The Court of Souls?

“Empusa was the beautiful daughter of the goddess Hecate and the spirit Mormo. She feasted on blood by seducing young men as they slept, before drinking their blood and eating their flesh. Empusa is pictured as wearing brazen slippers and bearing flaming hair.”

- The Journey to the Afterlife

***Dedessia, the Sea of Souls, Ice Tundra***

***Shade, 11 years old***

“Do I have to call you 'Dad' from now on?”

“No!”

Legna had to die and Manti and Aswang are alive. It is so unfair! And I also want to take it out on him. I decide to test my boundaries. “But I kind of want to, Dad. You know, we already have this father-and-son thing going on and I must say it works pretty well. Camping out here in the wilderness while fighting mother nature. Just you and me, to hell with civilisation and all that. Wow, speaking it out loud sounds too trashy. I already asked myself numerous times why you took me in, but that explains it. You must have felt the ties of blood we share. That's the only explanation.”

Aaand now I'll die. My mind must have shorted out! I am sitting on a god's lap. The same god who just created the scene in front of me. And he has one of his huge paws around my body! All he has to do is squeeze. First something important will break. Then my eyes will pop out while all kinds of fluids spray out of all my body's openings.

No. That would dirty him too. He will simply kick me all the way back to Inanimatum. I am sure that he can do that. One well placed kick is enough. But if he kicks me that hard I'll simply come apart! It will be an even greater mess.

Ishaan sighs wearily. “Should I poke out your eyes again? We could play that game all day long. Just so you know.”

Hurray! He didn't kill me! I purse my lips. But the last time he poked them out it hurt like hell. And growing them back also hurts like hell! Now I know what he will do to me! He won't kill me. He will rip something off and grow it back! He will repeat the process until I see death as a salvation.

“I guess you don't remember Tisha?” he asks.

“No. My first memory is of me waking up inside the facility during the selection process. Then I was a slave ever since. Don't tell me that she is the reason why you pull off this loner thing out here? The letter said that she hurt you to the point of not deserving your assistance and you are still staying close like some kind of stalker? Don't tell me that you wait here for her and hope that she manages to escape?”

Ishaan twists my arm to the point of almost breaking it. A clear sign that I've found the limits of his tolerance.

“I would have gone and gotten her out long ago! But I couldn't. She has a slave collar around her neck. If I attack them, they will simply tell her to fight me to the end. Not mentioning that I can't take on their entire clan. Having to kill her with my own hands is the last thing I want.”

“What is she? She must be strong if you can't subdue her.”

“An Empusa. Long, flowing, black hair and a figure which makes you want to kill all the other males around you. I shouldn't have fallen for her. I knew that she also has feelings for that stupid bird! But my delusions got the better of me. I thought that she might fall in love with the titan instead of the shiny bird.” He balls his fist and shakes it at the horizon. “And then I had to find him and her in our bed!”

“But you are the one who knocked her up. So it was your win!” I try to console him. But it backfires because he squeezes my hand a little more. A bruise is guaranteed! I don't think that my relationship with him will ever go beyond using the fact that he is my father as a way to tease him.

And I still have to think about the fact that I have parents and how I felt about it.

Though one thing is for sure. Having a titan as a father hurts!

His voice changes to a defeated tone. “It doesn't matter any more. It has been years and who knows who she is by now? Maybe I wouldn't even recognize her. The slave collars do nasty things to people, even if they are able to fight the effects. By now I don't want to get involved in any of this. I am fine with this land and my shed.”

“Sounds like the speech of a grumpy, old man. I, for my part, want to go back there and make them sorry for having ever existed!” I comment.

Ishaan lets go of me and drops me off his lap. “You already mentioned that. That's why we will continue your training. The first point on our list is building a new house.”

I look around. “From what!? You blew away the few trees we had!”

“So either you have to walk very, very far to find trees, or you use snow and build an igloo.” Ishaan crosses his arms in front of his chest, showing that he has no intention of helping me.

I look around. “I think I'll choose option B. An igloo might actually protect us from the wind.”

“Don't forget to make it big enough for two,” he adds sheepishly.

“I swear, once I remember something useful I am out of here,” I mutter.

“I won't let you go until you turn twenty-five.” Ishaan drops another bomb on me.

I turn to face him, slowly. “What's the big idea? There is no way that I'll sit here, knowing that two of the only people whom I ever cared about are caught in that city. I'll go as soon as I am strong enough to get them!”

Ishaan snorts and raises his chin, looking down on me with a high and mighty demeanour. “You can go when I say so. Not a minute earlier.” A grin steals itself onto his face and he stretches out his hand with his palm up. Suddenly a green sphere emerges from it, hovering just centimetres above his hand. “You will do exactly as I say, or I won't give her back. It's that simple.”

I clench my teeth and my eyes wander back and forth between him and the sphere. I don't know why, but for some reason I know, I feel, that it is Legna. “You bastard! You had her all along! How? And what about the old man?” I step forward to catch the sphere, but he raises it so that I can't reach.

“Ah! Not so fast little soulmage. I won't let you handle any souls until you remember how to do it. The old man, as you call him, is gone. He wanted to depart.

It's not like I held her in solitary confinement like you did. She is asleep and she will stay that way until you are ready to leave this place. To be honest, I don't really understand how you managed to bind her soul to you.” Ishaan closes his hand around the sphere and it is gone.

I gasp. When did I bind her soul to me? “I did nothing of the sort!”

Ishaan shrugs. “Maybe not the -you- right now. But one of your previous selves created a soul bond between three persons. A triade. I know a little about soul magic, but creating bonds like that is beyond me. I am interested in learning to know what else you can do once you remember. It's possible that you didn't lie when you said that Inanimatum will wish that they never existed. Though first, you have to regain your abilities and become a god.”

I furrow my forehead. “How do I become a god?”

“You have to find your inner centre. It's a state of the mind which allows you full access to your mana reserves. Achieving this state is possible by perfecting your most noteworthy skill... or feature, whatever works best. Once you've found that state, you will ascend and become a god like me.” He gestures at the destroyed landscape to emphasize his words.

“But don't ever fall to the delusion that this is a path without pain. You will be a shade, a god and a soul-mage. They will fear and hate you, no matter what you do. It's your fate.” Ishaan places his hands behind his back.

“Why?” I ask.

“I already said it. A shade may be weak, but he can go wherever he wants to. There isn't much which can stop a shade from doing as he pleases. Being able to walk through the shadows and change shape is a strong ability.

Many clans use shades as spies and assassins. We will make you a god, which gives you more strength than a shade should have. And you are obviously a soul-mage. You can devour those whom you touch.” Ishaan stands up. “Believe me. Once they learn about your special combination of gifts, they will abhor you. They will realize soon enough that nobody can run from his own shadow.”

I direct my gaze at the ground. If it is like that, then I'll have no reason for playing nice either. “How do we start?”

“Of course we train!” A grin steals itself onto Ishaan's face. “And we don't stop until you bleed!”

.