The Court of Souls?

Chapter 8: ~Vermin.~

Chapter 8: ~Vermin.~

In Greek mythology the Erinyes, also known as the Furies, were female chthonic deities of vengeance; they were sometimes referred to as "infernal goddesses" ( ). A formulaic oath in the Iliad invokes them as "those who beneath the earth punish whosoever has sworn a false oath". Burkert suggests they are "an embodiment of the act of self-cursing contained in the oath". They correspond to the Dirae in Roman mythology, and some suppose that they are called Furies in hell, Harpies on earth, and Dirae in heaven.

- The Journey to the Afterlife

***Dedessia, the Sea of Souls, Clan: Carissimi***

***Elona, 8 years old***

IIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEKKK! I collide with another root and bounce off. Then my fall continues. Again. Impact! My body turns counter clockwise. And again, this time I touch the wall of the hole and I turn clockwise again.

The long descent ends with me impacting the bottom of the deep, deep hole which I was thrown in. My body aches and I think my face got a bruise. A big one.

How could they do such a thing! I get it. I am not the prodigy my little sister is, but throwing me down this hole to clean out the vermin? Mom didn't even shed a tear when she threw me in.

Something is nibbling at Yggdrasil's roots and we will move in a month or two. We have to clean it out to give the tree the chance to heal up. Maybe a real task will help you along to find yourself. Take a look at your sister. She is barely born and already completely remembers one of her past lives. If you come back without results I won't consider you my daughter any longer!

And then she just threw me into this dark pit!

Where's the love for one's child? The instinct to protect the young? Don't succubi have any of that? At least my Dad seems to have feelings for me, but he is hopelessly under her thumb. Except for bed activities. When in bed she seems to transform into a submissive seductress who wants nothing more than being speared as if there is no tomorrow. I wonder how she manages to arrange those two personalities with each other.

Don't think bad of your Mom. She is anxious because you just remember names and skills. As parents we can't help it, but fear for you and for us. But you can always count on me, just go down there and smite those vermin like we trained! See it as an initiation rite. Every member of this community has to play their part and contribute to our survival.

Yeah, why don't I find Dad's farewell speech reassuring?

I raise my head and am welcomed by darkness. How else can it be? How deep is this pit? A hundred? Two hundred metres? If the roots hadn't slowed my fall I would have died! Did Chloe know that it would be like this?

I pull the big glowball out of my pocket. Dad slipped it to me when he hugged me before my exile.

The green light reveals a network of roots. They form regular walls which result in a strange labyrinth of organic tunnels with caverns. It seems like I am inside one of those caverns and at the end of one of the short tunnels I can already see it opening into an even bigger space. Is the whole of Yggdrasil undermined by such a network? It will take me days to explore all this!

My eyes wander back up to the long shaft through which I was thrown into this maze. Yeah. Wishful thinking.

I choose the short tunnel and start walking. There has to be a better way out of here. And who knows? Maybe I'll even get something out of this dungeon?

The next cavern is indeed larger, like twenty feet in diameter. I cross it and enter the next tunnel. So far all the possible paths would have led me upwards, so I suppose that I fell to the deepest point of this maze.

I continue on my way, clutching the glowball between both hands. The path through the network goes up and down until I arrive at the very same cavern I started in. If I were my previous self I wouldn't even have noticed.

But my mother's rigorous training to develop my eidetic memory doesn't let me forget all the roots I see. They are just different patterns, but in my mind a map is beginning to take shape. This time I choose an unexplored path.

Minutes stretch into hours as the map in my head grows bigger and bigger. Was Mom preparing me for this? Is it a sick test? The maze looks awfully similar to the synapses of a human brain. The caverns are the synapses and the tunnels represent the connections.

Finally I come across something new. A shudder runs down my spine as a skeleton appears out of the darkness in front of me. My glowball illuminates the small figure as I walk around it at a respectful distance. It is lying face down in the middle of the tunnel. The skeleton must have belonged to an eight year old child, like me. There is long, silver hair on her, like mine. Though I have a few strands of black hair in between. And the dusty tunic also has a familiar feel to it.

I am tempted to go on, but on second thought I stop. Did she also have to take this test? And if so, what killed her? Was she not good enough at memorizing patterns and lost her way? Then she wandered this maze until thirst and hunger did her in? I shudder at the thought.

