Morale took a hit after that failed attempt to claim the walls. People were not willing to rush back into that situation so soon after losing many of the people they had grown to know. I wasn’t willing to send them in either, at least not until we had somewhat of a plan.

The idea of simply bombarding them and hoping that we hit wherever they were storing those mirrors was an idea, but that was considered unlikely to work. Someone else proposed making another attack and using the troops as bait so we could destroy them. While that had a higher chance of success, I didn’t like the idea of putting the souls of those men on the line just to get rid of those mirrors.

Everyone sat around after that, trying to think about what we could do that wouldn’t put so many souls at risk. I really didn’t want to go along with the bait plan if it could be avoided, so I was open to anyone presenting an idea. Just then one of the dwarven engineers made a humming noise that drew my attention. The look on his face told me that he had an idea, but he had yet to voice it.

“Master dwarf, do you have anything to add?” I asked earnestly.

The individual I was referencing snapped out of his thoughts and turned his attention to me. “Oh, forgive me champion. I was considering an idea, but we don’t have the means of replicating it.”

“Please, let us hear it. Perhaps it could inspire another’s thoughts.”

He still looked slightly unsure for a moment before relenting and sharing his thoughts. “I was considering the possibility of using a pressurized explosion or intense sound to destroy the mirrors.”

Everyone in the room other than a few of the dwarves seemed rather confused by what he just said, so he elaborated for us. “The engineers guild is the leading innovators of the dwarven nation, and we test many strange contraptions for their potential use. Recently we were testing the storage of steam in metal containers, unfortunately, we miscalculated how much it could hold and the container ended up exploding. There was significant damage in the area, and it even injured a few of the workers.”

He continued with his second suggestion. “In another instance, an apprentice engineer was submitting their designs for a musical machine as proof of their skill. The product itself was an impressive feat of creativity, but it was flawed and did not produce consistent results. On this occasion, it released a metallic screech of such intensity that several glass instruments suddenly shattered. Regrettably, it was dismantled and rebuilt after that otherwise I would have suggested requesting its deployment here.”

I had no idea how to go about achieving either of those results. “Well, it’s something to keep in mind at the very least. Thank you.” The dwarf nodded in response as everyone got back to coming up with ideas.

We continued to think, and we only came up with rather lackluster ideas with more holes than can safely float a boat. I admit I wasn’t contributing a whole lot to the conversation, but my mind was busy considering the dwarves idea, not the steam one as I had no idea how to work with that, but the noise was an interesting concept.

For some reason, I just couldn’t shake the thought from my head. Something just told me that it could work, but I couldn’t yet place why. The dwarves could not replicate it, and I didn’t understand how to make something like that. Nothing in my book mentioned anything to that effect either, so why couldn’t I just let it go and focus on something else?

There was a nagging feeling like I was overlooking something. I decided to take some time to read my spell book again and excused myself from the meeting to head back to my personal tent. Once I was back in the privacy of the tent, I was able to sit down and start reading through the various spells and diagrams in search of something that could solidify this idea that was clawing at my thoughts.

I skipped over diagrams of anatomy and some of the explanations for basic calling rituals. Briefly touching over the nature of different undead, I moved on to the compendium for the variety of living dead that could be created using this magic. While I had intended to just gloss over this part, I stopped when I saw the depiction of a specter. The ghostly image depicted their frightening nature accurately, as they were a creation of spite and revenge, but more importantly, it reminded me of something.

After so long, and after having so much happen to me recently, I had nearly forgotten about one of the first unique things I had done as a champion. When I was scared and desperate, I had naturally called out to all the wisps around me without knowing it and made them form into a strange amalgam of spirits. While that in and of itself was interesting, what they were capable of was even more so. That shriek they let out was enough to paralyze anyone that was deemed a threat to me. Could they also make it loud enough to shatter a mirror?

I had no knowledge to work from when it came to this. It had been so long since I had used that magic that I no longer remembered what it felt like. The condition that it was used under was also a problem. Was it a requirement that the user be panicked and scared? What about the wisps? Did they need to be full of rage in order to be combined in such a way?

Is this what it was like for those first champions experimenting with new magic? I idly wondered. Maybe I could ask an authority on the subject for some help.

Hey, you wouldn’t happen to know how to recreate that magic I used when I was a kid would you? I’m assuming you’re aware of my idea?

I am. However, I'm afraid I can’t offer much insight into how to do that. My job is to preserve the integrity of a soul to ensure its comfort and existence for eternity. To alter them in such a way is not an acceptable use of my power and would be a violation of my duties. Perhaps if I had the inclination to study how souls change under the influence of a champion, I would have something to offer, but such a thing did not occur to me back then.

