23. What is in a soul?
The battleship Ornate predator sailed through the vast oceans of Krake, a large armada trailing behind it, the ship hadn't made port in almost a year and started to show it. The ship's captain, Larist Arlson, sat slumped in his captain chair, he looked completely dishevelled; his face and chin was covered in scraggly stubble, his clothes were covered in multiple stains and anyone who got close to him would smell the stink of alcohol coming off him, dark circles under his eyes suggested little sleep and he barely talked to his crew anymore. They had been at sea for months but had done little raiding. Arlson's first mate, Kerist Horket, was growing concerned about the state and morale of the crew but Arlson didn't want to hear anything and spent his days drinking the rapidly dwindling supply of alcohol.
Kerist walked up to the slumped over Arlson, "Sir…"
"Your lord!" the pirate slurred as he corrected his first mate
"…My lord, you need to get it together the fleet is falling apart, we haven't raided any convoys in months and the men are worried about their pay, at this rate there will be mass desertions when we dock"
Arlson just chuckled as he downed another bottle, "Then we won't dock, a pirate should always be at sea anyway"
"We are running low on food, fuel, ammunition, we are running low on everything and we need to resupply soon"
"What about those floating platforms, they have enough supplies and the men won't desert there" Arlson shook the last drops out of the bottle before throwing it at his feet
"We don't have the ammunition to take one of those, we need to dock at an island" Kerist was growing increasingly frustrated with his commander
"If the men want to eat then you can give them fishing poles, problem solved, no need to dock"
Kerist ground his teeth and let out a low growl before swiftly turning and walking away from his captain, he went to the only person he believed could get Arlson out of his obvious depression. He let himself in to Arlson's personal quarters, it was a spacious room for a ship with a large bed, private wash room and large wooden desk. The quarters were empty expect for a woman sitting at the desk reading, she was beautiful with long flowing hair and glowing skin without a single wrinkle or blemish, she was Larist Arlson's ever faithful wife, Olessa Arlson.
"Kerist shouldn't you knock first?" she didn't look up from her book
"I have an urgent matter to discuss with you"
"My husband" she finally looked up, "Nothing is going to bring him back, we might as well hand ourselves over to Ovis now"
"The loss of your son ha…"
"My son is not dead!" Olessa's eyes warned Kerist to watch his words, she wasn't a very forgiving woman
"Your son's betrayal has had a massive effect on him, there has to be something you can do" Kerist was desperate for any solution, "Our supplies and the morale of the crew are reaching dangerous lows, if Ovis appeared on the horizon now we wouldn't even be able to fight back"
Olessa sighed, "There is nothing I can do, Urst left a wound in his father's heart that cannot be healed"
Kerist finally looked at the book Olessa had been reading, it was clearly an album of pictures, they were all from when Urst was young, all of them family photographs, the first mate sighed before excusing himself and leaving the quarters. He looked across the ocean as he pondered his situation, there was no way to bring his commander back to his old self and he doubted surrendering to Ovis would gain him any mercy.
A messenger ran up to him, "Sir we have received reports from the escort Oliana a fleet of ships is heading this way and they seemed to be led by the Krake's tooth, what do you want to do?"
Kerist hung his head, "I'm going for a smoke" he left the messenger standing there confused
Ovis sat on the bridge of the Krake's tooth, he was in a good mood, he had captured two more of the traitors within a couple of weeks of each other. The primarch had been at sea for over a year, tearing across the seas of Krake to find the admirals that betrayed his family, he currently had 4 of them chained to the side of his battleship and he was finally closing in on a 5th.
"Is it true?" Urst Arlson marched in to the bridge of the Krake's tooth
"Shouldn't you be on your own ship?" Ovis asked barely glancing at Urst, he had tried to keep the fact they were closing in on his father a secret from him
"My ship is fine but is it true you found my father?"
"If our information is correct he should be somewhere near here" Ovis looked at his old friend, "You will have a part to play, don't worry"
"I want command" every person on the bridge froze as soon as the words left his mouth, "I want to be the one to bring my father to justice"
Ovis' expression didn't change at all, "You want command?"
