hope to the lands; still, the first to fall into darkness’ curse, as told,
when all the light was dimmed, and the souls ceased to sing–
Those souls ceased their singing.
And dead was the song of them.
Tell me the tale of that faraway place
And of those faraway lands of old.
Tell me the tale of the warriors bold traits,
reminding me of those who are older than old.
The Ancients had come,
and then they were gone—
the price for a melody sung.
“That will be my fate soon,” the soulless said, holding a tissue to his nose—he must have started the bleeding phase; it was a matter of weeks then until he would be gone as well.
“It will be.”
“Are you afraid?” he asked, his eyes dark but still so much white left that I knew that, at least, most of his mind was still there.
“Afraid of a life in the heavens?”
“Is it a life? Or is it just that I will cease to exist?”
“The Ancients say that—” I began.
“Like I care about them,” he interrupted. “They abandoned us.”
“You think so?”
“I know it.”
“I am sorry for you then.” I stood up, not needing to deal with the ever-shifting moodiness of an angry soulless.
“You made me this way! This is your doing.” He stood and walked over to me, grabbing my shoulder. I quickly turned around and pinned him to the wall, my arm at his neck.
“I did not corrupt your soul; you did that yourself while you were here on Earth. You should be thanking me for making sure that your soul doesn't end up in the hands of the corruptor—the soul eater. He has many names, and all of them describe what he does with melodies, with souls like yours.”
“Maybe, I wasn't fully corrupted.”
“When I found you, you were robbing a woman at gunpoint and had murdered two others.” I shoved him back against the wall. I watched him slide down the wall as I fixed my suit coat.
“I was fine,” he mumbled.
“Maybe you did deserve to be taken by the corruptor, but I would not change what I did. With each and every single soul that he takes, he gets stronger. I know just what kind of people he has working for him, and I will not be a part of adding to his forces. No—I make soulless in order to make certain that he doesn't gain any more power.”
The melody inside of me was buzzing wildly, and I felt it encircle me as if attempting to calm me down. I stood frozen, my chest rising and falling, as the soulless picked himself up off the ground and walked up the stairs.
“Another two are downstairs.”
I turned to see Aiden, walking into the kitchen and pouring himself a bowl of cereal. “Two more? How many more are left—that one there has moved on,” I added, pointing to the couch.
