The Court of Souls?

by Andur

  “Who... is... Legna?” I manage to say.

  “You sucked out one of my souls!” He accuses me.

  “Souls? You have more than one?” I don't get what's going on. “I feel weak.” All I can look at is the ceiling while the world tries to spin away from me.

  He places a hand on my forehead and his energy invades me. I feel him probing and prodding while he explores my whole being with his hands.

  Finally his hands stop on my belly. “That's where she went!”

  I raise my head and look down on myself. Then I get the implications. “Fuck no... just who...” I lay back again. Why am I that affected?

  He scratches his chin and licks his lips. “Well, I know her as Legna. But now that I have my memories back, I think that it might be Seria.”

  “Seria?” Our daughter? The final part of our soulbond? “Why is she here?”

  “I am afraid, I killed her.”

  “Hah?” It's sad, but I can't make sense of this! My head is still spinning.

  “Seems like your power also flowed into her. Apparently it took energy from both of us to anchor her to us.” He snaps his fingers in front of my face, but I am too far gone. He grumbles, “she is totally out of it. Once I have to explain everything, there will be hell to pay! I might as well enjoy this as long as I have the chance.”

  “Hah?” I raise my hands and realize that I broke two pieces of wood out of the table. Crap! This will cost us.

  “Don't worry. You will be back to top shape in no time! I'll help.” He flips me on my belly and the next thing I know is that he is thrusting again.

  Heeeeeyyy! I am supposed to be the sex demon here! What is going on?

  Does he intend on making up for ten years in that tundra in just two nights!?

  27. ~Family.~

  “A Rakshasa (Sanskrit: rākṣasa) is a demonic being from Hindu mythology. As mythology made its way into other religions, the rakshasa was later incorporated into Buddhism. Rakshasas are also called maneaters (Nri-chakshas, Kravyads). A female rakshasa is known as a Rakshasi. A female Rakshasa in human form is a Manushya-Rakshasi. The terms Asura and Rakshasa are sometimes used interchangeably.”

  The Journey to the Afterlife

  Dedessia, the Sea of Souls, Nurien

  Shade

  Doreen watches me in silent puzzlement while I feed my dessert to Elona. “I still don't get how you two got so intimate with each other. And just from seeing Shade... I would never have believed that he could be this docile.”

  Docile my ass! If I don't keep it low for a bit I'll piss off the girl who took me to the doors of heaven and back! Though the issue with Legna is still on my mind. I thought of getting her back, but Elona was firm about keeping her.

  I can only hope that Elona is on my side when Legna regains her memories. It will be one, honest to god, awkward moment.

  Elona smiles in delight and touches her cheek. “It almost tastes like vanilla. This fruit paste is really a delicacy.”

  Yeah, I suppose so and I want some. Feeding her my dessert is a real test of courage for me. But she promised that she would forgive me our little accident if I surrender to her all the treats I come across this week.

  At first I hoped that I would get some kind of bonus points since she was the one who lost control during our second time doing it.

  But apparently I lost all my leeway when I simply continued using her after she had passed out. My story about Legna's death wasn't taken well either. But since there were no other witnesses I was given the benefit of the doubt... until Legna regains her memories.

  Though I have to say that fucking Elona feels much safer when she is unconscious. No sucking out my energy. No sucking out souls, most important. No damage to the furniture or me, even more important.

  The surprised expressions and the attention on us is uncomfortable. The only ones who don't seem to be surprised about my behaviour are Tisha and Chloe.

  Though my mother seems a bit agitated. Tisha bends her fork and sniffs the air. “She used the trap on him! Shade, didn't I tell you to use protection?”

  Did she just... smell Elona's circumstances? My expression hardens into a forced smile and I lock my eyes to Elona's. She is obviously enjoying this. But what frightens me much more is Tisha. How by the nine hells did she manage to smell 'that'!

  Chloe stabs the slice of meat on her plate with a fork. Then she takes a hearty bite and chews. “You know, Daughter, when you managed to capture that guy from Parle, I thought that you made a big step forward as a succubus.”

