Page 140 of To Trap a Soul

He’s tangible to me, just like the other deceased.And he could sense he didn’t need to awaken Nathair from a stupor to interact with him, as if he...belongedhere.

He’s like me. Here, alive within Tenebris.

He curled his hand into a fist, when the desire to reach out again struck him.

He couldn’t wait to teach Nathair all about this world, and the one he’d just left. Toconversewith another trapped here just as much as he was. To finally share life with another.

To finally have a son, in a real sense, even if it meant in his death.

A time unknown, but one of mischief

Crossing his legs into a seated position, Weldir opened his right hand and called a tainted soul to float above it. He inspected the damage to it.

It was missing its limbs with its torso split in half, but the sickness within it was much worse than many others. Cracks of red, like burning lava, streaked across its body like it had not only been struck by lightning, but was almost entirely consumed by it.

Weldir tsked, enclosed his hands around it, and concentrated.

Cracks of red lava forked over his hands and made it to his wrists before he was done healing it and putting it back together – while offering part of his own essence. He felt no pain, but the fatigue of his mana being used in a such a way drained him as it always did. He opened his hands to reveal a fully intact male, colourless like a normal, untainted soul, except for the spots of depression plaguing its head.

But Weldir could not heal the wounds of life, only what came from death.

Let’s give you a new home.He opened his mouth, slipped it into the cavern of darkness, and swallowed.Perhaps you have memories to share with another.

Otherwise he would live within the canyon of sleeping and lonely souls. Those that did not have a strong enough connection to another within Tenebris to share memories with, instead losing themselves in their own.

Weldir found it easier to keep those within Tenebris in a form of sleeplessness. To let them dance with the souls they were entangled with in life, or drift in the swarm of those that lived by themselves in a dreary valley. It kept them quiet, and at peace, and it was the kindest afterlife he could think of giving them.

If he wanted to, hecouldhave just kept all the souls asleep permanently, but then his realm would have been sad and lacklustre. He wanted there to be joyful life, even if it wasn’t something he could partake in.

Well, it wasn’t something he could share in the past. That was no longer true.

Many months had passed since Nathair’s arrival, and their conversations, although strained and mostly unintelligent, were a welcome change.

Fenrir has recently gained their horns too.

Lindiwe tried to keep them by her side regardless of their newfound mindless desire to wander, even when they warded her back. She stayed close and protected them from Demons a little more viciously than usual.

The wounds of Nathair’s loss plagued her, and it was evident in her desire to stay by Fenrir’s side. Even if, at times, it was merely as a raven perched nearby.

Weldir watched over her, Fenrir, and all their offspring like he usually did. Even Orson, who had returned to his cave, was under his caring observation.

He often had the images of them in viewing discs floating around him. Just as he did now.

Right as he reached out for a new soul to deplete his mana, and re-energise it later, the creature that brought him both joy and vexation decided then to inflict a nasty wound. Weldir flinched as he felt his cloud evaporate, like someone had rudely stolen his very essence.

More than usual, the strength of his mana was depleted, and he felt himself waning. Even the ribbons of his oily, physical self thinned.

With an annoyed growl, Weldir dematerialised from where the unconsumed souls were held, and relocated himself to within his stomach – within Tenebris itself.

Nathair, as if sensing the hostility likely misting from Weldir, spun around... with part of a human limp in his arms. Two fang puncture wounds bled from the back of her shoulders, with most of her limbs gone – he’d already gotten to most of her before Weldir had arrived.

Red brightened in Nathair’s usually orange orbs, and he yanked it to the side protectively, stating with his body language,My prey.

The sparks of sputtering little white flames twinkled around his lengthy body, and before his eyes, Nathair’s flesh grew plumper.

He’d already eaten an unfortunate soul before this one, the remnants of it still evident in the air, and had been intending on eating a second one.

Weldir pointed his index finger towards the ground. “Put it down,” he demanded in a strong, stern tone.

---