Local Time: Unknown | Earth Year 3252 | Planet: Queen’s Gate | City: Unknown | Research Facility

Rory vaguely heard a voice in his mind. But he was in such a peaceful sleep he didn’t want to leave it. He didn’t even feel any pain. It must be a good dream. He couldn’t remember not feeling pain. He didn’t want to do what it said.

“Wake up, young man.”

Groaning at the insistent voice, Rory rolled over and mumbled, “Go away.”

“I cannot,” the voice called to him. “At leassst not yet. Pleassse. Time is short.”

Wait. What?

Blinking his eyes, Rory looked around. He found himself staring at a canopy of glowing leaves while lying on dirt. What the hell was going on?

He sat up and winced, but very quickly realized he didn’t need to. He didn’t hurt. Nothing hurt. With a jerk, he looked down and found himself to be naked, but that didn’t even register. What caught his attention and blew his mind was that his burns weren’t burns anymore. The patterns of wrinkled raised skin that had once covered his hands, arms, chest, hips, and thighs were different. They were a light gray, just like every other Soul Wielder. And they were painless. He moved his arms and shoulders and felt no pain at all. For the first time in eight years, he felt no pain.

“Are you well enough to hear me, young man?” the deep voice said to him.

Jerking, Rory looked around and saw the scales of an enormous black snake around him.

“Holy Shit!” he exclaimed.

Leaping to his feet and turning his head quickly, Rory realized he was surrounded by black scales. Utterly shocked, he looked up thinking he could maybe climb out, but stopped when far above him he saw the huge black head of a snake that was staring down at him with slitted red eyes. Its forked tongue would occasionally pop out of its mouth, wiggle up, down, left and right, and then be pulled back into its monstrous mouth.

“Be calm. I mean you no harm. In fact, I brought you here to asssk for your help.”

That hissing voice was the same as the one from the metal room. Strangely, it sounded… was that desperation? Rory knew that tone and feeling well – but from a gigantic snake monster? He stared wordlessly, unable to come up with a response.

“Pleassse? I cannot do it alone.”

Rory jerked slightly again, but got a grip, cleared his throat, and got right to it. “Uhhh… is this real?”

Did I actually not wake up? Am I still dreaming?

“Indeed. Will you help me?”

Okay, so if it’s real and I’m awake, which I suppose is possible considering what happened with Henry, I’m feet away from a mouth that could swallow me hole. Sooo…

“Uhh. Sure. Fine. Tell me what you need, I guess.”

Like I’m going to say no a monster snake.

What else was he supposed to do?

On top of that, he felt no pain and his old burns were gone. That was worth more than he owed everyone in his life combined. Assuming it didn’t kill him now, of course. But why would it, after saving him?

A relieved hiss existed from its mouth and it said, “Thank you.”

The massive head lowered to the ground until it was in front of Rory and looked at him. “I would asssk you to help awaken my sssissster.”

Well, that wasn’t what he was expecting.

“Uhh… What?” was Rory’s genius reply.

“I cannot do it alone,” the creature said as if that explained anything.

And how exactly am I supposed to wake up a hundred-foot-long snake?

But after that thought, Rory looked up in the snake’s face. Logically he knew that there was no way he could see emotions on it. The face never changed, save for the tongue. But despite that, he could swear he saw… felt… something… he just knew it was pleading with him. And given that he was sure this big snake saved him, he was willing to take the risk.

So he cleared his throat and said, “Ill try, even though I have no idea how or if I can. Where is she?”

Rory looked around, but all he saw were black snake scales. As if to answer, the snake’s body slowly uncoiled from around him until it was completely gone. Rory turned in a circle and stopped when he saw a pile of leaves and twigs that looked like a small hill with a hole on the side facing him.

“I will bring her to you. Pleassse wait.”

Bring her?

Bracing himself to see another colossal reptile, Rory was surprised when a few moments later the snake slithered out of the hole with a perfectly round and smooth white egg as large as Rory to his torso carried in its mouth.

Bloody hell! How am I supposed to hatch an egg?

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“Ummm… that’s your sister?”

The snake Gently placing its burden in front of Rory and responded. “Yesss.”

Rory was confused. And concerned. “Ummm. I don’t think…”

“I cannot do it myself,” it told him. “Death cannot give life.”

Rory blinked up at… him. He was almost positive that the snake was male based on its voice. “What do you mean by that? Death cannot give life?”

His response was shocking. “I am a death basssilisssk. I can give her power but have no ability to awaken her. You do. You have in your body both death and icsse.”

Huh?

“Wait, wait,” Rory said raising his hands. “I have ice, I know that. But what do you mean by death in my body?”

That sounded really bad. The massive snake’s head tilted to the side like any small animal might when confused. Rory might have found it humorous if he wasn’t so concerned about the “having death inside of him” thing.

“You carry within you the capability to wield the powers of ice and death. Did you not know? It was why the fallen one wanted you ssso terribly. And why he wanted to keep you from me. Thankfully he failed and fled after he was injured.”

Death? Is that even possible?

Thinking back the day he awakened, Rory remembered all those years ago when he was standing in the Body Element Tester as it had continued to malfunction by blinking out to black after showing the white-blue of ice.

Holy shit! Is that why everything is so awful all the time?

Having death sounded bad. Really bad actually. After his element… elements awakened, everything went horrible after all.

But then the other thing the snake said hit him. Did he say that Bernael had fled? He hadn’t died?

