Soulburned: The School of Souls

Chapter 34: The Cave

For the first time in Adler's memory, he was outside the Walls. The City of Sclera was splayed out beneath him, its ocular shape was obscured, but still visible through the massive Thymos Barrier.

Pride.

"Don't go getting too swelled of a head Adler." Entity said, "Let's not forget who actually cast that spell, hmm?"

Disdain.

He didn't know how to feel about Entity. The creature's power and willingness to train him was certainly an appealing notion, but the fact that this 'Entity', had essentially stolen the body of a student should have been concerning.

Obviously, he didn't actually feel much of anything, but he wasn't even able to intellectualize what he should be feeling.

"Overwhelming joy, obviously." Entity said.

"Remind me how this is supposed to be helping?" Adler asked. "You telling me what I'm thinking is certainly impressive, but it's not exactly instructive."

Entity's Dimensional Door had transported them to one of the nearby peaks along the Brow. The air was cold, and drifts of snow covered the mountain. They had found shelter in a shallow cave. Neither had been dressed for a prolonged stay in the cold, but Enitty had summoned a group of Fire beetles, and their flamming carapaces had made for an excellent firestarter.

"Then you haven't been paying attention." Enity sneered.

Frustration.

"You haven't exactly told me what I'm looking for," Adler said, turning his back on Sclera and walking back into the warmth of the crevice.

Entity rolled her eyes at him and sat back, leaning against the cold wall of the cave. She grimaced as her skin contacted the cold stone. Adler perceived no spike of emotion when she did. He had felt nothing at all from her in the hours since their departure from the Iris.

"My thoughts, Adler. You're looking for my thoughts. That was the deal, was it not? I'm going to help you get that Brand off, and teach you Enchantment, and you're going to help me achieve my goals."

"Ah. Of course." Adler said. "Your as of yet, undefined goals."

Entity gave him a strange look.

"What do you know about the Coals?" She asked.

Adler blinked.

Surprise.

"You're here for the same reason the Kovites are?" he asked.

Entity raised an eyebrow.

"You really did have somthing to do with the attack then?"

"I thought you were inside my head?" Adler shot back. "Seems like something you'd be aware of already."

Entity shrugged.

"I certainly suspected, but your Brand does more than just block your emotions and access to your Thymos. I can read your surface thoughts and emotions easily enough, but I can't troll your long-term memory."

Adler furrowed his brow.

"The Brand does that? What else does it do?"

"Oh no, answer my question first." She insisted.

Frustration, again vanishing nearly instantly.

"I know nothing of the Coals, except that the Kovites want them."

"They're the physical manifestation of the Void. Called by some, the Void-Coals, called by others the Void-Heart. They're currently hidden somewhere in Sclera. You're going to help me find them."

"And how am I supposed to help with that?"

Entity sighed.

"In two ways. One, allow me to access your Thymos, and Two, use your special mixture of Thymos and Logos to learn Enchantment:

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Adler frowned.

"How, exactly?"

Entity drummed her fingers against the rock.

"Come, sit with me." She said.

Adler obeyed, sitting and resting his back against the mouth of the cave, opposite Entity.

"Watch."

A strand of Logos entered Adler's chest, tentatively approaching the knot of Thymos in his chest.

Adler tensed. He quickly hardened the knot of Thymos in his chest.

Entity startled.

"May I?" Enity asked.

"What exactly do you intend to do?"

Entity blinked.

"Teach."

Adler only stared at her.

"Like you've taught this... Lyra?" He asked

Entity flinched. Adler still felt no emotion coming from the creature.

"I will not hurt you." Entity said softly after a moment. "I am no Archmage."

Adler felt nothing but relaxed the wall he had constructed around his Soul.

"Your ability to lock someone out like that is... interesting. Without being able to access your Thymos, you shouldn't even be able to do that much."

Adler shrugged.

"It's something I've always been able to do."

"Interesting."

The thread of Logos connected with Adler's Thymos, sending a shiver down his spine.

"You won't be able to do this by yourself... not while you have the brand. And, once we have it off, you'll be able to move threads of Thymos like you would your Logos."

Adler nodded.

"Watch."

Carefully, Entity used her Logos to pull a strand of Thymos away from the rest of the knotted power.

The Brand on Adler's chest began to burn and itch. He winced at the pain but said nothing.

Slowly, Entity forced the Thymos into a simple rune. She anchored it in place, then pulled out another strand. She repeated this process, slowly making an intricate glyph.

Adler saw none of this. as he was unable to actually observe his Thymos due to the Brand. He was able to piece together what Enity was doing from the negative spaces in between the Logos strands Enity was weaving, but it was difficult.

"Do you know what the main differences between each form of Soulmancy are?"

"I'd say the biggest difference is what fuels them," Adler said. "Logos feeds off your mind, Eros your body, and Thymos your emotions."

"Yes, but that is an incredible simplification."

Adler frowned.

Confusion.

"What do you mean?"

"When a Wizard wants to cast an Illusion spell, what aspect of their Logos is consumed?"

"I'm not sure what you mean by 'aspect'. Logos is Logos, is it not?"

"No. It's not." Enity said flatly.

She continued to form her glyph from Adler's Soul. It was a strange sensation. His Brand still burned as she manipulated his Thymos, but the ever-growing pressure in his chest eased slightly, much like it had when Empathy had

"Eros is the simplest." Entity said, "The physical nature of a Mage's spells literally consumes the Eros used by the body's most similar function. If you want to run faster, it consumes the Eros in your legs. If you want to breathe underwater the Eros of your lungs. If you want to harden your body, your bones. It gets increasingly philosophical as the spells get more complicated... but that is the base principle."

Adler nodded in understanding. He'd heard this before.

"Logos is the same, although its aspects are less understood. Illusion spells, for example, feed off of a Wizard's creativity. Summoning, their willpower." She gestured towards herself.

"As with Eros," She continued, "a Wizard can manipulate this principal and draw from a different aspect of their mentality, but it's less efficient. They'll use more, and the spell won't work as well, if at all."

"I've heard this before." Adler said, "But what does this have to do with Enchantment?"

"I'm getting to that." Entity replied with a slight sneer. "It's obviously not taught in the Iris, but Thymos is the same."

Curiosity. This, Adler hadn't heard.

"Thymos has aspects?"

"Of course it does, and you'll probably find them the most intuitive. The fuel for your Thymos is your emotions. Seeking spells will devour your hope or fear. Most evocations will consume your anger. It's why Sorcerors were historically seen as such serene bastions of calmness.

It seemed simple enough, but no one had ever spelled it out for Adler before.

"Which brings us to compound Soulmancy. What is Enchantment but Divination performed on Logos? For a mind-reading spell, wisdom is mixed with fear, hope, and curiosity. For a compulsion, willpower is mixed with passion, or sometimes hatred. The difference between Charm and Compulsion is merely a matter of what you're feeling at the moment you cast the spell. The Glyphs, as always, are simply tools to make the spell more focused."

Entity completed the Glyph.

Adler's awareness suddenly sharpened and Enitiy's mind erupted into view of his senses. A dark and incomprehensible force of willpower. Pressure similar to what he felt when she had forced her consciousness into his mind started building in his head.

He pressed his hands against his temples in pain.

Can you hear my thoughts? She thought. Can you tell what I'm feeling?

Mirth. Entity laughed at his pain.

"Yes! Void! Stop!" Adler shouted.

Entity destroyed the glyph with a wave of her Logos, ending the spell.

"This isn't going to work." She said, "We're going to need to find someone a little less complicated for you to practice on. Someone... human."