The Dead's Hunger for the Living

Siegren saw it all happening fast. Divine power collided together, sending people flying from the force. His grey eyes squinted as the piercing white noise enveloped the grounds. As it subsided, he was left with only the priest who seemed to have gained recovery first.

"You…" The high priest grunted as he balanced himself from the impact. Siegren looked around, seeing dead bodies on the muddy terrain.

But the girl was nowhere to be found.

"You won't find her," the priest exclaimed, before disappearing after a flash of light.

**

Lumi remembers her childhood clearly.

In a distant memory, she remembered only needles and potions.

Oftentimes, the doctors would brew concoctions that were designed to be drank, to be inserted into her skin, and at times to be inhaled. But there was a particular experiment that required her to be in a state of mind where she was on the border between reality and a dream.

In those experiments, the extent of her divine power is analyzed.

'Where would it transcend?'

'Was it limited to live beings?'

'How much can her body take?'

She was treated like a guinea pig.

Lumi slowly backed away as she felt a shiver run down her spine before she ran away at full speed. She was still in a graveyard, yet it looked different. In fact, she found it strange. There was not anyone in sight. The place looked strangely empty, though it was still the same barren wasteland as before.

But what was waiting for Lumi wasn't the living but something else.

Her feet stepped into puddles. Rain poured down without any signs of halt. The harsher the downpour, the ragged her breaths became from running. One of her weaknesses was the capacity of her body. Although her divine power was strong, she wasn't made to be physically capable. After all, Lumi was only a tool.

The girl turned around only to see nothing else chasing her. Did she lose him?

As she catches her breath, she eyed her surroundings. The scene was oddly familiar. Like she had 'dreamt' of this before.

Before she could even think further--

--Bony fingers gripped her right leg.

Lumi's eyes widened as those bony fingers dragged her to a bottomless pit.

**

Siegren closed his eyes as he tried to search for Lumi's presence. The colliding divine power made tracking almost impossible due to the remnants of divinity simply floating into thin air.

It was an abnormal reaction.

Divine power, upon collision, depending on the will of its castor, should have varying effects.

Divine power intended for the same purpose shall absorb each other and vanish into thin air. However, once castors have different intentions, divinity will repel each other and have abnormal reactions. This is why individuals harboring divinity are taken to the temple to avoid such occurrences.

To keep order in place, clerics are stripped off of their individuality and are trained to abide by the will of the temple.

--

What was that priest planning?

Siegren's eyes narrowed as he followed divinity drifting through the air, dragging his greatsword as it absorbs the remnants of the collision. He had been searching for Lumi, following the trace of power that was left by her.

That priest didn't seem like a normal person—perhaps it was due to his calm disposition, or the way he had spoken.

But that wasn't it.

Though Siegren knew that divinity could take various forms—materializing into objects, and even into beasts—there was still something about that priest he couldn't put his finger on.

Siegren shortly arrived in front of a withered tree.

This was where Lumi's divine power stopped.

"Who are you?"

Siegren turned around, only to see the priest holding Lumi in his arms.

"Why are you impervious to my power?"

The high priest, who had blond hair and similarly golden eyes watched Siegren with caution.

Siegren stared at the priest.

So that was it.

"You are not human," Siegren said.

That was what he found odd earlier.

"Your soul," Siegren's grey eyes gleamed red, "looks different."

Divine power then shot straight to Siegren which he averted by blocking his greatsword in front. The Soulless was able to absorb the attack.

The high priest didn't seem to be shaken. Siegren glanced at Lumi; she was unconscious in the priest's arms and was also wet from the rain. Siegren advanced to the priest and then slashed his way through.

The priest avoided battle by creating a barrier, which Siegren destroyed by using his large blade. As the Soulless absorbed the divine power from the translucent, yet gleaming golden barricade, the priest scrutinized Siegren's every move while continuously regenerating the barrier.

He knew that the barrier wouldn't last for long. Siegren then thrust the sword, forcing his way in. As he was finally able to have his blade slide inside the barricade, it sent smithereens of divine power flying off into the horizon.

The priest then fell to the ground, and Siegren without any hesitation, then plunged his greatsword into the priest's heart.

**

'Where am I?'

Lumi's eyes slowly opened. First, she saw vines entwined with flowers around the ceiling, then ionic columns draped with transparent curtains.

"No," Lumi felt sick to her stomach as she looked around.

Beautiful decorations. A large bed.

And a windowless room.

"It can't be," Lumi then sat down, only to see the chains on her feet.

"I told you, you're not going anywhere," that voice.

The head priest then walked towards Lumi, "you belong to the temple, child."

"No!"

The room darkened and the flowers withered. Deformed bodies of the dead clerics then walked towards Lumi. Their bones cracked as they eased their way to the girl. Memories of the experimentation flashed to Lumi—

'I believe that the catalyst could also be used to save the dead. Hypothetically.'

'Are you talking about stray souls, head priest?'

'No. I'm talking about those who have lost their paths, those who have committed tremendous sins. I'm talking about souls that fell into depravity.'

'Then, are we going to have this child talk to those depraved souls?'

'Talk? No,' the head priest smiled. 'The catalyst will purify them.'

Lumi felt a shiver run down her spine as depraved souls crept closer and closer.

"Ergh… raaahg…. Give… body… alive…"

Lumi squinted her eyes.

'Purify them!' 'Purify them!' 'Purify them!' 'Purify them!' 'Purify them!' 'Purify them!' 'Purify them!' 'Purify them!' 'Purify them!' 'Purify them!' 'Purify them!'

The head priest's words echoed in her mind.

She covered her ears as memories of her early childhood continuously haunted her.

'She failed. The purification failed. The deprived souls are devouring her! Head priest!'

"I see, it failed."

The figure of the head priest walking away from Lumi's clouded vision slowly faded.

"Lock her up for a few days without a meal and have her learn how to purify properly."

Looking back, the experiment repeated over and over until she was able to purify a soul falling to depravity.

Once Lumi perfected it, she was already haunted with nightmares and had developed numbness to anything the head priest did to her body.

That time...

She was only ten.