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“Then, to being bound to you,” I say, offering the glass in a toast.
“To you being ours,” Elias replies.
He raises his own glass, some form of highball cocktail rather than the bondage one for him, and clinks the edge against mine. Caelan does the same after him, looking thoroughly entertained by the entire exchange.
I take a sip of the cocktail. Cautiously, since I don’t know what exactly is in it, and from the smell of it alone, it seems very strong. I’m not wrong.Definitelystrong, but not bad. I can feel it hit me immediately.
Something to drink slowly then.
“And since you are ours,” Elias eventually continues, although he hesitates in choosing his next words. “You should be allowed to hear the truth of matters. About what we are and of other realms.”
The offer takes me by surprise. They have certainly been better recently, more open with me, but I wasn’t expecting Elias to open the floor entirely like that. They already shared much of their history. This time, I think he means to speak on more metaphysical matters as much as I can comprehend them.
I smile at the realization. They are not hiding from me anymore. Sharing as much as they have, offering more of this, shows how far we’ve come from when they were arguing over even letting me know of the abyss.
Certainly, I can’t deny that I’m intrigued by how differently they must live and experience the world.
“Anything you want to tell me, I’d be glad to hear,” I say.
Elias smiles, but Caelan wears a mock grimace. “Ugh, Shan, don’t give him more of an excuse to get into demon physics bullshit.”
“I think it’s fascinating.”
“You wouldn’t if you had to live through it.”
I pause for a long moment, carefully weighing my next words. “Could I live through it? I mean, I’m not saying I want to, but is it possible? That I could go to your realms one day, like how you can take me through the abyss?”
“No,” Elias replies immediately, and I wince. He seems to realize the refusal came across more harshly than intended because he softens his tone as he explains further. “Not simply because our realms are… inhospitable. Although, that would be reason enough to keep you away. I don’t wish any needless harm to befall you. But you know we’re trapped here now, and even if that were not the case, it’s not possible for humans to cross dimensions the same way we do.”
“And trust us, the few who’ve ever tried have severely regretted it. Your kind don’t come out the same from that shit.”
Right. Caelan did say ‘it drives them insane,’ was it?
Elias considers the matter. “Again. Such things are difficult to explain when you lack so much of the fundamental understanding.”
“Then—”
“Explain,” Elias finishes for me. He tilts his head and gives me a small smile. “I will endeavor to do so, dear. That was always my intention for tonight. Do you remember what I told you previously about souls?”
“They’re… like energy, defined by a unique frequency?”
He nods. “That is the exceptionally simplistic version. Perhaps if…” Elias pauses for a moment, then tilts his head. I can’t tell exactly what he’s doing, but something in the atmosphere shifts, a slight waver in the air around us. Like he’s extended his glamour further.
I understand why when he curls his shadows around his fingers, creating a three-dimensional diagram in the air. I immediately recognize it as a sine wave.
“You’re familiar with this way of graphing soundwaves, I presume?”
I laugh. “Yeah, Ididtake physics at some point in high school.”
“Then imagine this is the energy of a soul. This is the frequency that defines it. The magnitude of the energy can vary.” He creates another black line in the air, another sine wave over the top of the first with a slightly greater amplitude. “But the frequency and wavelength are the important factors in defining the soul and do not change.”
“What causes changes in amplitude?”
“Lots of stuff,” Caelan says with a shrug. “Your energy levels change throughout the day, right? When you’re excited about something, tired, horny…”
I snort. Of course, that would be one of his examples.
“Consistent minor variations are natural with mood and circumstances. Extreme changes occur rarely and are most often detrimental. Excessive high energy often occurs in situations of desperation or upon traumatic death.” Elias pauses and considers. “Your concept of ghosts and hauntings, those usually occur when something terrible has happened, correct? In most cases, the haunting is simply an echo of a soul whose energy spiked high enough to destabilize the normal limitations and confinement of a linear timeline and persists like an imprint left on the area.”
