Acedia POV:

The silence was eventually broken by me.

“Can you both stand up and move around a little? I want to see if everything went well.”

The both of them silently stood up, staring at their own bodies in surprise while being very confused in general.

The stretched their arms and legs a little, and although I could see there was some strains on the muscles, everything seemed fine.

Even their complexion had gotten a little better, colour returning slowly to their cheeks and their sweating slowly stopping.

I sighed audibly and they turned their attentions towards me.

“Erm.. w-what happened? The last thing I knew, I… Mother acted weird and then… to you and… s-she  burned us?”

Anna said, both hers and Damien’s face becoming more and more crestfallen the more they remembered.

“Ah, no it isn’t like that.”

I started with a carefree, almost happy-sounding voice.

“That woman isn’t your mother, she’s merely possessed by some enemy of mine, so don’t worry.”

“B-but, she looks the same like mom?! And she even talked the same!”

Anna rebutted, eyes widened in shock as she looked at the unconscious body laying at my feet.

“As I said, she’s possessed, so naturally it is the same body. And why wouldn’t she be able to have Emily’s memory as well? They’re stored in the brain, after all.”

I doubt it is that easy, but that doesn’t matter right now.

“B-but she killed us?!”

“Why are we alive?!”

This time, Damien jumped in as well, looking equally as shocked than Anna.

“Well, you weren’t really alive either way and I made a little deal with the Devil.”

“Not alive?!”

“The Devil?!”

They said in sync.

“Yeah. Scary fellow, prince of darkness, creepy smile, ruler of the underworld, that Devil. And haven’t you checked your Souls. Although it might be harder for you to do without the Energy inside, but you have experience. You should be able to with the magic in your bodies.”

They stopped to concentrate a little and I could sense a small wave flowing over their Souls.

“The holes…”

“The pain…”

“ “They’re gone!” ”

They exclaimed happily, smiling for the first time since they woke up.

The pain?

So they felt that something was wrong with them and it even hurt them.

How awful.

Well, at least they look happy now.

“Yeah, you’re just regular mortals now. Although you won’t be able to control Energy as easily as before, at least you’re free from Death for…” Now.

Before I could finish the sentence, the two children ran towards me, nearly tripping over their mother’s unconscious body, and hugged me, Damien’s horns poking into my gut painfully.

“Thank you.”

Anna snivelled while Damien merely hugged me in silence.

Honestly, it surprised me.

Was it that big a deal?

“Did it hurt that much?”

I asked them.

Both of them silently nodded their heads while still clutching my shirt in their hands.

I know how resilient they are.

They had to take care of a half-deranged mother and even when I went insane a couple of times, they never said anything bad to me about it.

Not that we talked much afterwards, but they also didn’t actively try to avoid me.

Anna and Damien even tried entering my room when I tried to go to ‘sleep’, but I never let them in.

And when me and Emily fought with each other until both of us stood broken, Anna comforted me in an adult-like manner, while Damien probably did the same for Emily.

The fact that they now cried with relief while clinging on to me…

Although it should be Emily’s fault, my anger was instantly directed elsewhere.

Emily merely brought them to life and although she knew about the slow consuming of the Souls because of the Gold-masks she created, they  never showed her any emotion, so she wouldn’t be able to tell if it hurt or not.

No, I’d rather blame Death, the source of all the evil happening around me.

He was the one possibly steering Emily, and even if he didn’t, he was still the one trying to sate cruel desires and harming the children.

Another thing to take revenge for, amongst the thousands, millions of other sins he committed!

“Hnnggggg…”

Suddenly, a strange moan came from underneath.

Anna, Damien and mine attention immediately turned towards the source.

Emily’s body was slightly twitching, her eyes moving behind their lids and slowly trying to open them.

Slowly, very slowly, she was becoming conscious.

“Anna, Damien, if you please.”

They understood and moved out of the way.

For a moment, I looked at her and thought the best course of action.

