Soul weaver, p.7
Soul Weaver, page 7
part #1 of The Seeded Realms Series
“That must be nature mana,” he said. He took a few steps toward the dryad, but then stopped mid-stride, staring down at his open hands with a stern expression.
Amber didn’t appear to pay any attention to Aziel’s movement. She continued to weave her spell, symbols forming within the cloud of mana she had unleashed. As they collected into one larger symbol, she turned to the struggling soldier and leaned closer to her.
“Goodbye, my dear. You have been… somewhat useful.”
Elsie’s muffled voice grew more frantic as the dark green symbol glowed brightly, then shot into the ground beside her. A light rumbling sounded from the earth, followed by a loud crack as two branches similar to the one already impaling the struggling girl broke through the soil. Their sharp tips plunged into Elsie’s body, one through her lower abdomen and the other through her heart.
Elsie gasped, then coughed once, vomiting blood as she did. Her face contorted as Celia witnessed her struggle to take in air before her eyes dulled, her body falling limp. The vines gradually loosened their grip around her and pulled back into the trees, leaving Elsie hanging in the air, impaled on the three thick wooden pikes.
Celia watched as Amber stroked the dead girl’s cheek one last time, then turned to face them. “I wonder; why did you not kill these two? I would have thought Siphoning them would have been quite a treat, for someone with your… special needs. But I suppose it doesn’t really matter now.” Her eyes narrowed as a pair of branches manifested around her. They locked on Aziel, and she smiled innocently.
Celia looked at Elsie’s violated body, and a hint of sadness crept into her heart. She didn’t know this girl, but she didn’t deserve to be tortured and then killed. Celia’s hatred for this dryad only increased with every passing second. But then, the dryad’s branches shot forward toward Aziel. Panic exploded within Celia as her hands reflexively reached out. She quickly unleashed her fire mana, the red mist coalescing into symbols in the air in front of her.
She completed her spell just in time as bolts of newly-formed fire flew toward the pair of branches, exploding on contact. Aziel didn’t seem to notice any of this, however. He just stood where he was, unmoving, staring at his hands.
Amber scowled at the unexpected interruption, glaring at Celia. “Have you stooped so low, demon, that you would aid these humans!” she roared before weaving more branches, but this time targeting Celia herself.
Celia rolled to one side to avoid them, but to her surprise, the branches simply twisted and followed her. She quickly wove another spell as she dashed away, before turning and tossing a glowing red symbol on the ground in front of her. The symbol struck the ground and exploded into a horizontal curtain of flame, high and wide enough to provide her with cover. The branches shot into it, but immediately whipped back to avoid being burned. Celia used the moments afforded to her to take in a deep breath to try to calm her nerves. She hadn’t been in an actual fight in years.
The dryad, on the other hand, hissed in fury. “Just accept your fate, demon. You have no chance against me,” she declared, then started weaving a different spell, this time using brown earth mana. She crouched low, slamming the newly-formed symbols into the ground. A large crack formed in the soil, accompanied by a loud rumbling. Celia inhaled sharply as the crack exploded forward and quickly made its way toward her.
Celia again rolled aside to avoid the incoming spell, but as she scrambled to her feet, she was yanked back by her ankles and slammed into the ground hard, face first. Even with her eyes closed, she could see and read the runes of the notifications clearly:
Warning, you have sustained a minor injury!
Error logged. An overseer has been alerted.
She groaned, opened her eyes, and tried to pull herself up, only to find that she could not move her limbs. It was then she realized her grave mistake.
She had been so focused on avoiding the spells the dryad was throwing at her that she hadn’t noticed how close to the tree line she had moved. And now, several vines had dropped down from the tall trees to wrap around her limbs, immobilizing her.
Warning, you have sustained a minor injury!
Error logged. An overseer has been alerted.
