What Memories Can Bring and a Marked Demon Dog

  Yana’s eyes sprang open, and she looked out into the distance of the Winter Soul, seeing nothing. Her black eyes stayed open, unblinking, for what seemed to be hours. Then, they slowly blinked. She looked to the soul army before her. She could not control the entire army, but she could command small numbers of them at a time.

  “Come to me, Caleb.”

  Flickers of light blinked within the ranks. They moved with purpose until a soul of prismatic light stepped forward. He looked just as he did in her memory, except that his entire being was now prismatic light, not just his eyes. Something squirmed in her mind, and she knew that Almawa sensed him. Even if the system could not fully reach Yana here, it knew Caleb was present.

  The soul smiled at her, and the feeling of a knife twisting in her chest became more intense. Yana simply pushed the sensation further down and ignored it. Caleb walked to her, and she stiffened. When he spoke, his voice was like water passing over moss-covered rocks—ethereal and sheer, as if something about it were transparent.

  “Are you still scared, Ya? Scared of feeling more than just shadow and darkness? You call me, yet you cannot speak. If it is not fear, what is it?”

  He looked at her coolly, then his expression shifted as he understood her current state. He said nothing more and stepped back into the ranks. Yana gasped. Black shadow essence ran from her nose alongside bright red blood. It had been too much of a strain. She had wanted him to explain what was missing from her memory, but calling him was all she could manage. He was one of her strongest souls, and she had thought that by calling him alone, she could sustain a conversation. She was wrong.

  The Winter Soul spoke to her, and her mind began to clear. “That one is too closely connected to Yana. You need to ascend to control things you purposely keep from yourself—and that which touches your actual soul. That soul used to be intertwined with yours.”

  Yana listened as she healed. She wanted to understand more about this shadow; hopefully, she could eventually return Almawa to him. She closed her eyes and told the Winter Soul she wanted to return to Shi. It was time to settle things there and return to her primary mission: regain her power, her memories, and get rid of Almawa.

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  She appeared in her Shi complex, Almawa’s voice ringing in her mind while golden-black flames raced toward her.

  “You have completed your mission to reach 1st Unbroken Soul. Which Familiar and Pet do you want to level up?”

  Yana nodded as Heli sprang into her arms. “Alisha and Starlight.”

  “Good. They will level up now. Remember, you have one mission left. And now that you have found Caleb, you need to rediscover who he is.” Yana noted Almawa’s pause and frowned.

  “Show me your new abilities, Heli.”

  The Shadow Demon Dog was now a fully Marked Demon, and he had grown to be a quarter of the size of DD.

  ‘Can’t you tell me who Caleb is?’ Yana thought. More silence. Then, words ran across her vision, explaining the new mission.

  New Mission: The Prismatic Truth

  ? 100 Sho Days: Fully understand who Caleb is.

  ? 150 Sho Days: Free his soul from the Winter Soul.

  ? 200 Sho Days: Reconstruct his physical body. Failure: Severe punishment and permanent loss of soul depth. Reward: The full cooperation of Almawa.

  Heli was showing her two new abilities at once—[Void Growl] and [Void Flames]. Her eyes went wide at the mission criteria, and Heli took it as a sign of praise. He ran over to DD, wanting acknowledgment. The larger Demon looked down at the smaller dog with a small smile, dust pouring into the air from his stone-like skin.

  Meanwhile, Yana’s new organization had absorbed most of the other Shi underground groups—but not all. Three people met at the edge of the largest city in Shi. The blue-black light of the world shimmered as the night cooled. The three leaders were a short, round woman who seemed to be a mix of Fae and plant; a tall, serpentine beastkin; and a broad-shouldered human. They led three of the final organizations refusing to join Yana’s organization.

  The human’s voice was pinched and garbled, as if from an old throat wound: Emil. “We have to kill this shadow, this Yana. Without her, the organizations will fall and return to how they were.”

  The Fae, Ashda, scoffed. “If you feel you can kill her, then kill her. I always respected you, Emil, but you want to run headlong into death. I will not follow you.”

  Salan, the serpent, hissed. “Is that fear I smell, Ashda?”

  “It is sensibility. You two are fools.”

  Just as Ashda spoke, a brilliant burst of rainbow light flashed, and time stopped.

  [Star Slip]

  Starlight appeared above the scene, her level-up causing her to freeze time so she wouldn't be discovered. She placed cold sparks on each of the faction leaders using [Star Mark] and faded from the scene.

  [Star Walk]

  Five seconds after she left, time resumed. Ashda looked around with narrowed eyes. Emil looked at her with a smirk. “Are you truly that scared, lollipop?”

  Her eyes became fierce. “You two want to die? Then you will die without me.” Before she finished her sentence, she faded from their sight.

  Emil looked to Salan. “She does not want to be under anyone’s heel. She will work with us.”

  “It doesn’t matter,” Salan hissed. “I will fight until the end either way.”