Chapter Seven
Asura didn't return to headquarters, he didn't want to tell Lord Death what he has seen. It was just too painful to think about. He considered the idea of speaking to Ash but then he'll also have to tell her what is bothering him. So perhaps it would be best if he just avoided contact with anyone for at least twenty four hours.
"Now how do I spend that time?" Asura wondered out loud as he neared a local town. "Perhaps the local gossip will help me pass the time," Asura hung his head as he walked among the residents. Oddly enough, they didn't give him any questionable looks.
Even being among humans didn't put his mind at ease. He knew that they could snap at any given moment; strike out with a blade, pick pocket, call him foul names or even begin a brawl. More reasons why he was glad that Lord Death recruited him.
"Why am I being so distant lately?" Asura thought. "This isn't normal… is it because I have reunited with Ash?" Asura shook his head. "No, she isn't the reason," Asura looked at the amount of humans around him. They go on their everyday lives with only thinking about the most severe cases of danger; bandit raids, becoming homeless, pick pockets, murder. Asura fears all those things and more. So what do they have that he doesn't? He laughed to himself. He asked himself those same questions about Lord Death, Vajra and Ash. He spotted a man go into an alley, perhaps to take a quicker rout home. "What's one human soul? Kaledon ate more than a thousand," Asura followed the man into the alley.
"Have I blocked you out yet?" Ash asked Xavier as she spent several hours trying to learn how to prevent Xavier from reading her soul.
Xavier ran his beak through his right wing before answering. "You haven't improved since the last attempt; I can still sense it."
Ash sighed. "Is it even possible to fully block out your own soul?"
"You are the living proof that it isn't."
She nodded, finally defeated. "I suppose it is better to have only one person- sorry, bird to sense my soul instead of having everyone else sensing it," her stomach growled. "My word, how long have I been at this?"
"Four hours at most and you haven't eaten anything since this morning."
"Well," Ash stood up and stretched. "time for dinner."
The huntress left Xavier to get her bow from her hut before going out in search of game. Her usual hunting technique was jumping from tree to tree. It works out well, especially since she has the advantage of height to spot any game from far away.
Ash's dinner was a white tailed deer. "Good, she can be used for leather and venison," she aimed and took a deep breath. After a short pause, she shot. As soon as her arrow hit the deer; a sort of trap sprung.
Ash was knocked out her tree and flung into a net that quickly hung her into the air. Her bow and arrows were elsewhere.
"How could I have not seen this?" Ash swore and attempted to get into a comfortable position.
"That would be because of your hunger," a man dressed in moss green cloak came into view. "I know from experience that people would do just about anything to satisfy their hunger. To survive if you will."
"So you set all this up to capture me?" Ash raised an eyebrow.
"Capture is involved with my intention but I was not targeting you."
Ash tightly gripped the rope. This man is going after Xavier.
"If you tell me where the white eagle is, I will consider the option of letting you down," the man looked up at Ash. She couldn't make out any features since his face was shadowed by the nearly set sun and the shade.
"'Consider'?"
"Well, it is quite rare for a man such as me to stumble upon something so beautiful."
She rolled her eyes. "I'm not interested in your compliments," in the sky, she saw a moving star. Xavier. Ash looked back at this man. "If you don't release me now, your soul will be taken."
He chuckled. "I've heard many death threats my dear. But this by far the oddest one I have ever heard. 'Your soul will be taken'. What does that even mean?"
Xavier landed in back of this man. "It means that I will be taking it."
The man still remained calm. "A pleasure, white eagle," he snapped his fingers.
More traps sprang. These ones were ropes that tightly wrapped around Xavier. Xavier let out a cry and fell on his side, completely immobile.
"Damn it!" Ash thrashed around in her cage. "Let him go! He has done nothing wrong!"
"This bird took the life of my son," he crouched in front of Xavier. "He brought this upon himself."
"If you should kill anyone; it's me! For the past three years I killed all trespassers upon sight and I devoured their souls. So kill me, I have only defended him."
The cloaked man stared at her. "You alone were responsible for the death of my son? He was the first knight of his guild, a fine warrior, and you're telling me that a cowardly huntress killed him?"
"Is it cowardly for someone to defend the life of another?"
As if her question had summoned him; Asura dropped down directly between Xavier and the cloaked man. "I can sense your fear," after speaking those words, Asura shoved a hand through this man's body.
Asura pulled back and let the cloaked man drop. The human's soul emerged from the body. Asura didn't collect the soul; he disarmed Ash's net which caused her to fall seven feet.