Or did something else kill her? If so, then it would be nice to have a clue at what forcefully moved her on to her next life. I step closer and turn the skeleton around, using my foot. She is still holding her glowball with both hands in front of her chest. It lost its charge since a long time ago. Right above it is the feathery shaft of a crossbow dart sticking out of her clothes. It landed right under her neckline.

I gulp and kneel down, looking at the glowball which I am holding in a very similar manner. A shining orb of quartz which is spreading light in all directions. Not only does it illuminate my path, it also shines on me, turning me into a perfect target. So there is something in here which is smart enough to use a crossbow. Great.

In absence of a better solution I rip off a part of her tunic and wrap my glowball in it, leaving just a small hole free. Now I have a torchlight which I can carry like a lantern. It isn't perfect, but it's better than nothing.

Soon after I continue on my way I recognize the problem with this strategy. It's much harder to get a grasp on the root patterns without a proper light source. But I don't want to give the bowman a too easy target and so I try to deal with it as best as I can.

When I hear sounds around a corner I cover the glowball and hold my breath. When the sounds don't become louder I walk closer while preparing myself for a fight. Slowly, but steadily I close in on the next tunnel entrance and recognize the orange light of a flame. Which maniac would light a fire in here?

I peek around the corner and find four creatures sitting around a fireplace. They are roasting something which looks very much like a rat. The creatures themselves look like a mixture of gnomes and goblins and are armed with a variety of weapons. Knife, club, bow and one holds a spear. Gods! Are my parents mad? Those are dangerous vermin!

But they are using the tree's roots as firewood. What to do? This time I was lucky and noticed them first, but what if we cross paths again and they get the first shot?

This world is unforgiving. Either you grow up or you get eaten. My mother's words come to mind. I certainly won't turn into some damsel in distress! I won't get eaten! I'll be the hunter!

I grab the cloth around my glowball tighter. What's there to fear? They are just four goblins, not even half my size! I spread my mana out through my body, then I charge with a war-cry into the cavern, flailing my glowball as an improvised morning star.

... okay, not really a war-cry. When my improvised weapon strikes the head of the closest opponent the resulting splash of blood and brain causes my voice to break. From then on it's more like a girlish scream of fear and disgust!

My victim, who was taken by surprise, goes down and I hurl my weapon at the goblin with the bow, hitting his forehead dead centre. He too goes down and my glowball bounces around the cavern, causing our shadows to dance across the walls.

I bend down and grab the kitchen knife from my first victim, throwing it at the goblin with the spear. It sinks into his chest and he drops his weapon with a gurgling sound coming from his throat.

The wielder of the club jumps and brings the weapon down on me. I raise my left hand and block to avoid getting hit on the head.

Pain shoots through my hand! I ignore it and reach for the opponent's throat. Then I squeeze. My inner mana manipulation gives me strength far above what's normal for my age. The goblin's eyes pop out and something breaks. With that I am the only one who is left standing.

Hahaha! See!? I can do it! What are a few squeaky goblins against me! E-

I wanted to call out Elona, but is that really me? I reach for my wrist and wince. It's not broken, which is good, but at the very least it is sprained. After careful consideration I choose the kitchen knife as my new weapon, then I retrieve my glowball and take a deep breath. How long have I been down here? A day at least. They could have given me water and food for this journey.

But when I killed the goblins I started to feel better. It is strange. My eyes wander to the dead bodies and I get an idea. Or maybe I should call it an instinct? I reach down and touch the closest corpse. From one moment to the next it starts shrivelling into a mummy and I feel a surge of power flowing into me. I gasp as a shudder runs down my spine and I almost have an awkward accident.

Since there was no toilet I also had to pee in some random corners like an animal. I hope the tree doesn't take it badly to be pissed on. It's a stupid, mythical, holy tree. Who knows what kind of issues it will get with things crawling through its roots. Though the goblins surely weren't any better.

Following a hunch I try to repeat the process with the other corpses and get yet another burst of vitalizing energy. With two of them it works perfectly fine, but the fourth gives me just a mediocre boost of energy. It doesn't even shrivel up like the others. I dread the action, but I have to understand my ability. So I use the spear to lift the loincloth which is covering the goblin's genitals.

