Ireana hadn’t been this bothered since before she ascended. The removal of emotions tended to make her heart a block of iron and yet today she felt it beat once more.
Even with her heart disagreeing she had already signed an Oath and so she could do nothing except comply.
She felt her law as she began to try and find the right soul. The Abyss wasn’t a place she liked to visit, so full of past resentment and madness even herself suffered if she had prolonged exposure.
With Her senses, it didn’t take long. She found the target slowly rolling around the deep nothing with a pace as slow as a snail. Her brow raised at the man’s ability.
After all, not all souls managed to get moving before they perished. This one hadn’t even been here for that long, She looked over and saw several dimmer souls as still as rocks.
She had a job to do, so She gathered the soul and returned to her realm. Putting the mortal to sleep was child play but as per the agreement She had to gift the child something.
Her strongest Lich passed her an eye. Around it, the air bended and even the Lich skins contorted per the items Law.
It only calmed in effect when in Her hands.
First the seals. She drew upon her energy and drew some simple seals on the eye. It didn’t damage the object; the seals method of creation was too simple.
The energy it carried however, that could seal even some Gods.
Replacing the eyes was just as easy. Her mind overflowed with useless information but sometimes her earlier studies had come in useful.
With the body now done, she placed the soul inside and set it back to where it had died.
She had now completed her agreed upon actions. She wished the child the best and promised herself that she would give him solstice if he returned.
She didn’t why He wanted that child revived but He was strong enough for Her to not ask questions. Her realm was Her home, and as long as she wasn’t disturbed then a few actions every millennia was a cheap price to pay.
She just wished they weren’t done to such young children.
Malum felt like he was bending and stretching. Every fibre of his being, from his brain to his stomach all worked together at once to create a sensation so uncomfortable Malum couldn’t even move.
He tried to be sick, but couldn’t move the right muscles. It had been so long since he had used a body, the best could do was roll over to his side and slowly get rid of the liquids from his mouth.
Rolling away from those, he then tried to gather his limbs back. First his legs, from his toes to his knees, and then up to his hips.
From a viewers perspective, Malum imagined he looked like he was possessed. Like a ghost learning how to walk. Although, he found his situation not far from his analogy.
The arms were next, from his fingers going up and down, to his wrists moving side to side, then his forearm and then his upper arm. Not only did his slowly gain control of his limbs he also realised that his once wounded shoulder had healed.
He awkwardly pushed himself up and tried to control his balance using his legs. Sadly, he quickly fell as he couldn’t properly control his body.
One thing he did know was that he was hungry. The saliva dripping out of his mouth told him enough and the pain in his stomach was another obvious clue.
He remembered: to look! He opened his eyes once again and dragged his eyeballs around to see the outside world yet again, so use was he to the dark that he forgot his vision.
It’s green! A lovely, beautiful colour and the dark brown on the trees around him was just as beautiful. The sounds of birds came back to his mind and the fluttering of the trees registered as he remembered what sounded like what.
He felt his smile muscles slowly want to work and as he pushed his smile he felt his mouth cure and then awkwardly laugh.
He couldn’t’ even imagine how manic he looked. With his strangely curved mouth spitting out spit as he made sounds similar to laughs but not quite right.
Still he had never since his death felt such rich emotion. It was like a dim light went back to full power; his soul must have limited what he felt but with a body he could Live back the experience.
With worldly experiences, Malum, after a period of juvenile discovery, went back to his mortal ways. He had his regrets and now he wanted to go and solve them.
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Good news was that he was in human territory, bad news was that he didn’t know where. He searched back in his mind for his Uncle’s words, at one point he had tried to list them all and he couldn’t find anything so he tried his own tips from hunting.
High ground, that was what he needed and would give him the best shots at finding other humans.
Malum couldn’t help but think how long he had died for. He hoped those he knew were still alive, otherwise his regrets would go unanswered.
Slowly making his way up the hill, Malum was quickly gaining back his prowess at walking. It didn’t sound so hard because he had learned it as a child, but now he was learning it as an adult it was much harder than it seemed.
Balance was so hard. Especially when every muscle had to second guess itself if it was the right one, and if it was to hard or to soft. He would constantly under, or over do his pulls or stretches and chuck himself back on the dirt.
And pain was an odd one. Even the sensation was quiet fun to Malum. For so long had he felt nothing that this bad sensation didn’t even register as bad, it was something and therefore Malum liked it.
