Lightbringer - The Patron Saints of the Damned Book III

Chapter 10 - A Soul Apart

Exousia wasn’t sure, but she estimated that at least a few days went by as she made her journey to the opposite end of Hell. It was somewhat eventful at first, when she’d chosen a guard of Hades to violently incapacitate so that she could give her allies plausible deniability if they were accused of aiding her. A strike with the butt of her dagger had served to sever the demon’s spine and hopefully save him some pain. After that, she and Roach made their way into the mountains on the opposite side of Hell as the mountains they’d arrived from in Intake. The climb up the desolate rocky land seemed somehow more secure, if more imposing. 

“You really need wings,” Roach said, hovering behind. 

“I use as much demon energy I can for my knife,” Exousia said as she climbed up to a point that was flat enough to walk on. She then pulled out the knife and was briefly reminded of when she’d made her first soul-weapon. 

Dufaii said that the demon weapon he chose was supposed to be tactical … and seemed to have approved of Exousia’s choice to replicate the human-made one she’d lost in Heaven. And it had proven a useful tool for freeing human souls. Of course, it had also been an occasional weapon, but not as effective of one as the dagger it had become for the Challenge. 

“I don’t know how you humans can bear walking so much,” Roach replied, groaning impatiently as he began to fly in circles. “Hey! Maybe you can absorb the divine shard from one of the Lightbringer’s lackeys. You’d have all the power of a demon, and then some.”

“While I have no obligation to follow the law of demons, I will if I plan to have any part to play in the war against the Creator.” Exousia said, though she might have admitted feeling drawn to the idea. But it went against everything her teacher had taught her. Then she looked at her weapon in its dagger form and let out a heavy sigh. If she was going to save Ammon, she needed something better for cutting into souls. What was more, Exousia felt she needed to find herself and who she was apart from human, god, or demon. And this artifact … it felt like the only version of herself that she really knew. 

So Exousia concentrated on the weapon–letting it unwind and slowly become a floating ball of black liquid. Once it no longer had any solid form, she began to reshape it. Only, this time, instead of the full assortment of tools of her previous army knife, there would be only two–a locking blade unfolding at one end and a scalpel at the other. Once the basic form was in place, Exousia returned it to her pocket to finish forming.

It was then that Roach spoke up again. “So, do you want to know how I got fired from working for the Lightbringer?”

“I’m more curious about how you got the job in the first place,” Exousia replied dryly. 

Roach cackled hysterically and shook his head. “That was delightfully cruel. But I don’t actually know how I got it. When I woke up from falling off that ledge, I was there with no memories whatsoever. They told me I worked there, gave me a broom, and let me go at it. It was a cushy enough job, everybody seemed content to ignore me, even if I slacked here or there.”

“Doesn’t really sound like you,” Exousia said, unable to believe that her rather eccentric companion would be able to tolerate it.

“Exactly,” Roach said with repeated nods. Then smiled conspiratorially. “But you know, there were these locked rooms all over the palace. So, one day when nobody was looking, I decided to check a few out.”

Exousia raised an eyebrow, curious.

“The first one I saw was a library, mostly boring secret stuff accounts from that tiger incarnation. I think the only interesting part about it was how he could have written it all without thumbs. But the second one was much more interesting ... weapons everywhere.” Roach’s black eyes glowed with excitement as he talked about it.