I've always believed that every soul possesses a core. Though I dimly understood that the soul isn't confined solely to its external manifestation, the space occupied by a human soul generally forms a sphere. The energy of their souls may permeate throughout their bodies, but the soul itself—the part that departs upon death—is spherical.
My soul used to be like that, but now it's different. After the false shell shattered, my soul began to twitch and stretch, with tendrils of power extending from the blue core. A long black stripe, tapering towards both ends, ran through the middle like a cat's pupil. It was an eye that never blinked. The tendrils extending from the center writhed and lashed about, stretching as far as they could, freely moving in and out of my body.
No... they moved as I willed. They were me. I am me. My body belongs to me, and so does my soul. I can make them act independently as I desire. With this new eye of mine, my true eye, I could see more clearly. Still looking down, I saw a second Mist Watcher, seemingly brimming with endless tentacles and mouths, blocking the first one. No one else could see it; it ravenously devoured, its thousands, millions, billions of hungry tendrils reaching out to countless islands, greedily snatching away the fruits of people's hard work and dragging them into countless gaping maws.
How beautiful.
Glaldra grabbed the collar of my armor and yanked me back, pulling me from the edge of the cliff and my own thoughts.
"Whoa, you almost fell off," she said, "So, never look down on your own, got it? Every year, quite a few skilled hands lose their lives this way."
My soul stirred, the inner eye writhing as it glared at her, and only then did I snap back to reality. Had I almost fallen off? Yes, I had. I hadn't even noticed. Under Pinta's control, my body was crawling towards the edge of the cliff.
"I... I'm sorry," Pinta stammered to both Glaldra and me, "I... I don't know what came over me."
"Yeah, that's how it is, isn't it?" Glaldra agreed, "I know it's hard to control, but never stare at the Mist Watcher for too long, understand? It's dangerous. And we don't want it to glare back at us."
I suddenly turned my head to look at her, snatching back control of my body from Pinta. Oh no, had I caused trouble?
"I'm kidding, kid," Glaldra said with a grin, explaining, "The Mist Watcher doesn't bother with us mortals."
"Well, but... it did," I told her, still shaken by the encounter.
Glaldra's calm aura instantly ignited, the fire within her burning through my body.
"Are you sure?" she asked, her tone serious, one I had never heard her use before.
"Y-Yes," I squeaked. I had never been more certain of anything. It saw me. It recognized me.
Glaldra swallowed hard, turned to face the edge of the cliff, and her hands moved swiftly. She peered over the edge.
"Run!" she ordered.
"What... what?" I exclaimed.
"I fucking said —!" An invisible hand grabbed me and hurled me towards the carriage. Glaldra leaped into the air, chasing after me.
"Run!" she shouted to the Inquisitors, "Head inland! Quickly! Someone get that bio-mage!"
I flew over the carriage and landed hard on the ground, quickly rolling several times to minimize injury. Even so, something cracked upon impact, but I had no time to worry about that now. The Inquisitors were sprinting towards me, Dacil jumped into the back of the carriage, hoisted the panicked Penelope onto his shoulder, and abandoned the carriage entirely. At first, I thought they were all coming to save me, but they didn't draw their weapons. They weren't charging towards something; they were fleeing.
Glaldra was still airborne, grabbing stragglers and hurling them forward. I didn't want to experience being thrown around by a kinetic mage again, and obviously, Pinta didn't either. She controlled my legs, sprinting in the same direction. We ran off the road and into the forest; there was no choice, the thing pursuing us must be even more terrifying.
As Pinta sprinted, I twisted my soul, my blue eyes meeting the deathly red eyes below. I turned my head to look back, while Pinta controlled my body to keep running forward, the movements of our souls and their brilliant energy resonating in every living being.
"It's coming!" Glaldra shouted mid-air as she turned around.
Although I could see with my soul's eye, before the explosion threw me off my feet, I saw and felt nothing, pain instantly spreading throughout my body, followed by sudden silence. Stone fragments tore through my armor, and in less than a minute, I tumbled through the air again, trying to land with some semblance of dignity or at least with all my limbs intact. Pinta immediately tried to stand and run, but something felt off, and we fell again as soon as we stood up. Looking back, I saw something I never wanted to see up close again.
A tentacle from the Mist Watcher, fifty yards thick, reached up, directly tearing through the edge of the island, the very spot I had been staring at less than thirty seconds ago. That entire piece of land, including our carriage and a large section of the road, was completely destroyed. Stone fragments from the impact continued to fall, and even now, the massive appendage was still flailing wildly near the impact point, blindly grabbing at things. It felt as if the entire island was trembling, as if scraping stones off the land was as easy as spreading butter on bread.
Glaldra stood in front of us, releasing a shimmering barrier that looked like a mirage. Stones hitting the barrier briefly glowed red before disintegrating into wisps of smoke. I wanted to speak, but no sound came out. Judging by the blood flowing from my ears, I might be deaf.
