Page 43 of Souls We Rip

My blood was flowing faster than usual. Something wet dripped onto my hair, and I looked up to the sky.

In my walk from the old citadel to my cave, I didn’t notice how dark the clouds had turned, how, instead of a light breeze, the wind intensified.

I had to get to her before all my plans were ruined by her stubbornness.

The ghost went inside the cave, floating against the wind. I stepped towards the stable, but the boy shouted, stopping me.

“Master!” the ghost yelled, floating to me. “Someone is waiting for you!”

My hand passed through his throat, making him gasp. “Who?”

“Goat, already relinquishing your skull?” The mocking voice of my master filled me with dread.

Leaving the ghost to scurry off, I turned to my master.

The Elk wore its skull proudly as if it were part of its body. Its stature towered over me. Its heavy hooves left prints on the dirt, pushing down tufts of grass. It was unusual to see it outside its cave. Therefore, my suspicions grew as the Elk stepped in front of me.

Its maroon cloak was embellished with yellow threads, contrasting with its spirit. The storm that was brewing was his command. Nothing shiny could come out of such darkness.

“What wonder brings you here?” I asked, placing my hands behind my back, a sign of respect which was expected of us, the lower level of the Order.

I felt my back straightening, pushed by the power of the Elk. I summoned my skull with my mind and placed it back. My stomach turned upside down at the stench of death it collected over the centuries.

The Elk tilted its massive antlers, letting them fall on its broad shoulders. “Dear Goat, I came to see the one who would grant our wishes.” The Elk stepped forward. As it walked, the cloak opened, giving a peek of brown fur. “Your servant told me you were visiting the Souls’ Pool. Why is that, hm?” The rumbling of his voice vibrated the ground. “You won’t join the procession?” It tilted its head to the other side. It took a step, leaves gathering behind its cloak as a second layer.

“No, master,” I said, bowing.

“It is of no importance whether you participate or not. Alas, I would have to choose someone else to teach her our ways.” It straightened its head, taking another step towards me. My head snapped as an invisible force raised it.

“I didn’t fail to notice that your horse returned alone.”

Dread filled my bones, and I felt my body being pulled closer.

“You appear all humanly, and the girl is nowhere to be found,” the Elk said with disgust in its voice. My feet were pulled into the air, floating like the ghost who watched petrified from the threshold of the cave.

Although we Souls’ Rippers, do not have a heart, there were many other ways to torture us. Our fears and wounds are heightened: cuts feel deeper than humans’, aches intensify faster.

The Elk took pleasure in torturing the souls it claimed. In my early years of being a Souls’ Ripper, I witnessed my master dismember a woman who tortured animals for fun. As if it were personal, that the woman took the lives of her whole herd of sheep.

I tried asking the Elk to dim down the torment, but then it took my fingers. Only when I begged on my knees did it put them back.

“If you lied about having a pure soul in your possession and trying to bring it to our side, then your horns might find a new place to hang on your body.” Wind rustled my cloak. “Because your proposal of turning a pure soul into a Soul Ripper might come in handy for my plan too.”

“Which plan?” I whirled my head in its direction, clueless about what it was talking about.

I felt its hatred through its skull. Still, the Elk let me out of its trance, and I gasped as my pulse resumed its flow.

My master started pacing in front of the cave, its cloak floating in its breeze. “Your proposal sparked an idea in my head. If you manage to create a Soul Ripper from a pure spirit, then we could do that too. And instead of recruiting only the most nefarious souls, we could collect others, too.”

I nodded, not really caring about that.

Once the tenth soul was collected, I was out of this darkness.

“But if you ruined this, then everything goes away!” Its scream tore the trees in two and then glued them back. My head pounded, and I brought my fingers to my skull.

“Hello!”

Her soft, sweet voice was the greatest sound I had heard in that moment. I felt as if I could kiss her toes and worship the ground she walked on. But then she genuinely smiled at my master, making me eye her through slits.