“I must admit, I didn’t see myself having to explain what souls are in this day and in this perilous land. Are thou telling me that none of your companions have spoken about the power of the souls?” the helmeted man said, obviously enjoying the talk by how animated his eyes had become in the last few minutes. To Sunset, the man was starting to gain more resemblance to that of a crow, what with the front part of the helmet and the way in which he put attention to everything in the cathedral. It was disconcerting in a way, but looking at his clothes and how he spoken about sin, Sunset remembered the religious priests back at the human world with their long outfits. Although, none ever used clothes as dark as the man in front of them.
“I must admit that I didn’t know of Lady Sunset’s lack of knowledge about souls. If not, I would have gladly told her all that I know, although I’ll be the first to admit my knowledge is lacking on the most advanced usages of souls.” The calm and polite Solaire took a seat on one of the pews and removed his helmet for the first time since Sunset could remember. Underneath it she saw a man with well-kept blonde hair, fine looks and a small smile on his lips. Back on Earth, the reaction among the school populace was more varied, with a couple of swooning girls.
“Don’t look at me, I have no use for those things. After all, I’m completely human here.” Madeleine slightly raised her hands while the undead in the cathedral began to listen to Oswald’s lesson. It was bizarre how not many people thought about why Madeleine never spoke about these so called souls. Maybe because she didn’t find them useful? Sunset didn’t know and truthfully. One thing was for sure, whatever souls worked like in this world, it probably had nothing to do with what Sunset knew about them from her original world.
“Human you may be, but everyone and every creature in this land has a soul. It has a weight, sometimes too heavy for our actions. Most importantly, just like humanity, it is not a simple philosophical topic. Thou only have to pay close attention to what thou have, to what or who thou have defeated to see the power souls have in the age of the fading light.” Oswald’s voice was captivating, but probably not for the right reasons. His voice was of someone that was used to speak, to teach and to give sermons, but Sunset could hear how mocking he was. She just didn’t know if he was mocking her or the way the world was.
“So, it’s like humanity?” Sunset said looking through her plethora of bags, finding the small speck of darkness inside one of them. Weird, did the small dark spot grow since the last time she had used one?
“It does share similarities, although both have its dangers. Souls are indeed valuable, so valuable that even in these days of ruin and fallen empires, what we once used as currency, like coins and gold, have turned into nothing more than useless trinkets.”
“Wait, souls can be used as currency? Why? How can that be valuable?”
“Because the more souls you have, the stronger you can become. Your soul can grow alongside your powers and some say that some souls have grown so powerful that they can rival those of the gods themselves. But even if that is true, this humble servant of Velka knows nothing of that and indeed, I do not wish for that knowledge since it is said to be forbidden.” That word, forbidden. It truly made Sunset wince remembering her last days at Canterlot castle. She had spent enough time in the forbidden area of the library to know that some things were better left alone. Sunset wondered if her dive into those grimoires had accelerated her fall of grace or if it had truly twisted her personality.
“Souls are powerful, capable of changing many things, or help ascend creatures that weren’t that strong to begin with. Remember when I told you about the Lord Souls? Guess who received a part of the soul of Gwyn?” At the words of Madeleine, Sunset tried to remember what the masked woman had told her that first day at Lordran. The redhead had been overwhelmed by many things, but she remembered that lesson.
“You said that the Witch and Nito had a Lord Soul, alongside Pigmy, but who else besides Gwyn?”
“None other than Seath.” The way in which Madeleine said that name, Sunset was sure she would have spit on the floor if the other woman wasn’t always that elegant. It was that same hate that she had shown when talking about the Scaleless dragon and his experiments. “That’s why I don’t trust that creature. Even beyond the fact that he is the greatest traitor of them all, he dived into the study of souls, never caring for anything but his own mortality. What kind of madness can be found in the Royal Library with him there, I don’t even want to imagine.”
“He is not the only one that has fallen into madness due to souls Lady Sunset. After all, even the Witch of Izalith had fallen prey to its power,” Solaire, who so far had remained silence, was checking his trusty shield for any damage, “when she tried to generate another flame, but in the end her soul became the Bed of Chaos, the place where all demons are born. So yes Lady Sunset, although souls are valuable and powerful, that same power can bring your doom and with it, the rest of the world,” To hear a man as jovial as Solaire say that and with such conviction was truly sobering. “Ah, but not all is lost, I do still have hope that by finding the right soul or maybe using mine as the catalyst, I’ll be able to find my own sun, if only to become as grossly incandescent. Well, a man can dream, don’t you think so Lady Sunset?” His smile and laughter were enough to make the cathedral stop being so dark, at least for now.
“Well, it’s good to find people that haven’t gone hollow,” a voice came from the entrance of the cathedral, taking everyone by surprise. It was a man with wild white hair and an imposing figure, ripped with muscle and with soot everywhere on his body. “You must be the one that rang the bell. So, you came to this land in pilgrimage then girl?”
“Ah, yes, I… well, I promised someone.”
“Good, then that means you will need stronger weapons and armor than you have apparently, so come with me to my forge and let’s do something about it.”
“Told you we would find a blacksmith.”