Page 166 of To Free a Soul
“Not unless I use another soul,” he pointed out, reminding her of how often he’d done so in the past for her.
“Can you do that?” She chewed on the inside of her cheek nervously. “You just woke up. Do you have enough power right now?”
“No. Not really. This will likely put me back to sleep for an exceptionally long time. Will you be okay with that?”
Lindiwe lowered her hands so she could pick at her fingers, and her fidgeting was a sign of her uncertainty. Her gaze dropped, forlorn and saddened. “If... if it brings him back to life, then yes. I’ve tried to use your magic sparingly. I’ll continue to make sure I don’t use much, and I’ll keep hunting for souls like I have been.”
“If any of our other offspring need us...”
“I know!” she said a little louder, half shouting as she clenched her eyes shut. “I know this means I’ll be trapped here in Austrális, unable to help any of the others. So long as none of them are in danger of death, they can survive the rest. I can’t... I don’t want to lose him, Weldir.Please.”
“As you wish.”
“Wait,” she rasped, leaning forward before biting her lip. A glob of snow fell on her head from above as she rustled the tree more forcefully. She either didn’t care or didn’t notice as she looked to the forest with her eyes softening. “Thank you somuch. I know you’re trying, and I know this is all a lot on you. Thank you for going out of your way for him, for them.”
“Lindiwe, I cannot do much from this side of life and death. If this is all I can do, then so be it.” Then, wanting to end this temporary goodbye on a lighter note, he asked, “How are the little ones?”
Her lips curled upwards slightly. “They’re good,” she said, before her small, broken smile fell. “Except one has a Demon skull, and I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or not.”
“A Demon’s skull? How odd.” A light chuckle fell from Weldir. “I guess I’ll have to investigate that when I return. Hopefully nothing more happens during my absence.”
“If you could make that hope tangible, I’d appreciate it more than anything right now.”
So would he.
When he tore apart a soul to make himself visible, then tugged on Leonidas’ fate tether – not to bring him here but to go to him – he was thrown into a winter land. In the background, a small cabin with a smoking chimney lay before his offspring.
Weldir hadn’t expected a short, black-haired woman to be kneeling in the snow sobbing. Nor to learn that Leonidas’ new name was... Faunus, as she poured her heart out to his feline Mavka offspring.
He’d been half expecting a Demon to be the reason for Faunus’ curse of a half life or perhaps an Anzúli. Just someone with magical capabilities.
“So this is where you are,” he said, alerting the female to his presence, while greeting his offspring.
Alright, Leonidas. Let’s see if we can save you.
“If it is so beautiful, I hope I never see it then,” said the little fawny female – whose name Weldir forgot to ask for – after he explained what Tenebris was like.
“It appears you won’t, for now.” He turned his face away from Faunus to her, with pressure cutting across it – a smile, probably. “He has accepted your soul, and it has allowed the part of him that is here to strengthen through the bond so I could force the lost fragment back together in that powerful moment.”
He’d bonded a human soul and a Mavka soul, threading them together by force, and thus answering a question he’d always wondered. If he were to manually tether a deceased human to a Mavka, he could indeed bring them back together.
Faunus’ new bride’s brows knitted together with concern as she stared down at his feline skull. “But his eyes are still gone.”
“I’m sure they will appear – give it time,” he said as his form hovered backwards in the desire to retreat. “Since I’m no longer needed here, I will leave while I still have power from the soul I have consumed. Spooking my mate in this realm tickles me rather deeply, especially since I can’t do so very often.”
And his mist shimmered with triumph. He was excited to see how Lindiwe would react upon learning he’d brought back their offspring.She will be pleased.But it was her expression he longed to see, castathim.
Sensing where she was in the world by their bond, Weldir shifted himself through space to be at her side.
She was within a village and didn’t appear to have been there long. She’d just finished asking someone if they’d heard any rumours about haunted ones – ghostly beings that may lurk in the town or the forest. It was rare for a human to see them, but it wasn’t completely uncommon.
“Hello, Lindiwe,” Weldir said right in her ear.
His female let out a squeak, like a hidden scream, and with wide eyes and covering her right ear, she turned. Then shewaved her arms through him as if to dispel him. She ran in between the gap of two buildings nearby.
He followed with mirth vibrating through him.
“Are you insane?!” she whisper-yelled, peeking out from their hiding place to make sure no one saw them. “Why would you come here like this?”