Ash didn't care; she wriggled out of the net and rushed to Xavier's side.
"How could I not notice this?" Ash wondered out loud as she loosened Xavier's bindings.
"We were both caught off guard. It can happen," Xavier said in response.
"Yes but if Asura didn't come, we might have both been killed," Ash looked at the meister who was staring at the human soul in his hand. "Thank you."
"Just be more careful please. If Xavier hadn't released a distress wavelength, I wouldn't have come here," Asura simply answered. He crushed the human soul into his hand; the blue aura disappeared into him.
Ash cocked her head. "A distress wavelength?" she actually didn't wonder about this technique, she actually wondered about what Asura did. Was that another form of absorbing human souls? She mentally laughed. No, Asura wouldn't devour human souls.
"A distress wavelength is a type of skill that some use to call for the aid of others. This call is always heard as the chosen listener will feel something affect their souls," Xavier explained.
"In other words; choose your target and call for help," Asura added. "Ash, you told this human that you killed trespassers on sight and you devoured their souls, is that true?"
Ash's heart began to pound against her chest and she felt her palms get sweaty.
"I'll accept your silence as the answer 'yes'," Asura looked at her. "How many?"
Ash swallowed. "I lost count after one hundred and fifty."
"Is that the amount of souls you devoured?"
"Ash…" Xavier warned.
She ignored the bird. "I only devoured less than two hundred human souls. The one hundred and fifty and over number is my death count," she inhaled a shaky breath. "Are you going to kill me?"
"I should but I won't."
Ash blinked in surprise. "You won't?"
"Might I ask why?" Xavier asked.
She looked at the eagle. It sounded as if he wanted her dead.
"I don't know what her intentions were," Asura answered. "If they were for purely sport then she will force my hand and wound me during the process."
"Do you want to read my soul?"
"Ash…" Xavier warned again.
Asura nodded. "It will make things a lot more clear."
"You really aren't going through this are you?" Xavier asked in complete shock.
Ash shrugged. "Asura deserves to know," she began to reveal her soul to Asura. She resisted all impulses telling her to close it. For three years she has gone without anyone reading her emotions, thoughts and personality. She can only hope that Asura will only read what he is looking for, not everything else.
Ash's soul was odd. Well, the only thing that Asura felt uneasy about was the colour; it was white. He's never seen anyone with a white soul. Other than that, everything was fine. Ash's soul was formed like any other; a sphere and it had something that signified it as her own; green vines with leaves circled the soul and a black rune mark in the form of a howling wolf stood out.
"Right, onto the task at hand," Asura thought. He quickly found the reason why Ash killed and devoured. "Please let it not be for sport."
Asura's prayer was realized; Ash only killed to protect Xavier. She also went out of her way to warn local towns and villages not to enter the Adelbar Forest. Despite her warnings, people still came and because of this; a bounty was put on her head. Now it became a matter of survival. Ash turned to devouring the souls of humans to increase her strength and speed. She also occasionally hunted witches.
"So this is how she gained power…" Asura thought. "And she's afraid of becoming a kishin. Hmm... I thought she was only worried about the idea of such a being existing. Now, I see why," It was only recently that Ash stopped taking the lives of humans. Was it a coincidence?
"I stopped Asura," she called, as if she read his thoughts. "At first it was because I didn't want you here. But now, I see what this activity can turn me into; a kishin. That's something I don't want to become."
She wasn't lying. But, Asura wasn't ready to forgive her. "I believe you Ash but you took innocent lives no matter how noble your intentions were."
"Fine then," she knelt and dipped her head. She moved her hair to reveal her neck. "Kill me; I'd rather it be you than some… pitiful bounty hunter."
"I'm not going to," Asura crouched and lifted her head. "We all have done things we aren't proud of," he remembered that man's soul from the town, his first.
"Do you forgive me?"
"I… no," Asura rose. "There will be two outcomes of my decision. One; I do forgive you or two; I don't forgive you and I will take your life."
Ash nodded. "Fair enough, just don't think you will be able to take my life easily."
"Of that I have no doubt," Asura left the huntress.
He noticed that when the two of them were nearing their conversation, Ash developed a new fear; him. She's scared of what he is capable of.
At that thought, he smiled. Fear can be manipulated and he wants to have Ash as an ally, not an enemy. Perhaps he should visit that town again… what could possibly go wrong with more power? Hmm… maybe he can also get Vajra to go along with his plan.
