Thank you to my beta reader and editor, GlassThreads!

Toren Daen

The wind rushed past my face in a gentle caress as I flew high above the clouds. The warm touch of sunshine made my shoulders relax, and the even warmer heat of Aurora’s Vessel Form beneath me lulled me into the state of mind I needed.

Aurora flapped her massive wings, allowing me to feel a steady wave of reassuring thoughts as I sat cross-legged across her broad soulmetal back.

We’d crossed the Grand Mountains not long ago, and now we flew toward our destination from high above, invisible to watching eyes on the ground. In several hours, I’d need to touch down in the Beast Glades to search for Wolfrum Redwater in earnest.

But right now, as the light of the rising sun anointed me in its healthy glow, I allowed myself to settle into a light meditation.

This wasn’t the same as when I assimilated with my Beast Will, though it was similar. I allowed my emotions to flow like a meandering river, each like a bright splash of shining starlight against abyssal dark waters.

My heart beat softly in my chest, the sensation coasting along the river of my emotions like a simple boat. And following the rush of insight I’d experienced upon ascending to the white core, I allowed myself to rest in that boat. To allow my emotions and heartfire to draw me where they would.

“I will be here to pull you from this place when it is time,” my bond informed me softly, barely audible over the rivers of emotion and contrasting color that pervaded my mindscape.

I didn’t acknowledge her words, not really. As the world outside fell away, all my senses focusing inward, I found myself subconsciously remembering that impossible void beyond death. The nothingness that awaited me at the end–the reflectionless black and oblivion.

But this wasn’t like that. There was a backdrop of void that waited beyond it all, but the flow of my heartfire still trailed on like a lifegiving river, changing that darkness into something…

I opened my eyes.

Instead of a layer of sun-kissed clouds, the Sea of my Soul spread out before me in a calming expanse–Aurora’s dawn-like essence on one end, and the infinite darkness of the Void on the other. Beneath me, a still, reflective lake surface mirrored my calm expression back to me.

The fiery songbird of my Phoenix Will chirped happily as it flitted around the space above me. I smiled lightly as I watched it wheel about, enjoying the expanse.

I allowed myself to bask in the heat of Aurora’s comforting soul for a minute, just breathing in and out. The feather that rested in my core–the one that tied me to my bond’s soul–had constantly outputted mana and power for all the time it had been there, pushing me onward through core development at an unnatural pace. Yet I could tell just from the proximity that all the mana it had granted me was but a drop in the bucket compared to the lifespan of an asura’s cultivation.

There was something supernaturally calming about being here in this representation of my deepest essence.

I didn’t really know if what I stood on was my true soul or if it was just the only way I could visualize it. In fact, I knew precious little about this aspect of my abilities.

Which is why I’m here to learn, I thought–except it wasn’t really a thought. More like an echoing vibration, like pure concepts injected directly into my mind. I didn’t so much think the words, as I did… understand the ideas and intent behind them.

I stared down at the mirror surface beneath me, taking the time to inspect my features. The scar Darrin Ordin had given me stood out over my brow, and I looked more hardened than I thought I remembered. My jaw appeared a bit sharper and my hair more lustrous after my ascension to white core, but besides that, everything I saw was Toren.

This is a place beyond normal thought, I realized. The first few times I’d been here, I hadn’t borne the requisite understanding or insight to really listen to the undercurrent of intent that pervaded my mind, but now? Now, what I experienced was beyond mere thought. More fundamental. More primordial.

Instead of words and pictures, my ‘thoughts’ came as liquid ideas. Formless emotion and endless knowledge. I could get lost in the sensation. Normal thinking felt slow and inefficient compared to what I experienced now.

I slowly turned away from inspecting my reflection, recognizing the danger inherent in delving too deeply into that sensation. Instead, I focused on the endless expanse of void beyond Aurora’s soul.

The void where other souls beckoned.

Two stood out prominently, one closer than the other.

I’d seen this one before, the last time I’d entered this reflection of my essence. Like a distant celestial body, a moon enveloped in shadows danced to an unseen rhythm. I’d seen it once before as it was cloaked in a theater mask of darkest ivory, but Seris’ soul had since shed such covers.

What I see changes, I thought, feeling entranced by the nearness of Seris’ soul. The waves of my soul-lake rippled as if pulled by lunar gravity as I stared at the shadowed moon, its face bright as it reflected Aurora’s sun. It changes based on my understanding. Or it shifts based on objective reality. I know not which.