Goblin-girl. Why am I not surprised? This ability is so lewd!

Distant screams draw my attention and I turn my head in confusion, holding the glowball higher. Something is approaching and I think it is coming from the left unexplored tunnel. I step close and peer around the corner. A crossbow bolt flies past my head by a hand's breadth.

I count three, eight... forget about counting! I turn and run, chased by a mad horde of goblins.

Without thinking I take the unexplored remaining tunnel and dash into the darkness, holding my trusty glowball while fleeing through the maze of caverns. Minutes go by, but the mob behind me doesn't lose my track. My breath gets heavy and there is an unhealthy stinging pain in my right side.

Suddenly the tunnel ends and my feet slither over the ground to stop myself just in time.

A big cavern! Bigger than anything I've seen so far. I can't see the other side and there is no ground. The drop must be at least ten metres. What if it is too much for me? But far, far above me is a distant light. Can I climb out? No chance, the roots don't offer a safe grip and the goblins will shoot me down with their crossbows. I turn around and see the first goblins appear in the tunnel behind me.

My heart cringes and I turn back to the darkness under me. No other choice. I have to jump if I want to escape this. With dread I step out into the darkness.

Stella Gejene would never run. She is a princess of Nict! Whoever stands in her way has to bow!

Something tears through my mind, refuses to yield to the fear, exhaustion and pain. My entire body is flung around, another me is in control! My hand grabs one of the roots and pulls me back into the tunnel, turning around.

My other hand draws a magical rune into the air and I recognize the magical system. It is old magic without the traditional spell formation, not reliant on using an outer magical system.

A torrent of arcane missiles is flung at the pursuing goblins, shredding arrows and crossbow bolts together with their owners. The other me throws herself into the fight, slaughtering the opponents. Whoever gets close enough is slit open by my knife. Who decides to run is dealt with by using rune magic. I am exhausted and at my limit, but I laugh like mad as if I've lost it.

When I regain control over myself it is all over. I turn in circles but there are no more enemies, just dead bodies. My ragged breath doesn't calm down and I am aching all over. When I step backwards a stinging pain shoots up my spine and I fall, dropping the glowball. What just happened?

Getting back up to my feet my eyes fall on the tunnel's walls and my shadow. It doesn't look right. I reach for my head and feel the horns which shouldn't be there. They are smooth and branch out into several tips while encasing my head.

Then I feel the black, leathery wings which sprout from my lower back. They are the same as Chloe's and there are countless small scales on them.

My last action is to trail my spine until I reach the tail and get a hold of it. The damn thing acts like it has a will of its own, but finally I manage to have a good look. It's like some dragon's tail and similar to my wings. Countless small, black scales reflect the light in various colours.

That day Yggdrasil was the only one who lost a few leaves because he heard my scream.

After taking a nap and drowning myself in self pity about my misfortune I move on. At least there were no more goblins. The worst thing was getting my wings and the tail under control. The tail I could hold in my hands, but persuading my wings to stay wrapped around my hips is a hard task. How do I persuade them to form a skirt like Mom's? It's like trying to move phantom limbs. I am pretty sure that none of the reincarnations I remembered so far had wings!

It took me hours to return to the surface. Finally I can see a light at the end of the tunnel and stagger faster, still fighting with my wings.

When I step out of the cave I find myself at Yggdrasil's foot and already awaited by Chloe, Shawn and Doreen. My little sister Quiana is being held by Lavada, the maid who is always cleaning our house.

Mom steps forward and reaches into the basket in her hands. Then she throws some flower petals over me as if it is confetti! Happy birthday! Oh, I am so glad that you survived our clan's initiation rite. I still remember how sad I was when my big sister didn't return.

Doreen nods. I told you that she would have no problem with surviving the test.

Father steps in. Stop it you two! Can't you see that she is shaking all over? And look at all that blood! What happened down there my little treasure? You can tell me everything!

Doreen makes a dismissive gesture. Don't overreact. Can't you see? It isn't even hers.

That has done it! I can't take this any more! I throw the glowball in my hands with enough force at Doreen to shatter it upon hitting her head. That day was the second time she gave me a good trashing. But it was worth it because I added another cut to her forehead.

.