The Pale: Volume One, Jacob Long [best beach reads TXT] 📗

“In a sense.”

“In a sense,” Adam echoed dryly. “So how the hell is that supposed to be keeping the mist in there? I just walked right in!”

“Of course you did,” the Custodian replied, “for the same reason that you appear as your material form and the same reason you were able to defend yourself against the mist.”

Adam pantomimed listening intently.

The Custodian explained, “If a soul wanders into The Pale, the mist simply devours the soul, and it is not known where the energy goes. A more developed soul, such as you, can defend itself, and the mist must work for the soul’s surrender.”

“Surrender? So that’s why it was showing me all of those awful things. But . . . how did it know all those things about my life on earth? How did it know exactly how to get at me?”

“The faculties of the mist, how it uses them, and why are as mysterious as its origin. The only information I can provide to you was gleaned through . . . perilous experimentation.”

“But then those things that it showed me, they were real?” Adam asked.

“It knows only what it could learn from the resonations of your bared soul. The weaknesses it targeted were the weaknesses you exposed to it. Some may be true, some not. It is your perception that lent them credence.”

Adam ran his hands through his hair. Sinking desperation contorted his features and quickened his breath. “This is fucking insane. I don’t know how much more of this place I can take.”

“Then you wish to return to the world you knew? The world of the living?” the Custodian asked.

Adam sighed. “Of course I do.”

“Then destroy the creature.” It sounded more like an order than a direction. The Custodian was growing weary of Adam’s indecisiveness. “Devour its soul and gain the power to leave this place. You have only to take the control that was taken from you when you were sent here.”

Adam considered the idea. The Custodian was right again. El-Hashem stole his life, and he was being given the opportunity to take it back. He would take it back. The mist showed him a great many disturbing visions. The way he’d lived his previous life had left a residue of shame and uncertainty on Adam’s soul, and he would at the very least discover for himself what was real. He could live a second life and live it better, even in a dream. There are people who would kill for the chance. Adam was being asked to do just that.

“Where’s the monster now?” Adam asked.

“Hunt it down,” the Custodian said. “It awaits you yet in these catacombs.”

With a huff, Adam ran for the trench. A modicum of heat had returned to his heart, and he would need every ounce to face the monster. The tingling reminder of pain in his skin only served to fan the flame. The second time would have to be different. He knew he needed his head in the game. Adam hesitated for a split second at the mouth of the chasm but pushed himself forward and plummeted into the trench. The fall was exhilarating. Without being dragged, Adam enjoyed it. He was in control, and he felt strong.

Adam landed in a crouch to reduce the shock of the fall and immediately peered down the cavern leading back to the sigil room. He snuck into the hall, hoping to catch the creature by surprise if possible. As he approached the sigil room, he could hear a noise like soft chuffing. He slowed his movement even further and crept to the opening. Adam found the creature pacing back and forth. The chuffing noise was the sound of it snorting and growling. It actually appeared frustrated, like it was berating itself for losing Adam. It could be an opportunity. With the creature distracted and its head hanging, Adam had the perfect opportunity to catch it by surprise and perhaps club it over the head. The room was small, which he knew may not work to his advantage. There were plenty of hard surfaces with which to strike the creature’s head against.

Adam noticed the floor. As the creature moved, the sigils glowed green in response to its presence. Of course they did. The creature was a soul just like himself and the wisp. As Adam came to the realization, he remembered that he wasn’t just prey in the situation. He could eat the creature’s soul just as easily as it could eat his, but he would have to weaken it so it couldn’t fight back as he had.

Adam stood and walked confidently into the room. He didn’t understand why his body moved. It was as if it made the decision without him. He presented himself to the creature brazenly. In his heart, there was a full flame. He could be the predator. If it meant getting a second chance to do better for himself and the people around him—the world—he would be a predator.

The creature halted in its path and turned to Adam. It hesitated, flaring its slit nostrils and snorting at him. Adam’s display appeared to have at least left it momentarily confused. The creature then stood fully erect and puffed out its chest. Adam recognized that the creature was trying to look intimidating. It worked. He felt the fear well up in his chest, but he forced it back down. The excitement of the coming battle was too intense. His hair stood on end, and his muscles prickled in anticipation. He had to remind himself to stay calm and remember his fundamentals. He’d been prepared for these situations. Well, maybe not exactly that situation.

The creature spread its massive arms and roared. It was not like the painful howl Adam had heard when it first appeared. The howl was confident. The creature, too, seemed excited.

Adam bounded for the creature. The creature pounced for Adam. They collided in the middle of the sigil room, pushing against each other in a test of strength. Neither gave an inch. Despite Adam appearing to be much smaller, his strength proved comparable to that of the monster’s. The two souls’ eyes met. The creature’s growling pushed its rancid breath into Adam’s face as he grimaced, grunting with exertion.

The creature exploited an advantage in its design and snapped its crooked jaws at Adam’s face. Adam flinched, and that moment allowed the creature to shift the center of gravity. Adam was pushed off balance and fell to the floor, the creature landing heavily on top of him. The creature snarled and snapped its teeth at Adam, but Adam held the creature at bay with his right hand wrapped around the monster’s throat. Adam slipped his free hand around the creature’s arm and swung his clenched fist into the side of the creature’s drooling mouth. The sideways mandible design of the creature’s mouth proved too weak against Adam’s assault. He punched it again, and the right jawbone shattered. Loose blood drizzled from the creature’s limp jowl while the right mandible hung uselessly. The creature howled, and its strength faltered.