Amber laughed mockingly as more vines dropped from the trees and wrapped around Celia, slowly pulling her up off the ground. The last vine wrapped around her neck, and she struggled futilely as it began to squeeze.
Warning, you have sustained a minor injury!
Error logged. An overseer has been alerted.
“You’re even weaker than I expected,” the dryad commented, walking leisurely toward Celia. She had a smug grin plastered on her face as she began to weave another spell. Several sharp branches broke through the earth and began to coil around her. “I wonder… how many will you be able to take before you die? I hope you can endure more than the human,” she cooed.
Celia tried to reply but couldn’t—the vine around her neck continued to squeeze. She glared at the dryad, trying to figure a way out of this mess, but there was nothing she could do. Was this really the end? After all she had been through all these years, surviving on her own, would she die here? And for what?
A thunderous bang followed by a strong gust of wind caused Celia’s muscles to stiffen as she dangled in the air. She looked around for the source and her eyes opened wide at what she saw.
Aziel was still standing in the same spot, staring at his hands seemingly oblivious to the violence forming around him. The soil and rock below his feet cracked. The air churned and mixed with a thick gray mist, picking up debris from the ground and hurling it around. It was as if a small storm had appeared before them and Aziel was its eye.
“My mana…” he said ominously. He glanced back at the entrance to the mountain behind him, and his hands clenched tightly. Slowly, he turned toward the dryad and Celia. His whole body was trembling. Celia could practically feel his rage, his frustration through the link, and she noticed his eyes were glowing again.
“Release her at once,” he commanded, his voice as cold as ice. His eyes held a glint that promised violence.
Celia gaped at the sight. The person before her was nothing like the mysterious and somewhat carefree person she had spoken to in the library. Aziel looked like a force of nature now, and it was absolutely terrifying to behold.
Amber, however, did not seem cowed. Looking at the massive display of mana, she began to laugh hysterically. “So it was you all along! All this mana… with it I can finally evolve and create my own grove, away from mother and that harlot she calls a sister!” She swept her hands sideways, the distraction causing the vine around Celia’s neck to loosen enough for her to take in a much-needed breath. But the sense of relief didn’t last long. Celia’s heart skipped a beat as she watched the sharp-tipped branches originally meant for her twist toward Aziel.
Her worries were unfounded, however. Aziel’s eyes glowed even brighter, and the small storm around him grew in intensity. He raised his right hand toward the dryad’s rapidly approaching branches, and as they got within a few feet of him, they slammed into a translucent shield. A thundering noise rang from the contact, leaving only splinters behind.
Amber stared at him in shock, her eyes wide in the face of this unexpected turn of events. Aziel did not pause to hear her response; gray mana churned around him as he dragged his outstretched hand slowly to one side. The dryad took a step back, and for the first time, fear—real terror—could be seen in her eyes.
Under Aziel’s direction, the gray mana began coalescing around her. Several large translucent walls appeared and shot toward her, slamming into her from all sides. As they did, the edges merged with one another and quickly morphed into a shimmering translucent sphere, with her trapped within.
Aziel raised his hand, and the sphere followed its movement. He glared at the helpless and terrified dryad held inside it, and their eyes met for a moment. Then he slowly clenched his fist. Celia could see his hand tremble, as if pressing against a resisting force—and as his hand closed, the sphere shrank in response, beginning to crush its sole occupant.
Amber pushed back against the constricting walls and screamed. Celia noticed the dryad attempting to weave a spell to help her escape, but her mana seemed to evaporate as soon as it was released.
“Please stop! I’ll do anything!” Amber begged; her cries fell on deaf ears, however. Aziel kept clenching his hand, and soon the sound of her screams died away, replaced by loud cracks and snaps of bones.
Celia watched, unable to tear her eyes from the gruesome scene. Nausea crept into her. Where once there had been a dryad, now only a small red sphere remained. Aziel kept his fist fully clenched as he stared at the aftermath of his work, and Celia could only watch him numbly for a few seconds before the vines restraining her suddenly loosened. She yelped in surprise before hitting the ground, hard.