The towering shield of dark iron that gravitated around Seris’ soul told me as much. Cylrit’s essence seemed to radiate a protective aura as it orbited my lover’s soul. I could almost imagine the man was there himself, dedicating his everything to her.

I hadn’t gained a deep enough understanding of the Retainer to really see this before. But now I could see how true Cylrit’s words were–when he said he had dedicated his entire soul to Seris, those words bore weight.

I reached a hand out, the water around me seeming to gravitate with my emotions as it rose in little eddies. I could almost hear a siren’s phantom cry as my fingers extended toward the moon, which didn’t seem so distant anymore…

And I stopped myself. The water rising about me as if under antigravity froze, droplets of soul-touched liquid suspended in the air. I slowly retracted my hand as I drew myself away from that siren’s call.

I took a deep breath, using that to focus back on task. I didn’t know what sort of effect I might have if I just haphazardly tried to touch someone else’s soul. I didn’t know if I could touch someone else’s soul. Maybe nothing would happen at all, or maybe I’d somehow cause those I brushed against to just unravel.

I clenched my fists. I could still feel the draw of Seris’ soul as I stared at it contemplatively, but also…

The distance between our souls was more… ephemeral than physical. I wasn’t sure the concept of physical distance really applied to souls, at least not in the Sea I stood in currently. But I thought I could sense just a bit of where that soul led to. The more I focused on the shadow-shrouded moon, the more it seemed to drift closer.

On a hunch, I called thoughts and memories of others to the forefront of my mind. As I did so, the very void beyond shifted. Like an old time-lapsed video of the movement of the stars from my previous life, the canvas of space above me shifted and turned as different souls appeared to me.

Naereni’s soul—at least to me—appeared like a dark dagger of ice piercing a large bag of gold dust. Glimmering motes of powdered wealth flowed like blood from a wound as the bag hemorrhaged its contents.

Not far away, Sevren was a mass of twisting gears and machinery. Like an engine, different parts churned and chugged in clockwork sync, moving toward a singular goal. I got the sense that the accumulation of bronze and mechanical parts that conveyed his essence hadn’t always been running so smoothly, but just from squinting at the metal construct, I could understand something.

A soft smile split my face. It seemed Sevren was interacting more with his sister if his soul was in such a well-maintained state.

And while Sevren and Naereni’s souls weren’t distant from me in this void space, I got a different sense of their distance. They were far from me in a way, but also… also not. It was hard to really put into words in this space of pure ideas and intent, but there was a strange sort of intertwining between the souls I’d seen.

A push and a pull; like my telekinetic abilities.

I stared at the two souls for a time, immersed in the strange understandings I gained from just watching. Just as a person gained a unique perspective on life through gazing at a scene in nature, or a connoisseur could pick out characterizing details in art to reach new insight, every little aspect of this soulspace seemed to convey something new and ethereal.

High above, my Phoenix Will expanded unnaturally in size as it flew gracefully, crying out in a reverberating echo. I shifted my attention to it as it drifted about happily, wondering how exactly it was present here.

I knew my Will touched my soul in some way. I’d have to test that next time. To see in more detail what it was like to–

A pulse of heat radiated from Aurora’s massive soul like a solar flare, a shimmering wall of fire funneling toward me on invisible chains. I watched, awed but not afraid, as the solar storm brushed against the phantasmal sea of my soul, before enveloping me in an instant.

Our bond, I thought in surprise as that same soul-based intent thrummed through my system. It wasn’t just thought and emotion—it was that primordial touch. That deepest expression injected directly into the highest form of my being.

Aurora was calling me. Telling me it was time. But also a dozen other complexities I’d never been able to sense before–so full and real.

I closed my eyes, knowing that I couldn’t spend any more time in this space. I allowed my body to relax.

I felt the cool late-morning breeze as it brushed against my body again. My clothes fluttered in the wind, and the warmth from Aurora’s soulmetal relic radiated upward like heat from a stove. Opening my eyes, I was above the clouds once again on my bond’s broad back.

“That,” I said, blinking my eyes at the strange absence of the pervading calm of soulspace, “was a trip.”

Aurora cocked her massive head, twisting to look back at me. Those eyes burned with questions. “You entered the Sea of your Soul, did you not?” she pressed, sounding eager. “Tell me, Toren: what was it like? Did you divine anything new?”