  “She did?” I ask, and watch Elona's cheeks flush, then she breaks the eye-contact.

  “Yeah, and then eight years of nothing! I was really worried for her future. A succubus tends to dry up if she doesn't get regular infusions.” Chloe mumbles with a sad expression.

  Elona wasn't dry. Not at all.

  But then Chloe's entire face lights up. “But that doesn't matter any more. Now she has you. And she even managed to take all the necessary steps in a mere two days. As a parent I can finally lean back and watch my finished work.”

  Shawn starts choking on his own food, only the fact that Quianna pounds him on his back saves him. Elona's sister has a puzzled expression on her face and scans the room with her eyes. “What is going on? It seems like I am not getting something.”

  They are talking about the baby, you dolt!

  At last Shawn gets a grip on himself. “How can you be okay with that, Love! They've known each other for less than a week.”

  Chloe makes a dismissive gesture. “It's okay, Dear. We knew that this could happen with them being soulbound and all that. If you had taken your time to think, you wouldn't be surprised.”

  Tisha studies Chloe with a mournful expression. “As much as I dislike to admit it, but you have spirit and the correct view on the world. I may dislike my son's situation, but I am not against the act itself. I like you. Are you sure that you are Doreen's daughter? We didn't talk much, but you have grown considerably in... several departments.”

  Chloe takes the compliment with a smile. “Oh, please. Don't flatter me, we are made from the same stuff.”

  Finally Quianna's eyes widen as the gears in her head make the required connections. “S- s- sis? You are going to have a baby?”

  Elona shrugs her shoulders. “I suppose that's the natural consequence of sleeping with the guy of your dreams... maybe not exactly my dreams, but he is close enough. Congratulations... you will be an aunt!”

  Quianna gasps. “I am not an aunt! I am much too young for that.”

  My attention wanders to Manticore and Aswang. They are trying hard to stay out of the conversation, but Manticore has her hands crossed in front of her chest and stares at Aswang as if he has some kind of impotence problem.

  Aswang is keeping his eyes fixed to a wall, content in ignoring the situation. What's that supposed to mean? I grimace upon remembering that I am still avoiding a decent conversation with them.

  “Let us return to the important issues. Survival first. It will take Yggdrasil about a month to reach Semper Fidelis.” Doreen starts rubbing her temples, clearly not happy with how things are turning out.

  Tisha sets her eyes on Doreen. “Have you already investigated our suspects?”

  “I have assigned permanent surveillance to them. Soon we will have a better picture of their day to day activities and I hope this will yield results. I am feeling bad about doing this to clan members whom I trusted so far,” Doreen answers. She is visibly upset by having to distrust her own people.

  I raise my hand. “How about changing to a more immediate subject? Like, are Aswang and Manti joining the bout at the end of the week?”

  “No!” “Yes!” Both of them call out as one.

  Aswang shakes his head. “Manti, I told you that I won't join a stupid competition for people who think of themselves higher than others. We lived for years in hiding and had to train hard to become higher immortals.”

  “Aswang, please! Let us kick
some butt!” Manti shakes her comrade who is trying to put up a hard front.

  “Have you ever thought about the fact that the decision isn't up to you?” Tisha intervenes, still nibbling at her slice of meat.

  This time it is me who has to raise his his eyebrows in surprise. Why should it not be up to them? “I thought the bout is a friendly form of challenging people from other clans?”

  Tisha snorts. “Of course not. It's a way to intimidate the other factions. Doing poorly may as well make them disregard you as threat, which invites all sorts of attacks on all of us. Right now it is more important than ever to show off in front of the others. All they see right now are two weakened groups. We can't even be called proper clans because we are so low on higher immortals. Of course that's just on our own. Still, we have to show them that we exist and are working together.

  “So all four of you will join the bout. And Doreen and I will show ourselves together in public. We will even put up a united front to the other clans. Nobody is allowed to think that we are weak or have to deal with fighting between our two groups.”

