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My eyebrows raise as I process that. Any in-depth conversations I have with them are a trip. Elias is casually just throwing out an explanation for a large portion of supernatural occurrences in the middle of an entirely unrelated conversation. It makes me pause to do a mental double-take.
“And then the opposite. For example, if the amplitude were to decrease to the point of causing a flatline. What do you think would happen?”
“They would die?” I suggest slowly.
“Worse. Death of the body, as you understand it, is not the same as death of the soul. Matter and energy are interchangeable. If the soul remains intact, that energy can continue to interact with the world, regardless of the physical state. Depending on the realm they favor, many of what you’d consider demons have no physical state at all. No. To have the energy depleted to the point of losing the frequency will cause the very soul to cease to exist. It will dissolve into nothing and be erased entirely.”
It’s a lot to wrap my head around. Elias is right that I really don’t have any true understanding of the matter. But from the sound of it, and from the seriousness of his tone, it sounds like a terrible fate.
“That’s… awful.”
“I’ve seen Elias do it,” Caelan comments idly.
“What?”
“Caelan,” Elias reprimands.
“I mean, just saying. You have.”
Elias sighs. “True enough. I prefer not to, but the nature of my abilities includes being able to manipulate and drain the energy from others, up to and including the point of absolute destruction.”
“Wow,” I mutter. Of course, I knew they were powerful. They don’t tend to display it so much here. There’s no need to, I suppose, but from the snippets I’ve gathered regarding their capabilities and former high standing in wherever they came from, I had figured as much. But the understanding of exactly what Elias is capable of is something else.When he said that if I had known him back then, he would have consumed me… is that what he meant?
I decide not to dwell on that too long.
Not that I have much of a chance to. Our food arrives at that point and serves as a welcome distraction.
There’s a small flurry of activity as Elias waves his hand and dismisses the shadows he was utilizing. The table is cleared, and we work out each of our orders. I end up with two plates in front of me. A smaller plate holds my sushi and a large dinner plate has a heaping of thinly sliced greens surrounded by rich red tuna drizzled with a chunky brown sauce.
It might have been expensive, butdamndoes this place make some good sushi. The salmon feels like it could just melt in my mouth, rich and buttery. I only ordered two pieces, a little too aware of the cost to ask for more given I was having another full dish with it as well, but I almost regret that now.
Caelan, being the absolute shit he is, forgoes using the chopsticks as they’re meant to be used and simply stabs right through his sushi and eats it like that. He stares Elias straight in the eye as he does so, and his infuriating grin proves he’s only doing it to annoy Elias.
Ortryingto annoy Elias. Elias does school his expression into one of exasperation, but behind it, I can see he’s trying not to laugh.
I have no such qualms regarding holding back and end up giggling uncontrollably.
It’s not actually that funny, but I’ve drained about half of my cocktail by this point, and it’s going to my head.
The main course is almost even more delicious. The tuna sashimi is every bit as lovely as the salmon, but the sauce absolutely makes it.
“This is incredible,” I say with utter sincerity. “Thank you for bringing us here.”
Caelan grins, snorting a quiet laugh. “I thought it was dudes where their stomach is the quickest way to their heart.”
“That’s a dumb saying anyway.”
“It is,” Caelan agrees. “Everyone knows the quickest way is with a knife between their fourth and fifth rib.”
Elias shakes his head, but a smirk pulls at his lips.
It’s only toward the end of the meal, food and cocktail finished now, that I remember we were in the middle of a conversation before being thoroughly distracted. Elias was trying to explain… something. It ended up being such a long-winded explanation that I can’t even remember what the original question was.
Something to do with souls, obviously. I frown into my empty glass. Frequency, amplitude, energy. There was something about some demons being nothing but energy, no physical form at all. Depending on their dimension. Dimensions…
Humans couldn’t travel to other dimensions. That was it. At least, that was what had started the whole conversation.
“Elias?” I ask. “You were talking about something to do with souls before we started eating.”
