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The sun is brighter today, and we’re camped outside the entrance to my cave to enjoy the sunshine.
I nod in simple confirmation.
“How much do you remember before –”
“Before I woke up?”
“Yeah.”
I think for a moment. My memories still feel shattered and disjointed.
“The other day, you told me about how you found out you were a witch,” I reply. “I just remember waking up on Protheka, being subtly guided by the gods.”
She shakes her head. “You remember the gods?”
“I think so,” I tell her. “At times, I’m not sure what’s a dream and what isn’t.”
“I suppose that’s fair. So this isn’t the first time you’ve been woken up?”
I look out at the vast forest surrounding us. I can remember when there weren’t trees, and everything here was desert.
“Not exactly.”
“Well.” She hesitates. “Is there anything you do remember?”
“Sure. I remember lots of things. Someday, I’ll tell you all about them.”
She rubs her hands together over the campfire. In spite of the sun’s radiating brightness, it is still very cold.
“I think the thing I remember most of all…” I say. “It’s probably the looks they gave me when I first arrived.”
“The gods?”
I shake my head. “The humans, and the dark elves. They all saw me as a monster and ran from me the first time they looked upon me.”
She grimaces at me. I can see how easily she relates to my pain.
“That must have been very difficult,” she says.
“It was. I was on my own, with no memory and very little knowledge. To survive, I had to become the thing they feared. I had to let my own body guide me through the wilderness.”
“And the first time you ate a soul was?”
I can see her hesitation and how difficult for her it is to ask.
“Pure instinct. If I don’t feed for a while, I start to lose my reason, and my hunger just sort of takes over.”
She fiddles with her hands, and I can see her mind working.
“So it’s like you have two stomachs then? One for souls, and one for ‘eating?’”
I smile, always surprised by her precociousness.
“That’s exactly it, yes,” I say. “I need to eat to maintain my physical form, but to keep my mind intact, and to function, I need –”
“The darkness of souls.”
I nod.
