Page 91 of To Free a Soul (Duskwalker Beginnings #2)

When Lindiwe finally managed to get her child back, all safe and sound – although a touch bigger – she immediately left Nyl’theria and its unknown dangers.

She didn’t even go back to find Sayrn to finish their proper goodbye.

Finding the entire endeavour an egregious waste of her time, she returned to Weldir’s realm.

There, she learned that the child she shouldn’t have abandoned wasn’t just simply captured but was being tortured at the hands of merciless, cruel humans.

Weldir hadn’t wanted to tell her in case it was a distraction.

Lindiwe was at her wit’s end, being pulled in a hundred directions all at once.

Orpheus, Magnar, and even Faunus, who now resided near them, had all been attacked – although they were fine now.

Ingram was in the hands of Demonslayers, and even a few of her children across the world had been in danger, like in Englian, Unerica, and Eyropea.

Pile on Sayrn going to Nyl’theria, and she was beginning to lose it.

Thankfully everyone but Ingram had managed to be victorious in their struggles, but that meant little to her. I wish I had the ability to multiply myself so I could be in a dozen places at once.

She exited Weldir’s mist bordering the Veil to fly straight to Zagros Fortress with vengeance boiling in her blood, wishing he could have materialised her right at their gates. The day’s flight felt long and gruelling.

For the first time in her long life, Lindiwe had the temptation to destroy an entire human settlement. To burn it to the ground with black flames until the walls melted and the people inside it were consumed in a fury-filled blaze.

All because they had harmed her sweet Ingram.

She could forgive a battle; her child had run headfirst into such foolishness.

But torturing him? Cracking open his chest?

Lindiwe found that unforgivable.

She didn’t know how she could live with herself if she did such a thing, though.

She’d spent the last three centuries preserving human life, and being a reaper of humankind felt unjust. Especially when such actions would have dire consequences for the villages, towns, and cities that relied on the Demonslayers’ protection.

Men, women, children, the sick, and the old would pay for her crime against humankind.

It was for them that she held back when she snuck into Zagros Fortress and came face-to-skull with her child strapped to some kind of contraption.

“Free me,” he whimpered. “I should have listened to you. I am sorry. Please free me.”

The best Lindiwe could come up with was an apology and a half truth, without having to explain the real reason for her delay: that Sayrn had left Earth.

But nothing I say will make either of us feel better , she thought, investigating the chains and rope trapping him there. I feel so awful for going after Sayrn. And she was very, very angry with Weldir for not telling her what was happening here.

Lindiwe used her nails to pick at the knot of his bindings to give him a bit of movement. “Curses!” she spat out, stepping back. “The knot is too tight.”

And when she pushed detection magic into his trappings, there was nothing Lindiwe could do with her powers to assist him – they were enchanted with Anzúli magic. She would have to find the key to his chains and cut the rope with a blessed obsidian dagger.

“Cut off my head,” he demanded.

She eyed him with a dark intensity. He had no idea that what he thought was a mercy was emotional torture for her.

She understood he just wanted freedom, but even if it helped them, she truly struggled to harm her children, her precious babies – no matter that they were large, frightful, and beautiful monsters.

When Wren, a well-known Demonslayer Head Elder, entered the dark and dank dungeon, Lindiwe turned incorporeal and floated within Ingram to hide.

Two others in their customary black uniforms filed in behind her.

Unlike Wren, who had her hood back to reveal her scarred face and red hair, their hoods were up to hide their features.

“I will try to find the key to your chains,” she whispered so only Ingram could hear her. “Please, just wait a little longer.”

She felt awful about having to leave him again, especially with a doctor who wanted to do more horrible things to him, but she would remain nearby and Weldir was watching. If they tried to harm him again, she’d come to this dungeon and wreak havoc upon them, human deaths be damned.

First, she needed to find where the contraption keys were stored. In her ghostly form, she followed Wren until she revealed the location, which was within a safe, and where the keys to that were. She waited until the woman was unsuspecting before she pilfered them straight from her person.

Then she needed to be patient and wait for her to leave the room the safe was in. In the background, Weldir informed her of all he’d learned about the stone she’d found in Merikh’s home – now that he was done investigating it.

“The spell is strong. Not of a deity’s level, of course, but it’s powerful. It’s doubtful you’ll be able to use it properly without Elysian mana.”

“Does that mean we can’t use it?” Lindiwe asked, rushing to the safe just as Wren exited her office.

She cycled through different keys on the metal keyring and quickly slid each one into the lock. If only I could grab solid things while in my Phantom form. She wouldn’t have needed the keyring to begin with.

“The stone is volatile. A mere crack in it will cause it to explode, and the energy from it will mean death for anything in its proximity.”

Finally one of the keys twisted in the lock and it clicked open. “Like some kind of sun explosive?”

“Exactly. Considering how your Phantom spirit tried to separate from your human body, you will be unable to use it.”

Her brows drew together as she looked around the office. “Why not?”

“It will likely destroy you. I believe the vibration that radiates from the spell is what started to separate your forms, but it was also pulling apart your soul.”

“What about a Duskwalker then?”

“You’re more similar to them than you are to a human. Even the younglings we had here were impacted by it. Their bodies will separate from their physical selves if they try.”

Looking down at the key that would lead to Ingram’s freedom, she clenched her hand around it.

“Then I’m the only one who can do it,” she answered.

Even if it means I have to die, I’d rather that than be the reason another one of them dies. She expected to feel saddened by that realisation, or even a little frightened. She felt none of those things. Determined resolve overtook her, and there was... relief in it.

