~Marcel Point of View~

I walked back up to my room and sent a message to Crimson, “I request your presence.” I don't mind working with her as she was all I had but sometimes I couldn’t help but think that maybe I should have done this plan alone.

“Fine…I will be there in one minute.” She responded. Her voice sounded harsh.

I waited patiently in my room for her arrival. “What do you want?” She growled as she appeared in the room with her arms crossed.

“What made you so pissed this morning?” I snapped back.

“I’m not exactly a morning person Marcel.”

“It’s only seven.”

“And?”

I ran my hand through my hair. Maria hated me and I was starting to feel like Crimson hated me too. This is getting harder to balance. “The wedding is all planned out. Now all we have to do is wait for the first week of fall.”

Her eyes narrowed, “Why fall? Can you not just marry her now and get it over with?”

I shook my head, “I tried that. But she wants a proper wedding.”

“I still can not believe that you are going through with this.”

I sighed, “Crimson, I have explained to you why I am doing this. I am not going to explain it to you again.”

“Did you just call me here to rub it in about your impending marriage?”

Damn this woman. I loved her but she was nothing like Maria. Maria was sweet and caring. Crimson was harsh and brutal. I guess our past in Hell really put a number on her personality. Perhaps, I shouldn’t have made her my general in command after all. War had really put a number on her.

“Not at all. I want to discuss the standings in Summer Crest.”

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“What about it?” She remained up against the wall, her voice harsh and her posture composed.

“What is being done in Summer Crest?”

“The poor are being rounded up like you requested. Being put in the holding cells for their souls to be consumed. To which I have a decent amount obtained in this orb jar.” She held out a shiny jar that glistened with a dozen or more swirling gaseous white smoky liquids. The liquids never crashed, only intermingled and always remained fluid.

My stomach growled as I stared upon the glass. It had been a day since my last consumed soul and I was starting to crave them. “May I?” I asked her and she nodded, handing me the jar.

Now soul jars can be tricky in removing souls from them. With this one having at least a dozen souls in place it would make it difficult for those who were inexperienced to remove one soul. However, since I was experienced in this matter, I was able to do it swiftly and without a fuss.

I was able to suck one soul at a time out of the jar. The first soul I consumed didn’t give me much insight or any new abilities. They were once simple humans, without much skill. The second one was just the same.

I sighed and sat the jar on the nightstand. “Not much gained from them. But they hit the spot.”

Crimson rolled her eyes, “I do what I can. If I start taking those who are stronger, people will start to get suspicious.”

“Fair point.”

“Anything else?”

I thought about what I needed to know, “What is going on with the council?”

“Same old same old. No new rules have been made yet.”

“And Winterfall's council?”

She rolled her eyes, “Maria is going to take the Royal Head spot. Which is going to make it harder to pass rules here. I fear she will overturn several rules we had in place for the past years.”

“Noted. Keep an ear out. Let me know how things go. If the revivify rule is overturned, it will become harder to collect souls.”

“I know that but the council decided to add her without my consent.”

“From the way I understand it, as long as most of the Council agrees, they can add her with or without you.” I reminded her. I may be blind to half the stuff that goes on, but I do know some of the rules.

“Whatever. Anything else?”

I shook my head, “I think that is it for now. Just start preparing Summer Crest for the annual festival.”

“Noted. Have the fiends started to arrive?” Crimson questioned.

“Yes, they have set up shop in the kingdom.” I informed her. I had hoped my fiend friends would help in soul collection. If only if they can stay out of trouble.

“If there is nothing else, I must go back to Summer Crest.”

“Before you go,” I walked towards her. I gave her a kiss on the lips, which she did not reciprocate. I knew it had been awhile since I showed her any kind of affection so I didn’t know what I would expect from her. “Thank you for adding me with this adventure.” I stepped back and watched her vanish from my room.