“Both of you, get down!” The librarian demanded.

“How long were we gone?” Addie whisper-shouted from up the ladder.

“What do you mean gone? You’ve been here the whole time. Now get down!”

“We’re coming!” Addie said hastily. She still wasn’t sure how the librarian hadn’t noticed Addie disappearing after her teleport. She’d make sure to ask the Grand Librarian about it later.

She and Squishy started rushing down the ladder when the wandering librarian’s voice interrupted them again.

“Woah, slow down! I don’t want you to get hurt. You have to get down, but do it safely!” She called up the ladder.

After that, Addie and Squishy climbed down more intentionally, watching their footing instead of rushing.

“Good, you both got down safely.” She sighed, “Geez, you worried me for a second! We don’t let bonded up there for a reason, you both could have gotten seriously hurt.”

Addie didn’t quite get what the big deal was. Squishy never fell down from anything. He was more agile than she was!

The woman rubbed her face for a moment and exhaled. “Alright. No going up the ladder without another librarian to supervise you, ok?”

“Ok,” Addie easily agreed.

She pointed at Addie, “I’m serious! If you don’t listen to us, we won’t let you use the ladder at all. Here, let me show you something.”

She started walking a few paces away then gestured for Addie to come over, “Come here.”

Once the woman and Addie were a few dozen paces away from the ladder, the woman gently grabbed onto her shoulders and positioned Addie right in front of her.

“Watch.”

She held her hand out as if to grab onto something. Then, the ladder a few dozen paces away vanished, only to reappear right next to Addie almost making her jump up in surprise. The ladder frame perfectly positioned itself so that the side of it landed right into the librarian’s outstretched palm. “If you need the ladder, you can bring it anywhere you might be in the library. This will let you move it even to the inner rings of the library instead of just the outer ring. But if you break the rules, the ladder will stop responding to you completely. In fact, you won’t ever see it again.”

Addie gulped. She didn’t want that at all. She wanted to be able to keep using the magic ladder.

“Ok, off you go now. Only use the ladder with adult supervision.”

“Does it have to be a wandering librarian or can Christena watch me use it?”

“Your guardian can supervise, too.”

“Oh good.”

“I need to get back to putting books away now, so off you go.” She started ushering Addie off, not giving her a chance to ask more questions. She must be really busy.

After Addie was ushered a few steps away, she turned back around to look at the librarian, but she was gone without a trace.

“What was your impression of the Grand Librarian?”

It looked like Squishy was still thinking about the old man in the attic. “I don’t like him.”

“What he said about soul melding fascinated me. Do you think one day we could meld our souls, too?”

“I don’t know. Maybe.” Addie scrunched up her face. “Let’s go somewhere else.”

“Very well,” he agreed.

Together, they walked through the massive rings of bookshelves. At some point, they drifted off from the outer ring, but Addie couldn’t say when that happened. They just suddenly weren’t on the outer ring anymore.

The enormously tall shelves in the center of the library felt somehow more gargantuan now. When she walked next to a shelf, she couldn’t even see the top of it. She had to walk to the other side just to see the top of the opposite side’s bookshelf.

Although Addie had first thought to maybe go and find Christena and Nettal, right now she was actually having fun just wandering aimlessly.

She trailed her fingers along the shelves, bumping them against the alternating spines of the books. She felt the leathery covers as her fingertips tapped against them, whiffing in the faint scent of paper as she did so.

Squishy followed along behind her, cat-like in how his paws didn’t make a sound against the hard floor; That was in direct contrast to the clomp of Addie’s favorite booties hitting the floor as she walked along.

Addie walked endlessly forward as she swept through ring after ring of bookshelves with her eyes. Somehow, despite never purposefully straying off the ring on purpose, no two shelves looked alike, and she didn’t once read the same book title again on the endless shelves.

During the peaceful walk, her soul bird didn’t make so much as a tiny disturbance within Addie’s soul. Even her emotions were quiet.

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

That’s why, when she felt a soul ping from the birdie it shocked Addie and made her come to a complete stop.

On a shelf to her left, at a height she could easily reach, one of the tomes glowed a ghostly purple, white ashen embers drifting off of it in a slow and steady pattern. It drew in Addie’s eyes almost against her will— fascinating her with its mesmerizing patterns.

She started walking toward it with her hand outstretched. In a swift but steady motion, the book ejected from the shelf and landed perfectly against her outstretched hand with a satisfying thump. Addie brought it in closer so she could read it, and the spine unfolded all on its own opening to the first page.

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Cordata

Class: Aves

Order: Accipitriformes

Family: Pandionidae

Genus: Animae

Species: Flamma Phantasma

Castus: III

Summary:

The Flamma Phantasma, colloquially known as Soul Hunters, are a breed of soul eagle with the ability to manipulate spectral flames. This bonded creature with a caste three classification is known for its great ability to harm the souls of those it possesses. It uses its mastery over soul magic to forcefully break down any attempt at bonding and force a cascade upon its victim. After which, the Soul Hunter will burn up the target’s soul to fuel their own growth. Their victim is left as a soulless husk at the end of the process, with the processes itself sometimes taking several weeks.

