The soul ghost rushed towards me with bloodthirsty killing intent. Before her hands aimed at my throat could reach me, the woman was thrown back by the invisible barrier around the runic circle.

"Release me so I can finally kill you!" screamed the caged soul.

"Would anyone really be stupid enough to listen to a request like that? I mean, not that you could actually kill me," I answered with a smirk.

"Happens more often than you think," replied the woman spitefully. "And what do you mean I can't—"

She fell silent when she noticed her see-through form and began to inspect herself. Her eyes narrowed when she brought her attention back to me.

"Am I dead?" she asked, whereon I only nodded. She sighed, "I see, so I lost our last battle, huh? What a shame. I really wanted to put your head on a spike."

I smiled, "Oh my, I would've made a charming decoration."

"Keep the mockery to yourself, soul reaver! Gosh, it felt like I was in a coma the whole time. How many days have I been in this state?"

I pondered for a moment, "Aren't you a tad too calm about your death? It creeps me out somewhat."

The woman looked at me, baffled. "I creep you out? Are you fucking kidding me?! Weren't you the one that started eating the subjects of my kingdom that surrendered to you? You even ate their younglings!"

"Those subjects were minotaurs and minotaurs are basically bulls, so I don't see why it's so frowned upon to eat them. Also, I only ate three of them to make an example. Where the hell did that rumor even come from? But never mind this, we don't have time to revel in those heartwarming old stories. To answer your question, you were gone for over thirteen thousand years, give or take a couple of thousand years."

Asche silently stared at me as if she couldn't process what I'd just said. Then began to mutter something and started to walk around in the circle. Her gaze wandered back and forth between me and our current surroundings.

Finally, she quietly raised her voice again, "Where are we?"

"Apparently, inside a forest of the Human Empire near their capital," I answered truthfully.

"Huh, Human Empire? When did that happen?" the soul inquired.

"I have no idea. I entered into seclusion around ten thousand years ago after Eternal ruined my reputation. The world changed. It even has gods now!"

Asche sneered, "Sure, 'gods'. I can bullshit too." Yet, as she saw that I kept a straight face, her face tightened. "Shit, you’re for real. What the hell happened?"

I shrugged, "Like I said, I have no clue. I left my domain like a day ago. This is all new to me as well, which is why I reawakened your soul. I'm in need of your help."

For a moment the silence was unbearable, but then Asche suddenly started to laugh hysterically. "Me, helping you?! Are you crazy? You destroyed my whole kingdom and slaughtered my family and friends. YOU TOOK EVERYTHING I LOVED FROM ME!"

I raised my hands and tried to argue."In my defense, you were the one that attacked my territory first."

"Don't dare to lie to me," she screamed. "She told me about you, you know? What you did to this world over and over again and how you wanted to do it again. Did you really think I would stand idly by while you schemed to destroy us all? Do you take me for a fool?"

"She? Ah, I see. The witch managed to sneak into your mind. Let me tell you something: She lied. But this explains why the Winter family asked me to eliminate you in the first place. I declined, of course. But after your army attacked me, you sadly sealed your own fate."

By now, the ghastly eyes of the soul were wide open, "Explain! What do you mean by that! Do you actually think I wouldn’t make sure the witch couldn't lie?"

I sighed, "You humans are so unbearably naive. The first witch is immune to countless types of magic, and I'm quite certain the one she let you use on her that day belonged to one of them. But, well, as one says the best lies are those that are wrapped in truth.

"What I did in the past...happened. But since the pact with the other ancient beings, a specific set of rules exist. One of them forbids us to interfere too much in the destinies of you mortals. That includes destroying kingdoms. But… there are exceptions—"

"Like… a kingdom attacking you first," interrupted Asche. "Still, even if you acted in self-defense, you could have chosen a different path and told me about their plot—maybe I would’ve believed you! Even if those bastards were in cahoots with each other—whyever they would do this is the first place—it doesn’t excuse what you did!"

This time, I replied in a softer tone whilst also ignoring her accusations, "Because you were a thorn in their side. The Asches were always a branch family of Winter, but they kept getting stronger and stronger. The last thing that started the main families’ plot was the marriage of your father and your mother—a female ash dragon. With your birth, the Asches became too powerful. Sadly, I have no idea where your mother went after she left—not that I really care—but this only had the opposite effect.

"And, well, Calypso wants me dead but isn't allowed to do it herself—another rule. So, she worked together with Winter in the hopes of getting rid of us both simultaneously. You were quite simply tricked, my dear."

The woman was quiet for a moment. "I see, so everything I built was for nothing. Goddess, I'm so stupid. Why did I trust a witch?"

