The Court of Souls?

“In an early Greek myth, death is a consequence of the disagreement between Zeus and Prometheus. As a result of this quarrel, Zeus creates woman, in the form of Pandora and presents her to Prometheus' brother Epimetheus, with death being one of the results of his opening of Pandora's box, which she brought with her.”

- The Journey to the Afterlife

***Dedessia, the Sea of Souls, Semper Fidelis***

***Elona***

Shade and Aswang enter the room with the murder scene. It's a distraction from my work, but I am almost done anyway. “Hi, Shade, Aswang, you finally decided to join us?” I smile at the two of them.

Then I return my attention to the abused and battered body in front of me. Something tore out his throat and let him bleed out while eating his guts. He also has quite a few other wounds, but the damage to his throat did him in. The only reason that his head is still attached to his body, is that his spine wasn't severed too.

So far it looks like he lived alone in this shed. His neighbours knew him as a quiet man who didn't cope well with his new freedom. According to them he was a house slave for as long as he could remember.

I guess there have to be people like this too... not everyone is happy with their regained freedom.

“Yeah, seemed better than wasting my time, sitting on the palace's balcony,” Shade answers with a disturbed expression. “Is there any reason to dig your fingers into that poor person's wounds? I don't think that's very hygienic.”

I focus my full attention on the corpse in front of me and withdraw my energies from his body. “Actually there is. It makes it easier to send my mana into the body and lets me check out the length of the wound channel. We want to know what we are up against, do we not?” The person in front of me is an adult, male, and must have been quite cute while he was alive. But looks don't matter in death.

“And? Have you learned something?” Aswang asks curiously.

“Yes, I took a close look at three of the corpses which we found so far. Whoever killed this person and the other three had a long maw with sharp teeth. The longest teeth are fifteen centimetres in length and curved like fangs. In addition the creature must have a set of sharp claws to hold the victim, five human-like fingers.”

I raise my hand and wriggle my fingers. “The monster likes to go directly for the throat. That's probably the reason why it managed to kill so many without causing a commotion. So far all the victims were attacked while they were alone.”

Shade inhales and exhales slowly. “Any idea how strong it is?”

I shrug my shoulders. “Hard to say. But it managed to take down two mids without a big fight. We are dealing with something that's at least comparable to a small deity.”

Doreen was waiting silently in the room's corner. Now she decides to enter the discussion. “I already suspected a rakshasa. This makes it a little more certain that you have a nasty parasite within your ranks.” She throws an accusing look at Shade.

Shade grumbles something, looking down at the corpse. “I wonder where it came from? We didn't take anyone in. Our whole population consists of former slaves. Could it be that the spirit was enslaved by a collar?”

I shake my head. “I admit that I don't know much about the slave collars which are used by Parle and Inanimatum. But the spirits are closer to animals than to intelligent beings. Some have a small amount of reasoning left, but most of them act only on instinct. If they really have souls-”

“They do,” Shade interrupts me. “I fought a group of wendigos once, and each of them had a soul. I tried to investigate their minds afterwards, but I have to say that there isn't much of value there. Whatever birthed them twisted their entire being into something that can hardly be called sentient.”

“You investigated their minds afterwards?” Doreen asks shocked.

Oh, yes. I guess we didn't mention that little detail to my grandmother. “Shade is a soulmage. If he gets his hands on someone's soul, he can wring it out for information.”

My husband nods. “Yes. But so far I didn't get my hands on anyone useful. The only one who knew a little more about Inanimatum's dealings was Paolo. But when he finally broke there wasn't much useful to be gained. He knew how the city works and the names of buyers and trade partners. But no hint at a bigger plan. At least I don't see it. Yet. He was just an accountant in charge of managing the city.”

Doreen reaches for her throat and massages it. “I don't think I want to know what you mean by 'broke'. Or how many souls you've already collected.”

“Quite a few. My little army grows slowly, but steadily,” Shade answers amusedly.

I decide to steer the discussion back to the topic at hand. “We have to catch the spirit, whatever it is. Does anyone have an idea on how to lure it out?”

“A bait? Do the victims belong to a particular group? Age, gender, strength?” Aswang asks.

