Page 157 of To Trap a Soul

He didn’t like that at all, as he preferred his offspring had little to do with that half-Elven menace. He didn’t want them harmed or used as a potential tool for whatever war he was conjuring up.

But all he could do was wait and see what happened, and tell Lindiwe if there was any reason for them to worry.

He continued onto Fenrir, who was innocently sitting in some snow... with blood slashed across his white, bony snout. He was thin and gaunt, with arms longer than they should be, but he did look strong and mostly content. Especially when he lifted a big, meaty hand to lick the blood off the back of his claws.

Whatever he’d eaten had been consumed in its entirety.

Now that he’d completed those that lived within Austrális, Weldir moved onto another alcove, one that was deeper within this cave of cherished people and memories.

He began to sculpt Dymphna, the fanged, deer-skulled Duskwalker...

May 21st, 1760

A groan of frustration slipped through clenched teeth, as Lindiwe placed a wave of black glittering magic between her and her own child. Or, rather, between her and the damn village they were trying to attack!

In less than four years, not only had she obtained their skull and horns, but they’d managed to wander into the savanna desert and kill a number of poor humans. Male, large, and very powerful, she was finding Ari to be the most rambunctious and bravehearted of her children.

He also seemed to be enthralled with the hunt from the moment he’d been born.

She’d wanted to take her time with finding his skull, but his constant manoeuvring and scampering away revealed he desired independence. The moment she’d given up and obtained his lion skull, she regretted it when he became nippy with his newly acquired beastly fangs. Her forearms had been playfully gnawed on to the point of scarring, and it was likely only the scent-cloaking spell that had stopped them from attempting to eat her.Although... she did have a few close calls after being chased by her baby in a state of rage from the mere droplet of her blood on their purple tongue.

Like Fenrir, she’d given him a set of impala horns simply because they were one of her favourites.

The moment he obtained them, crimson orbs flared to life, and he immediately began to hunt – her, Demons, other creatures. Humans.

She thought he may have been the quickest to obtain his gender, and it’d been by a hair that he had not been a female, since he’d tried to decimate an entire small village before she intervened. She hated the idea of witnessing human death and only turned a blind eye when she was not with them.

She’d managed to get him to back off, but only due to her picking him up by her raven talons and flying off with his impossibly heavy body. That had been when he was thin and gangly. Already he’d begun to fill his furry body out with taut muscle, and she doubted she’d be successful with such a feat a second time.

Since then, on his large rear paws and human hands, he wandered the savannah incessantly, like he was always on the prowl. The lions immediately sensed danger and spooked, quick to hide, and not even the spotty jaguars were willing to take him on. The Demons were wary, especially when alone, but they were brave, andstupidenough to try to take him on.

Only to die quickly by his deadly claws and fangs.

“Go away!” Lindiwe yelled, throwing her arms up to put strength behind the wave of her magical barrier.

Ari’s red orbs flared brighter, and he let out a raspy roar as he shoved his shoulder against it with all his might. His fluffy black lion’s mane glistened with blue highlights under the sun’s heat, showing just how soft and glossy it was. He could be ratherhandsome when he didn’t have his maw parted and his fangs on show just to look menacing.

“I said no!” she yelled, before whipping a tentacle forward to block his path. He gave a yelp in surprise at the sudden cracking sound, his hips ducking forward with his thick lion’s tail flicking to the side, and he scrambled back on all fours. “You can’t attack these people. Leave them alone.”

Lindiwe didn’t know them well, but she did know they were already suffering. The small city currently had a sickness going through it, like many villages and towns across the world that were overpopulated and lacked the tools for medicine. Normally this wouldn’t be an issue, but one of the two Anzúli recently protecting it died from that same sickness, thinking it was nothing but a harsh bout of hay fever before she grew ill during her sleep.

The other had sent a message through their communication scrying tools, but it took time for people to traverse across this giant continent. And they needed to sleep for some time after spending all their magic on protecting the city and helping them heal their sickness.

They were one person. They could only do so much.Shecould only do so much, but she hadn’t yet learned how to heal another, although this was something she’d been researching for a long time.

The least she could do was protect them throughout the day from her own violent nuisance of a child!

But Ari wouldn’t relent, no matter how much she drove him back.

“Lindiwe,”Weldir called.

“A little busy here!” she shouted, whipping the ground just before Ari’s paws to halt him once more. She was careful, as she refused to harm him.

He scattered, only to try to run around her.

The Duskwalker was faster than lightning, and she had to half shift her cloak to give her wings so she could quicken her speed. She managed to curl a black void tentacle around his back ankle and pull until he fell on his front. Then she dragged him back just enough so she could get between him and the shortening distance of the village. She made a square of magic and used it to bash at him repeatedly until he retreated backwards with low grunts and high-pitched growls.

“You have been at this for quite some time. I don’t think he is going to give up,”Weldir noted blandly, stating the damn obvious, and tired irritation pinched the back of her neck, causing her right eye to twitch.“Would you like me to try and assist?”

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