“Do you hear that?” I asked in Russian. “I’m not imagining it, right?”

“Hrmmm?” Delta looked up, her gaze getting lost in the tunnel of fluttering, violet-orange leaves overhead.

“The Tower, singing to us?” I said.

“Yes,” Delta nodded. “Someone’s singing back to us.”

“Leemy?” I exhaled.

“I think so,” Delta nodded. “She’s singing back to us. She might finally be waking up… becoming more than just our soul-shards fused to this tree.”

I nodded, feeling content.

Delta looked at me with a soft smile. “Thanks for the Soul-Song, I really needed that. Sorry for getting frustrated with you... and her.”

“Go sit by the battery,” I said. “You’re just hangry.”

“Yeah,” she nodded. “I’ve been avoiding diving into the Astral, since you’ve chided me about it.”

Delta walked to the obsidian hexagon-shaped rock and sat against it. Slowly, a wide smile stretched on her lips. “It’s… warm,” she said softly. “Warm like dad’s hugs… used to be, when I was just a little bean.”

“You can get energy from it anytime you feel down,” I said. “The leaking mana is pure, not contaminated by memories of the dead.”

“Will it make me feel warm… forever?” She asked.

“Probably not,” I said. “If the Astral Hunter Stat is an infection then it needs to be discovered and healed.”

“Right,” Delta closed her eyes, looking content. “You get right on that. I’m going to enjoy this sunbeam… Astralbeam? Whatever, it’s keeping me nice and toasty.”

Her breathing slowed. I guessed that she activated Chrysalis, dove deeper into the Astral to get the most out of the battery.

Legonnie disconnected from the crack in the Battery and began to spin circles around me, radiating something similar to happiness.

[Are you still there, Keps?] I asked mentally. No answer followed. I pondered why the memory of the old archmage wasn't replying to me. Perhaps the magogenic fault was sucking too much power out of Legonnie for Keps to manifest as a distinctive personality here.

I sighed and looked at Kliss.

She stopped sniffing and looked up at me. I snipped the smallest, outer threads of Friendship and Overseer, making the Vows dive under, keeping them from constantly invading the poor girl’s mind.

“What was that song?” She asked.

“An Alanian Sentinel’s song,” I said. “Mom taught it to us.”

“I see,” her expression darkened instantly.

“Are you judging me?” I asked.

“Yes, I am,” she said. “The Inians carved apart their souls with their vile Songs.”

“Did that song sound vile to you?” I asked.

“Don’t take me for an idiot, Dante. Obviously not all Inian spell-songs are pure evil,” Kliss replied. “A hammer can be used to fix a wall or to kill a man. The foundational problem of the Inian Empire was they armed every child with a hammer and let them bash their own heads in.”

“And you’re aware of this, how?”

“I’ve spent years at the Cessna Academy reading scrolls of obscure magic and ancient, nearly forgotten history,” Kliss shrugged. “A good legionnaire and Overseer must know the mistakes of the past so as not to repeat them.”

“Alright then, consider me curious. Educate me. What happens to a soul when a person dies?” I crossed my arms.

“If a human has no pact with a God, their soul simply sinks into the Astral and is devoured by Astral Phantoms,” Kliss explained.

“Have you seen the Astral Ocean?” I asked.

“Yes,” Kliss nodded. “There are magitek tools at the Cessna Academy called the Astralscopes, which allow novitiates to peer into the awful darkness of the hells. During my first year at the Academy, we were made to kill a variety of creatures and watched as their souls sank into the Astral. A soul of any being is a victim to the void.”

“Unless… they’re tethered to a god, right?” I arched an eyebrow.

“Yes! If a human’s soul is tethered to a God, it ends up in paradise, is sent to a much deeper Astral Plane where the souls can rest in peace, be reborn, or even ascend to higher forms," she said, her voice softening as she spoke. "Our heaven is referred to as Arxtruria, the Elysium of Equality. It's a place of eternal peace and tranquility, free from the torment of the Astral Phantoms, where every human soul is free and equal."

"So, my soul will absolutely be devoured by Phantoms when I die?" I asked.

“Yes,” Kliss nodded.

“Technically, I've died twice already,” I mulled. “First time was on my homeworld - Earth. The second time when Giovashi used some kind of a violet fire-spell to kick my soul from my body. I returned twice to the world of the living, defeated the phantoms.”

“Only because you’ve had somewhere to return to,” Kliss pointed out, squinting at me. “You and Destiny are ghouls created by Giovashi's magic for nefarious purposes.”

“And that’s bad?” I asked.

