Beyond Souless

Chapter 4: Like Hungry Wolves

      We hit the ground hard. Things were moving around us but we were out, down for the count. We weren't unconscious though our body really thought we were. I felt Toshiro calming as he tried to heal in our dazed state. We were running on fumes but I found the strength to open our eyes. The entire block was a wreck, and just from what we could see, it looked like a bomb had gone off. Windows were shattered, brick was cracked and scorched, cars were toppled over and thrown on their sides, and there in the center of a crater we laid alone. The wraith had vanished and our body was a wreck.

      We moved; the pain was intense but we had to get off the street. My muscles rebelled and my joints cried but we'd have to limp into an alley nearby. People would see me in the center of a crater and assume I'd set off an explosion of some kind. We could hear people still panicking so we knew our window to move was now. The alley held no great comfort but shelter from the gaze of people. We had to move; with the price on my head it wouldn't take long for every spirit with blood lust to come after us.

    As we moved slowly but surely down the alley we had time to reflect on our failure. We got stomped and it was purely our own fault. We had used more than enough power in the fight with that brute, we couldn't even begin to summon enough spirit to combat that wraith. Spirit being the type of power we used to fuel our abilities, despite our spirit levels being higher than average my body couldn't even begin to process all the power Toshiro held. With all of the energy we wasted fighting the brute, healing my mortal wound, and fixing the brute's damage, we were more than drained while fighting that wraith. The question being: what was she? Sure I naturally called her a wraith, and she even called herself one. But I had never fought a wraith like that, not with that kind of power. She really could have frozen Hell over on her own. I had to research this; an ice based ghost with a power greater than anything I'd ever seen. I'd given myself more than enough homework; we needed to go.

    Home was a bad idea; no way we wouldn't run into another ghost with an attitude issue. Worse yet, we could run into that pissed off barista; heaven knows I didn't want to tip her. Toshiro just so happened to remember just how much tip i was planning to give her before I snapped out of her trance. Someone so lovely yet evil really had gotten into my head. I had fallen for her like a love struck teenager getting clotheslined by puberty. She had clearly meant to kill me quick with a "frozen kiss" of some kind before things got violent. Part of me still wanted it; part of me still wanted her.

   I took a moment of my day to smack myself before I turned the corner. I had to get to the only safe place I knew would remain safe. A nice solid brick wall would be perfect for what I needed. I grabbed a nearby stone and focused dragging the stone on the brick making a perfect circle. I knocked a few times in the dead center "Mon o Hiraku," I mumbled as the circle glowed bright. I fell forward and was greeted with the face of a lovely young lady with the apparent strength to hold me up. Her pale skin looked as soft as fur, her beautiful golden eyes watched my wrecked form with interest, her gentle black hair rolled over her shoulders and down her back like a cascade of darkness falling on the night sky. Truly this woman was one of the most lovely people in the world right?

Wrong.

    1.The person before me identified themselves with no gender as i had been made painfully aware multiple times;

    2. This person was a kitsune, a shapeshifting fox ghost who lived in a small pocket dimension they called home. The person in question was a 200 year old guardian who was a good friend of Toshiro and I. Their eternal garden was safe from anyone who would try to force their way into it. It was a safe area for anyone that wanted to enter. That's what I knew and that's what I hoped for.

I needed a break, and watching Toshiro move to meditate I knew he did too.

     "Ah, yes Mizu, thank you for saving my sorry behind when my pathetic spirit levels are at an all time SAD!" They scolded me. To be fair, I'd scold me too, but they were a special kind of mean today. The portal had barely managed to vanish before my fair maiden had started carrying me like excess luggage to a field. "Really now Julian. I told you and your irresponsible tutor here that you need to open your body to more spirit before you could even begin trying to fight real enemies!"

    "Sorry Mizu...but to be fair there is a bit of a bounty on my head -- 10,000 souls for it on a platter," I told her as she laid me in a field of light blue flowers with a slight glow to them. As I lay in the bed of flowers I felt like I'd rested for a week and my wounds were healing faster than I could ever hope to heal alone.

   "10,000 souls huh? Whoever has the souls for this must be more than your average petty criminal with a bone to pick," they said taking a seat next to me. "FIne fine fine. Understand that I cannot shield you for long with a bounty like that on you, but I can tell you how you can get strong enough to survive this. Spiritual divination: when you have a spirit beaten to a definitive end, put your hand through them. In a flash, their greatest power will be yours," they informed me. As I sat up feeling much better than I did this morning, I heard something -- horse hooves beating the dirt. I grabbed Mizu and jumped back as a pitch black figure strode through the field on horseback. It looked like a knight but its armor was dark as sin and its blade looked as thirsty for my blood as a rabid vampire bat. If I was going to get anything new to help me and Toshiro survive, this was a good place to start.

    "Hey Jack o' jerk! Nice riding skills! I know you must struggle with straight lines and simple turns, but I hope you don't struggle with losing!" I called.

    Mizu looked at me and sighed "You think your arrogant ass will survive with no skills and a sleeping spirit?" they yelled as their hands ignited in blue flames. "Don't worry though, I love cooking." In a moment the lovely field had erupted in flames and in the center stood me, Mizu, and Dorothy's lost tin-man.