The Words You Do Not Speak

This bothered him, and his lips tightened for a second. He has no recollection of anything prior to his visit to the area so recently. Not even the house he served, not a name. It seemed as though he had never existed. Without giving the option the she-demon had presented him any thought, he finally confessed, "I have no name." However, I'm starting to feel like I might want one. I don't know many names, though.

However, he stopped here and considered what he had been going to say. Allow the witch-child to give him a name. Giving a mortal such a claim over a celestial being nearly unsettled him. The question was whether the girl was good, because she was clearly excellent, but was it really whether she was worthy of being a mortal? Instead, even though it was just slight, it was a fleeting bridling of himself. It had a very angelic feel.

Now that she was observing him, the girl did not stress the point he had been going to make, but she also did not carry on with her tending. She appeared hopeful and eager for what he had nearly promised, as though she had heard the words before he had. Could that have happened? He tried again after swallowing against what could only be pride—a sin committed by someone who was meant to be sinless.

But this time, all he said was, "Select a name for me."

Amara looked at him with a look of surprise as she rocked back a little and raised both eyebrows deep under her hair. After all, had she not anticipated the words? But that didn't explain how fast she had a response. "To me, you are Soren. Are you not a gift from God? After that, reveal who you are using your name and let people guess.

Soren? Was that a name at all? What did it matter then? Bewildered, Soren shook his head and made the decision to stop wasting time on this. No, he wouldn't waste any more time caring for wounds that would eventually heal. "I have to leave now, Amara." He ignored his extreme weakness from the insect bite and pulled away from her contact to stand. "I still have to hunt her because the demon still hunts in these woods."

"You have to?" The girl said something odd, and for a second he was positive he couldn't have heard her correctly. He looked back at her, perplexed, and saw that her eyes were serious, strong, and strangely sad. "Must you follow orders so mindlessly without understanding why? Don't you feel sorry for her suffering back there at your injuries?

Naturally, that was the exact question he was unable to answer on his own, and it briefly made him feel lightheaded. He could not bear to feel such fury at her, yet it was also enough to make him angry, like the demon's provocation. Rather, he sensed it for the demon, who must be enchanted with her. Bitterly, he informed her, "She is a thing of hell." "Just the epitome of depravity and a voracious appetite for souls." Would you beg for a creature like that?

He paused at her response. "And if I would?" she inquired plainly.

Before he could respond to this, a different voice interrupted him as he turned around. "Amara." Very gently, but with a clear command, it was said. "That's sufficient."

Amazingly, a sense of peace flew from the witch-child when her master appeared, and she turned on the old man with the crazy eyes. "What if I say it is insufficient?" She seemed to startle her former partner into at least a moment of stillness with her loud, somewhat strident voice. Do you believe that I am not as familiar with her past as I am with mine? Do you think I'm unaware of the effects her father's presence had on my mother?

Gramor was completely quiet now. It felt as though all of his vitality had been sapped, and for a few second, Soren thought he may witness the other person fall in front of him, his strange life extinguished out. However, there was no indication of such weakening in the man's voice when he finally spoke again. As firmly as ever, he demanded, "Then tell me another time what you know of such things." But not before someone who is unable to comprehend by blood!

It appeared for a moment that she had disobeyed him. Their gazes met, and their wills fought over whatever knowledge they had in common about the demon. It seemed like a simple solution that would go back first, given the strength he had already witnessed in that witch-child.

She slumped, though, slowly, and her expression became strangely expressionless. "Always teacher, the words you do not speak echo strongest, don't they?" she remarked out loud, shaking her head in a sort of defeat. Soren thought it was a strange thing to say. However, she didn't appear to be pleased with her choice.

Gramor turned away from the girl, seemingly having finished his business with her, before he could think about this any more. "And you need to get to a hunt." The words were frigid now, in a way that had not been the case previously. "And here, you won't find any more assistance."

Soren gave the witch-child a nod, but she glared at everything but him. Although it appeared that the other was correct, he undoubtedly knew the girl much better than the angel did. He agreed, his tone as cold as her master's, "Then I will find the demon." "After that, I'll return to get the girl and set her free from you." But he just turned and walked away, meaning that there was no response to this. He had already made up his mind.

It was a heavenly being's will.