Soulbound

17

The passage back to the Veil felt colder than usual. Shadows clung to Avery’s shoulders as she stepped through, her boots hitting the polished obsidian floor of the Council’s chamber with a sharp echo. The stillness of this place was jarring after the chaos of the city. Here, the air carried no corruption, no screaming mortals, no trembling earth. It was pristine and suffocating all at once.

The chamber stretched upward into darkness, its domed ceiling disappearing into shadow. Dozens of pale thrones rose in a half-circle around the central dais, each occupied by a Council elder draped in robes the color of bone and midnight. Their eyes—silver, black, glowing—watched with unwavering focus as Avery and Kael approached.

A ripple passed through the chamber as the Head Councilor, a towering figure named Marcellus, lifted his hand. “Reapers Kael and Avery. Step forward. The city stirs with corruption; our Seers tasted it even from here. Report.”

Kael’s presence beside Avery was as steady as stone. He inclined his head, voice cutting clear through the silence. “The shard’s influence has expanded beyond the initial sector. It’s feeding on mortals, twisting them into shadows of themselves. We encountered hostile manifestations—extensions of the corrupted soul itself.”

Murmurs broke across the Council like a shifting tide.

“And yet,” another Councilor—a severe woman with hair like spun glass—leaned forward, her voice sharp, “the shard remains unclaimed. Why?”

Kael’s jaw tightened. “Interference. The corruption resists binding. It is… cleverer than most we’ve encountered.”

That single word seemed to unsettle the chamber. Cleverness suggested intent. And intent suggested danger beyond instinct.

Marcellus’s gaze shifted. “And you, novice.” His voice rolled over Avery like stone grinding against stone. “What did you encounter?”

Her throat tightened. Dozens of eyes pinned her in place. She had fought monsters, clashed with shadows, stared down death itself—but this scrutiny was worse.

“I…” Her fingers twitched at her side, clenching into fists. “When I struck the shard, I felt something. Not just resistance. Memories. Pain. It wasn’t empty—it was aware. And when I touched it…”

The tether thrummed deep in her chest, like a warning pulse. Her words faltered, but she forced them out. “It reached for me. It hasn’t let go.”

The silence that followed was deafening.

Then the Council chamber erupted. Voices overlapped in outrage and fascination.

“She’s compromised!” one spat.

“Her soul could already be tainted,” another hissed.

“Or perhaps she is a conduit,” a third suggested, tone thick with intrigue.

Avery’s breath came short. Their words weren’t abstract—they were a sentence being written about her fate.

Marcellus raised his hand, and the uproar stilled. His silver eyes pierced her. “Explain. Do you mean you are linked to the corrupted soul?”

Avery swallowed hard. “I can feel it. Like a thread under my ribs. It pulls when I’m near the corruption. It… it knows me.”

The chamber exploded again. A dozen voices clashed like blades. “Destroy her before she turns.” “She could lead us straight to the shard.” “A novice cannot bear such a burden.”

Avery’s heart hammered. Destroy her. The words rang louder than the rest, each syllable cold as iron.

Kael moved then, stepping in front of her, his presence blocking some of the heat of their stares. His voice was clipped, but it carried a razor edge. “She is not compromised. If the corruption had taken her, we would not be standing here. I saw the tether resist. She fought it.”

Councilor Ilyra, the glass-haired woman, sneered. “You defend her because she is yours to train. Your pride blinds you, Kael.”

Kael’s gaze sharpened. “I defend her because she fought with more strength than most seasoned reapers would have in her place. If you strip her now, you lose the only link we have to tracking this soul.”

A hush settled again, heavier this time. Avery dared glance at him, startled by the conviction in his voice. He hadn’t spoken like that to her—ever.

Marcellus steepled his long, pale fingers. “You claim this tether makes her useful. Others claim it makes her dangerous. Both may be true.” His eyes shifted back to Avery. “Would you, novice, allow us to probe this link? To let us see what binds you to this soul?”

Her chest clenched. The very idea of them rooting around inside her connection made her skin crawl. She imagined cold hands reaching into her ribs, tearing at the thread. Still, she forced her voice steady. “If it helps us stop it—yes.”

Some Councilors nodded approvingly, others looked at her as though she had just signed her own death warrant.

Marcellus raised a hand, silencing the chamber’s whispers. “The corruption has escalated beyond a rogue soul. It now constitutes a Veil-level threat. Entire mortal sectors may soon be lost.”

The words sank like stones. A Veil-level threat meant the boundary itself—the fragile division between mortal and spectral realms—could tear.

“Then we must act,” Ilyra pressed. “Send Kael. Send a full strike.”

Marcellus’s voice was final, ringing with authority that brooked no debate. “Kael will lead. But not alone. The novice remains tethered—she is our compass. She goes with him.”

The declaration sent another wave of discontent through the chamber. Avery’s stomach dropped.

Marcellus stood, his towering frame casting a long shadow over them. “A strike team will be assembled. You will hunt this soul again. And this time, failure will not be tolerated. The tether may yet be our salvation—or our undoing.”

The gavel-like slam of his hand against the dais ended the session. The sound echoed like a death knell.

Kael turned sharply, gesturing for her to follow. As they stepped out of the chamber, Avery caught her breath again, only realizing now she had been holding it the whole time.

“They want me destroyed,” she muttered, voice low.

Kael’s expression was unreadable, but his tone cut through her fear. “Some do. Others want to use you. Neither matters. What matters is you hold.”

“And if I can’t?” she whispered.

His gaze flicked to her, steady, unwavering. “Then I will end it before they do.”

The words chilled her, but beneath them was something she couldn’t ignore. A promise, twisted though it was.

The tether pulsed then—hard, sudden, like a heartbeat not her own. She staggered, clutching her chest. Kael’s hand steadied her instinctively.

Her eyes widened. “It heard us.”

Kael’s grip tightened. “Then it knows we’re coming.”