Well, I had to ask at least. So, I was on my own at this point. Perhaps I could figure it out with some experimentation, but I wasn’t fully comfortable with messing with a human soul in a way that could end up with them becoming a monstrous combination of people. Then again, my pocket god was able to fix the last group of people that I had accidently did that to, so perhaps it wasn’t as much of a risk as I first thought. Whatever the case may be, I still would only take those who understood the risk and were willing to try it for the sake of taking away the defender's new weapon.

First things first, I had to pose the question. I went outside and found a group of wandering wisps. Once I had their attention, I asked them to go and gather others like them as I had a request to ask of them all. They were happy to assist, and they scattered about the camp to gather their fellows and bring them back to me.

I had to wait for a few minutes, but eventually a cloud of souls arrived just outside my tent. All those little floating lights sat suspended in the air around me, some of them bobbing or shifting slightly as they waited for the last few stragglers to make their way into the formation. Once I was confident that most if not all of them had arrived, I began to explain why I had called for them.

“Hello everyone, thank you for coming. I’ve called you all here to ask a service of you. It is by no means an order and you are free to refuse without repercussions. The situation with the siege has reached an impasse. Those mirror weapons they used against us are extremely dangerous and need to be taken care of. To that end, I have an idea that involves using my powers as champion. This idea is highly experimental and has only been achieved once before. I have no idea how to recreate it consistently, and the risk of this lies solely on you as it involves altering the form of a soul. There are no guarantees, and it is for this reason that I am only calling upon those who have the bravery to put themselves at risk to assist me in bringing down those who sit upon their high walls and condemn those below them to suffering beyond their comprehension. All who would join me in this pursuit, please come forth so we may start on this path.”

There was stillness for a few moments as no one immediately jumped at the offer. I expected this for the most part as I was asking quite a lot of them. Self-sacrifice, while being a noble action, was by far the most demanding of someone.

I gave them as much time as they needed to make a decision, even if it made me squirm a bit in anticipation. After a minute that felt like an hour, one little wisp finally came forward. The brave individual was welcomed with open arms, and their willingness to volunteer was all that was needed to inspire the others.

Handfuls of wisps started to trickle forward out of the greater cloud. Once a few dozen of them had come forward, the flow tapered off as the last of the courageous ones were in front of me. When it was clear that there would be no more volunteers at this point, I thanked those who had come forth and then dismissed the others who were more hesitant with some words of absolution.

“The rest of you may return to whatever you were doing before. Thank you for hearing me out, and please, do not feel like you are avoiding any sort of obligation to me. I will not purposefully put those who are unwilling into harm's way. The choice will always be yours to make, and don’t let anyone, not even me, convince you otherwise.” There was a general feeling of acceptance from the crowd of souls around me and they slowly started to disperse.

I was left with the group of volunteers, who were feeling something between curiosity and nervousness towards what I was planning to do with them. Deciding it was better to have that conversation in private, I invited them into my tent and began to explain everything that I had planned and the origin of the magic I was attempting to recreate. There was a lot of concern felt over the fact that I would be trying to stitch souls together, but after asking my pocket god about it, I reassured them that it was reversable.

Now that the formalities were out of the way, it was time to begin the experiments to figure out just what is needed for a group of souls to combine into a single form. The first time I had done this it was without any runes, magical circles, or aid of any kind. While it was possible for me to do it that way again, I figured it would be more consistent and safer if I used these. Well, that all depended on if they could be used or not.

My first few attempts didn’t amount to much. I tried to see if my collection of bone charms could be used or repurposed for this. The short answer was no, the longer one being that those tools were far too simplistic to have any effect on a human soul. If I wanted some results, I would need something more complicated than a few carved bones.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

From that point I attempted more elaborate rituals in an attempt to replicate the desired results. Rune circles, alchemical agents, and lots of magic were poured into it. There was nothing visible that happened to the souls. Some of the wisps felt discomfort from all my poking and prodding trying to get them to change form. I made sure to rotate the volunteers so that no one individual would be under too much pressure.

The first day was unsuccessful, which was disappointing but not unexpected. It was tiring doing all of this, so I called off the experiments for the rest of the night. Before heading to sleep, I checked in on the siege to see if anything had happened in my absence.

The bombardment and exchange of long-range fire was continuing. Whatever advanced ballista they had in the city was firing at us at about the same rate we were at them. Our shots did more damage than the large bolts that rained down around the engineer crew, but they were still a hazard that kept people on their toes just in case the inaccurate weapon did in fact hit something.

