A soul to touch duskwalk.., p.49
A Soul to Touch: Duskwalker Brides: Book Three, page 49
It was only in the silence that greeted her that she realised that the black cloud wasn’t actually empty. Within the centre of it, there was a white flame that was hidden until the slow swirl of the creature’s essence parted slightly.
Mayumi crept closer so she could intervene, but she had no idea how she was supposed to fight a being made of cloud.
“Hmm.” His chalky hand appeared before only the lower part of his face, so he could cup his jaw. “I came because I felt this little one die, and yet his soul did not come to me as it should have. I came to collect it and find out why.” The cloud stopped swirling and instead pulsated for a moment, almost like one’s shoulders might lift and fall on a sigh. “But like I said, I didn’t expect to see a human with him, nor one that has obviously been weeping. Are you sad that he is gone? Your soul appears to be withered within you. I only see this in humans who are experiencing intense levels of sorrow and pain.”
She could have lied, and perhaps if a human had asked her, she would have – but Mayumi saw no point in lying.
“Yes. I tried to save him because I wanted him to stay.”
The chalky face appeared, and she didn’t like the way he grinned. Not with the fact he had large, sharp fangs like that of the Demon King – almost curling inward and shark-like.
The cloud moved so swiftly that she didn’t even get the chance to step back when he was right in front of her. He smelt like nothing, and the cloud that passed over her cheek for just a second had no feeling to it. She only saw it pass over her eye before it settled backwards.
“I did not answer your question. I am Weldir, semidei Custos Tenebris.” A hand waved downwards with a swish before puffing away into cloud. “Or, to a human, Weldir, Warden of the Darkness.”
“Weldir? Why do I know that name?” she whispered with her eyes narrowing in thought. Then it clicked. “Weldir? As in Faunus’ father, the spirit of the void guy?”
The chuckle that came from him was warm. “Calling me the spirit of the void is the equivalent of me calling you the human of this clearing. It has no meaning. It is nothing more than a description.”
Well... how the hell was I supposed to know that? It’s all Faunus had really told her.
“But yes, in short, I am this Mavka’s father. Lindiwe and I have been awaiting his return.”
“Lindiwe-... who?” Mayumi asked.
“Their mother. They call her the Witch Owl, which is a fitting title for her, although I call her my mate.”
Two hands formed and went around her, and then yanked back as if he wanted to pull her forward. Nothing happened, and Mayumi didn’t feel anything. Yet, as the cloud fluttered backwards, she felt the desire to follow it and did so hesitantly.
When he floated too close to Faunus, who started growling at her closeness, she halted.
“Like I said, his soul is fractured.” A hand appeared, seeming to catch something in the air before a yellow flame glowed to life. It was of Faunus’ skull and horns and nothing more. “This should appear as all of him, just as your soul appears like you. Yet the body half of him is stuck inside the physical form you have granted in cursing him.”
“I didn’t mean to,” she sighed, rubbing at her face in confusion. Everything she’d learnt, all the pain she’d felt in the last few weeks and especially days... this was all far too overwhelming for just one person.
That’s when she noticed the liquid covering her cheeks and began wiping her face clean of her tears and snot.
“It’s fine,” he stated. “All I need to do is pull his soul from his physical form.”
Mayumi's heart clenched tightly as she turned her eyes to the side to look away from Weldir and, more importantly, Faunus.
“Your soul has dimmed further. You do not want this? You want to leave him how he is?”
“Not at all. I hate that I’ve done this to him.” Her lips tightened when a thought crossed her mind. “I don’t understand something. If you can do this, fuck with his soul, it means you must have power, right?” Mayumi turned her squinting eyes to Weldir’s cloudy essence. “Faunus said you’re some kind of demigod or some shit. If that’s the case, why didn’t you help him? He’s your son.”
Faunus’ fiery skull evaporated.
She jumped back when a hand materialised and shoved straight into her forehead.
