Chapter 16 #2
Pushing past my fears, I complied, letting it seep into every fiber of my being.
The dropping sensation came with a fierceness that almost had me backing out.
And just when I thought it would overwhelm me, an intense sense of peace and well-being engulfed me.
The world ceased to spin around me, and something wonderful settled in my chest. That strange power I had felt in the Sanctuary and right before I obliterated the Djarins now hummed within me, tranquil and yet ready to be unleashed, right alongside the powers I had always acknowledged before.
“There. It is done,” Azrael said, his arms dropping from around me as he took a couple of steps back.
I turned around to face him, feeling oddly bereft. The depths of paternal affection in his eyes as he gazed upon me utterly wrecked me. To think I spent my entire life thinking that wonderful being hated me.
“Thank you,” I said, awkwardly. “So… huh… How do I use my divine light to guide souls? Do I need a scythe?”
Azrael snorted and shook his head. “No. You are not a Reaper. Call on your light. You will feel it tingle at the back of your head. Then channel it towards the target. You should see a white flame when you connect with their soul. Try it on me.”
I cast a nervous look towards my mate, who gave me an encouraging smile.
However, it was the paleness of her skin that retained my attention.
Azrael might have taken away her pain, it hadn’t stopped her body from fading.
The amulet was draining what little soul remained in her body. Soon, she would be an empty shell.
I returned my attention towards the Lord of Death and followed his instructions. It took me a moment before I finally saw it. A part of me almost felt embarrassed, like I was performing some sort of voyeurism to be openly staring at the most intimate part of any living being.
“I see it,” I whispered, trying to remain focused.
“Good. Now tug on it. Try to draw it towards you,” he said.
Once more, I complied. Amazed, I felt a world of power and love moving towards me. An insane hunger surged within me, an almost rabid need to draw it all into me. It frightened me, and I instinctively let go. It wasn’t fear that it might hurt me, but fear that I might hurt him.
I gave him a worried look only to find him smiling at me with approval and tenderness.
“And you call yourself a monster?” Azrael asked gently.
“Most people—even full-fledged Reapers—fail to resist the lure of appropriating a soul, especially one that would grant them great power. You instantly stopped the moment you felt that temptation. Do you not understand what a beautiful soul you are?”
My throat constricted again at the unexpected compliment. He chuckled when I lowered my eyes like a shy little boy, unable to find the right words to respond.
“For your information, aside from Grim Reapers—and me—other Angels of Death cannot remove someone’s soul without their consent, unless they are dying. You may have a bit more wiggle room on that front, though I cannot say for sure. Time will tell,” Azrael explained.
“So I wouldn’t have succeeded with you?” I asked.
“Correct. The minute you pulled too hard, I would have blocked you. All it takes is for the target to refuse. It doesn’t take magic or any specific abilities.
But beware. You must not take that soul into you, or it will remain permanently trapped within you.
The only option to free it would be for you to go to Erebus, where Charon, the Ferryman of the Dead, will be able to take that soul from you and escort it to its final destination in the afterlife. ”
“Are you saying I could trap Eleni?!” I exclaimed, panicked.
“I’m saying that you need to be careful using that ability, resist the lure of the soul, and immediately redirect it to where you want it to go to avoid the outcome I described,” Azrael said.
I cursed inwardly at the stupidity of the Covenant that always created unnecessary obstacles at the worst possible times.
“Another important thing to watch out for is not to give your own light away. As you will use it to guide the soul, some of your light could end up in the target. It is not a problem for Reapers as our scythes are an extension of us. Charon will only take the soul of the deceased from us. But whenever we give a part of ourselves, it permanently belongs to the receiver.”
“Like the part of yourself that you gave to me?” I asked.
He nodded. “I can never take it back. Only you could choose to return it. Or had you rejected me growing up, then it would have returned to me on its own,” Azrael explained. “Giving away too much of yourself will not only harm you, but it might also leave you in a vegetative state.”