I slowly stood, stretching out my body even as currents of wind tried to knock me over and cast me into the clouds below. I ignored that, working out the kinks in my back as I balanced with supernatural grace.

“A bit,” I said with a groan as my spine popped. “I’ve got perspective on other people’s souls, not just my own. And I think I can sense where the person is. Like an inverse of what I do to reach my soul by following my heartfire to the source, I think I can follow souls to their requisite tethers of lifeforce. But I don’t want to try anything yet.”

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Aurora was silent for several scything wingbeats beneath me. “The soul is a domain few among the asura have ever lingered,” she said quietly, “And fewer still understand. Even the greatest of my clan had questions that they could never answer. You are wise to maintain caution.”

I rolled my shoulders as my bond’s somber words registered. She lamented the fact that she could not teach me the intricacies of this power as she had with everything else, and though I did not blame her, that didn’t ease her sorrow.

“We’re just about near the camp I visited last time, yeah?” I asked. “Just about time for us to drop?”

The phantasmal phoenix nodded her bronze vessel. “Indeed. As the sorcerous Scythe said, this is where we must start in our efforts. If you wish to capture the traitor, you must start from the beginning.”

I felt a rictus smile spread across my face as I stared down at the clouds below. Just thinking of Wolfrum made anger churn in my gut—anger at my failure to stop this. Seris wanted Wolfrum alive, probably so she could make an example of him. The Scythe couldn’t allow traitors to galavant around without retribution.

“Then let’s hunt our prey,” I said, my eyes burning, before I let myself fall from Aurora’s back. As I did so, I tugged on the tether of heartfire that connected the relic to my sternum, allowing the phoenix to shift the relic back to its Puppet Form.

The wind rushed past my face as I plummeted, my arms and legs tucked in so I could effectively freefall. The clouds swallowed me as I shot through them, my vision obscured as droplets of water streamed off my telekinetic shroud. The wind whistled and howled as my clothes flapped, and I resisted the urge to laugh even as I shot through the lower layer of clouds.

The Beast Glades stretched in every direction as far as the eye could see. An endless expanse of forested hills and deep secrets, beckoning me like a mother’s call. I narrowed my eyes as I continued to fall for the next couple of minutes, the ground fast approaching.

Aurora circled me in her puppeteered relic as the ground surged up to meet me. Down and down and down I went, adrenaline hot in my veins as my shoulder-length strawberry-blonde hair whipped behind me.

Just before it was too late, I shifted in the air, reaching out with my telekinetic regalia. A consistent area of pushing force quickly dampened my fall as my hurtle slowly evened off.

Finally, I alighted on a waiting branch, not even shaking the tree as I settled my feet with the grace of a feather.

That was something I’d learned about my regalia’s new abilities. I could effectively decide whether I wanted the pushback to affect me or the ambient mana nearby. With my increased abilities, I was truly a force to be reckoned with.

I spread my senses out, searching and listening. The sounds of chirping birds and rustling mana beasts were prominent all around. The wind rustled through the leaves, and I could hear the mournful cries of a nearby creature as it became prey to another.

I tilted my head, shifting my perception as I meticulously swept the forest. There was too much sound here. Too much life. What I was looking for was–

There. A spot without any sound whatsoever, entirely devoid of noise. Most wouldn’t be able to tell the difference with the ambient noise crowding everything out, but hearing was arguably my sharpest sense. I could parse through most disruptions with ease.

And now that I’d found my target, it was easy for my white-core senses to pierce the barrier. A wall of sound mana blocked any noise within a large area from escaping, but once I’d laid my eyes on it, there was no mistaking it.

Aurora flew overhead as she approached, scouting for me. I reined in my mana as I leapt from tree to tree, the familiar act bringing memories of the Clarwood Forest and the Relictombs to the fore.

It didn’t take me long to finally pass through the barrier. Most mages wouldn’t be able to feel the transition, but with my heightened awareness, it was as if I stepped into a different world. I could hear the sounds of dozens of beasts clamoring within the earth. The clanking of metal, the grunts of workers, the howls of pain.

I slowed my approach as I reined in my mana even more. Below me, countless corrupted mana beasts formed a small horde. I watched in a mix of awe and horror as they sat unnaturally still, the corruption in their veins compelling them to another’s will. The mana in the air stank of decay and ill will as I watched from above.

