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Chapter 44
Soul Touched
Enoux’s footsteps echoed against the stone floor,
sharp and deliberate. I froze, the acrid scent of burnt sage and sulfur thick
in the air. The candles flickered, their feeble light barely holding back the
darkness that curled in the corners of my workshop. A single glance at her face
revealed everything—concern, fear, and something colder, something like
suspicion.
"Elara…" Her voice was steady, but I
caught the faint tremor beneath it. Her eyes flicked from the open grimoire to
the sigils I had painstakingly carved into the wooden table, the ink still
glistening with latent power.
I swallowed hard, my throat dry. "It’s not
what it looks like."
Enoux’s gaze settled on the centerpiece of my
work—an intricate bone charm wrapped in silver thread, pulsing with an
unnatural hum. Her jaw tightened. "Tell me you’re not tampering with the
Abyss."
I hesitated. That silence was all the answer she
needed.
"By the great cycle!" she cried out,
her voice thick with shock and disbelief. "Witchcraft, alchemy,
divination—even the black arts, to some extent—those are within acceptable
boundaries of study. But necromancy? Researching the Primals? The Primordials?
That is a line you should never cross."
She took a deep breath, trying to steady herself.
"Why? Tell me why, Elara. You''re such a clever and innocent little girl...
so why?"
I should have stopped. I should have listened to
the warnings etched in blood-soaked history, to the countless voices that
cautioned against treading where I had. And yet… something inside me refused to
turn away. A whisper at the edge of my thoughts, an unseen hand guiding my
quill, urging me deeper.
I clenched my fists, feeling the heat of defiance
rising within me. "I only wanted to understand."
"Understand?" she replied, her voice
tight with disbelief.
"My clairvoyance…"
Enoux gasped, her eyes widening.
"Clair…voyance?"
"Yes…" I swallowed hard, my voice
faltering. "It… it doesn’t work on Selene."
Enoux exhaled sharply, a soft chuckle escaping
her lips. The tension in her body seemed to dissolve as she moved around my
room, her hands deftly adjusting the sigils on the candle holders. They hummed
to life, their light brightening as the shadows slowly retreated.
It was in that moment, as the darkness slipped
away, that I realized I was being… swayed by something darker, something more
sinister than I had first understood.
"Some things," Enoux said, her voice
soft, almost motherly, "my dear child, aren''t meant to be
understood."
She walked over to Selene, gently poking her in
the stomach.
Selene cooed, giggling in response.
"Elara, it’s okay to be curious… but it is
not, however, okay to use your own sister in your… experiments."
“I… understand.”
But did I?
“Apparently not…” The dragon chuckles, a deep,
rumbling sound that fills the space.
I meet his gaze, then laugh softly, the tension
easing in my chest. “Ha… yeah, you’re probably right.”
I sat across from Enoux, the flickering
candlelight offering little defense against the shadows that danced upon the
stone walls. The remnants of my earlier experiment were scattered across the
table—charcoal runes, half-burned parchment, and the faint shimmer of
dissipating energy. I exhaled slowly, gathering myself before speaking.
“My clairvoyance…” I hesitated, searching for the
right words. The weight of the truth hung heavy in the air, and I knew I could
not reveal it all—not yet. Perhaps some things were better left unsaid,
confined to the touch of my hand, as if that might make it more bearable.
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“It allows me to see the past, the present, and
glimpses of the future. But when I tried to read Selene, there was… nothing. A
void. As if she wasn’t there at all.”
Enoux didn’t respond immediately. Instead, she
studied Selene’s joyful little fox-like face, cradling her gently in her arms.
Her sharp golden eyes met Selene’s, searching, absorbing, as if trying to
decipher something hidden. Then, to my surprise, she smiled—a small, almost
relieved gesture.
“So, that’s all it was,” she murmured.
I frowned, confusion tightening in my chest.
“What do you mean?”
