“What do I do now,” Clay thought to himself as he sat on the roof of a convenience store, just a few blocks from his house. He had been quick to escape the precinct, and now that he was armed he was at least a little more prepared to tackle future challenges. But with everything that had changed, he had no idea what his next step should be.

Clay’s stomach rumbled.

Getting a little hungry there big fella?

“Considering I can’t die, hunger isn’t something I need to worry about anymore" Clay responded. As if in protest, Clay’s stomach rumbled with even greater hunger.

Right.

Clay reluctantly reached into his pocket, pulling out his wallet to count his money. “Only a hundred bucks,” he said with a sigh. His home was gone, his father killed and the rest of his family dispersed god knows where, he no longer had any kind of support. Money was going to quickly become a problem for him.

Just steal what you need.

The thought had crossed Clay’s mind, with his powers robbing a bank, or anywhere else, would be incredibly easy. Besides, he was already a murderer and a wanted felon in the eyes of society. But Clay dismissed the idea.

“I could sell this” Clay thought aloud as he felt for the mana crystal around his neck. He had been wearing it for over a decade, and even if his mana was nearly non-existent, all that time should have charged it up enough to fetch a decent price. Finding a buyer outside the NDSA would be a bit tricky, though there were some civilian mages in the city.

Clay stepped off the roof of the building, heading for a local diner he and his family frequented. Taking a seat near the back of the restaurant, he ordered a burger and some fries, something nice and cheap.

“I was wondering, can we use your power to charge mana crystals?” Clay asked Sephtis after the waiter left.

I told you before, my power isn’t mana, it's spiritual energy.

“But that powerful elf in the forest, when we drained him, it caused his barrier spell to fade. Weren't we draining his mana?”

Sort of, but it just gets converted into a form of energy I can eat.

“Eat? You get hungry?”

Of course, everything requires energy, that's just science dummy.

Clay stopped talking as the waiter brought him his drink. The last thing he wanted was to look crazy and draw attention to himself. “So what were you eating before I started draining people?” Clay asked as he raised his drink to his lips.

Oh, your soul.

Clay started coughing on the sip of soda he had just taken. “What?”

Relax, I can only take little nibbles off. Believe me, I tried to eat the whole thing when I realized I was stuck to you. Whatever this weird energy is tied around your soul, it’s something I can’t convert. So you’re protected.

The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

“That’s… not really reassuring, knowing some inexplicable force is the only thing keeping you from killing me.”

To me, there’s no difference between that and the cow you’re eating right now. In the spiritual world, you either eat souls or one of the souls will eat you. It’s the only way to build up your spiritual power.

“So you’re stronger now after we killed those elves?”

Well, technically, but an individual soul at my size is nothing. I’d usually eat larger entities who had already consumed many souls themselves.

“I see.” The waiter returned carrying Clay’s plate of food. Clay was just about to take a bite when a realization crossed his mind. “Wait, does that mean I would’ve been eaten back when we first met?”

Yeah, if I hadn’t intervened something else would’ve gobbled you up.

“But, the distant light I saw, isn’t that supposed to be heaven or something?”

Light? In the forest of the dead, there is only darkness, I have lived there for thousands of years and never seen anything like that. There is no heaven, and if there is a God I have yet to meet him. Although many entities are far more powerful than I, who could be described as godlike.

Clay was confused, he remembered there being a light, but he wasn’t going to argue. Everything about the spiritual world confused him, and Sephtis’s explanations usually left him with more questions than answers.

Shrugging it off he started digging into his food. Right now finding a source of income was what was important. If power-charging mana crystals wasn’t possible, he would have to think of something else for money. Getting a regular job probably wasn’t an option considering his current status as a criminal, for now he would have to hope he could get a good price on the one mana crystal he did have.

…

“So it was true, he did kill a bunch of elves,” Valerie said to Cedric as he navigated his way through the trees. A local had reported finding the bodies after chasing his dog into the woods. “He confessed to it when he was being interrogated, but the detective didn’t believe it. Honestly, I wouldn’t believe it either.”

Cedric circled the crime scene “there aren’t that many signs of a fight, whatever happened, it was over quickly. Clearly the kid was able to take them by surprise. Seems most of them died by getting stabbed too.”

“Aren’t elves supposed to be crazy strong?” Big P asked.

“A surprise attack helps a lot to even out the odds, and we already know this Clay guy can move around extremely fast” Cedric answered. “But what the hell were these guys doing out in the woods in the first place, and so close to the suspect's house?”

“Well, if the kid is to be believed, they were planning to ambush him and kidnap his sister,” Valerie said.

“Do you believe that?” Cedric asked her.

“...I don’t know. So far this doesn’t make any sense at all.”

“You guys stay here and secure the scene, Valerie and I are going to go check out the house,” Cedric said to Lauren and Big P.

“The investigators already went over this place pretty thoroughly. You think they missed something?” Valerie asked as they entered the house.

“Probably not, I just wanted to take a look around is all. Who knows, maybe he came back through here after his escape.”

Cedric climbed up the blackened stairs, scanning around the building. “That's the sister's room right?”

“Yeah, that’s Uriana’s room.”

Cedric walked through the doorway, the door itself having burnt away completely, as well as most of the furniture in the room. “According to Clay, every time he dies he comes back to this room.”

“Are we going to start believing in immortals?” Valerie asked.

“Not really, but everything else about this case has proven to be unbelievable. And he hasn’t exactly been caught lying yet.” Cedric used his hat to scoop up a bunch of ash, filling it to its brim. He then began lightly shaking it out along the floor of the room, covering the ground in an even, delicate layer of ash.

“Worth a shot, we can come check it out periodically. Seal the entrance up with some caution tape for good measure. If we can get some evidence he’s telling the truth, maybe the higher-ups can be convinced to set up a permanent surveillance operation at the house.”