“Kliss, you got ten Imperials on you?” I asked.

The Overseer nodded.

“Give it to Delta,” I ordered.

“Why?” The Overseer asked.

“I’m buying a box of mana-reloading wine,” I said. “I’m going to need it to help you.”

The redhead sighed and pulled out ten imperials from her pouch and handed it to Delta.

I looked at the Overseer. She didn’t resist parting with her money, seemed broken, forlorn. She looked like she had given up.

“Get a case of that overpriced Cutrizz wine,” I said. “Don’t chat with the barmaids, meet us at the lake by the tower, make sure you aren't followed.”

“Can do,” my twin gave me a salute and ran off down the path to the Fox and Fiddle.

----------------------------------------

Kliss, Delta and I walked through the forest towards the tower. Little rainbows danced in my eyes cast by the hex-lantern on my belt.

The setting sun cast long shadows along the forest floor, painting the clouds behind the cliff’s edge a vibrant pink shade. We had reached the base of the derelict tower. Evening wind picked up from the mountains, throwing the Overseer's red hair and forest debris into the air.

“Slava… can you tell me more about… your childhood, about the place you were born, the world without magic?” Kliss asked.

“What do you want to know exactly?” I asked.

“I want to know… everything,” she whispered. "I want to know what's there... beyond the boundary..."

Her thumb tapped the unlock rune on her armacus. The magitek device opened up with a twirl. She handed the metal bracelet to me, having taken it off her wrist.

"The boundary?" I asked, accepting her weapon.

"Of life and death," she said.

“Can the Overseer's Vow hear our conversation?” I asked.

“It’s… rather preoccupied,” she whispered, trembling.

[Don't tell her nothing!] Delta’s phantom-thread brushed against my head.

"What is the Vow preoccupied with?" I inquired.

“The first rule of the Overseer’s Vow is that it must keep me alive, no matter what,” Kliss said. “I can feel it, with every step I take here through the forest… I have gone beyond the threshold. My body is fine, but my soul is… fractured. I'm what's called a dead-walker. I'm almost completely out of Mana and my Soul is just a few points away from zero.

The Overseer’s Vow is holding my soul to my body with all of his will and power. If he lets me go but for a moment… I will die.”

“Your armacus can’t heal you?” I asked.

“My [Healing] skill cannot seem to repair the deepening fractures in my Soul,” she sighed. “The spell… isn’t working anymore. The armacus isn’t all-powerful, its spells aren’t good enough to fix me.”

“Damn,” I muttered.

“I just want to talk to you… before I am gone. Even if you declare yourself as an aberration openly to me… The Overseer’s Vow will do nothing. He knows how close I am to death. He knows that my Soul cannot be repaired further. I can hear it in my Soul-Song. The chorus of my Soul-Song tells me that my skills are decaying, coming apart… all of them are being subtracted away.”

“So, the Vows can be defeated?” I asked. “If a soul is injured enough…”

“Defeated?” She smirked with a sad look. “Hardly… The Vow isn’t defeated. I am. I don’t know if I will even last through this night. When the last threads holding my soul unravel, both of the Vows will try to drag me into Equality’s embrace. I'm afraid... that the Goddess will turn away from me, cast me straight into the deep Astral after she finds me unworthy… or that I will simply decay away before I reach Elysium.”

Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

“Let me see..." Delta spoke as her Phantom threads ran over Kliss. "Oh, she’s right… her Soul-Shield skill is decaying away… I can see right through it now. Well, that is… unfortunate. Sucks to be you, Kliss. I would play you a tiny sad song if I had a tiny violin for one of my bees.”

“Who will protect you when I am gone?” Kliss asked, her voice trembling. “Don’t you understand... If I don’t report the codes to the watchtower in Agamemnon every night… an imperial warship will come. They will execute… many people here, if not all. Everyone in Skyisle might end up dead because of me! The Empire will not show mercy to those that kill its Overseers!”

“Well… that sucks for us,” Delta suddenly became very concerned, her silver-blue eyes darting between Kliss and me. “Did… Giovashi plan for this? Is this part of her grand design of the future? Feh!”

"I thought I had more time…” Kliss uttered. “I accept it now… I've made a lot of mistakes. I really wish things were different."