"Let me take command of the fleet and crush him, let me prove my loyalty"
"You have already proved it"
"Then let me crush him for reasons all my own"
Ovis chuckled before standing from his chair, he towered over Urst and for a second he thought Ovis was going to kill him for such disrespect but the primarch simply yawned, "It seem I'm finally tired, it's been over a year since I've slept so no one is to disturb me, it seems my first mate is also tired" Ovis grabbed the man he had appointed his first mate by the collar and dragged him out of the bridge, "Seems you're the highest ranked officer on the bridge"
Urst smiled as he sat down in the massive captain's seat and steeled himself for combat, "Find my father, now!"
Kerist puffed out smoke as he watched ships come over the horizon, he could hear the panic in the bridge above him as he watched the ships manoeuvre in to a line and prepare to attack. Their own ships were in complete disarray, some had formed a crude and disjointed line, others had stopped completely and seemed to be surrendering and even more just sailed away, retreating to save themselves, Kerist sighed as he leant against the railing, he considered just jumping over and ending it quickly but he didn't have it in him.
"Maybe a shell will hit me" he took another drag of his pipe as he watched the ships just on the horizon
The bridge of the Ornate predator was absolute panic as the bridge crew tried to get their commander to snap in to action and give orders or at least find his first mate.
"It's no use" the navigation officer, Orst Urate, threw Arlson back in to his chair as the traitorous admiral sat there completely apathetic, "Hail all the ships and tell the captains to get their crews in order, we must form a line and fight back"
Urate was 3rd in the command chain and so it was up to him to do something, no one on the bridge argued and went about their tasks
"We can't fight" the logistical officer came up to Urate, "We only have 15% of our ammunition stores left, we literally don't have the guns to fight, we should retreat"
"We can't, the Krake's tooth and his fleet is faster than us" Urate looked at a map of the area they were sailing through, he wasn't use to this but he had no choice, he would have to be the first person ever to defeat Ovis
Urate tapped a pencil on the map as he tried to think of some ingenious plan to win, as he sat there without a single idea he realised something, something big.
"Where are the planes? Why aren't they attacking?" Urate realised that he has had for too much time to think
He grabbed a pair of binoculars and focused on the ships off in the distance, the flag was clearly Ovis' but they just sat there on the horizon as if waiting, Urate narrowed his eyes as he tried to get in Ovis' head and figure out what he was doing.
"Sir we're being hailed by the Krake's tooth" the radio operator broke his train of thought, "I think the commander needs to hear this"
The operator put the message through the speakers, "What the hell are you doing old man?" Larist Arlson sat up in his chair as he heard his sons voice, "I came here for a fight and you give me this ragtag mess, what kind of father are you?"
Larist motioned for the handset, "Where is Ovis?"
"He's not here, now show me that you can succeed in your mutiny or were all those stories you told me just fake?"
Larist kept the handset on so Urst could hear, "Bring us closer this will be a battle at point blank range" Arlson sat up straight in his chair, "I will teach you respect boy"
"I don't have anything to learn for a senile old man"
The line was cut and Urate could see the ships moving closer to them and their own ships turning to meet them, he could already tell this wasn't going to be a battle with intelligent tactics and artistic plays, it was going to be a good old fashioned fist fight where two lines of ships shot each other until one buckled. The ships moved closer to each other until you could see the colour in the eyes of the man on the ship opposite, at point blank range both lines open fired and blew holes in each other, Larist laughed, his first genuine expression of happiness since the mutiny.
"IS THAT ALL YOU GOT BOY? I EXPECT MORE FROM MY SON!" he shouted in to the handset and his voice came out of loud speakers
"SAYS THE MAN WHOSE BARK IS WORSE THAN HIS BITE!" Urst replied in kind
Father and son screamed at each other as their ships shot at each other, this exchange went on for an hour before the Ornatr predator and her ships finally ran out of ammunition. With no other options Larist ordered a ram, he stood from his chair and grabbed his sword as he left the bridge.
