Soulforge Legacy Series

An hour in and I had jack to show for it. A fact that seemed to piss my supposed partner off to no end. Finally, he just threw up his hands and stomped off. “Find me when you manage to complete the fucking circle.”

The thing was, I had completed the circle. It wasn’t all that hard. The issue I was having had to do with the fact that the damned thing refused to activate. It took in mana. Cycled it. Then promptly shattered.

Pieces of the spell zipped off in every direction. Thankfully, other than destroying his spell construct, the shattered pieces of mana structure dispersed before hitting anything else. Or anyone else, really.

Still, this made no sense. Why would a spell refuse to activate? And it had to be the circle and not me. After all, if it did have something to do with me and not the circle, then the little swarm of fire whisps dancing around me wouldn’t exist.

None of them were all that powerful, at least not unless I shoved a ton of my mana into the spell, but it might serve as a decent distraction. And the entire spell idea was a result of what I had instinctively cast while facing down the bug-like demons.

As I watched them dance, my eyes caught a more heavy-set man at the edge of the training field. Both the Major and the Captain stood next to him. Based on the gestures, they were explaining something to do with a person near me.

At least, I expected it to be someone else. That was quickly corrected when the three of them made their way to me. Stopping not even a dozen feet away. Close enough to talk, but not close enough for any of my whisps to do any damage.

“Kyren Vulpier.” The man's voice was filled with an odd phlegm-like thing. Though, given the amount of spit flying off the man's lips, he didn’t care if one could understand him or not. “I heard about your accident.”

Accident? What accident? What the fuck was this guy talking about? He had my name right, but the rest, what the fuck was going on here? Still, I couldn’t be too rude and demand to know. At least, not until I knew who this was. After that, I could at least know what buttons to press and what places and people to avoid for a bit. “I don’t know what you mean?”

“The whole demon business. Being beaten and knocked out before being brought to the city.”

That was a really simplified version of what I had told the council. Was he here to check on my story? To see if I changed it in any way? This was just too coincidental. After all, what are the chances that a random person I didn’t know would show up where I had been assigned not twenty-four hours after I had met with the representatives?

“Yes,” I tried not to look too annoyed as I continued. “Thankfully Kai was there to save me and take care of the demon for me.”

A soft breeze blew across the field caused my hair to flutter into my eyes. As my fingers dug at the strands, I wondered if it might be worth cutting the damned stuff off. Then again, it would probably look super weird with the ears.

Well, maybe not, given how male beastkin had shorter hair. Actually, their hair wasn’t all that short now that I thought about it. In fact, I had yet to see a male beastkin with anything less than locks long enough to reach their shoulders.

Or, I could just ask someone how to deal with long hair. It wasn’t like it would be bad to have it, would it? Wait, what would happen in a fight if someone grabbed hold of it? I would be pretty damned fucked. Just how did women deal with this shit?

While I was fighting with my hair, a set of long, white locks fluttered through the air. The stuff was beautiful, yet odd given that no one around me had that color.

Well, no one but the doll-like girl wearing a maid uniform. One that seemed to blend in behind the man. Likely her master or something. Whatever she was or her purpose, I am fairly sure it didn’t include staring holes into my head.

“Ah,” he clapped his hands in what looked almost like glee. “That man is rather useful. Too bad his attitude makes him a bit hard to control. Though,” his eyes traveled across my body. “I wonder if we have been going about this the wrong way.”

I couldn’t suppress the shudder his words generated. They were slow and light. Like someone tracing their fingers up my spine. Only, in the way someone did to be nice, or to someone they loved. It was something that I imagined a supervillain in a movie would do to their mortal enemy as they threatened them.

Even my tail seemed to want to hide from this man. It wrapped itself around my leg as far as it could. Not enough to be much of a bulge, but something that anyone could see if they chose to pay attention.

“I wouldn’t know.” My words were cold.

“Chancellor.” The Captain must have picked up on my tone as she gestured for the man to follow her. “We should let the unit get back to their training.”

“Oh,” his head bobbing up and down caused the fat in his neck to shift and twist. “Right, right. Hey, do you mind showing me the records for the Ace Squad? I am wondering if we might be able to deploy them into the canyons.”

“Less stuff for them to accidentally…” The two voices were quickly drowned out by the distance and the groups yelling at each other for this or that slight.

