It was like being a sword frozen into its sheath. Despite all his efforts to move and attack the shapeshifting monster, Aveyar’s body remained motionless due to her spell. All he could do was watch as the woman played with one of the snakes that served as her hair. His body wouldn’t move.

“Now, Aveyar, I’ll be leaving.” The woman turned around, stepping out of the cave.

How does she know my name? Had she been spying on him? It was obvious she could change her shape. But the Echoes…she knew about the Echoes. There was no way she could know. Yet somehow…she did.

The woman stopped. “Like I said, I know more about your life than you think.” She looked over her shoulder, giving Aveyar another of her eerie smiles. “Normally, I’d tell you not to follow me, that I’d kill you if you did.” She casually waved her dagger in the air, her yellow catlike eyes glinting. “But I know you’ll chase me anyways, so I won’t waste the time.” She threw a small vial against the ground and smoke erupted in the mouth of the cave. “Goodbye, Aveyar.”

A few moments later it cleared. She was gone.

Just what was he dealing with? She was an Indomancer, that much was oblivious. That rune she’d drawn was an Indomantic Signum, a sign that unlocked the power in an Indomanticly charged object. But even with Aveyar’s limited knowledge of Indomancy, he knew it couldn’t grant the power of shape shifting.

In the past, he’d always been able to easily kill anyone he needed to. But then again, in the past he’d always known what his prey was capable of. He’d gained a working knowledge of Indomancy and Dreamweaving, so he could know what powers his enemies might possess. But how could he fulfill his contract if he didn’t know what the monster could do?

He felt an Echo.

Aveyar always fulfilled his contracts; that’s why he was still alive: because he was useful. If he ceased being useful, then the humans would kill him. Or they’d try to enslave him. Either way, Aveyar would kill as many humans as it took to escape. He wouldn’t be able to survive for long, but that didn’t matter. If their society no longer offered him protection, then he wouldn’t hesitate to destroy every human that threatened his existence. After all, humans were worthless beasts. What did they matter?

Klara crouched above the entrance to the cave. She’d taken the form of a Faeleen to better blend into the shadows. Wrapping her arms around her nude body, Klara shivered. She wishing she’d worn something less noticeable than her silver robe. To avoid being spotted by Aveyar, she’d taken off her clothing.

Why don’t you run? Why indeed? Why was she curled up behind a cold rock to be close enough to listen to Aveyar’s surface thoughts? Why was she risking her life just to know what went on inside his head?

Because I’m curious. Something about this Faeleen called Aveyar intrigued her. She’d had every intention of finishing him off. From his surface thoughts as he hunted her through the cave, he seemed like your classic boring and ordinary disgruntled mercenary. But then she touched him and could search his mind. Only then did she see just how complicated and…interesting Aveyar was. She’d never felt a mind with such depth before. Although Klara only gleaned a few things from his mind during the brief contact, but she knew exactly what she had to do.

She had to learn more about Aveyar.

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Myriad Souls Episode 3 by Spencer Conrad is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.