Soulless

Tortured Souls

Year 749; Day 106

The Dormio: Aboveground

We arrive at the Dormio around midday. The journey had been an interesting one; I felt as though I gained nothing by journeying with the band of demon hunters. They seemed upset about failing to catch a mark, with their eyes downcast and clouded with disappointment.

My curiosity grows, as I am eager to learn why such a horrible demon exists in a sacred place blessed with Eternity’s light. We reach the mansion, and the group files in. Immediately, several hunters leave for the armory to shelve their weapons and eat a hearty meal in the dining hall. Many others are scattered around the massive front rooms, conversing, playing board games, reading books silently, or roughhousing with each other. The environment is comfortable and relaxing to the mind, although I do not feel very at rest.

Calix departs to search for Drago, and Matia offers to show us around while we wait. Alastair and I never really got a chance to see the entire mansion. Alastair declines and heads to a quiet area, rummaging around the bookshelf looking for a book to read in peace, I assume. I agree to Matia’s offer and allow her to give me a tour. The mansion is even larger than I originally thought. The library is enormous, with rows upon rows of shelves filled to the brim with books.

The people here must be well educated, Kali speaks. I silently agree with her; speaking to her aloud in front of Matia would make me appear insane. She shows me the assembly hall, filled with hunters currently training on dummies made of used flour sacks that are stuffed with cotton, tied to wooden poles with targets sloppily painted on the center.

The high vaulted ceiling bears several gilded chandeliers holding many white candles. The room, other than the dummies and the humans inhabiting it, lacks anything else. No other furniture or decoration exists. Matia tells me that it is also a meeting hall where they give announcements, and formal events are held there. When not in use for those reasons, hunters use it for training.

As we are leaving, Calix finds us and tells us that Drago is waiting for us in his office. We walk through multiple hallways until we enter the room, where he is sitting at his desk reading some papers. He wears glasses on his face, perhaps to help him read. Faylinn is standing in front of the desk, arms crossed and her foot tapping slowly on the floor.

When Drago notices our entry, he removes his glasses and hands the papers to Faylinn. “Leave those on the table by the door. I’ll have to mail them on my next outing.” The girl nods and hurries out of the room without even giving us a passing glance.

“Well, how was your trip? Find anything useful?” he inquires, smirking.

“No direct information,” Calix replies, sighing.

“But we did experience something strange,” I add.

Drago raises his eyebrows, his red pupils staring into each of our eyes, one at a time. “Strange experiences? By all means tell me what you saw.”

“There was a demon there; but it was hidden. It spoke, but only into our minds, like its consciousness was there, but physically it wasn’t. It attacked me when I prayed at the altar,” I say. I refuse to include that I have a slight hunch that the demon was Eternity. But I can’t be sure on that, so I don’t mention it.

“A demon that attacks humans who pray to Eternity? I suppose it is to be expected, since most demons are creatures that spurn the realm. Although your description of it is strange. All demons have a physical form; I do not know of any demons that can behave as the one you described. Are you sure what you met was a demon?”

“Maybe it isn’t, but it is connected to Eternity somehow. I need to find out why such an awful being like that exists. We thought that maybe something close enough to Eternity would be able to explain things to us. Maybe a soul cast from the realm, or a soul that brushed close enough to it but never made it there completely. Do you know of such a soul?”