“All I know is that I can eat souls.” It echoed inside the room.

A thunderclap was unleashed in Cale’s mind, sobering him up. He still decided to play along and said:

“That is uncommon, I hear that only those who practiced witchcraft could do such a thing and they were rare at that. But I know that you're human. Your whole family is normal and they're all aura wielders. There is no known creature of the dark that turns humans into soul eaters. If you plan to lie at least find a believable lie.”

Cale was starting to find the wine tasteless for some reason. He knew he was playing along with Nilus’s nonsense but he could see how the other was serious in this conversation. He decided to keep going and see where it would lead: “How did you become a soul eater, then?”

Nilus contemplated for a while before he shared the story as images of that night appeared as if he was reliving it for the second time.

Five years ago.

It was a winter night. An eighteen-year-old Nilus was strolling the empty streets. It was a normal thing he liked to do only during the nights the moon shone the brightest. After spending most of his life at home, he had developed a fear of being seen by others. His own existence was the same as even his own family could hardly look at him. Empty streets like these gave him a sense of peace.

As he calmly walked by a dark alley, he heard a woman’s cry for help that instantly died out. He turned his head left and right hoping to find a good Samaritan and possibly one that could use aura. This was the Greenwick country. Aura users were too common, but it was unfortunate that he was the only non-aura user around.

He bent down and took an arm thick branch one meter and a half long not far from him and fearlessly trod in the dark alley.

“My guards will soon be here. I suggest you let that woman go right now.” He screamed as loud as he could while brandishing his branch like a sword. He was obviously lying. He had no idea that scaring a possible murderer could land him in danger.

It took him a close to a minute to adapt to the darkness. If it was not a night of full moon like that one, he would have been at the mercy of whoever was waiting at the other end.

As he arrived deeper in the alley, he was surprised to find that there was no sound at all.

“Was that earlier cry for help my imagination playing tricks on me?” he thought.

He soon reached an open courtyard behind the two buildings. The moonlight shone directly in the middle of the courtyard where a middle-aged man was holding the woman’s neck as he held her above the ground. She had long fainted if not dead. As he threw her to the side, it seemed like she was being split into two. The corporeal body lifelessly fell on the ground as an ethereal translucent being was replaced by her in the hand of the man. They looked the same.

“Is that her soul?” He thought. he had lost his will to fight or run away due to fear.

The middle-aged man turned around and said as he followed the direction of Nilus’s eyes: “Oh. You can see the soul…Interesting...”

Nilus watched as the middle-aged man ate the entire soul in with a gulp. The middle-aged man slowly became younger until he looked like a young man in his twenties.

The strange creature that now looked like a young man turned around and said:” You said that your guards will soon be here, but you were the only one in the area. I know because I saw you alone for a long time as I kept my eye on the area.” A young voice was heard. He was not even worried that Nilus might be an aura user.

He slowly advanced towards Nilus.

“You’re afraid, I see. You can’t even run for your life.” He said while smiling under the moonlight. His clear white teeth shined with a malevolent smile.

He stopped three meters away from me and crossed his hands. He showed a thoughtful look and said:

“You are not an aura user, that I am sure. I could smell it. Now I see that you are also a noble. It is weird to see a noble in such a predicament. It almost never happens. It never does, but you could see the soul that only I alone can see. Maybe your soul is just like mine. How about this, let me…?”

Before he could finish with his nonsense, Nilus thought it was a good idea to at least try and save himself. He swung the branch at the young man’s face with all the strength he could muster.

The branch broke into the young man’s unhurt face.

Nilus’s hands were still vibrating from the impact. It looked like he was the only one hurt from the exchange.

“Even if you reinforced this pitiful branch with aura, the result would've been the same. Now, answer me. I will know when you lie, so feel free to save yourself from agonizing pain. I have too much strength as it is. I do not want to kill you before I get my information.” He said before he asked:” Are you really a noble?”

“Yes.” Nilus said.

“Were you born unable to use aura?” He asked again.

“Yes. “Nilus answered.

“Anybody in your family born the same way?” he asked.

“No.” Nilus answered.

“Good. That’s all that I wanted to know.” He said before his right hand became translucent and reached inside his chest and took out a green crystal that seemed to fade inside and outside of reality.

He reached into Nilus’s chest and left the green crystal inside. The whole time Nilus felt nothing. It was as if the young man’s hand could go through objects unhindered.

“I just put a fragment of the core of my soul into your soul. How do you feel?” He asked.

“Nothing.” Nilus said.

“Are you sure? Because every living being I tried to turn died in seconds.” He said as he touched Nilus’s forehead and closed his eyes.

“I should’ve just stayed hidden at home like I always do, but dying tonight might not be a bad idea. What kind of future awaits me anyway?” Nilus thought.

“You are an odd one. Most people lose their minds when they learn that they are about to die. Stay here, I will be right back.” He said before he jumped on top of the four-storey building behind them and disappeared.

Nilus stayed there wondering if he had made the right decision to stay behind like a fool. It may have been his last chance at keeping his life but he did not know anything about the soul core fragment that was still inside of him.

Before he could even command his body to leave. The young man came back with what looked like a man’s soul in his right hand.

“Good, you are still alive. Here, eat.” He said before he almost shoved the soul inside Nilus’s mouth. He did not need to. The moment the soul arrived in front of Nilus, Nilus’s eyes turned green before he almost took the soul out of his hand and started chewing on it.

“Just breathe the soul in. You do not have to take your time nor do you feel like you need to.” He said as his own green eyes started glowing as well. He looked fascinated but he tried to hide it as much as he could.

Nilus followed his instruction and completely devoured the soul in one gulp. It was a wondrous feeling. Strands of power burrowed into his body and he started feeling stronger and burning with more energy than before.

