Chapter 4: Soul Eater

Chapter 4:
Soul Eater

 

The Runaway

 

SHE MADE HER WAY cautiously through the forest, searching for a hiding place. She needed to find somewhere safe enough to finally get some rest.

Glancing downward, she saw her reflection in a puddle of water at her feet. Not her true reflection—she usually changed her face with the power of the spirits, hoping to throw off her pursuers. She’d been a bit too relaxed during her bath earlier, allowing her disguise to wear off, but she used her powers to put it back on as soon as she realized her mistake. She shut her eyes, frustrated at her own sloppiness.

I may have escaped those hunters for the time being, but there is always the danger that someone will recognize me. Even deep in the forest, I cannot be sure that no one is watching. I must learn from my mistake and make sure it never happens again…

She remembered well the failure that sent her on the run. She hadn’t been careful enough—she’d avoided trouble for so long that her guard had started to drop. She’d stopped in a village, and in a tiny lapse she let her disguise slip and someone saw her true face. Unfortunately, that person turned out to be one of a four-man mercenary squad, renowned throughout the continent for their fighting skills. They were clearly adversaries to avoid fighting head-on. She’d changed her face again and fled the village, doing everything she could to throw them off her trail. Her body and clothes were harder to disguise, though—her shapeshifting ability was limited to her head. Clothes were one thing, but the distinguishing features of her body were impossible to hide.

Getting away from these four mercenaries was going to take a lot more than just disguising her face, she’d feared.

Her fears had turned out to be well-founded—the mercenaries hunted her relentlessly through every twist and turn she tried to throw in their way. Finally, just yesterday, she’d managed to lose them in the forest. She was far off track from where she’d intended to travel, but at least the mercenary problem was solved.

She reached into her breast pocket to check the money inside.

I am unsure how much longer this will last me…

Then she grasped the charms around her neck.

Living like this in the forest forever…might not be so bad.

She walked on cautiously, all her senses straining to catch anything dangerous.

If I find a safe spot, I wonder if I should just stay here—

Suddenly, her thoughts were interrupted—there was something up ahead.

She crept on, threading her way through the trees until she reached a clearing.

Ruins…?

She looked at them with cautious optimism.

Perhaps there are hidden rooms…even a safe place to sleep.

Deciding to investigate further, she stepped carefully toward the ruins.

Mimori Touka

 

I LEFT THE RUINS BEHIND and continued my climb upwards.

“The Soul Eater, huh…”

Whatever that was, it was an enemy that even the Hero of Darkness couldn’t get past. Even someone that strong had only made it as far as the ruins before he was mortally wounded—at least, that was my best guess about what had happened.

Can I get past this Soul Eater thing without fighting it? Probably not, if the Great Sage couldn’t. I’m sure he was way more powerful than I am…

I looked down at my hands.

“I hope my status effect skills work against it.”

They hadn’t worked against the Goddess—that still worried me. If there were other creatures around who were immune to my abilities, I was done for. I had to hope that the Goddess was the only one with that kind of resistance.

This Soul Eater managed to kill the Hero of Darkness… If I can kill it with my skills, it’ll be a real confidence boost…

I climbed two more sets of stairs, encountering no monsters on the way. The path was stone, carved with careful and deliberate strokes. There were signs of human civilization everywhere. This wasn’t always a place for the Goddess to toss out heroes she didn’t want.

“Kinda sucks that this place got stuck with the name ‘Ruins of Disposal.’”

I pressed myself up against the wall of the passageway and peeked out into the area beyond. There was a wider room up ahead, and light of some kind.

Huh. The walls are glowing like they’re reacting to mana…

In any case, I didn’t need my leather pouch lantern for the moment.

The huge chamber was lined with ruined buildings, their walls crumbling like they’d been caught in an earthquake. Massive pillars supported the ceiling, though several had cracked or collapsed long ago.

Four skeletons were slumped against a pillar to my right.

So other people have made it this far…along with the Hero of Darkness, that makes five. Were they all working together? I can imagine how strong fighters with enough food and water could make it here, or someone with abilities that let them run away quickly or sneak around unnoticed.

It’s such a shame…they made it all this way, just to fall at the last moment…

I shook my head. This was no time to get emotional.

I kept searching the area and found two large stone staircases lining the back of the room, leading up to a large door.

Will that take me to the surface? But if it does, it’ll also lead me to…the Soul Eater. What could that be, anyway? Is it, like, a ghost?

