The Splitting of Souls; Chapter Two

Talasi backed up as quietly as she could from the edge of the clearing, keeping her eyes locked on the people in front of her. Her heart thudded loudly in her ears and her breathing came in short bursts. The Nyotas were talking to the three other men as they came into the small area.

Don't look over here, don't look over here, she thought as one of the men did a wide sweep with his eyes in her direction, but there was no pause. Only a few steps from the site the trees pressed in so tightly that there was little space to see what was between them. Another advantage was the darkness the trees created so it was easier for Talasi to hide in them. She took a deep breath, trying to calm her breathing and her racing heart.

The first time she had seen Nyotas was five years ago at her aunt's execution. They had just been created and with all the rumors abounded from the skirmishes no one really knew what they did. After that night everyone knew and these creations had turned the tide of the rebellion so much that the High Vrac Council had fled and the rest had surrendered.

Nyotas were able to trap a Vrac's extraneous soul when she was using it. The stress of the soul separation would render the Vrac unconscious and if the Nyota didn't let the outlying half return to her body then the Vrac wouldn't be able to recover and slowly die. This process could take many days to complete and would drain the Nyota's power as well. Unfortunately, they liked the more sensational way better. This was when the Nyota would consume the Vrac's soul while it was trapped. It was a very painful process for the woman involved and she would quickly succumb to death afterwards. However, the soul would make the Nyota stronger.

Luckily the Commander of the Nyota usually only saved it for important prisoners, like her aunt, but all the Vrac were now terrified of using their gift.

Talasi would see them in the street from time to time but she would always steer as far away from them as she could. The only time she was ever close to them was for the Vrac registration. It was a day all Vrac feared and loathed.

"I've already sent a message off to Commander Jan. He will know what to do with this," one of the Nyotas was saying. He was slightly larger than the others with his black uniform jacket stretched tightly over his chest and stomach. The red buttons that ran up the left side and crossed to the right seemed to be almost busting from their seams. His black cap rose up into a triangle at the back with two feathers on the top, indicating he was a captain. Only a tiny bit of brown hair could be seen underneath.

The other Nyota was the exact opposite. He was a very thin man, which made the uniform look almost too large on him. He had taken his cap off to reveal wispy blonde hair that stuck up in every direction. "We need to have a secure place to store it until the Commander can retrieve it."

The city official looked confused. "What is here that is so important?" His once nice light beige trousers and jacket were stained and tore in places indicating that he didn't have the easiest time hiking up Suba. Small strands of grey hair covered his pocked mark face and he seemed to be wheezing as he walked.

The other two looked to be regular soldiers from the city watch. They each wore a stiff navy blue jacket that went up to their chin, blue trousers and dark knee length boots. The two soldiers also seemed to be just as confused as the city official.

Silently Talasi took another step back but her foot met only air. Overbalanced she fell backwards into a small creek bed that ran down the mountain. Icy water seeped through her clothes soaking. As her hand hit the opposite bank she was barely able to keep the stone from rolling out of her fingers.

"What was that?" a voice said from the clearing.

Above her the wind suddenly whipped up blowing embers and lit needles from the small fire further up the mountain. They landed all over her covering her clothes and bare skin.

Pain unlike anything she had ever known erupted all over her. The burning agony traveled from her limbs towards her heart. Once there it felt like a searing hot poker was trying to rip her chest apart.

She opened her mouth to scream, but a hand clamped over it preventing her from making any noise. Small tremors coursed through her body as the hot poker tore into her chest over and over. Through all of it Talasi was dimly aware of another hand brushing her all over.

Four times the pain ripped into her chest before it started to dissipate. It traveled back through her limbs and was gone. She was finally able to open her eyes, though she hadn't realized that she had closed them in the first place.

Her brother was staring down at her, his face etched with concern. "I've got all the embers off. They weren't on long enough to really do any damage. The Nyotas thought it was just a rock or a tree falling down, but they're still close so we have to be quiet."

It took Talasi a moment to focus on what Tavin was saying. Her head seemed to be pounding in time with her heart beat making it difficult to think. Finally she nodded slightly, but immediately regretted it when the throbbing increased.

Tavin removed his hand and she greedily sucked in several mouthfuls of air. Her entire body was aching and there was something wrong with her chest. It felt different, strange somehow though Talasi couldn't pinpoint what it was. She brought her right hand up, it shaking slightly, to prob where this new sensation was and where the pain had felt like it tore her chest into pieces. It was the same as before.

"You okay? Anything hurt when you fell?" Tavin asked softly as he helped her up out of the frigid water and onto a small rock.