Description:

A very small bird with a skeletal and musculature system reminiscent of its larger eagle cousins. This bird has brown to black body feathers with a white feathered head. Its claws are known to be sharp enough to tear through hardened leather.

Instructions for soul bonding:

Due to the Soul Hunter’s notoriety for destroying those who attempt to bond with it, no known successful instances of

The line began to cross itself out, ink drawing across the page, but still allowing Addie to read the underlying words. Then, new words began to draw themselves on the paper.

Only one known instance of successful bonding is recorded— in the year of 408 A.S.

That was this year! Addie kept reading.

A young girl is recorded to have taken on a bond with a Soul Hunter as her second bonded. Miraculously, the bonding was successful, due in part to her first soul bond being a Caste I creature of unknown origin with powerful magic.

Due to the catastrophic danger of attempting to bond with a Soul Hunter, the reader is advised to never seek out a bond with one. Below is an excerpt from an Area Lord who lost her son to the process and described it in excruciating detail.

“I watched as his life force was burned away before my eyes. He couldn’t even scream. That’s what I remember the most. His pale face and—

Addie turned away from the book and stopped reading. She didn’t want to know. She didn’t want to experience that pain again, even just from reading about it in a book.

Instead, her attention moved to a few lines back, “Squishy! This book has information about us in it! It says you are an ‘unknown creature’ but it also says you are within the first Caste!” She said excitedly.

Addie felt Squishy’s pride through their bond. “As powerful as a dragon? Hmm.”

Squishy paused for a moment, then continued, “What else does it say? Surely something about the bird, no? Why else would the book catch aflame in that manner?”

Despite Squishy’s words, looking down at it in her hand, the book wasn’t on fire anymore.

“Well, it used to be on fire, at least. Let’s keep reading.” Addie decided. She skipped over the ‘instructions’ section since it wouldn’t say anything she didn’t already know, anyway.

Known Magics and First-Hand Accounts

1. This bird is known to use white-purple transparent flames to attack the souls of its victims. The flames can become more powerful if a Soul Hunter is allowed to grow from its victims unchecked.

2. Due to the volatile nature of attempting a bond with this creature, the second facet of their powers remains unknown. There has been speculation that their ability to ‘dive’ into the body of their target and disappear is one of their abilities, but Sargus, 398 A.S. argues this is most likely the effect of another ability known as soul merging, which any two bonded could accomplish with diligent practice. If you want to read more about Soul Mergers, see Francis, 402 A.S.

WARNING: any attempts at soul magic should always be preceded by adequate knowledge of the transcendent loop.

Well, that was boring, Addie thought. It didn’t say anything she didn’t already know. Plus, this was like reading a book for one of her lessons. Addie moved to close it and put the book back on the shelf, but before she could, all the letters on the page suddenly dissolved into nothing. Then, a single sentence began to write itself on the page and draw her attention.

If you are reading this, then you must have learned the secret to bonding successfully with a Soul Hunter.

My name is Lahar. Let me tell you about the day I bonded with Sax the Soul Hunter.

The ink drew out the skull of a bird, with undulating patterns of ink above the skull creating the illusion of a burning fire.

Addie felt the magic within her soul resonate with the flames on the page in longing. Her bird wanted Addie to do this, too. She put her finger on the symbol, and the words changed.

Prove your intent by burning this symbol, and nothing else.

Addie wasn’t sure if she could. She hadn’t tried using any of her new magic yet, and she wasn’t sure if she even wanted to use it.

“I believe in you, my lady.” Squishy tried to assuage Addie’s worries by supplementing their wills with his magic. “I want to know more about our new partner, too.”

Squishy was right. Addie let out a breath and focused on the symbol beneath her fingers. Then, she drew upon her three-directional soul bond. Squishy’s magic was easy to grab onto, and equally ready to be used. But she passed over it this time. Instead, she poked at the newest direction in her soul bond. Let’s use our magic, Addie suggested in emotions more than words. The bird’s magic eagerly roared to life and flooded down Addie’s soul as it filled her with power.

She flinched at the sensation as if turning away from an out-of-control bonfire. Fear sprung up from somewhere deep within her— learned from all those nights thinking about these very same flames being used against her.

But, this was her magic now. Addie observed her fear, without letting it control her actions. She was still hesitant though, so she only allowed the smallest trickle of magic to flow out through her hand and down onto the page. Her finger lit up with a ghostly flame, and the symbol followed.

Then, the symbol on the page glowed bright white for a moment. Once it stopped glowing, the whole page turned blank. The next moment, another sentence began to write itself out.

You have successfully proven yourself worthy of the knowledge contained within this tome. I’m honestly surprised, but it looks like someone else was able to have a successful bonding initialization, too. Take this book with you, and over time I will share with you the secrets I have discovered about the Soul Hunters’ magic.