Adam took the opportunity to shift his position. He latched both hands onto the creature’s right arm and wrapped his legs around. The creature bucked and thrashed with its free mitt but did not know how to properly protect itself. Adam had complete control. He rolled his body and twisted the arm. The shrill tone of the creature’s howling increased with the pain. The creature bucked and tried to roll with the direction of force, but its broken face was pressed into the floor, and it couldn’t move. Adam knelt on top of the almost delightfully fuzzy, hyperextended appendage and jerked upward. The bone snapped in one clean motion. The creature whimpered and wailed with renewed vigor, kicking furiously.

The wounded animal proved more ferocious. It pushed itself from the floor and drove its shoulder into Adam’s behind. Adam pitched forward and fell onto all fours. He quickly scrambled away and jumped to his feet, not wanting to be caught in that position. When he turned around, he found the creature standing, cradling the broken arm with the healthy one in a remarkably human fashion. It was whimpering pitifully at first, lamenting the injury, but soon, it was huffing on the air energetically. A growl escaped with each exhalation, and it turned to glare at Adam with six angry, beady red eyes.

Adam watched closely for the next move. He knew wounded animals were capable of a great deal of masochistic fury. The creature roared and charged for Adam, all blood, spittle, and carnage. It swung its unbroken arm to tear Adam’s face off, but Adam ducked under it. Moving on instinct, Adam caught the creature under the arm and around the neck. He jumped onto the creature’s back and completed the chokehold just as he had been taught. He wasn’t sure it could work. The anatomical differences between a human and whatever the creature was supposed to be may have been too great. At any rate, the creature’s other arm could be incapacitated, or so Adam thought. The creature’s cartoonishly long arm proved capable of reaching all the way down to paw at Adam’s head and neck. The claws found soft flesh and dug in. Adam screamed as the pain reverberated throughout his body. He tried to restrain the rogue arm, but it meant loosening his chokehold. Without option, Adam dropped from the back of the beast and shoved it forward. The top-heavy creature stumbled forward and fell, trying to brace itself with its one good hand but failing. It landed ungracefully on its face.

Adam didn’t hesitate to leap on the creature’s back a second time. He grabbed the monster by its fuzzy dome and began furiously bashing it against the runed floor. He cried out loud with each strike, his muscles straining and sweat pouring down his face. Blood stained the floor in constantly increasing amounts. The creature stopped screaming, and still Adam smashed its head into the floor. Finally, Adam slipped one hand under the creature’s mangled jaw and the other behind its head. With one last mighty yell, he jerked upward and twisted. The creature’s neck snapped loudly, echoing in the chamber.

The champion then stood from the fallen foe and backed away. His steps were faltering. He pitched over in exhaustion, catching himself with his hands and knees. The sound of his panting filled the room, and sweat dripped onto the floor in front of his eyes. His muscles quaked.

“Oh my god,” Adam finally managed to huff. He’d killed before, but he’d never killed anything so up close and personal. He struggled to regain control of his breathing and heart rate for some time while he stared at the puddle he was accumulating.

The Custodian’s voice sounded throughout the cavern. “You are worthy . . .” it said. It didn’t startle Adam as it had before. His nerves were past that. “You need only devour its defenseless soul, and you will have the power you require to return to your world.”

Adam clenched his teeth. His body shook with rage. His voice increased in a crescendo of intensity as he spoke. “Do you have to phrase it like that?”

“It is the nature of your renewed existence,” the Custodian countered. “The soul siphon is no small gift, and it is not to be taken lightly. With its power, you will be able to sustain your new body and accomplish tasks for the Wheel of Fate. You will need to accept it. You will need to be comfortable with it.”

Adam sighed in despair, closing his eyes. When he reopened them, he turned his head and eyed the corpse of the creature disdainfully. He crawled and then walked over to it. The semantics of death in that otherworld be damned. The thing wasn’t moving, and it wasn’t about to. Adam rolled the monster over and took it brusquely by the fur as if it were a shirt collar. He lifted the creature from the ground and brought its mangled face to his. Without instruction, Adam opened his mouth as far as he could and inhaled. It felt so natural. The green miasma flowed from the monster’s broken mouth and into Adam’s. Once again, Adam was treated with the sweet, awful warmth of devouring a soul.

As the feeding proceeded, the creature’s physical form began to decay. As its life force was drained the creature’s ethereal manifestation dissolved. Eventually it vaporized completely. On that other plane, the soul is all anyone has. Without it, they are literally nothing.

Adam stared at empty hands. He felt strong, incredibly strong. The monster was a powerful opponent and had an equitable soul. The energy Adam received made him feel like he could do anything.

“By defeating the ethereal predator, you have proven yourself worthy of the title champion of the Wheel of Fate,” the Custodian said. “This world and its safety are entrusted to you, should you choose to accept the responsibility.”

Adam flexed his muscles as the Custodian spoke. He watched the tissues tighten and untighten. The power was intoxicating. He grimaced and let the words slip from between his clenched teeth. “Of course.” He looked up. “I’ll do anything to get back.”

The Custodian responded with,