  Doreen nods. “Which will surely happen, once the two groups start mingling with each other. But you are right on the part that we have to avoid showing weakness in this party. If our subjects have problems with each other it can be dismissed as a normal occurrence during a fusion. The leadership on the other hand must show a strong and united front to other parties.”

  Again, I raise my hand. “Ehm... why are you two showing yourselves together? If it is about clan leaders working together, shouldn't I and Doreen-”

  “No.” “No!” Both Doreen and Tisha bark at me. Seriously. Why have such an unnecessarily earnest discussion?

  “You have to be with Elona. Now more than ever.” Tisha crosses her arms in front of her chest.

  Then I notice that, during the discussion, I've fed all my pudding to Elona. Damn! “You know, guys. Zip it! I need some time alone with my wife. So excuse us.”

  I shoulder Elona who lets out a surprised shriek and leave the room, ignoring Shawn's protests.

  “Hey! Don't treat my daughter in such a disgraceful manner. Turn around when I talk to you-”

  “Shawn, sit!” Chloe's tired voice shuts him up.

  “But-”

  “Sit down and shut up. Your daughter is strong enough to deal with that guy if she wants to.”

  “You can't mean that she likes that!”

  I slam the door shut and head for the next free room.

  “Shade?” Elona asks nervously.

  “Yes?”

  “People are staring...”

  “... I don't care.”

  28. ~About.~

  “In traditional Chinese culture, qì or ch'i (About this sound qì, also known as gi in Korean culture, ki in Japanese culture and Prana in Indian culture) is an active principle forming part of any living thing. Qi literally translates as "breath", "air", or "gas", and figuratively as "material energy", "life force", or "energy flow". Qi is the central underlying principle in traditional Chinese medicine and martial arts.”

  The Journey to the Afterlife

  Dedessia, the Sea of Souls, Nurien

  Elona

  The week passed fairly quickly while we enjoyed the luxuries of Nurien. Especially the private times at night and the comfortable beds, once we discovered them. Not paying any attention to the world around us is what landed us in this blind alley with no way out.

  “What have we gotten ourselves into?” I watch in horror as another pair of challengers is carried away. These are no friendly contests between two parties. Each contest is an attempt at maiming the opponent as badly as possible.

  The way of conduct for these bouts is to challenge another party of your choosing. Then the challenger chooses the type of contest. Apparently it can be anything. From a game of chess to playing a song and asking the audience on who gave the better performance.

  Afterwards the challenged party can accept and propose a handicap for the challenger. Once both parties agree, the bout begins. If there is no agreement, another challenge has to be made until both parties are satisfied. That's one of the reasons why the longest part of these challenges are the negotiations at the beginning.

  “Blasted spirits! No wonder that most of them choose a good, old brawl!” Shade calls out and watches another pair of challengers trying to decide on what they should choose. They've been haggling with each other for several minutes.

  I tilt my head and sigh. “At least they are trying to find something less... problematic.”

  A fight between higher immortals can do a lot of damage to the surroundings if they decide to go all out. So most of the rougher challenges are taken outside by teleporting a short distance away from the safe zone. We can still watch the fight through various scrying orbs. They are big balls of glass which are enchanted with observation-spells.

  “I wonder why nobody is challenging us?” I mumble. We've been watching the fights for over an hour, but nobody made a move on us so far. Manti and Aswang were challenged to team battles twice. They won both of them with ease. Their opponents were small fry who thought the same of Shade's allies. But while it maybe true that I don't think of them as especially strong on their own, together they are formidable.

  Manti relies heavily on long range magical attacks, while Aswang is a close combat fighter. But one shouldn't make the mistake of trying to get too close to Manti. One group already tried to take out Manti by going in fast and close.

  Manticores are poisonous creatures and Manti is apparently able to release a cloud of toxic gas. Together with poisonous fingernails and sufficient close combat skills to survive until the poison has done its job, attacking Manti all out is a sure-fire strategy to lose the battle.

