Everything around me is black. There is no light. I see a door—a familiar door. I walk up to it, turn the handle, and open the door. When the door opens, I see a lone figure standing in the center of the room with light surrounding him.

It's Lumen. I walk up to him and ask. "Why am I here again, Lumen?" He turns around and stares at me, then looks down. "You've been using your powers a lot—way too much, actually. You're here because I wanted to talk face-to-face with no one else around. If you continue this path of using your powers thinking there are no consequences, then you'll fail."

I look at him dumbfounded. "What do you mean I'll fail?"

He sighs and looks away. "When you use your powers, you put a strain on your body. I thought you were aware of this, but apparently you aren't. Look at this." He says, motioning in front of him, and a window pops up and a white figure can be seen floating.

"This is your soul. The more you use your power, the more strain you put on your body and soul. If your soul were to break, then you would unfortunately die." I stand there frozen. "Is that true?" I think to myself, not even considering what was happening to my body when I used my powers.

I look at him and ask. "If this is true, then how can I fix it so this won't happen?" He smiles. "Well, the only way you can stop it is if you strengthen your soul. To strengthen your soul, you need to devour them and make blood oaths or blood packs." I look confused now. "What do you mean devour them? What do I need to devour?"

Vestis appears and speaks. "You need to devour souls; the more innocent and pure, the better." Lumen looks down and nods his head. "What he says is true. The more people, beasts, and mythical beasts you swallow with your darkness, The more souls you devour,

Vestis waves his hand, and another window appears. "When a soul is devoured, your soul gets bigger and stronger. So if you were to eat a person who is truly pure, your soul would benefit. If you were to eat someone who wasn't pure, then the gain wouldn't be as big. You need to start devouring souls, or eventually I'll take over and you won't be able to stop me." He says, smiling and disappearing back to the room he was destined to stay in until I die permanently.

I look to Lumen. "I don't know if I can do this, Lumen. I don't think I could harm innocent people." He shakes his head. "There is no other way that would work as fast. The only other ways I mentioned will only make your soul stronger so much before there is any effect." I look down at my hands. "Can I really do this?" I think to myself.

Lumen puts his hand on my shoulder and looks me in the eyes. "Trust me, Kamen, if there is a better way. I would tell you. I'm sorry it has to be this way." He says he is turning around and walking away.

I wake up on the ground on the path in front of the house, and everyone is staring at me. "What's wrong? How long was I out?" I asked, looking concerned. Elizabeth is the first to speak up. "It's been 10 minutes, but you were talking while you were unconscious. Something about your soul being damaged and having to 'devour' something." She squints her eyes at me. Jenny leans down to me and grabs my cheeks. "You need to be careful, Kamen. This is becoming a trend with you. If something happens to you, what will I do? Who will protect me?"

Alistair sighs, pushes Jenny out of the way, and helps me up. "So seeing as you're clearly okay, Do you mind telling us what that was about?" He says he is looking confused yet worried at the same time. I look around at everyone. "Come in the house with me; you'll need to sit when I tell you." I mean walking inside the big house. Upon entering the house, we all meet in the living room, and everyone sits down on the sofa. "Italian leather, very nice." Alistair thinks to himself.

I clear my throat and recap everything that happened to me while I was unconscious. 5 minutes later, everyone can be seen looking sad at what they had just heard. Jenny looks up at me. "Are you sure that's the only way to do this?" She asks, looking like she's about to cry. Elizabeth sighs. "If it's not one thing, it's another with you. You sure are a hand full. But I can't say I'm surprised. I've heard of people and vampires, along with werewolves, and anything with a soul can damage it. But not every species is the same."

I look at her and ask her, "How do normal people heal their damaged souls?" She scratches her head and replies. "Well, typically, from what I've heard, it's through prayer. Apparently, if one were to pray and the big guy up the stairs decided to help, he would heal it back to its former glory. Of course, this can't be done with someone who's killed on purpose for pleasure or greed. Only the pure of heart achieve it."

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I frown at the last statement. "Pure of heart, huh? I wonder if the big guy's watching us now. I can't help but wonder why he even took me down this path." I say, looking up. Alice clears her throat and speaks, "Unfortunately, with you being 'und ead' you theoretically can't pray. Since you're undead, you would technically have to pray to the beast down the stairs. If he would even humor you, It's not a guarantee that he would ask you, or in this case, 'pray'. It's likely he would make it worse unless he saw potential in you." She explains getting up from the sofa and walking to the kitchen.

