(Author’s Note: Continuation of the The Discipline of Sorrow)
---
The soul of the water that rembers answered my refusal with violence.
It rose in a sudden wall and crashed into like a blade.
I managed to move away in ti, despite my tiredness, but it struck my side and cut.
My flesh parted as if sliced by glass. Blood sprayed across the black shore as I was flung backward, rolling hard against the stone.
Oh, what agony ripped a scream out of my throat.
In my misery, the water only cheered, enjoying my suffering.
I clawed at the ground, gasping, my vision warping as more water lashed again—this ti across my back, my thighs.
Each strike peeled open a little more.
"You will give her na," the Soul said coldly, its form towering now, vast and formless, a living storm rising from the lake.
"Or I will carve it out of your pain."
I convulsed as my body shook. Every inch felt like it was on fire.
But still, I held on. Her na.
It was too precious to ... Too sacred.
Chronovore writhed within the flesh I housed it.
It was furious. Unfortunately, it had no true strength.
A thief was all it was.
I was hurt, tired.
So tired, I could not even lift my head.
I coughed blood and collapsed onto my side.
Even right now, words fail in description of my hurt.
And then the thoughts ca.
Death? I was not ready for it. Not yet. How would I face my Elena.
How would I tell her that I was never able to make the Eldritch pay for touching... my precious.
And that was when I saw it.
Near a jagged outcrop at the edge of the shore... a small Soul.
No taller than my knee.
It looked like a living stone mouse—round, rough-bodied, and had tiny crystalline limbs, with dim ember-eyes.
It trembled as it hid behind a rock, peeking out at .
The Soul of the lake that rembers didn’t notice it.
But the little one did sothing strange.
It whispered.
Not with sound like the lake that rembers —but with feeling.
A quiet, urgent pressure in my mind.
’Trust .’ It said. ’It will work.’
I didn’t know why, and I didn’t know how.
But I did.
With a broken groan, I forced myself upright. Blood stread down my arm, soaking the dirt beneath my boots.
"Stop," I rasped.
Surprisingly, The lake stilled.
The towering Soul leaned closer. "Have you reconsidered?" it asked, pleasure dripping from its voice.
I nodded weakly. "I’ll... I’ll give you the na."
The Soul’s surface shimred, and it could have sworn that a smile ford in its faceless currents.
It extended a hand of flowing water.
I raised my own trembling hand and placed it inside.
The cold burned.
I felt sothing pulling at my chest, at my skull, and at the deepest place where mory sleeps.
But just before it could take it—
I spoke. "I rember her smile."
The Soul froze.
"The way the wind played with her hair when she read in the garden," I whispered.
"The way her voice softened when she said my na."
"The way my sons laughed when she scolded them, and how they hid behind my legs like I was a wall that could stop the world."
These were the few happy mories I could summon the my miserable state.
But it proved enough.
The lake scread.
Water exploded outward as the Soul convulsed violently.
Its head slamd into a rock formation again and again.
Its form warped, unraveling.
It shrieked in sothing between rage and pain.
"STOP—STOP—STOP—"
Then it hit . These things fed on negative emotions.
It was only natural for positive ones to have an opposing effect on them.
I took the opportunity and tore my hand free.
The small stone Soul waved its tiny arms wildly, motioning.
’Co! Now!’
I had no choose, and so, I followed. I ran.
Stumbling, and still bleeding, and half-blind from the sheer pain, but I did not stop.
I followed the little Stone soul through narrow stone corridors and into a massive cavern.
Inside were dozens more of them—small rock-like Souls, glowing softly. So were cracked. So were chipped. So barely held together.
Chronovore stirred on seeing the broken ones.
But I resisted its hunger.
These stone souls. They welcod .
They cleaned my wounds with glowing dust.
They offered food. The kind a human could actually digest.
It was crystal fruits and warm mineral broth.
I have to admit, the taste was nothing like I had ever eaten.
It was good. Too good. Almost like it was alive as it seed into my stomach.
As night fell, they sat around and told stories in gentle, echoing voices.
It was beautiful.
The little Stone soul introduced its family.
Even the wounded ones.
Honestly, I felt... safe.
For the first ti since I had bonded with Chronovore, I felt sothing close to ho.
Still Chronovore stirred when it sensed more injured Souls.
’Food’, it whispered hungrily.
But I pressed a hand to my chest.
"No," I told it.
Back then, I was too... innocent for the world I had been plunged into.
Too green.
That night, I slept peacefully. However, I woke up screaming.
Ropes bit into my wrists and ankles.
Tied so tight, even a little wriggle felt like my bones would break.
I was suspended over a massive pot of boiling water. Steam scalded my face.
The little rock Soul that had invited stood nearby.
"Why?" I croaked. As if an explanation would stop my demise.
"I thought... we were friends." I said, filled with injustice.
The little Soul looked sad.
Truly sad.
"I have a family," it said softly. "And wounded ones to feed."
Only now did i look properly, and noticed the wounded ones.
They stared at with anger and hate.
And then I realized.
The crystal fruits and warm mineral broth I consud last night.
It was their very flesh... their limbs.
The stone soul had fed its family?
I stared at it in disbelief.
It replied. "We hurt, but everyone must play their part to survive. Sacrifice breeds success."
I was horrified.
"When we boil you," it continued, "the agony from your death will nourish us for weeks."
Sothing inside went hollow.
That was when I understood.
Nothing in this world was actually good.
Only NEEDED as it was NECESSARY.
And a thought surfaced in my mind—one I felt did not belong to , but to the voice of my late Elena.
> Do not expect the world to be just.
Expect it to be as it is... surviving.
However, Chronovore began to laugh...
(Author’s note: Yes. Stories will pop up from ti to ti. Now, let’s begin Volu 2.)
Reviews
All reviews (0)