Whispers of the Soul

Whispers of the Soul

Once Rain and the creature were through the door and on the now familiar balcony of the shaft, the creature stretched out a hand to Rain.

“Take it so we won't get separated.”

Rain stared at the long hand, wondering where she should grab it. After a moment, she decided that the palm was her best bet. The moment she grabbed the thing's palm, its fingers wrapped around her hand like the legs of a massive spider.

“Good, now we jump.”

And like that, the guide dragged Rain off the balcony's edge and into a freefall, barely giving her time to drop a coin before she was over the rails. The swift fall down the center of the shaft made Rain feel like her heart was in her throat, and she was clutching Snow like her life depended on it, but after a few seconds, Rain realized that despite the balconies rushing past her, the floor - or massive eye in this case - was getting no closer.Diiscover new stories at novelhall.com

That was all it took for Rain to start having fun as her hair streamed straight up and the air washed over her body. Below her, the massive blurry eye fixed on her and the guide. She had no idea how she would land, but she had a coin lying back by the entrance, just in case. The only thing ruining her fun was Mr. Purple informing her that her corruption had risen to ten percent. She was getting close to dangerous levels. If she didn’t find what she was looking for before she hit fifteen percent, she would turn back until she managed to lower the corruption again.

“Hold on tight.”

Rain felt the spidery fingers of the guide clamp down on her hand before her whole arm was jerked. Her freefall was transformed into a swing, bringing Rain and the guide towards a wall. Before they could slam into anything, the guide grabbed Rain by the waist, and all of Rain’s momentum seemed to drain away.

The guide gently set Rain down on a narrow walkway, and she fell to her knees, laughing uncontrollably. That had been so terrifying, yet Rain had enjoyed every second of it. She needed to find more high places to jump from.

“Come.”

The guide was floating away, and Rain realized that she was feeling better. The emptiness and insubstantiality she had felt when she first summoned the guide were still there, but she no longer felt listless.

While that was definitely a relief to Rain, it also helped her to feel just how risky this deal was. She made a note to never make big decisions when she couldn’t muster enough emotions to care. Then, she made a second note to try to make deals with others when they were in that state.

Rain followed the guide past several doors. Then, for no reason, the guide stopped and turned around without explanation, floating straight back the way they came.

“What's wrong?”

“Nothing, this is simply the path.”

Rain almost said something before realizing where they were. Why wouldn’t backtracking lead them somewhere new?

As the guide passed, Rain shivered at the sight of its face. Then she froze. Was this how people saw her: creepy and unnatural? The moment she realized that, she felt a crushing guilt hit her. She should be better than the people who shunned her.

Going down on her knees where Ms. White pointed, Rain pried up a small piece of the floor to reveal a rich brown leather book with a perfectly molded cover. A large spherical diamond was set into the front cover with strands of pale blue light racing through it, forming complex geometric shapes and throwing wild shadows across Rain.

All around the gem were raised portions forming swirling patterns. When Rain looked closer, the swirls seemed to form the vague shape of half a face, with the gem being the eye.

Bronze filigree adorned the edges of the book and the title, which Rain could thankfully read, ‘Whispers of the Soul.’

“Is this the one?” Rain asked, pointing at the book.

“Yes.”

“What do souls have to do with navigating this place?”

“This book will help you use the part of your soul that contains the magic circle to summon me and create a magic item capable of calling me as many times as you need.”

Magic. Rain had heard that word before. She was pretty sure it had been a part of the skill name from of one of the uffters she had experimented on. But based on what Ms. White said, souls and magic were a part of how skills worked. And magic items sounded like extra cool, skilled items. Rain found herself staring at the book with renewed interest. Nothing for it but to take the book.

The moment Rain pulled the book from its hidden compartment, the three altars around Rain crumbled to dust, the beautiful books on top of them withering until all that remained of them was stacks of dried, brittle parchment flaking apart in the slight breeze.

“Very good. I will inform you of the favor owed when you create a magic item to hold my summoning circle.”

Rain looked up into the milky eyes of Ms. White and forced down the fear they caused.

“Thank you, Ms. White.”

For the briefest of moments, Ms. White’s face contorted in an emotion Rain couldn’t read before returning to its normal wide grin.

“Summon me once you create the magic item.”

With those final words, Ms. White changed once again and returned to a shadow before reattaching to Rain. Rain felt a warmth flow through her as whatever had been stolen from her when she summoned Ms. White returned. Then Rain felt something else sneaking into her along with the warmth - a wriggling slimy coldness. Sure enough, Mr. Purple confirmed Rain’s suspicions.

[WARNING: Physical corruption has risen 2%. Current Physical corruption 3%.]

There was the first half of the price for finding this book.