I laugh. "Man, I really can't catch a break, can I?" I said, looking at Jenny. I motion for her to come into the other room with me. As soon as we get into the room, she starts crying. "Kamen, I don't want you to leave me. I couldn't take it if you were gone forever." She says she is holding her hands to her face. I put my hand on her shoulder. "It's okay, Jenny. I promise I can do this and get past this. After everything is said and done, We can run away and be together forever." I said, looking into her eyes. She sniffles. "Do you promise?" She asks. I nod my head and pull her in for a hug.

She accepts the hug without question and buries her face in my chest. Everyone sits down in the kitchen at the table, talking to each other. "I can't believe what he's going through right now. It breaks my heart to see this happen." Alistair says. Ruby stares over at her. "My master will be fine; if anyone can make it through this, it's him." She declares.

Alistair is stirring his cup of heated blood. Circle after circle, his spoon clinking the sides of the cup. Elizabeth stares at him with a fierce stink eye. Alistair notices and stops. "I apologize; it's just a lot to process right now. I wonder if there's anything that I can do to help." Elizabeth sighs and shakes her head. "Well, you can make a blood pact with him, though; I doubt your soul is very pure." She says she is looking at him.

"I'll have to know my soul is very pure; I haven't even had se-" He stops what he was saying and begins stirring his cup of blood again. He stops and takes a drink. Alice looks at everyone and waves her hand, and a cup of tea appears in front of her on the table. Everyone stops what they're doing and looks at her. She shrugs her shoulders. "I'm a witch; what do you expect?" She slowly sips the tea and feels herself relaxing. Ruby looks at her and says, "If you were going through what my master was, you wouldn't be drinking tea." She says it with a growl.

Alice stares at her and sighs. Putting the cup down, Alice waves her hand, and the cup is gone. "I guess I'll have to relax some other time." She says she is pulling out her book of spells. Elizabeth notices the book. "What are you looking for?" She asks curiously. Alice stares up for a second before looking back down in her book.

"I'm looking to see if there's a spell for souls or different ways of fixing it. Witches are crafty and created different spells for souls, either to help them or damage them." She says she is flipping the page.

Upstairs, I decide to walk out of the room and walk down the stairs. I look at everyone before saying "I'll be back in a little bit; I need some time to think to myself." Before walking out the door. Everyone didn't try to stop me, understanding that I'm under a lot of pressure currently.

As soon as I walk outside, I breathe deeply, taking in the smell of everything around me. I smell the trees; they smell kind of fresh, even though the environment around them is less than hospitable. I think to myself. "I wonder how they managed to keep the trees and grass alive and not die, considering I haven't seen a drop of rain. There has to be something."

I shake my head and begin walking around. I decide to walk up to a tree. I put my hand on the tree and feel the rough bark on it. "I wonder if a tree would technically have a soul considering it's alive." I think to myself as I make the darkness engulf it and swallow it whole, leaving nothing but the dirt beneath it. Not feeling any different, I look around.

Lumen appears next to me. "Kamen, the trees around here aren't suitable for your soul, while they do technically have a soul. Theirs isn't at the size that would nourish yours. The only trees that would be suitable are the ones in the forbidden forest, or mythical trees like the tree of life, or the positive and negative trees of life. If you were to get your hands on one of those, then your soul would possibly be healed and strengthened more than a mortal would." He says this before disappearing back into my head.

"How am I supposed to get back there without going through the guards of Dadakish village?" I think to myself as I turn around and head towards the village. I start wondering to myself, "What' am I going to do when I get to the village? If there are no guards, will I go inside the village and look around again, or do I continue through to the forest?" I can't help but worry.

I'm half a mile away from the town now, and I look towards the gate and notice guards on duty. I shake my head. "Maybe I should just go around and see if there's a way to get past them." I think to myself as I stare at them. "You could do that, but where's the fun in that? Why not just eat them?" Vestis says she is appearing next to me.

I look at him and shake my head. "I'll only do that if I absolutely have to. I don't want to kill anyone if it's not needed." I said, looking at him. Suddenly, I hear a voice on the other side of me. It's Lumen. "I'm sorry to say this, Kamen, but I agree with Vestis. You need to do this. Think of the others." I bow my head. "But how will I tell everyone what I did?"

"Why would you tell anyone? It can be our little secret; if you don't do it, I'll make you do it." Vestis says with a devilish grin. I look at Lumen, and he nods his head. Knowing what I have to do, I walk up to the gate.