Soul

Xeno’s magical prowess was not something to be reckoned against. It was impressive, really, from being able to create what were essentially bombs of Soul energy, to being able to teleport, to firing waves of energy with a slash of her nail. But she knew she should be better than that. It wasn’t just a metaphorical ‘she should learn to be better’, either; she, for some reason, knew that she should have more abilities, more ways to contort her Soul. Call it intuition, call it suspicion, she felt it, and she knew just where to find out where to make the most out of it.

So, into the Soul Sanctum she walked, unimpeded by threats she was unaware of, but was nonetheless expecting. She was searching for information on Soul, so where better to find it then where its leading researchers once holed themselves up? And, though she wouldn’t say it, she had always felt a calling to this place, as if something here, or more likely, within her, wanted her there. And as she strode through the halls, she began to both understand, and question why.

Because she felt like she had been here, before.

She supposed that could be possible, though. When she had first awoken, some great time ago, she had been outside the Sanctum, with no memories (unless she counted those of her muscles) from prior to that. But this? This was familiar, in a way she didn’t think was natural, unless she had been here before. She rubbed her hands together under her cloak; she was becoming less of a fan of this idea she had by the minute.

Soon, she came across a very large, very closed door. She saw no handle to pull it open, so she pushed. Still, it held against she strength, almost making her want to wait for Krypt. But he was meeting with the Mantis Lords at the moment, trying to lift his ban from their village. He still hadn’t told her about what he did for that to happen, but she knew it had to have been something big, especially since he wore their Mark of Pride. So, she improvised, and let Soul coalesce in her left hand. She didn’t need brute force, though, and she condensed the orb until it was only the diameter of her finger. Then, she shot it forward, and it quickly struck the door…

And bored a hole straight through to the other side. She smiled under mask at this, feeling like if she could do that to stone, it would work wonders on any enemies of hers. She looked through the hole to the other side, searching for an open space, only to be surprised to find only open space. So, hoping this would work, she closed her eyes and tried to teleport beyond the door, and was happy to see she made it through once she opened her eyes. She was getting better at that.

She looked around the chamber, looking for something of interest, before her eyes caught a totem of sorts. She suspected that it was a Soul Totem, but with its face like top and glowing eyes boring into her, it was unlike any she had seen before. Even more so, it felt almost out of place, what with how most Soul was held in glass caches, so the totem went against the rest of the area. And yet, there it was, near literally staring right at her.

She walked up to it, once more feeling that strange sense of déjà vu at this object. She placed her hands upon it, grabbing the sides of its ‘head’. It glowed brighter at the contact, and her hands warmed as this happened. She felt the Soul within begin to pour out of it, and into her form with the same unnatural warmth that Soul usually had. And with it, something else, something unfamiliar to her.

She heard the recognizable sound of teleportation behind her, and spun around to see a large bug, only slightly taller than her, dash towards her with its pinblade raised. She parried, sending it back, then teleported herself above it. She plunged her nail through its back, but being infected gave it the hardiness to survive that. She leapt back as it reached to grab her, pulling her nail from it as she did, and teleported behind it once it turned to look at her. She swung at one set of legs, only cutting one, but still leaving it off balance.

It teleported away, finally, stumbling from its missing leg, and launched an orb of Soul at Xeno. She dodged, but it followed her as she moved, so she ran towards the Soul Warrior. It reared back for a strike at she did, and once it dashed forwards once more, she teleported behind it, skidding to a stop as she carried her momentum through. She didn’t see it, but she heard the explosion of Soul hitting the warrior. It, however still stood, and teleported once more, this time above her just as she did, and came careening down. She easily sidestepped, and cut the arm wielding its weapon off while it was still falling.

Once it landed, it crawled backwards, clutching its newly made stump. But Xeno wasn’t merciful enough to let it be, and grabbed its pinblade in her off-hand, and teleported in front of it. She stabbed it in one of its eyes with it own weapon, and as it reeled backwards, she cut its head off. She watched it for a cursory moment, as if wondering if that put it down completely, then went back to the totem. She placed her hands back on it, once more letting the Soul flow through her. She closed her eyes, and slowly felt herself be lifted from the ground.

Then the totem exploded.

-

Xeno dreamed strangely. Her dreams never really made much sense, to be fair, but this was different, because she had never seen faces in her dreams. She saw a girl being handed a nail when she was of age, and being sent to learn the ways of a master. The girl grew into a nailfighter of great skill, but still sought more power. She was offered a chance at that power by other, older bugs, but at a cost she didn’t know the full extent of.

When Xeno finally woke up, she was in the same place that she had been in when first she arose. But she still had her memories, or at least, the ones she had made most recently, as it were. And, she knew a name, too. Not her own, she could feel; it didn’t have the weight to it that she felt her original name should have. But it was a name nonetheless, and one that she knew was somehow important to the one that lived before, so there could now be a Xeno.

But who the Void was ‘Coba’?