Darris and Susain experimented with manipulating the souls within Darris. Firstly, they had worked on covering his body in a thin layer of souls. “We aren’t really worried about durability. We just need you to get used to turning it off and on when you need to.” Susain had reminded Darris multiple times. Afterward, they focused on drawing the souls to a single area of his body. Unlike the last test, Susain added her own flair by occasionally firing a small ray of frost at the protected area. Darris could still fill the chill run through his body, however, it was a notable difference from the near-instant frostbite he’d gain if souls didn’t surround his body.

Throughout the experimentation, Darris needed to surround his body with souls to keep up the illusion of life around him. Susian, ultimately, found a way to make this an experiment as well. Every time Darris conjured an illusion around him, she would remove a few runes from his body that helped with the illusion, as if she were slowly adding weights to someone whilst they exercised.

Next, they focused on manipulating the souls to do a variety of things. They attempted to use Darris’s souls to move objects, mainly the various books around the room; nothing. Then they tried to alter the form of things around them. Susian made an example; turning a pen into a piece of chalk, to a small glass vial, then back into a pen. When Darris tried; nothing.

“Ok, let's try something a bit more… deadly.” Susain said, beginning to draw a sigil in the air.

“What do you mean by-” Darris stopped when the sigil burst into tiny sparks and a small dragonfly formed from the embers of arcane energy. The dragonfly buzzed around the room, flying randomly in every-which direction.

“I want you to try to kill the fly with your souls… not your sword.” Susain specified, glaring at the dragonfly as it buzzed in front of her.

Darris reached toward the dragonfly as he forced a few souls within him to his outstretched hand. Flickers of golden mist spilled from his fingertips. As his hand approached the fly the mist stretched from his fingers and coiled around the miniscule buzzing creature. The fly, in a futile attempt to flee, began to fly up, but the mist overtook it and within a second, the fly popped into arcane sparks.

Darris recoiled his hand as the golden mist sunk into his skin. “I think I can say that the souls are deadly.” He said, looking back up at Susain who was writing things down in a notebook like she had after every experiment.

“What are you writing down?” Darris asked.

“I’ve never seen or heard of using pure souls as a magic source before. So I'm testing out what you can do.” She explained.

“If anyone, you should test Svalken. On second thought I doubt he’d let you.” Darris said, glancing out the window at the sun beginning to dip beneath the horizon, turning the sky orange and red. Then he recalled something that smashed into his mind like a brick. “Wait, I need to go meet him at town square, its sundown.” He said quickly, turning to face the door.

“I’ll go with you.” Susain said. “I want to ask Svalken a few questions.”

“I doubt Svalken would be willing to answer any of them.” Darris explained, opening the door.

“Doesn’t hurt to try.” She said, following Darris as he walked from the room.

As they reached the exit, they noticed Gregory sitting at a bench near the door, arms folded over his chest. He glanced at the two as they began to walk forward. “Susain.” He said, glaring directly at his sister. His face was serious, but not angry. However Darris noticed that his fist was clenched tightly at his side.

“Gregory, we were just leaving, no need to-” She was cut off when Gregory rose from the bench and spoke.

“Dad hasn’t arrived yet.” He said. His voice sounded calm, but Darris could tell that Gregory was resisting the urge to shout.

Susain stopped immediately, glancing up at her brother. The annoyed expression on her face faded, being replaced with worry and doubt. “Where is he?” She asked.

Gregory shrugged. “He was supposed to be here hours ago. I was going to go look for him but Yana’ just told me to not worry about it. She left a bit ago and hasn’t come back.” he explained.

“W-why haven’t you gone and looked for them, idiot.” Susain shouted, taking several steps forward.

“Yana told us to stay here while-” Gregory was cut off by his screaming sister.

“I don’t care what Yana said, we need to go look for dad. She hasn’t come back either, according to you.” Susain shot back. Susain began to walk past her brother but he grabbed her arm to stop her.

She tried to pull free from her brother, however his grip held firm on her arm. “Let me go. Someone needs to go find dad.” She shouted.

“Then I’ll go.” He shouted back. “You stay here, and I’ll look for dad and Yana.” He pulled Susain back in front of him and glanced at Darris. “You’re coming too.” He ordered. “You were on your way out anyways right?”

Before Darris could respond, Gregory glanced back at his sister. “Only answer the door if its me, dad, or Yana. No one else.” He ordered, straining the last few words.

Gregory turned to the door and opened it before looking at Darris once again. “Follow me. Don’t go anywhere else.” He ordered again.

