Page 105 of A Soul to Embrace

“Perfect,” he said, before he lifted his arms above his head and arched his back to stretch. He tilted his head both ways to crack his neck before relaxing. “I’m going to leave you here for a few minutes on your own.”

“What?” she exclaimed, turning her sight down to the long fall below her. The ground slipped further away, and her stomach tightened in nausea while her lungs seized. “Why?!”

“Because Spiral Haven has some of the best meat sticks and I’m fucking starving. If we want to have a good time, we need items for trade. Since it’s still nighttime, I can go to that village near our cave and steal a bunch of shit. Demons are fond of human coin, but they do prefer useful items, and I know just the place to pilfer.”

Her claws stabbed into her perch. “What if I fall off?”

“Don’t do that – it’ll hurt,” he answered with a playful hint. “Just be a good girl and sit still for a few moments. I won’t be long.”

Before she could argue with him more about it, his grin was wicked andmeanas he disappeared in a split second.

Zylah was left by herself.

Okay. I can do this.She tried to focus on the wide array of pedestrians below, and how excited she was to be among them soon.

Once more steadying a wobbly Zylah with a grip on her forearm, Jabez waited for her to settle after they teleported from the tree branch to the ground. Since he could see past all the glamours he’d placed on them both, he waited until her white orbs morphed back to their alluring teal, then let her go so she could stand on her own.

He’d made sure they materialised in a spot where there were no people, as he was almost certain he was the only one with the ability.

It was a rare one, which had taken years to perfect.

I’m still thankful I discovered the secret room in that ruined mountain library.In Nyl’theria, many books and scrolls had been lost due to the Demon scourge and the Elvish fleeing, which had left treasures of knowledge behind for Jabez to find.

The Demons destroyed most of what lay within the main area of the library, except for a hidden section that held special scrolls of magic. Among other things, there was information on teleportation, portal magic, and the ability to regenerate – although that last one he discovered on his own throughnecessity.

Most of this knowledge had been deemed forbidden due to how dangerous it could be. He’d suffered many of the aftereffects from wrongly executing the different abilities and had nearly lost his life many times.

He couldn’t teleport across realms, although he was sure if he held greater mana, he may have been able to. He’d originally learned how to do it so he could perfect singular portal magic. Unfortunately, portal magic was far more difficult, unless one were to create chaos portals.

He had managed to perfect that ability to a certain degree with the help of some exceedingly rare gilded ore.

He’d been hoping to create his own portal to Nyl’theria for the Demons to travel through, but the distance was too far, and just one portal alone could severely deplete his magic. In reality, the furthest Jabez could have created a portal was a few thousand kilometres – which mostly limited him to within the Veil.

That magic is lost to me now.

After the battle between himself, those pesky humans, and the Witch Owl, the necklace he’d smelted of gilded ore had been destroyed when he consumed its power to save his own life. A small cost to pay, considering he’d been holding up the weight of his own castle as it threatened to crush him.

Not that it’d mattered in the end.

I can go back to that mine, but I don’t think I’d risk it again.

Gilded ore was considered sacred and mining it got you cursed. Then again, touching the very essence of the Gilded Maiden’s tears – the head deity of the Elysian Elves – was considered taboo. He hadn’t given a shit; she was no goddess of his and he refused to respect her rules when it meant more power for himself.

Still, although he deemed that endeavour a failure, his ability to teleport now was second nature to him. It was a useful toolin his arsenal and had made him appear godlike in the eyes of many worshipping Demons.

As much as it humoured him to see Zylah’s knees turn inwards, he understood what she was experiencing. It was disorientating. He’d help her through it until her body adjusted to the sudden hurtling that brought on motion sickness.

I have to be careful about how much magic I expend right now.Teleporting so frequently and casting not only two physical glamours, two scent glamours, and giving her the ability to sense through them, already drained his newly re-invigorated magic heavily.

The mana stone he’d consumed only sparked his magic back to life and gave him a little to immediately expend. It’d take time, days even, to be at his optimal strength and capacity.

I probably shouldn’t have altered my body so heavily.

Although most of his glamour was visual, he did give himself one physical change; he tucked his balls and dick away behind a false seam. The likelihood of getting into a death brawl in Spiral Haven was exceptionally low, but Jabez liked to be prepared for anything.

Demons were rather callous when it came to battles, and they fought without honour. If they could tell he had something dangling between his legs, they’d waste no time trying to grab his nutsack with a clawed fist and squeeze until he screamed.

A quake of repulsion ripped through him in memory of the one time he’d actually been dealt such pain. Thankfully he’d managed to break their arm before they could rip his balls off, but it was now a fear he refused to repeat.

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