The doors of the keep were thrust open allowing them immediate entry. Familiars and people motioned about while Halmond leaned in towards Lucias whispering into his ear. Several members of the coalition were already inside the keep standing off to the sides. Yorais stood with several other sorcerers and sorceresses from her faction of the coalition whilst Zorge remained all alone on the opposite side of the keep’s main chamber. Zorge eyed Kiran as he walked by him.
Out of all of them, Abigail was the most furious so she walked ahead with an eagerness to confront Lucias personally. With feet stomping on the red carpet, she came to a stop a comfortable distance away from Lucias who kept listening to Halmond who kept leaning down to his ear. Abigail thrust her arm out pointing her index finger at him. “Explain yourself Lucias.”
Halmond stepped away from the throne as Lucias gestured for them to pull away. “What is it that you would want me to explain?”
“Oh I don’t know, how about how you’re just sitting in here doing nothing? I seem to recall you saying you could kill all of those pesky banespawn by yourself. So what gives then, huh? Why aren’t you out there kicking all of their butts?”
“I wasn’t lying when I said that,” he said with a soft grim tone. “With a snap of my finger, they would all be no more. Yet doing so would not put just an end to their lives, but it would also put an end to yours and my people.” Judging by the way he spoke, immense regret resided in him. What power does he possess that would be devastating to not just them but also us?
Before Abigail could respond back, Yorais came up behind Abigail placing a hand on her shoulder. “Could you elaborate a little for us so that we understand why that’s the case?” Yorais asked in a much more calm and gentle tone. It would certainly work better than Abigail’s brunt hot-headed way of speaking or so he imagined. Calm voices tended to persuade better in his experience.
“I am cursed,” Lucias said clasping his hands together, “with great power. But that same great power is something I cannot control. Were I to, let’s say, surrender myself to it, the banespawn threat would be removed, but there is no telling whether this city would remain right after.”
“Try to be a little more specific,” Abigail blurted out.
“Abigail…” Yorais said looking down at her from the side.
“You have every right to ask. Were I in all of your positions, I’d wonder as well as to what I speak about so let me be clear: I am a Divine Familiar.”
The mere utterance of referring to himself as Divine Familiar caused him to feel uneasy. Lar instinctually grabbed his right hand and tightened her grasp. “I knew there was something wrong about him,” she whispered. He remembered how Lar had reacted towards Lucias when they first met him. It appeared she had every right to fear him. Although, it did make him think that unlike everyone else, she had a way of perceiving Divine Familiars unlike anyone else. He wondered why that would be the case.
So Lucias is a Divine Familiar, eh? No wonder he’s feared by so many outsiders. I wonder if they even know that he is one of these beings. Regardless, despite his young graceful appearance, he is much more than that. He is a divine being.
The only other time he had come across a Divine Familiar that he knew of, was when Leo became one in an effort to defy death. But rather than become something glorious or what the term divine might imply, he turned into a nightmarish abomination that could’ve easily killed him and Lar if he had wanted to.
He felt reminded of Leo’s terrifying appearance as he looked at Lucias and how he might look in their divine form that Lucias seemed intent on not utilizing. Since he was known as The Red Serpent by outsiders, this serpent form of his must’ve been terrifying. Serpents were already scary enough. He could only imagine how his appearance would compare to a normal one.
“You’re a Divine Familiar? I was led to believe they appear—rather—different,” Rinas said. “How is it that you appear as you are?”
“I wouldn’t expect a human to understand how we work. Even familiars aren’t entirely well educated on the subject. Truthfully speaking, we are rather rare amongst our kind, and ascending is rather taboo so such ignorance is quite understandable.” Lucias unclasped his hands and leaned towards them. “Divine Familiars can take on different forms although it is not common. To tell you the truth, I don’t know how I took on this form.” He said those words with regret. “All I know is that it is a blessing that I managed to take on this human form. The reality is that being a Divine Familiar is more of a curse than a blessing. At the time of my ascension, I falsely believed that I could and would be able to control myself. To make a long story short, I lost control and many died as a result of it. Eventually, I woke up having taken on this form allowing myself to maintain control knowing that if I were to revert back, that control would be lost once more. Now can you at least understand why I don’t use this power?”
Even Abigail seemed willing to accept his answer. She nodded her head and walked back towards the rest of them. Despite her hotheadedness, a good answer always placated her.
“Let me be clear however. Just because I do not use this power of mine does not mean I cannot conduct good work behind the scenes. From what I’ve learned, it appears that the middle and upper levels of this city are safe for now, although I cannot tell how long that shall last. To make matters worse, we’ve still got a mass murderer on the loose who I imagine is taking advantage of this chaos. Perhaps I should ask. Did any of you figure out anything before Valak was attacked that might help us with that particular investigation?”
“No,” Kiran said.
“We didn’t find anything useful either,” Lar said.
The coalition had multiple groups trying to conduct this investigation and all anyone ended up with was nothing except the gruesome aftermath of their murderous deeds.
He took the moment to eye both Juna and Silvy. They still looked at him a bit precariously knowing information that the others did not yet know about him. Should I even begin to tell the others that I unknowingly have manipulated souls other than mine own? It was an important question to ask himself. He felt it necessary to at least entertain the possibility.