Larist Arlson roared as he stirred his men to arms, the battleship came to a dead stop as it lodged it's bow in the Krake's tooth, bridges were made and the men swarmed across with Larist at their head, he cut through men until he spotted his son cutting his own way through the chaos.
"URST!" he roared as he made his way over to his son
Their blades clashed and father and son fought, Urst was younger and much faster than his father but Larist had taught him how to fight so it came out to a draw.
"Ovis wants you alive, give up father, I promise mother won't be harmed she'll live"
Larist sighed, "Just tell me why?"
"The same reason you don't try to oppose the ocean, it's no use fighting against Ovis, but if you ride the currents and manoeuvre right you can use it to your advantage, you'll never overcome it or best it but you can use it to advance yourself and your goals" Urst sheathed his sword, "And he's my friend"
Larist threw down his sword and held up his hands as his ships were overrun and captured, his hands were chained behind his back and he was to be taken to Ovis. He didn't have the will to fight anymore, he had lost that after the mutiny but Larist could never refuse his son when he demanded they play.
It had been 2 months since Artris Somta had left his fellow conspirators, word had reached him of the capture of both Kitla and Lotre. He had chosen to avoid busy shipping lanes and take needlessly long routes between ports, Somta had used this tactic when raiding, convoys that couldn't afford protection would normally take routes that were far out of the way and they were always easy pickings. His ship, the Dawn blade, and fleet were in the middle of nowhere, a part of Krake few ever travelled to since according to all maps there was nothing here and ships had a habit of vanishing, there was supposed to be only open ocean for thousands of miles.
Somta was in his personal quarters, he normally kept a neutral and unchanging expression in the face of everything but as he fret over the issue of Ovis hunting him he felt his face twist in ways it hadn't since he was a child. He had no way to stop Ovis, the primarch would not stop and he didn't have the skill to beat him in open combat and even then he didn't have the power to kill Ovis so sinking his ships would barely delay him. Somta was about to cry out when his first mate knocked on the door, he forced his face in to its normal neutral expression before calling his second in.
"Our spotters have found an island?" Freist Kelst, a man who was almost as stoic as Somta looked confused at the news he had brought his captain
Somta left his quarters with a pair of binoculars, he stood at the side of the ship as he looked off in to the distance and he could see an island sticking out of the water. Krake was very geologically active, most of its islands were volcanically formed, so it wasn't strange for a new island to appear or even for an island to occasionally disappear but this island wasn't new. Somta's parents had been a map makers and he had spent his childhood on the seas mapping the oceans and newly formed islands, he knew what a newly formed island look like and this wasn't one.
"I think there are people on it?" Somta focused in on the beach and saw several huts
"Do you think?" Kelst half asked a question, he didn't want it to be true but it was the most logical situation
"Maybe, I'll lead an expedition if it's true then we can retreat quickly"
"That seems risky, I would prefer to just bombard them from here"
"We can do that after we confirm they are what we think but if they aren't then this could be the prefect hide away from Ovis"
"True, just be sure to maintain constant radio contact"
Somta smiled slightly as he went to gather men and weapons, "I will mother"
Somta and a small group of fast boats sped towards the mysterious island, the pirate kept his binoculars trained on the beach the entire time, he could see a small pier and figures moving between the huts and along the beach, it seemed like a normal island but Somta wasn't sure. The islands of Krake were few and far between, they might be entirely alone in the ocean or they could be some small clusters, but every island was connected to every other through a complex web of shipping lanes and trading routes, no island on Krake was completely alone except for those controlled by worshippers of the dark gods. The dark islands of Krake were refuges for the heretical dark ships, they were completely isolated and gave the dark gods followers a place to undertake their perverse rituals, Somta believed this island was one of those but he had to make sure.
The fast boats pulled in to the pier and the men disembarked with their weapons ready, Somta had his sword and pistol out as he approached the closest person. They looked like a young woman, she sat on the pier looking down at the water with a large hat covering her face and paying them no attention, Somta approached her cautiously, he could see others gathering just off the pier with their own weapons.
