Sunday, August 17, 2014

Page 794

“I’m not sure I can do that,” said Lynn. “I’ve always been trained to keep a cool head during a fight. Be as close to emotionless as possible.”

“That is understandable,” said Haqq, “but you see, it is also your problem, not mine.”

Lynn’s mouth flattened.

“Regardless,” Haqq continued, “after your power grows again, I would appreciate it if you paid me another visit so I can take new measurements.”

“I don’t think I’ll be doing that,” said Lynn. “It sounds like your problem, not mine.”

They exchanged irate looks.

And for some reason, no one else seemed to be asking the obvious question, so Hector had to force himself to interject. “Uh... Mr. Haqq, uh... you said, Lynn’s power can actually grow? H-how?”

“By absorbing human souls, of course. The same as with aberrations themselves.”

Hector saw Lynn’s expression sour.

“I suppose that I should also mention that your secondary ability is your only means of absorbing souls,” said Haqq. “Incineration, you said it was?”

Lynn nodded. “What does Incineration actually do?”

“It ignites anything your shadow touches. And the ensuing flames cannot be extinguished by any physical means. Only yourself or some overwhelming soul pressure will be able to put them out. And to absorb a soul, you would only need to set a person on fire.”

Would it work on servants?’ asked Garovel.

“No, it cannot absorb a servant’s soul. But the flames will certainly cause them difficulty. And of course, it can still absorb a reaper’s soul. When you set about testing it, I suggest you be extremely careful. If you hurt any innocent people in our territory, accident or not, we will hunt you down and take that gauntlet from you by whatever means necessary.”

Lynn looked rather displeased by all of this information, and Hector didn’t feel much differently. He did not envy her position. If the only way to grow his power was to consume human souls, he wasn’t sure what he would do. Even if someone was a bad person, did they deserve to have their soul eaten?

“What happens to the souls I absorb?” Lynn asked.

Haqq tilted his head slowly. He looked like he wanted to ask what she meant, but after a moment, his expression settled, and he seemed to get her meaning. “There is no scientific evidence to support the idea that the souls you absorb retain any kind of consciousness.”

13 comments:

  1. Apologies for the lack of pages yesterday, folks. A family visit had me out way later than I expected, and by the time I got home, I was exhausted.

    Anyway, this week, I'll be doing the normal pages like this one and also finishing off the donation bonuses from last week. You can expect at least one more page today.

    ReplyDelete
  2. The speed you put out content is already ridiculous, Mr. Frost, no worries about missing an update.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Huh. That doesn't discount souls being trapped in such a way that they do not exchange any information with the outside world, or them being shuffled into another plane of existence, or Haqq's methodology not being rigourous enough.

    Also, get your metal tested already, Hector!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hmm. Incineration is interesting. Domination had obvious ways to get stronger: control more people, change body, and it was said Geoffrey would eventually have gotten the power to turn his slaves into monsters, had he lived.


    I'm not sure how Incineration could improve, except by requiring more soul pressure to extinguish. Which probably means Frost is going to surprise me. Can't wait for Lynn to start practicing.

    ReplyDelete
  5. more and hotter fire perhaps?

    ReplyDelete
  6. Accelerated reaction, maybe - a high-level Incinerator could incinerate anything it's shadow touches in a split second. Perhaps more advanced techniques, such as napalm? Burning away the soul while leaving the body untouched, thereby inducing the zombie like state of a servant without a reaper? Burning away a servant's body, then leaving the head to smolder with undying flames that keep a reaper from getting close enough to revive the soul? Creating a precise flame that consumes a servant entirely and burns them at precisely the rate they regenerate? Creating flames that react to a reapers presence, alerting them to any intruders? Burning away aspects of the mind?

    ReplyDelete
  7. Flames that spread/spread faster?

    ReplyDelete
  8. anyway to subscribe to get an email when new chapters come out. not rss feeds all i get with them is a huge load of script.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Now this is a good way to start a Monday morning at work.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Where do you live?!

    ReplyDelete
  11. South Africa.
    It's GMT+2 here and is now 12:30 PM.

    ReplyDelete
  12. whatever means [are] necessary

    ReplyDelete
  13. The "are" is optional there. Appreciate the check, though.

    ReplyDelete