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He had lost some trust with Lar by not telling her about him using his soul before. He didn’t want to risk that happening again so he knew he would need to at least tell her soon whenever he was able to. He didn’t want to risk worsening their relationship or the relationship with everyone else such as Rinas or Yorais and his closest friends. Even if honesty comes with a high price, dishonesty comes with its own high cost as well. At the end of the day, he had to choose which high price he was willing to pay.
After deliberating for a bit, Kiran found himself with Yorais all alone. She always knew more than him so he felt it necessary to go to her first. “What is it that you need to speak about?” she said in a back room of a building the coalition was utilizing.
“I discovered something about myself while we were trying to secure the gate.”
Her eyebrows went up slightly.
“It appears that I’m not only capable of manipulating my own soul.”
“You can manipulate others?”
He nodded his head.
She hid her face briefly with a pale hand. She sighed and pulled her hand away from her face. He never liked disappointing or telling information to Yorais that might be unnerving, but he felt it necessary given the nature of this issue of his. “Kiran, I swear. It’s as if you are trying to break every taboo in human society. And familiar for that matter.”
“I’m not meaning to. It just—well—sort of happens. Apparently, that’s what has these particular banespawn in such a frenzy. I ended up using this power against them when they had us fighting in the arena and well, they aren’t too happy about that.”
“Do you know why that is?” She began to cross her arms.
“Something to do with the sanctity of souls, right?”
“It goes much further than that. Souls are our very being. If you destroy it, our very selves are expunged from reality or the universe itself. The banespawn, much like us, care not just for the living but also the dead. That is another similarity between our kinds it would seem. When we die, as I’ve mentioned to you before, our souls return to the root. But what happens if our soul can not make it there?” Before he could respond she continued on. “We are denied our opportunity to exist at all in any capacity. From many perspectives, by manipulating a soul to the point of killing it, you have thus denied them an opportunity to ever experience the afterlife or whatever it is that we experience after death. As I’m sure you’re well aware, many take this quite seriously.”
There was something much more unnerving about the thought of killing a being’s soul, unlike just the physical body that a soul dwells in. It was one thing to kill, which was a terrible thing in and of itself that he at times had been forced to do, but to kill an actual soul went beyond a mere killing. The thought of it truly sickened him and made him regretful. Even if they were banespawn he had utilized this power towards, it didn’t feel right of him to do that to them. There was also the fact that it caused them to go so far as to attack this city. Once again, my actions are proving to have significant consequences.
“Kiran,” Yorais said taking note of how he was feeling. “Don’t blame yourself. You didn’t know. Your past self might’ve, but you as you are now cannot be blamed for it. At least not entirely.”
“Are you sure about that? I’m still that person from my past. I still have to take some responsibility.”
She didn’t appear entirely dissuaded from his opinion. “Regardless, you must make that decision for yourself. I cannot make it for you. I believe that what matters is what you do from here on out knowing what you know now. I must say though, you’re fortunate I am not so judging. I’d be careful however about who you tell about this capability of yours. It’s one thing to dabble with your own soul. It’s another thing entirely to dabble with another’s soul.”
“I have to tell Lar at the very least.” Yorais appeared fine with that given her slight nod. “Thanks for hearing me out.”
“That’s what I’m here for,” she said and left him alone once more. “Just let me be clear Kiran.”
“Yeah?”
“For your own safety, I’d avoid dabbling in this power even if it doesn’t harm your own soul. This is not the kind of power mortals like ourselves should willingly participate in, even if it means saving ourselves and those we care about.”
He wanted to do everything in his power to not ever use this power again, but he would be lying to himself if he thought there wouldn’t be a moment eventually when he was forced to use it. Whether it be for his own safety or the safety of someone else he cared a lot about, it was not so easy to not call upon this power that would deliver them from death itself.
Soon after speaking with Yorais, he confronted Lar as well not wanting to hide this from her. If there was anyone else he’d mention this to, it would be her since he trusted her the most out of everyone he knew.
He explained the situation to her and the nature of the power. Strangely, she didn’t appear entirely taken aback by it. If anything, she appeared quite understanding. She likely also appreciated him not keeping this a secret from her like he had been doing in the past with other things.
She lifted her hand silencing anything further from his mouth. “You’ve said enough.”
As he tried to speak more, she shoved her finger harshly against his lips. “Don’t go on telling me how sorry you feel. I get it, alright?”
“You do? You’re not terrified by what I am?”
“Terrified? As if. I’m just glad you’ve gotten it through that thick skull of yours to actually tell me about these things as they’re discovered rather than keeping them from me.”
“So the fact that I can manipulate souls other than mine own doesn’t bother you?”
“I wouldn’t go so far as to say it doesn’t bother me. But what exactly am I to do about it?” She shook her head and sighed a little. “I’m not going to throw everything away between us just because of this if that’s what you’re thinking. Believe me Kiran, I’ve associated with far worse people than yourself.”
“You have? Tell me about them.”
“I don’t want to. And yes, I know what you’re thinking.” Uh oh, has she become a mind reader? She gave him a funny look as if she could. “I know I’m being a hypocrite but I swear to you, that I will reveal more about myself. I just need the time to prepare.”
Her past was something of an empty void. He knew some details such as her originating from the third domain and that she knew Yorais from before they re-encountered themselves in Liall. Besides that, all he really had to go on with her was his time spent with her and casual details about her past that she didn’t mind telling him about. Much like himself, her past was a troublesome topic that he could afford to be patient in regard to uncovering it for himself.