“Haha…This is even better than I thought. If my hypothesis is correct, I should look for people with the same problem. As thanks for this useful experiment, you can keep this new power of yours. Be wary of humans though. Especially the royal bloodline that started all this crusade nonsense. You may still be human but in the future, you will become something else as you eat more souls.” He said before he once again jumped on top of the four-storey building.

“What am I?” Nilus screamed out.

He turned around and said:” No idea, I just showed you that you have the same basic power of eating souls like I do. It is just that you’ve never been close to a soul for your power to be unlocked. The ignition of the soul creates the aura. Those that can ignite their souls are called aura wielders. We cannot ignite our souls but instead, a core is created by the soul for us. That core can be fed with soul energy and aura. You grow stronger as you eat energy. As for what we are even I do not know myself.” He paused for a few seconds then said:

“Do not go around killing randomly, you will eventually be caught and be sentenced to death as a creature of the dark.” With that said he disappeared from Nilus’s sight.

Back in the private room

Cale Malark was intently listening to the story. He did not say anything the whole time, even after the story ended.

“What do you think of my story? More real than any bullshit I could’ve said huh?” said Nilus. He was waiting for his friend’s reaction. If it went bad, it be would time for him to leave the city. He was confident in being able to escape from his friend without hurting him.

“At that time, I was afraid I would find you dead in a ditch somewhere. But the you that we all knew died that night. Sigh...” Cale helplessly said. He drank more and more.

“So, you do believe me. Hahaha…you are Cale alright…are you not afraid of me eating away that soul of yours?” Nilus asked.

Unfortunately for Nilus, he received a scolding “… with that new power of yours, you could’ve made your father proud and not force him to have you killed. You really wanted to leave me alone in this city to fend for myself with all these morons. If you asked I would’ve left adventuring with you a long time ago. This city is more boring than you used to be.” Cale said.

Nilus was out of words. This friend of his overlooked a cataclysmic problem and was even reprimanding him. If it was known that he could do such a thing as eating souls, he would be hunted down by the king himself.

“Hey hey…Are you drunk already? If you keep talking like that, I will start thinking that you have feelings for me or something.” Nilus teased Cale as he made a retreating gesture with both hands.

“I am guessing that the Silent Owl that the city can’t seem to forget is you. The hero who roams the street at night killing rapists and murderers, dismantling criminal organizations and giving back the looted gold coins to the poor. Your way of killing resembles what that other guy in that story of yours did. No one understands how they die, just that they are found dead without a single wound. There are even rumors of the Silent Owl being a poison master.” Cale shared.

Nilus was startled for a moment before he smiled and said:” It’s me alright. I needed to find a way to experiment on the limits of this power without attracting too much attention. At least, not in a bad way. “

“Obviously you did both. The city guards are actively looking for you. Unofficially. They cannot allow the populace to know that you’ve been arrested since you are a hero for them. The streets are even safer at night. No criminal dares to venture outside even during the day. Goddamnit, even the reward for your head right now is ten times less than what the Silent owl is worth.” Cale was feeling a bit lightheaded and he did not know if it was due to the wine or the flood of new information to process that was assailing his mind. He added:” Thankfully, you created a huge stir by getting rid of the two best assassins this city ever had. They even worked together, yet their lifeless bodies were found not far from each other. Those two poor souls had even brazenly publicized your capture before they set out. Now, I was about to be next in line to be given the mission to try and kill my own friend without knowing it.” said the helpless Cale.

Nilus took a sip and said: “I understand them. Most of the criminal organizations that I dismantle are always connected to the noble families. Nobody else can make that much money under their watchful eyes. And the city mayor himself had some dealings with every criminal organization. He received a cut to turn a blind eye and now he sends his guards after me because he and his noble friends are losing too much gold every night I decided to take all their illegal facilities down for good.”He added after catching his breath:” I can understand why my family is declining right now and will continue to do so in the future. We have no real foothold in this city. We cannot make money in other areas than the knight corps or the few shops we own. It is a crude way of making close to nothing and relying on our noble status when some nobles and commoners find better ways to make themselves rich.”

Cale thought for a moment before he said: “The King cannot allow an organization to have more influence, more capital or more military power than him. The Knight Corps was created by King Alek three hundred years ago with the remaining forces from the crusade against the dark creatures. He conferred nobility titles to all of them and let them choose a part of the country they could manage under him. He created the Knight corps to keep the noble families close to him at every generation and those that are part of it are handsomely rewarded with gold and even more titles than you can memorize. It is a known fact that each king or queen on the continent has a divine weapon or more that helps keep the nobles in the country in check. The rest slowly follow afterward. With the divine weapon, they force the nobles to fall under their rule as well as legally forcing every able aura wielder of noble birth to periodically supply aura to their aura weapon under the pretext that the other countries do the same to strengthen their aura weapons to the divine stage and that we must not fall behind. New divine bodies, weapons, and auras are created that way. The appeal of the body, weapon or aura reaching a high rank is something that every aura wielder desires but have no resources to get there. Royal families have those resources. Us nobles have no choice but to accept being stepped on. The king knows that some nobles like to look elsewhere for support, even going as far as making deals with his enemies, but he doesn’t care as long as he can get enough aura crystals, the nobles can do whatever they want.” Cale downed his wine and went to edge of the room to refill his bottle from a keg and came back to his seat saying:

“The real monster here is the king. I was afraid you would become a joint prey for the kings and queens of the continent to use as a tool to blind the masses of their usefulness. The creatures of the dark have been hunted down by royal families for the sole reason of showing the masses that they need their protection and I suspect that they always leave some to go on a rampage and create fear even in nobles. In the end, everybody is reminded of the usefulness of the king. Since you still look and act like a human being, I guess I have nothing to worry about.”