Page 54 of A Soul to Embrace

“He’s not the one who brought them here,” Delora argued.

“Neither did I. I brought six Demons here. The rest came on their own and then remained stuck here due to Weldir’s ward preventing them from going back through the portal I created with a mana stone. Many of them long to return to the Elven world. Without his interference, humanity wouldn’t be nearing extinction. Had I been allowed to take them back centuries ago, life here would be vastly different. The history you know is missing vital pieces. Would you continue to side with him, with Lindiwe, had you known that their sole purpose is to keep the Demons here just to spare the Elves? Inherently selfish, isn’t it?”

“Life is what it is,” Delora whispered as she lowered her gaze. “I’ve learned to accept it, especially as it brought me here.” To give away what she meant, she rested her hand on Magnar’s trouser-covered leg. “We can be angry, or just accept that they had their reasons.”

“Ugh, such a tender-hearted, meek answer,” Jabez bit out with disgust. “I refuse to accept such a notion.”

Why were the Elves constantly forgiven for the exact things he was blamed for? What he’d said was true. Without the Elves, humankind and their lives would be vastly different.

Without Weldir, Jabez could have saved hundreds, if not thousands, of human lives by removing the Demons from Austrális. He could have been humankind’s saviour as much as the Demons’.

But instead of being thanked for what he’d been attempting to do for hundreds of years, he’d been despised for it.

“You are the most selfish creature I know,” she retorted. “Everything you’ve stated so far has been cruel and selfish. How are you any better?”

“I’m not,” he willingly admitted with a deadened expression. “I’m very self-aware that I am a despicable fuck. The only life that matters to me is my own. I’m the product of their carelessness, and then they discarded me like filth. I have spentmy whole life wishing to avenge myself for what they did to me as a child.”

“And yet you wish to ruin others just to achieve that. I can never see your side, no matter if the truth isn’t what I first thought it was. What you did to me, to Magnar, to Zylah... I could never forgive it, nor allow you to make me think better of it.” Then her eyes again filled with the tears he knew she’d been holding in. “And what you did to Faunus...”

His head cocked, while his ears twitched. “I have no idea who that is.”

“It’s the feline-skulled Mavka,” Magnar answered.

“Ah.” Jabez nodded in understanding. “What I did to Faunus was what was done to me.”

“By him, though?” Delora asked, although her tone said she knew the answer to that was already no.

“By Lindiwe. Like I said, I have been locked in battle with her for centuries. Everything she did to me, I did to him. Judge me all you want for it, but I responded to cruelty with more cruelty. Will you pity me now that you know the truth?”

Her lips thinned, and under the weight of his scrutiny, she shied away from his gaze.

“You won’t, will you?” He tilted his head and offered a callous grin when he saw she couldn’t even muster up a false tear for his sake. “What I did to that Mavka is nothing in comparison to what was done to me by her. And with my inability to hold her due to her Phantom abilities, not once have Ieverbeen able to enact such violence upon her. And I’m not a deathless being, unlike her children. My wounds do not heal in a day, and I must go out of my way to fix myself before permanent damage is done to me.”

Other than cracking that Mavka’s skull, his torture was mediocre in comparison to what Lindiwe had done to him. Butno one would cry or pity him, so why should he return the same sentiment?

He also hadn’t done it to be needlessly cruel. He hadn’t taken that Mavka from the middle of the Veil just to cackle like a villain as he tortured him. He did it to find out how the fuck to kill them, and he was just the unfortunate soul that Jabez had picked. Had Jabez known how they died, none of that Mavka’s pain would have existed – Jabez would have just ended him mercifully.

“Why not just teleport away then?”

“I haven’t always had the ability. It’s actually rather new, in the grand scheme of things.” He raised his right hand to look at his palm before turning it over to inspect his wrist. Or, rather, the runic symbols that danced a line around both his wrists – although they had nothing to do with the ability. “I’ve been able to teleport for a few decades, and it took a buried Elven library to discover such an ancient ability. You’d be surprised what is now locked beneath ruins in dark places not even Demons can infiltrate. I started out weak. Such strength doesn’t come from a youngling; it must be taught, earned, or discovered.”

“So you can go back to your realm?” Delora asked quietly, obviously losing enthusiasm for their conversation. “Why not just fucking stay there and leave us alone?”

“I have my reasons. But yes, the fact I’m an Elf allows me to cross freely, and only me.”

I’ve always wondered if that was purposeful.If, perhaps, the Elves wanted him to return one day in order to seek his forgiveness.Disgusting.

He turned his head to the female Mavka beside him and noted that her orbs shone a dark yellow. “You have been quiet.”

“I am... listening,” Zylah answered softly.

I doubt she truly understands all of what we’ve spoken about.There would’ve been words she didn’t know the definition of,things she didn’t understand the true repercussions of. Then again, other than torturing her mother and pretending to want to kill Zylah, nothing else had truly been revealed. Even the depth of his cruelty towards Faunus had been skilfully hidden by Jabez speaking quickly before the human could elaborate.

She’d come to learn of it all eventually, but at least she knew his side before he’d even stated it all.

“I’m not sure if you’ve noticed, but Zylah hasn’t moved from my side,” Jabez announced, giving a pause to allow all to digest that fact. He brought his gaze back to her. “So, after learning what you have today, do you still wish to stay?”

Although he remained nonchalant, he had no idea how she would respond. Given that he hadn’t denied anything he’d done, much of it rather villainous, her choice could go either way.

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