“Because my power is limited. I can’t even create a physical form in this world, and I have stolen power that I shouldn’t have just to be here. I am not supposed to intervene, and punishment awaits me if it is discovered I do so.”
The cloud parted to show Mayumi his centre, and she realised the white glow she had seen earlier was a white-flamed soul.
“I have used this human’s soul just so that I could leave the mist I have created in the Veil. I’m allowed to collect the souls of my children, but their life is their own. The only place I have any real strength is Tenebris, and even then, I am not able to stay physical for long – even if I wish it. What ghostly parts you see of me now are the same control I have physically in my own realm, and the longer I am apart from it, the sooner I will fade.”
“You really couldn’t have stopped the Demon King from cracking his skull?” Her eyes crinkled in the sadness and pity that washed over her. “Why is he after them, anyway? The Duskwalkers just existing doesn’t seem like a good enough reason to me.”
“Any excuse is enough for a tyrant,” Weldir stated. “But what you have asked is valid. The cause for Jabez’s ire solely has to do with me.”
Her brows drew together tightly. “What do you mean?”
His face appeared, and it turned in Faunus’ direction to look at him. It faded, but she had a funny feeling his gaze was rooted to the Duskwalker.
“He seeks to weaken me, and so he has targeted my children to do so since I, myself, cannot be harmed, and all attempts on Lindiwe have proven ineffective due to her being a Phantom and returning to me upon her many deaths. I am not permitted to intervene other than how I have tampered with his portal to the Elven realm.” The chalky face materialised facing her and then his hand lifted as though he was shrugging with it. Both disappeared at the same time. “I have three tasks in this world. One is to make Jabez’s portal a one-way journey, meaning any full-breed Demon that crosses over from the Elven realm into this one is stuck here. I am what stops his army from attacking. I am the Elvish people’s line of defence here.”
“And in doing so, you have cursed us humans,” she stated, her teeth gritting in irritation.
“Which is unfortunate but necessary. This realm is bigger, has more people, and you breed so quickly that the hope was that your kind would not be eradicated by the time the Elvish people came up with a solution to remove the Demons from your world, as well as their own.”
Mayumi folded her arms, tightening them across her chest in anger she knew couldn’t be unleashed. Her snarkiness, however, was a weapon she wielded freely.
“What are your other tasks then, oh great demigod of darkness?”
“You remind me of Lindiwe. Quick to anger, and yet cold. Are you sure your soul was not cut from the same flame as hers?” Mayumi blew a cowlick strand of hair from her forehead, but before she could answer with a retort, he said, “Since the Demons have been forced here, I have been given the task of purifying the tainted souls that come from the Demons. Whether it be an animal or a human, what a Demon eats corrupts the flame of one’s soul, and I must use what little power I have to heal them. Then, my final task is to give those souls a place to live, otherwise, your world would be overrun by Ghosts. Even though they are human, they do not pass over to whichever Gods harbour the dead souls from here. I give them a home, and in doing so, I gain power – which is why using one like I have today to give myself a temporary boost in ability also weakens me deeply.”
It was only then that she realised that Weldir’s entire cloud seemed... smaller than when it had first appeared.
She turned to Faunus’ when she saw in her peripheral that he was scratching at the rope around his neck. A whimper of distress wheezed from him, and her eyes bowed at watching him doing so.
He was trapped. This was hardly a life for him to live, even if it was a half-life.
“Are you going to take him there then? To Tenebris, or whatever you called it. Will he be able to walk there, or would he be a flame, not actually conscious?”
“I may not have to,” Weldir said, just as his cloud moved to be in front of her line of sight.
“What do you mean you may not have to?”
“How deeply do you care for this Mavka?” A leg formed as he stepped closer to her. “Are you aware that they seek a bride in order to become stable in this world?”
“Stable?”