My intention was to interrogate her and use her Soul to experiment and find out what an imitation of an Immortal – No, she’s a ‘normal’ Immortal, considering I am…

What am I?

I don’t want to call myself God, even though I supposedly control this world.

I’m neither omniscient, omnipresent nor omnipotent, so I’m not a God.

Hmm, I’ll just call them Immortals and myself…

Well, I don’t need a term.

Anyway, my intention was interrogation, experimentation and seeing what an Immortal is capable of in terms of power and access to Energy.

Then, I’ll begin with experimenting on how my control over a Soul will supposedly work.

If I figure that out, it’ll help a lot with the rest.

Firstly, I severed the Soul from the body, since they are basically glued together with Energy, while the body is in turn glued to reality.

Secondly, I made it visible to the naked eye by colouring the Energy.

The Soul was now visibly floating, even the children, without their control over Energy, could see the blob-like white mass.

Normally, if I wanted to separate the Soul and body of a normal mortal, I would need to pin the Soul to reality with my own Energy instead of the body.

But I never had to, or else I would die as soon as my body was completely destroyed.

So, I left her Soul float freely in the air to see if an imitation of me is actually Immortal.

And as expected, the Soul stayed, thanks to it having its own source of Energy.

“What’s happening?!”

I heard a yell coming from the Soul, made through the efforts of Energy.

For the first time, I could actually see the Soul of an Immortal connecting to the net of Energy by using its Energy locked within.

I thought it impossible to sense the Energy inside an Immortal’s Soul ever since I couldn’t sense Emily’s, but right now, it seemed as clear as day.

Rather than just being clear, it seemed as if it were mine, just like all the other Energy around me ever since returning from the void.

So, without bothering to connect my Soul to the Energy around me, I simply ordered it to freeze in place and not listen to their owner’s commands.

And indeed, it did just as I ordered.

The threads attempting to connect to the Energy simply froze in place.

Next, I ordered it to allow her to speak, to see if more complex commands were possible.

“What the fuck is this?! Wait my voice… but where’s the Energy?!”

As ordered, it allowed her to speak.

But nothing more, the Energy seemingly invisible to her senses as long as I have control over it.

A smile formed on my lips.

“Welcome back to the land of the living! Not that you deserved it.”

“What?! Where are you, you bastard?! Show yourself!”

I forgot.

She’s just a Soul now, only able to speak because of me.

Let’s see if I can mess with her senses.

Let her sense the surroundings. I commanded

I intentionally left out the specifics to see how far she could sense and if the previous two commands would still apply.

The Energy in our direct surroundings connected to her as soon as I commanded it, but not in the way it usually would.

Normally, to sense the surroundings through Energy, you would need to connect to it with your own and then you’d be able to.

But now, the Energy willingly connected to her Soul directly, without her own Energy as intermediary.

In this way, it allowed her to only sense her surroundings, not control it.

Excellent thinking, Energy.

“You demon! You monster! Free me and receive God’s just punishment!”

So Death identified himself as God.

“Hahaha, your God has no power over me. And as soon as you were captured, he abandoned you. What kind of God is that, to abandon its believers?”

“The Lord would never abandon me on my mission to punish you! This is all merely a test for me to prove my worth!”

“A test, eh? And was killing these innocent children part of God’s plan?”

“No child associated to evil like you is innocent!”

“Hmm, I see...”

Yes, no sense talking to a religious fanatic, as per usual.

No feeling of guilt as long as she could justify her every action with the words ‘God’, ‘Justice’ and ‘Evil’.

She was probably just a mortal when God suddenly made her an Immortal.

There’s no way her faith will easily be broken, so I should just stop trying.

God, I hate fanatics.

Then, onto testing my power over the Soul.

I focused on it, putting all my concentration behind my thoughts and then ordered it to split in half.

But, nothing happened.

In a way, this was natural.

