Soul Arts

Soul Arts - Another Track (a single chapter spin-off of Taeyeon-Li's story)

Soul Arts

Another Track

By Kadeem Lewis

Decapitated again. This is the second lamentable chapter in the story of the unfortunate Taeyeon-Li. Welcoming her head back onto her shoulders once again must feel refreshing, though it does not seem possible for the girl to keep her body in one piece for more than a century.

Already having been violently beheaded and abused over eight decades ago by her own father, Mr. Moon, Taeyeon's latest head-rolling was sadly by the hand of our darkness and space-time wielding champion; Andromeda. The Lord Andromeda, infuriated and believing that Marshall had been holding counterpart Ahsul of Light hostage in his castle, ended the life of Taeyeon for the second time after the man refused to yield helpful information to the Lord of the whereabouts of beloved Ahsul. Thus Taeyeon, child of misfortune, now finds herself truly deceased finally after eighty-two years.

Standing on the bleak and silent platform alongside all the other lives the Earth lost today, Taeyeon is a true oddity. The thirteen-year-old, four-foot-tall Korean-American waits in line surrounded those who are elders. Passengers waiting on this platform are lined up precisely by age as by age is how they will board the vessel when it arrives. To the left of Taeyeon, the waiting passengers are eighty-three years old and upwards. Some stand with the assistance of their canes and walkers. Some should not be standing at all. To the right of the girl, the passengers are eighty-two and eighty-one years old and getting younger by the line. For sixty-nine years, Taeyeon has retained the appearance of the thirteen-year-old girl she was when Moon, her father, destroyed her.

The aura of the other girl is now far too powerful and obvious to ignore. Far down at the other end of the platform where the young children wait, a conscious girl is exploring. She is seemingly the only conscious soul foolish enough to allow herself to be caught exposing her conscious state. Undoubtedly, Taeyeon can easily sense the consciousness of four others aside from the girl who is walking around. But this particular girl is radiating an immense power; unfamiliar power to Taeyeon, but similar in nature to that of the godlike beings who had recently invaded the realm that was home of her and her adoptive father, Marshall-Li.

She is imprudent. Taeyeon recognizes the girl's incredibly powerful soul, However, she balks at Kalia's carelessness. Regardless, Taeyeon silently offers a prayer of gratitude. Kalia will be noticed and likely captured while Taeyeon will be safe. Taeyeon knows to stand still; not to move, not to blink, not to so much as even breathe.

The sick, sinister vessel has finally arrived. One of the younger children has been captured.

Relief washes over Taeyeon like powerful Pacific Ocean waves rush over the beaches of Korean peninsula. Daddy's here. Before the vessel could come to a complete stop, Taeyeon sensed the presence of her true guardian, Marshall on board.

Taeyeon and Marshall-Li, adoptive father and daughter, were inseparable for sixty-nine years. Like Ahsul is Andromeda's counterpart, and Burning Witch is to Heat Foxus, Taeyeon and Marshall were one. Living feral in the dark, dead forest realm she stepped into when she was killed by her biological father, Taeyeon eventually met Marshall, bastard and exiled son of the Soul King, ruler of the Rift, a plane passing between the states of life and death. Though the girl was quite hostile to the intruder in the beginning, the man never raised a finger to harm her. He built a castle and invited her to live inside. He cooked the food she hunted for her, and cared for her when sickness weakened her. She trained him, implanting in him every ounce of her knowledge of Korean martial arts, skills, and fighting techniques. Sixty-nine years of peace until the heroes appeared and destroyed all.