Halls of Splintered Souls (Wandering Souls #1)

Chapter Seven: The Shadow

The loss of Suzanne Harper left family shocked. Despite the suspicion of neglection, it has been investigated that the Harper family was very supportive towards the deceased. Her unusual behavior prior to her death was a mystery to her parents. Suzanne was an honor roll student during her first and second year and was known to have many friends.

Everyone thought she committed suicide...

...but I know better.

Suzie wasn't the first to notice my ancient magic, but she didn't know that. She thought she was special, she thought she was the only one who ever tried to free the splintered souls all over the Arce Umbra.

The souls, the poor, restless souls. There were hundreds of them here. Some are far stronger than others.

Clement Radufe was, and is one of the most powerful souls. He never truly understood how souls and spirits and ghosts work, even though he is a soul himself. He only understood that every soul has a medium. His medium is the water in the lake where he drowned. That's where his soul resides. He could venture all over the cursed grounds with his powers, but he would always end up back in the cold unforgiving lake, like the first time he died.

Suzie was one of the few conjurors who studied spirit magic. This gave her the ability to see him, to touch him. It was what people called the sixth and seventh sense, and her talents made both of hers incredibly powerful. She was not the first to notice and acknowledge the existence of the souls, but she was the first one to actually interact with them.

Clement knew with absolute certainty that he's dead. He has been since last century. But something about being touched by her, by the living, was so tempting that he indulged her, made her believe he loved her. And she loved him. Oh, how she loved him. She believed that she would find a way to unite the two of them, to erase the barrier of life and death.

He kept their relationship that way for a few months. He liked the illusion of being alive. Suzie made him feel like he never died. But he noticed changes in the pure, innocent girl. He saw her wither, like a rose slowly wilting away. And he realized then, he was leeching the life out of her. He was sucking her dry of all the things that made her alive. He was turning her into a living corpse. And he realized he needed to put an end to the encounters.

Spending time with the dead made her forget the living, exactly like I planned.

Clement thought he was doing her a favor when he stopped showing up when she looks for him. When the truth was, he doing me a favor, not her. He played right into my trap.

He spent more time in the woods by himself. Souls barely interact with one another anyway. They were in the same place, all hundreds of them, but in different mediums. Like being in the same room but listening to different tunes on different headphones.

One night she caught him by the willow tree. She looked worse than the last time he saw her. And it isn't right. He stopped taking her life spirits, so she shouldn't look so... dead.

"Why did you not appear when I called?" She asked, crying.

"It isn't right for us to be together," he choked.

"And why not?" she sniffed.

"Because I'm dead, and you know that."

She sobbed harder. He felt the guilt gnawing at him. Why did he make her think they could be more?

"It's okay," she began, "I'll find a way. I'll ask another soul. It's okay."

Clement did not ask what she meant.

***

He saw her again in August, on a summer night. She was smiling. He was glad at first. But then he noticed something eerie. Suzie was glowing with a familiar aura. And then he gasped in terror.

Suzie was a soul. She was dead.

"What did you do?" He half shouted at her.

"I told you. I'd find a way." She beamed.

"You killed yourself?" He truly shouted this time.

She scoffed. "No, that would be a waste of spirit. I willingly gave my life to the shadow."

His eyes widened in terror. The shadow. He only knew one person who ever called me that. And it's the one person that killed him. The one person he trusted the most, who betrayed him.

The memory was distant, practically lifetimes ago, but it burned fresh in his mind. He had been walking after lessons with Baekhyun, he told Baekhyun he wanted to leave Arce Umbra. He wanted to leave magic and conjuring behind and live normally. Baekhyun had told him about me

They walked along the lake then, and Baekhyun was enraged. He shoved Clement a little too harshly, and Clement fell back. He tried to keep foot, but gravity won. His back hit the cold water and his head hit a rock, and then he was gone. Dead sooner than he could say anything.

When he woke up next, he knew he was no longer human, and that he was killed in an accident, by his own best friend. Well, technically, I killed him.

"Who told you about the shadow?" he asked.

"Your friend did. Baekhyun."

His body trembled. Baekhyun is here.

"He's here? He's alive?"

She laughed. "Yes and no. Silly! How could he be alive? He's the Piano Phantom you know? That's what they call him. And I'm Suicide Suzie, now. Pity they don't have any nickname for you."

Clement choked back a scream. Baekhyun was dead. He has been here too, this whole time. And he never once came to apologize. He must know where to find him, did he not? Was it really an accident that Baekhyun killed him? Or did he do it on purpose? But then again... How is Baekhyun a ghost? Wouldn't that mean he died here, too?

"Your friend knows a lot about magic here. He told me about the Shadow Soul. He said it gives the other souls power. He told me how. I won't do it though. I don't like The Shadow. Preying on innocent spirits like that. But I don't need power. I've got you. I love you."

She smiled.

Clement wanted to tell her he didn't love her, but he couldn't. Though it seems his expression gave him away.

"What?" She asked. "Do you not want to be with me?"

He didn't reply as realization dawned on her.

"How could you?" She screamed. "I died for you!"

"I never asked you to!"

She stopped wailing and stood silent. This is my favorite part of this chapter, where Suzanne Harper helped me be one step closer to my awakening.

"And here I thought the magic is evil, and that the Shadow is evil. And yet... the truly evil one here is you." She stopped before adding, "I will take the power offered to me by the Shadow. I will make sure that you will forever be miserable in these grounds. You will never cross to the other side."

And with that, Suzie disappeared. He was left alone.

Right then he knew two things.

1. The Shadow is far more dangerous than he thought, for it can once again seduce the living to give their spirits to the ground, and that it's getting even stronger.

2. Someone is going to die. Because getting the Shadow would require a soul to kill another, and Suzie intended to do just that.