Scribblings

Maniae and Soleille met for the first time at the bottom of the ramp leading to the spyre, in Silvermoon.

Despite her rotting flesh, and plague scarred face, Soleille found an odd familiarity in the forsaken girl who stood before her. She felt as if they were kindered spirits of some kind.

The warlock took out a small crystal, with the image of a tiny face suspended inside. "This one used to visit my parents bookstore, before he decided to join up with the crusade." She gave a gleeful cackle. "He's rather one of my favorites."

Soleille leaned in close to examine the shard. She caught her breath at the back of her throat as she heard the cries and screams of agony coming from within the shard.

"He acts up a lot," Maniae sighed, putting the shard back into her pocket with a tender pat.

The color drained from Soleille's already pale face. She began trembling with the thought of crossing a warlocks path.

"Can you...bring the soul back?" She asked, timidly, tears forming in her eyes.

"I don't think I can bring his particular soul back, no. But I can use them to bring other people back from the dead. It's called a soul stone."

Soleille nodded, and carefully took out one of her books, jotting the facts down in the margin.

If one uses souls to ressurrect the dead, then does that mean a little bit of that soul is left behind within the resurrected? At some point, do our resurrected healers lose a little bit of themselves to the agony of those souls preserved to make shards?

"What's that you're writing?" Maniae asked. Looking up from her book, Soleille gave a nervous giggle.

"It's just some thoughts I have regarding your crystal. I just wondered about their psychological effect on healers."

Maniae scratched her head with a boney finger. "That's an interesting question. Seems like it would be worth some research."

Soleille nodded, closing the book and shoving it back into her pack. "I don't suppose most people actually stop to think that soul shards are part of another's soul..." She mused aloud.

"I've got a ton of them in my bag," Maniae motioned to the pouch at her side. "Do you want one?"

Soleille pondered for a moment, torn between her curiousity to learn more about what she had just discovered, and her moral feelings towards carrying around encaptured souls.

She came to a common ground, replying, "Have you one from someone who was evil?" In her mind, the evilness of the person made up for the tortorous way he was preserved.

"Ah," Maniae reached into her pocket, the tinkling of jewels reaching Soleille's ears. She pulled out a shard, handing it to Soleille. "This is the soul of a rather pretty member of the syndicate. He did some awful things to me with a knife before I drained him of his soul." Maniae sneered at it. "I kept it as a reminder of his artful ways. And also because I found him to be quite lovely, physically."

She kissed the stone then, and handed it over to Soleille. "You should have him now."

"It sounds rather sentimental to you, Mani. Are you sure?" She asked, taking the crystal gently from the torn fingers of her friend.

"Yes, yes, I'm sure. He's yours now."

Soleille peered into the crystal, hearing the terrifying and ghostly calls of the assassin inside. She shuddered, pulling away from it.

"What kind of evil..." A tear rolled down her face.

"It's just the balance," Maniae laughed. "Take care of it, Soleille. I must be going."

Soleille pulled a piece of silk cloth out of her bag, wrapping the shard up carefully within it.

"Peace be with you, Mani. Thank you for the gift!" She offered her friend a sharp curtsey, pushing the wad of silk into her own pocket.

She walked up to the spyre, settling in among her mage trainers. She pulled out her notebook and scribbled passionately.

To think of how many warlocks carry these around. How truly disturbing such a thing would be.

There is something sinister in this magic, absolutely grotesque, and yet I touch a form of it every day... I think of those poor souls, I think of the poor warlocks who are bound to this.It begs more research. I must steel myself in order to study this poor shard closer. Such evil that exists in this world...I feel ill with it.