"Excuse me but my fleet seems to be lost, do you know the name of this island?" Somta asked from swords length away
"I don't sorry I can't help you" the woman sounded normal but she didn't look up to talk to him
"What's your name?" Somta edged a little closer, "Can you point us to someone who might know?"
"I don't have one, my parents never named me and the Gods haven't seen fit to give me one yet"
Somta moved back and raised his pistol, "Look at me, I want to see your face"
"The priests said you would arrive, the Changer saw it" the woman looked up and Somta could see she had no eyes, they had been cut from her skull long ago, "You're not here yet but you will be soon, that's what the Great Changer saw and he only sees the truth"
Somta barely managed to keep his expression in check before the island natives opened fire on his men, it only took a couple of minutes but all the men Somta had brough with him lay dead on the pier, Somta was frozen in fear as the woman stood and approached him.
"Our lord only wishes to show you the truth, about your cursed existence and the blasphemous insult this entire world is" she smiled as she gently stroked Somta's cheek, "You'll see and when you do you will reject your false gods, you will see the truth and you will praise the four great Gods of this universe; Tinch, Kore, Nurhet and Slaa"
Somta knew he had to retreat immediately, he made a silent prayer to all the gods he could remember as he summoned his strength and turned to run for the fast boats, he had only taken a single step before the woman said something that stopped him dead, not in fear but curiosity.
"And in return they will grant you the power to best the son of the Anathema, Ovis Nelson"
Somta looked back at the eyeless woman, he knew he should escape and have the island shelled back in to the ocean but he couldn't pass up the chance to gain the power to defeat Ovis.
"What do you want from me?" he asked
"You have already brough us all we need, you just need to give it to us, give us the thing more precious than gold and jewels and they will grant you the one thing only they can give you"
Somta looked out to sea, to his ships that lay at anchor on the horizon, he knew what they wanted and Somta found himself considering it. He moved towards one of the fast boats and picked up a small radio set in it.
"Kelst, are you there Kelst?" his hand and voice were shaky as he spoke in to the handset
"I'm here, is everything ok?"
Somta looked back at the woman and then to his ships, he knew what he should say, what any true man of Krake would say but in that moment he found his fear of Ovis overwhelmed his pride as a man.
"The island is fine, the people have invited us to dock and resupply there" Somta paused as he gripped the handset tightly, "Bring the fleet in, we're the first ships they've had in a while so they're throwing a celebration, I want every man on dry land"
"Yes sir"
The connection cut out and Somta dropped the radio handset, horrified at what he did, he fell to his knees and for a moment considered picking the radio back up and telling them to stay away and blow the island to hell.
"You will be reward well for this, they will free you of your curse and if you're lucky maybe a few of your crew will be given the same boon" the woman pulled him away from the radio, "We only wish to help you, you'll understand soon, now come we must prepare the ritual"
Somta was pretty much catatonic as he was taken to one of the huts, he was stood in the centre of several concentric circles, his jacket and shirt were taken from him and several hooded figures used blood to paint strange runes on his body as they chanted. He could hear the protests of his men as they were captured, subdued and killed, Somta could barely keep his face from breaking as several of his crew were dragged in to the hut in chains.
"Sir, what the hell is going on?" they tried to fight back but they were held down, "What did you do?"
He didn't look as the woman started chanting and the others in the hut join in, they call out to their gods, they called for their power come to them and flow in to Somta but the repellent nature of the crew that knelt before the chanting heretics forced the power of the gods back. It concentrated as more power was pulled from the immaterium to fight against the null aura that kept it back and as the power of the null field was about to buckle, at the penultimate moment of the ritual, the throats of his crewmen were cut, their blood flooded the floor and soaked his feet.
The power of the immaterium crashed down on Somta as he felt the bloody runes on his body start to burn as he fell to his knee, he could feel something deep inside him burning as well, "W-what's happening?" the world around him seemed to shift and stay exactly the same, no it was like he was seeing something more, something that was always there but he was blind to, until now.
