Soulburned : The School of Souls

Chapter One : The Siege of Sclera

Twelve Years Later

For Thale, the siege was never-ending. Its rage was immortal, its thirst for blood unquenchable. Countless skirmishes had pushed the front back and forth between the First and Second Walls, sometimes reaching all the way to the base of one wall or the other, but never over.

Once the largest district in Sclera, the area between the two fortifications was now only a blighted no-man's-land littered with trenches and abandoned outposts, a lonely stretch of death separating Sclera from the outside world.

It smelled of rot.

Fifty-Nine, Sixty.

Thale leaned against the stonework of the Second Wall, silently counting the enemy campfires below. They were closer tonight.

Sixty-one, Sixty-two.

"Think they'll make a go at us tomorrow?" one of Thale's men asked.

"No." Declan, the section's wizard, replied, "They're just trying to put us on edge." The Mark on the young wizard's forehead flashed crimson. "The glyphs we hid in the ruins are still charged, and will be for another week or so. They won't attack if they can't summon their horde."

Sixty-three, Sixty-four.

It had been over a decade since the First Wall had fallen. Twelve years.

Twelve years since the original Lesser Flame, the moat of Shriving Fire that had lined the First Wall was extinguished. Twelve years since the slaughter.

The Sclerians had thought the walls impenetrable...

Sixty-five, Sixty-six.

They had been wrong.

Sixty-seven, Sixty-eight.

At only twenty-five years of age, Thale had yet to know peace. He had been born behind these walls, long after they were first sealed, and he held no doubts that he'd die on them. It was his purpose. He would defend his home, his family, and the Iris Tower until his dying breath. He was a Mage. The Siege was eternal.

Sixty-nine... Seventy.

Each of the campfires below would be accompanied by five to six soldiers. Each squad would be comparable to those that made up Thale's section, mostly archers, with a spattering of spearmen and swordsmen.

The lowland Kovites were numerous, even before their rituals. Despite the Sclerians being outnumbered ten to one, there was one key difference between the two forces.

The Kovites had no Soulmancy.

Seventy-one, Seventy-two

The Kovites used a blasphemous inferior magic, ritualistic sacrifice. They called it Blood Calling. It was slow, limited, and grotesque.

The Sclerians exploited their magical superiority in every aspect of their defense.

Seventy-three, Seventy-four.

Each of the Sclerians was outfitted in Quickwood armor, which their Mages created by transmuting thick planks into dense sheets that could turn steel, but were incredibly light. The Lesser Flames burned ceaselessly at the base of the wall, illuminating the darkness and preventing siege equipment from gaining purchase. Wizards conjured magical constructs and supplies. Artificers, soulmancers who had attained both Wizard and Mage marks, directly imbued weapons and armor with the sacred Shriving Fire.

Seventy-five, Seventy-six.

“It’s too quiet.” one of Thale’s archers, said. “I don’t like it.”

“You don’t like nothing.” Another replied. “Don’t like cards, don’t like drink, don’t like w-”

“Quiet.” Thale commanded, “Both of you.”

Seventy-seven, Seventy-eight

“Pompous little shit,” one of the men muttered.

"Ho-ho, careful there, Burl," another chimed in, "Thale'll be Wall Lieutenant by year's end. You better stow it, unless you really love digging trenches."

"I said, be quiet!" Thale snapped. The men complied.

Thale smiled. The men didn’t particularly enjoy being under the command of someone almost half their age, but they didn't have much choice. Mages and Wizards were targets and didn't last long on the wall. The sections cycled through Soulmancers faster than the Iris could churn them out.

Seventy... Seventy...

Void… Thale thought, ceasing his counting. There’s certainly more of them tonight isn’t there? Too many.

He took a calming breath, then drew power from his Soul.

A Mage’s source of power was the Eros. The part of the soul that gave life and vigor to the flesh. It wrapped itself throughout each tendon and muscle of Thale’s body but was concentrated mostly in his core. As he drew power from his Eros, his Mage Mark, which was tattooed intricately around his abdomen, began to glow, The light shone out through slits in his Quickwood breastplate.

The howls of the winter wind muffled to moan, the Eros in his ears having been consumed by the spell. He opened his now cat-like eyes with the power of Dark Sight. In Thale’s vision, the obscuring shadows of night were transformed into bright monochromatic hues, and the rocky landscape was sharpened into clarity.

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

The camp below was empty. Not a single soldier sat around the fires below.

"Wait," Declan said beside Thale, his forehead once again flashing, "Somethings wrong. I think-"

The Lesser Flames, the moat of fire that had become a constant feature of the Second Wall, vanished. The constant humming it produced fell to silence in an instant.

“Raise the alarm!” Thale shouted, “We’re under attack!”

It started raining arrows.

“Shit!” one of Thale’s men shouted as an arrow pinged off his Quickwood breastplate.

Thale quickly dismissed his Dark Sight and raised his hands.

Shield.

An invisible wall of energy spread out from his palms, extending out ten feet in every direction, parallel with his palms.

“Close racks and prepare to return fire!” Thale shouted.

His men leapt to comply, crowding close to the protection of Thale’s Shield and fumbling in their quivers. One man swore as one of his bowstrings snapped. Thale gritted his teeth, he would have to reprimand this squad for being so unprepared.

Another volley of arrows flew up from the darkness, most rebounded off Thale’s Shield, the rest clattered against the stone parapet.

Thale began to shiver, the Eros he was pulling into his Shield was rapidly draining him of body heat. He wouldn’t be able to keep it raised for longer than a few minutes.

