The Court of Souls? - Volume 1

by Andur

  On top I would need a higher immortal to open a portal or fly me over.

  Imothep is also out of the question for the same reason. No chance to cross the acidic sea.

  That means the only direction that's open to me is the ice titan. An old hermit whom everyone is afraid of... great! Why not? Let's throw ourselves in front of him and kiss his feet. Maybe he won't squash us.

  I finish my round around the facility by the evening and return to the barracks where Legna is already waiting or me. When I enter the room I find her updating our list of supplies.

  With a grim expression on my face I sit down next to her. “This night.”

  She looks up. “How sure?”

  “It won't get any better. We have to go anyway,” I answer.

  “Which plan?”

  I look down at her list and bite my lower lip. “We take the river.”

  We continue the rest of the day as if nothing unusual happened. I even go out of my way and avoid coming across the last two assholes. Lardass and his remaining team-member turned into outcasts since they lost their position of power. I think they hoped to regain some respect by killing Manti and Aswang. But it backfired and broke their last bit of control over the other slaves.

  It's late in the night when I open my eyes and get up. Legna follows suit and in moments we have our survival gear out of our hiding place under an old plank on the floor. We call it survival gear, but it's nothing more than two sacks with blankets and food. And knives, pots which we stole from the kitchen and two weatherproof coats which belonged to the overseers.

  I shoulder my improvised backpack and grab two mats of straw. Then I hurry out of the room, trying to stay as silent as possible. My goal is the room of the assholes. Legna and I decided long ago that the least we can do is to leave them a farewell present.

  We pile the mats in front of their room and go for a second round, getting stools and a table. With that we can get a good fire going. With the starting point of the fire directly in front of their room and no windows in this wooden construction, they are practically dead.

  I leave the honour of igniting our little bonfire to Legna.

  The dry straw bursts into flames and we dash for the exit. Once outside we don't wast time and head for the river which is flowing through the city and our facility. But halfway to the riverbed I sense one member of the nightwatch coming too close. I drop to the ground.

  Legna throws herself next to me. “What's wrong?”

  “Nightwatch, three o'clock, coming closer. He will see us if we jump into the river!,” I whisper.

  “We have to give him a distraction!” Legna crawls forward but I stop her.

  Then I close my eyes and concentrate on summoning up two of my souls, forcing them into my shadows. It's a bet, pure instinct.

  “You have to infuse your mana!”

  I thank the old man in my thoughts and add a portion of my mana, feeling myself becoming weaker. Then two dark figures rise from the ground. They are clad in shadows and have diffuse contours, but in the darkness they are hard to see anyway.

  One is a grown man and the other a child. I point at the child. “You, run to the barracks and scream.” Then the big shadow. “You, follow him and call for an alarm to distract the nightwatch. Keep them busy!”

  The little shadow starts running towards our barracks where I can already see fire licking out of the entrance. He screams and is promptly followed by the big shadow. “Alarm! We have an escapee! Fire!”

  The nightwatch diverts from his route and follows my two distractions who are running back to our barrack and disappearing inside it.

  I grab Legna's hand and pull her up. Without a word we run for the river and jump inside. The water is cold and the currents are strong, but each of us brought a big piece of cork. The kitchen staff uses them to light the fireplace. They not only burn very well, but are also perfect floating tyres to hold us and our gear above water.

  My hands and legs reach around Legna while the river takes us towards the strong iron bars which secure the access to the facility via the river.

  I concentrate and, a moment before reaching the bars, I take both of us into the shadows. We float through the bar. It's just one teribble moment and in the next we are behind them where I can return us back to normal. I shudder and take a deep breath, clinging with all my might to my gear. That was exhausting. Especially taking Legna and all the stuff with me after summoning those two shadows.

  We drift in the river until we reach the outskirts of the city where a fifty meter waterfall leads into the swamp. This time it is Legna's turn to hug me. The water takes us over the edge and she uses her special trait. Wings of light spread out from her shoulders and we glide down into the swamp. Screams come from behind us and an alarm is raised by the town's guards.

  It's within our calculation. All our hopes rely on the fact that no mid or higher immortal would waste his time in chasing us down. So getting ahead of them and hiding in the swamp is our only hope.

  Dead trees and dark ponds stretch out under us and I scream directions to Legna who can't see a thing.

  Legna lands us hard in a relatively dry part of the swamp and immediately retracts her wings. The ghostly projections of light look like real angel wings and are like a beacon to everyone who looks for us.

  I still don't get why, but for some strange reason there is a day-night cycle in this world. Without stars and a moon the nights are pitch black. Again I reach for Legna's hand and place her bag back in her hands. She lost it when we landed. Then I lead her into the swamp while the city behind us turns alive with screams and alarms.

  I see flames licking high into the sky. Apparently we did pretty good with our little fire. Only then it strikes me that open fires are probably the biggest danger to medieval cities.

  We stumble through the underwood and about ten minutes after our escape we notice lights following us. Legna stops with shivering legs. “That's it! We lost. They are following us.”

