The Virtues' Magecraft

Page 34: Perceiving the Soul

"Don't let them get away!" Gabriel cried.

All the Virtues except for Giovanna and Alexander dashed forth.

Their movements were slowed and unsteady. With their minds wrapped in magic and memory until just seconds ago, the Virtues stumbled as they burst forward at their attackers. But they wouldn't stop.

Kafka swallowed his dry saliva. Running alongside Matthias, he gripped Alonso's severed arm. Blood was still gushing until a flash of light appeared from Kafka's hand. And even as they ran, Alonso stopped bleeding and a new hand grew and formed onto his cut wrist.

As soon as he had healed Alonso's wound, he let go and broke apart from the other two.

Alonso was delirious with pain. Matthias was too scared to think. Right now... Kafka was the only one who could decide what to do.

"Split up!" he shouted.

Matthias nodded in understanding and separated himself from Alonso. And with their separation, the Virtues split up as well.

Liam stared at Kafka before he turned and ran, separated from the others. Kafka, the lanky man whose skeletal frame peered through his garments, had just healed a severed limb. His magic had created an entire appendage from pure energy. From thin air.

By all laws of magic, that wasn't possible.

In any case... That man was the biggest threat.

Liam grit his teeth. "I'm going after the malnourished one!" he shouted. "Stay with Gabriel and Lumiel!" he ordered Giovanna.

She nodded and took in a deep breath, sprinting through the trees to catch up with the others.

With just a handful of seconds of a head start, Kafka wasn't fast enough to avoid Liam. And so... He stopped himself as soon as he reached a branch of the river.

Even if it was just a stream, it was too wide and too deep to cross.

Liam ram past the forest until he reached Kafka. He stood still, facing the stream, just a few feet from the water.

If he wasn't careful, the man would jump into the stream and escape. Considering the danger they were all put in, Kafka's escape was not something Liam could accept.

He reached behind his belt and gripped the hilt of his dagger. He let out a soft breath, mist filling the chilled wind.

Before he could take another step, Kafka spoke.

"Tell me..." he said. "Does the body conform to the soul? Or does the soul fix itself to the body?"

Liam furrowed his eyebrows. He didn't want to humor this man with a response. Liam didn't know what he meant to begin with.

Kafka spoke again, however. "Y'know, like the chicken or the egg. Which came first? The soul or the body?"

Thin bronze claws had already begun to protrude from Liam's fingertips. "...The latter," he muttered.

Kafka smiled. His amber eyes finally met Liam's as he spoke. "Wrong."

"The soul always comes first. You- Whatever your name is- are just a soul. You being 6 feet tall or whatever, brown skin, brown eyes, every single minuscule thing like that... is meaningless. Your soul is the only thing that matters within your existence."

He continued. "That's my magic," Kafka confessed. "What I did to my 'brother' was the reason why you chased after me. I didn't heal him if that's what you expect. I simply reinforced the shape of his soul."