Threads of the Soul

One of the statues had spoken? That couldn't be right, of course it couldn't be right. Yet... the voice had come from behind Seth and when he looked over his shoulder, the statues were all that was there. So it had to be one of them, right?

Except it couldn't, because they couldn't speak. Well, they couldn't speak without his input but he certainly did not input everything. So how the hell did one of his five statues speak? Perhaps one of them had developed a curiosity like Bob, I mean he still had no idea how Bob came to be so it wasn't completely off the table. But other than that he couldn't think of how-

Wait... Five?

Seth quickly rewound his train of thought like it was a VHS tape, an ancient relic of the past that only the true elders and those who couldn't get new things growing up, would even remember before he frowned softly at his mental calculation. Glancing over his shoulder at the statues, he quickly counted them just to be sure.

'1...2...3...4...5? What the hell?'

His frown deepened as he moved from simple confusion to utter befuddlement as he thoroughly inspected the statues to find out which was the mysterious new addition. A thorough inspection, however, was not needed as it became plainly clear quite quickly.

All but one of them were wearing stone carved togas and armour befitting of the gods they were depictions of, while the other was wearing jeans, working boots and an Ill fitting T-shirt depicting an eagle wielding guns in front of an exploding flag. Clearly a very American design.

However, just as Seth was beginning to formulate ideas in his head about its possible origin, completely out from his command the statue turned its head to face him and blinked.

"Well? Anyone gonna answer me? What the hell is going on out here? What's with all the racket?"

Seth jumped slightly as the statue spoke again, not in the American accent one might expect from it's very extravagant and outspoken shirt, but instead in a rather thick Scottish accent that even he had slight difficulty understanding. If he had to put it into terms others might understand, it was as if he, a city boy, was meeting someone from the deep country side. With their heavy twangs, slurred speech and terms that only they understood.

"Talk to the boss, She can fill you in."

Finally someone else spoke, the man only known as Fox, as he gestured for the statue to follow him before leading them over to Astra, who was currently looking over the giant and unwieldy corpse of the Shelled Drake.

At the same time, Seth felt a familiar presence slink up beside him. He didn't even have to turn his head to know that it was Cynthia, not that he wanted to. He was too busy staring at the oddly dressed statue.

"That's Alexandra. She's just amazing, isn't she?"

She let out a wistful sigh that tickled the side of Seth's neck, but he ignored it and focused on the information at hand.

"You mean that's a person, not a statue come to life?"

"Of course it's a person you dingus. You have a friend who's made of slime and can control things like puppets, all while you've been travelling with a blue skinned man and a lady who can shoot lightning from her fingertips. Yet your dumbass can't imagine a woman with stone skin? Honestly..."

She had a point, really. He was surrounded by quite a lot of insane and out there things, and he suspected that things would only become weirder as time went on. Who knows what kind of other human mutations were out there and how they would look. Perhaps, like Cynthia herself, they wouldn't even look human at all.

Perhaps going forward, he should just try to keep an open mind and let go of the old definition of a human. Although... in his defence, she had mixed in with his group of statues and looked eerily similar to them, so could he really be blamed for his mix up?

Looking over her again, as she was having a heated discussion with Astra over the events that had just transpired as well as other matters he was not privy to, Seth took in Alexandra's appearance.

Just like the statues, she stood at an impressively towering 7 foot tall or perhaps she was a little bit taller. She was robustly built, with broad shoulders and thick arms that many body builders would be jealous of. Even with her unique skin condition she had a wonderful definition in her muscles, which still rippled whenever she moved. Although the baggy and Ill fitting shirt hid most of her figure, Seth had no doubt that she had a body that seemed like it was, unironically, carved out of stone or moulded from clay.

That's not to say that she was manly by any means, she had plenty of womanly features that Seth felt uncomfortable describing in detail. If he had to describe her in one word, Amazonian would be the only one that truly did her any justice. She was truly the embodiment of the tall, strong and beautiful warrior women that dwelled in the land of Themyscira, as well as in the lustful dreams of many men and women alike.

Her most stand out feature was, of course, her skin. Unlike the statues, which were carved from pure white marble, Alexandra's skin appeared more grey on further inspection. It was as if she had been intricately carved from granite and gifted life from the gods or cursed by the gaze of a gorgon.

The rough stone texture covered every inch of her skin, at least every inch that Seth could currently see. Even her eyes and her hair were not spared from Medusa's curse. Her eyes were solid grey, making it difficult to tell what she was looking at unless she turned her head, whilst her hair shimmered with a deep black that hinted that it was made from an obsidian like material. It was currently pulled back into a low ponytail, although he had no idea if it could even be styled anymore.

Yet, now that the question of what she was had been answered, one more remained. Where did she come from? Surely he would have heard if she leapt from the wall, and he would have definitely noticed if she was mixed in with the crowd of corpse collectors.

Actually that was another question... If they were collecting corpses for the people inside the library, how were they supposed to get them inside? Hoof them over the wall? That seemed impractical.

His eyes drifted to the wall only to notice something that definitely hadn't been there before. In the middle of the wall, right beneath the legs of one of the many giant letter A's, was a hole. Not one that had been punched through, but one that was clearly carved or otherwise manifested. A hole that was, much like the wall itself, clearly marked and labelled as if someone needed to know what it was.

All around the outside of the hole, revolving in a circle like an Ouroboros, was the word 'Hole' over and over and over. Surrounding the entire circumference of the hole it was labelling.

'I guess that's how. What a strange ability. I wonder who has that and how does it work? Bah, questions for later.'

"I have to ask, what's with the shirt she's wearing?"

"She got bigger when everything changed us, It was the only thing in her size when we raided a clothing store. But she is absolutely pulling it off~"

As Cynthia let out another wistful sigh, Seth finally turned his attention to her, only to find the slime girl utterly enamoured as she stared at the stoney Amazonian with literal heart shaped eyes, with her usual cyan hue turning violet. However that didn't last long, her heart eyes disappearing and her expression turning to that of nervous containment as her violet colouring quickly turned scarlet. She even had small bubbles forming inside her gelatinous body like a boiling pot of water.

"Canny believe you lot took that thing down, how did ye even do it?"

A devious smile spread across Seth's lips as he heard that thick accented voice addressing him once again. Slowly turning to face Alexandra, and having to crane his neck up to actually look her in the face, that devious smile melted to one of innocent sincerity.

"Well, I didn't do much. Fox over there had to save me from getting squashed by it, then it was just a lucky shot with a sword that helped the Boss. If you really want to talk to the man, I mean woman of the hour. You should talk to my friend here. We couldn't have done it without her."

Stepping back, Seth gently nudged Cynthia forward so that she was standing in Alexandra's shadow as she loomed over the small, slime girl with a kind smile on her face. Even with the two of them as close together as the ocean to the beach rocks, and with Cynthia's entire body practically turning scarlet, Alexandra simply blinked innocently as she waited for the explanation. Utterly oblivious to what else was going on.

Feeling like a great wing man, Seth left the two of them to their little discussion and happily strolled over to the unpowered corpse collectors. The supposed weaklings like him. Not just to blend in or to help out, but simply because he couldn't miss the delectable feast in front of him.

As his eyes glowed a starling white, Seth gazed over all the corpses and the dazzling array soul remnants contained within them.