Enoux leaned back, carefully placing Selene
against her shoulder and patting her back. The little one let out a soft burp,
gasped, then resumed her quiet cooing.
“What you’re describing isn’t just clairvoyance,”
Enoux said, her voice thoughtful. “It’s Soul Magic.”
The words hit me like a stone. Soul Magic. The
term felt alien, hollow in my mind, unsettling in its implications.
“Selene is probably attuned to it,” Enoux
continued, her gaze still fixed on Selene. “It would explain why you can’t see
her threads of fate like everyone else.”
I shook my head, struggling to grasp the weight
of her words. “But I’ve never heard of Soul Magic before. Why? What is it?
Where does it come from?”
Enoux raised Selene before her, her expression
softening as she nuzzled her nose into Selene’s belly, cooing playful nonsense.
Selene giggled, sputtered, and cooed in return, her laughter a melody in the
stillness of the room.
But then, as if the moment had shifted, Enoux’s
expression darkened. Her gaze sharpened, and her voice dropped to a grave
whisper.
“Soul Magic, my dear, is not of this world. It
belongs to an ancient people—the Soul-Bound. And those who carry their blood
are called the Soul-Touched.”
A cold weight settled in my chest.
“But I’ve never heard of them either,” I said, my
voice unsteady.
“That’s because no one speaks of them, Elara. No
one wants to be associated with them.” Enoux leaned forward, her tone a stern
whisper. “Promise me—you’ll never experiment with it again. Never use it
again.”
I swallowed hard. “But…”
“ELARA!”
I flinched. She had never raised her voice at me
like that. But in her eyes, I saw something I had never expected—fear. It was
then that I did what every child in my position would do in that moment and
place. I lied.
“Okay…”
The next day, Enoux presented me with a pair of
gloves—fine leather, stitched with silver thread, their surface inscribed with
delicate, intricate runes. She laid them on the table between us, her
expression unreadable.
“These will suppress your clairvoyance,” she
said, her voice steady, yet there was something laced within it I couldn’t
quite place. “It’s necessary.”
Necessary. The word sank into me like a stone I
couldn’t quite swallow, pressing against my chest with uncomfortable weight.
She moved with deliberate care, guiding my
fingers into the gloves, her touch hesitant, as if the act itself might unravel
something she wasn’t willing to risk. The leather was cool against my skin,
fitting snugly, but not uncomfortably. Yet there was a carefulness to her
movements—too cautious, as if she feared even the smallest slip.
Then, by accident, her fingers brushed the bare
skin of my forearm.
I saw—nothing.
No shifting threads of fate, no glimpses of past
or future, no hidden truths. Just… emptiness. A void, like Selene.
I gasped, and Enoux quickly misinterpreted my
reaction. She fastened the buttons at my wrist with practiced precision, her
brow furrowing in concern.
“Is it too tight?” she asked.
I hesitated, forcing a smile. “No. You just
pinched the skin a little.”
She chuckled, relieved. “Sorry about that.”
As she adjusted the final button, her voice
softened as if the words were a casual observation.
“Soul Magic is a fickle thing,” she said. “It
only works on those who aren’t Soul-Touched. Even less so if the soul you’re
trying to… see, is that of a demi-god or higher. That includes demons and
celestials. Since your clairvoyance failed on Selene, it means she is
Soul-Touched as well.”
“Soul-Touched?” I echoed, my voice rising with
confusion. “Not… demon or celestial.” I paused, then added almost too
cheerfully, “OH! What if she’s a demi-god?”
I watched her carefully as she stood, gathering
her things, chuckling softly.
“Silly child,” she said, a playful smile curving
her lips. “She is neither of those things.”
“But… how would you know?” I asked, doubt
creeping into my voice.
Enoux’s smile faltered for a brief moment. And
before she closed her eyes, I caught a flicker in them—guilt, sadness, and
fear.
“Trust me,” she said softly. “I would know.”
It seemed I wasn’t the only one keeping secrets.
Enoux… was Soul-Touched too.