Page 19 of To Trap a Soul

Then she watched as he seemed to lift her flaming soul to what must be his mouth. He parted his full lips, revealing long canine fangs, and slid her soul inside. She could still see it, although it lit up half his face in the process and became murky. She couldn’t tell by just the bottom of his face being lit up if he was handsome or not, but at least he was humanoid.

That was a relief!

Her soul dimmed as it moved to the back of his throat and then down it. The moment it hit his sternum, it and he disappeared.

She thought they may have been staring at each other, although she could no longer see him now that the reflection of flames was gone. She hated that she couldn’t see him anymore.

Then... she waited.

And waited.

And nothing happened.

She kind of expected to feel cold, but she felt no different whatsoever. She still felt alive, despite continuing to bleed out. She was still dying, from what she could tell. She was still weak and powerless, unable to free herself.

She was still lying there, helpless.

When the silence went on for too long, and a gust of wind rolled a leaf against her cheek, she yelled, “Well... what are you waiting for?! Please, save me!”

“I told you, I cannot. I’m merely a witness in this world. I don’t have the power to aid you.”

The heat bled from her face. “What the fuck do you mean you can’t?! I thought you would save me.”

“I don’t know anything about this bond, as I’ve never done it before. All I know is that we are connected.”

Her jaw dropped, and her gaze dipped down to beyond her feet. She whimpered and wormed herself away from the frenzied creatures until her head nearly dangled off the edge of the cliff. Her long hair swayed and ruffled in the wind, as if a gust was tearing through the canyon and pushing the hanging locks with strength.

Oh shit.

She was still in the same damn predicament, and Lindi still had the same decision to make.

To fall or be eaten alive...

A time unknown, but a day of bonding

It’s finally... peaceful,Weldir thought, and his mist spread out from his body, as if with relief.

He could feel his very essence spreading out as tension bled from it, and he basked in the quiet that had him growing dazed and groggy.

How long he’d been awaiting the silence was far,fartoo long. His darkness felt empty, but not lonely. It was tranquil, and what it should have always been.

Restful.

For him, and for the souls he’d collected.

And it was all due to the female who slumbered amidst his shadows. Even she looked peaceful as she lay curled up in a ball, her knees to her chest, her hands tucked up near her full breasts, while her white, bloodied gown floated around her.

He drifted closer and hovered next to her in the nothingness – like they were metres below the ocean’s surface. Neither breathed, and yet her chest continued a pleasant rhythm as if life still coursed through her.

It did not.

What lay before him was a white spectral form. This female, whatever her name was, was dead.

Yet when he opened his hand and called her soul to appear in it, what should have been a colourless white was a mixture of red and orange. He’d eaten it, but there was the evidence of life still present in it by its mesmerising colour.

I have never eaten the soul of someone living before.

He’d felt its startling heat; it was an odd sensation he’d never experienced before. Hot and cold were not things he’d ever been able to perceive – and still couldn’t. Once he’d consumed it, theheatthat came from it faded as if he’d grown used to it.

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