“A~,” I cpped. “What a heartfelt reunion.”

  “Who are you?” The woman snapped her gaze at me, already eying the opening in the ceiling and I could hear the little gears turning in her head. She was fused and wao be away from here rather strongly.

  “The beautiful Sorceress that shoved your sorry ass bato a living body.” I smiled at her. “You thank me now.”

  “Thank you?” She looked down at herself, her body the same silky clothes as mihis isn’t my body.”

  “Fae,” said Bob, running up to the woman and ing her up in a hug. She stiffened up at hers then rexed into it, giving a tentative pat to the old human’s back. “You are alive.”

  “Why are you old?”

  “It’s been a hundred and thirty-three years Fae,” he said, tightening his hug. “You were dead.”

  I levitated the dim Spirit Stone up to eye level, most of its power came from the Eldar’s soul held i but it still had a mythical and powerful quality to it.

  “Dead?” I saw her eyes fixate on the blue gem. “How?”

  “Poison,” Bob spat. “They khey couldn’t beat you so they poisohe well.”

  The woman frowned, clearly not quite able to e to terms with her situation just yet. Unfortunately for her, I wao get on with it.

  “Tell her the important part, Bob.”

  “I’ve been trying t you back for all these years ae asking everyone from Farseers to powerful Psykers, only this woman succeeded.”

  “Her?” Her eyes narrowed on me. “Who are you?”

  “Very rude.” I rolled my eyes. “I go by Ea.”

  “How?”

  “Magic.”

  “What?”

  “Call it a pact then.” I shrugged. “Better with me than a demon, though not by much. I also have a price you’ll have to pay for it.”

  “What?” She grabbed onto Bob and I could see that she was ready to bouny moment. Silly girl, you ’t escape me.

  “I am having an experiment here.” I raised my proudly. “You see, I have this beautiful partner here.” I poi Selene behih my thumb who looked on with the same stone faced expression I saw her take on during my meeting with Dante. “And since she is a Psyker, I am trying to make it so she could draw her power from me instead of the .”

  “What does that have to do with me?”

  “I have no idea whether my method will work so I am testing it on you first.”

  “No.” She shook her head and gred at me.

  “Yes.” I gave her a wicked grin. “I saved your soul from existing in a dubious state of Limbo until a demon finally snatched it from the cold dead hands of your little human lover there, this is the least you could do dear.”

  “What if I won’t?” She asked.

  “I am not giving you much of a choi this matter..” I shrugged. “Oh, well, maybe this will help vince you.”

  ‘I have a task for you Val.’ I sent through our telepathik.

  ‘What is it?’ He sent baot a sed ter.

  ‘I’m going to summon you.’ Was all the warni before I opened up a portal under his feet and ected it to oo me.

  “Damn-” He cursed under his breath but nded on his feet, then he dusted off his clothes and turo me with an inquisitively raised eyebrow.

  “vince her to bey test subject.” I poi the Eldar woman and Val followed my finger.

  “Who is this?” He asked with a frown as he beheld the Eldar hugging an old human in ragged, stinky clothes. “What experiment?”

  “I think Bob — the human there — called her Fae.” I tapped my . “I just yanked her soul out of this and shoved it into a body. I want to test my idea of how to ge the source of a Psyker’s power from the to me.”

  “I see.” He nodded, and the human illusion fked away from him. I could also feel a glimmer of excitement bubble up inside of him. It was good to have at least someone as enthusiastic about being my test subject as he was. “I am Valenith, disciple of Farseer Eldrad Ulthran of Ulthwé. Introduce yourself.”

  “Faerian Dawnwhisper.” The woman eyed Val with as much wariness as surprise. “I am from the Maiden World of Cepharil.”

  Cepharil, Cepharil … where do I know that name from? Sounds familiar.

  [~~ding!~~ Data: Serenade, known to the Nes as Cephris and to the Eldar as Cepharil, is a world located on the Eastern Fringe.

  History: The world was inally part of the Netyr rad became a Tomb World for the Ammunos Dynasty. Acc to legend it became the resting pce of their st Phaeron, Nephreth.]

  Oh. Ooooh. That was where Trazyn found the shard of the Deceiver.

  “My dolehen.” I smiled at the woman.

  “What?” She gave me a look.

  “Are you sure you only had her in that gem for a single tury?” I turo Bob. “Eldar Exodites haven’t stepped foot on Cepharil for 8000 years.”

  “I left the p long ago.” She frowned, her gaze snapping to me. “What did you mean by that?”

  “Doesn’t matter. Cepharil is a k of lifeless rod it has been such food while now if I remember correctly.”

  “Faerian.” Valenith interrupted the barrage of questions visibly sitting oip of her tongue. “What this woman offers you is of indescribable significe, if she succeeds you might free your soul. You might never agaio carry a Soul Stone.”

  “IF.” She hissed. “Why don’t you do it?”

  “I could?” He turned his gaze on me, a touch wary but I could tell he was willing to throw himself oaphorical operating table.

  “I’d rather test it first on someone I value less.” I shrugged.

  “I see.” Val nodded. “This is a ce for you to free yourself, did you never wonder what it could have been like before the fall? This is an opportunity to glimpse that, tain a fragment of the power we once held.”

  “How likely is it to work?” She asked after a few seds of deliberation.

  “Fuck me if I know.” I shrugged. “I am trying two things, one could royally fuck up what I have going and the ht royally fuck you up.”

  “You are not making a ving argument.” Selene whispered into my ear. “Couldn’t you just tell her it should work?”

  “Not like she has a choice.” I shrugged. “No use lying when her choice just saves me the annoyance of having to sedate her.”