I couldn’t see any monsters nearby that fit that description. I looked cautiously around the room.

There.

It was hard to make out from my current vantage point, but it looked like there was an open area further back. I doubled back and put down my leather pouch against one of the faintly glowing walls of the hallway I came in through.

I don’t want that Soul Eater thing to see me coming.

I returned to the room with the large door and made my way slowly, keeping my back to the wall at all times. I peeked out into the dim light of this new room from behind a large stone pillar.

What’s this room for, anyway—?

A face…?

There was a huge stone face carved into the earthen wall in the center of the room with a giant gold crystal set into its forehead. It reminded me of a Buddha statue, or the Virgin Mary—the kind of statue you’d make of a revered figure.

I looked back toward the door. I’d overlooked it at first, but…there was a hole in the door that was the exact same size and shape as the crystal.

I looked back down at the stone face.

I get it now… You’ve gotta take the crystal and put it in the door, huh?

“…”

I let out a breath. I was pretty sure I knew where this was going.

That’s the Soul Eater, isn’t it? If I try to take that crystal, it’s going to move.

I shifted a little to get a good angle on the stone face and stretched out my hand towards it.

“Pa—”

Kzzzzzk!

I yanked my arm back reflexively.

“Aah?! Aaah!!”

Blood dripped onto the floor below.

“Ngh…ouch!”

I got out of the way just in time! Even a moment later and it would’ve taken my arm off!

I checked the bleeding.

Okay…I’m okay. It took off some fingernails and skin…hurts about as much as ripping off a nail. It’s fine.

My real parents had torn off my fingernails before—
I was used to pain like this. I pulled out a scrap of fabric from my robes and wrapped it around my fingers.

What was that…?

It had looked almost like Kirihara’s unique skill, a beam attack. The wall glowed brightly, there was a flash of light, and then it hit me instantly.

At the speed of light, more like. That stone face must know I have to say my skill names before I use them—I’m predicting its moves, but it’s reading me right back. It’ll happen again the moment I try to attack, I bet.

So…how do I use my skills?

What do I do? I need that crystal, and I need to kill the stone face to get it…but how? With that beam pointed at me, I can’t get through a single syllable.

While testing out my skills on my climb through the caves, I’d discovered that I always need to say the names out loud to activate them—even whispering wasn’t enough.

How do I beat it, then? Do I need to level up more? I could try to pick up a new skill by starting right back at the beginning and working my way back up…

No, that wouldn’t solve the issue—if I don’t have time to speak, I can’t use any skill. Do I just need to be faster? Raise my speed stat? Maybe I should go back to the ruins and hunt some monsters…or even further?

Or I could just live in these ruins forever, right?

“No way in hell.”

I’m not wasting my life in this hole. I’m finding a way out, then I’m going to crush that Goddess.

Rrrrumble…

“What’s that…?”

The stone wall opposite me began to crumble.

It’s coming for me. I didn’t make a move, so it’s coming for me.

It sounded like the stone face had torn itself off the wall and crashed to the ground.

Its attacks are as fast as light…does that just mean that its speed stat is way higher than mine? As soon as I raised my arm, it struck. Maybe it just doesn’t hesitate or even stop to think, unlike the other monsters I’ve fought. It isn’t taking any chances.

I looked down at my bleeding hand.

The heroes who made it here before me must’ve had incredible stats, but they all lost to this thing, even the Hero of Darkness. This Soul Eater is why nobody leaves these ruins alive. It’s the master of the ruins, the final boss. This is it.

It hasn’t tried a second beam attack yet. Is it powerful enough to break down the pillars? That thing must know I’m hiding here, so why hasn’t it taken another shot?

Squelch…

“Huh…?”

A large wad of sludge landed a few feet from my hiding place.

What is that stuff? Did the Soul Eater shoot it at me?

The sludge oozed and welled up, forming itself into…three human shapes.

They looked like intricately detailed clay models, sculpted in moments before my eyes. I was used to seeing humanoids in these ruins, but these were different. Their heads were bizarre and unsettling, like human lips turned on their side.

From the shaking of the floor, I could tell the Soul Eater was slowly but surely moving closer.

“Okay, first I’ve gotta paralyze these gross th—”

Gloop.

“Huh…?”

Three pairs of lips opened, and three pale, bloodless, crying human faces emerged.

