Burning Soul

…

“Ah, what a waste!

If you knew it’d fail, why use it?” A shadow far in the distance cursed his partner,

“Wasn’t it fun?

We got some birds roaming carelessly!

Sadly, our baby had to die for us to know our enemies.” Other one answered.

“Relay the report to master, he’d be pleased by it and do tell him, we are bringing the prized trophy as well,

she’ll be a worthy sacrifice.”

Saying this they both dispersed in opposite directions.

…

“So, you are back to senses huh!” Lumiere was the first-person Theo saw when he woke up back at his tavern.

He still couldn’t move much but was awake and in better condition than before.

“What happened!”

He looked around to see everyone worried.

“You dumb idiot,

do you know how long you were out?” Vivian jumped in pulling him by his collar and asking him with wet eyes.

“You..” She was about to say something when Ember pounced on him,

“Ah! I wanted to scold him first!

Why did you do something so stupid, master?” She asked as she sat on him and pulled his cheeks.

Looking at his defeated self Aeneas and others were laughing,

“Interesting kid you got there, Ace!” Lumiere spoke while controlling his laughter.

“So, what about the weapons?” He asked him back bluntly.

“That has to wait!

He needs to be trained to use them first, otherwise, it’d be dangerous to hand him those weapons!”

Lumiere said to which Theo replied with eager,

“I can’t waste any more time!

We have to hurry up or we’ll be invaded before I could do anything!” His reply made everyone silent, they had the idea of what was going on behind them all and they absolutely had no time to spend.

“He’s right!

We can’t waste time!

I know that the gates aren’t broken yet but I’m not sure how long that’ll be the case, also we are being chased by some people, we can’t stay at one place for longer.” Aeneas replied,

“Then how about we train him in here?”

Lumiere then pointed towards an old painting on the wall at his back.

“What do you mean?

Is there anything behind that wall?” Nuae asked out of curiosity.

“How did you manage to get one of those?” Dimitri asked as if he had an idea about what it was.

“That’s right!

It’s one of the only six original Skadi’s paintings.” Theo broke out,

“That’s so cool!

I’ve heard about it in ancient scripts!

I thought they were all destroyed!”

Lumiere let out a laugh and replied,

“Haha, no kid!

The rumour was spread to save these valuable atifacts!”

Before he could finish Vivian, asked, “Can anyone tell me what’s this all about?

What is so special about this painting?”

“I’m surprised you don’t know about this,

It’s an artifact which allows you to travel to one of the six secondary planes of Skadi, the goddess of deception.

And these planes are having a different timeline! The time behaves differently than here. You can spend an entire lifetime and it's just a few days here! That’s why everyone wanted to have this artifact back in those times! You can literally stop ageing yourself while training as hard as you can.

But there’s a catch!”

Hearing him got everyone’s ears pinned to his next words.

“It’s not that easy to train in there! Many of those who went in there never returned.

Right now, as you can see 10 people are fighting over something in there,

that’s the people who lost their souls to the painting. Anyone with low willpower shouldn’t dare to enter in there, but I think he can manage it!” He said looking briefly at him.

“What about us?” Vivian asked him to which he looked back at them from the corner of his eyes and replied,

“You all won’t last much longer!

Didn’t I tell you, it’s not safe for everyone!”

Hearing this everyone got quiet as they knew he wasn’t joking around, and he would be making them weapons, that's generous enough!

“Don’t worry I’ll be forging the weapons in there so when we step out, you’ll have them ready!

Aeneas you are coming with us!

I can’t fight and we need someone to help him train as well!”

Saying this he walked to the painting and placed his hand on it.

Chanting something, the painting started to liquefy and suck in his hand,

“Come on hurry up!”

Theo looked back at everyone before walking towards the painting, “I’ll be back in no time! Don’t worry!”

He then looked at Lumiere and asked, “How long are we going to be in there?”

To his question, he replied, “As long as you can bear it!

Ah! Don’t worry it won’t be long for them out here!

Oye!

Don’t you dare touch any of the expensive wines in there Dimitri!”

He looked at a shadow who was lurking around the shelves averting his eyes!

“Ah!

Go on now, will you?

I’ve got this!” seeing him reply like this Lumiere wasn’t sure of what he was planning but he then stepped in the painting and following him Theo and Aeneas go, for an unknown time.

“Be careful!” Were the last words he heard from Vivian and Ember who were standing there, waiting for him to safely return.