Page 48 of To Free a Soul
A small smile curled her lips as she returned to her journal.
“I had to create a new village, as humans from a new town have been brought to me. I have managed to change the way I consume souls so that this naturally happens now, which has its benefits and drawbacks.”
“I’m guessing it drains your magic without your intention.”
“Just so. But it also means that this is no longer a task I have to consciously consider. It does make Tenebris ever changing, so I have needed to expand it so these places don’t materialise on top of one another.”
Lindiwe’s smile grew as a sprinkle of sunlight settled on the side of her neck and warmed her. “Have you been looking into the memories of those humans?”
“Hmm, sometimes. More so I can understand what their way of life was like. But sifting through memories isn’t something I have been actively doing for quite some time.”
He probably thinks he’s learned all that he can.Which was pretty evident in the way he treated her these days. He was still quarrelsome when their differing ideologies or morals butted upagainst each other, but he wasn’t as dismissive or emotionally cold as before.
These changes are nice, though,she thought with a smile, opening her mouth to ask him more about his life and Tenebris.
I really like talking to him now.
Funnily enough, a hundred years ago she couldn’t have imagined anything worse.
April 13th, 1835
Lindiwe pushed her newly braided ponytail inside her cloak so it sat more comfortably, and then she propped up her feathered hood. A light gust pushed past her, making the material flap around her body.
“Are you heading to Orpheus now?”Weldir asked her.
“Yes,” she answered, surveying the clouds looming over a forest of the surface world. “You said Orpheus was finally returning home, and I think I’ve annoyed Leonidas enough.”
Orpheus had been hunting for an exceptionally long time – nearly three weeks. To give him his independence, Lindiwe had stayed away and focused on Leonidas, but it had been difficult to do so. Why he was gone from his home and Katerina for so long, neither she nor Weldir knew.
“Are you sure? You didn’t even try to teach him his name this time.”
She knew he was intentionally teasing her to beplayful, but it hit wrong, and Lindiwe lowered her gaze to the ground.
I’m... tired of trying.She was tired of them constantlyforgetting. And when they finally gained enough humanity to understand that they could have their own identity, she then had to fight tooth and nail to explain that their name wasn’t ‘Mavka.’
Or someone else gives them a name.Someone they cared more about, as if Lindiwe’s affection was unwanted and bothersome.
Realising she’d grown forlorn, she rolled her shoulders back and plastered a smile on her face. “I don’t think he’s ready. I’ll try again when he has more humanity.”
With that, Lindiwe called for the shift, ending the conversation, and morphed into her human-sized owl form.
Flying was tiresome. Although her muscles had changed, she still felt the stretches and aches from using them. She tried tofeelthe air, to see the current, to experience the sky like any normal bird.
She pointed her beak at the greying clouds she headed towards to make sure she wasn’t flying into a storm. Although they appeared dark and heavy, there was still an unbroken ceiling, and the rain had yet to begin falling as if the very clouds were crying upon the earth.
She squinted through the gust that cut across her face and feathers from the change in air pressure as she flew beneath the sea of grey. She struggled to orientate herself in the sky, her right wing yanked back as the wind tried to push her to the side. She pulled her wing in, threw it forward, and steadied herself.
Multiple times during her flight, she had to battle the very elements of nature, but nothing was as intense as that first wall of pressure.
She would have preferred to fly above the clouds in bright sunshine, but she wouldn’t be able to navigate accurately and refused to risk going in the wrong direction. The first time Lindiwe had dipped above dark clouds to see what was up there... she’d been awestruck. The sun, so vibrant and warm, hadbeen breathtaking, especially with how it had cast varying hues against thefloorof clouds.
But it was confusing when she couldn’t see the ground, so she forced herself to remain below the gloom. If she perceived a static charge against her feathers, she’d immediately dive for the tree line to avoid being struck by lightning.
She hated admitting that had actually happened once. And it had been embarrassing when she’d died and returned to Weldir’s realm for such a strange reason.
Just as the clouds began to disperse, proving her worries had been for naught, the forest fell away, dipping down into a massive canyon.
The Veil looked more oppressive than it used to.
