Page 151 of To Free a Soul
She might want to stop existing if she didn’t barricade her own emotions and protect her heart, and then they would no longer have her when they truly needed her the most. She knew that was why she kept living on – for them – even when sometimes she didn’t want to.
Weldir doesn’t really need me anymore.
She’d given him enough servants to obtain and cleanse souls for him. The few that Lindiwe retrieved during her travels were meagre in comparison. Her role was almost complete in this regard.
I promised him that once he woke up again, we’d finish what we started.The Sing Empire and Pyrssia still only had one each, and it was the last major landmass that didn’t have many Duskwalkers.After we place a few there... what need will he truly have of me?
So, she had to emotionally distance herself from her children enough to stay present in this world, just so she could take care of them. Not that she wasunwillingto try and form a bond.
Lindiwe manoeuvred herself so she could swing upside down from the tree branch while still facing Reia.Maybe I should one day try being a bat?She could take on any form she liked.
She was also childish when she wanted to be, and she knew trying too hard to become a mother figure to this woman, or someone she could befriend, would only scare her off.I’d rather she think me odd than an enemy.Someone to keep at arm’s length, so she could do the same.
Then again, Lindiwewasodd, considering the life she’d lived and the beautiful beings she’d given birth to.
“Can a mother not care for her child?” Lindiwe asked when Reia questioned her motives.
She wanted to laugh at the young woman’s shock, but kept it in. Hopefully Reia would explain what it meant to Orpheus, only so they would rely on her a little more in the future. They didn’t have to like her, just trust her enough to know that she always had their best interests in mind when giving advice.
“So, you’re just here to help your children? What about the others, then?”
She went to explain the depth of her situation, and about the other Duskwalkers – all of them. To explain that everything was more complicated than they could ever imagine.
Something stopped her.
Sometimes it’s best to let them believe their world is small.
What use was there in telling them about Duskwalkers they’d likely never meet in person? Why complicate it for creatures who already struggled to understand life and the world?
One thing Merikh has taught me... the less they know, the better.
She’d never tell another why they were truly born, after learning how much damage it could do. She’d rather they question their existence than know it was due to a selfish and yet selfless reason – to aid Weldir but also help humans.
She told Reia about the other Duskwalkers only pertaining to Austrális – those she may meet in the future. She also left it open-ended just in case Weldir wanted more here, or across the world. The many tomorrows to come were uncertain.
Regardless, she’d come here for many reasons: to reveal part of the truth, plus her and Weldir’s presence, but also to share information. She didn’t want to leave Reia unprepared for the possibility of pregnancy.Weldir said it’s likely they’ll become compatible if the human shares their soul.It’d changed Lindiwe, after all.
If they can heal, create protection domes, and, uh, other sexual things, then surely there is a way to prevent pregnancy.All they needed was a reason to learn.
Orpheus had even learned how to make wolf illusions, just like the spell she’d discovered in the Anzúli temple so many years ago. How? She didn’t know. Perhaps he thought if it appeared he had companions, the Demons and Demonslayers would leave him be when he travelled the same path he took every ten years.
For once, I’m going to be like Weldir and... guess.
Hopefully it was true they could prevent pregnancy.
If not... oops?
March 13th, 2023
Humming, Lindiwe watched her newest baby scamper around a small meadow in the bright morning sunlight. Snow covered every inch of the ground; it was too soon to begin melting with the early spring chill.
They were young, barely a few weeks old, and had no distinguishable features yet. Their blobby, baby-like form was the same as all her children when they were first greeting the world. A tiny oval snout with two slits made up their nose, and they had no eyes or even impressions where they should be. Two little holes marked where their ears were.
A small smile crept onto her face as they explored, sniffing anything and everything of interest. They didn’t seem to mind that their claws and fingertips bent backwards as they dug, or the iciness when they bit around snow, chewed it, and then spat it out with their purple tongue curling at the taste.
Her smile cracked when her stomach twisted with nausea. Seated upon a stout boulder, she covered her gut and tried to swallow down the saliva flooding her mouth, which informedher she was moments from puking if she didn’t soothe the urge.
Her stomach gurgled, bubbled, and heat travelled up behind her sternum.