“They seek to eat flesh because they are soul eaters, and like a bride metamorphosing into a Phantom by the Mavka becoming their living anchor, that soul in return anchors them to the physical world, which strengthens them. It is why they no longer have hunger once the bond is formed.” His face formed before it faded and showed itself again to be turned to Faunus. “You have given him a name, I am guessing. You said he is your friend. But is he more? You tried to save him, but would you be willing to risk your life if I could bring him back?”
Her right fist clenched, desperately wanting to grab at this thread of hope but utterly fearing to do so. “You said you couldn’t interfere.”
“I can’t interfere with Demons, nor can I save a Mavka once their skull has been damaged.” His face appeared in front of her, and it once more had a large, fang-filled grin. “But he is currently in the bounds of my control. He has died, which means his soul is mine to do with what I will. I also can’t tamper with a living human unless granted permission. How else do you think I gained a mate? My interference with her was rendered null and void once she became mine, as would you if you became his.”
That piqued her interest, and she raised a singular brow.
“What would you do?”
“I must warn you. This may not work. This could see me bringing both of your souls back to Tenebris. Since I can’t bring anyone back from the dead, not even my children, I see no other option. But, in you keeping part of his soul alive and in this realm by fixing his skull before a day passed, it means it is not a full revival but a half-one – in which I can bend the rules, so to speak.”
“Oh, just spit it out!” she yelled, spooking Faunus, who launched at her only to be yanked back by the rope. “If there is a way to save him, then of course I want to do it! I don’t care what it will cost me.”
“Your soul has brightened,” Weldir chuckled. “I’m sure it’ll be nicer for him to eat when hot.”
“You’re planning to feed it to him? Wouldn’t that make me his bride, then?”
“You appear confused and hesitant,” Weldir said, his face forming to frown like she was. “Why?”
“Well,” Mayumi grumbled as she rubbed one of her elbows. “I already offered him my soul, and he said no because he didn’t want to doom me.”
“If he cares for you, as you do him, it will be fine.” His hand formed, hovering a mere inch from her sternum. “You must make your choice, or I will have to take him instead. Like I said, my time here runs short.”
By the time her gaze fell on Faunus, she’d already made her decision.
“Fine.” Her cheeks grew warm, almost like a bashful blush – which felt weird for someone who rarely did. “Just take it.”
Without warning, the hand shot forward into her chest, sinking beneath her flesh like one reaching into water. She felt nothing other than the heat that burst from her just as her soul was forced out of her body in his chalky, black hand.
Then the cloud of Weldir moved to stand in front of Faunus, who sniffed at the air. Weldir had been scentless, so Mayumi figured he was smelling her soul.
Weldir directed it one way, like someone teasing a ball to a dog, and Faunus’ skull followed it. It went the other way, Faunus following it before Welder tossed it at him.
His fangs opened and then clamped around it. He turned his head up and swallowed.
“While I am here, I might as well heal him of his wounds, so he does not have to bear them if this works,” Weldir said, just as black, glittering sand came from within his cloud to wrap around Faunus.
“If it’s like how Faunus heals me, won’t that hurt you?” Mayumi asked while cocking her head slightly.
She was surprised Weldir would care so much when Faunus would likely heal this on his own.
Maybe because he’s his father? Faunus had given her the impression that he’d rarely met him, if at all – which meant he’d been absent most his life. She wouldn’t expect him to care so much then.
The way Weldir grinned when his face formed momentarily, his eyes crinkled with deep humour, showed an underline of something else.
“You can’t hurt something that feels nothing.”
So, that was it. There was no sacrifice in taking his wounds for himself.
Regardless of the reason, she watched the glittering sand fill his wounds to leave not even a scar. It also cleaned him, making his fur fluffy and glossy in the sunlight.
Watching it all happen, how unromantic it was to watch herself be bonded to Faunus this way rather than in some grand gesture, she couldn’t help silently laughing. It was fitting that it would be this way for her.
It’s too late to change my mind now.