“Damn,” I whispered. “Duly noted.”
I turned back to look at my mate, this time to check if I could see her white flame like I had done with him. To my shock, as soon as I channeled my divine light towards her, a few strands appeared above her head, like glowing tree branches.
“What is that above her head?” I asked.
“Her threads of life. Seeing a mortal’s potential life span is one of your new abilities. Their length indicates how much time the person has left, and the brightness of the thread hints at which outcome is more likely to take place.”
Well I loved that the longest one shone brightest, the fact that the very short ones continued to exist distressed the hell out of me. It was time to put an end to this. I wish I could have practiced the procedure on someone else. But who else could possibly need a soul transfer?
“So tug on the white flame and immediately redirect it towards its desired destination,” I mused aloud.
“Correct. There is no hurry, Lyall. Go slow and steady. And remember not to give yourself away,” Azrael cautioned.
I gave him a stiff nod and sat at the edge of the altar.
I took Eleni’s right hand in mine, and she held onto it with what little strength she had left.
The trust with which she gazed upon me did the funniest thing to me.
As arrogant as I could often be, this task felt beyond daunting.
But at the same time, the strangest confidence settled in my heart.
Pharos and Azrael both said there was a path to success.
My own eyes saw her long thread of life.
And more importantly, my love for her dictated that I wouldn’t fail.
“Ready, my love?” I asked.
She smiled and nodded. “Ready.”
Taking a deep breath, I invoked my divine light and stared at the Amulet.
The soul contained within nearly leapt at me.
The instant greed I previously felt with Azrael struck me even harder this time.
This was my soulmate, the other half of me right there for the taking.
She could entirely be mine, our souls as one, no more talks of leaving for fear she might turn into something too dangerous for me.
No word could describe the potency of the temptation that burned in my gut.
I severed the connection before I could give in and looked at my mate to find the flimsy remains of her soul still within her vessel.
It took me a moment to figure out how to establish some kind of bridge between my woman and the amulet.
And then, I realized that it was just like when I streamed a mystifying illusion towards one of my prey. That changed everything.
Keeping the connection with that white flame, I glanced back at the medallion and started tugging on its contents.
Once more, it seemed to want to rush towards me, but I pushed it away towards Eleni’s white flame.
The part of her soul contained in the amulet resisted at first, seeming determined to drain my mate further or to come to me.
However, the more it challenged me, and the more of my divine light I used to push it forward.
It quickly dawned on me what Azrael meant when he warned me to be cautious not to give myself away.
The closer I got to the seat of Eleni’s soul, the more my divine light wanted to go to her.
I had to hold it back while still pushing her own soul towards her.
It was a slow and arduous trickle as I funneled her back into her vessel.
But as the Amulet started to deplete, the transfer quickly accelerated.
My joy at seeing her finally becoming whole quickly shifted to worry.
Eleni was no longer simply trying to reclaim the remaining parts of her soul from the Amulet.
I could feel her actively tugging at my own soul, trying to draw me in.
The more I resisted, the harder she pulled.
Soon, it felt like a gaping hole of darkness was trying to flood into me through the psychic bridge I had created.
On instinct, I blasted a wave of divine light at that darkness.
It immediately receded, but my mate’s claws shot out of her fingertips, and dug into my skin, piercing it.
I clenched my teeth but didn’t pull away and focused on my task.
As the last slivers of her soul transferred out of the amulet and into her body, Eleni’s features began to shift, taking on the demonic traits I had witnessed twice before, during the battle in the Sanctuary and when the Djarins attacked us.
However, the demonic traits previously looked almost like a ghostly overlay on her face.
This time, a physical reshaping was clearly happening.
Two sets of black horns extruded from her forehead, the main ones about twelve centimeters long flanked by two smaller ones about half their length.
A smattering of dark scales spread over her forehead and the sides of her cheeks, with bone ridges protruding above her brow, giving it an ominous edge.
Around her irises, a glowing gold ring appeared, granting them an otherworldly appearance.