Page 238 of The Gods Veiling
“I don’t have all those answers. I’ve been searching, but we’re once again test subjects for a Beginning God. I’ve tried to pay attention to any and every shift inher. Her soul’s weaved most tightly with yours, followed by Kyzen, Riven, then me. I’ve kept it as far away from mine as possible so I could preserve space for the rest of it so I can heal it. It’s going to take damage if I remove it now. It’s firmly attached to the three of yours. She nor her soul have grown weaker. If anything, she and it are stronger.”
None of us respond until Riven takes a step closer to where we’re sitting. Amick and I stand instinctively and shift in front of her.
His nostrils flare as he scoffs, then bends down in front of her and she lifts her head.
“Despite my brothers’ lack of faith in me, I have no intentions of harming you. If my soul’s allowed yours to make itself comfortable, then that’s where it’ll stay. It’s mine now.”
She watches every step he takes, and her eyes continue to widen when he shoves Creed in the chest. “Don’t touch my fucking soul and don’t ever lie to me again.”
We all watch him as he passes through his door normally, just so he can slam it with enough force to vibrate the floors.
Thayla exhales, then covers her mouth with her fingers. “Do the rest of you want to keep my soul as well?”
“It’s not their—”
“It’s all our choices, Creed. Last night in the hot spring, I was forced to think long and hard about everything that’s happened since I arrived. I’ve come to the conclusion, no matter if you give me my soul back or not, things that involve the five of us are going to happen. It’s been reiterated to me enough, the realm is changing. Seismet says it’s out of order and the five of us will face a choice on which side of this change we want to be on. My parents…” She pauses as her lips pinch together.
“They apparently knew this day would come. They were told by Derivius, or maybe even the Valories themselves, I don’t know. But their faith and the beliefs they had, I suppose way before my time and your situations, set me up to be used right along with all of you. We’re at the center of this change. It’s time we got on the same page.”
“The realm’s been changing for years. We’re not the catalyst of that.” Creed argues.
“No? So it’s normal that every Valtrue is paired by an imitation of the structure built in Elementra. They all get to be Godly Companions to ancient Veilatara,and not to mention, connecting with the last living Vedarya in existence? It’s all just a big, fat coincidence?”
If I couldn’t hear the ragged breaths falling from her, I’d swear my power just froze time. My eyes are unblinking as I stare at her in utter shock and confusion.
“What did you just say?” Amick asks.
She takes a deep breath and tells us everything that truly happened in the Gods Veil, the information Derivius told her about the most unknown realm as well as when Seismet took her to the sacred hot springs. From how it healed her body, meeting this Vedarya named V, the power forcing her to face her reality, then Riven’s sudden appearance.
Shit…our lives just got a hell of a lot more complicated.
I don’t have a compromise for this.
“I wanted to tell you all about my soul first before that because I’m positive Derivius doing this is all calculated in not only his plans but whatever the Valories are trying to accomplish. The problems are far deeper than what’s going on in the Abandon. The entire realm is a problem if you ask me.
“I don’t know the risk or rewards of you all keeping my soul, but I can’t shake the feeling that since this was obviously done with years of thought and planning involved, it needs to be connected other than the fact that’s how it works in Elementra. Think about it, Creed. Better yet, explain it. I still don’t even know how it’s possible that souls can be split. What happens to a soul if it’s split from the god and not put anywhere? What benefit does it do to the god to split it, then tie it to something?”
“I’ll start explaining more about souls soon. It isn’t a lesson I can sit here and explain in a day. This is the part of us that makes us, us. It’s a living, powerful, intricate part of us. Our bodies can’t survive without it, and without a strong body, it can’t survive. It can’t just be split for the fuck of it. Only the Beginning Gods can split a soul and that’s if they’re within the Gods Binding or a creation of it, that’s been blessed by the Valories. I’m the…” He takes a deep, strained breath as his eyes lose focus and the darker half of him creeps in.
“I’m the only god who doesn’t need the Binding to do whatever I want to a soul. If it’s split from the god in punishment, it goes down to Hellveilious where it sits and waits for its judgment. Whether to be destroyed completely or put into the Gods Binding or Veil for healing. If it’s separated too long, the vessel and eventually the soul will die on their own.”
“I’m sorry, where?”
Fuck. She doesn’t know about Hellveilious yet.
“Hellveilious is the punishment area of Godsden. Its location is guarded by both a barrier placed by the God of Boundaries and an illusion veil much like the one that separates the Godsdawn from Godsden. Imagine it as its own region. Tainted souls, Dark Gods, and gods alike are taken there for reprehensible crimes. It’s the vilest place, in my opinion, in the entire universal structure of the realms. Stories have even been fabricated across the nonmagical about it and the beings who are there. It’s where the name and slang use of the word hell derived from.”
Thayla’s face is a portrait of horror as she looks from Amick to Creed. “Do…is that a place you have to go that I can’t or couldn’t go? Or were you only talking about the Abandon?”
“Both.”
His low tone unfortunately chips away at the anger I have for him right now. I’m beyond fucking livid, but it’s easy to make an excuse for why he’d hide this and why he was secretly trying to find a way to separate her soul.
The horrors he’s seen, the things he’s had to do, I know they haunt him. A soul is a tricky thing to mess with. One wrong move and you can destroy it, which in turn destroys the god it belonged to. Or you leave them a mindless shell of a being.
Creed never leaves anyone to face that fate if he can help it.
“I have a theory of why Derivius did this.” The three of us look at Amick for an explanation. “If just a sliver of a soul is damaged, what happens to the rest?”
