Song of Sages

1. Sea Smoke

"Do you remember how to begin?" asked Father Anto, drawing her attention back.

"Yes," she said.

The priest stepped back. "You may begin."

Iria moved to the very edge of the dock, so her toes curled over the lip of wood. She closed her eyes and let her body find its center of balance, until she could pick up the vibrations of the waves against the dock and swayed in time with them. Opening her mouth, she inhaled slowly, pulling the salty air down into her abdomen and then exhaling so it mingled with the sea breeze. She let her ears fill with the sound of the ocean. And then she cast her consciousness out into the water.

Goosebumps rose along Iria's arms at the slight chill, though it was only her mind submerged while her body remained on the dock. The underwater world was murky and shadowed, and Iria could feel the rocks and bits of long sunken ships along the seabed like pebbles beneath her sleeping cot. Fish darted away as her presence swept the harbor, seeking out the man who had drowned. She wasn't far out into the harbor when she felt it, the hard edges of bone covered by cold, bloated flesh. She shuddered at the contact, but forced herself to keep focused. When she could mark the outline of the whole body, she said aloud, "I found him."

"Very good," said Father Anto. "Now, see if you can separate the soul from the body."

"You wouldn't have me surface the body for a burial?" she asked, frowning.

"No," said the priest. "It would be a waste of your energy. It was an accidental death, so there is no reason to animate him. His wife also said he would have wanted to be laid to rest in the water. The most we can do for him is to make sure he can cross to the eternal plane."

Iria nodded, refocusing on the shadowy corpse beneath the water. With her mind, she sought the faint pinprick of warmth that emanated from his soul, wrapping her thoughts around it carefully, cradling it like a fledgling, shielding it like a candle in the wind.

Slowly, she began to draw the soul out, until it shimmered faintly in the water above the poor man's body. Skall, she thought, and felt a brief pulse from the soul at the recognition. Iria paused for a moment, reaching out to close the dead man's eyes, and as her attention drifted, she saw something dark approaching from the corner of her mind's eye.

She lurched backwards instinctively, nearly letting go of the soul as a hellion crashed into the drowned man's body. Iria gasped as salty water filled her mouth and she coughed, retching. Her throat and nose burned.

"What's wrong?" said Father Anto.

"Hell-hellion," she coughed.

"Focus," he said, his voice filling her ears as her sight remained below water. "You must get the soul above the surface before the hellion can take it."

Iria steadied herself, trying to override her body's reaction. You're not in danger, she reminded herself. Well, not from drowning. The hellion was a different sort of threat. In her distraction, the soul had begun to sink back towards the body, but it would not be safe there. It would only combine two things the hellion really wanted: a meal of human flesh and the power a soul could bring.

Iria gripped the edges of the soul with her mind and tried to coax it through the heavy ocean water. It began to rise, slowly. Too slowly. From the gloom ahead, the hellion reappeared. This time swimming straight at her. A quick glance revealed it was a dobhar; a devilish, brown-furred creature that could survive both in and out of water. Its round head was mostly taken up by an open maw full of sharp yellow teeth, huge webbed paws and ropy tail working furiously to propel it towards the soul.

Sweat dripped down Iria's face on the docks, her eyes squeezed shut in concentration. "It's approaching too fast," she said, panic straining her words.

"Focus," Father Anto repeated. "Use what you have at your disposal."

Iria's thoughts whirled. She couldn't think. Couldn't breathe. She only had minimal water elemental training, certainly not enough to battle a hellion and protect the soul simultaneously. But bone magic...

She split her mind, one half holding onto the soul and the other reaching for the corpse. There was no time for anything elegant, she simply grabbed Skall's skeleton and heaved upward, providing a physical shield between his soul and the dobhar. The ugly little creature hit the body head on and shrieked, bubbles hissing from its mouth.

Sorry, Skall, she thought as his body, now even more ruined, sank back to the sandy seabed. The soul cleared the surface of the water and Iria opened her eyes. A sucked-in breath escaped her in a gush of air. Out of the darkness of the water, the iridescent soul was hard to make out, but she could feel it.

"Well done, Iria," said Father Anto. He put a gnarled hand on her shoulder. "Now, why don't you send our poor fisherman on his way."

Iria brought her palms together in front of her chest. "Varese evan aska tu," she murmured. As she said the last word, she pushed her palms outward, keeping her forefingers and thumb connected, and felt the soul fade from the physical world.

She took another deep breath, feeling a weight lift from her shoulders, and turned towards the priest. But before she could say anything, a strange noise rang out across the harbor. One that Iria had heard only in stories. It was the bells in the crumbling tower at the top of the hill she had descended. They pealed across the water, echoing back from the distant hills. The sound made the hair at the nape of Iria's neck stand on end.

The bells were supposed to ring for only one thing: an approaching ship.

__________________________________________________________

Ah, so there you have it! Welcome to the Island of Palmyra! What do you think of Iria and her island life? I'd love to hear your thoughts, so don't hesitate to drop a comment :)

For any Carnival Souls readers: Though souls will be a big component in this story as well, the concept of souls and the afterlife is completely different in this tale than in CS (nor are the two stories connected in any way). So you don't have any special insider knowledge ;) 

Thank you for beginning this new journey with me! I'm excited to see where it takes us!