I went to bed soon after confirming that everything wasn’t falling apart. Sleep did not come immediately as my mind was filled with thoughts about the experiments. Summoning up even the faintest reminder of what it was like to use that spell when I was a kid was a fruitless endeavor. Anything that would have been useful was simply swallowed up in the more traumatic portions of that day. With nothing coming to mind, I rolled over and closed my eyes, eventually relaxing enough to find rest.

With the next day came more tests, and this time I ignored the more structured parts of spell craft to see if this was something that could only be done with a champion’s touch. It was a strange thing, trying to intentionally press souls together. It felt like I was trying to mix oil with water, both substances refusing to mingle with one another beyond simply touching. The whole endeavor was starting to feel rather futile, and if it wasn’t for the fact that I had done this once before, I probably would have given up on this by now.

Perhaps it was simply the nature of the wisps that was the reason this was not working. The ones that had been in my village were angry to say the least. Their forms were nearly black with rage, and other than some mild fury coming from souls of these volunteers, they just couldn’t compare. If that was indeed the prerequisite for the combination of souls, then there was no way for me to replicate. I did not wish to drag those kinds of emotions out of these brave souls who were already risking so much to assist me.

There had to be something else, but I just could not see what it was. The only thing I could do was sigh and move on to the next test group. We moved through several different pairings that varied in number. It progressed until I was just desperately trying to get at the very least two of them to merge with one another.

Half a day and all I had to show for it was some uncomfortable souls who were being worn out. I selected another random pairing and started to try and conjure them as a single specter. The expected result was for them to press against one another but ultimately refuse to combine. What I did not expect was for the flame-like souls to start swirling around each other.

I watched with wide eyes as the individual lights slowly lost coherence for a moment as they were dragged piece by piece towards a center point that was growing in intensity. Soon enough there was nothing left of the individual souls, and instead there was a large squirming mass of pale fire that was continuing to expand. Eventually the form started to become more human in shape, sprouting ghostly limbs with a few to spare. They came into focus a few moments later, and the result was a pair of specters joined at the hip with part of their torsos stitched together just below their arms.

Honestly, I was stunned as I stared at the pair of combined individuals that seemed to have synchronized their movements as both heads and arms moved in unison. It was grotesque, yet fascinating to look at, but I only had one question that went through my mind at that moment.

“Why? Why does it work with you two? What’s different about you?”

The pair raised all four of their shoulders in one giant collective shrug, so they couldn’t provide me with any answers. To correct this, the first thing I did to find out more was to feel what they were experiencing. For a moment I was confused as there was only a single sensation, which was largely disorientation. It was only when I looked closer that I could discern that there were indeed two different minds in that form, but they were just thinking the same thing.

That was a bit of information that was useful. They were connected to each other in more than just form, but in mind as well. Perhaps it did have something to do with the minds of the wisps, be it either emotional or rational thoughts that need to be aligned. It was the best lead I had for a path to take, and I began to explore how far I could go on this alone.

First, I had to discern just what those two were thinking and feeling at the moment they combined. Separating them once again took me a few minutes to figure out, but with some direction from my pocket god, I worked out how to find the seam in their souls that I could use to unravel them. From there it became a game of interpretation as I asked them many questions regarding their mental state before I cast the spell. Deciphering the feelings and vague images that I could sometimes glean from the minds of the wisps was difficult, and I found myself wishing that they had a physical body still so I could at least provide them with a voice.

I just had to work with what I had. With a clear direction, I started to try and organize the wisps and direct their thoughts onto a specific task or sensation. This was an easy thing to ask, but a more difficult thing to do. To conjure up a specific emotion in a calm environment was nearly impossible to do with any amount of certainty. The first two who successfully did this were apparently simmering with anger at themselves, believing that something was wrong with them that prevented my magic from working and thus rendered them useless. Of course, I dissuaded them of this notion, but the recent success had already cleared up most of their self-doubt.

Slowly, I was able to start combining souls with one another, first in pairs, and then in larger numbers. Each step in this process became increasingly disturbing in as far as appearance. It was the furthest from natural that you could possibly get, and it was bringing to the surface all sorts of memories that weren’t pleasant in the slightest.

The tests showed that the stronger the motivation or emotion that was focused on, the more successful the spell would be in merging the wisps. Those dozens of rage filled souls that were in my village were all motivated by their hatred of the elves and their champion. I would need to find a suitable replacement emotion in order to get a similar result.