"Yes, it's bad," Kliss said, her gaze cold. "Necromancy denies a soul the peace of the afterlife. It's a form of eternal damnation. You are a ghoul now, a creature damned to madness and hunger."

"I don't feel very damned or insane," I pointed out.

"That's because you mistakenly think you’re still in control of yourself, old ghost," Kliss said, her eyes filled with a strange mix of pity and fear. "But the longer you exist in this body as a soul that's already died and visited the Astral... the more insane you will become from hunger that you will never be able to satisfy. Don’t you get it? You’re doomed, consigned to a fate worse than death by Giovashi!”

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

"What solution do you offer to my doom then?" I asked, feeling that I already knew what she would say.

“Consider seeking out a God's tether of your own,” Kliss replied.

“Oh?”

“Equality accepts all souls. All can be forgiven, all can be saved. Make a Vow to Equality and when you inevitably perish, your soul will be saved,” she offered.

"Is that really your solution to everything?" I asked. "Make a Vow to Equality?"

"It's not merely a solution, Dante. It's salvation," Kliss insisted, her emerald eyes earnest.

“Right,” I paced around Kliss. “This sounds a lot like religious dogma from my original world, a place where we didn’t even have any evidence for the existence of heaven. From my point of view, as a complete outsider to Novazem, it seems like everyone here messes with souls to some degree, some worse than others. The Inians bind souls to artifacts, the Equalists bind their souls to a goddess.”

Kliss fell silent for a moment, her expression thoughtful. "You're not wrong," she admitted. "Both methods bind the soul but for different purposes. The Inians used it for power, we use it for salvation."

"But isn't it the individual's choice to make?" I asked. "You make it sound like it's a one-size-fits-all solution."

"It's not a matter of choice, Dante," Kliss said, her tone firm. "It's a matter of salvation. Without a divine tether, a soul is inevitably doomed to be devoured by phantoms. You think that you’re winning against Astral Phantoms, but in reality you yourself are becoming one. Slowly, year by year, perhaps without even noticing you’ll join the ranks of the soul eaters. Emperor Gabon wasn’t insane from the start. Nobody noticed anything because he gradually turned into a demon.”

“Let's move on,” I said. “I get the gist. You think that Delta and I are destined to eat human flesh in the end. How are you so certain that this Elysium of Equality exists as a nice plane to reside in? Can the Astralscopes see it?”

“The Astralscopes used by the novitiates cannot see the fields of Elysium,” Kliss shook her head. “They can only peer a few levels down into the desolate areas of the Astral Ocean known as the hells."

“So then, what’s the evidence that Equality isn’t just, say… eating the souls of her followers?”

“Our highest Archmages can see the fields of Elysium,” Kliss explained. “They say it absolutely exists. There are Depictomancy-made paintings of Elysium in numerous books they’ve published.”

"Depictomancy paintings?" I repeated, skepticism lacing my tone. "You're basing your belief in salvation on some art?"

"Yes," Kliss said, her tone unyielding. "And the testimonies of our greatest Archmages. They have no reason to lie. Elysium is a perfect plane for all souls to reincarnate into. It’s a truly vast, sublime, inverted world called Arxtruria, a place where the horizon curves up forevermore. Its foundation is forged, reinforced by everyone’s belief that Goddess Equality is fair and just!”

"But these archmages could be wrong," I pointed out. "They could have a reason to lie if they’re influenced by their Vows to Equality. Surely they could have faked those paintings?"

Silence stretched between us, filled with tension. Kliss's eyes were filled with a mix of exasperation and pity, as if she couldn't believe my obstinacy.

"You're a stubborn one, aren't you?" She finally said.

“I am stubborn at uncovering the truth, yes,” I said, resuming my pacing. “There are clearly other paths. From what I saw in the Astral, Giovashi extended her life past a thousand years.”

“And she is clearly insane, an Astral Phantom wearing flesh, someone who attached human souls to herself to unnaturally extend her life!” Kliss pointed out. “Immortality has a cost.”

“You can see the souls attached to her?” I asked.

“I felt them, yes,” Kliss nodded. “I’ve been trained to feel and see magic at Cessna, but I’m not very good at observing spells. The Armacus has a [LV 88 Magic-Sight] spell embedded in it to help me notice magical traps or Phantoms.”

“Is there a spell within your armacus that can kill an Astral Phantom?” I asked.

“No,” Kliss shook her head. "I can hurt them and scare them away, but not kill them."

“Why the hell not?” I asked. “Wouldn’t that be very useful here?”

“Every armacus is unique, made to only serve its wielder,” Kliss shrugged. “Each is connected to the magic of its user so that an enemy cannot steal it and use it against the bearers of Equality.”