This is a pocket of what will be the Beast Horde, I thought, watching as a mana beast with elongated tusks that were covered in scales waited mutely beside a small avian beast—one that should be flying. Instead, predator and prey stood with unnatural calm as they awaited orders from their slave masters. A single cell in a massive, demented organism.

Knowing what I did of how the vials of liquid corrupted mana beasts, something twisted in my gut as I watched all these unwitting pawns as they were bent to the whims of a dark god. But I dismissed it from my mind as I continued on my way, ignoring these doomed souls with their tainted heartfires.

There were greater things at stake.

The actual Alacryan camp wasn’t that far from where the beasts were sequestered. Men shouted orders and darted about as they transported vials of liquid corruption, arranged themselves in neat units, and more.

There were many lookouts, all tasked with keeping watch on the ground and the trees. But they couldn’t see me. I was the wind itself as I flew deeper into the camp, beelining for a specific location Seris had indicated.

There were dozens of small camps like these all across the Beast Glades where troops gradually gathered an utter horde of corrupted mana beasts together. I knew that they would eventually be sent out against the Wall far to the west to act as a diversion for Dicathen’s troops.

And as the Dicathians were preoccupied on that front, Agrona would strike a death knell to the kingdom of Elenoir, sending sentries straight to the heart of the elven forest. But that plan wouldn’t succeed—not without Circe Milview and her array. I’d made sure of that.

I banished those thoughts from my mind as Aurora’s relic finally spotted the point where I needed to go.

When the Bastards Victorious had fled the camps, presumably with Wolfrum Redwater in tow, it had caused no small amount of issues. The Bastards themselves had a reputation for brutality and cunning–which made sense. They’d served directly beneath Retainer Uto before Seris had dealt with the wretch. But they also had the skills and talents needed to survive in hostile territory for weeks on end, scavenging from the land and working to keep themselves alive for their goals.

Seris doubted that Wolfrum was dead. If he’d managed to get protection from the malicious squad of commandos, then he could effectively disappear into the Beast Glades and never be heard from again. There was no tracker or sentry among Seris’ retinue who could hope to both follow whatever traces existed while also avoiding detection from Dicathian troops.

None except me.

A small clearing had been cordoned off from the rest of the camp like a biohazard zone. A scene of utter havoc and chaos splayed out before me. Burned grass and decimated trees told a quiet story.

On their way out, the Bastards Victorious had decimated everything in their wake. They’d burned tents, churned up the earth with their magic, and spilt no little blood as they did so. Here was the aftermath of their crime: a brutal testament to the treachery of Wolfrum Redwater.

Aurora’s relic alighted on my shoulder, chirping slightly. The claws dug lightly into my skin-tight tunic.

“This proves that they did not plan their exit to be so abrupt,” she said over our bond, her burning orbs inspecting the charred remnants. “They likely intended to muddy their mana signatures and make themselves difficult to track. But it was sloppily done. Panicked. They needed to do as much work as possible before Retainer Cylrit could catch wind of their treachery.”

So they were quick and hasty with their spells as they tried to cover their tracks, I thought, inspecting the ash that still coated the ground. They couldn’t afford to be methodical, so they just blew everything up instead.

“So there will be traces left behind,” my bond concluded, fluttering the puppet’s wings as wind blew through the trees. “Traces that we can follow.”

I smirked as I dropped from the tree branch I was on, my boots crunching in the ash. I surveyed the blast radius, quickly finding the central location. It expanded out in a circular pattern, resembling a concussive wave.

I tapped my foot. Okay, if we start by inspecting the surrounding blast radius, I might be able to pick up–

My head snapped to the side as a powerful mana signature suddenly appeared in my range as if out of thin air. I tensed for a fraction, wondering who they were before I belatedly recognized it.

Bilal, I thought, flying upward and leaving the scene of the Bastards’ retreat behind. Aurora’s relic hung close to me as I reined in my presence. The Retainer who accompanied Mawar with Viessa.

My plans immediately adjusted inside my mind. While my main task was to trail the Bastards Victorious and Wolfrum Redwater, it certainly wouldn’t hurt if I could get some intel on my enemies first.

I alighted on a branch, slowly maneuvering myself toward where I sensed the Retainer’s mana signature pop in. With a bit of thought, I realized Bilal must have used a tempus warp to appear so suddenly. Going on rounds throughout the Alacryan camps, probably. That was standard military protocol: when put in command of a force, the first thing one did was address what its strengths and weaknesses were.