Wincing from the pain, she looked up to see Aziel slowly take in a deep breath. Soon after, the winds around him died down, and he finally lowered his arm and released his tight grip.
The sphere dissolved, allowing gravity to take back control of its contents. The red, gooey remains fell to the ground with a loud splat. Celia scrambled backward to avoid some pieces which came too close for her liking. She glanced back at Aziel, only to see him already making his way back toward the entrance to the mountain.
Celia slowly rose from her crouched position, a mix of fear and an odd feeling of respect churned within her as she watched Aziel move further away from her and the gory scene left in his wake.
“Well, that was a mess,” she said, to no one in particular. She staggered forward and began searching the bloodied clearing. To her disappointment, the dryad had not left a crystal behind after her death, but she decided it wasn’t her place to complain about that. Amber had been Aziel’s kill, after all, meaning Celia would have been stealing had she found one.
She then carefully moved toward the impaled girl. And there, behind her, was another corpse she had not noticed before; it was the crushed naked man from the crystal chamber. Celia’s gaze drifted to Elsie. The poor girl had dragged the man all the way out here—to bury him perhaps? No, they were from Maiv, so burning his body was far more likely.
Celia examined the branches which suspended Elsie’s body in the air. She knew they were conjurations, made of mana. In time those branches would simply breakdown into mist again. It would take magnitudes more power—far more than what she saw the dryad using—to actually create something permanent with weaving, even if it was just a pointy branch. That however didn’t change what Celia needed to do. It took all her strength, but eventually she snapped then pulled the three large branches out of the girl’s body, before gently laying her down in the shade of a nearby tree, beside the man.
“I would burn you, but the smoke would be a problem and burying you would just be a waste of time and effort, the beasts around here would just dig you out,” she whispered, smiling sadly as her hands moved to close Elsie’s eyes. “So, you will just have to settle for not being impaled.” She then turned and followed Aziel back into the mountain.
Chapter 6
Aziel found himself sitting on the curved rock at the far end of the crystal chamber. He buried his face in his hands in an attempt to hide his frustration as he thought about his most recent discovery. He had noticed this problem before, but had only just realized the scope and full implications of it.
When he had first been freed from his prison and had moved away from this chamber to the nearby library, he had noticed a small drain on his mana. It was such a minute drain, however, that he had simply ignored it.
But as soon as he exited the mountain, that minute drain had turned into a torrent. The change was so drastic and surprising, it had actually frozen him in place as he tried to wrest back control.
But here in this crystal chamber, he felt calm again. That same drain disappeared completely.
He had escaped one prison only to fall into another, he realized. This only increased the resentment building in his heart. He pressed his fists harder against his face as dark thoughts churned in his mind.
Just as when he killed Silus, killing the dryad had rewarded him with a portion of her mana—along with the same error message he had now grown used to. But that wasn’t his main concern. The mana he received, though only a small amount, had revitalized him. Did his experience mean he had to kill in order to survive? Given the amount of mana he was getting back from each kill, he would have to kill many, many creatures simply to maintain himself.
These genocidal thoughts were interrupted when a meek but familiar voice echoed through the chamber.
“Aziel…? Are you all right?”
“Celia…” he whispered. Looking up, he saw her peering out at him from behind a crystal column. Again, a strange sensation reverberated from his link with this woman. Somehow knowing she was close brought about a sense of calm to his troubled heart. Aziel took a moment to examine her. Her skin looked paler than usual, making the red, deeply bruised skin around her neck seem even more pronounced.
Concerned, Aziel stood—but his sudden movement caused her to flinch backward. Not wanting to scare her away, he slowly sat back down, keeping one careful eye on her. “Do not fear Celia… I will not harm you,” he said. He gestured toward his neck, and Celia’s eyes widened as she quickly tried to cover her own with her hands. “Are you all right?”