I stepped inside the circle, "Do you want revenge? If you help me, I can guarantee it."

Asche looked onto the ground, "Everything is gone. How are YOU supposed to help?"

Like a ghost, I whirled behind her and whispered in her ear, "Are you sure that everything is gone? There are still Jaeger Families around. Living their lives without worry. Feasting on incredible dishes and enjoying the warmth of their loved ones. They're probably even part of this empire. And your mother, she also might still be alive. Who knows? How does it sound to you to be reunited with her? Imagine the possibilities I could open up for you if you would only help me~"

"I-I don't know," she replied, unsure.

My tails wrapped around her, and I let my magic flow into her. Her soul solidified a bit, and her body became more opaque. I could feel her trembling. Then I whispered into her other ear, "Can you feel it, the power I could give you? I would even bestow a new body onto you, stronger, faster, better. The families would fear you, shake in the presence of your might. All you need to do is help me out a little bit."

"H-how am I supposed to trust you? Y-you were the reason everything w-went under in the first place," stuttered the engulfed soul.

With a smooth movement, I spun her body with my tails so we would face each other. My hand cupped her cheeks, and I looked into her shimmering light gray eyes. She tried to free herself, but to no avail. Then, I said in a husky voice, "I won't betray you; I have no reason for that. Unlike the witch, I'm true to my word. But, to ease your worries, let me explain everything in detail.

"You see, my dear, the world changed drastically, and I'm keen to explore it once again without being recognized. I'm on the way to the capital of this Human Empire, but they are—for whatever reason—at war with the beast-kin. It's impossible for me to get into the city without being… bothered. Sure, there are simple disguise spells, but magic has changed in my absence. I can't say for sure if they will notice it.

"That's where you come in handy. This runic circle bestows the ability and form of the soul onto an object, in this case, a necklace. Meaning: if I wore it, I would take the form of your body and even have access to your powers. This soul magic is foolproof. No one can see through that disguise—well, as long as we don't encounter another soul mage, but the chances for that are extremely low."

One of my tails found its way between her thighs, whereupon Asche let out a soft 'eep!'. I smirked and continued, "But let's talk about the trust part. This magic has one fatal weakness—it requires your consent. And even if you give it, you can withdraw it at any given moment. If you do that whilst I'm in a crowd, I would be completely fucked, and my disguise would be ruined.

"Oh, what I forgot to mention is that once the magic on the necklace is done, you can take any form you like if you decide to show yourself. I'm not sure of the requirements behind that myself, but you're smart; you’ll figure it out. Otherwise, you will be nearly invisible and formless—akin to a lower elemental wind spirit. You should also be able to move quite far away from me without any problems. So, how does that sound?"

She tried to look away from me—as if the next words she would utter will bring shame upon her—, but my hands still cupped her cheeks.

Even with my hands upon her, her eyes darted from one corner to the other. I could see her mind racing, not knowing what to do next. Her hatred of me was conflicting with her desire for revenge. I wondered what she was thinking about. Maybe she was about to cook up a petty little scheme, a plan to outsmart me whilst also exacting her revenge on the Jaeger Families. Oh, I was so excited! A cute little playmate for me in this new world.

Right now, though, I wasn’t really worried; at the moment she could only choose between siding with me or remaining comatose in my soul for all eternity. And once she made the only decision she could, I would make sure that none of her pathetic attempts to betray me would ever work. Or, I could act like her plan worked. Seeing her face after she noticed that it failed would be priceless…

Minutes passed before she finally opened her mouth, "I-I... I agree."

"Purrfect," I hummed, loosened my embrace, and stepped out of the circle. Asche was immediately dropped to her feet, wobbling as she touched the ground.

-------

The last part of the magic was relatively simple, because now Asche only had to agree to the contract with the necklace.

"Concentrate on the flow of mana and let the energy engulf you, " I instructed her.

Countless little violet threads began to sprout out of the emerald gem of the necklace. When they touched the soul of Asche, they turned gray—one after another. Now she only had to give her consent.

"I, Aska von Asche, agree to lend my powers to the matriarch."

As the words were spoken, the glyphs flashed in pure white light and the world, which had been seemingly frozen, regained its motion. Asche, or Aska—first time I heard that name—was in her new spiritual form.

'This feels weird,' said Aska to me via our newly acquired soul-bond. Something I had kept from her during the whole conversation was that being trapped in my soul for a long time would have an impact on her. My seals that suppressed all my emotions would start to rub off on her a little, affecting her decision making.

I waved my hand, ‘You'll get used to it, don't worry.’