"I-I don't know. Something is wrong with my chest." Her voice was hoarse even though she hadn't screamed.

Tavin's concerned seemed to grow when he checked her out and found nothing out of the ordinary as well. "Let's get you home and then Mama can take a look at you. Worse case we can summon a Heelal."

Talasi nodded. The throbbing in her head had dissipated a little but in it's place was a thick fog. Tavin helped her to her feet and it took her a moment to steady her shaking legs. To her surprise she still had a death grip on the mysterious stone. She relaxed them and placed the rock in her trouser pocket. It was still warm.

In the distance she could just make out a bunch of dark figures in a semi-circle. Talasi jumped slightly when Tavin touched her arm. "Let's go before they realize it's gone."

Almost immediately she started to shiver. Her trousers, shirt and cloak were soaking wet from the creek and the wind still howled relentlessly. Exhaustion settled deep into her muscles and seemed to emanate from her chest. Ten minutes later Talasi had to stop to rest. Her brother said nothing but she saw how worried he was in his tense posture.

As she again started the three hour decent down to the base of Suba and the hour trek through the forest to reach Fletcher all Talasi could think about was putting one foot in front of another so she could get home.

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It was early evening by the time the twins reached the quiet street that their house sat on by the outskirts of Fletcher. The dirt road curved slightly at the end with a row of stone houses on either side. Each house was two stories with a little garden in the front and a yard in the back. This was one of the nicer sections of town where there was more land so people could afford to have larger houses with gardens. Closer to the city centre houses gave way to apartments stacked on top of each other and no gardens could be seen.

It had taken the twins twice as long to reach the city then the four hours they were expecting to. Talasi was exhausted and had a hard time walking. She had to stop every ten minutes to rest. This wasn't from walking through the night to get up to the crater first. Her chest felt raw and her mind was muddied.

Tavin had been very patient throughout the decent and slowed down to match her speed. But each time they stopped Talasi could see the concern he had. There was something wrong with her.

She was abruptly jerked to the side. Startled she opened her eyes, making her realize that they were closed in the first place. Tavin's grave face appeared before her. It took her a second to realize that he had just pulled her away from walking into a pile of trash on the road.

Her brother was as silent as ever, but circled his hand around her wrist, leading her the rest of the way. Talasi slipped and stumbled as they walked passed the stone houses, but Tavin was always there to catch her.

The second to last house on the street was theirs. Like the rest it stood two stories high. However most of it was blocked off by a two metre high stone wall that ran around the property. Other places had walls as well but none were of this height.

Talasi winced at the customary squeak the rusted hinges made as Tavin pushed the gate open with one hand. Where are we? she thought looking around.

Just as Tavin was closing the gate the door opened and their mother filled the empty space. Her grey hair was pulled back into a bun like her daughter's with streaks of her once brilliant red colouring filtered throughout. She was already wearing her priestess robes to the god of the earth Erde for the service later that night. It was an emerald green robe that hugged her curves nicely with wide dangling sleeves. A silver inverted triangle with a slash through it on her chest was the only decoration along with her customary Duniya tool belt.

However, the triangle was partially covered by Kia's crossed arms. They paused for a moment. "I woke up to find the house empty after I specially told you not to leave it last night. Then you are gone the entire day," Kia said glaring at her children.

Tavin shrugged as he started forward again, still leading Talasi. She stumbled and was just barely able to catch herself before she went sprawling.

That immediately changed Kia's manner and she went from angry to concerned in an instant. "What's wrong?"

Talasi tried to answer, but nothing came out.

"I'll tell you inside," Tavin replied, glancing at his sister.

Talasi stumbled again and would have fallen if her mother hadn't been there to catch her. She tried to smile her thanks, but she wasn't sure if she even moved her muscles.

Then they were out of the blinding light of the sun. It was a lot dimmer here and Talasi tried to look around, but she couldn't get her eyes to focus. She felt herself being lowered onto a soft surface.

"What happened?" Her mother's voice sounded like she was talking through a long tunnel. I was in a tunnel recently, she thought dazedly.

"We went to see what that fireball was." The second voice was deeper than the first and sounded very familiar.

"You did what!"

Something was draped over her, giving her warmth. Her shivering became less severe.

"It was some sort of weird stone. Talasi's got it in her pocket. Some Nyotas came but we managed to get out before they noticed us. Tali fell and some embers from a fire landed on her. Since then something has been wrong with her," the second voice said.

Her leg was moved slightly. She tried to swat it away but she couldn't move her limbs.

There was a loud gasp. "Is she bleeding?" Then Talasi knew no more.