Chương 8: Swimming With the Fishies

I took a deep breath, mourning the lost soul of the rat for a few minutes. The elation of the healing energy could only stave off my regret so much. I had gone from killing something, to fully destroying the soul of said thing. Even if it was just a rat. I drew a hard line. No more consuming things. No matter how much power could be gained from doing so, destroying a soul would be a moral line I wouldn't cross again. There would be other ways to gain power. There had to be. I buried my head in my palms.

There had to be more I could do with these powers. The broken skull stared up at me. Turning it around in my hands, I knew what I had to try next. Would returning the soul back to its same, broken skull be a justice, or a curse? I set the broken skull down and grabbed another, unbroken one, from the multitude of bones around me.

"Hopefully this one will be a little bit more comfortable for you," I said. I visualized the fish tank again. The soul-goldfish puttered around, looking lonely and bored. I'll fix that soon enough, don't worry. I chased the soul-goldfish around the tank for the better part of five minutes, growing more and more frustrated as it evaded my too-small net.

"Come on…" I mumbled.

"Don't you want out again? I would think you'd want to get back in a skull!" The soul-goldfish paused as I spoke the words, allowing me to corner it and scoop it up.

"Thank you," I muttered. Dispelling the image of the fish tank, the soul's energy coursed through me yet again. Unlike last time, I ignored the strength that it would offer me, and drew the energy into the palm of my hand. Like when I harvested a soul, a wispy blob of energy extended from my palm, though instead of pure black, it burned with the same blue light as the torches. I pressed it into the skull. The soul left me, and blue light blazed in the empty eye sockets. The jaw twisted, rattling up and down.

[A soul has been anchored to a corpse, bringing it back into the cognitive realm. Souls bound to dead flesh and bone will obey the commands of their creator.] [Ability Manifested] [Bind: Animate - Bind a soul to a corpse, raising it from the dead and into your control.] I laughed, raising the skull above me.

"Hah! I fucking did it!" The jaw of the skull bounced up and down in my hand, attempting to speak, but nothing but the clatter of bone on bone came out.

"I guess you still need lungs to talk, don't you?" I set it down next to a ribcage and smiled, waiting for it to connect and grow into my very own skeleton companion. Nothing happened. Did I have to attach it to the rest of the body myself? I picked up a femur and pressed it against the skull, praying something would happen. The femur clattered to the ground.

"How do I attach it to the rest of the body?" In response, the dungeon's presence hummed again. […] I exhaled and picked the skull back up again.

"Sorry, I'll have to try again a bit later when I figure out exactly how to do this. I'll put you back in my core—" The skull shook, using what energy it had to give a "no" gesture.

"Are you sure? Aren't you a little sad just being a skull?" It shook no again.

"Okay. I can carry you around for now. Is that alright?" It nodded. I shrugged.

"Who knows, maybe having a disembodied skull will be helpful down the line." Either way, I needed to get the hell out of here, and the only way out was forward. I grabbed my torch, cradled the skull in the crook of my arm, and continued through the next doorway. The next two rooms of the catacombs weren't so different from the first, and led to a dead end. Giant rats skittered about, and even at their dog-like size, they squeezed through tiny holes in the stonework to get away from me. Still no sword.

At the back of this room, a dusty chest sat in one corner. I flipped it open, coughing as a cloud of dust revealed a few empty glass bottles and a rusty mace. I was half-tempted to grab the mace, but the metal torch served as a decent blunt object so far. I let the lid drop, and made my way back out to the main vestibule.

"Alright Skully. Do you think we should go straight, or down the right path this time?" The skull's blue-flamed eyes shifted, looking at both options, and rattled its jaw.

"I sure hope you said straight, because that's where we're going." I marched into the north-facing room, regretting my urgency as two bony shadows appeared in the torchlight. Something red flashed in the next room, followed by the sound of metal scraping on stone. The skeletons turned to me in unison, opening their jaws and slamming them closed. I flinched. Unlike the first skeleton, neither of these had glowing eyes; instead, only deep black pools filled their eye sockets.

