Page 22 of To Trap a Soul

He just hoped his face was well formed and handsome.

He was something, but not. Here, in this realm, he was everything, but outside of it he was non-existent except for his voice. He was a being made of two things at all times, everything and nothing, somewhere and nowhere, intangible but physical in soul, and those things constantly collided to be conflicting and confusing.

He’d always been that way, even when he’d been born.

“This is the afterworld?” she asked, looking up, then down, and then scanning her gaze around the never-ending horizon in every direction. Her full brown lips, with just a hint of pale pink more prominent on the lower one, pursed thoughtfully. “It’s remarkably empty.”

“Indeed it is,” he answered, unbothered by her words when they were merely truth. “Although this is not the true afterworld. We are merely standing within my consciousness.”

Her eyes darted back to him through the corner of her lids suspiciously before her features scrunched up.

“Gosh, I don’t even know what that means!” She brought her knees up to her chest, crossed one foot over the other, and covered her face. “I can’t believe I said yes to you. Why did I do that?”

“You cannot take it back,” he stated firmly.

“I figured, but I feel like pressuring me to make that kind of decision under duress was unfair.”

Weldir allowed a sigh to fill his voice. “There was no other way.”

How dare she insinuate otherwise when he already stated the truth?

“I knooow,” she whined as she dragged her hands down, revealing the way her face had furrowed into a scowl. “I’m just being honest. Or should I hold my tongue, oh vengeful god?”

A humming chuckle flittered from him at her snarkiness.At least she doesn’t appear afraid.

“No, there is no need. Be as truthful as you like. I will not care either way.”

Then Weldir’s essence drew closer on its own so that his mist wasn’t so spread out, and it stuck to him as he crossed his legs. He brought his consciousness to its most relaxed state and sat across from her.

“What is truly expected of me?” she asked, her wary gaze never softening.

“We already spoke of this,” he answered. “You are to create servants for me. Offspring that can do my bidding.”

She picked at the groove of skin on the side of her thumbnail while chewing the inside of her cheek. He didn’t understand why her features fell and appeared almost crestfallen. “Okay... what else?”

Pressure pulled across his form at her question as thought rolled through him. “You are to collect the souls of humans that have been eaten by the Daekura, but have not attached themselves to their attackers, and bring them to my mist at the border of the place I found you. Since you appear to be similar to me now, I have an inclination that you will be able to see spirits far better than the average human. You will bring those untainted souls to me for consumption.”

The rich hue of her face turned ashen. “Are you telling me ghosts are real?”

He chuckled at that. “Ghostsare what the men have been calling them, but I doubt they are what you humans would consider normal. They are dead souls trapped in a state of limbo due to being eaten. Since they have been touched by the Daekura, they do not pass on properly and are trapped on Earth. I have taken to calling them that title, as I’m sure others have. It is part of my requirement for being in this world that I give them a place to dwell peacefully.”

Not that he’d been able to give them that.

No one, not even his mother, the goddess the Gilded Maiden, had foreseen just how difficult and energy depleting cleansing souls would be. What was supposed to empower him left him in the same state repeatedly, or worse. Tired, weak, and powerless.

He wanted to change that. He wanted to do better as a deity, and as a keeper of souls.

The only thing that had truly empowered him was...her.

Weldir had received a large burst of energy when their bond formed; her living, untainted soul was stronger than anything he’d ever eaten. A byproduct he hadn’t been expecting, but one he was thankful for regardless. He knew each use of his power would wane that borrowed strength, but hopefully she would gift him more.

Daekura brought tainted souls through the mist. Sickly things with missing parts and streaked with poison, which he had to then fill and mend. Ghosts, on the other hand, had managed to not be fully consumed, and they remained anchored to something. Theyshouldgive him more power.

He’d collected a few already – the other sacrifices that had been thrown from the cliffs mostly. But they always gave him a burst of energy to expend – which he promptly used to quieten his realm for his own benefit.

Or, rather, he’d place a sound dampener around the consciousness part of his realm to block the screaming from reaching his ears.

If it wasn’t for this female and their newly formed bond giving him power, she’d be subjected to those same wails as they spoke.At least I managed to save her from a harrowing first experience with me.He doubted she would have been able to sit within it for any duration of time, as he had been for years.

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