By the end of that day, I was confident that I could inspire enough of a reaction in the wisps to morph them into that shrieking phantom that I had created so long ago. Everyone dispersed for the night to rest up as the morning would be where we put this into motion. I listened as the now two trebuchets continued to fire large stones at the walls. The sound was constant throughout the night, launching another projectile every minute or so. I drifted off to sleep with that sound accompanying me until I lost consciousness.

In the morning, I cleaned up, ate something quickly, and then had some help donning my armor. Presenting myself as confident, in control, and possessing of a plan would assist greatly in the completion of the spell. First stop was the war tent where the officers would be discussing their plans for the siege.

I did my best to explain everything to them in a way someone who was not deeply entwined with my category of magic could understand. They all listened intently to my words, some nodding along in apparent or feigned understanding. At least at the end of it, most of them were able to offer some feedback that proved they grasped the general idea behind my plan. Considering that none of them had come up with any solid way of dealing with the mirrors while I was working on my own solution.

The majority voted in favor of my plan, and so the call went out through the camp that another charge at the walls would take place. This message also contained the bare necessities of information that basically said we had a plan and things would not happen the same way twice. Morale probably wouldn’t hold up long if they thought we were just going to throw them into the grinder just to take any amount of ground.

I left the organization of the troops and the drawing of battle plans to the officers while I went around and gathered the wisps for their main role. Most of them already knew what I was going to do with them, and news of success in the experiments made many of those who were more hesitant to submit themselves to me open to the idea now. Our battle groups were formed at the edge of the enemy's effective range, standing in solid block formations with our siege equipment ready to move at a moment's notice.

With the army ready, it was now time to get the wisps all on the same emotional level. After all the tests, the best way to do this was found to be inspiring righteous fury, which was easy considering what and who we were fighting against.

I turned away from the walls and began to address the cloud of wisps around me. “Look at them, cowering in fear of retribution for all that they have done. Those liars, those murderers who think themselves greater than us, that we aren’t even worth consideration and can be thrown aside for their own convenience. Many of you already know of what I speak, for you are the discarded who have returned with a reckoning. You will be the vessels through which penance is enacted upon them for all the men, women, and children they have condemned to an early grave. So come forth and let us bring them to justice!”

Not wasting any time, I began to call upon the powers of my god to cast the spell on all the souls who were unified in thought at this moment. It was better not to waste time and allow them to diverge in their minds, for even if they were only thinking the same thing for a minute, it was long enough for the combination to happen.

All the little blue lights started to flow together towards a single point, swirling about and losing their distinct forms in the tide of souls. The heart of this maelstrom grew in size, and evidently, visibility by the second as soldiers all around me turned to witness the results of my spell. Once several dozen wisps had joined the greater whole, limbs started to appear from within the mass, gaining definition and numbers by the second. Heads, arms, legs, all clumped together in a mishappen clump that was hideous to the sensibility of a regular person.

This amalgamation of bodies was growing larger than anything I had seen before. The largest example I had to work with was the one that appeared in my village, and that was just with a few dozen of them. Now, I was working with hundreds.

I was thankful that they did not have any flesh anymore, because that would be both horrifying and messy. The mountain of spectral bodies floated about a meter off the ground. Limbs split and jutted out from odd angles as torsos meshed together and contained the faces of others who were not able to breach the surface of the skin.

What I would give to know what the defenders on the walls thought. Whatever it was, they were about to get the shock of their life as the formation of the amalgam specter signaled the beginning of the siege. The officers ordered the troops to charge, and I waited until I saw the shine of the mirrors emerge from the hidden location on the wall. With their appearance I gave a signal of my own to the amalgam at my side.

“Let them hear you, loud and clear.”

All their mouths opened in a single stiff motion, and then a mountain of corpses let loose all their anger and frustration. The shriek that escaped their lips even made me wince at its volume. While the magical nature behind the scream may have not been targeted at me or anyone else in our army, there were still hundreds of people screaming right next to me.

The effect on the defenders was another level of intensity. I saw nearly everybody on the wall drop in pained agony. The mirrors that had been our deterrent shattered into a million pieces quite explosively, glass shards glinting in the light of the afternoon sun as they rained down over the side of the wall. At that moment there was no opposition to our advance as they were all stunned atop the walls. Our army got dangerously close before the first signs of resistance came.

Fire flowed down from the walls at the behest of a mage, causing those in the target area to scatter. This person might have used magic to nullify the effects of the scream, or perhaps they were simply able to tough it out enough to put up a fight. Of course, there was always the option that they went deaf and could no longer hear it, but whatever the reason, more of the defenders slowly managed to resist the shriek of the amalgam, at least enough to fight back. This was far from over.