The fact that I could control Energy so easily, is because I have connected to it before and took control over it, thus I’m able to know what it feels like to make it do my bidding, enabling me to send my order and control it through imagination alone.

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However, I never connected to a Soul aside from through a shallow Soullink, let alone actually taking control over it and ordering it.

So, first things first.

Let’s try  to connect.

I tried to feel my own Soul just like I could feel Energy but it didn’t work.

I had no idea how the Soul is supposed to feel, so didn’t know what I was looking for.

I tried something differently.

I concentrated a little, preparing myself mentally, and then ordered the Energy to slowly but surely leave my Soul.

As soon as it did, it felt as if my Soul was slowly stretching itself thin, trying to keep up with the escaping Energy.

“What are you doing?!”

I heard her shout while probably trying to struggle out of my grip, but it was futile.

Since she could still sense the surroundings by my order, she sensed the Energy slowly being drained out of my Soul and began to grow anxious.

But no matter how hard she intends to struggle, my control is perfect.

My control is more perfect than it had ever been.

I kept my concentration fixed and slowly but surely drained myself of Energy.

Honestly, it was hard to do.

The more Energy left my Soul, the more it began to hurt.

But, that was the plan.

As the last drop of Energy went out of me and my Soul became dangerously unstable, almost at the point of snapping – a feeling as if I being quartered, slowly stretching and stretching, making me feel hurt all over.

But then, suddenly seemed to click mentally, like a light switch being flipped in my brain, and a feeling of sudden relief washed over me, making me stagger and almost collapse to the ground.

But there it was.

My Soul was free.

Not attached to a body, nor attached to Energy or any other kind of worldly connection.

Simply existing on its own.

By straining and forcing it to exist without Energy, I seemed to have broken through some kind of barrier, just like one would do with training by pushing their limit over and over again.

But, more importantly…

“hahahaHAHAHAHA!”

A sudden laugh escaped my mouth.

The feeling of my Soul without Energy somehow felt… liberating!

It felt as if I had spent all my life in a prison without ever noticing until it suddenly disappeared, revealing the blue sky and allowing me fresh air for the first time!

Everywhere around me, without even needing to connect it like I once had to with a Soullink, I could feel the Souls of Emily, Damien and Anna.

And, if I willed it, I could probably sense the entire planet, or perhaps even the entire World!

Just like with Energy.

But, there were differences.

Energy was connected to each other and although I do not need to connect with it anymore, whenever I sensed it I would still sense a connection with other places.

With Souls, everything was singular, like solitary clouds in the sky or islands in the ocean.

Still, just like the way I feel Energy right now, I could sense every island without feeling the need to connect it through a Soullink.

“W-What did you do?!”

I returned from my thoughts, finding myself sweaty all over and feeling ill, like having the flu.

I focused in on the Soul of Emily, currently occupied by Death’s lackey, and could feel it as if it were my own.

Both Energy and the Soul now felt truly, under my control.

“Oh, nothing. Just… experimenting.”

Now, to see if the imitation is similar to me.

Without so much as a word or warning, I ordered the Energy in her Soul to unfreeze and disperse, turning her Soul into the same.

A heart-rending scream filled the air as the Energy instantly left her Soul, her shriek filling the air and shocking the children.

It would have been the same if I had suddenly forced out all the Energy inside me.

Her Soul was immediately spread thin, just like mine slowly became thin.

But, unlike mine, it didn’t stop spreading and neither did she stop screaming.

Slowly but surely, her Immortal Soul was being torn apart while desperately searching for Energy in all directions to attach to.

Something I did not allow.

There came no relief for her.

Indicating that her the Soul of an Immortal is but a cheap rip-off of mine.

Phew.

It seems I don’t have to fight an army of me.

Bullet dodged there.

“Acedia!”

“Please stop it!”

Both Anna and Damien started to urgently tuck my shirt, demanding my attention.

I felt like continuing a bit longer.

