2025-01-25 17:00:44Luthen woke up in a hospital. His headache had cleared and he remembered what happened.
Maron.
The tears came uncontrollably and lasted for minutes. They blocked his vision.
He tried to sit up and found he could not. He tried again with same result realizing he had been strapped to the bed. He tried wriggling. That created some noise.
A female nurse soon came in.
There was a pause. Her eyes widened and she screamed and fell.
Luthen was offended.
Do I look that ugly?
“The demon……” she said to the officials rushing in. They all stopped at the door for a moment, reluctant to come in. Then they finally did.
The demon had awoken.
One of them stepped forward towards Luthen.
“Luthen Vasen?” the official asked rhetorically. Of course he knew who Luthen was.
“I am Inspector Henri Pove from Rhyne City Guard. …Uhmm…. You are under arrest.”
There was a slight pause where Luthen processed what was said. His blank expression changed to one of worry and fear. “I did not do anything wrong–” He started to protest.
“But you did”. Inspector Henri played a holographic recording of Luthen at the mall, shouting.
They shouldn’t have done that.
The sight of the blood and rubble made his blood boil. Tremendous soul energy released from his body, choking the humans and pushing them back. The buildings around started to crack. The headache came back. His soul sign did too, it’s light pulsing faster and faster like a warning.
His irises glowed silver like his sign. He let the energy that was threatening to burst him open, out.
*******
The rubble of the building was scattered wide. Blood everywhere. There was no sign of the Inspector, his subordinates or the nurse.
Only Luthen was left. Lying on and covered by the rubble.
He saw a young woman approach. She said something. His eyes closed. His soul sign dispersed.
The young woman who approached Luthen knelt and touched him on his neck, reading his pulse.
“You just like blowing things up, right?” She said to his body.
She dodged a sudden attack. The intruder revealed himself. He was in a martial artist’s attire and carried a sword.
I knew I sensed someone here. She said to herself.
“What do you want with him?” The intruder said.
“To help him.” Sophia replied.
“Who are you?” The intruder asked.
Sophia did not know how to respond. The Duchess or a Shard? She squatted and started checking Luthen’s wounds.
The stranger was irritated. He attacked and then cut his attack midway.
Sophia did not budge. Instead, the intruder took a long look at the sign floating on her head made of wispy energy. He had one too.
Hers was a heptagon ring. His was a horizontal line. He stood beside her, watching her examine Luthen.
“You are the Null Shard” She said when she stood finally. “I did not believe that you existed.”
The intruder frowned. How did she know?
“And you are?”
“The Soul Shard, Sophia Augusten.”
“How did you know?”
“Souls like ours are peculiar. You know who he is?” She said, pointing to him
“He is like us.” The stranger said sheathing his sword reluctantly, his eyes full of suspicion towards her.
“Yes, he is. He is the Space Shard.”
“Your name?”
“Kane.”
“So, where have you been holed up?” She asked Kane.
“You do not expect me to answer that. Where are we?”
“In a safe house I’d prepared. How did you know where to find him?”
“I followed the trail.”
“Of destruction?”
Kane looked at her.
“You could say that.” He said finally.
*******
On a building no too far from the hospital, there was a camera. And this camera’s footage was feeding directly into Voyne’s computer.
He watched with glee.
“Wonderful! There’s three now.”
His–no, Mother’s plan was perfect.
Just like her.
*******
Sophia left them in the evening to return to her manor. She left him in Kane’s care.
Not too long after, Luthen woke up. He held his head.
He saw Kane with a sword. They both looked at each other for a minute.
Luthen tried to summon the energy he had felt earlier. Kane frowned at the amount of soul energy he perceived.
Luthen let it out. However, Kane just said the word “Null.”
The gathered soul energy dissipated like it was never there.
Huh? Thought Luthen. Who is he?
*******
Sophia came in the next day to check in on Luthen. She met him awake.
“You are the Duchess!” He looked startled.
“Call me Sophia. Where’s Kane?” she asked.
Just then Kane came out of the kitchen with some breakfast.
She waited till they had finished eating and started asking Luthen questions.
“Do you know who you are?”
“Kane tried explaining earlier but I did not understand. He said I am the Space Shard. How did you know?”
“I can feel your soul energy even as I sit. You are the Space Shard”
“That’s why you could blow a building as large as the mall to bits.” Kane said
“I did not–“ Luthen started to protest.
“He did not blow it up, Kane. Someone else did. Someone who wanted to frame him”
Voyne. She thought
“Who?” Kane asked.
“The Church. The Soul Church” she replied. Its better he doesn’t know exactly who. Kane looked at her. “But you blew up the hospital though”
“I–” Luthen bent his head “I am sorry”
“It is all right. I guess since they blamed you for the first, the second is a bonus” she said.
She was right. Buy one, get one free.
“Why have I not blown anything else before now?” Luthen asked
“Simple. You just Awoke.” Kane said
“I Awoke? I thought only Soul Aspect users can awake themselves and others?”
“To Awaken you have to ignite a person’s soul energy. Usually only we Soul Aspect users can feel soul energy. But for us Shards, self-igniting our Ability only requires a strong emotion. Something strong enough to light the fuse.” She explained
Luthen thought back.
Could I have awoken then? Then. When he shouted. When the headache was so strong he collapsed.
Was it then?
Kane looked at Luthen for a minute. Already releasing that much soul energy just a week after Awakening? His emotion must have been strong.
“I can’t control it yet. I can’t go home now.”
“I’ll teach you. That’s my mission anyways.” Kane offered.
“I agree that you can’t go home yet, but for a different reason.”
“Why?”
“You are now a wanted criminal. With a very high bounty if I may add.”
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A few days later.Voyne had to travel to Osyna again. These repeated meetings was making him develop a fondness for the city which had once been a stronghold of those who wanted to oppose him.He played with it in his hand. The High Council’s invitation. He knew they would eventually bend. It was all a matter of time. He shredded it.He could not stop a small smile. The last time he was this pleased was when he first saw Sophie at the trial hall of the Circle. She would come too. Eventually.*******At the hall of the Circle, Voyne stood in the middle with the now unlabeled box as he had done before. Except this time only the seats of the Great Nobles were filled. Normally, there were multiple venues they could have used instead like the Archive. Why they chose here was up to them.Renée wasn’t here because she wasn’t important enough to be. Plus, both he and the Nobles would much prefer that the contents of this mee
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Mother?Sophia had to skip the Circle session. She just wasn’t herself since the conversation.When Voyne called her Mother, something woke in her. It was almost like she was used to hearing him say it.It woke some memories that she did not knew she had. Some felt a lot like they were hers while most felt…off. Like she borrowed those memories from someone else.In one of her memories, she was a child, somewhere. On some wide street, playing, holding a paper fan. There were lots of sounds, like a festival or some occasion going on.Some cloaked people approached her. With the exact same cloaks that the Soul Church adherents wore.The one in front of them knelt in front of her. He took off his hood and she looked into his eyes. She knew that face, knew those eyes.Voyne, looking exactly the same as the present day, took her hand and kissed it with a greeting.“Hail, Mother.”*******<
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