"You're a pretty good cook, kid," Kita burps over her cleaned plate as everyone else is still indulging.

"Thanks!" Starlet says with a full mouth.

"Now now, you don't speak with food in your mouth," Her Mother chides.

"Sorry!" She grunts, with food still in her mouth.

"Have some more," Ari says glaring at Kita's plate.

"Are you trying to fatten me up or something?" Kita jests, reaching her hand out to grab seconds.

Starlet takes a big gulp of her mouthful, "She likes watching other people eat- Ow!" Starlet wails as Ari playfully bites her foot.

Kita and Raya both chuckle at their shenanigans.

"What was that for?" Starlet asks with a look of betrayal on her face.

"That was supposed to be a secret!" Ari rebuttals, equally as offended. "Now they think I'm weird!"

"You're not weird," Raya empathizes.

"Super weird," Kita scoffs.

Ari's tail drops, and she lets out a disappointed sigh before opening her mouth and dashing at Kita's foot.

"Hey!" Kita jolts, shifting her foot out of reach of Ari's attack.

"Meanie," Ari scoffs, refusing to look in Kita's direction.

"I get it," Kita shrugs, "I'd watch other people eat too if I couldn't eat anything," She leans over close to Ari's face to grab her attention and then takes a slow, crunching bite of bread to mock her.

Ari lets out a satisfied purr in response. Holding unnecessarily deep eye contact with the food as it goes into Kita's mouth. Successfully weirding Kita out and causing her to feel strangely violated after the encounter.

"You thought I wouldn't like that, huh?" Ari chuckles, prompting a laugh out of Kita, Raya and the parents.

All three large dishes of food slowly but surely get completely cleaned by everyone partaking in dinner as they all learn a little more about one another through their conversations. Subtle vibrations rock the insides of the cave-like tremors in the ground. The myst is passing overhead, fortunately, the cave is as safe a place as anyone can be.

Kita's glad she met Ari, despite her reluctance. She got a free meal out of it and food for thought. Thoughts that she's been avoiding for quite a while now despite how much they'd bothered her. She doesn't care what others think, but being evil is inherently something she doesn't want to be. However, there are certain pleasures she knows she shouldn't enjoy, but does all too much- Being good isn't what she wants either. She's such a mature adult for internally reflecting and trying to be better. Although this kind of pride technically isn't a very grown-up way of feeling, she can't help but feel good about herself. Maybe she is a good person, even though she is predominantly doing it all for herself rather than for others.

"Thank you all again, for the meal," Raya bows her head, prompting Kits to follow suit. "We have a long journey tomorrow so we should be getting some rest,"

"No, thank you," Ari says, bowing her head in return alongside Starlet.

"It is the least we could do to return your kindness," Starlet adds.

"Honestly, I'm glad to have met you all," Kita chuckles. "Sorry for being so grumpy at first, Ari,"

"I'm sure it's difficult for someone without a soul," Ari cackles. "But, I knew you were kind deep-deep down,"

"I wouldn't go that far," Kita smiles.

"She's become very nice recently," Raya says. "She rarely assists others out of the goodness of her heart,"

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

"There's a first time for everything," Kita chuckles.

"Let's hope it isn't the last," Ari says, wagging her tail.

•°•°•°•

The next day, Kita and Raya left the cave city of Vhifet, leaving behind the beautiful array of turquoise and white tents minted across the cave floor. Kita glances at the little Rayn sculpture she bought at the marketplace, momentarily entranced by the streams of purple liquid flowing amongst its details.

"They call that purple stuff Vhifet," Kita says to Raya, holding the sculpture into the air as the rising sun glistens and cast a glow through the purple.

"Yesterday was quite educational for you," Raya chuckles.

"You know what, It actually was,"

"I was really surprised to see you'd helped a pet get to its owner," Raya adds, "The old Kita could never have done something so mundane,"

"What can I say, the new Kita prefers real challenges- like personal growth," Kita chuckles.

"Oh, you've grown from this, huh?" Raya raises an eyebrow.

"Of course I did. I made a personal vow that I'll no longer kill innocent people,"

"Not very personal anymore, but I'm glad to hear it. Let's see how long it lasts,"

"You don't have faith in me?" Kita rolls her eyes.

"Not when it comes to consuming souls," Raya chuckles. "I've made that mistake before,"

"What, I made a promise but couldn't keep my hands off of them?"

"Once you reach two hundred souls. That orgasmic pleasure or whatever it is you feel when you consume them becomes too good for you to pass up,"

"You make me sound like I'm a monster,"

"You aren't?"

"Nope," Kita smiles. "Not anymore. We're even about to be heroes by saving Jan, so…"

"About that. I heard a few rumours about River City," Raya's tone suddenly becomes more stern.

"Apparently, a war between Vlad and Chevo is in the works,"

"A war?" Kita chuckles, "Didn't we just kill a bunch of Vlad's men,"

"That's barely a drop in the bucket. Canyon City isn't their main outpost… Apparently, it's his smallest one,"

"The smallest?" Kita exclaims. "Why was he even there?"

"My guess- to prepare,"

"Oh… So, what's this war about?" Kita asks.

"No one seems to know. Whatever they're fighting for will supposedly shift power into one of their hands,"

"Hmmm, so we go in there and kill them all,"

"What? No, we should just sneak into the city, get Jan and leave,"

"That's not very heroic," Kita rolls her eyes.

"We're trying to be Jan's heroes. The citizens of that city are most elites that hoard their wealth,"

"All the more reason to kill them all," Kita chuckles.

Raya sighs, knowing it's pointless trying to rationalize with Kita. "Remind me why we even need to save this kid in the first place,"

"You don't want to feel heroic?"

"Is that really why you want to do this?"

"... I just have a feeling the kid knows something. It's weird, but I've seen two kids without souls in this life. I feel like I haven't seen anyone without a soul in past lives,"

"Jan doesn't have a soul either?" Raya asks.

Kita shakes her head, prompting Raya to go deep into thought. Massaging her temple and closing her eyes as she walks.

"Hmmm. I think the dark one is planning something,"

"What do you mean?" Kita asks.

"I'm not sure yet. But I can't remember a time when we ever met other soulless people,"

"Seriously? This is a new thing?"

"Mmm," Raya nods.

"Well whatever it is, I don't like it," Kita says. "This doesn't sit right,"

She barely knows the dark one. She has no idea what he looks like, and yet, everything in her is worried about the signs she's seeing. He's consuming the souls of people, and it can't be a coincidence that they're both kids. He must be planning something. The void within her is screaming for her to stop him. To get her soul back and end all of this before it gets out of hand.

There is no more room for failure.

She needs to consume two hundred souls as quickly as possible when they arrive. If this war breaks out she'll need as much power as she can't get her hands on to get Jan out of there.

The road to her soul becomes clearer as she pursues her instincts. She isn't sure of the outcome but she still knows what she has to do.

I have to kill the dark one.