free from the trance-like state I had fallen into.
I shook my head, trying to clear my thoughts, but ideas had already begun racing inside me. They clicked into place with my other musings, revealing a plan that would help improve Hell.
Or at least give a sense of purpose to the hunt.
“Is there more information on fractures?” I asked, deciding to settle on the floor opposite Justice and Mor.
“It’s not the easiest to understand, with all the voices and all, but I think fractures are the missing key.” Mor looked down to point at one of the mystical golden swirls. “The core of the soul is the main part of the being, but as the soul lives out their various lives, the memories and power wrap around the core like layers of an onion. The more lives a soul has lived, the more layers and, therefore, power. Only the core is sent into the veil when a soul fractures. Pieces of the soul’s memories remain in the fractures along with an essence of their power.”
“Can we access the power inside the fractures?” From my brief look, it appeared to be a set of instructions that called for fractures as an ingredient.
“Yes,” Justice responded with a wide grin before taking over. He pointed to different swirls of gold as he explained. “Fractures can be used in spells and runes. Powering them up. So, like, instead of you sending a fireball into Springfield’s face, you could turn the entire arena into a lake of hellfire.”
I let Justice’s example tumble around in my mind, twisting and turning his words until the gem inside finally became clear. “This could be a game changer when it comes to the overpowered ancient souls.”
Justice smiled wide, looking over to Mor like I had passed a test for him.
“But,” I cautioned, reaching forward to close the book, which helped to muffle the whispering voices. “Jax and Jace need to be part of this discussion.”
“I’ll get them!” Mor said enthusiastically before her eyes dulled, and I realized she was speaking to them inside her mind.
They didn’t rush back from wherever they had gone off to, striding into the room with identical half-annoyed expressions after more than half an hour had passed.
“You weren’t supposed to mess around with that,” Jax said, folding his arms over his chest as he peered down at Mor.
“It’s a Book of Knowledge, Jax!” Justice chimed in, far too enthusiastically, as if he wanted to help the case.
Jax turned his narrowed glare toward Justice. Giving him less room for forgiveness than he had extended to Mor. “That only means we need more precautions, not less.”
“We are the Kings of Hell now, Jax. It’s our responsibility to take care of the realm and all the demons in it,” Mor said, lowering her tone to a steady calm. “This is knowledge and power we need.”
“What did you find, Love?” Jace asked, coming to sit down on Mor’s free side while Jax looked betrayed.
“Soul fractures. We can use them for more than just pets.” She opened the book, flipping through the pages while whispering voices filled the room. “We can put them in runes and spells to make them more powerful.”
“We could use the power against the older spirits. Maybe even work that into the hunting system,” I said, wanting to make sure Jax noticed there was potential. He needed to focus on something other than Mor and Justice messing with the book in the first place.
With the addition of my half-support, Jax took a seat on the floor in the space between Justice and me. We formed a circle around the book, and I couldn’t help but feel drawn to the shimmering gold that held the secrets of the gods.
“We can have the demons use the points they earn from the hunts to buy the runes and spells,” Mor suggested after we spent several minutes silently staring.
“The demons should also start collecting fragments from souls when they fracture,” I added, seeing a clear path to how this could work.
“We should also try to find more of the cache of fragments that Lilith and Marlene may have left behind,” Jax added.
“Ryan, Springfield, and Zeb can look into the Fachnan files,” I said quickly. They were the obvious choice.
A smile crossed Jax’s face as an idea struck him. “Aggie can work with the fractures and put them into stuff for us.”
“Then we can clean up the realms. Give real purpose to the demons.” Mor looked like she was caught in a dream, smiling as everything tied into a neat little bow.
“We need to test this.” I pointed toward the book. “Summon Aggie, Ryan, Springfield, and Zeb. If it works and they are on board, I will announce the change.”
Jax and Jace left to collect Aggie while I pulled out my phone to call Ryan. The line rang and rang until finally, Ryan’s voice asked me to leave a message. Instead, I ended the call and dialed Zeb. When he didn’t answer, I left a message rather than attempt Springfield. He never kept a phone nearby, and if the other two weren’t responding, it likely meant they were off the realm.
