Threads of the Soul

Raising his eyebrow at the glittering orb floating in the air, Seth watched it curiously as it danced out of the way of Omelette's snapping jaws. It was kind of like he was watching a house cat playing with a laser pointer.

Such a metaphor wasn't helped when Omelette finally clamped his jaws around the floating orb, only for it to drift through his clenched teeth like a ghost. A fact that made the Wyvern huff out smoke in annoyance, while Seth couldn't help but chuckle softly.

"Aww, Don't pout buddy. You'll get the next one, I'm sure."

Reaching forward, Seth scratched Omelette's head softly, making sure that he didn't ruffle his perfectly preened feathers too much. He didn't need to give the Wyvern yet another reason to be pouty, and little Om was very particular about his feathers.

Turning his attention back to the fairy-lights dancing through the air, Seth watched as it bounced its way over to Omelette's head and wiggled slightly, almost as if it was imitating his actions. He could swear that, as it was pretending to pet Omelette, he could hear a faint giggling, like a tiny bell ringing softly in the distance.

Mutterings and gasps of awe brought his attention to the rest of the travelling group, who were looking up with whimsical delight as even more glistening orbs descended from high above, filling the air like stars in the night sky.

Dozens of fairy-lights pranced throughout the travelling group, weaving between people and drifting through the air in an utterly carefree manner. Many people tried to touch the lights, and while some of the lights dodged the grasping limbs, others would rest in outstretched hands for a few seconds before moving on.

They seemed to move with no purpose, no care and no worries. But Seth's eyes noticed a little something extra. Every time they would find themselves floating near the puppets, like jellyfish drifting in the ocean currents, they would always bob and weave their way around the threads connecting him to the puppets, just like the Wraiths used to do.

Before, he was under the suspicion that these lights might be some sort of illusion, something cast by the Hemogoblins to distract them before an ambush. He still wasn't completely sold that such an idea was wrong, but that sight at least told him they weren't an illusion.

They were spiritual in nature.

If they avoided the threads just like the Wraiths did, all those weeks ago, then it stood to reason that he could consume these just like he did with other soul remnants. Who was he to pass up a free meal? Even if they didn't give many points, they would still give some and every little bit helped.

However, just as he was starting to extend a new set of threads to dine on his self-serving meal, a little voice whispered in the back of his mind. It wasn't his conscience, but his guardian Angel.

[Don't.]

'What? Why not?'

[Look properly.]

Frowning slightly, Seth focused on the orbs once again, staring at them intently as if he was missing something obvious. Of course, it eventually hit him that Angel was referring to his other type of sight when they said 'Look properly.'

He closed his eyes for a second, drawing the mana to his eyes before opening them again. His silver iris' glowing a startling white, contrasting deeply against the black sclera, as he gazed over the situation once more. Yet what he saw made his heart turn to ice in his chest, his eyes trembling in despair as he stared at the wisps.

In the world of muted colours, Seth could see the luminous orbs filling the crowds, but those were the souls of the crowd themselves, of the people who he was leading to safety. Their true forms reduced to little more than a blurred silhouette surrounding the flickering flame of their soul.

As for the wisps, they were no longer little balls of glimmering light. Instead in their place, almost as if they had swapped places with the crowd of civilians, were the spectral forms of dozens of people.

Men and women alike, with a variety of wounds covering their spectral bodies, which glowed with the same white light as Seth's eyes. Streaks of black blood marred these wounds, from slits across the neck to gashes in their chests. Every one forced to carry a gruesome and eternal reminder of their death.

Craning his head back around, Seth gazed in stifled horror at the lone orb that had been rubbing against Omelette's head. His guess had been right, it was copying his actions.

For now that he was looking properly, he could see that in place of the wisp he was about to devour, was the ghostly form of a young girl, who was smiling happily as she rubbed her hand against the top of Omelette's head.

A joyful smile etched onto her adorable face as she pet him, even though her fingers were passing harmlessly through his feathers. Yet that fact didn't seem to dissuade the young girl, who didn't even look like she had reached puberty yet, as she continued to pet the feathered Wyvern.

Her melodious laughter constantly ringing out was eerily beautiful. It was almost enough to distract Seth from the fact that there was a noticeable gap between the girl's neck and the rest of her body. Almost.

Unfortunately, he couldn't stop himself from staring at that gap, and the black blood that lingered around the stumps of her neck as her head floated an inch above the rest of her body, although it didn't seem to be an issue for the ghostly girl.

As she turned to look at Seth and gave him a half-hearted, slightly awkward wave, her head followed as if it was still attached to the rest of her body. He was so lost in his own mind. still staring at that bone chilling eternal wound, that Seth responded on instinct and gave a gentle wave back.

A movement that utterly shocked the little ghost girl, whose eyes snapped open and jaw dropped.

Seth could see her lips moving, he could see that she was speaking, but the words failed to reach him. He could barely hear a muffled mess of garbled sounds, as if she was trying to speak to him through a raging hurricane instead of the eerily still air that surrounded them.

Seeing that her words were useless, the girl pouted slightly before looking over Seth's shoulder, speaking more barely audible garbled mess, but Seth didn't need to hear these words to understand their message.

Whipping his head around and gazing at the crowd of ghostly figures with wide eyes, he found them all suspended in the air remaining utterly still. Every single one of their eyes, even those who no longer had eyes, were focused on him and him alone.

One by one, they began to drift towards him, moving through people's bodies as easily as they did the air itself, their eyes never leaving Seth's gaze, until he was facing down a tide of encroaching spirits.

Before he could formulate a proper response, his brain still struggling to process the sudden horror movie he had been thrust into and the possible murder he was about to commit, a pair of tiny hands gripped his shoulders.

An icy breath danced along his neck and tickled his ear, the muffled words finally reaching his ears as they were whispered directly into them. It was just two words. Two simple words spoken by the severed head of a ghostly girl as he stared down a true army of the dead.

Those words?

"Help us."

The words echoed in his mind, the young ghost repeating them over and over as she clung to him desperately. Her harmless little hands digging into his shoulders, making it feel as if his bones were turning to ice, as she endlessly pleaded for help.

As more and more of the spirits drew close, each disfigured in their own eyes and cursed to display the gruesome way in which they died, they two joined the chant. Repeating those same two words over and over, as they reached out and began to paw at Seth with their bone chilling hands.

Just as one, who had half of his face torn off by god knows what, was leaning in close so that all Seth felt like he could smell his rancid, ghostly breath, Seth snapped his eyes shut and quickly turned off his 'Soul Sight'

When he next opened his eyes, the world was back to its bright and colourful self, as he was surrounded by a dazzling array of twinkling lights that adorned him like a Christmas tree.

Yet even when he was no longer blessed with the ability to see their horrific forms, he could still hear those words echoing within his mind, reverberating like a gong and never letting him forget what he had witnessed.

"Wow, You're popular huh? They really seem to like you."

He heard a jovial, carefree voice speak from beside him, a living voice this time, as a fellow squire joked with him as he walked alongside.

Still unable to take his mind off of what he witnessed, Seth simply turned his head and gave the other squire a weak, unconvincing smile.

"Yeah... Just lucky I guess."