  I turn back to her and try to calm her down. She was always more on the emotional side. “What are you talking about? We will hide until they give up. Don't lose your spirit.”

  “I- I can't do this! It's dark and I can't see a thing. We will never be able to outrun them. They have light and I am tired. Can't you hear the animals all around us?” She starts shivering.

  I stop to listen to the noise all around us. She is right. And she is wrong, we can't go back! “I can see. I'll lead you until dawn. Just keep going.” I grab her hand and pull her into a close-by pond. “When they come we dive. We already talked through this.”

  I hold her close to me, but she is too afraid. “What if there is something inside the water? If the stories are true there are all kinds of deadly plants and animals out here.”

  “Calm down. We talked about it and agreed that we take the risk. It is better than being a slave!” I whisper and pull her deeper.

  The searching lights come closer and we kneel down. One of the guards appears at the shore and sends his magelight higher to illuminate a bigger area.

  Something brushes against my ankle and apparently also touches Legna. She draws her breath to scream and I reach up to cover her mouth, muffling her voice. The guard turns towards us.

  I have no choice. I pull her under water and lock her hands in mine. Please calm down. Calm the fuck down! I try to let her up, but she keeps struggling. If I let her up now, she will scream.

  Faced with a grim choice I send my mana into her and yank at her soul. It's surprisingly easy. Her body stops struggling and I pull her back to the surface.

  My mind shorts out upon pulling her non-resisting body with me while the shore with the guard slowly disappears in the distance. I make three strokes, then I try to push air into her lungs by mouth-to-mouth breathing. Three strokes, a breath, three strokes, a breath. It continues until we reach the other side of the pond where I pull her to dry land.

  “What did you do!?”

  Her voice echoes in my
head while I try to restart her heart. “I am trying to save you!” I push my last mana reserves into her, together with her soul. But it doesn't hold and the soul slips back into me. I try again and it doesn't work.

  “Don't try. The body is already dead. Even if you succeed you will just turn her into a zombie.”

  The old man's voice makes me want to scream. That can't be! “I didn't! Legna has to live!”

  “You killed me!”

  “You panicked! You would have killed us both! Damn fish or whatever it was that touched us and you wanted to scream.” I almost call out, but restrain myself just in time. I wipe away the tears. She doesn't answer for a long time while I stare at her body.

  “Just let me go.”

  10. ~Journeymen.~

  “Dualism (from the Latin word duo meaning "two") denotes the state of two parts. The term dualism was originally coined to denote co-eternal binary opposition, a meaning that is preserved in metaphysical and philosophical duality discourse but has been more generalized in other usages to indicate a system which contains two essential parts.

  Moral dualism is the belief of the great complement or conflict between the benevolent and the malevolent. It simply implies that there are two moral opposites at work, independent of any interpretation of what might be "moral" and independent of how these may be represented. The moral opposites might, for example, exist in a world view which has one god, more than one god, or none.”

  The Journey to the Afterlife

  Dedessia, the Sea of Souls, Clan: Carissimi

  Elona, 9 years old

  I watch the endless dunes with the sun high in the sky. It is in the middle of the day, so there is nobody outside.

  Grandma relocated her entire household to ours in Yggdrasil. Apparently the wide halls were hers all along. She is just allowing Mom and Dad to live here and while we are travelling she gave up her self-imposed isolation.

  The whole clan packed up and moved into Yggdrasil, abandoning the nice city which developed around the tree. Maybe we will return one day, but Doreen made it very clear that our way of life isn't about staying in one place. We go where we have to go in order to survive.

  The houses and sheds which are dug into Yggdrasil's bark form a cylindrical, vertical city. Though the ones which were built in the treetop hold most of the population. It's strange to live inside a city which is connected by suspension bridges.

  During the day Yggdrasil doesn't move and rests. It's only at night that the huge roots suddenly start snaking their way across the ground, sliding the entire tree forward without so much as a swaying.

  According to Doreen we cover a good distance with about eighty miles per hour during the nights.

  My flashbacks also increased in frequency. I remember some names and skills, basic knowledge, but no identity. Compared to my little sister that's a huge disadvantage and lowers my status. Quianna started talking right away when her body allowed for it. She remembers her complete previous life. Apparently she was a Siren and got quite old until she was done in by a sea-god whom she had a quarrel with.

  What's up with this household? We have a fury, a succubus and now a siren. I bet if Mom gets a third child it will be a banshee! I refuse to call myself a succubus until I know for sure what I am.

  At least now I've Doreen all day for myself to ask questions. I turn away and head back to the study where the whole family is normally wasting time to deal with the hot days. As expected I find them there, busily doing nothing. Quianna is reading a book while sitting on the ground. A baby reading a book is a strange sight. The others busy themselves in a similar manner.

  It may look like we are lazy, but doing something in this heat is a waste of water. It's only in the nights, when Yggdrasil lights up like a Christmas tree, that everyone hurries to work.

  A Christmas tree... I wonder where I got that one from. I head for Doreen and sit down cross-legged in front of her. “Doreen, what are pathways?”

  Doreen's book slips out of her hand and then she looks at me with a strange expression. The book is completely forgotten. “Where did you hear that expression?”