They look like they’re in agony, overwhelmed by despair…

I finally understood. The Soul Eater was no different from the lizardmen I’d fought earlier, acting out the deaths of the heroes they’d killed. These faces of agony, right before death…they were the Soul Eater’s trophies. It was showing them to me, taunting me, begging for a reaction.

This was all just a game to the Soul Eater.

Sweat rolled down my forehead. My mouth twitched into a faint smile.

“You… You monsters are all the same… Barbarians, all of you…”

The sludge zombies trudged closer, their crying faces staring at me wordlessly.

Drip. Drip.

It was like…their faces were almost calling out to me, begging me to save them from their torment.

I took a step backwards.

“Y-you’ve gotta be kidding me…”

These weren’t like the monsters I’d faced on the earlier levels. I’d fought humanoid monsters before, but never anything that looked this much like people.

“Th-they’re so… I can’t…”

Maybe it was wrong for me to feel so emotional, but it hit me hard in that moment.

The wall to my left collapsed and the giant stone face appeared out of the dust. It was floating, with a mass of tentacles like catfish whiskers writhing behind it, a giant lump of meat, stone, and earth. The tentacles were thick, black, and squirming like a sea anemone, with a faint gold tint—they must have been the source of that beam attack.

The Soul Eater closed its stony eyes, and red liquid started pouring from the slits like tears of blood. It opened its mouth wide and more blood came pouring out.

The sickening sound of the stone face vomiting blood reverberated in my ears along with the Soul Eater’s battle cry, an unbearable, piercing sound straight out of a horror movie. When the screaming finally stopped, the Soul Eater opened its eyes a little and its bloody mouth curled into a smile. Its gold eyes were overflowing with heartless laughter.

“I can’t believe it…”

It’s enjoying this…

Still, I couldn’t find a window to make my attack. I couldn’t see any way of beating it. There was no chink in the Soul Eater’s armor—the moment I tried to attack it’d blow me away with that beam attack, probably taking an arm or a leg with it.

The sludge zombies’ footsteps squelched closer.

“Y-you monster…! Playing with people’s souls like this…”

The creatures dripped with nauseating purple liquid as they advanced toward me. I held out my arm.

“Nh…! Par—”

I could feel its eyes on me. Sweating hard, my robes clinging to my body, I opened my eyes, gritted my teeth, and yelled.

“Paralyze!”

It worked—no beam attack. The three zombies stopped in their tracks. The Soul Eater looked on indifferently.

Is it ignoring me because I didn’t target it directly?

Breathing hard, I stared uncomfortably at the three frozen zombies. “N-next…” My voice shook. The people’s faces were crying and begging for relief.

“P-poi…so—! Aaaah!”

I screamed and looked up at the ceiling.

“I… I can’t do it…! Even if they’re half dead, these things…they look human…! Poisoning them would be too cruel, dammit!”

I felt tears welling up.

Those are heroes who went through hell just to die in this godforsaken place…they’re…

“They’re just like me…!”

I turned towards the Soul Eater with all the hate I could muster.

“I-I’m not that far gone yet! I don’t play with people’s souls like you do! I can’t—I won’t—use poison against another human. I won’t do it! Those human faces…they aren’t like you monsters, they didn’t do anything wrong!”

Tears were streaming down my cheeks.

“I’m still human…!”

The face contorted in joy, baring its stone teeth in a wide grin.

With a disgusting slorp, more sludge zombies appeared—there were more than twenty now. They quickly took on human shapes, opening their sideways lips to reveal human faces with horrifying expressions—then their death march began. They were trying to surround me.

Drip, Drip, Drip.

“S-stay back…!”

I covered my face with my hand, staggering back in retreat.

“N-no…”

Even if they’re just sludge monsters imprinted with human souls. Even if they’re just copies. They used to be heroes, just like me. And now they’re marching towards me—the discarded heroes of the Ruins of Disposal.

“I-I’m one of you! Listen…!”

Please. You have to listen. Show me a miracle.

My arms were shaking.

“G-get away from me…!”

I backed up toward the wall as the hordes of the dead and the Soul Eater advanced on me, the stone face smiling like the shining sun, blinding and ecstatic. Its teeth were disturbingly white in the faint glow of the room.

It’s enjoying my despair…savoring it. Like it just cornered its prey to play with…it’s having fun.