Darris took a few steps forward before glancing back at Susain. “We'll be fine. He’s probably just… doing… things Reeves do.” Darris choked out in a futile attempt to calm Susain.

Gregory cleared his throat loud enough for Darris to turn his head. He took one last look at Susain before walking through the door.

Gregory led Darris around the town, weaving through many alleys and crowded streets. Gregory was fast for his size, partially due to his stride. Darris had to nearly jog to keep up with him.

“Alright, do we have any ideas as to-” Darris began but he was cut off when he ran into Gregory’s back, who had stopped dead in his tracks.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

“Why did you stop?” Darris asked, stepping around Gregory to his front.

Suddenly, Gregory grabbed Darris by the head and slammed him against the wall. The force made Darris’s body go numb for a moment before he shook off the daze. Darris quickly summoned his scimitar to his hand, however Gregory grabbed his wrist and held it against the wall, making the blade useless.

Gregory and Darris’s eyes met. Darris looked into Gregory’s eyes and saw something he didn’t expect. Within the shimmer of Gregory’s eyes were several spectral forms, all melded together in bright red tattered cloth. “You can see them, can’t you?” He asked through gritted teeth. “You can see the souls of the dead too , can’t you?”

Darris’s vision suddenly focused on Gregory’s face; an expression of confusion and anger hung upon it. “Y-you’re a reaper?” Darris asked, as Gregory pressed his head harder into the stone wall. He could feel the pressure building in his head, and more and his skull might break.

“You’re undead.” Gregory muttered. “Why are you here?” He pressed harder on Darris’s head, making a slight crack run down the side of the stone wall. “What have you done with my dad?” He growled.

“I-I didn’t do anything with your dad. I-I’ve been with your sister all day.” Darris answered through a wince of pain. “How do you know I’m undead? Can you see through my illusion?” He asked. However then he recalled a sensation he’d felt when Svalken had reanimated a zombie from the graveyard. A hum had run through his head and he could feel its presence around him.

Gregory wasn’t listening at that moment. He had his head turned from the alley. He leaned back and lessened the pressure on Darris’s head. Darris, with a bit more effort then it should’ve taken, turned his head where Gregory was looking. His eyes widened as he saw wisps of golden mist rising into the sky.

Gregory glared back at Darris and slammed his head into the wall again. “What did you do?” He shouted.

“Nothing!” Darris shouted back. “I didn’t do anything to your father. I’d never hurt my own family.” He shouted.

Gregory fell silent for a moment as he sighed and let Darris go. Darris fell to his knees as his head pulsed with pain. “Your name isn’t ‘David’, is it?” He asked.

Darris shook his head as he got to his feet. “Darris.”

“Grimhul?” Gregory finished.

Darris nodded.

“We need to stop whatever is killing those people.” He said, then he turned to Darris once more. “Do anything stupid and I won’t hesitate to kill you. I couldn’t care less who you used to be.” He said before running off toward the souls, Darris following just behind.

As they got closer to the area of souls, Darris noticed that many townspeople were frantically running from the area, now just a block away. Some of them were injured. One person had a large wound across their now limp arm that flailed behind them as they ran.

Instinctively, Darris moved a hand to the pendant around his neck and pulled it off. The same golden-bladed scimitar appearing in his off-hand.

Gregory ran to one of the injured citizens, holding them up as they nearly fell from a wound across their leg. “What’s happening? Who else is injured?” He asked.

The injured man opened his mouth to speak, but nothing but choked gurgles came out as an arrow pierced the back of his neck. The crude arrowhead stuck from the man’s throat, dripping with blood, as the man fell limp and his eyes rolled back in his head.

Gregory looked up to see a cackling gnoll with a bow glaring at what had been its target. Gregory grit his teeth as he dropped the man to the floor. His hand flowed to the pendant of a warhammer around his neck as he pulled it. A fine steel warhammer apperated in his hands. The gnoll cackled again, dropping its bow. From its back it pulled out a large ax. With a shout both the warriors dashed toward the other.

The gnoll swung first. He swung the large ax down with such force that it carved into the stone road where Gregory had been standing. Just as the gnoll looked at Gregory he was met with a slab of metal ramming into his face, knocking him back onto his back. The gnoll attempted to right himself, however Gregory stepped on its chest to keep it on the ground.

Gregory glared down at the creature as he raised his hammer. The gnoll began to struggle and grunt through its bloodied face. However it suddenly fell silent as the hammer came down on its head.

