Alcingeria Volume Three

Chapter Nine: The Forest of Despair

Chapter Nine The Forest of Despair:

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Giovanni and I quickly found the forest to be a hostile place. I didn't know how long had passed since we first found ourselves there. We stopped to make camp a number of times because we felt tired, but found we couldn't sleep. It wasn't out of stress or fear, we were literally unable to sleep.

"Why is it that we feel tired, if we can't sleep?" I had asked Giovanni. "After a few hours of rest the feeling goes away, but why?"

"I have a theory," he murmured as we walked along. "We don't actually have bodies here. We're only our souls."

"That makes sense I guess, seeing as our bodies are lying dead in the room."

"I think it's more of a mental thing. Or a soul-related thing, seeing as we don't technically have brains. Sleep has become such an ingrained part of the human experience that our expectations of it persist even in death. Due to our lack of bodies and minds, we don't actually need it."

"I'll take your word for it," I shrugged. "That raises a number of questions. Can we die down here, if we're already dead? Where would we go?"

"Good question," he said, looking around. "I assume we'd be back at that garden, but it's hard to say."

"If that did happen, I wonder if I could bribe that goddess again. Do you think she'd go for it?"

"Possibly, but from what you told me I think she'd make you pay more souls each time. If that was the case, we could only die so many times before you ran out of souls."

I thought about that for a second. If we were really only our souls down there, if we existed as them and didn't have physical bodies, could the same be said for every human that died? It made sense. Would it also stand to reason that we could reap those souls for ourselves to further our own goals? What about the souls of animals or supernatural creatures?

I decided not to voice that to Giovanni. I could hardly believe the thought crossed my mind. Then again, what were the odds of finding a human soul outside of Heaven or Hell, where pretty much everyone went anyhow?

"Redmond, watch out!"

His voice took me out of my pondering as he pointed to a shadow moving in the trees to our left.

"What is it?" I asked, struggling to get a glimpse of it.

"I don't know, but it's moving fast."

"I don't have a weapon."

"I don't either, but I have my magic."

"Ha."

We followed it with our eyes, not letting it out of our sight for more than a few seconds. It seemed to vanish and reappear, teleporting short distances rather than running.

"Who are you?" I demanded as it drew closer, still evading clear sight. "What do you want?"

To my utmost shock, I heard it speaking. It was speaking Suli and was apologizing, vigorously, over and over. It was like he was pouring his very soul into each syllable in hopes of pleasing Tolene. Despite the repetition, it felt each word was different in its intonation and despair.

He ran at me with blinding speed and phased right through me. To my surprise I felt immense pain and a loss of energy, as though I'd just run a kilometer or two, and a crushing sadness that rivaled what I felt when I witnessed Minerva being dragged onwards. I fell to my knees as the thing circled back around.