He let out a cry as the burning feeling spread through his veins, his whole body felt like it was on fire. He heard thousands of voices rush in to his head like water through a hull breach, he fought to keep his mind from being crushed under the unending tide of countless voices from across space and time and then all at once it stopped. The countless chattering voices had coalesced in to four great blocks, they loomed over Somta and at once he knew they were Gods and he finally understood the heretics he had killed for so long.
Somta wasn't sure how long he had bathed in the glory and terrifying power of the Gods but the woman soon brought him back to the physical world, he could still hear the voices but they were low whispers now, voices on the edge of perception that praised the Gods and their virtues.
"Tinch, Kore, Nurhet, Slaa, praise be to the primal Gods" Somta whispered as the low chuckle of his patrons reverberated through his mind
"Did it work?" the woman asked as Somta stood, "Bring one of them, now"
Freist Kelst was dragged in to the hut, ferociously fighting against his captors, pulling and kicking at them until he saw Somta standing there covered in the blood of his own men, Kelst's face warped in to a look of absolute horror and then in to one of unspeakable rage.
"WHAT THE FUCK HAVE YOU DONE ARTRIS!" Kelst ignored the heretics surrounding him and lunged at his captain, he broke from the men holding him back and knocked Somta over, "YOU HERETICAL SCUM, I'LL KILL YOU!"
Somta looked up at his former first mate in shock as Kelst tried to choke the life from him, he wasn't shocked by the reaction Kelst had to him, he was shocked at the reaction he had to Kelst, a man he had once considered a close friend was now someone he could barely bring himself to look at. Kelst's very presence grated at his mind, there was clearly something missing but Somta couldn't quite figure it out, he just knew that he was now disgusted but Kelst's very existence.
As his old friend tightened his grip on his throat and Somta felt his consciousness start to fade he drew his knife and ran it in to Kelst. His former second looked shocked as he fell back and Somta rose up, the pirate could barely make himself look at the sheer wrongness that he now saw in his old friend.
"The primal Gods will not grant you salvation like they have me" with a single slash Somta cut open Kelst's throat
"Well done, now you see the curse you were cured of" the woman pulled him in to an embrace, "You now know the curse all the "true" people of Krake suffer from, they pray to non-existent gods for their voices cannot make them, their silent voices cannot be heard by the true Gods of the universe and their absent ears cannot hear the truths they convey, they cut out our eyes because they are jelous of what we can see, their very existence stymies the plans of the Gods and stops the spread of their holy worship"
Somta understood what he didn't see in Kelst, what had made him so disgusted and produced that visceral reaction, what he wouldn't see in everyone he met on Krake from now on. A soul, they were all without such an important factor and they were blind to it and the truths of the universe but this dark cult had found a cure and they had granted Somta the one thing he never knew he needed.
"And the power to destroy Ovis?"
"Call out to the Gods and give all you are to them, sacrifice all you can to them and they will grant you power beyond your imagination"
Somta would sacrifice the rest of his crew with his own hands, thousands of men who had followed him and fought with him for years, he looked each one in the eyes as he cut out their heart and called out to his new gods, with each sacrifice he felt the four gain a tighter grip on his newly forged soul and grant him even greater powers.
Ovis had been hunting the traitors for close to 2 years and he had managed to capture all but two, he knew exactly where Kismet was but had decided to leave the ringleader for last but the primarch had no idea where Somta was, while his co-conspirators had raided and carved out their own small territories Somta had not been seen since they had all parted ways.
Ovis looked over all the maps he could find of Krake as he tried to determine where Somta could be hiding, Urst stood next to his commander as he offered what little help he could provide.
"He probably did the smart thing and became a fisherman on some out of the way island, it'll take years to find him"
"His ships haven't been spotted at all, the last they were seen were heading west from here" Ovis took a map and drew a circle on it, "If he continued then he would have ended up in the territory of Askella, she would not be happy about that so I doubt he went there"
"Then he would have headed south" Urst concluded
"Why do you say that?"