I alighted on a branch, staring down at the array of soldiers as they shuffled about once more. Bilal was easy to spot as he marched with an arrogance stereotypical of those with manifested Vritra blood.

“Hello, bastards,” he sneered, his dark robes shifting as he stared disdainfully down at the Vechorian troops. “My name is Bilal, chosen representative of the Sovereigns themselves and replacement for that fool, Jagrette.”

The Alacryans all around him stopped in shock as his aura washed over them like dark and sickly sludge. Internally, I scoffed in amusement.

Pathetic compared to Mardeth, I thought as I watched the man brandish his power like a stick.

As I watched the Retainer bark out orders and corral men into position, I thought over what I knew about this man. One of the Dead Three personally trained by Scythe Viessa, Bilal would eventually face down Tessia in that otherworld novel during an elven prisoner rescue operation, only to meet his end from her swordstaff.

Though I wasn’t so certain that was going to happen now, considering Elenoir should be spared its conquest by Circe Milview’s absence. Still, I made a point to observe the man as he swaggered about, his ugly and sickly features sparking more disgust in me than any sort of fear.

My eyes were drawn to another lanky figure, this one hunching near Bilal as they leaned against a tree. I could sense sickly mana oozing from them as well, but it was noticeably weaker than the newly appointed Retainer’s.

I furrowed my brow as I stared at the other man, trying to remember their name. I thought I recognized him, but…

“Bivran, brother!” Bilal said sharply as he finally finished berating the troops around him. “What do you sense?”

Right, Bivran, I thought. Wasn’t Ellie’s bond, Boo, supposed to bite his head off like a watermelon?

Bivran bristled slightly at being addressed by his brother. Now that I had properly recalled him, I remembered that he was the weakest of the Dead Three. And didn’t he have powers related to–

“This continent’s trees are receptive to my powers,” Bivran said in a hushed whisper as he and his brother moved off to the side. With a slight application of sound magic, I was able to listen in without being discovered. “But I still can’t be certain of anything.”

Bilal waved his hand dismissively, his dark robes shifting unnaturally around his gangly-thin body. “You’ll succeed, brother, or you’ll be punished. We both know this. If you want a Retainership so bad, you need to do at least something noteworthy.”

Bivran sneered, seeming a perfect mirror to his brother. “That Mawar girl won’t last,” he said with surety. “Too timid. She’s got the strength, but none of the grit or drive. I’ll enjoy breaking her before I take her place.”

“Not yet, Bivran,” Bilal said in a sharp hiss, lowering his voice. “This operation can’t afford to fail. After we’ve succeeded, I’ll pave the way for you to challenge the bitch. But right now we need her, broken scarecrow as she is.”

My brows furrowed. Operation? The attack on the Wall?

Except that didn’t seem right. Part of me felt tempted to just drop down and demand answers, but I knew that wouldn’t work. My mission right now was supposed to be one of stealth, but rushing in risked discovery. It seemed that Bilal, Bivran, and Mawar were being readied for some sort of plan.

I could also follow them for a time, I thought, my brows furrowing. Listen in and hope that they speak more of this plan.

It didn’t surprise me that Bivran was planning to try and usurp Mawar’s position, but that information was useful. I was on good terms with Mawar, and it wouldn’t hurt for her to owe me another favor.

“And if you inform the young girl of her companions’ treacherous nature,” Aurora thought over our bond, “then you can sow discord in their ranks. Water seeds of distrust, and chaos will follow.”

A smirk tugged at the edges of my lips as I considered this. The next time I managed to talk to Mawar, I’d need to tell her about this.

From a cursory sense, I was certain Mawar outclassed even Bilal in direct combat power, but that didn’t necessarily mean anything. When I first fought Melzri’s Retainer way back in Nirmala, she’d been susceptible to goading and basic taunts. If Bivran was smart and played his cards right, I wouldn’t be surprised if he could snatch a victory in a direct fight.

I would much rather Mawar be Retainer of Etril than some sick Mardeth wannabe.

I listened closely for a while after, trying to catch hints of anything more from the two, but they’d devolved back into ordering their troops about and generally flaunting themselves like puffed-up peacocks. Eventually, Bilal pulled a tempus warp from a dimension ring and left with his brother, presumably to visit other camps littered across the Beast Glades.

I turned slightly on my branch as I planned to go back to my primary objective. Still, something prickled at the back of my skull about the conversation between the two plague mages, even as I began tracking the scent of my prey.