‘I saw many nameless souls, sacrificed to the Unseen world to create Mitra. And I... I devoured them. But not one of them,’ she exhales harder, in wonder, ‘not one of them wanted me.’
My vision blurs.She is a soul-eater. ‘You devoured the heart of my soul? How?’ But it becomes clear. My chest caves in, as I try to breathe. ‘It’syou. You were the jinn master who bartered with my father.’
‘I felt a calling.’ Her hands are shaking as she speaks. ‘I saw it, and I took it.’
‘Your words make no sense,’ I breathe out.
But that means... No-Name was once a human, before she became what she is now: a creature from the Unseen.‘You created Mitra. You made a jinn contract with my father and devoured me as I was born,’ I accuse. Mitra isn’t a separate source, Mitrais controlled byNo-Name. How many souls has she eaten to survive in her long existence?
She glances at her hands. ‘It is not only because of your father. You accepted me. A nameless soul is dangerous; it has no roots in this world. Your soul attracted jinn-folk and creatures who wished to claim it. I may have eaten the heart of your soul, but I was only a shadow from the Unseen world, curious about your despair. You were strange... for some reason, you never resisted me, and that allowed me to grow stronger. The human part of your soul that lived in this world desired my company. You let me come to you, many times, when you were in grief.’
‘What?’ I choke out.
The truth scabs together on a gaping wound. No-Name reflected my thoughts. She was not human. She was an empty canvas; she became whatever I desired. She glutted herself on despair and weakened on my joys because she is a part of my soul. Other memories drift toward me. No-Name despised my students as if their presence hurt her. She was happy when I was alone – she fed on me.
But if she is the jinn master that created Mitra, No-Name was influencing Akashun too.
Mitra works both ways – she was using the bond to send jinn-folk from the Unseen to Akashun.
‘You could have stopped Warlord Akashun,’ I say in realisation. She does not answer. ‘If you were a soul-eater in the Unseen, how are you a human now?’ My gaze flits over her.
‘To end our Mitra contract, the wielder must die. You killed Akashun.’
Had No-Name wished for Mitra to develop, to eradicate the Veil between jinn-folk and man, to enter the human world and possess a body?
‘You used me to kill him,’ I whisper. ‘You used me to free yourself.’
‘That is hypocritical, Khamilla,’ she says simply without denying it. ‘I was nothing but a soul-eater, with a single-minded desire like a babe: to live. I would do anything to fulfil it. As for Akashun – he wanted Mitra. I cannot plant the seeds of ideas into someone who does not already possess them. I was a thing floating in the Unseen world. No one can instil hatred; they can only stoke it. Your father began the Mitra ritual; he sacrificed your soul to me. Akashun simply replaced him. I never created their ambitions or their monstrosity. That came from your father. So of course I accepted the Mitra exchange as a jinn master. I needed the heart of your soul; I ingested your resistant blood to grow from aimlessness to a human form. Your blood allowed me to send the jinn-folk across the Veil.’
‘You wanted Mitra too,’ I spit. ‘You never stopped them.You could have. You could have made Akashun stop this war!’
Her eyes steel, as if to make me understand. ‘You know the concept of sacrifice well, Khamilla. You can blame me for the world’s brutality, but it’s embedded in our blood. Akashun united an empire through his methodologies after the disgrace ofyour clan. Azadnian soldiers followed blindlyby free will. You chose to save only the Camel Roadby free will. You accepted my presence in your lifeby desire.’
More questions spill out, to keep my mind from splitting. ‘Why would you want something so terrible?’
She looks contemplative. As ifnothingis at stake. A child given a weapon, one who’s learned to walk and whose impulses exceed her control. ‘Because the hierarchy of Eajiz no longer matters. The way Akashun wielded Mitra was nothing near its potential. There are many like me. Old souls sacrificed to the Unseen world that will live again. Mortal men and Eajiz aren’t strength; we are. I will ensure it, for the Veil between humans and jinn has blurred; the boundary is growing to irrelevance. As it should be.’
‘What?’ My heart goes cold. It’s terrible when darkness is reasonable because it becomes so difficult to resist. Warlord Akashun was never the problem; he was her puppet. How cleverly she spent these years. Now, as a human, all she has to do is demonstrate that she is the embodimentof Mitra, and mortals will flock to her. She hopes to free the Unseen world. She intends to create a new order. ‘But why would you want this?’ I say, breathless.
She answers simply. ‘Because I can.’ I begin to scramble back and she inhales sharply. ‘Where are you going?’
‘Away from you.’
‘We are not done,’ she snaps. ‘Whatever enemy you think I am, you are wrong. You are a defected warrior, your clansmen are gone or dead, your lands are flooded, and Za’skar will hunt you down.’
‘Kill me, then.’
She reaches out before pausing. ‘That would be foolish. Why do you fear the jinn-folk when the world of humans is an evil, rotting place? You are angry, but eventually you will tire of that, too. It’s how we are – lock us up, take away our light, and we morph from intelligent beings to disgusting primitive things crawling on all fours in search of any hope. It’s exactly how you were when your parents died.You need me.That is why you accepted me and let me grow – why I exist at all.’
My head shakes. But the further I step away, the hollower I feel, anger seeping away. ‘I will never need you.’
Her expression is solemn. ‘I was imprisoned in the Unseen world for eons, watching humans abuse the magick of jinn out of greed, sacrificing souls. Not anymore. Every soul will be freed. A new era is coming. For now, I will not fight you. Besides...’ Her lips play into a coy smile. ‘I am hungry.’
‘You are not my ally,’ I whisper, staring at her features. At how terribly similar we look.
‘I learnt much from you. For that, we are tied together. I am the heart of your soul; you cannot be separated from me for long, or else you lose much of yourself – your will, your conviction, your memories, your bonds.’ She stands and stretches her arms, eyes darkly amused. ‘I will go.Because I am hungry. At the very least, this body I have will not last when it is a state shared between you and me. All is well, though. I know just the body to take on my true form.’ Her teeth gnash as she backs away. ‘I am hungry. Hungry. Hungry. Which food...’ Her murmurs fade as she stares at my shadow before an oily Veil wraps around her, and she vanishes.
Epilogue