They ran at me, fists raised and clenched into balls. I backed out of the room, taking advantage of their clumsy nature, and swung the torch at the doorway as they passed through. CRACK! The torch hammered into the first's rib cage, shattering the bones and sending the second skeleton stumbling backward to crumble into a pile of bones. This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

I ran back into the room and jumped on the first skull, shattering it into tiny fragments with my bare feet. The set of bones stilled, and I kicked away the other skull, letting it skid across the room as the rest of it reformed. I'd learned my lesson from before. A headless skeleton was still a dangerous skeleton. Blind as it was, it threw various punches and kicks at me. I stepped away, able to dodge them with ease. Something rattled behind me, and bit my calf.

"Ah! What the fuck!" The skull's toothy jaw bit down harder and harder, distracting me enough for the skeleton to land a blow right into my chest. Clumsy the skeleton may be, but it still packed a mean punch. I dropped Skully as I fell backward, the skull letting go of its viscous grip to join the rest of its body. Blood dripped from the wound, and a flash of anger bubbled up through me. I dove forward, grabbing the skull from the skeleton's hands and shouted: "Harvest!" The black pools only stared at me.

Nothing happened. Another punch took me in the back, and I collapsed, lungs emptying from the blow. I had dropped my torch somewhere in the chaos and was left with only a single option. Still holding the skull, I summoned what strength I had left to hammer it down onto the stone floor. The skull cracked, and I brought it down again and again until it shattered. I only stopped when the skeleton behind me collapsed into a pile of bones. My heart thudded against my chest, and everything hurt.

I grabbed my calf, wincing at the indentations of teeth. Only a few broke the skin, but I bled nonetheless. Did neither of those skeletons have souls? Their eyes had been black—hollow—made of the same substance that left me when I used my abilities. More mysteries to solve. Without guidance, I could be down here for weeks racking my brain to figure everything out. One thing was clear, at least. Blue flames corresponded to souls.

The burning torch on the ground took on a new light, and I picked it up with a new, tentative caution.

"Sorry I keep waving you around. Once I get my sword back, I'll let you be at peace, okay?" The rats had run into the next room, its red glow tinting the stonework blood-red.

"I'll be right back, Skully." The skulls' flaming eyes brightened. Three different rats fought over the sword in the back of the room, their matted fur covered with dried and drying blood as they rolled over each other. One rat's beady eyes met my own, and it bit down on the hilt, carrying it in its strong jaws away from the other two and rushing a gap in the wall.

"Hey! Wait!" I yelled, dropping the torch to leap and grab the rat's tail before it disappeared. It dropped the sword and spun around to bite my wrist. I grimaced, grabbing it by the fur and tossing it with a great heave into the other rats. A chorus of squeaks echoed in pain, and all turned their attention toward me and screeched. I reached through the wall and grabbed the handle of the Carrion Blade, pulling it through the darkness and thrusting it forward right as the first rat leaped onto it.

The sword pulsed with energy as it drained the rat of its lifeforce, dropping another minor soul into my core. I scrambled back, swiping the skewered rat at the others. The blade sheared through the impaled rat and sliced through the rest in one fluid motion. The entire room blazed bright red as the runes lit up, drinking in the blood that stained the blade. Everything went quiet, even as the sword buzzed with energy.

From the doorway, Skully's flaming eyes blinked up at me, jaw clattering a nonsensical message in my direction.

"Thanks, Skully. I'm sure that was insightful." The skull smiled with its eyes; the flames becoming narrow slits. Three new souls were added to my fish tank, just like that. I paused as the humming presence inside of me increased in pitch, actual words forming. [… severed.] I responded with a thought. Can you hear me? Do you understand what I'm saying? [Core… shattered… broken…] Can you tell me any more? Who are you? [… C—carrion… Or… once was…] Karen? Your name was Karen?

The voice didn't return, resolving back into a hum. […] With the glow of the sword, I wouldn't need the torch anymore, though its flickering blue flame held more questions than answers. I could at least test my theory. I lifted the torch up, and staring into the flames, I whispered: "Harvest." [Minor Soul Harvested] The flame extinguished, and a new soul-guppy dropped into my tank. I picked Skully back up, and my stomach rumbled. Hunger pangs returned to me all at once.

