6: The Soulless

Clover and Bosnia sprinted through the underbrush in their fox forms.

Earlier, after some deliberation, they had decided to go after Liran and make sure she was okay. But some foul energy blocked her scent, so they could only go by sound changes and other creatures' sightings in the woods. Along the way, they detected fear from nearby animals.

"The finches are warning us." Clover acknowledged chirping advice from one of the small brown birds before it flew away. She stopped her sprints.

The wood's silence felt unnatural and heavy. A dead feeling lingered to stir a chill.

"Bosnia, stop."

Bosnia groaned as she skidded to a halt and turned around. Her brown bushy tail was whacking the foliage carelessly as she plowed her way back to her sister.

"Why'd we stop?" She panted with her tongue lolling.

Clover lightly whacked her sister's face with her tail. "Put your tongue back in. The finches said there's magic trouble ahead." Her expression sobered. "They said it was so scary it scared nests away."

Bosnia growled with bravado. She was about to resume her sprints and rush, head on, into the thick of the troublesome area when they faced some kind of rushing green giant charging toward them.

Clover's eyes swelled with shock as the green giant tripped on a rock and started falling onto her.

"Oh no!" The green giant gasped when he saw the small white fox about to be crushed beneath his weight.

He yelped when he twisted his body, so he fell to the ground next to her. In doing so, he sprained his ankle.

Clover's heart raced at the thought of nearly being flattened. Then she saw the beast cringing in pain and swiftly shape-shifted into her human form.

"Keep still," she gently said as she examined the ankle sprain and his bare feet's condition. 

The beast's skin was smooth and hardy to withstand nature's harsh terrains. Yet a twist like this would have taken a lot of force; a healer would need to tend to it.

As she looked over the beast's form, she took in his gentle humanoid features, bright round gray eyes, soft lips balancing a squarish chin and jawline, and small round ears. A pair of gently curved bone horns was balanced on a round head with a thin carpet of grey hair. He wore a tunic tucked into sackcloth overalls over his muscly body.

"Me be fine, milady. I'm sorry." The imp genuinely apologized and glanced over her form to make sure she wasn't hurt. "But I didn't hurt you?"

Clover shook her head and attended to his ankle with salves and potions. "I know basic healing potions. This should get you walking, but you still need to see a healer."

He nodded and drank her vial in one go.

"What about the one out of town?" Bosnia blurted as she was balancing a leaf on her fox's nose. Her expression became devious when she saw a gray mouse scamper toward her with cheese on his back. "Food! Mine!" She leaped for the critter and cursed when she ended up eating dirt on her poor landing.

"Idiot." Clover groaned and glared at the mouse, which shrank back and fretted before laying the cheese before her.

"Sorry, Kijen, it was because of me, Annoying Imp, almost crashed into you."

"Annoying imp?" she looked perplexed.

The gray mouse nodded in the imp's direction.

"That's your name?"

Annoying Imp chuckled as he scratched his head. "Ah, that be what my grafter called me." He told the story of how his grafter (a naturalist sorcerer) was so annoyed by his zero malice that he named him Annoying Imp.

"Zero malice?" Clover was surprised to see his aura clear and pure.

"Yes. So I be Annoying Imp, and this mouse my friend, Rat."

Bosnia laughed at the mouse's absurd name. Rat growled and did a flying leap for her fox face. Clover shook her head and let the two fight it out. She frowned when she glanced at his back and saw protruding mounds for where wings should be.

"You have no wings?"

Annoying imp nodded. "My grafter said I was a failure, so no wings."

"Tsk. He's wrong. You're dumb but no failure." Rat squeaked as he proudly stood on Bosnia's head.

He jumped off before she could catch him. 

Bosnia clicked her tongue. "Damn glad you're not boosting my morale."

The two creatures began their bickering again.

Clover sighed and picked up the cheese wedge. "I think you're different for an imp. Most nigen are bad-tempered and ugly. You're not." She handed it back to Annoying Imp. "I suppose this is yours. You need nutrients to heal, and we have to go."

She looked at Bosnia, who was enjoying her playfight. "Time to leave."

