First Chapter
Previous: Chapter 1
Chapter 2 (Still a hammer)
“Psychic?”
I ground my teeth then punch the couch beneath me. “Worthless!”
“Why would you think that?” Barges asked
inside my head from atop the fireplace’s mantel. “Also, you don’t actually have to voice your words to me.”
“I
don’t need you telling me what to do.” If I shattered the crystal, no one would
have to know how worthless my soul was.
Psychic
… What kind of shit is that? No famous warriors, craftsmen or duelists had ever
had psychic soul crystals. They were just so worthless in battle.
“I am far from worthless in battle,”
Barges said, his voice—it sounded like a man at least—carrying a hint of
amusement. “And yes, I am supposed to
tell you what to do. Or else you will never be able to harness my power. And
believe me, it is a rather considerable power.”
“Can’t
you use your own power?”
“I can levitate myself and make whatever
object I inhabit lighter, but I only give you access to my power. When you link
to me through physical contact, as long as you are not starving, you can draw
on my power and use psychic abilities.”
“What
kind of abilities do you have?”
“They take practice to use, but I would
rather you keep this between us. No need to give our advantage away.”
It
was all I could do not to laugh in the crystal’s face. Well, its presence at
least. Maybe the front side of it. Fine.
We’ll talk like this. You happy?
“Very. I’ll start by suggesting that you
craft me into something small like a ring or necklace. It would—”
Nope.
“But, Tima, with such a small object, I
could stay close to you at all times and move extremely fast to reach you when
we have been separated.”
Nope. I rose from the couch and made my
way back over to the couch. Just the
presence of a soul crystal makes an object lighter and move as if commanded by
thought.
Barges
vibrated in his glass container. “Are you
ignorant of what a psychic soul crystal can do? As long as we are in contact, I
could make any object lighter. Any object move as your mind wishes.”
Is that what psychic soul crystals do? That
gives me an idea, but it still doesn’t change what you’re going to be crafted
in to. A grin spread across my face as I picked up the glass container.
Even with the barrier between us, I could feel Barges’s power sinking into me. Moving objects with my mind may not be
ideal, but I guess it’s an okay power. Certainly not fire, but—”
“Fool!” Barges’s deep, baritone voice
rang against the inside of my skull. “You
think that’s all a fragment of the great cleanser is capable of?”
The
great cleanser? I shook my head. No, that wasn’t important. Yes? I mean how am I supposed to know what
the weakest of the soul crystals is capable of?
“Weakest? Don’t make me laugh. Not fire,
earth, water or wind even compare to my power.”
Using combustion to increase your speed and
give you the power of flight is pretty amazing. Not to mention being able to
just blow everything up with a burst of fire. And the physical strength it
gives you.
“Even without ingesting our link for a burst
of power, with me at your side, no one will stand against us. How could fire compare
to our powers? Creating illusions to disorient an opponent. Calling lesser,
unintelligent beings to fight for you. Being able to shove on your opponents’
non-living matter to knock them off balance. Mind control. These are lesser—”
Mind control is illegal.
“Not if you don’t get caught.”
I
opened my mouth to voice how stupid it would be to even practice such an
illegal use of power when footsteps echoed down the hallway.
Aiga
stepped into the living room area and arched an eyebrow. “I figured an ox like
yourself would need several more hours of sleep.”
Barges
buzzed.
Enough from you for now. My mind is still
made up. You’ll be worked into my war hammer that I’ve been saving up for.
I forced a smile, squinting as I did to make it seem genuine. Though, if Aiga
had been wearing her soul gauntlet, she’d easily figure out the truth. Figure
out how shaken I was by the audacity of my soul crystal. “Aiga …” I let her
name rest on my tongue. “We both know you only wanted me unconscious so that
you could take advantage of my now adult body.”
Aiga
rolled her eyes. “You wish.”
I
did.
After
taking a deep breath, Aiga gestured for him to follow. “Today’s rite of passage
went wrong for some reason.”
Barges
buzzed again. “Liar.”
Shut up. I moved towards the hallway
where Aiga stood, my hands trembling. “What do you mean?”
Aiga
placed her hand over her mouth as if to contain a yawn. “They. The other four,
to some degree or another, managed to get off their Rite’s Tables. All are in
stable condition—”
I
started to sigh. My friends …
Aiga
tugged on the collar of her long healer’s cloak. “—except Igu.”
Next: Chapter 3
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