Threads of the Soul

Over the next two weeks, within the small community huddled inside of the confines of the library, things had become rather... tense. Although they had stumbled across a wealth of food, or more like the food had stumbled across them, and their people were growing stronger, it didn't solve their problems.

In fact it seemed like having better access to food and a more secure home opened up more issues that had festered within the little community of survivors. When everyone was starving, they would often band together to solve the overwhelming issue or put smaller matters to the side to focus on the important stuff.

However, now that the important stuff was solved, for the most part, those smaller matters that had been shoved to the side started to rear their ugly heads once again. People began to lose their cohesion, working for a variety of different motivations rather than just for the group.

Hierarchies between the common people began to form and became more prevalent. Not to mention, with the power gap between the 'unevolved' and the newly transcended tier ones, many people were retreating further and further into the safety of their cliques. They feared what people could do with these overwhelming powers, they worried about what little they could do to stop them if they did such terrible things.

It didn't help that the more power others like Seth gained and displayed, the more certain people coveted it for themselves as they dreamt of all the things they could do with them. Their greedy, lustful dreams that also happen to be the utter nightmare of others.

Whilst they were falling apart and on the verge of attacking each other on the inside of the Library, the situation on the outside wasn't much better. Although they had vanquished the crimson hobgoblin and the army that he brought with him, it was clear that Seth's unease at the hobgoblins smile was not unfounded.

Throughout the weeks, they were still being repeatedly bombarded with attacks, sometimes during the day and sometimes during the depths of the night. Normally this wouldn't be cause for concern, after all there were still an entire city's worth of beasts and monsters to deal with. It wouldn't be completely unheard of if their large group of warm and pungent bodies attracted some kind of predators into their midst. While this was true for the most part, there were a few conveniently timed attacks that were all too unsettling.

The fact that their attackers were often wearing metallic collars inscribed with crude, jagged runes did not help dissuade the thought that there were more of them out there.

All of this, from the bickering civilians and the monster attacks to the looming threat of another army arriving at their doorstep at any moment, meant that poor Seth was incredibly busy.

The nature of his ability had always lent itself well to the concept of multitasking, since he could quite literally be in multiple places at once. But between studying with his teacher, multiple back to back shifts on guard duty and constant meetings under the guise of Corvus, which were usually just the so called 'leaders' bickering, Seth was utterly exhausted spiritually speaking.

Whilst in his previous life sleep had been a cruel mistress, as he did not visit her nearly as often as he should have, now it had become a completely foreign concept to him. He did technically sleep, but that technicality came from the fact it was only his body resting. His mind, or perhaps it was his soul as it was unclear where his consciousness and self resided at this point. Whichever it was, his consciousness was constantly active.

Whenever he laid his head down to rest and let his body slip into sleep, he would simply use his new ability to possess one of his puppets. The rest of his real body would somewhat rejuvenate his mind, even when he was still actively conscious, but not enough for him to not feel terrible after a week straight of this.

Taking possession of his real body once again, Seth let out a long yawn as he sat up straight. Wiping away the drool that had gathered on his lips, he shook the sleep out of his body and went back to his studying. He didn't even bother to leave the seat anymore, it was too much wasted time. If he was needed elsewhere, he'd just let his body sleep face down on the desk. Although this method had some... ahem, Side effects.

Grumbling softly to himself, Seth tossed the drool covered pieces of paper to the side. He had been practicing writing his runes on them, but now they were little more than soggy napkins.

'There's got to be a better way to do this. Teacher can do them in just one pen stroke, even into solid wood. Yet I can't keep my paper from turning into anything but damp mulch.'

Tapping his fingers rhythmically against the table, Seth racked his brains as he tried to think of a better solution than constantly ruining his notes every time he had to leave before pausing when a revelation struck him. If this was a cartoon, he would have a lightbulb appear over his head.

His shimmering, silver eyes drifted down to his fingers as they tapped the same video game tune he always hummed whenever he thought. Raising his hand up to his face, he let a single thread extend from his index finger as it swayed softly in the air like seaweed in the ocean currents.

'He can do it in one pen stroke... So why not practice with just one line?'

To others it might look like Seth was simply staring off into space, no doubt his brain fried from all of his studying. But in Seth's eyes, he was concentrating deeply on controlling his threads in a new way. Treating the end of his spectral thread as the start of the pen stroke, he slowly drew out the rune bit by bit.

The majority of his concentration came from trying to hold the forming rune in place, since his threads didn't like being tangled up, as well as changing the thickness of his threads in particular places where the pen stroke should be thick or the carving deep.

It took a few dozen tries to get that technique down, but he was finally getting the hang of it, at least with this particular rune. For the last few days he had been focusing on the rune for fire, and this was no different.

It was mainly because it was one of the most basic runes to draw as well as an incredibly useful one to have. If he could perfect this, then they would be able to use it to heat their food instead of relying on electric mini stoves, as well as make incendiary weapons.

But as he was forming the rune for roughly the hundredth time, he felt like something was off.

When he finally figured it out, Seth felt like smacking himself for his stupidity. He had been so focused on doing it all in a single stroke, he overlooked the fact that this rune couldn't be done in such a way, all because of a little extra dot in its composition.

Deciding to simply blame it on the lack of sleep, Seth summoned another thread and guided it into the composition while holding the original in place. It was tricky, but not impossible. Curling the end of the additional thread into a ball, he added it in its rightful place and finally completed the rune exactly as it should be.

'There we go! I knew I would get it eventually, not so diff-'

As if to stop his thought before he could make a fool of himself, or raise any sort of red flags, beads of energy pulsed outwards from his soul and, like blood pumping from a heartbeat, they travelled slowly up the length of his extended threads. When the small beads of soul energy reached the rune, it raced through the body of the rune that was hovering directly in front of Seth's face, lighting it up like a neon bar sign.

The hovering, spectral rune flashed white for the briefest of seconds, before the light turned red and a miniature inferno burst forth from the simple written word. The blaze only lasted for a mere moment, since in the panic of having a fireball in his face Seth lost his concentration and let the rune collapse, however it still burned for long enough to singe his eyebrows.

'Well now... That is interesting. Unexpected, but interesting.'

He took a few moments to dab out the embers still sizzling in his eyebrows before constructing the rune again, this time pointed away from himself. It was still a little difficult, but he had learned from the last time.

Once again, when the final piece was placed and the rune was fully drawn, a pulse of energy travelled up through the threads and lit up the rune, turning it into a small, crackling fire that hovered in the air.

The fire, although it was burning on the threads connected to his soul, caused him no harm whatsoever, but he could feel it sapping away at his spiritual energy, his mana, to keep itself ablaze. Yet even with the small, runic fire gradually draining him of energy, Seth couldn't take his eyes off of it as he laughed softly.

The shadows within the room darkening under its flickering light, a light that was reflected in Seth's giddy eyes as well as a pair of eyes lurking in the shadows behind him.