66 A Second Home (1/2)
Heima couldn't believe it. Every fiber of his being trembled as he observed the fluctuations of his prisoner's soul. Never had he seen anything like it before. The stainless gleam of a soul untouched by the filth of the mundane, terrestrial world.
His own ancestors, the Alf, had been known possess a purity of the soul that was uncontested among all of the early races. This was given since they had been beings born from the essence of nature and possessed a powerful connection to it even before birth.
But this was unnatural. This was too pure. He wagered not even the noble High-Alf founders of yore possessed such an untainted spirit. It not for its pitiful size, he was sure he would have permanently damaged his eyes from the backlash.
Goddess in heaven, had it been fully developed… I can not even begin to imagine what he would have been capable of…
It was like a small, wavering spark of light in an empty void of space where the rest of soul should have been. Even for a human soul, it was far too small for a consciousness to have arisen out of it. He stared at the young boy in muddled shock and wondered to himself how he had even survived his birth.
A fragmented, underdeveloped soul such as his should have resulted in a stillbirth for the mother. And even if he survived his birth, he should have had a short and tragic life. A couple short days, at the very least…
None of it made sense and yet, here the boy was alive and well. The boy was by definition, a walking miracle. His existence defied the natural order of things, whether he knew or not…
”Hey, are we done yet? How many times are going to do this? If you think I'm lying, then hurry up and sentence me already,” said Reed in an annoyed tone.
For better part of an hour, he'd been subjected with all sorts of mental and spiritual techniques. Some to determine whether he was being honest, and others were spirit-enforcing techniques that forced him to do something against his will — such as speaking the truth.
Not that they worked on him in the slightest. Lacrima had subtly manipulated every technique that had been used on Reed, rendering them harmless.
As result, Reed had been forced to act the fool to keep up the illusion that he'd been mesmerized. Like a numb idiot, he had obediently answered whatever he'd been asked to answer up until a certain point. A couple of minutes ago, the grim-looking man had gone silent, much to Reed's annoyance.
The grim-looking man sighed and said, ”Yes, we're done. It seems the faith lieutenant Clearspring has not been for naught. But even so, I cannot guarantee whether or not you will be given a special pardon.” He gathered Anima around himself and said, ”I… will see what I can do to help you for the lieutenant's sake but don't get your hopes up…”
And... he's gone. Back to the waiting game. ...You know, I'm starting to think that this was a stupid idea. There's no way they'd let me in just because I told them a silly rumor, even if it is the truth, right?
Reed smiled in self-derision and mumbled, ”Hopefully escaping won't be too difficult when the time comes.” He guessed that someone like him, who was a weakling their eyes, would be held in the upper portion of the spire where the contenders were. It'd make his life a lot easier…
Life, on the hand, had a different design for him as he'd soon find out.
Before Reed stood a half-circle of powerful entities that made him feel extremely nervous. Each of the six individuals possessed an aura that immediately extinguished the idea of escaping in one piece. He knew that he tried anything suspicious, it'd likely be the last thing he do before he experienced an abrupt death.
Three men and three women curiously observed him with noticeable interest as their eyes glowed ominously. Expressions of disbelief and shock covered their faces as they continued to observe Reed.
”My, my! Truly curious…! I would have never believed young Heima had I not seen it with my own eyes…”
”Miraculous, indeed. He is mind is clean as reported, as well. To think that the North sent someone like this to our doorstep without even knowing...”
”Those idiots must become senile to have let someone like him through their grasp. But as the ancestor used to say, 'One man's trash is another Alf's treasure…'”
”As expected of the North; blind as they always are, only interested in what lies on the outside and never the inside...”
”The North is truly gracious, for them to have given us two precious gifts in a single day...”