Doreen shakes her head in dismay. “I am afraid it doesn't work that way. First, this particular spirit doesn't seem to have any preferences and normally they can take human shape. If I take a look at the list of victims, I can see no pattern except for the regularity in which they are killed. One person per night. Second, rakshasas belong to a group of spirits which still have a decent amount of intelligence. It could pose as a normal citizen to hide. I am afraid that we have to organize a search party with all of our immortals.”

“Is there a way to recognize it by having a discussion?” Shade asks. “Because then all we would have to do, is to order all of our citizens to have a nice and long talk with their neighbours.”

Aswang doesn't share his opinion and raises both hands. “And what if it hides somewhere? The city's sewer system is a perfect hiding place. We would cause unrest for nothing and the people are already on the edge from the recent events.”

Shade has a point. But we have no guarantee that the spirit is that far gone. What if it has enough intelligence and control over its instincts to hold a decent discussion from one stranger to another. I guess we could search for missing people if the situation wasn't as chaotic as it is. So shortly after having lost over half of our population we still don't have the actual numbers of the people who remain in the city.

I raise my hand. “The spirit attacks one person each night. I propose that we take all available higher immortals and spread them throughout the city for at least three nights. If we don't catch onto the spirit's activities by then, we make a public request for everyone to have a long and decent discussion with their neighbours.”

Aswang nods. “I suppose that's a reasonable compromise. But what do we do if we catch it? If it goes all out, the battle will cause a lot of damage.”

Doreen shakes her head. “That's the trouble with these monsters. When you catch them, they are already wreaking havoc in your living quarters. I guess the only option we have, is to limit the damage as much as possible. Once one of us finds the creature, he has to hold it until the others arrive. It will be hard to accomplish and dangerous for those who don't have any fighting skills.”

Shade tilts his head in thought and walks closer to the corpse at my feet. “Don't any of you find it strange that this happens exactly now? It's very convenient to keep us occupied. Instead we could be searching for our real enemies.”

My eyes widen in realization. “You think that someone planted the rakshasa among us?”

Doreen gives up her position in the corner and comes closer. “That's impossible. I've been in this world for over four thousand years and everything I know tells me that spirits can't be controlled. They are malevolent beings of instinct and the very few who hold a shred of their former intelligence are even more dangerous than the rest.”

“I never said that someone controls it. I just pointed out that it is a strange coincidence. And why should the spirit be controlled? Wouldn't it enough to place it in our vicinity? It would seek out this settlement on its own to start its work.” Shade gestures at the dead body on the ground.

“Certainly,” I mumble, but something else concerns me even more. “Though let's say that it happened as you suggest. That still leaves the question of how our enemies managed to snatch the spirit at such a convenient time. I can't imagine that they hold such dangerous existences in cages, just in case that the need for them arises.”

“Maybe the spirit can answer that question.” Shade's expression takes on a vicious grin.

“Okay. I'll organize everyone. High time to get out of here.” Aswang heads for the door, but Shade stops him with a question.

“Don't tell me that you feel uncomfortable among a corpse?”

Aswang turns around and points at me. “I have no problem with the body of a dead person, but am I the only one who finds this scene disturbing? A beautiful succubus? Gently poking around in the guts of a guy as if she is doing him a favour?”

“Hey! I didn't kill him!” I have to defend myself. “And apart from his age there isn't much to him anyway. His weapon is much smaller than Shade's and I am not into necrophilia!” Yeah, right. No way such a shrivelled thing could satisfy me.

All eyes in the room focus on me and I realize what I've just said!

“Ahem. It's not like I lifted his trousers to take a look. It's a natural part of the examination process. One has to research every aspect of the crime scene. If I overlook something because I am too lenient or too embarrassed to have a good look at the whole body, it would be unforgivable.”

What am I doing!? I am making it worse with every word. This has to end now. “Don't worry, Aswang. I already had a long discussion with Manti and we agreed that you are off limits. Though I already offered her my help with that little problem of yours.”

He gasps and flees the scene. Manti will have a hard time once he finds her. The only problem that remains is Shade who is eyeing me with a raised eyebrow.

I jump to my feet and run towards him. “Forgive me! I would have never thought that you could become jealous of a dead body. He can't even get it up.”

Shade reaches out and stops me by grabbing my forehead to hold me out of reach. He can easily do so since he is bigger than me.

“I am not jealous! Just don't sully me with those bloody hands of yours. Go and clean yourself.”

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