Soul Weaver Read online

  Even as young as she was, Celia knew she had to stay hidden—most would kill her if they knew what she had become. She avoided the larger cities and kept to small towns and villages. The few valuables she had taken from home before her escape helped pay for the little food and necessities she required, but she was still forced to sleep on the streets or in the countryside most days.

  Celia shook her head and let out a bit of air through her nose. Now that she thought of it, she was actually quite fortunate. The Kingdom of Maiv’s struggling economy had resulted in an increase of beggars and orphans, which helped her blend in. Another factor was that the Inspection skills, which would enable someone to view her personal details such as her name and race, were relatively rare amongst ordinary folk. The fact that Inspecting someone without a valid reason was considered rude and in many cases, illegal also helped. But as more time passed in hiding, Celia had noticed a problem.

  Her body had grown far faster than was natural, both in height and proportion. People who had seen her on more than one occasion stared and gossiped about her unusual rate of growth. Not to mention the sudden increase in male attention it brought along with it. That sort of attention was dangerous.

  But that wasn’t her only concern. As her body matured, so had a deep unyielding hunger within her. A hunger she could not satisfy no matter what she ate or drank. By the third year, it’d become impossible to ignore.

  It was shortly after when she’d had a particularly close call. Whilst she looked for a place to sleep for the night, she had walked down a small street when she felt a shiver travel across her skin. It was a sure sign of an Inspection being carried out. Someone had gotten too curious. Fearful for her life, she’d fled that town. She never discovered who had tried to Inspect her, or whether they had succeeded.

  After that incident, she had decided it would be best to leave the kingdom and the rest of the civilized world behind, and struck out for the untamed Central Wilds to the north.

  ***

  Celia clicked her tongue in annoyance as she pulled her clothes down to cover herself. She wore an off-the-shoulder long-sleeved dress that clung to her skin, right down to her upper thighs, and below that, long black boots. It wasn’t practical, and the dress was a mess from being slept in on the ground, and from being exposed to the constant heat and humidity of the forest for so long, but it was all she had.

  She had looted it from an abandoned carriage that looked to have already been ambushed by bandits at some point along the more well-traveled southern plains of the Wilds. Whoever had attacked the caravan didn’t seem to have been interested in the dress.

  Now, as she followed an animal trail through the dense foliage, she cursed in frustration as it kept getting caught on branches, rucking up to expose more of her skin. She wondered who would wear something so impractical—but then again, practicality might not have been its purpose.

  Finally spotting a rabbit burrow at the end of the path, Celia crouched behind a bush and patiently waited for her prey to emerge. It had been a while since her last meal, and she was already feeling the hunger within her begin to wrest control. She needed to act, and fast.

  A rustling sound snapped her out of these thoughts. Something was moving in the tall grass nearby.

  She quickly raised her right arm and willed her Inspection skill to activate. On her wrist, a diamond-shaped mark, slightly larger than a fingernail, began to heat. A moment later, small gray runes appeared before her, invisible to all but herself.

  You have successfully Inspected your target.

  Name: Horned Rabbit

  Race: Beast

  Rank: Critter

  Level: 1

  The runes only remained for a few moments before dissolving into nothing. Celia grinned, her eyes tracking the rabbit. They glowed brighter as she prepared to lunge—but at that moment, a thwock rang out from the surrounding ancient forest, followed by a thud as a crossbow bolt embedded itself into the helpless creature.

  “Got it!” a male voice yelled.

  “Good shot,” another voice replied. Two men emerged from the bushes across from Celia. The first, who had a small blade strapped to his side and wore a muddy green shirt with a vest made from an assortment of furs, picked up the rabbit by the ears and showed it to the other. This man wore similar clothes, but was shorter, and wielded a light crossbow.

  Celia felt her heart seize for a moment, her tongue reflexively brushing against her upper lip. Of all the inhabitants of the Wilds to cross her path, it had to be men.

  She felt a familiar heaviness began to wrap around her heart as the hunger flared within her. She closed her eyes and turned away in an attempt to stop herself from losing control, accidentally rustling the brush beside her. The men froze at the sound.

  “Did you hear that?” the taller man asked, as he moved toward her hiding place, his hands gripping the hilt of his blade. The man suddenly dashed forward, grabbing Celia by the shoulder and pulling her out into the open. A cloud was beginning to form within her mind.

  “Well,” the man said, surprised, as his eyes moved over her skimpily dressed body. “Garish, looks like we caught more than just dinner this time.” The shorter man giggled at this whilst shouldering his crossbow.

  “Are you lost? The Wilds is a dangerous place for a woman, you know, especially for one like you,” the taller man continued, his grin growing wider as he moved closer, placing a hand on her waist. “Scary monsters and hungry man-sized insects lurking about. Good thing I found you. I can keep you safe, and you can keep me—” He stopped and looked at his companion before correcting himself, “us—company… it’s the least you could do, right?”

  Celia kept her head down, paying no mind to the bandit’s obvious intentions. She was losing her last vestiges of control.

  “Run,” she whispered through her teeth. “Please.”

