Page 94 of To Trap a Soul

“I will not be certain until I inspect it myself,”Weldir answered plainly, not giving her an ounce of faith.

Lindi returned to the rock wall and wanted nothing more than to expire with mental exhaustion. Instead, she sucked her lips into her mouth and bolstered strength and determination from the pit of her very spirit. She turned physical, ignored how that sent the Demons into a frenzy, and mined another chunk. Each bashing thump against her barrier made her flinch, but it was the eery scratching of claws against the rock that sent her teeth on edge.

Fearful tears welled in her eyes no matter how much she tried to bite them back, and they trickled down through her dirt-stained face. The taste of salty, wet dirt thickened in her dry mouth as she licked at her shaking lips to remove the evidence.

“Lindiwe,”Weldir rumbled, and she was unsure if it was pity or a demand to control her emotions. Right then, she was so frazzled that it sounded like both.

Her heart was racing so fast that its panickedba-dumpsmade her vibrate with stress. Any more of this, and it was sure to give out or explode right in her chest.

“I’m not afraid,” she repeated to herself, wishing it were true. Her tears fell faster.

She needed to learn how to not fear the Demons.

She was alive, but she’d never die. Not truly, not forever. She’d always come back. That should be enough to still her rapidly beating heart, yet...

It was the pain of their teeth and claws that struck across her memories like hot iron. How many times had she been eaten alive? How many more times would she have to scream until she faded into dust through her bond with Weldir? The sound of smacking lips, tearing skin, and crunching bones – her own – still gave her nightmares, no matter that it had been well over a decade since she’d experienced such a thing.

Her hands shook as she swung her pickaxe and lodged the pointed end into the wall to wiggle the unyielding rock. She drew it back once more and hit that same spot, then dug again, and the rock popped forward just enough that she could wedge the point of her axe head behind it.

The relief that washed through her when it came free and landed in her hand was overshadowed when she turned towards the Demons. There were more, all of them fighting each other to get to the front of the line in this cramped, small tunnel. They bit, clawed, and struck each other just for a taste ofher.

“Please, Weldir,” Lindi cried. “Please take me away from here.”

Within an instant, the swallowing, choking darkness was replaced with one that was quiet, weightless, and pleasant.

She embraced it, and how it meant Weldir had surrounded her.

“You did well,” Weldir stated, his voice stronger and no longer echoing.

Her frantic eyes found him, and she wished the sight of his barely visible form calmed her. His words, although a compliment, did little to soothe her.

Being the literal hands of a demi-god came with challenges, and more than ever, she wished his own could touch the world... and would reach out soothingly, rather than rest unfeeling at his sides.

She wanted to feel protected and safe.

Lindi would never get that with him.

August 28th, 1717

Closing her eyes, Lindi took in a deep, steadying breath through her nose and released it through her mouth. She flipped her eyelids open and spread her arms to the world.

Before her lay the Veil: vast, dangerous, and seemingly unending. At her feet, merely a hair’s width away, was the deadly and frightful fall of the canyon’s cliff edge. Rocks broke off under her boot tip and, if she wasn’t careful, the ground could come apart underneath her.

In the seven years she’d been gone, it looked so different. She hardly believed her eyes when she took her first look at the ground far down below.

It was as though thousands of trees had not only newly sprouted, but had fully matured. Moisture clung to each leaf with such richness and lusciousness, breathing life and creating a cloudy white mist that spread all throughout. It reached everywhere, touched all of the Veil, and gave it an eery, haunted atmosphere.

Along with it, Weldir’s black mist had thickened anddescended into the canyon like the pour of a waterfall down each wall face. To a normal, unsuspecting eye, they wouldn’t see it, but Lindi had begun to pull apart the very fabric of life and see beyond into the shadows that lurked even in the shade. The mist was there, growing, as was his power.

She’d seen it in the forests surrounding the portals she’d passed in the northeastern continent she’d wandered.

So much has changed in thirty-two years since I gave my soul to Weldir,she mused, as she looked up to the dusking sky.And I’ve witnessed so much of it.

She’d seen wonders and horrors. She’d pitied people she encountered, and was thankful for the strange ones who had taken her in. She’d killed, and she’d adored. She’d cried, and recently laughed. She’d shed blood, sweat, and she’d sacrificed.

A splash of orange set the horizon ablaze while dusting the clouds with a mesmerising purple. It somehow made the horridness of the Veil seem less imposing and daunting, reminding her there was much beauty left in the world. That there was, truly, light in this dark age.

It was a beautiful evening.

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