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A ripple of cries and protests went through the few captive reapers who were still conscious, but it was Emiliana who proved the most vocal.
“You can’t be serious!” she yelled. “These are your fellow Rainlords! They would certainly have showed you mercy! You must do the same for them!”
‘Don’t listen to her, m’lord,’ said Ustox. ‘Perhaps they would have been merciful at first, but once the full truth came out, our executions would be assured.’
“What ‘full truth’?!” said Emiliana.
Ustox ignored the question.
Rafael spoke up now that the burns on his face were gone. “It’s okay, m’lord. You won’t get in trouble this time. Go on, if you want to.”
Oh, he wanted to. That wasn’t the issue. “But what if Mama and Papa find out? Or Mel? They would never forgive me.”
‘As far as anyone else is concerned, you were never here,’ said Ustox. ‘The battle in this corridor simply grew too chaotic, and we were unable to take any of the enemy reapers alive.’
“No!” cried Emiliana. “You mustn’t kill them!”
Ibai’s eyes widened with anticipation, and he bit his lip. “I-I’ve never consumed a human soul before...”
‘That can’t be true,’ said Ustox, sounding abruptly surprised. ‘To manifest that ability of yours, you must’ve consumed at least a few.’
“No,” said Ibai. “It was only ever animals. I... I tried to think of it like hunting. I even put the meat and fur to use. When possible. So... this is... this is new.”
‘I see,’ said Ustox. ‘I apologize, then. Please forgive my ignorance, m’lord. I thought--well, never mind. We will speak no more on the matter, if that is your wish. I implore you to do whatever you think is best.’
Emiliana was shouting again--something about honor this time--but Ibai had stopped listening.
Ibai truly did not know what to do now. He stared at the reapers with hunger in his eyes. Just this once, it might be okay. He would be able to see what it was like. He had a feeling that humans souls were much more potent than animal souls--and another feeling that reaper souls were stronger still. All he needed to do was crush them with his shadow and then teleport before their ethereal remains disappeared. It would be so easy.
But for some reason, he didn’t. He stopped himself.
A dark serial novel. Set in a modern fantasy world called Eleg. Mature language. Updates every night at midnight PST by ~400 words.
Last page only went up a few hours ago. Careful not to skip it, folks.
ReplyDeleteYES! You done good, Ismael. You made some mistakes along the way, you fell victim to a long con and were forced into some bad choices, but you done good by your boy.
ReplyDeleteAwww. How sweet. I wonder if he might actually be a good person. It really is kind of sad how he wound up being born an aberration just because Parson is so ruthless. At least souls aren't addictive, so he might not lose all of the ground his parents gained in one mistake.
ReplyDeleteI'm expecting Hector will almost kill him before Emiliana can convince him that he hasn't ever consumed a human soul. Its also good that his ability is good in a fight without huge amounts of feeding required, because he can still be useful without hurting anyone.
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh Yeahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
ReplyDeleteDis gun b gud
Feast on their souls! (The souls*?) Either way. Snack time!
ReplyDeleteSee? Even when faced with temptation, he made the right choice. He obeyed the morality his parents spent his whole life trying to instill in him. If he where truly a monster he would have just consumed the reapers without a seconds hesitation.
ReplyDeleteP.s.
If feeding on a few animal souls has made him that powerful, i wonder how strong he would get if he spent a week at a slaughter house consuming a few hundred cow souls every day.
Yes, yes YES! love the story direction! :D
ReplyDeleteSir Frost, you are probably the most creative author I've ever had the pleasure of reading from, as the general concept of this is amazing, and what you've done with it is much moreso. You know just the right mix of giving us action, keeping us on edge, and making us wonder just what's going to happen next.
ReplyDeleteInstilled morals or not, he's got a hell of a set of urges to fight with them. <_<
ReplyDeleteHell, he could just offer to work a slaughterhouse for a while - transport live cows on one side of a building to carcasses with snapped necks on the butcher's floor.
ReplyDeleteTotally cheering for young Ibai right now. I was pretty much expecting him to get a nice tasty snack, leading to an extended ...discussion... with Emiliana. Possibly a fatal one, or at least one mandating a certain iron man's intervention. This is much better!