“I’m fine,” she told him, and for a long moment they simply stared at each other.
Aziel did not know what to say. His situation essentially demanded he kill every being he came across. It was a solution he rejected with every fiber of himself, but what else could he do? And why was he so different from the rest of the people here? Celia, the humans, even that dryad—none of them seemed to have any problems moving around, and he had not escaped from that listless world just to kill everything in this one.
Aziel desperately wanted to know who he was, who the lady in white from his visions was, and what had happened in the past to lead to his imprisonment. More importantly, he wanted to live the life he had been denied all this time.
Celia didn’t move from where she hid, but she smiled at him tentatively. “Care to explain what’s got you all twisted out of shape?” she asked, the cheery tone not fully concealing her nervousness.
“I… I discovered a problem and am not sure how to resolve it,” he replied. Slowly, he relaxed his shoulders and leaned back against the curved rock. He thought a change of topic might lighten the mood, and recalled the dryad’s words. “So, you’re a succubus,” he said.
“Wha—I mean yes, I am,” she replied, somewhat defensively. “Is that the problem?”
Aziel interlaced his fingers, watching Celia’s half-hidden form. “It depends. What is a succubus?” he asked curiously. Even with the information he collected from his extensive reading within the library, there were still such enormous gaps in his knowledge.
Celia looked down and bit her inner cheek. “Well, succubi are a demon race,” she said glumly. “Pleasure… or sex demons, to be exact.”
Aziel tilted his head to one side. “What do you mean? Is your purpose to bear demon children?”
Celia’s eyes opened wide at that. “What?” she cried, startling him. “No! My purpose isn’t to bear demon children! I Siphon through sex! That’s why we’re called sex demons!”
Aziel dug through his memories of the books he had read when Celia was unconscious. He was certain sex was an activity creatures performed to bring about children, but Celia’s reaction seemed to suggest otherwise. He wanted to continue asking more, but it was clear she didn’t appear to like this topic of conversation at all. She was still glaring at him, so he again tried to change the subject.
“Tell me, Celia, why are you still here? You have an entire world of possibilities out there waiting, yet you remain in this place.”
Celia’s face turned a shade crimson. For a moment, Aziel thought she might flee. Instead, she looked down and shifted her weight from one leg to another.
“U-uh, I…” she mumbled, unable to get the words out.
Aziel waited patiently for her. Finally, Celia sighed in defeat.
“I came here for a reason,” she admitted.
She stepped out from behind the pillar and leaned one shoulder against it, facing him.
“I thought if I Siphoned you, it would free me from my dependence on demonic mana for a good while.” She paused. “Instead, you linked me to yourself and continue to provide me some of your mana through it. Which is, oddly, achieving the same result.” She let out a self-deprecating laugh. “I was worried about it at first, but it honestly feels nice not to have to think about my next meal all the time. You also saved my life, just now.” Her finger slowly traced the bruising around her neck. “So it seems like I owe you for quite a few things… even if you ignore the whole Siphoning bit,” she added, a bit guiltily.
A moment of silence followed, as Aziel considered her reply. He wasn’t really sure if she was indebted to him… all this time he had been trying to figure out a way to repay her for helping him escape. Saving her life was just another part of that, and he had to admit, his actions with the dryad had been mostly due to rage. Her attempt to Siphon his mana for herself had opened the door for his escape, even if she had not intended to do so.
Then there was the link; its creation was very much an accident, so was it really that big of a deal? Yes, he was unconsciously funneling mana to her through it, but the amount was minimal at best. He had no real idea of how it worked or what it did exactly.
Aziel didn’t feel compelled to argue with her, however. If she wished to stay, then he would enjoy her company and use this time to learn all he could from her. He turned his thoughts to their most recent battle.
“That dryad… Amber. She called you a Lesser succubus… a ‘fellow Enlightened.’ What did she mean by that?”