It was almost like the whole field had gone mad with accusations. As though something had distracted everyone at the same time and caused them to drop their spells. While most of those spells had been simple, if a bit packed with mana, some had left obvious signs of the mishap.

As I looked around at the brewing issue, I realized that I wasn’t alone. “Major?”

“I would recommend keeping your distance from that man. Especially given all the trouble he and his give the council over their use of ‘assets’.” His fingers lifted and imitated quotation marks as he said the word assets.

If I had any doubts about playing it safe with that man, the Major’s words emphasized the need. “Will do.”

“Now,” he gestured at the space where my spell had just shattered as they had walked my way. “Show me your spell.”

For the next hour we worked on a few variations of the spell. Twisting it, modifying sections, and even having him cast it while I took control, only for the damned thing to shatter yet again.

And it wasn’t a matter of power either. I tried pushing the smallest amount into the circle and it did nothing. Though there was the one time I tried to push as much mana into it as I could, only for it to turn into a mana bomb of sorts. Let’s just say that I am happy there was a healer on hand.

“I think that is enough for today.” The Major’s hand slashed toward the dining shelter. “Go get food, then meet up with your Squad.” With those words, I was dismissed.

A good thing too, as the people were swarming out of the various buildings like locusts. If I didn’t get over there soon, there wouldn’t be any food left. Something that I needed, thanks in part due to the fact that my breakfast had been so small. I just had to hope no one tried anything.

Actually, let them try.

With a bit of a hop to my step, I made my way to dinner. All the while, preparing a little present.

I didn’t have to wait long. The moment I came into view, something zipped toward me. Whistling faintly as it cut through the air.

The faintest whisper of flames, little more than a heat haze really, burst to life in front of, to the side, and below the projectile. Timing did what their power couldn’t as the trajectory shifted past me. It didn’t stop there. The rock continued up as my magic worked it back around.

Then it stopped. Not the rock, but my effort to shift its path. I didn’t even try and speed it up. I just let gravity take over. Pulling the rock down toward the Earth. Even if it had to take a bit of a detour along the way.

Metal screamed and wood splintered as the projectile slammed its way through a metal plate and the table below it before reaching the ground below. The impact caused every bit of chicken and rice to fly toward the onlookers.

And, while a few people looked at me, the looks they shot me were more of confusion than anything. After all, I had yet to show any ability to work Earth. For all they knew, I was one of those people who wasted my points on upping my attributes or something.

A fact that would have made it impossible to control Earth under the control of someone else. Which might have been the case even if the person doing the work had paid attention to what was going on. Instead, they chose to keep their involvement secret. Well, as secret as they could before I slammed the rock into their plate.

My focus narrowed in on the food. While there were no steaks or even any large slices of meat, there were tons of other dishes. Mac and Cheese, salad, and some soup. Well, in addition to the chicken and rice. Honestly, everything looked well-made and might have been as tasty as it looked.

Sadly, though, my body was having none of it. It wanted meat, meat, and more meat. The rarer, the better. Even the thought had my mouth watering.

“Sheesh,” one of the people at the nearest table huffed. “Newbie, eat this.” My hand came up just in time to catch a cube with edges as long as my pinky. Its waxy paper crinkled as I moved to open it.

The moment that paper parted, the coppery smell of blood permeated the air. It wasn’t a scent I was used to. After all, it wasn’t like a human nose could really smell the stuff. Not unless there was so much that something had bled. Getting their blood everywhere in the process.

Before I knew it, the cube was gone. Stuffed into my mouth. Only, it didn’t stay there. The meat, or whatever it was, seemed to melt away with every bite. Not that I cared, in part due to this odd craving eased. Until it had, I didn’t even realize it was there, gnawing at me.

“Freaking carnivores.” The same voice from earlier groaned. I ignored them as I looked for yet another one of those things. Yet there was nothing. No cubes. No empty plates where they might have sat. Nothing.

“You will have to see the medic about getting your supplemental meat source.” My bunkmate spoke as she scooped some Mac and Cheese onto her plate. With that done, she turned and moved back to the table. One that seemed to be devoid of a spot yet again.

Which was odd as there were twelve people sitting there. As far as I knew, there were only twelve people to a squad, so where did that extra person come from? Had someone else decided to leave their team so they could fuck with me?

Actually, I could see someone doing that. And it wasn’t like there was anything I could do about it.

I took a moment to fill my plate before making my way over to the wall I had gotten to know during breakfast. And something told me we were going to be close friends.