Page 75 of A Soul to Steal

“Well, no. I was looking at everything else,” he grumbled, turning away to hide his cute face. “But it’s cool that they can use their feet for magic. They must need to touch the ground in order to do it.”

They were ushered forward by the robed individual after the doors swung open, revealing two other people already within: an Elven female, and a Demon male. Both turned small smiles towards them.

So friendly. He wondered if he should be concerned, but he couldn’t sense any hostility in their gazes. Aleron disliked that he lacked his ability to smell; he may have been able to better gauge their intentions, or if they were afraid.

Beside him, Gideon released his hand so he could face both his palms upwards. He opened and closed them as he looked down.

“Bloody hell. It really sucks to be human. I don’t have cool wings like you, and these people can use magic. Why can’t humans have awesome features like this?”

“I can use magic,” Aleron stated, his chest swelling with pride at Gideon calling his wings ‘cool.’

He didn’t state that he’d never actually done so. Ingram had informed him it was possible, though. One day, he’d like to try.

“Oh fine.” Gideon groaned while rolling his eyes. “Just rub it in, why don’t you? Next, you’ll tell me you can eat the sun and shit gold.”

“Shit gold?” Aleron asked, cocking his head before lifting a hand to his snout. He cupped his fangs. “Mavka do not produce waste, let alone gold.”

Gideon halted, as though he suddenly froze.

“Excuse me... what did you just say? But you said you eat!” At his yell, the smiles on the faces of the three people around them suddenly died, and instead their expressions grew uncertain. They spared a fidgeting glance among themselves.

Noticing what happened, Gideon’s expression paled.

“Oh crap. This is likely some kind of holy place.” He slapped his face into his palm. “Never mind. We can talk about this later.”

Aleron, not seeing the issue, just nodded.

Gideon shoved a strange smile on his face and walked forward with his hands up. “Sorry for yelling,” he stated with a grimace twitching his cheeks.

Their expressions softened, and they awkwardly laughed in return. Then the Demon gestured to a silver disc on the ground large enough to fit three Mavka, if they were to stand close together.

Aleron followed their direction, while drifting his gaze to their surroundings.

The ground was flat in this spacious, roofless room, as though they stood at the very top of this tree. Branches had grown around it, twisting and bending as they made walls before reaching high into the sky. Between the gaps of them, he could just see the world beyond, although deeply shaded by the dark of night. That shade allowed the natural glow of the world to become noticeable, as if certain trees and plants lit up at night.An area where there were no trees, like a long field or meadow, glittered as though stars danced among the grass.

He wished he could see more, but it was difficult to inspect anything between the slivers of gaps.

Yet now that he was aware the world glowed, he finally registered that the stems of leaves above them also had the faintest light. He hadn’t realised that was why he’d been able to still see the distinct colours, rather than just darkness.

His gaze fell to the three people who had surrounded them. Their robes were exactly the same. The paint on their faces was similarly drawn, but they each had different metal: bronze, silver, and gold.

The Demon who had gestured to them had gold painted upon them, whereas the female Elf had silver. They all nodded, as if ready, and lifted their arms to reach out to each other. Their hands never touched, the gaps between them long.

The female was the next to speak. However, the moment her eyes rolled back into her skull, revealing only the whites of them, his feathers puffed.

Wrong.Immediately, his instincts told him this.

He stepped back and away from such a harrowing sight, only to duck away from the male who had brought them here. His eyes were the same, as were the third robed individual’s.

Yellow magic cascaded from their fingertips before creating a translucent, glowing circle from around the base of the disc they stood upon. It came from a crack, as if light shone from behind it, within the floor and hidden away.

“What is happening?” Aleron asked, bumping into Gideon.

He didn’t like this. It felt ominous, despite the enthralling serenity of it all.

He brought Gideon into the safety of his wings and held him tightly as his skull darted one way and then the other.

“You’re asking the wrong person here, bud,” Gideon mumbled against his chest.

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