"North is the empty quarter and south is a mess of small pirates fighting for control he could dominate a few of them and make a name for himself there"
"But he hasn't, we would have heard about it so he went north"
"Then he's dead, if he hasn't left the empty quarter by now no way he's still alive"
"We'll find out for ourselves, we'll comb the empty quarter, tell the fleet to head straight there"
Urst look at Ovis like he was crazy, "Who knows what's in the empty quarter beside to head straight there we'll need to pass through Askella's territory and she will not like that"
"Good I can shoot her in the face and make her ships comb the empty quarter"
Ovis fleet sailed straight towards the empty quarter and when the pirate lady Askella tried to stop him Ovis held true to his word, he simply swam to her flagship, cut through her crew and shot her in the face with his bolt pistol. Witnessing such a brazen display many of the ships under Askella joined Ovis and he sent them to the empty quarter to comb it for any sign of Somta. For weeks the ships searched and found nothing until one squadron reported a strange storm in the empty quarter, it was vicious and seemed contained to a strangely small area.
Ovis sent ships in to the storm to find out what lay at the centre, he waited for days but only one small ship returned, it was battered and beaten and sank as soon as it limped out of the storm but the crew brought word of a single island in the storm that seemed untouched by it.
"It's obviously a dark island" one of his officers pointed out as they gather to discuss the course of action, "It is our duty as true men of Krake to slaughter them to the last, if Somta is there then he has thrown his lot in with those heretics and he will die with them"
"The storm poses a threat, it will tear our ships apart, we'll have to wait until it passes"
"It won't pass, it will only dispel when we kill the sorcerers conjuring it"
"Then how can we get through it, wanting to kill heretics is all well and good but you aren't very good at it when you're dead"
Ovis sat silent as his officer argued, he said nothing as he stood and left the room, his confused officers stopped arguing and followed right behind him. His fleet was anchored just outside the conjured storm, rocking in the waves kicked up by the escaping winds, it looked almost still compared to the 200 foot waves being produced by the storm.
Ovis always knew he was different from the people of Krake in many ways but one he never told anyone about was his ability to identify heretics, most people recognised them by their brown eyes but some went to great lengths to hide those and still Ovis could find them. Heretics and their works brought up feelings of maddening hunger in the primarch, when he saw them he felt the irresistible urge to consume them and all they are, their very presence and works seemed to both feed that hunger and make it even stronger.
Ovis focused on that hunger that the storm brought up in him, he drew in its power and channelled it through his body. He stretched out his hand and as he did a calm channel was made through the storm, the power he called on destroying the power of the sorcerers conjuring the storm. His officers stood shocked at such a display of power and were only brought out of it when Ovis turned to them.
"It seems the Gods have lit our way, we should go before this window closes"
Somta had spent nearly two years learning and honing the gifts given to him by the dark gods, he could conjure great storms of lightning and produce flames that not only flayed flesh from bone but also burned souls, he had tested his powers on his crew training until he could push past their soullessness, he had given up everything to gain the power to destroy Ovis, the power to possibly conquer Krake.
"He's coming" the woman he met the day he landed walked in to his hut, "His attack killed quite a few of the sorcerers conjuring the storm but I'm sure the Gods have given you all you need to best him, there is no one on Krake more powerful than you right now, I know it"
Somta stood on the beach with the rest of the islanders as they watched the ships sail closer, they were all armed, either physically or psychically, the ones conjuring the storm shrank its radius and focused their power as hundreds of boats sped towards the island, they called down lightning and stirred up the waters as defensive positions fired at the approaching attackers. Somta noticed none of the boats had Ovis on them and he wondered where the primarch was until the giant form of Ovis burst out of the water and he charged the beach alone, he watched as Ovis smashed through the defensive positions and slaughtered any who came near him.