Obviously he preferred the happiness he felt when he discovered he was alive but no longer was pain a limiting factor for him. He thought about how this might affect his fighting style. Then he thought about how death would affect his fighting style.
He didn’t want to die again. Hell, there wasn’t much he wouldn’t do not to die again. Even when he stumbled he ensured that no spiky rocks were near and that the dirt he landed on held nothing that could seriously harm him.
His life was the most valuable thing he held, above even his friends and his family. Without it he couldn’t enjoy or suffer anything, and that was true misery.
With his mind continuing to think, he managed to reach the top of the hill. Here, whilst he looked at the beautiful sky for perhaps to long he also didn’t see any human like traces so he looked for the next highest point and began to walk in that direction.
Along the way, he found himself studying the foliage a whole lot more than he usually did. He wandered if plants had souls, and if so could they suffer the same fate he did.
Death wasn’t something he wished on anyone. Nobody he may, not even the Baron who killed him deserved the punishment that he received. An Eternity of nothing was something perhaps only the God of Evil deserved or at least he would be the closest contender.
His eyes went back to the greenery as he wandered what they were. Never had he really bothered to learn about any foliage as really he found it very boring information.
However, now he was interested in what they did. How did they live? What was their purpose? He found himself questioning just about everything.
He thought back to the information he learned from his old friend back during his younger years. Her name was lost to in his memory but he remembered her love of nature and it’s effects on humans. Some few details came back to his mind and with them he found a few berries that were good to eat.
There had some other effect he couldn’t’ remember but considering their many uses in her mixtures; it couldn’t be that bad.
Stuffing his face of them, Malum re-experienced taste for the first time and the strange texture and taste of the berries soon became an interesting ordeal for his brain to figure out.
What humans liked and didn’t like was something that baffled scholars ever since they picked up their quells. Eventually it was decided to be a topic related to souls or a query of the mind.
Liking the sensation, Malum ate more and more and found himself extremely happy over the taste. Whatever those berries were tasted better than even his favourite baked bread.
Or was it just because he hadn’t ate anything in a while? Malum cared not as he scoffed them down. Juices spread on his face as his jaw remembered how to properly eat.
If his Uncle had seen him a whack over the face wouldn’t have been the end of it. He was always such a stickler, or at least the wise man was.
He walked on continuing to think of his old man, their travels had been one of the parts Malum enjoyed the most about the traveller lifestyle. The scenery was something great, even though he got used to it and whilst his Uncle was several things, he could tell a good story when he wanted to.
The only issue was trying to get him to stop once he had started. Sometimes the stories diverged into rants about a particular event, one time they got talking about Malums aunt who was from his dads side.
She had apparently been totally crazy and it was clear his Uncle absolutely despised her. How Malum father was related to the woman, baffled his Uncle to no end. Yet, because of her position as sister of the King he didn’t have the station to tell her off in anyway.
His favourite story was about her humiliation at some party. It was after Malum’s parents had just taken the throne and they were at the height of their power. His aunt was enjoying her new status and was flaunting around with some young Counts and Barons and it wasn’t until she tried to get a Duke’s son into her bed chambers that Malum’s father called her out on it.
His Uncle couldn’t stop grinning thinking about that story and Malum used it occasionally to cheer the old man up.
Malum what his own fondest memories were. He had likely already listed them by tier back in his death but had long forgotten that and so he could only do it again.
His death would strangely be up there. His decisions at that time were something he was immensely proud of and whilst he didn’t like the result and would have modified the plan slightly if he could the actions themself cemented his own idea of himself in his head.
He was a good person. His life was proof of that and now he had evidence to back that up.
Perhaps because he was young but always questioned himself. Was he really a good person or was it just because friends were beneficial and being nice tended to be a good idea.
Now it wasn’t a question. He could hold his shoulder high knowing his action weren’t fake and his words held truth.
Perhaps that’s why he could stay in his own presence for so long. He had nothing to be ashamed of, if anything he was proud of himself to no end.
Still, remaining humble was always a good idea so he sucked back his ego and realised again that he was a powerless little mortal. He would gain the strength to back up his words and then he would spread them with pride.
He reached the top of the cliff and found himself looking over the edge to even better view then before. Higher now he could see further out into nature’s endless garden and it truly never did let him down.
How he got used to this, even as a traveller Malum didn’t know. It was just so enchanting.
Even better was the sight of what looked to be a set of houses near to a river nearby. The smoke rising from that direction acted as evidence of his thoughts and with that confirmed he went to see humans again for the first time in what felt like eternity, he just hoped they spoke the same language.