Pale, ghostly, human shapes appeared around the Soul Eater’s body, twisting and thrashing in agony. Their eyes were black, and each mouth hung open, screaming in torment, crying out for help. It was a chorus of bound souls desperately begging for freedom.

It wants me to see this…

“This is too cruel…”

A shiver ran down my spine.

This thing is pure evil.

“Uh?!”

I felt my back hit the wall.

Nowhere to run. No will to even try.

My legs cramped—terror froze them in place.

I’m scared…too scared.

The dead crept closer, and the Soul Eater closed in. “St-Stop…!”

I was done for.

“Please, no… Don’t do this, I’m begging you… Stay back… Get away from me—!”

The Soul Eater’s mouth opened wide, and its tentacles squirmed and danced even more excitedly. With every move of those tentacles, I sank deeper into despair.

I tried to reach the surface on my own, tried to survive alone…but in the end, I had to ask for help.

“What the hell! Isn’t this enough yet?! Somebody, anybody, save me! Isn’t this the part where someone swoops in and rescues me? Haven’t I earned that yet?”

My desperate, rageful cry echoed around the room.

“I don’t care who…anybody…somebody… Somebody save me!”

Everything I’d endured came crashing down on me like a wave.

I broke.

The Soul Eater’s grin widened, blood tears pouring from its face. I could tell exactly what it was feeling…

Euphoria!

“Paralyze.”

“Khhhh?!”

The Soul Eater had been so distracted by its gloating superiority that it let its guard down for just a moment…and that’s when I struck. I’d kept an eye on it through the fingers covering my face and locked on—I’d left my hand raised on purpose after casting Paralyze last time.

Target acquired. Arm out. That’s two of the three conditions I need to use my skills.

“Khhh…?”

The stone face’s expression fell in an instant as it froze in place. “That’s your weakness…”

I stared up at the stone face—my prey.

“That’s the fatal flaw of the strong and arrogant.”

It’s that moment when they’re certain they’re better, when they believe that their victory is assured. They let their guard down. They lose their caution and give me an opening to use my weapon.

 

Skill level up!

Level 2 → Level 3

 

My shaking stopped, my tears dried up. There was no need to continue the act.

The Soul Eater tried to wriggle free, clashing its teeth and twitching violently against its invisible constraints.

Its bulging eyes, bloodshot with thick golden veins, strained to glare at me.

Hate. Humiliation. Murder.

Blood dripped from its mouth. I stared back.

“I think I even deceived myself.”

A part of me really was horrified at being forced to fight something that looked human. Kind, quiet Mimori Touka is still inside me somewhere, and I used him to fool the Soul Eater.

“You love to prey on people like him, don’t you?”

The lizardmen and leopardmen were sadistic torturers who wanted me to cower pathetically before them, and I’d sensed that the Soul Eater might have the same weakness. It didn’t just want to finish me off, it wanted to show off its collection. So, I used that against it. I played the role of a pathetic weakling and let it gloat. I gave it exactly what it wanted.

Then I killed it.

Finding out for sure that my status effects worked on the Soul Eater was a big relief. A wide grin spread across my face.

“Ha ha ah…how’d you like that? I’m not a bad actor, huh, boss? I’ve had a lot of practice.”

Playing pretend. After my foster parents agreed to take me in…

“For days, months, years…”

I pretended to be harmless.

Pretended to be normal.

Pretended to be kind.

I raised my blood-soaked fingers up to the Soul Eater’s face in defiance.

“I even deceived myself.”

I’d managed to forget who I really am.

I opened my eyes wide and let out a demented laugh.

“I’ve been pretending so long to be kind, unobtrusive Mimori Touka…”

The sludge zombies that had followed and cornered me against the wall had really been lured into a formation where I could easily hit all of them.

“You thought you had me cornered…but you were the ones being trapped, not me.”

I stretched out both arms in front of me.

“Poison.”

The zombies around me began to change color.

“These zombies want me dead. Even if they were made with the souls of dead heroes…I’m not holding back.”

I have to fight evil with evil.

Murder with murder.

I’m going to crush them.

I threaded my way past the stationary zombies. Some of them were already succumbing to the poison damage, their legs melting away, bringing them to their knees before their new king.

At last, I was face to face with the Soul Eater.

“I must have the weakest stats in this whole dungeon, huh? Being at the bottom isn’t always a bad thing, though.”

The creature glared at me, its tentacles spasming and twitching as it tried in vain to move. It didn’t seem able to use its beam weapon, either.