  The fact that Aswang acts as a ferocious guard doesn't make it any easier.

  “They are not challenging us because they are hoping to judge our abilities by observing our reactions. Whenever we pay attention to a battle, their eyes are glued to our faces. They want to know what surprises us.” Shade gives me a sudden explanation of the situation.

  “Really?” I ask a little dumbfounded. Of course I noticed the prying eyes, but I got so used to being looked at, that I thought nothing much of it. Being a succubus comes with a lot of attention. “Then why did they already challenge Manti and Aswang? They, too, are new here.”

  “That's because they are supposed to be just underlings of mine. It doesn't happen often that there are many people with considerable fighting powers in the same clan. Normally the leader is the strongest. They simply went to test the weakest link first.” Shade shrugs his shoulders.

  I attempt to answer, but the shout of a big thug's voice thwarts me. “I, Morello from the clan Imothep and my partner Rhia from Soistaat, want to challenge the leader of Semper Fidelis and his spouse from Carissimi.”

  Spouse?! “Did he call me a spouse!?” I gasp and get to my feet.

  Shade takes my hand and pats it. “There, there. I am sure he didn't mean it as an insult. Spouse is just another name for wife in some worlds. Let's see what he is up to.” Shade walks me to the centre of the big room where our challenger is waiting.

  “But in most worlds I can remember, it is meant at least as disparagement.” I add quickly while following him.

  Our opponent is a huge man. At least two heads taller than me and twice my width with southern features and dark skin. I am not entirely sure I should even call him human. There are monstrous muscles flexing beneath his tight shirt. Uwah, who in the world would want to do something like that to his own body. Muscles are cool on a man, but at that point it can't even be called attractive any more. Just repulsive.

  His female counterpart is much more to my liking. And that has to say something since I am not into girls. She has long, blonde hair and looks almost like a normal human. If it weren't for the dark, golden hue to her skin. In a world where I had to choose between him and her, I would take her and forsake the opportunity of children.
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br />   “I challenge you to a contest of strength!” The brute points at us. To be more accurate, he points at Shade.

  Shade tries to stand a little straighter, but much like myself he looks small and fragile compared to the monster in front of us. I wonder how he will fare in a contest of strength against someone like him.

  “And the exact terms of our challenge?” Shade asks, unfazed by the mountain in front of him. I am so proud of him, standing up like that while the opponent clearly has more physical strength.

  “Arm wrestling! One on one,” Morello answers, raising his chin. “There is no need to kill you. And taking one of the little sticks you call arms is more than enough!”

  “Is that so? Well, we accept. No further rules necessary. Normal arm wrestling. As simple as that,” Shade answers.

  I raise an eyebrow and look at him. “Are you sure? He is rather... big.”

  Shade smiles disarmingly at me. “Of course I am sure, Dear.”

  “If you don't want any handicap for me, then I accept too!” Morello pushes his female companion back to clear the stage. It's not done in a loving 'please stand aside' manner, but feels more like 'you are in the way'. She wrinkles her nose and is obviously displeased, but says nothing.

  Then he grabs one of the nearby tables and places it between us. Two chairs follow in short order and Morello sits down, waiting for Shade.

  I wait for Shade to take his seat, but for a few moments nothing happens. Then I feel a hand on my butt and I am pushed forward. With a squeal I stumble two steps and hold my bottom protectively. Then I turn around to look at my partner.

  He raises his thumb and grins. “Go and get him, Sugar.”

  There are a lot of things I want to answer, but Morello complains first. “No, no! I am not fighting your woman. I challenged you!”

  “I am sorry, but you didn't say exactly which one of us you want to fight. I am not into brute force. My wife is much better suited for such tasks.” Shade urges me with both hands to take the seat.

  I gasp. “You are the one who accepted! You should fight him! And I am not a brute! My arts are delicate and complicated skills! Just because you can't grasp how much skill they require, doesn't mean that there is no thinking involved!”