“I’ll tell you about my world,” I said. “About myself and my life.”

“Danteeee!” Delta whined.

“Delta,” I said. “Kliss made her choice. I’m making a choice too. I’m telling her everything. There's no point in hiding things. Just two of us aren’t enough to change this god-damned world ruled by Vows and haunted by Phantoms. We need friends. We need someone we can trust and rely on.”

“She could break your neck with a flick of her finger!” My twin-soul pointed out. “She’s an absolute idiot ruled by her vows! How can you possibly trust her?!”

“You could sting her with the bees,” I pointed out. “And she will die if you do, correct?”

“Correct,” Delta mulled. “You know what… fine! Feel free to tell this dimwit eveeeeerrything about yourself.”

She probably was extremely unhappy about it, but we needed Kliss to live, needed her to remain as Overseer of Skyisle so that we could continue to do our research and work on the tower.

I looked back at Kliss and a plan began to formulate in my head, pieces of the puzzle clicking together. Technically, I already had everything I needed to break a Vow.

Our trio passed under the ruins of the arcane gateway and entered the Alanian tower.

[Wait… if the Vows weakened her soul’s connection to the body,] Delta mulled. [Then we don't need to do much. I can just bite her a few times and then let her soul float away into the Astral! She will be Vow-less and skill-less. It’s perfect!]

[Are you so sure that’s what’s going to happen?] I asked.

[You survived for like a week without a soul! You’re clearly fine.]

[I am not fine! I didn't survive on my own.] I shook my head. [I don’t think that a body can survive without a soul.]

[How are you so sure?] Delta squinted at me.

[How long do the bees live after you eat their souls?] I asked.

[Um… err… a day or less,] she replied. [I eat their Mana too, you know. I... have needs.]

[What happens to an insect after you remove its soul?] I inquired.

[Massive cellular decay,] Delta said. [The Overseer is a lot bigger than a bee though…]

[Look, permanently removing her soul isn’t an acceptable solution!] I said sternly. [I know that you don't like her because you think she's stealing my attention from you, but it's not a reason to make her soul-less.]

[Hrrrrrmmm, then how did your body survive?] Delta ran her threads over me. [I don’t understand what you’ve had that took over the soul’s function…]

"Sasha," I lifted my icy left hand to her face. [A magical virus of some sort that functions similar to a soul. The infection has these little, barely noticeable hooks all over my hand. I can't even snip them off or see them that well because they're way above my level…]

[Oh… oh right, that’s… that’s not good.] She examined my arm with her Astral threads. [Yep, can't see nothing. Damn it.]

[The Infection is what kept me alive. I'm certain of it now. Sasha was digging through whatever memories had remained in this body, keeping it alive on purpose.] I pointed out. [The infection is a copy of the bigger phantom. It’s how they propagate. I’ve got a growing, little phantom in my arm. Whatever the Empire has been doing to exterminate aberrations is... utterly flawed. They’re as ignorant as the Alchemists or Medieval Earth doctors that tried to cure diseases with leeches and bloodletting! If things like Sasha can infect a person with microscopic bits of themselves, there are hidden aberrations all over the place!]

Delta gulped.

[Maybe we could banish most of her soul, eat the rest and make her body into our own Phylactery?] She asked.

[Why are you such a villain?] I sighed mentally.

[I'm... not,] Delta defended herself. [I'm just... worried about Kliss stabbing us in the back, that's all.]

I took the backpack off, hung the hex-lantern at the front of our tent and told Kliss to help me gather some firewood.

Kliss piled up a bunch of dry branches into a rock campfire we built next to the tent a while ago. I lit the wood with a magic lighter I pawned from Dad’s workshop.

Kliss sat down beside the fire. Even on the edge of her life she seemed relaxed, at peace.

As the kettle above the flames heated up I made hot tea for both of us and we slowly sipped it. Night fell over Skyisle, stars and purple galactic nebulae shimmering above the glacier-covered mountains. The rings of Inaria and Lunarian hexagrams lit the tower from above, painting the world silver-blue and orange-gold.

I drank some wine to bring up my mana and watched as it slowly ticked up.

I was as ready as I'd ever be. It was time to destroy the Overseer’s Vow.