“Sidle right! Into the tower!” Thale snapped.

His men had begun nocking arrows, and together they slowly shimmied towards the closest battlement. Thale started to hear shouts being raised from different sections of the wall. Somewhere below, a bell started to ring.

Two grappling hooks flew over the parapet, one bounced off Thale’s Shield. The other bit hard into the stone wall.

“Someone cut that line before they raise a ladder!” Thale shouted.

Burl pulled his short sword and dashed out of cover towards the hook. He started sawing at the thick rope. He was half-way through the cordage when an arrow leapt out from the darkness below and tore through his throat.

“No!” Thale shouted, then dropped his Shield. “Shoot at the base of the wall!”

With Thale's Shield gone, his men started returning fire and were quickly rewarded by cries of pain from below.

A wooden ladder slammed into the wall, hooks locking it in place.

Thale rushed over to the ladder, pulling Eros from the muscles in his shoulders as he did.

Strength.

With a quick tug, he tore the grappling hook out of the stone, then broke the metal hooks holding the ladder in place as if they were paper. With an Eros-enhanced shove, he managed to launch the top of the ladder away from the wall. It crossed its tipping point, then toppled to the ground. A few men shouted below as the heavy structure landed on them. Thale's men cheered. Thale's shoulders grew numb as the spell faded.

Another two grappling hooks found purchase on the wall.

“Tower! Now” Thale shouted.

His men rushed into the stone building, then began shooting through arrow slits down and the enemy soldiers now climbing the ladder. Thale slammed the thick wooden door closed behind them as he entered the tower.

“They’re coming over the top!” A man shouted as he fired another arrow.

“How did they get the Flames down?!” another man shouted. "Where are the fucking ground squads?"

"I don't know!" Declan shouted, "Fuck!" The wizard began scribbling runes onto the wooden floor in chalk. "The crystals aren't even out here anymore, they moved them into the Iris after the First fell!"

Thale thrust his palms into the wooden door and again drew from his Eros. Kovite soldiers began beating against the door with swords.

Shift, he thought.

Thale's joints began to ache and then burn as the wooden door was transmuted into stone, becoming one solid piece with the tower. Thale released the spell.

"Declan, failsafe protocol! Get that field up!" Thale shouted, "Those anti-magic glyphs won't hold forever!"

"Glyph's already drained!" Declan shouted back as he continued to make marks on the floor, "Imps inbound! I need thirty seconds to get this up!"

Thale swore.

The shrill shrieks of a thousand tiny demons flooded the mountainside, piercing through even Thale's dulled sense of hearing. The majority of Thale's men clutched their ears.

"Get to the roof! We need men on those ballistas!" Thale shouted.

A few of the soldiers, those with spears instead of bows, rushed up the stairs and burst through a trapdoor. Thale bounded up the steps behind them,

The sky was filled with demons.

So many...

"These aren't Imps!" Thale shouted down to Declan. "Get it up!"

"Twenty seconds!"

The men began firing large bolts at the winged creatures. Thale was relieved to see that other Sections had followed suit. The towers to either side of Thale's had begun bringing the creatures down.

A bright pillar of yellow light flared to life from the next tower over.

"You're behind Declan, move it!"

"Almost there!"

The first of the creatures descended on them. Its sharp talons racked across one of the ballista operator's back. The man screamed.

"Haste!" Thale shouted, not wasting time with a silent incantation. Eros rushed from his limbs and boosted his speed. He drew his shortsword and closed the distance between him and the creature in the blink of an eye. His sword cleaved the twisted thing in half. Its victim fell to the ground, sobbing.

The rest of the creatures, those not taken down by ballista bolts, or engaging the men on the walls, flew over the wall and into the city proper.

"Take them down!" Thale shouted.

Several of the ballistas spun and resumed firing, taking down more of the creatures. The ones that weren't descended onto the city.

"Where are the damned Guardians!?" Thale shouted.

"Done!" Declan cried.

A yellow flash blinded Thale as a column of light matching those coming from the other towers flared into the sky. With a deafening crack, the energy beams connected, closing the newly formed dome of light over Sclera. Hundreds of the creatures immolated as they slammed into the solid light.

Thale let out a tense breath. "Well done, Declan!" he exclaimed.

A deafening roar shook the Wall. The dreadful sound smothered the sounds of battle and shrieking banshees.

“Void hold us… not again.” one of Thale’s men swore.

Declan emerged from the Tower, his brow covered in sweat.

“Oh gods...” he said, "They've summoned a Soul Eater."

Thale's blood turned to ice.

Thale hadn’t been old enough to take part in battle the first time the Lesser Flames fell, but he had been there... in the city. A child.

Imps had dashed themselves against the Lesser Fire for days. Every soul the Kovites sacrificed could be used to summon hundreds of things, and on that day, they had sacrificed hundreds of prisoners... but they had Called more than just Imps.

One of the Accursed, A Soul Eater. It had devoured the Lesser Flame, absorbed its power, and used it on the citizens of the district.

It's happening again... please no, not again.

The behemoth sprang out of the darkness below and slammed into the wall of light, somehow managing to cling to its surface without being disintegrated. Its red flesh crackled, and its black wings burned. The beast roared again, then began slamming its head into the barrier.

The light shattered. Declan screamed in pain, then collapsed. The failsafe wasn't enough.

“Hold this tower!" Thale demanded.

He drew more Eros from his legs, then Jumped off the wall into the city, following the trail of carnage in the Soul Eater's wake.