Page 25 of A Soul to Embrace

Although hisprisonhadn’t been as dark as this burrow, the shadows had been deep. A green light in the centre of a round room ensured he’d been given plenty of light,protectinghim from the sun.

He hadn’t appreciated that false light then, and never grew fond of it. As much as he understood the Elysians – the Elvish – had thought he’d prefer it, considering he burned withinminutes under the three suns in Nyl’theria, he’d missed their warmth while he rested in the shade. He’d missed the way they twinkled into a room and cast mesmerising fractals from every reflection.

The bars shielding him had been made of mere silver, gold, and bronze, but they weren’t what truly kept him from bending them to escape. No, the magical reinforcements kept him caged and seething in his confinements.

At first, all he’d smelt was the rock that surrounded him and his own scent, as he was alone for the first three years. But, as he grew older, and his senses sharpened, the more he’d been able to smell beyond his cell.

The scent of dirt that lay just beyond the metres-thick rock. The roots of the gigantic central tree he’d once called home. The smell of mould in the earth, the decay as insects followed the cycle of life.

These things would one day become his salvation, but for many years, they were choking. They’d suffocated him, reminding him that he was deep beneath the ground. Hidden away from everyone, to protect everyone else fromhim.

Forgotten by all.

And lost within himself.

He’d been dying on the inside the longer he lingered alone, except for the daily distraction of food. They also supplied him with various materials over time that they’d one dayregretgiving him.

As much as Jabez understoodwhythey’d imprisoned him, he couldn’t deny how cruel it had been. They hadn’t denied it either and took no action to change his situation. Then again, had he really given them the chance?

A young Jabez had been angry after so long. He’d been filling with spite, the craze of his lonely thoughts, and the depression and anguish after being confined in such a small space. Whentheir stupid, lame gazes turned sympathetic, his vengeance only grew. His mind deepened into chaos, and his desire to listen to their voices waned.

Until other Demons were placed in cells by his side. Jabez had, in some way, reverted to a more Demon-like temperament. Come near, and he’d bite. If they weren’t close, he’d claw the air through his bars to tear at their skin for a speck of blood they continued to starve him of. Speak to him, and they’d receive obscenities in return.

That was only when he was coherent, but he often wasn’t. The starvation of nutrients he lacked turned him rabid, and the Elves could only speak with him after they muzzled him and tied him down to give him blood infusions. Otherwise, the scent of their bodies, their blood and meat, sent him into a frenzy.

He always felt pitiful afterwards.

All the while, they gifted him books, let him learn,thinkinghis magic was tame. That he, as a half-blooded Elf, didn’t have strong capabilities. That the rock and re-enforcements around him kept him pinned as much as his broken will.

The first thing he’d done with his magic was erase the smell of dirt, to hide and shield from it so he didn’t have to feel like a filthy creature. He suppressed the anguish and betrayal that stung at his entire being from when he’d first been placed in his prison, his cell, his glorifiedcage.

The scent of wet dirt somehow always brought him back to those first few years. He’d hated the smell when he first escaped and would rather step into the heat of burning ash than scent it. But as he grew older, and his mind dulled the sharpness of the memories from his youth, the smell of dirt eventually just became a mundane odour. Until it bothered him no more.

Only to drown him tenfold when he’d been buried alive by a rather devious bitch covered in a cloak of feathers, who he’d been spending decades trying to strangle.

Then, once more, he’d learned to erase his emotional attachment.

But, as he lay beneath the ground in Zylah’s burrow, night after night, with the smell of fresh roots dangling above him, it became harder to ignore.

Half asleep, he attempted to shift one way, before realising that made him face directly against an earthen wall. His stomach knotted, his chest tightened, and his lungs stung. The scent clung to him even when he rolled over towards the small central space of Zylah’s home.

The more the memories resurfaced, the colder his features became, while sweat slicked his skin. His flesh tightened over his bones, like he was trapped and confined, and his throat threatened to close.

Fuck!Jabez roared in his mind as he shot to his hands and knees. He turned his face towards the exit, to Zylah fucking blocking it like she did every day. Sunlight peeked around her, and he shuddered and shooed her to the side.

“M-move, Zylah,” he demanded, weakly turning to her. He moved into a crouched position so he could walk closer, and growled when she didn’t get out of the way. “Jabez outside!”

At the booming depth of his voice, and the command he put in it, her orbs flashed white. She chittered nervously as she slipped out of the way, and Jabez tried to hide the panicked way he dived for the exit.

He hissed the moment sunlight cascaded onto his skin, and it continued to bathe him as he crawled through the tree roots shielding her burrow entrance. The autumn sunlight was hot against his flesh, threatening to sear him if he remained in it for too long. Had he been a full-blooded Demon, he’d have been burned to a crisp within seconds.

To get out of its heat, he skulked to the side and shoved his back against the trunk of a tree. The leaves shaded him justenough, with his cloak hiding him from dappled light, and he huffed through anxious breaths to steel himself.

I thought I could do it... but I can’t.He couldn’t handle being in her burrow any longer.Even now, all I can smell is dirt.It clung to him like a second skin, just to ruin his usually calm, sane mind. Well, he wasn’t sure if he was truly sane.

He cupped the shaved side of his head and groaned at himself.

The deep, long scar there reminded him there was a distinct hole in his mind, one that blurred two worlds together. A journey he’d forgotten, and the actions of cruel people that only further twisted his heart with hate. But he could no longer decipher if they were... Elves... or humans.

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