I hadn't noticed it before, but when I consumed the rat soul, my hunger had all but disappeared. Now it came back with a vengeance. The only thing edible in here was the rats, but looking at their mangy corpses, I knew the best way to get food was to get the hell out of here. Even if that meant crawling back to the goblins for another meal. I retraced my steps back to the first vestibule, turning down the right-hand path. More of the same.

Dust and scattered bones, the scurrying of more rats, and a single black threshold at the other end. An intact skeleton lay on its back in one of the carved-out alcoves. I expected it to rise from its restful state as I approached, but it remained still. I set Skully down next to it.

"Were you all properly buried in these cubbies at one point in time?" I asked. Skully's eyes flickered. […Loculi.] The voice of Karen returned, and I took a stumbling step back.

"What?" [… the 'cubbies'] Karen said, voice a hoarse whisper. [… they are called loculi. Or loculus, if you're referring to a single one.]"Your first coherent sentence was to correct me on terminology?" [… shattered…] I rolled my eyes. Once I got back to the surface, I would need to see what kind of damage I had done to the thing. That wasn't important now. I had an entire, intact skeleton to work with.

Even hungry as I was, who knew when I would have an opportunity as good as this to practice raising a proper skeleton. I had four Minor Souls to work with, and I had to hope that would be enough. I followed the same process as before to collect a soul-guppy, bringing it to the palm of my hand. I pushed the blue flame forward, and watched as back-wisps of energy wrapped around each bone, curling and twisting until they encapsulated the entire body.

The only way to know if this would work would be to commit to the spell.

"Bind." The black wisps constricted around the skeleton, flowing into the corpse and connecting each ancient bone together with dark veins of energy. The skull shifted, its eyes lightening with blue soul-flame. An invisible connection formed between the creature and me, a lone, pulsating tendril that tugged on my very core. The same connection had formed between Skully and I, too, but it had been so small that I hardly noticed it until now. I had done it.

"Rise," I said. The skeleton clenched a fist and flexed its jaw. It turned its head and moved an unsteady arm to prop itself up. It planted both feet on the ground and stood. Elation. Maybe I was cut out for this business after all— The skeleton collapsed.

"What happened!?" I said. I fell to my hands and knees to look over the heap. The skeleton moved its disembodied skull to face me. The bones rattled, bumping into each other to reform. It gathered itself back together piece by piece, but before it could fully gather itself together, the mound of bones collapsed yet again. Did I do something wrong? Before the skeleton could reform again, I placed my hands over the trembling bones.

"Harvest!" The soul siphoned back into me, and the bones stilled. I clenched my jaw. Was the minor soul not enough to raise a skeleton? I wouldn't accept defeat so easily. Exhaling again, I pulled the same soul to the palm of my hand, and injected it into the bones. The spark of life returned to the skull's eyes, and the bones rattled together with renewed vigor. I crawled back and watched the magic work. The skeleton's feet connected straight to the femur, the hands straight to the humerus.

A shortened ribcage merged with the shoulder blades and hips. Bones twisted, and the skull looked down at itself, jaw dropping open in horror as it tried to move its arms and legs. It looked back at me, and I swear there was sorrow in those burning flames. The skeleton stood—or rather—tried to stand. Lacking any proper joints, the skeleton was stiff armed, stiff legged, and only about three feet tall. It found its feet and stared at me.

"Hello, my name is Travis. I shall call you…" The stumpy form of the skeleton deflated, as if waiting for a name to suit its sad stature.

"…Strong." Its black eyes deepened with the name, and it nodded. Skully's eyes grew sorrowful—jealous—and it clicked its jaw at me.

"No, don't worry. I'm not replacing you. Just experimenting. You'll always be my first, okay?" The flames lit up brighter. I picked up Skully and handed it to Strong, who took the skull in its permanently straight arms.

"Good! Now follow me, let's get out of this cursed place."