Godwin Desrath
A huge expulsion of essence caught me off guard as I was walking towards the inn where I had left the young boy last night.
The feeling wouldn't have been felt by most civilians but to a veteran like myself it was blatantly obvious. I broke into a run, slipping on the wet tiles, as I realized what could happen if I wasn't the first to get there, worried about the consequences anyone else getting involved might cause.
The door slammed against the wall as I pushed it open. Dean, the clerk, who sat at his front desk almost all hours of the day, was gone. The staircase leading to the living quarters had an ominous presence emanating from it.
It was definitely from the boy. There was no denying that.
I struggled to breath as I trudged up the staircase, the air thickened with essence.
"He's got the insignia of the Soulreds, are you insane? Do you not know the damage you would cause if you killed the boy!" I heard the familiar voice of the lanky clerk coming from inside the room. Clearly someone had made it there before me.
I managed to make it to the doorway, my hand over my mouth, trying to filter the air into my lungs whilst controlling the amount of essence I absorbed into my soul.
If I absorbed too much essence my soul would overflow and I would slowly die. Everyone knew that. That's why an event like this can be much more harmful than one might think.
A twinge in my knuckles caused me to return to reality. My hands had been squeezed so tight that the blood had stopped flowing through them properly.
I looked up to see what was going on. The boy was floating. Unconsciously floating. The essence he was spewing out of him was propelling him from the bed he had been lying in, he was clearly still unconscious, oblivious to the damage he was causing.
The glint of a curved dagger caught my eye and I saw the figure looming over him, knife to his neck. "ERIN!" I shouted at the top of my lungs, my ears only just picking up on the sound that had came from my own throat as the essence made the blood in my head pound.
"YOU CAN'T KILL THE BOY! HE'S-" My explanation was cut short as my sister yelled back at me. "IF I DON'T KILL HIM THEN HE COULD DESTROY THE CITY! I SHOULDN'T NEED TO EXPLAIN MY ACTIONS TO YOU PEOPLE!" Clearly agitated, Erin lowered the blade, drawing blood from the neck of the Soul Lord. I choked on the essence in my lungs as I tried to shout for her to stop, but it was no use. She really was going to kill hi-
The pressure was released and the boy fell back into his bed, the figure of Sandrus standing over him brought me to an inexplicable amount of confusion.
My eyes had been trained to see movements that would normally be invisible to the naked eye, but I still couldn't sense the speed at which the Soul-finder had appeared, it was as if he had teleported in front of my eyes.
The short imp had his hand placed on Mercury's soul, directly draining the essence from it. "Shit." I heard him mutter under his breath.
"The poor boy has no tolerance for essence in the slightest. With this new body he should be able to tolerate double this amount." Setrius walked over to the bed whilst explaining why this had happened. A sort of allergic reaction. The boy couldn't tolerate much essence at all, but with the ridiculous amount filtered into his new body, in order to keep the connection between soul and body alive, he had reacted and his soul had tried to repel all of the essence from his soul.
"That was strange though." The leader of the Soul-finders started as he eyed the boy curiously.
"His soul wasn't just expelling the essence from within it, but the essence around him as well... I've never seen the soul directly effect the surrounding essence like that without being channeled through an artifact, or used in a spell." I was stunned as the words came out of my mouth, not believing my own words. It couldn't be true. There was no way someone could control essence that wasn't filtered through their own soul first, that filtering is what gives the essence the connection to you in the first place.
"So he lives... Okay, now what do we do with him. If I'm understanding correctly, the boy can't use this body without the essence that just left him. So how are you planning on keeping him alive." My sister said coldly, seemingly without a care for the life in front of her. It was no surprise though. She had been like that since she was little, since she lost her best friend. No regard for life, human or not. However that's what molded her into the strong warrior I knew as my sister today, but I did wish she would go back to how she was when she was a cute little kid again, even if just once.
A scream erupted from the center of the room as the center of attention opened his eyes and jumped up, scratching his face like a maniac I could only imagine what was inclining him to do that.
blood started dripping from scrapes while he stared at the mattress with eyes wider than an insomniac forcing them open.
It was a terrible sight. What in the hell could've happened to this boy to bring him to such a state, and in his own mind no less.
"They're gone... AHH no. That's wrong. No. She's right here. You're here, right Meredith? I can see you. No no no NO! WHERE ARE YOU GOING, NO, no. Please. Please don't leave me again, please not again sister. I don't want to watch you die anymore..."
The boy was talking to himself. Screaming at points, crying at others. A look of despair spread across his face as it dropped into his lap and he passed out with tears in his red eyes.
His short brown hair covered his face from my view but I could still make out his jaw clenching subconsciously, the muscles in his jaw striating wildly.
It was a horrible sight to behold. I didn't even know the boy but I knew that whatever he had been put through was awful. There was no way he was still sane.
A lost cause I thought to myself before turning away. Another false hope among the Soul Lords.
The sound of leather ruffling was enough to turn me back around. My sister, my cold-hearted sister, had her arms wrapped around him. Tears were rolling down her face as she grabbed the back of his leather tunic with one hand and pushed his head into her shoulder in the other.
