Burning Soul

“So tomorrow it is then huh?” Miot stood up from his seat and spoke up loudly,

“What is tomorrow?” It caught everyone by surprise and Theo was no exception.

“Our journey, you dummy!” Catherine tapped him from behind.

The peel of laughter was visible.

The discussion ended up pretty sooner than planned and as though Amara had some clues to share and pointers on the mechanisms in the ruins as well.

“Be careful when you explore that place, whatever resides there, it’s ominous!”

She shared her concern with everyone. “And let us show our hospitality to you as well!”

“Us?” Milot looked around and there was no one to be seen, “Aren’t you alone? Or you are addressing yourself in plural now!

I know you have grown old….” As he finished his talk in his usual teasing tone, a bolt of lightning hit him yet again blackening him out for good.

“This way please!” A maid appeared out of nowhere kind of surprising everyone. “Did something happen?” she looked at the surprised faces of everyone,

“No, it’s just that we didn’t see you anywhere around when we arrived or even right now, there was no trace of you coming.

I’m sure I didn’t sense your presence!” Catherine explained to which she laughed a bit and replied with a smile,

“That’s because I’m not a living being.”

…

Theo had a blank expression, ‘Not a living being? What does that even mean?’

“Let me fill you in!” Amara had a smile on as she said, “She’s a spirit bound to this place.

Unlike living beings, she doesn’t need to be in this form all the time and can just chill in the spirit realm!”

“Spirit Realm!” This got Theo intrigued, “Yeah, Do you have any questions regarding Spirits or anything?”

“Yeah, ever since that day I’m unable to communicate or draw out Himari.

I don’t know what happened but whatever it was, it blocked me out for good!” Theo explained trying to call out for Himari, “And also I lost the Sigil, but I’m not sure how that’s connected!” He waved the cut off arm while explaining the situation

“Oh,

I remember what you told me, that little confrontation did make you lose a lot in the blink of an eye.

Well, I’m not very well versed in Sigils and heavenly magic…”

“Heavenly magic!

That reminds me, Theo wasn’t it some God who gave you that Sigil, what was his name again…” Catherine tried to remember,

“Regis!

He said his name was Regis or something and there was someone else with him too,

Va...Val.”

“Valkyrie?” Catherine recalled her name,

“Yeah, Valkyrie. They were crazy strong if I remember correctly!” Theo continued with shining eyes.

“Interesting!” Was Amara’s reply.

“She took out Lamius the Ace of Hammer or something in just a few seconds. Her power was crazy!” Theo spoke as if a child was speaking to its mother.

“That’s in the past but he’s in outbacks too, we have to watch out for him as we travel” Catherine filled her in with their situation.

“What is Himari?” Amara asked him in a curious tone, “what is it that can interact with the spirit realm, is it some spirit as well?”

“She’s… I’m not very sure, to be honest!

She’s like a spirit that can talk and all but also transforms into a weapon!

Oh she mentioned she has a twin whom she’s looking for!” Theo seemed rather confused,

“So she’s a spirit weapon! And you can't communicate with her, hmm not something you’d hear every day!

Tell me did you cast any spell or curse upon yourself when you transformed? Or maybe something odd that you can tell?”

Theo and others gave it a thought and couldn’t make anything out of what happened.

Aeneas was already fighting with Ersa and as for Catherine, she was there but wasn’t focused on Theo and he kind of transformed out of nowhere,

Then Catherine remembered something, “He wasn’t himself if I remember, I mean he was under some kind of control spell and he even dragged out Himari during the fight against her will.

I mean that’s what Aeneas told us while we discussed earlier.

Could it be…”

“Corruption!” The maid replied in a low tone,

“Pardon my intrusion, but if a spirit being is commanded under grief circumstances or in your case, under influence, there is a chance that the spirit could get corrupted.”

Everyone was silenced, a corrupt soul wasn’t something anyone wanted to deal with, it was one of ht most dangerous things to even think of.

“Well, it ain’t something you should be afraid of!

As you said it’s an artifact-level spirit weapon so it won’t be that easy to get corrupted. Maybe she’s just recovering her strength or even healing up, you never know!

We could perform a check but that’d take some time and few things.” Amara explained the case.

They looked at Milot and Catherine to confirm what they had to say about it, “Hey, isn’t it important to know her situation?

I’m not sure about what you people are talking about but seems this spirit is super important.” Milot replied to him,

“But that’d take some time. Will that be okay?

Or I can stay back while you go and explore…”

“Idiot, we are all in this together so stop saying you do this you do that!

And what is a day or two going to cost huh?

Is it important that that?” looked like Catherine was angry for some reason and it startled both Theo and Milot.

“You heard the lady!” Amara laughed at the faces of both of them, “it been a while since I have such lively people as my guests,

I hope you won’t mind either.” She looked at the guards and mages in the back who were relaxed.

One of the young mages replied almost instantly, “O...Of course,

Of course, we don’t mind lady Am…Amara! It’s an honour to be in your care nonetheless!” just as she finished she kind of bit her tongue and tried to hide her embarrassment.

“Aww sweety you don’t need to stress yourself,

I’m sure my image outside these walls is thanks to a few people.” As she said she looked at Milot making go shrink in the recliner.

“Anyways, I understand your concern and we’ll do whatever we can in our powers to assess the situation.

I can’t promise anything but I’ll say this, we will do whatever we can to solve it okay?” she grabbed his cheeks in her hands,

“Ahem, so dinner…” the maid reminded her of the dinner that she almost forgot about.

“Forgive me, I can’t hold myself back with such sweet people.

Let’s us discuss over the dinner about the materials we will be needing for the spell.”

She got up from her seat and everyone joined her, “spell?” Theo raised the question.

“Yeah, it will be a detection spell, we need to first know what’s wrong with your soul! If you are unable to channel the energy to communicate with the spirit realm there should be something wrong inside you.

Don’t worry, if you are alive that means it’s nothing to worry about but we should look for clues, right?” She continued

“Wait it’s that serious?” Theo replied in a scared tone.

“Rest assured, as I said if he’s alive it’s all good and well. It’s just we should be cautious.” Hearing her it was clear she knew what she was dealing with.

“That’s reassuring but…”

“But this but that… no…

No more but.” Amara shushed Theo by putting her finger on his mouth.

They all then proceeded to follow her to the dining hall.