Page 101 of To Free a Soul
Weldir tipped back to float to a different part of his outer realm, and Lindiwe’s citrine flaming soul brightened his sight. He enlarged it so it would better fit in both his palms. One hand cupped the bottom of it to support it from underneath, while his other wrapped around its back. Although it was vertical, it appeared to be lying on its side.
Her soul was brighter before.
Before he’d been absent, the coal markings on it, highlighting her emotional and mental pains, had been minimal. They’d returned with a vengeance in his absence.
He stroked his mate’s tiny flaming likeness, more to soothe himself than her.
Floating close by were the broken pieces of Nathair’s physical skull, with tiny bubbles of his mana keeping them tangible to him. Seeing it prompted him to immaterialise and check on his serpent offspring.
Tenebris remained the same without his intervention: slanted, fragmented, and suspended in time while in the middle of collapsing inwards. Crouching onto one knee, he brushed his palm over one of Nathair’s hooked ram horns to check that his orbs were still black, signalling they were closed.
He hadn’t moved an inch under Weldir’s sleeping spell.
I cannot wake him, not yet,he decided, lifting his gaze to his broken realm.I cannot fix this yet, either.He’d only recuperated enough mana to stay awake. Wasting it on a selfish need to see Tenebris flourish didn’t negate the fact that he had responsibilities that went beyond it.I have to place new barriers and lay new mists.
He didn’t have the power for that either.
I also wish to see Lindiwe.There was this mist-vibrating need to make sure she was well. To see how she’d fared. If... she was angry with him.
The last one might have also been the reason he hadn’t immediately reached out to her. He didn’t wish to face her ire when he was already dismayed and dispirited over his current state.At least I cannot feel her in my realm.
She’d somehow managed to stay alive on her own on Earth.
Her use of my power likely consumed the little I replenished during my slumber all these years.He wasn’t upset by this, but thankful for it.If she’d been trapped here for however long I’ve been asleep...
That would have been horrifying for her.
No. I cannot wake Nathair until I have fixed everything and made sure he won’t do this again.He wouldn’t survive it, and Nathair, along with all the souls in his realm, would cease to exist entirely. His essence was volatile, and it would consume everything in its path to survive, including feeding upon his deceased offspring.
He wouldn’t even know he was doing it.
Weldir sighed.If only I could eat living souls.He could, but he just shouldn’t.That is unlimited power that doesn’t harm me.
He could consume them in the way he did with Lindiwe’s soul, where they were bonded to him. Just pure, unadulterated power. But she wanted this to be a closed bond, and he’d adhere to that wish.
He did have another realistic option, and now that he’d checked on his offspring and the state of Tenebris, he left to go there.
The overwhelming number of souls waiting for him was daunting. Hundreds of thousands of tainted souls, all broken and sickly, floated in hordes of white flaming light.
With a flick of his mental will, he lifted all those that were untainted upwards, and he snapped his right hand to the side to dismiss the diseased ones out of his view. With a tug of his mind, he pulled all the clean and unharmed souls closer.
He halted in surprise.
There are hundreds of them.Lindiwe and his offspring had collected far more than he ever expected. Or was this just the evidence that an exceptionally long time had passed?
He shrunk them until they all fit onto one hand, lifted them, and then let them float within the cavern of his mouth. He swallowed, and a burst of energy pulsed through his mist – enough to give him the majority of his hands.
It wasn’t a lot, but since he’d rested more, it brought him to proper alertness.I imagine this is what it’s like for humans when they consume caffeine, like coffee or certain teas.
He instantly wasted some of the mana he’d gained by putting all the new souls within Tenebris to sleep, since it wasn’t stable enough to let them drift in their fondest memories.
Now I can cast the spell I want.A single viewing disc, smaller than usual to preserve his energy, rippled into existence.
The sight of Lindiwe instantly made his mist collide with guilt.Her cloak is in tatters.Barely any feathers clung to the white material thrown over her shoulders.
The dress she wore was a plain pale green with short sleeves. The bust was high, hiding her ample cleavage, and a leather belt cinched the waist in to give it more shape. Her cloak hood was back, showing her hair was loose and a little tangled as she knelt within a garden.
With her right hand, she plucked herbs from their stems and yanked cruciferous vegetables from the earth or their roots. After carefully placing them in a basket, she stood, grabbed the handle to lift it from the ground, and strode to a little cottage.
