Page 76 of A Soul to Steal

Taking the human with him, Aleron spun in a circle to give each person a bubbling snarl. He did it louder, letting it burst from him menacingly at the woman, warning her since she was the only one chanting.

“Temper, temper,”a musical, feminine voice sang from all around.

His chest pounded with growing anxiety and fear for the human he clutched. Aleron stepped forward to flee from the middle of the circle.

His feet came out from under him – or, rather, the floor liquefied. He roared when they swiftly and suddenly sunk into the silver disc.

The world around them disappeared entirely, as if they were eaten.

Just as they sunk into the silver disc, their heads emerged from another side like some kind of liquid portal. Eyelids flickering rapidly, Gideon expected his eyes to sting from the silver that swallowed them.

Aleron’s roar grew muffled, cutting out as his head passed through the threshold. It died when they emerged, safe and unharmed, on the other side.

Gideon didn’t know if the pang in his chest came from sympathy for Aleron who’d grown frantic, or if it came from how he’d acted so protectively.

Even when afraid, the first thing he’d done was bring Gideon into his side.

As someone who had been pushed in front of an unknown noise coming from the forest by a fellow woodcutter, only to find it was nothing, his heart clenched at the complete opposite reaction of the caring Duskwalker. Aleron even cupped the side of his head when he shielded Gideon with his wings, using his entire body to safeguard him.

Aleron’s first instinct had been Gideon’s wellbeing, which was hard to ignore. Even more so when he could feel the bigguy trembling with tension and digging his claws into him by accident.

It hurt a little, but nothing Gideon couldn’t grit his teeth through. He had no intention of telling Aleron, not when he found the reason for it so touching.

In truth, the chanting Elven Priestess, or whatever she’d been called, had freaked him the hell out too. The language barrier between them meant they couldn’t be informed of what would happen, and asking them as the woman chanted proved less than fruitful. He’d been retreating into Aleron’s side, seeking the comfort of his fur and warmth against his back, before the Duskwalker snatched him up.

The swallowing darkness split apart like a curtain when Aleron moved his wings and brought them back behind him.

“Are you okay?” Aleron asked, cupping the side of his head to direct his face up to his skull, leaving his other arm around his waist.

Gideon nodded before taking in their surroundings.

A building, made of what could only be some kind of black stone, butglittering,reached up to the blue sky like some kind of pyramid tower. Yet, it didn’t take on any form of architecture other than having an open doorway and stairs leading up to it. It appeared to be like perfectly cut obsidian, smooth on all sides, in a near prism shape.

A ring of strange trees circled the rest of the clearing they were in. They were similar to the red-wood trees they’d seen when they first arrived in Nyl’theria, with glowing blue leaves, yet the leaking sap glinted metallic red. Arching roots lifted off the ground before shoving through what appeared to be water. Fizzing red clouds – likely from the sap – dispersed into the water before dissolving.

Casting his gaze downwards, Gideon lifted a foot curiously, since they stood on the surface of a deep lake. They weren’thovering, and their collective feet caused it to ripple whenever they moved.

His drifting gaze didn’t make it further around the clearing when he cast it to the left this time.

Gideon stepped back in shock as he tilted his head upwards.Now that’s a big lady,he thought in wonder.

Standing at least three times his own height, a woman with the same familiar Elven skin tone he was growing accustomed to stared down at them. Yet, within a glance, he knew her to be an entirely different entity.

Her hair was tight with tiny, corkscrew curls, but it was so long it came to her waist. Each strand glittered with gold. The longer he looked upon her, the more he noticed the metal coming from her.

The gold glistened in the vine-like patterns that swirled on her hands and up her forearms, as well as her feet and up her calves. It reflected in the irises of her pupilless eyes, the corners of her lips as though her very saliva was filled with it, and in her brows. At first glance, he thought her to be sightless, but her eyes roamed over them as though seeing.

She stepped forward.

Her black robes, shimmering with rainbow fractures, were plain and simple in design. Considering her striking beauty, she didn’t need fancy clothing to aid her. Instead, the sleeveless garment clung to her chest and torso like liquid, silky in its texture, and displayed only a small amount of voluptuous cleavage. Then it danced around her legs, only revealing her left thigh, as the bottom of the skirt caressed the top of the water.

With every step closer, she became smaller. She approached incrementally, appearing to walk a small distance.

Her ears were so long, they poked up an inch or two past the top of her head. A crown made of light hovered above her headlike a spiky halo, somehow sharp and menacing, and yet also angelic in nature.

When upon them, she stood about half a foot taller than Aleron.

He shoved Gideon behind him and gave her a soft warning growl.Why is his first response to everything new... to growl?Pleasure, a new person, something he didn’t understand. Another thing to add to his strange but funny charm.

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