ReplyDeleteHe's not gluttonous, unlike Geoffrey.
ReplyDeleteI'm really starting to like Ibai.
ReplyDeleteMy heart fell into my stomach while reading this page. I almost cried from joy when i read the "But..." at the end of the page. I felt like a physical weight had been lifted from my person; I honestly felt like I was floating for the briefest of moments.
ReplyDeleteBless you, Mr. Frost. Bless you, sir.
*sniffle*
Thank you for the kind words. I'm glad you like the story. :)
ReplyDeleteNice name, by the way.
<3
ReplyDelete:)
ReplyDeleteI wanted to thank you for all the Google+ vote ups you gave. I just suddenly noticed every post had been +1'd. And I particularly appreciated all the typos you found during your reread. So thanks again. <3
ReplyDeleteJudging from all the comments, it seems he's quickly growing popular.
ReplyDeleteThis comment. I enjoyed it.
ReplyDeleteI swear, if the next page starts, "And then he shrugged. *CRUNCH*" I'm going to be mighty disappointed, Mr. Frost.
ReplyDeleteoh wow! did you steal this from twilight?? Animal souls instead of human ones! Come on! sure I dig it too... but would be cooler if it hadn't been already done in a hugely popular teen chicklit novel
ReplyDeleteOh please. Like this hasn't been done a thousand times with any mythological creature that requires killing sentient beings to live. You give twilight far to much credit, seeing as it doesn't deserve any at all.
ReplyDeleteJust because TZK and The Stormlight Archive both have powers based around physics granted by symbiotic spirits doesn't mean one copied the other. Just because something was done poorly once doesn't mean that the idea was bad, and just because something was done well once doesn't mean the idea will make everything it touches automatically good. Case in point: Most fanfiction.
ReplyDeleteI steal everything from Twilight. Actually, all I do is change the names.
ReplyDeleteIbai has quickly become a favorite character with his musings. His morality, seemingly, seems to be deeply instilled and thorough. But, his childlike nature probably has a fragile psyche, like most children, and will be broken when he learns of what he truly is. I can see Chergoa and Garvel shirking pragmatism to offer him guidance that he likely won't receive from any other reaper. I wish I didn't see him becoming a victim to Parson though. His ability is such a powerful plot device though so we'll have to wait for his role to flesh itself out more. I eagerly await.
ReplyDeleteThe beautiful and tragic element of language is that there are finite ways to show humanity in a monster that needs/lusts for sustenance or many other examples I don't care to recall. Novels tell the same stories over and over,the only differences are the humanities that exist within it or a certain derivative thereof.
ReplyDeleteYah, "vegetarian vampires" were around long before Twilight.
ReplyDeleteThe story of how [Hector], the innocent protagonist, is introduced to a supernatural world by [his] soulmate, [Garovel], before being plunged into a war between two morally-ambiguous factions. Eventually, [he] meets the mysterious [Ibai]. a creature struggling with brutal [soul-eating] instincts and human emotion.
ReplyDeleteYou know what this means.
Love triangle. Hector, Garovel, and Ibai.
IBAAAAAAAAAAAI
ReplyDeleteYEAAAAAAAAAAH
YOU DONE GOOD
I am now imagining Hector just hoarding allies in his huge ass castle over the years, the Elroys, Ibai, Colt and the twins, and many more. Lovin' Ibai. I hope he never pops his murder cherry. God bless sort of innocence!
I'd laugh
ReplyDelete..found this gem-- http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/VegetarianVampire
ReplyDeleteDo animals have souls in this universe?
ReplyDeleteI was quoting that.
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome, Mr. Frost.
ReplyDelete^_^
Indeed they do. There's a little more to it than just "soul" or "not soul," but that'll get explained eventually.
ReplyDeleteThere is hope.
ReplyDeleteJesus this is kind of incredibly frightening on several levels. SO nerve-wracking. But it looks like Ibai might actually not unavoidably become a soul-hungry monster...?
ReplyDeleteThat almost makes it more noble if he does manage to stay good, because he has a much harder time of it for such unfair reasons.
ReplyDeleteNot only is is really sweet how he isn't a murderous psychopath, and an inspiring story of rising above your limitations, he's also totally adorable.
ReplyDelete