She’d lived long enough, and Weldir had enough children to feed him souls. She wasn’t needed anymore, and none of her children really wanted her interference.

“No.” The word was curt and dark.

“No?” Lindiwe lifted her gaze to the window, and she was so high up in the fortress she was able to look over it entirely. “If neither a Duskwalker nor their bride can use it, then it has to be me.”

“I understand. My answer remains the same. No.”

“Why not?!” Lindiwe retorted, before quietening her voice when she realised she’d half shouted it.

“This stone won’t just kill you; it’ll completely eradicate your soul. I won’t be able to bring you back. I will not see my mate perish. I refuse.”

Lindiwe stamped her foot. “There is no other way!” She raised her arms to gesture at herself. “I won’t be able to take it if another one of them dies, not when we have the answer! What does it matter if I die so long as they live?”

“Because it matters to me!” Weldir roared, making her flinch.

“You, little female, do not seem to realise how much I care for you. My answer is no. It will always be no. And I’ll never give you the stone unless I know you won’t use it for such a reason.

My answer is definitive, and if you try to convince me otherwise, or state such a thing again, you will deeply regret doing so, owlet . ”

Lips parted in shock, Lindiwe didn’t know what to say, or how to feel.

It just reminded her that she didn’t know how he truly felt about her. Because... she didn’t want to know the depth of it and had been trying to hide from it for half a century, while running from her own love of him. Because it was too painful otherwise.

Sometimes he makes me feel like he is capable of love, she thought solemnly, as her face tingled, tears imminent if she didn’t quickly distract herself.

“Okay.” The word cracked from her lips. “I’ll figure something else out. I... I need to go save Ingram.”

She needed to turn away from her thoughts, and the way they made her heart ache.

Lindiwe held back the army of Demonslayers that tried to go after Ingram and the human named Emerie, who had helped him escape. She was a guildmember who had surprisingly taken pity on him, distraught over what they were doing to him.

Admittedly, Lindiwe was thankful for her help.

Getting Ingram out had always been certain, but how had been a worry. As much as she wanted to stab every guildmember in the heart for what they’d done, she truly didn’t want to leave the civilians they protected without soldiers.

Their presence was needed – desperately.

With Emerie’s help, there had been minimal casualties. Lindiwe even held back the army by using a shadowy shield to bar them from exiting their fortress gates. They attacked it with spears, arrows, and swords, but she refused to relent.

She barely saw them as her mind whirled.

Emerie is human. It was obvious that she didn’t trust Ingram, nor he her, but could they learn to trust each other over time? If Ingram truly wants to destroy Jabez, and we have a means to do so, then he’ll need to go to his brothers.

To the Duskwalkers and their brides living in proximity to each other.

If Ingram doesn’t bond with her... Her chest swelled with guilt so deep, it cycloned down to her stomach with a sickly swirl. Then could she use the stone?

But asking a human to sacrifice themselves for us might be too much. Why would Emerie do such a selfless thing for creatures she likely considered monsters? But we would need a human to do it. Someone who had no spiritual tie to a Duskwalker.

Someone who would be willing to face the devil, and grin as they literally blew him up.

But what if Ingram does want to bond with her if they spend an extended period of time together? He’s already lost Aleron...

“Weldir,” she called, her throat thick with emotion. “Will a human’s soul be destroyed by the sun stone?”

“I cannot answer that. The deceased souls are unaffected, as they have no physical body, but I cannot accurately tell you if a living soul will be destroyed or not.”

“Say they’re not, would you be able to bring them back to life if they were to bond with a Duskwalker?”

“I cannot answer that either. I may be able to, but I’ve also never tried. I know I can bond a living soul, but a deceased one may be different.”

So I can’t even promise that she’d be returned if he did want to make her his bride. That’s even if that was an option.

The question still remained: why would Emerie even agree to it in the first place?

She cared enough to free him, but would she give up her life for him? Lindiwe mused on that question as she effortlessly continued to hold back the Demonslayers.

Then a selfish, callous, and just downright despicable thought came to mind. She clenched her jaw so tightly she felt like she was pulverising her molars in penitence.

What if I make them journey to the Veil together in hopes that she falls in love with him, and the others? Her chest sawed in and out as anxiety clutched her. Gosh. I truly have become a horrible person. I’m willing to use someone’s love and kindness to manipulate them into saving my children.

Tears welled in her eyes, and she released the shield when all her strength and determination sapped straight out of her. The Demonslayers crept forward in surprise. Then they paused, unsure of what to do with her standing there and no longer blocking their path.

Covering her face with a sob, she thought, I’ve become so awful. I don’t deserve to live with such selfishness in my heart.

Worse still, she didn’t think her guilt was enough to stop her if it preserved the lives of Duskwalkers – especially those with brides and children of their own.

If he makes her his bride before they reach the Veil... then the option is out of my hands. She’d find someone else to help them, a different human.

As she turned into an owl before the eyes of the Demonslayers, she lifted off to go after the escapees.

Hopefully they make that decision for me. If Ingram took Emerie’s soul, then there was nothing she could do about it.

She had no intention of intervening to stop them from growing fond of each other, even if it meant things took longer.

I’ll find someone.

Even if she had to force them to. If it couldn’t be Emerie now, then someone, surely, would be desperate enough to trade their life for something. What she could offer in exchange, she didn’t know.

A sacrifice, just like me, just like Orpheus’ offerings.

Someone needed to end this cycle before it was too late and more precious lives were lost.