He was awake. Still crying. Tears wetting the shoulder-pad of my sisters light armor.
She was consoling him, as if he were a newborn baby. Even though I wasn't the recipient of the consolement, it did bring me a sort of comfort.
I left the room with Dean and Setrius, giving the three of them some space.
I still had no clue what could have caused this outburst, but whatever it was, I knew it was horrible.
-------------------
Mercury Bauer
It was terrible.
The pain wasn't the worst of it.
The horror of watching everyone I loved die, over and over again. It made my knees cave in.
There was no way I could sleep. I don't know what terrible force cursed that nightmare upon me but I didn't want to feel it again.
It was as if the world was telling me I couldn't relax. Like I should always be looking out for something.
The dream had felt like days. Days of torture, not physical, but mental.
When I had woken up I found myself in the shoulder of a girl. Being no older than 17, she was around my age.
She was crying too. Like I had been before I woke. My guide was standing on the same bed as me, his hand on my solar plexus, his eyes closed, focusing on channeling something. I could feel it, like the blood being drained from my body, but the feeling was coming from my soul.
I wasn't worried though. My soul felt like a dam waiting to collapse, being held up by the duct tape that was Sandrius' touch.
The whole morning had confused me completely.
My whole body was aching and my mind was restless, but I knew I couldn't just sit around.
I had gotten out of bed and taken a trip to the washroom in order to wash the sweat off of my face, then I put on a tight steel breastplate, one that Godwin provided.
All five of us, me the soul-finders and the human siblings, walked over to what seemed like a training ground in the far side of the city from the entrance gate.
That was where I was now.
"I'll spar with you first." Erin offered, she seemed extremely antisocial, as if she didn't want to be there, but her eyes told me she was glad to be invited.
"Okay, I accept your challenge. Please go easy on me." I responded and put myself into a stance I had seen in a book about fighting. My sword felt unnatural in my right hand and my armor was bearing down on my torso, adding extra weight to my frail body.
The only thing I had at my disposal was my essence, strengthening my body to physical attacks. But that wouldn't last long against a barrage.
"I don't mean to be rude, but that stance makes it seem like you've never held a sword before." Godwin said whilst scratching his cheek with a certain amount of nervousness.
I sighed "That's because I never have." Erin erupted into a fit of laughter, "The Soul Lord, the one you all praise so highly, has never held a sword before? You have to be kidding me." The mocking tone made me realize how ridiculous I must seem, training with these veterans whilst the only thing near to a weapon I had ever held was a hoe.
"Place your left foot forward and hold your sword with both hands in front of you, no. Your right foot needs to be further back. Yes there we go." Godwin walked me through the steps to hold my stance.
Finally, with my right foot behind me and my left foot in front, I held my sword in front of me and Godwin told us to begin.
The young girl in front of me, around 160cm and maybe 50kg, was wielding dual daggers. With the blades held below her hands, it was as if the daggers were in a position to rip straight through the skin of an enemy.
Her weight must've contributed to her speed as she dashed forward and threw a dagger to my left side. She was nowhere near as fast as the soul-finder I'd seen fight before but it was enough to throw me off balance. I put too much weight into my back foot and fell backwards and onto my backside before a hand reached out towards mine.
"This is gunna take some work isn't it." She said, feigning annoyance. I matched her hand and let her assist me in getting up.
"Again!" Godwin shouted.
Another swift attack, this time to my right. With the tip of the blade about to make contact with my side, I moved my right foot back and twisted my torso, the blade whizzed past me, but not without making a small slice in my chest plate.
Taking my stance again I heard the following shout from Godwin and braced myself for another attack.
She dashed forward, her blade facing me this time, ready to stab at my armor.
I brought my hands up to the right side and positioned my sword to block the stab, which it did. The knife connected firmly with my blade. I did it! I blocked the-
The blow had slammed my sword into my chest and I had been sent flying about 3 meters backwards, my blade landing a meter to my right.
"Sorry!" Erin apologized from the distance and rushed over to help me up. I stayed on the ground though, regaining my composure after getting winded.
"That was nasty, I thought I asked for you to take it easy on me." I chuckled as I jokingly criticized Erin for her overuse of strength.
"I really thought you'd have the physical strength to block that. Sorry I should've been more cautious. Are you okay?" Sounding concerned for my well-being, I nodded in response and she smiled with her eyes back at me. "Another round?"
Back in the same stance as before, I readied myself for another attack. The bruise on my chest had already healed, with the help of my resident essence.
As the blade was brought up beneath my chin, I moved myself backwards, bringing my right foot further back and ducking.
Holding my sword in both hands I held it forward like a lance, aimed directly at the girl.
I thrashed the blade at her chest, but instead of colliding with her chest plate, a small dagger moved in the way. The other dagger she was holding. With her left holding my blade still, I tried to pull back but she had already dashed around to my left, where my sword wasn't ready to block, and struck at my side.
Another match over.
I was improving. Able to move more freely I could picture myself getting used to this.
But when it comes to actually having to draw blood, that I don't know if I'm ready for.