  “You could get a loyal follower if she did this willingly. If you forced her into this, wouldn’t that just be a liability to you?”

  “It would.” I eyed the Eldar. “I could just tear her e apart after I know it worked though.”

  “That would kill her.”

  “It would.” I nodded and while Fae showed no sign of having heard our versation, I doubted she hadn’t. Those ears weren’t just for show.

  “You are not making my task any easier.” Val grumbled. Then he went still for a moment before a smile spread on his face; it wasn’t the gentle smile Fae gave to Bob but a predatory smile a wolf gave to a ered rabbit. “Say Faerian, I noticed you care for that human deeply.”

  “Yes.” Fae answered his not-question warily.

  “Unfortunately, he seems to be at the end of his life, human regeioment and whatever else kept him alive this far has a limit and I tell he is reag that limit.”

  She gnced down at Bob’s weathered face marred with wrihen back up at Val.

  “I presume it wouldn’t be too much to ask to return the human to his prime iurn for Faerian undergoing your experiment willingly, would it?” Val turo me with the same wolfish smile on his fad I couldn’t help but mirror it myself.

  “That is certainly doable, barely an effort on my part. sider it done if you go along with my experiment.”

  “I see.” She bit her lips. “What do you think? Are they telling the truth?”

  I could make out the hushed whispers she spoke into Bob’s ears.

  “I think they are.” He answered as silently as he could. “I saw her turn a girl at the door of death into a woman more fit ahy tha my prime.”

  “I agree.” She said after a sed of thought, letting go of Bob and stepping closer to me. “What should I do?”

  “Nothing for now, first try goes to one of these shitheads.” I smirked and dragged a screaming cultist up to me. “You sit bad rex for now or whatever. This won’t take a minute.”

  A sihought bsted away the mortal shell c the human’s soul which I ed up in a psychic co. Then, I forced it through my soul thread which I widened just enough to pull it through.

  My grin widened as I watched the Imprint of his soul move ihe , slowly moving in dires inprehensible to the human mind but my Soul saw it slowly crawl through the o below and crawl up to the surface where it stopped.

  I frowned. Do I really o make a e?

  I decided to just drag the soul further onward and see what happens. When the human soul finally popped out of the soul thread, a faint e formed between the Imprint and it, that I could feel even through my avatar. Shit.

  Cwed arms tched onto the e, trying t themselves up through it into my personal little pocket but it was far too faint to support them. The e didn’t snap, but I khat it just existing ected me with the and that was something I really didn’t want.

  My soul kicked the human soul out of my Puddle and I watched it plop back down into the where it dissipated.

  Okay, this idea is a no-go. I either he e or I o do something else.

  I formed a brief e on my est and I couldn’t help but grin as the Imprint stuck at the edges of my puddle even after I yahe soul of the sed cultist bato realspace.

  The imprint still tries to go back to the but it ’t without a e. Hmm. This could be a problem when I try to go for a refill.

  My Soul s to the flimsy little soul, and I switched my entire perception to it.

  I extended my ethereal hand and pihe little dlelight between my fingers. I held onto it as carefully as I could, eling a bit of soul energy into it to keep it alive as I narrowed my eyes at it.

  How could I touch this thing? I wasn’t too sure, but I chalked it up to the amateurish reality ing my soul could seemingly do. With the Imprint being right o it, I didn’t o use Atiesh to el that ability through it.

  I o fix this thing in pce.

  The Spirit stone and its pseudo gravitational well came to mind, and I decided to mimic that. Acc to my will, the Puddle surged around my soul. In here I wasn’t just A god but THE god.

  All the tiny realms f in my puddle were beholden to my will and everything i obeyed me with a fervor you could only find in the most fanatical followers of the Emperor.

  Not that anything living was inside of it yet. I was curious how it would affect the rather frontational Eldar though, seeing my soul in its ey and not just the puppet I trolled in realspace.

  I drew on a rge amount of the Soul energy in my puddle and used it to form a single new realm inside of here. I grinned as a forest sprang up around me made of nothing but pure energy and the few streamlined houses and buildings that built themselves up iween them, not breaking the natural beauty of the pce.

  Around the whole forest realm, I created a barrier which would hopefully keep the souls inside. I let go of the little soul imprint and watched it slowly drift towards the edges of the realm but it stopped.

  Perfect.

  I snapped my perception bay avatar and watched on as the two Eldar stared at me with mouths agape and eyes wide. Though Val shook himself out of it after I snapped my fingers in front of his face.

  “Still magnifit.” He murmured.

  “Fae dear.” I intoned as I hopped up to the golden-haired Eldar. “Time for your operation.”

  “Ah?” She blinked owlishly at me. “Yes? What do I do?”

  “First things first. you projeind into the and move around in there?”

  “I … should be capable of it, but I heard it's very dangerous?” She g Val who nodded along.

  “Doing so makes you susceptible to attacks ing from the denizens of the , which few ward off with any reliability.”

  “I see.” I nodded. So the only hold-up is the danger. “There are two ways we do this. One, I tear your soul out like I did with that cultist, throw it through my soul thread a your Imprint swim up through another e before I pull your soul bad stitch it bato your body.”

  “The sed?” She gulped.

  “I make the e and you travel up on it by yourself.” I evaluated her. “I somerotect you but some dipshit demon might snatch you up before I help. I am not sure how grumpy the Prince of Pleasure will be with me stealing his meal so there might be some rather rowdy demons ing for you.”

  “I would like to try the sed one.” She said resolutely.

  “Good.” I grinned. “Let’s get started on your ‘assion’.”

  P3t1