“I think that your armacus was made not to target Phantoms on purpose,” I said. “So that you could not simply cut off your Vow to Equality.”

“You cannot simply cut a Vow off!” Kliss snapped.

“I can hurt it,” I pointed out. "Cut off little bits."

“At the cost of hurting my soul!” Kliss growled. “My Vows and I are connected together! All you’re doing is slowly tearing my soul apart! I can feel your damned Astral-blades nipping at me! My Angels are made from my soul, cutting one off me is equivalent to cutting off my neck with a sword!”

I frowned.

“There’s nothing you can do for me,” Kliss sniffed tiredly, rubbing her face. “Please… just leave me alone.”

“No. If I stop nipping your vows, they will drive you mad,” I pointed out. “Friendship and the Overseer are diametrically opposite in their purpose. One demands you protect me, the other demands my death.”

“I know that!” Kliss hissed. “That damned woman outmaneuvered me, trapped me between two Vows! Giovashi must have done something similar to the other Overseers of Skyisle, somehow made them not give a damn about the people here or their jobs!”

She looked at me, more tears sparkling in her eyes.

“Maybe... you can make the Friendship Vow less active… free me long enough to call the Empire,” she offered. “Inquisitor Jubz will bring a warship with a legion. They will find Giovashi and kill her.”

“And execute me and my sister because we’re ghouls?” I speculated.

“He won't, if both of you declare Vows to Equality!” Kliss said. “Confess your sins to the Inquisitor. He will be merciful. You’re clearly both victims here!”

“You’ll still have two Vows on you,” I pointed out. “The Overseer’s Vow will still demand our deaths, no?”

“You won’t be Astral Phantoms if you bind yourself to Equality and make a [Pact] reinforced by the Inquisitor!” Kliss said. “That’s the only answer here! Please! Just accept Equality into your heart! The eternal hearth, the golden fire of our Goddess will be connected to you and will keep you from gradually descending into madness!”

I sighed.

“I’m not a villain, not a murderer,” Kliss insisted. “I’m not a manipulative monster like Giovashi. I genuinely want to help you and your sister, Slava! I want to help save the people of Skyisle, to free them from Giovashi’s control. I could have fired [Destruction] at you or executed your parents for their collaboration with the Arch-Priestess, but I chose not to. I chose to talk to you and your sister instead, to try to understand you! I’m still trying to understand where you’re coming from and who you really are!”

"Thanks," I nodded.

“If Giovashi lived for a thousand years then she is likely a necromage,” Kliss said. “She is an ancient Almn-Inian who chose immortality above all, the ultimate result of their perverse society in which anyone could do anything with human souls!”

“She doesn’t have any Vows on her from what I saw,” I mulled.

“That’s right,” Kliss nodded. “She might not even believe in Ishira! She’s just using the people of Skyisle to devour their souls to make herself immortal and powerful!"

I looked down at Kliss, her eyes sparkling with tears and determination.

“Do you care for your sister, your parents, Skyisle?” She asked. “Or are you too much of an outsider to Novazem for that... Slava?”

“I care for them,” I nodded. “I want to help everyone here.”

“Then let's go to the Church of Equality. Help me call the Inquisitor!” she pleaded. “We can work together, we can save your sister, your parents, everyone in this village. We can help build a new town of Skyisle further away from this cursed fault! If you really want to help people, you can do so under the guiding light of Equality. You can study in Cessna, you can become a great archmage, an Overseer and go wherever aid is needed… dedicate yourself to saving as many souls as possible!”

“What? And give up love, just like you?” I asked.

“It’s not a permanent sacrifice,” Kliss shook her head. “It's merely a way to reinforce the strength of the pact, to make your resolve… unbreakable.”

“Not a permanent sacrifice? What if I want a family of my own someday?” I asked.

“It won’t be possible in this lifetime,” Kliss sighed. “But, when you reach the end of your life on Novazem… Equality will reincarnate you on Arxtruria. There, in the fields of Elysium, we will find each other, meet as old friends without our Vows. There, I will have the capability to fall in love and start a family! Anything is possible on Arx because there is no war, no death, no suffering, nor discord there! Vows don’t exist on Arx, there is no need for them in Elysium!”

I sighed. Kliss was set on selling me her perfect paradise. If the Astral Ocean was real, then this inverted world, Arxtruria, could be just as real and observable. It could be just as lovely as she described it, a reward for being a goodly follower of Equality set against the scales of freezing to death in the Astral Ocean.

“An Inquisitor of Equality can help us defeat Giovashi! Make the right choice, Slava, join the right side!” Kliss offered me her hand.