Page 16 of To Free a Soul
Nathair’s inability to smell Weldir meant the game was unfair, so he whistled to give the Mavka a direction to follow. Weldir never cheated in their game by utilising their fate strings, as that would ruin the experience.
It was much more fun to stumble across the serpent hiding his torso in a bush, while he lacked the understanding to hide therest of his lengthy tail. Then he’d flee with a playful yelp, and Weldir let him believe that he was actually fast enough to escape.
If Nathair turned on him to incite a battle, Weldir turned invisible until he calmed. That, or he herded him back to his lake, so he’d rest.
Even though he isn’t very bright, I spend much of my time speaking with him,he thought fondly.
They spent many days watching viewing discs together, and he’d explained everything that Nathair pointed a claw at.
However... he could not bring up the disc of the one who killed him, as it often upset him. Somewhere within the bout of new humanity, he’d come to resent his brother for stealing away his life.
Nathair felt stagnant and removed from life, which often disturbed Weldir’s mist with a forlorn emotion. He was partly to blame, as Nathair’s life in the afterworld was entirely Weldir’s fault. He hadn’t been whisked away to a new life, but a dead one, where he lived in a sense of limbo.
Never progressing. Never truly experiencing anything.
His life was meaningless, and that bothered them both.
Nathair could often become inconsolable when he was reminded of this. Weldir hadn’t known his offspring could cry until Nathair shed ethereal tears that floated from his sorrowful blue orbs. He’d whimper as he cuddled himself in the huddle of his own tail and ask Weldirwhyhe was here, in this realm. Why it was he who had to be subjected to this boring and mundane life of stillness.
He also questioned why his own sibling had killed him, constantly forgetting that it had been an accident, and not something done maliciously.
Nathair would react in two ways whenever Weldir attempted to soothe him. He would reject the placations, as Weldir couldn’t offer him a solution other than his presence. Or he’d lash outviolently, asking how Weldir could torment him by keeping him here against his will, demanding to be returned. To be given life and taken from here so he could truly live.
Sometimes he was enough for his offspring, and at other times Weldir was his tormentor. It was... dispiriting.
But there is nothing I can do,he thought solemnly.I cannot even give myself true life.
Moving back to a different child, he didn’t feel any better when he looked upon...Merikh.Especially when he saw him walking with Jabez through the Veil. He stood on two legs and was the first of his offspring to reveal that they could change into a more humanoid version.
The name felt wrong, foreign even, but it was Orson’s newly appointed name. He didn’t know what the word signified, since Jabez was the one to give it to him.
Merikh’s fur was long and shaggy in some places, but it had shrunk a little around his waist and abdomen. His quills were still long and sharp, and Weldir counted each one to make sure his sculpture was accurate.
His bones have almost disappeared entirely.He could only spot the top of his sternum and collarbones, and a few knuckles on his hands and toes. He was large, standing a few inches taller than Jabez, and slightly more muscular.
He likely sees my offspring as a tool.Something he could use to empower himself, as Merikh was stronger and faster than any Demon, and his quills made him a weaponanda shield. Then again, he was violent and quick to slip into a rage. He’d seen Jabez somehow skilfully evade an enraged Merikh a handful of times.
At least the halfling never lashed out at his offspring.
No, worse, he often applauded him for it. Jabezlikedthat Merikh was this way, having even taken him to a human village to destroy.
Weldir didn’t know if he was furious about that or thankful for Merikh’s increase in humanity as a result. Merikh was actually rather intelligent now. He stood like a human, often spoke like one – although brutishly – and wore pants as if to emulate them.
He was weirdly accepted by the Demons who surrounded Jabez, and if he wasn’t, both would make them scamper off with their tails between their legs.
That easy acceptance left Weldir feeling at odds with himself.
He valued the companionship his offspring had, and that it made him...happy.Content even. Merikh wanted this bond and protected it fiercely. It kept him safe, even from Weldir’s biggest foe. Yet Weldir’s hatred of Jabez had also grown over the years. Mainly because he was in the way of Lindiwe and Merikh rekindling whatever relationship theycouldhave.
She’d attempted to intervene after Jabez took Merikh to feed on the village of humans – Weldir having kept her informed. She’d grown enraged, disappointed, and... frightened. She didn’t want their offspring to be the cause of such devastation and destruction, no matter that Jabez had, oddly, protected the young and vulnerable behind a ward.
Getting Merikh to listen to her was like talking to a wall, and she couldn’t fully explainwhy. She didn’t want to reveal that Merikh was the creation of someone Jabez hated as much as Weldir hated him in return.
She’d tried to do this without Jabez, but the two were near inseparable. So she’d given up and just confronted them both.
He still remembered the conversation as if it were happening before him. It wasn’t a recent memory, but Weldir could never pinpoint where on the ravels of time it was.
All he knew was that it was years before Lindiwe left for Unerica...