“I’m glad I’m the weakest thing down here. That’s how I survived—by being underestimated by monsters like you.”

I made it, but so many didn’t…all the remains I found scattered along the way, the corpses used as toys by monsters, the four who made it all the way out here…and the Hero of Darkness.

Maybe I’m not really like them…maybe I can never be like them. For all I know, they wouldn’t want anything to do with me. All the heroes sent down here by that foul Goddess must’ve been good people, or she wouldn’t have gotten rid of them…

But I’m not a good person. All I want is revenge against the Goddess who did this to me. I don’t want recognition or praise. Saying I’m the same as those other heroes is probably just wishful thinking.

Honestly, I’m just pissed off… After everything they went through, the humiliation, the despair, the regret…

“It makes me so mad…”

“Khhh!!”

The souls kept captive by this monster had suffered for so long. Wasn’t dying in this place punishment enough? Even in death, their souls weren’t allowed to find peace.

I want the Soul Eater to feel it all.

Their regret.

Their humiliation.

Their despair.

“Poison.”

The Soul Eater’s face turned purple, and its tentacled body began to bubble ominously.

 

Skill level up!

Level 2 → Level 3

 

I looked straight into the monster’s murderous gaze as I slowly walked up to it, close enough to touch. The hatred radiating off the thing was palpable.

I looked down at the Soul Eater, sneering.

“You used to think the heroes thrown down here were just prey to feed on, didn’t you?”

I smiled broadly.

“How the tables have turned.” I let out a laugh. “But now you’re the one lying on the floor, gasping for air. Right, Soul Eater?”

The creature opened its mouth and stuck out its tongue. Its anger bubbled over as it tried and failed to roar.

Can this thing understand what I’m saying? I wonder if it gets what’s happening.

Its body began to convulse. Blue liquid started seeping out of it.

Is that its blood?

It seeped out onto the floor and pooled, like a new hot spring had just emerged from the ground. I retreated to a safe distance and continued watching the spectacle, feeling refreshed. I had an idea what was happening.

“Hm. Maybe monsters that try to move while they’re under paralysis take extra damage.”

Only the incredible raw strength of Soul Eater let me make field observations like that.

“This is valuable data.”

I wouldn’t have to wait for a long, slow death by poison.

I wonder if I’ll even have to use Sleep? Best if it dies quick, I guess. I don’t have all day.

The Soul Eater kept staring with fire in its eyes. The torturer never expected it’d end up on the other side of the fence.

You always believed you were the strongest thing down here, didn’t you? The other heroes who came before me who couldn’t beat the Soul Eater…but in the end, they all helped me defeat it. Their losses made the monster arrogant. Proud. The heroes who came before me led the way and laid the path to my victory with their sacrifice.

A great crack formed in the stone face. Half of it crumbled away, exposing black and pink writhing meat and blue blood within.

“Khhhhh…!”

It kept its furious eyes on me all the while. As I waited, the yellow gauge began to taper off.

“That’s enough.”

The last words I spoke weren’t to the Soul Eater, but to all the captive souls it had held in torment for so long…

“Be at peace…”

“Sleep.”

The Soul Eater breathed its last.

 

Level up!

Level 1229 → Level 1789

 

Now it was just a heap of rubble and twisted meat.

The zombies were gone too—dissolved into formless puddles of sludge on the ground next to their fallen master.

I got a few skill levels from that fight, didn’t I?

My Paralyze and Poison skills had leveled up.

Do I have to use them a set number of times before they get better? Do they improve based on the number of targets I apply them to, or is the strength of the target a factor?

There was still so much I didn’t know about my skills and how this whole system worked.

I wonder…

“When I used my abilities on the Soul Eater, did it also apply them to all the souls it was keeping captive? That’d be a lot of targets…” I didn’t feel good thinking that I might have made all those captive souls suffer my Poison ability.

“Sorry if I hurt any of you…hmm?”

The Soul Eater’s body started glowing with a pale white light.

A torrent of spirits came rushing out of its corpse, whirling up into the air. It looked like nature videos I’d seen on TV of fish schooling underwater in beautiful synchronicity. They circled above me for a moment before charging directly into the stone ceiling and floating down in tiny flecks of pale light, like snow on a quiet winter night.

“…………”

A voice.

“Oh, hey! You met me first, right? I was so relieved when you got away from that minotaur. Nice work, man!”

