Kita soaks in the energy she feels as the warm sensation of one hundred souls fills every part of her body. As she embraces the feeling, she becomes aware of an urge boiling within her- the urge to consume more souls.
It is clear now that the more souls she consumes, the more her hunger for them grows. This one hundred souls she now has is a constant barrage of desire nagging away at the back of her mind.
"Kita?" Jan's shaky voice passes through the steel wall.
"I'm going to get you out of there," Kita answers as she raises a hand to the wall and cycles through the different ways she can get in. "Stay away from the wall,"
Kita channels a push spell, committing three souls to it instead of the usual one. As the thought crosses her mind, a large gust of energy ejects from the palm of her hand- crashing into the wall and creating a massive dent with a few tears at its corners.
"One more time," Kita calls out as she raises her hand again, committing another three souls.
The spell busts through the dented area and flies through the small cell that the kids are in. Dispersing against the wall on the opposite side of the room.
All of the kids hop up to their feet as Kita steps into the room, glancing around to see all four walls are completely sealed, with one wall having a steel door in the centre of it. No windows, no toilet, and three rags lying on the floor, each with a pillow at one end.
Kita scratches the back of her neck, trying to subdue the frustration she feels building at the sight of this room that's worse than a prison cell.
"Kita!" Starlet yells as she runs over to give Kita a hug. Jan follows behind her, hugging Kita as well.
"I've missed you," Jan says.
Kita squirms awkwardly before patting both kids on the head.
"They made us do so many bad things," Starlet says, gripping Kita even tighter.
"There's no such thing as good or bad," Dia mumbles from the opposite end of the room.
"Yes, there is!" Starlet yells, releasing her grip on Kita, "Taking souls is bad!"
"Nuh-uh," Dia says sticking his tongue out.
"Dia's just a jerk," Jan says to Starlet, "He doesn't know what he's saying,"
"You coming with us Dia?" Kita asks, chuckling at the kids arguing.
Dia shakes his head, "Ms Eeve will be angry if we leave,"
"Screw Ms Eeve," Kita says, "Do you want to come with us?"
"No," Dia answers, shaking his head again, "I want to stay here,"
"Why?" Jan asks.
"Because Ms Eeve is still teaching us," Dia says, "I want to learn more from her,"
"What?" Kita grunts.
"Let's just leave him," Starlet scoffs, "He's a jerk anyway,"
"Are you sure?" Kita raises an eyebrow.
Dia simply nods in response.
"You can learn more from Kita," Jan chuckles, "She's probably killed more people than Ms Eeve,"
"Kita's soulless too," Starlet adds.
Jan looks into Kita's eyes with a look of surprise on his face, now realizing that she's soulless too- he takes a moment to think about his answer before shaking his head and confirming, "I'm staying here,"
"Alright," Kita says.
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"Suit yourself," Starlet rolls her eyes.
The three of them step through the jagged hole that Kita created and step back into Ms Eeve's lab. Kita glances over at the bowl full of pills and opts to grab a few of them.
"You know what those are made out of, right?" Jan asks.
"I hope those aren't the ones I made," Starlet mumbles.
"Yeah, I do" Kita sighs. "It isn't such a big deal to me,"
"Why not?" Jan asks.
"Because I need to get our souls back," Kita smiles. "What Dia said about your souls being used… It isn't true,"
"How do you know?" Starlet asks.
"Because I saw Jan's souls the other day,"
"Where?" Jan's eyes light up.
"Here, in River City," Kita says as she makes her way to the spiral staircase that leads up to the galleries.
"Liar," Starlet says.
"Are you sure?" Jan asks.
"There's no mistaking that annoying-ness of yours," Kita winks.
The three of them make their way up the stairs to see four guards posted at the opposite end of the galleria- the only way in or out. Each of them has their rifles ready and aimed down at them.
"Let the children go," Calls out Ms Eeve's chief guard, Morris.
"You're really going to protect Ms Eeve?" Kita grunts, "Despite the vile shit she does?"
"Our duty is simple," Morris responds.
"Then that makes my next decision simple too," Kita tilts her head.
Kita casts a large shield around herself, Jan and Statletbas the guards fire their weapons. The barrage of bullets ping and ricochet off the shield as Starlet and Jan both scream and cover their ears to the gunfire.
Kita prepares her next attack as she takes refuge behind the energy-formed shield that goes unbudged by all of the ammunition dropping to the floor. As their magazines run empty, Kita drops her shield and raises the palm of her hand in their direction- Casting a push spell that blows two of the four guards off their feet and through the glass wall behind them.
Morris turns to Kita in shock after watching the two guards fly past him and panics to reload his weapon. Kita casts a slice spell that sends a blade of air across the galleria, severing multiple displays and sculptures as it travels. Morris quickly drops to the floor as the slice whizzes past him, creating a fatal gash in the chest of his ally guard.
Kita dashes toward Morris, reaching his just as he finishes reloading his weapon and raising it to fire. But, Kita's already too close. And pushes his weapon out of the way before placing a hand on Morris' face and consuming his soul.
"Woah,” Jan says as he lowers his hands from his ears.
"You killed all of them?" Starlet asks.
Kita shrugs as she looks over her shoulder to confirm the homelessness of the four bodies before looking back at Starlet, "Something like that,"
"Do we have powers like yours?" Jan asks with a grin stretching across his face.
"Uhh," Kita mumbles, unsure of how to address Jan's excitement.
"I also want to be as strong as you!" Starlet smiles.
"I don't think you do," Kita sighs.
"Why not?" Jan grunts.
"Because I hurt people," Kita drops her shoulders, "And that's a bad thing to do,"
"But they would have killed us if you didn't hurt them," Starlet queries, "Which means you're good,"
"It's a little more complicated than that," Kita says. "The powers we have make us hurt people that aren't bad,"
Kita hadn't considered the soulless kids wanting to take after her. Not did she consider they wouldn't have seen the use of magic before- Ms Eeve probably only sees them as a vessel for transferring souls.
She feels a responsibility not to let these kids go down the same path as her, but to some degree, it's too late. Their souls have been stolen and that is the catalyst for a life of pursuit.
No. Not if I get them back.
"Kita!" Yells Caity's voice from outside the galleria, "We need to get out of here,"
Kita looks down the hall to see Raya supporting Alex who is limping at her side.
Kita and the kids run towards Caity and they all follow behind Raya and Alex as they go to the front door.
"What happened?" Kita asks, looking at the droplets of blood, dripping from Alex's legs.
"Her security figured out what we're up to," Caity says "How did you get the kids out?"
"I ate one of the pills," Kita says, "Bust it right open,"
"You ate an immortality pill?"
"Yeah, that shit is crazy efficient,"
"So you have one hundred souls now?" Caity asks.
"One hundred and nine," Kita chuckles.
And how do you feel?"
"Uhh, alright I guess. Why do you ask?" Kita raises an eyebrow.
"Nothing, just… be careful," Caity says.
"Awww, I didn't know you were such a softie for me,"
"Shut up!" Caity barks as her cheeks redden.