The snake continued explaining seemingly without realizing how scary everything he had just said was. “We basssilisksss gain our elements by the energy that isss around usss and infusssed into usss when we are ssstill in an egg. Only when we recsseive sssufficient energy are we able to be birthed and fully expressss our power. It is why we are usually of terra asss that isss where we often nessst, but our kind can be of anything in the universe.”

“Wow…” was all Rory could think to say. But then he remembered what the snake had said before and he asked, “But how were you hatched… err… birthed then?”

“There is only ever one of my kind in each gathering of energy and life… a galaxy I believe your kind calls it. Oncsse an eon, a death basssilisssk isss hatched – not by death energy, but the presssence of a mass of death – as was the cassse with me.”

Rory pondered the many implications of that set of facts. “That’s… I don’t know. I don’t think I’m really able to comprehend all that right now. But, sorry, what does that have to do with your sister and me?”

“You will underssstand… one day. But right now my sssissster needs you. She can use your power to become an icsse basssilisssk. Asss you do not have nearly enough energy to birth one of our kind, you will need to sssoul bind her.”

Only part of that made sense. He was about to ask for details but stopped and asked instead, “Sorry. Umm… do you have a name?” He felt bad just continuing to call it, “the big snake.”

A long vibrating hiss exists from his mouth while his head gently bobbed up and down.

Is he laughing at me?

“Yesss. I have a few namesss actually. As it is the shortest, you may call me Lucssifer.”

Rory blinked up at him. “Lucifer… seriously?”

The giant scary death snake is named Lucifer.

Rory was well aware he was not the smarted person in the galaxy. Hell, he couldn’t even pass all his classes in high school. But he knew at least some about the old religions on earth. An entire semester was spent on old Christian lore in his history class. It had actually fascinated him some, although he had a hard time studying, like he did in all of his classes.

Shaking his head free from those thoughts, he said to the giant serpent, “Umm. There are some… ummm… old myths about that name.”

The snake seemed to lower itself slightly in what Rory could only describe as a slump. If it had shoulders, he just knew they would be lowered.

“I am aware,” he responded, and the downtrodden tone confirmed Rory’s thoughts on his appearance. “Please do not judge me by those.”

Thinking about the snake’s response for a few seconds, Rory nodded. He wouldn’t want to be judged on old tales either. “Fair enough. I’m Rory, which is also the shortest and easiest way to say my name. Nice to meet you, Lucifer.”

The snake bobbed its head up and down once and hissed. This time Rory thought he could interpret happiness.

What am I, a snake translator now?

Shaking his head again, Rory walked up to the egg that was as tall as his head and asked, “So,, what is a soul binding and how do I do it?”

The snake’s huge head once again lowered to Rory’s level and his tongue quickly shot out and ran along Rory’s left arm. It felt like water flowing over his skin and then it was gone.

“Time is short ssso I will be quick. Your connection to your Sssoul Power. You should examine it.”

Rory lifted his left arm and looked closely at it for the first time since he woke up. The curls and symbols could clearly be seen now. Unlike before when they was just a mess of melted skin, he could make out the designs. They were… elegant. But more than that, they looked familiar with their knots and whirls, occasionally interrupted by recognizable shapes.

Everything connected smoothly and looked like a single solid stunning design that reminded him of the history of his original homeland. They looked like the Irish knotwork he had seen in his youth. Both his da and his morai had insisted that remembering the history of their home mattered, so they had made him memorize the patters as well as the old Gaelic tongue. And now that familiarity allowed him to understand and recognize what he was looking at.

First he examined his hands and arms and compared them. They were identical to the finest detail. Then he held his right hand closer while dropping his left and studied the designs themselves. On the palm was the triangle with three swirls at each corner of the triskele. That was connected with two pairs of lines around the left and right of his hand to the back, which held another knot. It was the triquetra with its three intertwined rounded triangles. That lead to overlapping lines known as sailor’s knots leading up and around his arm, occasionally wrapping themselves in other knots, including the dara on the back and shield on the front. Rory strained his neck to look at where his shoulder met his chest. That was where the largest and most elaborate pattern sat. It was the tree of life, and was so detailed he could make out individual roots and leaves. Rory looked at that one for a moment, remembering that it symbolized life and death and change. From its roots, the lines and knots continued down his chest, past his waist, only to stop just short of his knees. There the last symbol sat, ending with the same symbol it started with and closing the loop of his inscriptions.

Then Rory did what he hadn’t done in years. Hadn’t bothered doing. He looked deeper into himself and pushed in his mind, “Grow.”

For years Rory worked to prevent any embers of hope from forming, knowing they would be doused again and again, as they always had. But he could not help but feel a flicker as his mind moved inside his soul and he saw, not a pair of decrepit chakram, but a cloud of what Rory would have thought of as myst. He panicked a little when he felt something happen to his body and quickly came out of the ghost.

Looking down at his wrist that had lightly vibrated and caught his attention, he saw the black steel ring that was his pawn shop-purchased commo device. He tapped it and a projected message said, “Soul Summary Updated.”

It was such a simple message. Just three words. But they were words Rory had only seen once before: the first time he activated the wrist device. At that time he had hoped it might have had a solution to his growth problems, but, of course, it hadn’t. Commos do nothing but display information, send and receive messages, and connect to the Empire’s facilities. They don’t fix broken souls.

Taking a breath, he tapped the selection for, “Soul Summary.”

What he saw blew his mind.