Darris turned from the encounter as he heard quick footsteps behind him. He turned just in time to deflect a club swing from a gnoll. Quickly, Darris spun his other scimitar and swung up at the gnolls face. The gnoll stepped back, however the end of the blade still cut across the creature’s jaw. Darris took a step forward before swinging again at the gnolls neck.

The gnoll lifted its club to block the blow, however it stumbled back from the impact.

Darris went for a third swing, slicing across the gnolls neck as it began to raise its club again.

The gnoll stumbled back again before falling onto its back, grasping at its neck.

Darris saw the familiar golden mist stream from beneath its fur as the life faded from its eyes and its body fell limp. Darris walked over the body of the gnoll, the soul of the creature sinking into his skin.

He glanced at Gregory, who had just absorbed the soul of a gnoll he had crushed with a hammer. They simply looked at each other then nodded before they both spread out to hunt down more gnolls. Gregory went to where the souls had been first seen, and Darris bolted down the street to catch any stragglers.

After letting Darris go about whatever business he felt like doing, Svalken had stopped, once again, at the Rusty Cup. The food wasn’t great, but it was the only place to get food at that hour. He picked absentmindedly at his slab of bread and egg. Then he heard someone pull back the chair across the table from him. He glanced up to see a woman with long blonde hair and skin that seemed to glow in the lantern light. Her eyes were pure golden as she looked calmly at Svalken as she sat down. She wore the robes of a priest with plates of metal over it for protection. A golden symbol was carved into the chest piece of a fist holding a weight balance.

Svalken set down his fork and crossed his arms. “What are you doing here, Azariah?” He asked bluntly, leaning back in his chair.

“I was in the area.” She said, Her voice was calm and soothing. The kind of voice that would put any person’s mind at ease. Svalken, however, just found it annoying.

Azariah leaned forward and set her chin to rest on her hand. “The meeting is in 8 months. Will you be attending?” She asked.

“Why wouldn’t I?” He replied back.

Azariha glanced toward the door to the exit. “You have a student now.” She stated.

Svalken raised an eyebrow. “And?”

Azariha glanced back at Svalken and chuckled lightly, as if remembering an old joke. “Oh, well I just find it a bit surprising is all.” She exclaimed. “I just didn’t think you’d gotten another one so soon.”

Svalken glared into Azariha’s eyes, flickers of silver sparks seemingly emanating from behind his eyes.

Azariha smiled, although she leaned backwards slightly. “Do you know what I've noticed about you, Svalken?” She asked.

Svalken just glared at her before rolling his hand, motioning for her to continue.

“You don’t like talking to people.” She stated.

Svalken uncrossed his arms and picked up his fork, beginning to pick at his food. “Wonderful observation.” He mumbled sarcastically.

Azariha stood up. “You’re always so enthusiastic.” She replied with the same tone of sarcasm. She turned away and began walking towards the exit. Then she stopped and turned back to Svalken. “Oh, and by the way, you may want to look through the forests a bit. I’ve heard some gnolls gathering on my way over here.” She stated.

“Then kill them.” Svalken stated.

Azariha chucked, making Svalken resist the urge to throw his fork into her eye. “I’ve told you before, I’m not one for fighting. Then again, you don’t pay attention to anyone but yourself.” She said before exiting the tavern.

Azariha had been right, about the gnoll problem, apparently. Several hours of killing time later, Svalken had been in the market district when he came upon the first sign of death. At first Svalken hadn’t known why civilians were running away screaming. Then he saw what he first thought was a large dog maul someone to death. Then he saw silver flames rise from the mauled corpse.

The gnoll had tried to lunge at him, however it didn’t get very far until Svalken waved his hand and its head splattered into paste. As Svalken put his arm down he retracted the chain that melded into his skin. At the end of the chain hung a large cylindrical weight made out of some strange black metal that Svalken had never cared to investigate. The weight now dripped with chips of bone and bright red blood.

Svalken stepped forward and reached out toward the flaming soul of the gnoll as flames began to rise from under its fur. The silver flames licked at his palm before being sucked into his skin. For a brief moment, his palm felt warm, as if he was holding it over a small candle. But the warmth faded just as quick as it had arrived; they never lasted long.

Then, Svalken heard hurried footsteps from behind him. He turned and flung his arm. The metal weight of the chain collided with the skull of a gnoll as it lunged forward to bite him. The gnoll’s corpse then fell to the ground as the top half of its head had been blown apart.

Svalken walked forward, toward the screams and fleeing citizens. He swung his chain lightly at his side like a pendulum. It'd been a while since he’d killed something. Maybe sticking around for a moment longer wouldn’t hurt.