  The two men stared at her for a moment, then began to laugh. “We can’t do that,” the taller man said. “Leave a woman stranded in a place like this? No, you’re coming with us.” He glanced around before addressing his companion. “Want to get a round in?”

  The other man chuckled. “It’s been a while… but you go first, Jeb. You’ve probably never felt the warmth of a woman before,” he quipped.

  Jeb shook his head with a smile before pulling Celia against his body. Her breathing began to quicken and grow hoarser, her instincts taking over. “Let’s get you out of these dirty clothes, huh?” the man said, and roughly pulled the cloth off her head, ripping it in the process and revealing her long blonde hair and elongated ears—but Jeb seemed to only notice her eyes.

  “What in the Abyss—” he began, but Celia wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him toward her, her lips locked on his, her body pushing against him hungrily.

  Whatever Jeb had wanted to say was forgotten as she maneuvered him backward until his back met a tree at the far side of the small clearing, out of view of his companion. Celia began to work on his pants as he kissed her neck, his hands exploring her body, cupping and groping wherever they could.

  “I must admit,” he said in between breaths, “this isn’t how I expected this to go, but I like it.”

  Celia grinned as she pushed him down on the grass and mounted him. Quickly, she pulled her dress up to her waist, taking him inside her. She moaned sweetly at the sensation. This was what she wanted, what she yearned for. This was who she was.

  What began as slow, methodical movements quickly escalated. Celia leaned forward and kissed him again as her Siphon began its grisly work, power flooding into her. She pressed herself harder against the man as his once-pleasurable moans began to turn into painful grunts and gurgles. But she didn’t stop—the pleasure storming through her would never let her stop now.

  “Jeb?” the other man called out. “Is she too much for you?” Celia could hear the uncertainty in his voice.

  He came closer, then recoiled as he saw the state of his friend. Jeb’s skin was dry and gray, his body shrivel
ed up, his eyes hollow and his mouth open as if in a silent scream.

  Celia slowly rose from atop him, her golden eyes glowing brighter as she turned to lock onto her next prey. Her hair was now disheveled, which allowed her two tiny black horns to poke through.

  “What the fuck are you!” the man screamed before Celia felt a shiver move across her skin. He had Inspected her.

  He took a step back, his eyes wide, his mouth opening and closing in rapid succession. “D-Demon!” he yelled, before quickly pulling his crossbow and firing, without even taking a moment to aim. His shot went wide.

  The man turned to run, but Celia wasn’t going to let the second half of her meal escape. She raised her hand and a cloud of red mist began to seep from her fingertips before coalescing into a bright-red symbol.

  “Burst,” she whispered, and fire exploded from the symbol. The force of it blasted Garish forward and slammed him hard against a large tree trunk.

  Celia licked her lips as she moved at a leisurely pace toward the now groaning and whimpering man. She stared down at his partially burned body as he trembled and struggled to move away. She didn’t even need to have sex with this one, she realized—he had been weakened enough for a Basic Siphon to work. Celia pointed her index finger toward his heart, where the vessel which stored mana was, and a pale-green beam of light shot from her finger into him. She let out a soft, pleasurable sigh as she absorbed the small cloud of demonic mana which began to leak from him as a result. After a few moments, the man gave a final wheeze and began to shrivel up just as his late companion had.

  Her hunger now sated, Celia’s mind slowly cleared as the want which had gripped her released her from its grasp. She glanced mournfully at the destroyed cloth, then at the scene around her as a voice which lingered from her days as a human sounded within her mind. “Murderer,” it said. “Monster.” Shame enveloped her, even as she continued to experience the lingering ecstasy from her deeds.

  Ever since she had become a fully-grown demon, Siphoning had become a major part of who she was. It was her only method for obtaining the demonic mana she needed to simply survive. That first accidental Siphoning over ten years ago had exposed her to the demonic mana that resulted in her transformation. It had also allowed her to live for years without having to do it again—perhaps because she was still young and hadn’t been using her abilities much. But out here, her hunger was a constant struggle.

  Like all other demons, she had two methods of satisfying it. The first was a basic Siphon. Although this was easier, it also was extremely inefficient—most of the mana usually dispersed into the environment before she could absorb it.

  The second method was far more powerful and efficient. It depended on the type of demon attempting it. A vampire, as a half-demon, could Siphon through consuming blood, while canine demonic beasts could do so by biting or consuming the flesh of their prey while they still lived.

  For a succubus such as herself, the Siphon worked around pleasure.

  Celia shook her head in dismay. “Of all the demonic races I could have turned into…” she mumbled. Celia had tried to research the reasons as to why a creature would turn into a certain type of demon instead of another, but the little information she was able to gather was theoretical at best. Some believed there was some sort of predisposition, based on bloodlines or a myriad of other factors, while others simply argued it was sheer luck. No one really knew.

  The mark on her wrist again began to heat as she willed her personal log to appear. Just as before, runes manifested before her, depicting her personal information.