"Go kill him and break their soulless spirit, the Gods will deliver all they promise on to the faithful" the woman gently pushed Somta towards Ovis and he charged the primarch
He saw the primarch as he did every other person on Krake, a point in the immaterial realm that was filled with nothing and pushed away any attempt to fill it. Somta raised his sword as he focused his powers through it and ignited it with multicoloured flames.
"OVIS GIVE ME YOUR HEAD!" Somta screamed as Ovis had his back to him
Somta let out a war cry and prepared to strike the primarch but was frozen completely in his tracks as soon as came withing striking distance. Being near Ovis was unlike anyone else on Krake, it wasn't an empty void that rejected the power of the immaterium and pushed it away, Somta had learned to overcome that. No, Ovis was a black hole that consumed the powers of the immaterium, he wasn't a black spot because he pushed the immaterium away, the immaterium fled from him. All the power that Somta had called forth to slay Ovis was immediately drawn in to him and Somta could feel his soul being pulled to him, to absolute destruction.
Ovis turned on the frozen Somta, "Somta is that you?" to the heretical traitor the primarch looked like a great ever hungry black maw that represented only death and destruction, "Why are your eyes so ugly now"
Somta contemplated running away but that thought was banished as Ovis grabbed him by the neck, "Were you really so desperate that you forgot your pride?"
"NO! NO!" Somta thrashed and flailed as he felt the all-consuming aura of Ovis focus on him and pull on his soul, he felt black tendrils wrap around his immaterial form like a great serpent. The black aura of Ovis opened up and Somta saw the blazing bonfire that was his soul, fuelled from his infancy by mere scraps it was still like that of a god's to Somta. Somta could just about hold on to his soul while Ovis' aura was idle but now it was focused and Somta could do nothing to stop his soul from being ripped from him. Somta screamed as Ovis' black tendrils tore his soul from him and shredded it in to easily digested bits.
He was lucky, or maybe unlucky, for most having their soul torn from their body and shredded in to scrap to fuel another would have killed them instantly but Somta's soul was not his own. It wasn't even truly a soul, it was scraps pulled from the immaterium and stitched together in to a pseudo-soul, it was the anxiety of a girl who died a thousand years ago on a planet across the galaxy, the happiness of a new father who wasn't even born yet, it was thousands of emotions from across time and space mashed together and stuck to Somta. He was born without it, he had lived 30 some years without it and he wouldn't die once it was gone.
Once Ovis had thoroughly consumed every scrap that constituted Somta's "soul" he dropped the catatonic traitor and went about slaughtering the rest of the island. Somta lay in the sand, unable to move as the weight of what he did crashed down on him, he betrayed and killed his own crew all for power that Ovis robbed him of without any effort. What he had seen had proved what he always knew, no power in the universe could stand against Ovis, he would consume all, maybe even the Gods.
He felt someone grab him and he looked up to see the woman who had convinced him to do everything picking him up, "Come on we need to get out of here, he was stronger than we thought, we can do the ritual over and then focus you in to a proper weapon to kill him"
"Witch" Somta grabbed her throat and gripped tight, "You did this to me, you made me throw it all away for nothing, I have nothing and it's all your fault"
She pulled at his hands as she gasped for air, "P-please, y…you have me, we c-can kill him to..gether….please" she pleaded
Somta loosened his grip slightly but as he looked around and saw the island burning and Ovis slaughtering everyone in sight he knew it was hopeless, he could almost see him consuming their souls with every kill but he knew that was only his imagination, he tightened his grip again, "It's better this way, not even the Gods can slay him" Somta cried as he crushed her throat
He knelt in the sands watching the island burn as the beach and waters ran red with blood, he pulled out his knife and remembered the friend he had killed with it, "I'm sorry Kelst, I killed you for nothing" Somta closed his eyes as he pointed the blade towards his neck and pulled it towards him
He waited for pain but none came, he opened his eyes and saw a giant hand had caught the knife, "You don't get to die until I say so" Ovis snapped the knife blade
Somta was only able to get out one hopeless cry before his world turned dark.
Next time: Survive at all costs