Letting one of the minions behind my misery suffer felt incredibly good.

Also, she deserved to be punished for what she did today.

But, I do not want to ruin my so-far OK impression on the children, so I stopped, gathering some Energy and forcing it crudely into her Soul.

I couldn’t be bothered to do it delicately.

The screaming stopped and both her Soul and the children expression visibly relaxed.

“Don’t worry, it was just some punishment. Not nearly enough, though…”

I said, muttering the last words.

Now is the time for interrogations, although I do not have much to ask.

I already know who sent her, I can guess where Emily is and I already have a plan to get there.

There is only one thing I want to know, although I do not inspect a fruitful answer.

I walked up to where her Soul was floating, Anna and Damien for some reason following close behind.

If she had eyes, she would undoubtedly be looking towards me right now.

“I’ve only one question and if you answer honestly, I might let you go. Now, what do you say?”

I said with a smile, like a parent promising a child candy after going to the dentist.

“Fuck you! I won’t tell you anything, no matter what you do!”

She spat.

But I asked anyway.

“Why do you hate me?”

It wasn’t necessarily  the why, since the Devil already told me why.

But rather, I wanted to have an insight as to how Death is able to make everyone who so much as catches a glimpse of me sees me as the enemy of all existence.

“Why?! Ha, the devil asking why the world hates him, isn’t that a joke!”

Well, I didn’t expect anything.

It’s probably ingrained into the Soul or something.

I’ll figure that one out later.

But first, let’s get Emily and scout the realm of Death.

Emily POV:

I’ve been here for what feels like days.

Although it is rather hard to tell, without a day-night cycle available to keep score.

And for most of the time, the Acedia look-a-like has been walking around and muttering to himself.

His previously smug attitude had been replaced with concern.

“…What’s taking so long…”

“…She should’ve been back by now…”

“…Integrations should be done by now…”

He said stuff like that.

I’ve no idea what he’s talking about, but it probably has something to do with the other ‘integrating’ itself into my body, whatever that means.

Well, I could still guess he means some sort of ‘possession’ or what not, but I want to know one thing.

Why me?

“Why are you doing this to me?”

It wasn’t the first time I ask, but right now, he seems more distracted than before.

So perhaps this time he will unintentionally slip-up or something.

“You failed what God desired of you. So you’re obviously being replaced.”

He said, still walking around distractedly.

God?

“What has God has to do with anything?”

I asked.

That stopped his endlessly walking around and looked at me with surprise/.

“You don’t know? No wonder you were a failure, to not remember the word of God…”

He sighed heavily and began walking around again.

Word of God?

Failure?

The questions keep piling up.

“What do you mean?”

“You know, the mission of God to his chosen heroes, the Immortals. The holy mission to cleanse the world of that… monster’s evil!”

He instantly became agitated remembering this ‘evil’.

God’s mission for His chosen Immortals?

I’ve never heard of anything like that, and it didn’t seem like Acedia obsessed over finding and completing this ‘holy mission’ either.

Is he also a failure?

Will he be replaced by this look-alike?

Then, have I been replaced by someone who looks like me?

The thought filled me with dread.

Someone obsessed over eradicating ‘evil’ while in my body…

What will become of my children?

And my servants?

And my city?

I need to get out of here and fast!

But, no matter what I do, it’s impossible.

I’m firmly stuck here, bound by these chains.

I don’t want to admit it, but the only hope I have is that Acedia won’t be replaced like me and takes care of my children for as long as I’m being kept here.

Which might be forever…

Really, God, what did I do wrong?

You never spoke to me, and if you did, I’m sorry for not remembering, but please, let me go back…

I don’t want them to suffer.

If not, please allow Acedia take care of Anna and Damien.

Even though I’m not sure if trust him, they seem to trust him.

So please, if you’re not willing to spare me, at the very least, spare him.

I prayed and prayed, but God didn’t answer.

Just like always, only silence answers my prayers…