6 The Young Chief (1)

"That demon said he would return the Young Chief's soul if we feed him, other souls! But now that demon is dead. What do we do now?"

"Our village chief is dead and now his only heir is dying. We can't even afford a mage to check on the Young Chief." an old woman wept at the side the sleeping child.

"Ever since that demon touched the Young Chief, she fell asleep. It's been days and she hasn't woken up. We can only wait for her..." they couldn't continue on the words. All the villagers were feeling bitter at the sight of a helpless child without any parent and now on the verge of dying.

"We must not lose hope. We already sent messages to the nearby villages. We have to ensure the Young Chief's safety as long as she is breathing."

When the two arrived at the scene, a young man in tattered clothes pointed at them. "It's them! They were the ones who killed the demon that snatched the Young Chief's soul! They killed the soul of our Young Chief!" the young man was scared. Now Yllana knows why the people who attacked them last night were terrified. The demon was holding the Young Chief's soul! She killed the demon, so the soul could have been gone too.

"Oh no, how can we return Young Chief's soul now?"

"This is terrible! It is a bad omen. We are doomed!"

"Who can save us now? We can't even save our Young Chief."

Words of depression and grievances sounded within the crowd. Lucien's face turned grim as he watches Yllana's expression from behind. Then he stared at the child on the table. He turned around and pulled Yllana's hand. "We'll go back to get the child's soul if you feel so guilty about it."

Yllana was stunned. "How?"

"Trust me," he whispered as he let go of her hand and led her back to the spot where the remains of the demon lie. The air around the heap of broken flesh and bones was foul. It was so foul that one could vomit with just a whiff of it. Yllana held her breath and turned to Lucien. "Since the child's body is still breathing, we can return the soul but whatever changes will not be of our concern since we are not responsible for the event. This will be tricky. I need you to snatch the soul that I will give to you and place it in this bottle. Whatever happens, you have to close it tight and just wait for me to finish releasing the other souls. Don't come near me, understand?" his voice was stern as he gave a clear bottle to her. She nodded.

Even if she doesn't know how this work of a mage, she knows it is serious and threatening. She would be witnessing for the first time a mage returning a soul into a human being. Aside from the excitement, she couldn't help but feel unsure too.

"Blood Staff," he summoned his black staff with red vines appeared in his hands. He started touched the demon's head with the red crystal at the end of his staff and said, "Soul release."

The demon's head cracked open violently and a series of black lights whooshed out. Every sliver of light has a voice and Lucien waved his staff to capture the lights in a huge invisible dome. He was sweating but his eyes stayed sharp and alert listening to a hundred voices while the lights flicked and flew inside the colorless dome. He lowered his head while holding his staff tightly. Lines of red light crawled from his arm to his staff. The red crystal glowed brightly while feeding on his power. He had to find that soul before he runs out of energy.

Then he heard a giggle. It was the same laugh that they heard from the demon last night while impersonating the child. 'There!' Lucien's eyes landed on a thin thread of light dancing a meter away from him. He caught it on his hand and slowly made his way to Yllana who was outside the dome. He handed her the thread of light and Yllana immediately placed it inside the bottle. This is a soul. Since it belongs to a child, the thread was still small and glows a little less bright than the others.

Lucien didn't step outside the dome. He walked back and raised his staff in the middle of the dome to create a small tunnel of air pointing to the sky. All of a sudden, all the other souls were sucked into the tunnel and vanished. The dome collapsed as Lucien, drained out of energy, slumped back to the ground.

"Where did the other souls go?" she asked as she stared at the sky.

"Reincarnation." he simply replied. If he didn't lead them to the path to the heavens those souls would have wandered in the mainland. In time, wandering souls may vanish if not led back into the process of reincarnation. This is why he didn't release the souls carelessly. A soul that would not go back into reincarnation will disappear forever. This is also one of the reasons why mages clean up after battles. All souls should be sent back to the heavens. He glanced at the red-haired girl who was grinning from ear to ear while looking at the bottle in her hands.

"This...Can you put the little girl's soul back?" she asked.

"I can." He was tired. But when he saw that smile on her face, he felt helpless and stood up once again to walk back to the village.

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They walked back to the table where the villagers gathered. When the people saw him holding a staff, their eyes widened in surprise. They didn't know that he was a mage. Last night, they were all looking at the girl with the red hair that no one noticed this guy is a mage. They gave way to the young man and woman.

The young man who pointed his fingers at them was now dumbstruck as watch the two walk to the Young Chief's side. He clenched his fists but he did not stop them. Everybody knows that they need a mage now more than ever. They would cling to any chance that they could have.

Lucien took his staff and placed it over the Young Chief's chest. He gestured Yllana to open the bottle. When the thread of soul was slowly released from the bottle, Lucien held it his hand. With a small amount of power from his staff, he led the thread of soul inside the small body. As soon as the thread touched the small child, it disappeared from their sight.

The whole village went silent. Everyone held their breath.

After a few seconds, the little girl's eyelids twitched. Everyone gasped in excitement. Then, the Young Chief's eyes slowly opened. All the villagers shouted and cheered as they gathered around the two youths who saved their Young Chief.