I grabbed the jewelry and put it around my neck. A thick layer of ash surrounded me for a few seconds. I felt my tails vanish, my ears reform, and my height shrink. My hair was now fully ashen.

'You look like me in my prime! Well, certainly younger, but damn, was I hot!' commented the spirit woman.

‘Were you always this...talkative?’ I asked, somewhat shocked by the sudden change in her behavior.

'Well, usually only with friends, but they are all dead—thanks to a certain someone. Soo, I have to work with what I get, and that is you. By the way, what's wrong with that elf over there?' replied Aska. At the same time, I asked myself if I just should try to get into the city without a disguise. What had I done?

The elf, on the other side, seemed pleasantly quiet. I walked with my newly acquired appearance before her and snapped with my fingers. She didn't move a muscle.

"Um, are you alright," I questioned the statuesque elf.

Suddenly, Zary's mother started to sob, "W-will you kill me? I-I was excited when you drew all those glyphs; it was something I'd never seen before...but the magic I sensed felt dark, forbidden. P-please, I don't want to die."

'I have no idea what that elf said, but she looks afraid of you...or is it ‘me’ now?' said Aska.

I rubbed my temples. So much about her nonchalant way of treating me. "No, I have no purpose of killing. But I don’t let you simply walk away like that either. The payment for watching my power was your heirloom, but there is still a price that has to be paid."

The elf lost her footing and fell to the ground.

'What did you tell her? Seriously, what kind of language is that? I don't understand a single word,' bugged Aska.

'Oh, I'm just telling her some bullshit about how she needs to pay for seeing my magic. She’d waste her time worrying that I'll kill her otherwise. Weak creatures are so exhausting,' I answered Asche truthfully, who promptly made a clicking sound like I'd just insulted her too.

I brought my attention back to the elf, "Well, the price is quite easy. I'll produce to you a small curse. Should you ever articulate where you see that magic, you will perish. You are free to explore whatever you saw in daylight, just don't inform them about me, that's all."

"R-really?"

I nodded, moving my hand towards her head as I hinted that she shouldn't move. Honestly, even I sometimes couldn't tell if I was using magic or some other fucked-up shit. Why? Because what I did next wasn't something magical.

Without warning, several black tendrils bored themselves into the head of the elf, or to be more precise, into her soul. They bored deeper and deeper into her mind until I found the memory about me. Sure, I could rip it out, but I wasn't in the mood to cripple her soul. I placed a tiny bit of my mana in the memory and ensured that if she talked about me, she would feel pain, but not die. She would think that it was real, however it was only a bluff in the end.

After that, I retracted the black tendrils back to where they came from—my very own soul. One might ask why I let her come with me in the first place, but I just wanted to pay her back for showing me new magic. And even if it might look like that I acted like a villain here, I didn't. Soul magic is so utterly powerful that even knowing a fraction of a glyph could give you incredible abilities. Or it kills you on the spot.

"You may rise," I commanded her.

Zary's mother did as I told her, bowed, and then returned to her own runes in contemplative silence.

In the corner of my eye, I could see Marika hurriedly making her way over to me. She looked worried and confused. Behind her, I saw Zary—who carried a bag and some potions—walked over to her mother. Somehow I had the feeling that I needed to prepare myself for a lecture later.

'It would be nice if you would bring me up to date later. I get the feeling that I missed something important,' complained Aska.

'Sure, sure,' I replied emotionlessly and went to the elder, groaning, "I hope that after I roughly explain my disguise to the elder, we can finally leave this place."

-------

At first, Marika seemed skeptical, but after I showed her that I could switch to my true form as soon as I took off the necklace, she returned to her eager old self.

In the meantime, Zary's mother—whose name I still didn't bother to learn—had finished her preparations and was about to cast the spell.

The earth began to tremble as soon as she put the catalyst—a weird-smelling root—into the middle of her rune circle. The circle glowed, and green particles shot into the air.

The trees before us began to groan and slowly, step by step, move out of the way. It was a fascinating sight to behold. It was like the trees had a will of their own, and the roots were their feet. Once they stopped a path had unfolded before us, just wide enough for the wagons to pass through. It was a little uneven, but I was amazed at what this mage could do with so little mana. Classes seemed a bit overpowered to me, but I could be mistaken.

Zary's mother was about to fall over but was caught in time by her daughter. Despite her protests, she was princess-carried back to a wagon. She seemed to be somewhat embarrassed to be cared for by her daughter like an old lady.

The first wagon was about to leave when I walked to the armored one, which Marika had shown me beforehand, and was looking forward to having even more space for myself without the tails in the way. Or so I thought.

I really hate kids...