Not that she had been planning to.
Mayumi knew by the way Weldir’s chalky face was forming and dispersing while pointed in Faunus’ direction that he was waiting to see if it worked.
The wait was long, and her heart raced in anticipation.
Come on... she mentally pleaded as she bounced impatiently on her feet. A soft gust of wind threw loose snowflakes into the air to dance. Come onnnnn.
“If this fails, you’ll have to take me as well?” she asked Weldir, filling the nerve-wracking silence.
“Your soul has been eaten, and it no longer belongs to you. With no living anchor, your body will turn incorporeal and remain that way. I would only be leaving you here to suffer as a Ghost, and eventually, you’d forget who you are or how you came to die.”
Her bottom lip cringed to the side before she lifted her arm and rubbed at the back of her neck. “He died to save me. I don’t think he would be happy if he learned I died giving him my soul.”
“What he does not know will not hurt him,” he answered with a blasé tone.
“What happens to the souls you purify and keep? What’s Tenebris like?”
He was silent for a moment, but she watched as his lips thinned in thought. It was hard to figure out what he looked like since she was only getting glimpses of him. She thought he may be attractive, and his ears were pointed and poking through inch-long hair.
“Tenebris is... beautiful,” he finally answered quietly, but with a depth to his voice that revealed his care. “I made it so to keep the souls happy. It is dark except for where a soul lingers, and then it is bright for them. I guide them so they do not have to wander through nothingness and instead find peace in the world I have created for them. Maintaining it is draining, but it is better than being forced to hear them weep in fear and confusion. It makes it easier for them to accept that they have passed, and sometimes they don’t realise they have died at all – some forgetting what it was like to have lived.”
“If it is so beautiful, I hope I never see it then.”
“It appears you won’t, for now.” He turned his face to her with his lips curled upwards. “He has accepted your soul, and it has allowed the part of him that is here to strengthen through the bond so I could force the lost fragment back together in that powerful moment.”
Her brows knitted together. “But his eyes are still gone.”
“I’m sure they will appear, give it time,” he said as his form hovered backwards, a leg forming only once. “Since I’m no longer needed here, I will leave while I still have power from the soul I have consumed. Spooking my mate in this realm tickles me rather deeply, especially since I can’t do so very often.”
“How can you be so certain he will return to normal?”
When she received no response, she looked back to see he hadn’t been stepping away to give Faunus and her space but to leave.
Whatever. Mayumi shrugged as she faced Faunus once more and even stepped a little closer, although warily.
After minutes of having the world silent other than the rustling of leaves and a random bird squawk in the distance, she finally noticed a change.
Two pinpricks of yellow light formed just as her soul crested through the centre of his bony forehead. But they weren’t the only changes that happened.
The gold she’d used to stick him together began to melt, pouring down his cheek and from his nose hole. It flattened and forked throughout the bone like it was seeping into tiny fissures she hadn’t been able to see.
The excess was dripping away from him like her soul was a heat source that was binding him together properly.
When her soul fully emerged, it threw out both its arms. Black strings, like goopy ink, shot from the top curl of his ram horns and threaded around her hands and forearms. Then her soul pulled, and pulled, like it was trying to force his skull back together itself until its arms were crossed over its chest.
Finally, it curled and folded its legs underneath itself and laid its head against the middle of its arms.
Once it was done, his orbs flashed into large rotating swirls of fiery vortex that started fast before gentling in velocity.
His body shunted forward like he was taking a proper breath for the first time in ages. He looked one way, then the other, before leaning back on his hindlegs so he could lift his claws to stare at them – like he couldn’t believe they were real or that he was alive.
Mayumi stepped forward while dipping her body to the side as she assessed him. “Faunus?”
He lowered his hands and twisted his head at her.
“Mayumi?” He ghosted his fingertips against the crack in his skull before braving touching it completely. “I am not in pain. How is this possible? I know that I died.”
