Soulless Mate

Ten: Black Smoke

Black smoke engulfed the great hall. There was barely a sight Sayora could make out, except for the Soul Throne where Zeron sat, his legs spread apart as he languidly smoked. His eyes shone a deadly silver-blue, gleaming in the darkness. Harsh, carnal sounds of pain erupted from his throat, clenching his chest. His sharp teeth gritted hard, and the veins on his arms and forehead popped. He was distressed as he always was when he watched a soul's worst nightmare.

"What are you doing here?" he gritted out when his gaze settled on his mother.

"I am here to appease you," she said calmly. Inside, terror laced through her blood at the sight of him. He looked like he would devour her, and that had happened before with a few of his warriors. He could murder if he wanted, and it didn't matter who it was. Without a soul, nothing really mattered.

"No need," his growling voice erupted. "I am fine on my own. Leave before I kill you."

She took a step closer, refusing to leave him when he was agony. In the end, he was still her son, and no matter how much he terrified her or how similar he was to his father, she could never abandon Zeron. She knew she shouldn't compare him to a male who deserved every bit of what came to him, but Zeron never had any remorse for anything he did. Since he was young, his father built him into something terrifying. Zeron had been taken away from her arms when he was a boy and he'd been carved into a brutal warrior. She'd seen how he tortured, and she'd seen how he sucked the souls dry. Sometimes, there would be nothing left of the souls, and they would remain in this world forever.

That was unbecoming. She knew because for decades she'd been the mother of souls. Good or bad, they all came to her, and they all found peace eventually. Zeron didn't give most of them peace.

He annihilated them.

She saw it in his eyes how much he loved destruction, how much he craved sentencing souls to eternal death in this realm. And she feared he would turn into his father, that heartless ruler who wreaked havoc among the Soulands for centuries before he was murdered by his own son.

Closing her eyes, she summoned her souls. It was a brief calling of her mind that connected all the souls to their mother. Sayora was something like a goddess in the Darkworld, and it was because every soul sought to find salvation in her presence. She was the Mother of Souls, the Living Goddess, and the one who granted eternal peace if she deemed fit. But of course, her son also had similar jurisdiction, which was why the souls that never found peace sought Sayora, begging her to convince Zeron to spare them. She never could, and the torment always grew and grew within her. She would hear the cries of the souls every night, and sometimes it drove her to the edge of insanity.

The dripping on the floor accelerated until she felt the drops on her skin, sliding down her hair and face. "Give him peace," she whispered to them. "Take away his agony and he shall grant you eternal salvation."

"Don't make promises I don't intend to keep," Zeron said, his arms clutching the sides of the throne. His silhouette was rising, angling toward her for an attack. She knew she should run, but she was not in danger yet. The souls reached him before he could leave the seat of his throne, and his ragged breathing slowed. His muscles relaxed, and he no longer appeared to morph into a beast. Then his voice dipped as he chanted something in the ancient tongue of the Underworld before he said, "I grant you salvation."

The souls left his body and the black smoke of the room dissipated.

"Those souls have been begging me for years to give them peace," said Sayora, feeling coolness relieve her soul. She could finally breathe without feeling suffocated and agonized. She didn't hear the screaming souls anymore. There was tranquility within her, and she relished in the silence, because she knew she wouldn't have this silence for long. "Finally, you've given them what they needed."