  * * *

  Name: Celia

  Race: Demon, Succubus

  Rank: Lesser Enlightened

  Mana: 200/200

  Level: 7

  Attributes:

  Strength: 2

  Reflex: 4

  Mind: 3

  Vessel: 4

  Skills:

  Charm (Level 2)

  Demon Claws (Level 2)

  Small Blades (Level 1)

  Inspection (Level 1)

  Mana Siphon

  Dark Vision

  0 Skill points available

  Traits:

  Fire Weaving

  * * *

  Seeing that her mana vessel was now full, Celia flicked her hand to one side, dismissing her log. Ever since her hunger became powerful enough to affect her daily life, she had fought against her basic urges to ravage whomever she came upon. She had been raised in the Jannatin Empire, after all, which had conservative views on these sorts of things—at least in the outlying villages.

  Turning into a demon might have transformed her body, but she was still a product of her upbringing. Every day was a struggle. It was as if she had two aspects to herself, the human and the succubus, locked in a constant fight for control. But as more time passed, she had surrendered more and more to her instincts. In the end, hunger and temptation always got the better of her.

  Just like these two men, her victims were often bandits or criminals who used the lawless nature of the Central Wilds to conduct their trade. They had often been in isolation for long periods and suffered from depression and a creeping loneliness. Playing a damsel in distress was usually enough to get them quite excited about doing the deed—especially with someone who had her figure and beauty.

  It always puzzled Celia how the idea of something being too good to be true never seemed to cross their minds. And if it did, they ignored the nagging thought until it was too late. She could not argue with the absolute ecstasy it brought her, both during and after the act, but she despised being beholden to such urges. It was for this reason that she found herself venturing deeper and deeper into the Central Wilds—or, more importantly, away from the civilized world.

  Celia rearranged and patted away some of the dirt that clung to her clothes. Now that her hunger would not be an issue for a while, she could get back to the real reason why she was here in the first place. It had happened four days ago, and the event led to her traversing deeper into the Wilds than she had ever dared to travel.

  A powerful earthquake had shaken the valley. The sheer violence the event wrought left a physical mark on the land itself. Celia could still remember the loud rumble that had blanketed the area as she felt the ground beneath her shift. But that paled in comparison to what had happened directly after: a massive surge of mana had erupted from somewhere and had kept spilling at an unbelievable rate into the environment. There had been no sign of it stopping or weakening since.

  Celia usually kept her explorations to a minimum in the Wilds. She especially avoided going deep into the thickly forested valley as much as possible. She didn’t know what sort of dangerous beasts and monsters might have made their homes there. But in this case, she had made an exception. If she got her hands on whatever it was that was causing this massive outpouring of mana, then she would never again need to hunt and be intimate with strangers for sustenance. These hopeful thoughts guided her forward, toward the mountains to the north.

  Chapter 2

  By nightfall, Celia knew she was getting close. The air had that heavy feeling, more than ever before. The feeling of raw magical power.

  She was sure that by now the surrounding kingdoms and empires would have sensed this massive outpouring of mana. They would soon be sending in adventurers, or maybe even mages, to investigate. The mana was unlike anything she’d felt before. But it also felt right, like it somehow belonged.

  Something did bother her, however. The closer she moved to the source, the fewer creatures, monsters, or anything other than vegetation she found. What was puzzling was that this went against everything she understood about how creatures behaved. Usually, they would be attracted to powerful sources of mana, just like she was. But right now, the opposite seemed to be happening. The whole situation made her uneasy.

  Celia emerged from the forest and into a large clearing. She found herself at the base of one of the mountains that made up the Forli mountain range, named after th
e man who first mapped them. The range started in the north, by the southern shores of the Dark Tidings Sea, and stretched down to the Central Wilds. This particular mountain was one of the more massive ones, but Celia did not know if it actually had a name. Not many things did, this deep into the Wilds.

  Celia walked carefully through the clearing. Debris, large boulders, and shattered trees lay strewn across it. Just as she stopped to examine the corpse of an unlucky deer lying crushed under a large rock, she was unexpectedly struck by a wave of mana almost bringing her to her knees.

  “Damn it!” she cursed, whirling to face her assailant.

  But there was no one there. All she could see was a peculiar opening at the base of the mountain.

  She would have called it a cave, except it wasn’t natural; it had been made by someone—or something. She could make out a large rectangular doorway, flanked by two massive, thick metal gates that blended in with the surrounding rock in both color and texture. No doubt some sort of advanced magical enchantments were involved.

  If not for the heavy damage they had sustained, she could have walked right past them and not noticed them at all. What really had her attention, though, was the flood of mana she sensed gushing out through the gap in the bent and twisted gates. It wasn’t dense enough to form a visible mist, but it had to be close.

  Now that Celia was aware of it, she couldn’t help but notice other curious things. While the whole clearing was decently green, with grass and small trees growing in between the patches crushed by the rocks, the flora in and around the direct path of the gushing mana was thicker. The grass was longer, its color more vibrant. Long vines hooked and grappled up and along the mountain side. It was the kind of growth she would have expected deeper in the forest, not by the side of the mountain.