Liora stared at the book, her hands trembling slightly as she held it close to her chest. Her heartbeat refused to slow. That man—whoever he was—truly knew everything. Not only had he known about her soul sight ability, but he had handed her the very thing that might help her understand it better.
Why?
That one question echoed again and again in her mind. Why would soone like him go out of his way to help her? What did he gain from it? If he truly was a relative or soone close to the original body, why act so mysteriously? Why not just say it outright?
But knowing him, she doubted she’d get any clear answers.
Still, the book in her hands was real. And for now, it was the only lead she had.
A flicker of determination passed through her eyes. She wasn’t going to waste this chance.
She glanced around the forest carefully. It was too quiet, and that made her nervous. Shadows stretched across the trees, and the wind carried the faint rustling of leaves, but nothing more. No signs of wild beasts or mutated monsters—for now.
All she wanted right now was a little peace—just enough to read without flinching at every rustle or fearing so mutated beast would leap out from the shadows. Was that really too much to ask?
She hadn’t even opened the first page, and already her nerves were stretched thin. The thought of being interrupted by a surprise attack while she was finally so close to understanding her strange ability made her stomach twist.
She just needed a quiet place. Sowhere safe, even if only for a little while. With that hope in mind, she searched for a spot.
Liora moved swiftly, her feet barely making a sound on the mossy ground. She found a tree with thick roots and a large hollow trunk that offered partial cover. It wasn’t perfect, but it was better than nothing. She nestled herself against it, pulled her knees close, and opened the book carefully.
The leather creaked faintly as the cover parted.
On the first page, elegant handwriting greeted her—curved strokes, clean ink. Not rushed and definitely not ssy. Whoever wrote this had taken their ti.
"Year 13 of the Fallen Moon.
I never asked for this cursed sight."
Liora’s breath caught slightly as she read the opening line.
"I thought I was hallucinating the first ti I saw it—a pale flicker hovering above a corpse in the battlefield. It looked like smoke at first, but then... it moved. It had eyes. It looked at .
And I... I looked back."
The words chilled her, yet she couldn’t stop reading.
"It didn’t speak. It just stared. I was frozen. The others were screaming around , dying, bleeding—but I could only look at that thing. A soul.
I didn’t know what it was then. I thought I had gone mad. I didn’t sleep for days. Every ti I closed my eyes, I saw it. I saw more. Dozens. Hundreds. Hovering around bodies—so fading, so trying to cling to life.
So whispering.
So screaming."
Liora swallowed hard. She tightened her grip on the book.
"The first ti I touched one was by accident.
I was helping a dying man. He grabbed my wrist and begged to kill him before he turned into an undead. I didn’t. I just held him, and he died in my arms.
But the mont his soul left his body... it brushed against my chest. And sothing inside pulled. I felt it enter.
I scread.
I scread for hours. I thought it would tear apart."
Liora’s hands trembled now. The imagery was too vivid—too close to what she had felt during the mont her soul sight awakened. But she realized she had never seen the soul of a dying person before, and it made her wonder why it was different from hers.
She could only see balls of flickering flas inside people and mutated animals. Was there sothing different about their abilities?
"It didn’t hurt. Not exactly. But it wasn’t natural. I could feel the soul inside like it was knocking on the walls of my heart. I couldn’t breathe.
For days it stayed. I thought it would leave, or rot, or corrupt . But instead... it settled.
And it spoke."
Liora gasped.
"Not with words. But with thoughts. Emotions. Feelings I didn’t recognize as my own.
The man’s final wishes, his regrets, his anger, his sha. I carried them all.
I didn’t understand then—but now I know. The soul didn’t just enter . I absorbed it.
My body, or maybe my spirit, had beco a vessel, but no, I was wrong here."
Liora’s heart pounded. So it wasn’t just about seeing them. This power was more terrifying than she had thought.
"It took nearly three months to learn how to release that soul. I nearly lost my mind trying.
But I discovered sothing. If I focused, if I opened what I now call my ’soul gate’—a place just behind my heart—I could let them out.
Not randomly and uncontrolled. I could summon them. I could command them.
That first soul... he helped . He fought for . He blocked a blade from piercing my chest with his own essence.
I cried that night. For the first ti in years.
He didn’t fade like the others. He remained. Loyal and bound to ."
Liora’s lips parted in awe.
"From then on, I began to train. I learned to pull souls—first from the dying, then from the already living. But not every soul is willing. So fight back. So are too corrupted.
You must learn to judge them. To understand their emotions before inviting them in. A soul full of rage can devour your mind. A soul full of grief can break your heart.
Only take those who wish to remain."
Liora felt a strange pressure in her chest as she read those words.
"The soul realm is not a physical place. It exists within you, a pocket dinsion tied to your spirit. I mapped mine slowly. I found that I could store up to three souls safely in the beginning. Any more, and I would get nosebleeds. Dizziness. Hallucinations.
Now I hold over fifty."
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