I found half a skull when I first arrived in the caves.

“Apologies that my axe didn’t serve you better against those terrible four-armed bird creatures… You did well to survive. I’m proud of you.”

I came upon an axe and tried to cut through that bird-head’s tough skin with it… It didn’t work.

“Seems like my old overcoat did you some good! I can’t believe such a ratty coat of mine ended up being worn by the Great Sage! Well…thank you.”

That black overcoat I borrowed from that skeleton…

“That was a good shortsword, you know! I guess the monsters ’round here were a little too much for her, though! I was suprised to see you try to eat that minotaur eye, pfft heh heh! Thank you so much for defeating the Soul Eater…”

The shortsword I used to gouge out that minotaur’s eye…that was from a skeleton, too.

“I can’t believe you took down a zombie dragon! You kicked its butt! Great work, man! You’re awesome!”

I remembered the skull floating in the swamp back in that limestone cave.

“E-excuse me…”

A pale, transparent figure floated before me.

I recognized her dress immediately—how could I forget? She was the skeleton those lizardmen had toyed with in the caves. The girl’s spirit looked soft and kind, and it hurt to think of what had happened to her. She clenched her fists tightly.

“I-It might sound barbaric of me to say, b-but…when you gave those lizardmen a good thumping, it… It really cheered me up! Thank you for giving them a taste of their own medicine!”

She bowed, and I reflexively smiled in return.

The girl smiled back, then faded away into nothing.

“It cheered me up as well! Never thought I’d see the day those lizardmen got what was coming to them… Thank you for taking our remains out of their reach. I wish you the very best of luck on your journey, young man.”

I recognized this spirit’s clothes, too—the man those lizardmen had been mocking, pretending to be burned alive.

“U-us too! Those leopardmen did such terrible things…”

“You took apart their toys and put us to rest, didn’t you? Thank you so much. You’re a very kind person.”

The two skulls from those nunchucks the leopardman had used.

“I hope our treasures can help you when you get up to the surface. They should last you for quite some time…as long as the economy didn’t crash or anything! Anyway, use them in good health!”

“Ha ha, I can’t believe you hunted down all those monsters in the ruins, you’re incredible! Stay safe out there, won’t you? Good luck!”

A boy and a girl, holding hands—I recognized them immediately as the two skeletons lying next to each other in the sealed room.

“Last…of course it’s you,” I whispered.

Five figures appeared before me. I recognized the one standing at the head of the group.

He wore the same robes I did, after all.

It was the Great Sage Anglin, Hero of Darkness, with his four companions behind him.

“ ”

He was trying to say something, but I couldn’t hear. I caught him mouthing “thank you,” but I didn’t catch the rest. It felt like there was a mist over my eyes keeping me from understanding.

The Great Sage continued to talk, undeterred.

Soon, their forms began to fade.

“ ”

The Great Sage said something to me, then turned back to his companions, who greeted him warmly. The whole group waved to me, more thank-yous on their lips. I raised my hand a little in response.

“…”

The Great Sage’s last words were the only ones that came across loud and clear.

“Please… must… Goddess…”

 

***

 

“…?”

I flinched and shook myself awake.

Did I doze off?

A wave of fatigue slammed into me.

“What was that…?”

Was I hallucinating? It’s strange…I thought I was wandering through these ruins alone, but…I was never really on my own, was I? Those who came before me were always there, quietly watching out for me.

I didn’t know the whole truth—I likely never would. But it still felt good. It was the same kind of warmth my foster parents gave me.

“…”

The last words of the Great Sage rang in my ears, echoed in unison by every soul that had been discarded in these ruins.

“Please. You must defeat that Goddess.”

“Hey, I don’t owe you guys anything. That said…you can all rest in peace.”

I made a fist with my left hand and clasped it with my right. The Goddess’s face appeared in my mind’s eye.

“It might take a while, but before I leave this world…I’m gonna settle things with that foul Goddess in my own way.”

I took the golden crystal from the Soul Eater’s corpse and slowly got to my feet. I retrieved my leather pouch and made my way up the stairs to the large door. Then, for a moment, I turned back.

“See you.”

Who am I saying goodbye to? I don’t really know, myself.

I shoved the crystal into the slot in the door and it rumbled open.

The first thing that greeted me on the other side was the warm, soft light of the sun, like an old friend I hadn’t seen in weeks.