Gisle left, so Wain and Zero set about absorbing souls. They each had different goals as Wain wanted to light his Third Torch while Zero wanted to reach the limits of the Fourth Chronicle to learn how to reach the Fifth Chronicle.
Souls, one by one, were transformed into streams of energy that were channeled into their Soul Temples. With each soul absorbed, their aura increased, especially Zero's as she received energy much faster than Wain.
"Huh, by the looks of things, you're seriously ahead of me, right?" Wain asked with a slight smile on his face and eyes closed while absorbing two red souls.
"Yeah. I don't know why, but I've always been able to do it so much faster than even the other humans. I only have a few hundred left. It won't take more than twenty minutes." Zero said in a careless manner as ten souls exploded around her simultaneously.
'Well, she better not know why she's so good at it.' Wain muttered inwardly.