“She convinced you not to, but there’s more, isn’t there?”
The question might as well have been an exploitative slap.This soul didn’t know anything about him, much less his inner thoughts—
“Perhaps our friendship wasn’t genuine.But the feelings you have for Neyu are real,” Ruki went on.“You can’t experience that in the burning place, am I right?”
Something within Saer wavered, a sprinkle of icy reality sprinkling over the burning rage in his heart.No, he couldn’t be with Neyu in the Hells.Not with their maker so near.But also…
“You’re learning what it is to be human.”The spirit locked gazes with Saer, no fear apparent.“To be more man than monster.You haven’t rid yourself of me.Perhaps because you don’t want to condemn me to the agony you commit the rest of them to.Maybe you don’t want to go back.Or because I actually succeeded in forming some sort of bond with you, which you didn’t expect.”The soul paused, and when Saer didn’t respond, it finished, “Perhaps all three.”
A low sound simmered in Saer’s throat as he pivoted and marched away once more, both from Ruki’s soul and the implications it made.
The spirit’s voice raised beyond its usual calm.“Which is it, Saer?”
“I don’t know!”He whirled on the ghost and matched its frustration with his own, the shout echoing through the empty village.
Ruki’s essence took a step back and adopted a questioning, softer expression.
The pause forced words from Saer’s throat, like peeling an unripe orange.“A lot can happen over the course of centuries, Little Ghost.”
“I should think I know that better than most.”
Saer frowned.“I don’t know what you’re expecting.”
“Anything besides blatant disregard is an improvement.”
“You expect me to talk to you?”Saer folded his arms across his chest.“To tell you what I’m thinking as you used to do to me?That was never the way things were between us.”
“Maybe it’s my turn to be the listener.”
He considered, then shook his head.“I can’t.”
“Who am I going to tell, Saer?”
Saer drew in a breath to answer but stopped halfway.He didn’t want his innermost thoughts leaking out, shared with ears not meant to hear.Ruki’s spirit stood dedicated to him and him alone.The soul was his to do with until…
Until when?
Harvested souls needed to be handed over to Lucifer, but what if they were never given?
What if Lucifer forgot they existed?
“No one else can hear you but me,” Saer murmured.When he met the translucent eyes of Ruki this time, a profound sadness flashed through them.Something unexpected kicked him in the gut, took his breath away.“Until I hand you over, you’re alone, save our interactions.”
The spirit’s lips thinned, and it lowered its gaze to the ground.“That appears to be the way of it, yes.”
Saer’s stomach churned, unfamiliar and uncomfortable.
He licked his lips to fight his grimace.“It is far easier to beDaemoenicthan it is to be human.”His voice growled around the word for his own kind, pronouncing it in a specific way the human tongue would be challenged to duplicate.
Ruki’s essence watched Saer, silent.
“There’s no reason to put thought into what I do, what I am,” Saer said.“I’m commanded.I carry out the order.There is an implied loyalty to one and one alone.There is no...”He struggled to find the word, unfurling one of his hands and gestured like he pulled it out of himself.“…right.Orwrong.There simplyis.”
The spirit of Ruki waited, patient.
Once Saer couldn’t hear the pounding of his own heart any longer, he continued, “I observed these concepts, contemplating the difference between one man and another.Why are some condemned where others are praised?Who made these rules?Why does one person deserve to die and another live?”The ground blurred as he stared at it, seeing beyond the trampled sand and discarded leaves.“It is such a...ahumanthing.It’s somewhere, here.”He touched two fingers to his temple.“Or, perhaps here.”The same two fingers grazed his chest.“I can’t tell which.Sometimes both.But it was never there before.And now that I’m here, now that I’ve stayed, I’m learning it.That is dangerous and...intoxicating.”
“You’re learning what, Saer?”
