“Are you able to...tounpledge them somehow?”
A graceless shrug met the spirit’s question.He truly didn’t know.
Though the soul didn’t have lungs to breathe, it still huffed out a sound of frustration.“Well, if you kill them all today, they’re stuck to you anyway.”
“Perhaps.”Saer turned his attention once more to the approaching villagers.
“What does ‘perhaps’ mean?”
Saer’s brow drew up in the middle.“Perhaps,” he continued, though his words came stilted, “you don’t deserve to be trapped, Ruki.”
It was the first time Saer spoke the spirit’s name since the young man passed, and Ruki froze.
“Neither do you deserve to be consumed by the Hells.”Saer raised his solemn gaze once again.“Where does that leave us?What else is left?”
Ruki stood, unmoving.
Saer shook himself out of his musing.He walked to the spirit and curled his hand in the shape of its cheek.He never touched the soul, but sensed the energy of it, the electrical pulse of its presence.A knowing pause passed between the two, even as Ruki’s eyes gazed on warily.Saer had no way of knowing if it would work, but something from within called for him to speak the hushed words.“Ruki, son of Asheda, I release you.”
The soul blinked, drawing away from Saer’s non-existent touch.Its outline glowed, subtle at first, then with more brightness, as if Ruki’s essence ignited from the inside.The spirit raised its hands up to observe them, then all at once, it laughed, and the sound danced—relieved, joyous, brilliant.The glow in its limbs almost blinded, and Saer squinted at the luminescence as it spread throughout the soul’s entire body.“Ruki, what...”
“Thank you, my friend.”The voice which spoke no longer came from a singular entity, but surrounded him—its elation tangible.
The light faded quicker than it appeared.When Saer blinked his eyes, Ruki had vanished.
My friend.
The villagers drew close enough that Saer made out excited words.“Did you see it?”“We’ll be next to transition!”“What was that?”“I see Saer, he’ll show us!”
None sounded afraid.All trusting.
All fools.
He waited until they gathered within earshot, eyes unfocused as he considered…
Straightening his spine, Saer held up a hand, demanding silence.The murmurings of the crowd died down, expectant and adoring faces watching.When only the soft patter of falling rain filled his ears, Saer made his decision.“I won’t let you feed It.”
It.The first time he’d voiced the declaration aloud.Not ‘him’ as the others referred to Lucifer.Something important and pivotal clicked in his core.
With the vitality of Neyu coursing through him, Saer’s vision sharpened to detect each heat signature within the vicinity.Thousands of lives, each with a soul.This would be a banquet to Lucifer.
We deserve more than we are given.So do they.Neyu’s voice, a memory from long ago.
Saer hesitated—then recalled the joyous laughter of Ruki, moments before.
Make it swift.
The thought was his—and not.
Neyu’s strength compounded with his, and Saer shoved it into the center of each human on the knoll before he could reconsider.In the time it took a raindrop to fall, the heated shockwave thrust through every individual, blistering their hearts, boiling their blood on contact.
None even had the chance to scream.
Saer staggered at the force of it, his head swimming.A rush of cold swept over his normally blazing skin and he shuddered.
In a rolling fashion, from the closest proximity to the back of the crowd, they collapsed onto the wet grass in heaps.Momentary panic crossed some of their faces.Others carried blissful or indifferent expressions.
All lay dead.