  “I had another flashback. There I used a pathway to get from one place to another. It was in a crystal city and I had horns and a tail. I think I chased some children whom I thought of as uneducated brats.” I recall the dream I had tonight.

  “The multiverse has what gods call pathways. They are streams of energy which connect the entire multiverse. Gods can use those streams to travel instantly from one point to another. They can turn to pure energy and hijack those energy highways and slip along them. Maybe we weren't so wrong when we thought that you might be a god. You also remembered about the sea of souls when you had your ritual.” Doreen licks over her lips and looks at me as if I am a precious acquirement.

  I blink. “Okay. Then I am not a god. I can't see any pathways here. In my memory the world was full of them and my other self somehow knew where each and every one of them led.”

  “Dedessia has no pathways,” Grandma answers matter-of-factly.

  “No pathways? Then what's the point of being a god!?” I shout out.

  Doreen shakes her head. “For that you have to know what separates a higher immortal, a god, or a mythical beast, from everyone else...”

  She tilts her head in thought and is silent for a few more moments. “A higher immortal found his inner centre and gained full access to his mana resources. Call it a spark of inspiration. It is a state of the mind which grants immense power. It also enables you to use the pathways. Though I already said that Dedessia has none. That's why we can't escape this place so easily. In the multiverse you could simply use the pathways to skip from one reality to the next.”

  “Here nothing like that is possible. We can teleport and have access to our powers, but we can't simply step out of this reality to flee to another one. The multiverse also has places which seem to be devoid of pathways, but they are actually not. The pathways are just very weak there. Dedessia simply has none. It's just one big ocean of diffused energy without the natural streams of the multiverse.”

  Quianna looks up from her book and tries to reassure me. “You shouldn't wreck your brain too much over it, Sis. Maybe Dedessia is simply outside the multiverse? We have to accept that there are different rules in this place. Everything will be solved in the end.” I know that she is trying to be nice, but somehow it doesn't comfort me.

  “It's just that I feel like I am missing a part of myself,” I answer.

  Grandma grants me knowing smile. “You are missing a part of yourself. Don't you remember that I told you that you share a strong soulbond with another soul? You will never be complete until you find that other soul. I've never heard of gods sharing a soulbond, but you obviously do. Actually I wonder if you couldn't be one of those rare dual deities.”

  Now it is Chloe's turn to listen up and stop her own studies. “I've never heard of a dual deity.”

  “Normally gods are bound to be individualists. It's in the nature of their ascension. You don't get good enough at your talents to find your inner centre if you aren't highly independent of what others might think of you. Every god has a different source of power. One might gain his power from being worshipped, or from pursuing revenge like me.

  But I know of some cases where two gods aren't complete without their counterpart. They are Ying and Yang, chaos and order, good and evil, body and mind, darkness and light. Alone they are nothing, but together they are a force of nature.”

  “Hahahahaha!” Quianna starts laughing like mad, almost choking between breaths. “Does that mean that big Sis will get an asshole as a lover? She is so nice, if I switch all her remarkable points to their negative...”

  I start gnawing on my fingernail. “That can't be. I would never want to be with an asshole!”

  Doreen sighs. “That's not what I meant. Duality isn't about being a beast and a beauty. The two complement each other. You can't be without. Don't worry, I am sure that everything will fa
ll into place at one point or the other.”

  Never one, without the other.

  A scene of me holding a man's hand flashes through my mind. “Then how should I find this other soul? What guarantee do I have that it is even somewhere nearby if this world is so vast?” I ask agitated.

  Doreen shakes her head. “Your soulbond is your guarantee. Even if you don't know it, your decisions will cause you to cross paths at one point or the other. It's fate.”

  I don't believe in fate.

  Chloe stands up and claps her hands. “Alright, children! Playtime is over. There is much too much heavy air in here. Why don't we all go out to the balcony and teach Elona how to use her wings?”

  She walks over and grabs my arm. “I know that you refuse being called a succubus, but you have all the required skills and features. As a mother I can't stand having winged offspring who can't fly.”

  She pulls me towards the door, partly unfolding her own wings.

  I try to resist, but she is much too strong for me. “Wait! What do you have in mind?” I don't want this! I am perfectly fine with dwelling on the ground. And I don't like heights!

  Mom pulls me steadily forward. “What's there so hard to understand? We will have our first flying lesson!”

  “Oh, I have to see that!” Doreen gets out of her chair and follows us, with Shawn on her heels, holding Quianna in his arms.

  It's only when we arrive at the balcony that Chloe stops her march. She is still holding my arm in a firm grip and looking down Yggdrasil's trunk.

  I follow her gaze and take a look over the balustrade. It is at least a three hundred metre drop down into the dunes. If I actually fall that far it will simply go *splat* and I am a thin layer of red goo.

  “So how do you want to go about this?” I ask agitated.

  “What a stupid question, haven't you trained moving your wings? Here. Spread them like I do and infuse your mana into them. It will automatically activate their latent levitation magic.” Chloe spreads her wings to their full span of seven metres.