After a few more seconds, the tentacle's rampage ceased. It then retracted, disappearing into the mist, leaving our island slightly damaged. Dust settled quickly, and Penelope hurried to tend to the Inquisitors. I vaguely noticed that two Inquisitors had perished.
I started laughing. The scene was actually quite comical, so I laughed even harder. Of course, I was scared and in agony. A stone had pierced my armor, tearing a large gash in my arm. Had it been a few inches off, I might have been dead. But beyond that? I felt great.
I had always felt like I was trying to move while bound, trying to see while blindfolded. Now everything was clear; I could perceive so far! I waved my tendrils, which could pass through everything except souls and my own body... well, if I wanted, they could pass through my body too. I noticed Pinta huddled in terror at the base of my neck. I giggled again, extending my tendrils to wrap around her, gently stroking her soul. It's okay, Pinta! Her soul was round and soft, and now I could see she was growing tiny, fine soul tendrils too! So cute!
I reached out towards the souls of the two fallen Inquisitors, one red and elastic, tasting like sugarcane, the other soft and fluffy, smelling like a warm hearth on a windy day. I bet I could pull them in without even moving! So convenient, although my tendrils were only a few feet long and couldn't reach them yet! Oh well, I would keep growing. Soon, I'd be able to claim my "prizes." For now, I was ecstatic to be free again!
I lay sprawled on the ground, twisting my tendrils at will, staring up at the sky. Penelope finally approached, placing her hands on my ears and pouring magic into my body. Soon, my hearing was restored. I just laughed a few more times before continuing to fiddle with Pinta's adorable little soul tendrils, making her body shiver.
"Stop... stop it," she pleaded in despair.
"Stop healing you?" Penelope raised an eyebrow.
I snapped out of it and quickly retracted my tendrils.
"N-No! Sorry, I just... sorry," I replied, "Thank you, Penelope."
"Hmmph. Let me see your arm."
I complied, struggling a bit to control both my physical and soul tendrils, careful not to confuse the two. It felt strange but also right. Penelope grabbed my arm and began tending to my wound. As she walked past the people beside me to tend to others, no Inquisitor objected or interrupted. They might not be able to sense death like I could, but they knew what it meant.
Ah, I could move, I could move! How had I never known this before? The constant dull ache that had accompanied me my entire life was finally gone! I felt so much lighter!
"Hey," Frederic bellowed, "Kid, what are you laughing at?"
Laugh...? Oh, I guess I was laughing again, wasn't I? Many Inquisitors were glaring at me. Dacil, Glaldra, and those whose names I didn't know... they had just lost two friends. We had also lost a carriage, a large section of the road, and the island itself was damaged. If it weren't for Penelope tending to so many critically injured people, there would have been even more casualties. We had just endured a great disaster, and I was... laughing. I quickly wiped the smile off my face. This wasn't the time to laugh.
"Sorry," I mumbled, "Just... adrenaline rush. I didn't mean to—"
Like a cat's paw swatting at a fleeing insect, an invisible tendril swept across the two soul fragments I had left behind, only detectable by my now-emerged soul. As it passed through the first target, that soul shattered instantly, the remnants of a person's soul scattering everywhere, the eerie "tongue" snatching up the largest piece before dragging the second intact soul into nothingness...
The look of terror on my face no longer needed to be feigned.
"...Sorry," I whispered again.
I looked at those shattered soul fragments. I hadn't expected the Mist Watcher to simply... shatter a person's soul. Was there really no afterlife? Did it truly devour souls? What did this mean for me? What should I do with these fragments now? Even if it hadn't snatched the fragment the first time, would the Mist Watcher eventually collect them? It had already devoured Roscoe's soul fragment, that bastard. Although I hadn't been sure before, I was now certain—I really disliked gods.
To my surprise, the fragments began to slowly drift back towards their original bodies. Huh? I watched them sink lower, wondering if they were going to fall off the island... until they began to sprout fine filaments.
Oh, they were turning into zombies. I stood up, swaying slightly as I approached the body, extending my tendrils to grab the soul fragments. At the very least, I could prevent the Inquisitors from having to attack their recently deceased friends.
"Hannes. Artemis. May you rest in the embrace of the Watchers."
Dacil spoke softly, dragging the body aside.
"Glaldra, can you..."
"Of course," she said sharply, her shimmering barrier dissipating. With a flick of her fingers, she reduced the body to ashes. "Just two, huh?"
"Yes. Miss Vesuvius managed to save the others," Dacil confirmed, "Grand Inquisitor, do you know what's going on...?"
I saw him trembling. His once-calm soul was now shaking with anger. All the living Inquisitors were mourning their fallen comrades. I didn't actually know them, so it was hard for me to feel the same grief. People die, after all.
"Hmph, I think I know," Glaldra replied coldly, and then I felt that invisible hand grab me by the neck, lifting me off the ground and holding me in her gloved hand. I was startled and struggled, my legs kicking wildly in the air, her soul's heat nearly burning me alive. My tendrils writhed, and my soul screamed in pain and fear.
"The gods don't seem to like this one," she growled through gritted teeth.