Grim Ruination, Birth of a Soul (On Hiatus)

The Reunion

"How did your soul get into that ring?" Darris asked as he walked through the field surrounding the city. He'd begun speaking with the soul of Tempest as he walked from the town. There was little else to do there, it being so late at night. He had Tempest to keep him company, and hopefully answer his modicum of questions. He'd started toward the hills beyond Vanderin, there was bound to be wildlife there he could test his newfound strength on. Not that many things there would've proven a problem before anyways.
"It's always been there. Although it was only half of my soul, which now resides within you at my behest." Tempest's voice rang from the depth of Darris's mind.

"Where's the other half? Is it still on your corpse?" Darris asked as he reached the edge of the fields, giving way to the grassy fields, and soon to the forest grove beyond it.

"No, it hasn't even been on my living body in a while." He spoke, now much more softly than before.

"Where's the other half then?" Darris asked, stopping in the damp grass.

Tempest was silent for a moment before his voice rang again. "I had to sacrifice a lot to call forth that devil to slay my fellow cultists. I was young then, stupid. I didn't realize how... permanently that price would weigh down on me. All i'd wanted to do was rid the world of those men."
Darris now continued walking, nodding in understanding to Tempest's statement, although he didn't think Tempest noticed.

"Why did you give me your ring? Did you know I'd be brought back to life?" Darris asked.
"No. I gave you the ring because that's the only thing I could do. That bolt of lightning would've shattered the ring into pieces; my soul along with it. While my body was reduced to ash my soul still resided in the ring. It sounds selfish, but I gave you the ring to save my own soul. Actually, Darris, I do have a question for you." Tempest stated. Darris stopped again.

"How is your body here? Svalken had said that no one had ever come from the Ziggurat once they went to it. So how did your corpse come here and get buried in your town?" He asked.

Darris's brows knit as he thought. He'd never considered the thought before, but it didn't make much sense. Someone had to have brought his body to Vanderin to have it buried. "I have no idea. If your soul was within the ring didn't you see anything?" He asked.

"No, when you put the ring on my soul was bound to your body via the ring. When you perished my soul went into... a sort of slumber. I only woke up once you'd been brought back from the dead. When you took off the ring a moment ago my soul was released, and by virtue of being a reaper you could see my soul, and I allowed myself to be absorbed by you. Even so my essence is tethered to the ring... so don't lose it." Tempest explained.

"Why can I speak to you? I've absorbed another soul but they haven't said a word." Darris asked.
Tempest was silent for a brief moment. "Hmm... My best guess is that you are bound to my ring. Our souls have a much greater connection than that of any other you've absorbed. That's my assumption anyways."

Once again Darris nodded. Then a thought crossed his mind. "Tempest, are you a reaper?"
A small chuckle came from Darris's mind. "No, but I did know one once. Well... two it would seem. Back when I knew him Xartirum wasn't a reaper, just a follower of the lower planes like it had once been. Although it did seem he had the powers of one in the ziggurat. I do not know how he acquired the power though." Tempest explained.

Then Darris reached the edge of the forest. The trees blocked most of the moonlight from entering in, making the forest look like the depths of a mysterious cave. He could hear the ever faint skittering of various insects and small creatures within the forest. Then he heard the distant howl of a wolf, quickly followed by many more. A smirk tugged at Darris's lips. "How much would you assume the soul of a wolf is worth?" He asked aloud.

"Do you plan on absorbing more souls?" Tempest asked.

"I need to learn how to use the souls I absorb somehow. It helps if I fight a few things to get a grasp on how to use them. On top of that I can acquire more souls as well." Darris explained, stepping into the forest.

It didn't take long for a wolf to spot Darris through the darkness; he made no attempt at hiding. First Darris heard the low snarl of a wolf behind him. As he turned to face the noise he was met with a black wolf lunging forward.

With one fluid movement, Darris stepped to the side and swung up with his scimitar, cutting cleanly across the wolf's hide, causing blood to spray across the blade.

The wolf whimpered as it fell to the ground, its surprise attack having been worthless. It turned and began limping away when Darris dashed forward and swung down at its neck. Another useless whimper and the wolf's headless body collapsed.

Darris watched as the golden mist of the wolf's soul curled up from under its fur and into the air. He reached out and touched the golden mist. Within the mist Darris saw several small wolf cubs playing around and playfully growling at each other, then it flickered to a scene of many older wolves tearing apart the corpse of a deer. Then the mist flowed toward Darris and sunk into his skin.

A slight burst of energy filled Darris, however it was nothing compared to Tempest's energy. He didn't expect it to meet it, but he didn't expect the soul to be so... hollow.

Darris was flung from his thoughts when he heard more growling from all around him. He glanced around to see nearly 8 black wolves stalking towards him. Their small eyes beaming at him as they all bared their maw.

Darris readied his blade. If each wolf soul wasn't very valuable, he'd just have to kill more of them to compensate. Darris smirked before dashing forward at the black wolves.