Page 57 of To Free a Soul
It all just feels like a cruel joke.He probably thinks he did it for me, but that just makes me feel so pathetic, like I needed it so badly from someone who can only ever ‘witness.’
Something rustled in the bushes behind her. She didn’t even need to turn around to know that the snarling creature behind her was a Demon that had likely come to investigate her sobbing.
She remembered the last time she was stuck at the edge of this cliff, broken and betrayed, crying as a Demon sniffed at her heels for a meal. It was so vastly different between that day and the way she felt now, but it’d led to her trading her soul for this life.
She’d never regretted it more than she did now.
She stiffened, used her mind like a muscle, and felt out with a tentacle of magic. She grabbed the Demon, uncaring whether it was around its torso or neck, and threw it forward.
Bellowing out a scream, it flailed its arms and legs as it flew through the air and into the forested canyon below.
She felt zero satisfaction.
May 18th, 1837
A small campfire cast its subtle golden aura against the dusty dirt and dry stalks of grass. Above it, a clear sky of stars mingled with galaxy dust.
The dry season brought on cooler nights and drier days, making the air more agreeable. Although a symphony of insects chirped nearby, there were far fewer than normal, and Lindiwe didn’t have to fight off mosquitoes.
Tucking her heels up against her backside with her knees to her chest, she stared at the crackling fire. Its glow didn’t reach far, leaving the world in darkness. Even though she was out in the open, where there were likely Demons nearby, she wasn’t afraid. She didn’t even feel the need to change into her incorporeal form to protect herself.
There was truly no need.
Not when a tail with a fluffy tuft tapped across the thick, meaty leg of her companion for the evening. His head was partially hidden by the shadows of night, while his blue-black fur took on orange highlights that revealed the lines of his imposingmuscles.
Blood-red orbs peered at her from the darkness, and she kept her gaze averted.
Instead, she looked straight ahead and blinked with tired eyes. The warm fire tingled against her skin, while a cool breeze fluttered her cloak, causing the feathery hood over her head to tickle against her cheek.
It’d taken Lindiwe nearly two weeks to find one of her children on her own. The idea of flying across the ocean from Austrális had always been daunting, and she hadn’t truly understood what kind of exhausting journey it would entail. She’d guessed, but doing it had been hard.
She’d refused to ask Weldir for help.
She didn’t want to talk to him at all.
He’d asked her what she was doing when she flew past the shores of Austrális, but Lindiwe remained in her owl form. If she didn’t turn human, and was metres above crashing water with nowhere to land, she couldn’t answer.
She’d rested on islands when she found them. Some were inhabited by tribal people who had never been touched by Demon claws, and others – those closer to mainlands – had been decimated. Many had been void of life other than flora and a few critters.
It’d taken her a while to realise she’d found the lands of Zafrikaan, but its beautiful landscape was hard to mistake. She’d searched for her children and eventually came across the one before her now.
He lay on his side with his lion skull resting in the palm of his large hand. His tail flicked as he watched her, but otherwise, he remained motionless. The small breeze swayed his thick mane, while his broad chest slowly expanded and collapsed.
From neck to pawed toes, he was thick with muscle. Many of his protruding bones had sunk beneath his flesh, but some remained, like his ribcage, knucklebones, and spine.
She’d once thought his red orbs were an indication of anger or rage as his personality, but she’d been wrong. He was just... hungry. All the time. He hunted non-stop. Even his emotions were greedy and insatiable – like his curiosity.
His main source of prey was Demons. He actively hunted them, whereas he’d often leave animals be – and sometimes humans as well. Although he was an opportunist when the moment struck him.
It was why his mass hadn’t changed all that much, considering he feasted regularly. Consuming Demons didn’t change her children’s forms as much as eating humans or animals – it just made them stronger.
She often wondered if there was a limit.
“You quiet,” Ari commented, motionless except for his flicking tail.
A translation talisman radiated warmth next to her left breast. Try as she might, teaching him the native language hadn’t gone all too well. Ari had learned... Nyl’kira, the Elven language, from the Demons.
This was an abnormality amongst her children. Many Demons somehow adopted the language of the location they went to, while very few continued to use Nyl’kira. Sometimes it depended on what part of the country they were in, as if language was slowly being taught to each other.