Annoying Imp's heart went for gold. Apart from Rat, never had another creature said such kind things about him. Especially one as beautiful as a kijen.

"Milady, let us go with you for protection."

"We can protect ourselves."

Rat huffed. "Dark magic in the woods ahead. Best to take the muscle with you."

"Suit yourselves." Clover shapeshifted back into her fox form.

They resumed their journey, eventually reaching the path in the woods Liran had strolled through.

"Aah, I chased Rat through this area." Annoying Imp scratched his chin. "I think I knocked over something but not sure."

Their pace slowed as the cautious walked the path.

"Wait! I see bodies." Rat scouted ahead and sniffed the air; he let out a nervous squeak before returning to the party. "Dead bodies. Hu. I still see life's energies."

"They're dead but not dead. Mice have small brains," Bosnia sarcastically commented, which stirred another round of bickering before Clover cut them off.

"No. I sense it too. It doesn't feel like life." She shapeshifted into her human form to examine the corpses. 

Their skin was blue-gray and mottled textured, carrying a chilly sensation. Suddenly her breath was icy, and the air was stifling, making it hard for her to breathe. She gasped, feeling her head throbbing with immense pressure and heating up.

Annoying Imp rushed to her aid, yanking her away from the affected air. Clover's breath was returned to her. He activated his Nigen blood code to see the energy patterns as dots. The black dots were eating the vibrant and colorful ones. It was a troubling sight.

"What do your imp eyes see?" Rat asked, not hiding his fear.

"Black magic eating the air."

Rat squeaked with his gasp. "Black... magic? Oh shit." He ordered everyone to stay away from the corpses.

As the party was retreating, the corpses started to move. Annoying Imp saw the black magic gathering about the bodies to manipulate them.

Rat's mind lapsed into a memory he carried: thousands of corpses were being moved by the blackest of necromancy power. In this time of terror, these corpses were known as the Soulless.

"This is not a fight we can win! Retreat!"

But they had no time for it; the corpse bandits attacked with their weapons. One lunged for Clover and sunk teeth into her arm. 

Annoying Imp punched the corpse-bandit's face to break its hold on her, then kicked it away. He frowned when he saw the black magic swarm around her wound with mad frenzy.

"Damn it!" Rat squeaked and scampered up to Clover's body to spit healing magic onto her arm. It covered the wound like a gunky salve.

"Eeew. You just spat on my sister?!" Bosnia screwed up her nose.

"Kijen, idiot. It's a salve. Focus on whacking those corpses out of the way," Rat yelled.

Clover nodded and held her daggers with silverish magic energy coating the blades. Annoying Imp punched and pulverized. She followed through with strikes and slashes at vital tendons and points to immobilize.

But no matter how much damage they caused, the corpse bandits didn't lie down and die. In fact, their damages just made them stronger.  The tainted air was making it harder for them to focus and breathe. They were doing their best to keep at least an arms length distance.

"What do we know about black magic?" Rat frantically squeaked as he trawled through his embedded knowledge and memory for answers.

"We can smash it!" Bosnia shouted as she did a dash and strike on a corpse bandit while laughing.  

How she could retain her energy amazed the mouse. 

"Oh dear, one of those hot heads." Rat ignored her. His eyes lit up when the answer came to him.

"Annoying Imp, sink your teeth into its neck and suck up the lingxi."

"You want me to eat it?" Annoying imp screwed up his nose as he grabbed two corpse heads and smashed them together. Being nigen, he was resistant to soul magic.

"Idiot. Just bite and suck!"

"You're the smart one."

Annoying Imp punched and then grabbed the arm of a corpse, twisting it around so he could bite into the neck. He then began sucking up the black energy until the corpse was a lifeless husk. But he didn't stop until it became dust.

"That works." Clover soberly noted and changed her tactics to make it easier for Annoying Imp to suck the life out of the others.

Eventually, there were no more corpses.  Annoying Imp spat out the residual foul lingxi.

 The party dropped to the ground to catch their breath. Rat sniffed the air and detected it was safe for others to return. It was then that he smelled the spot where that black energy had been the strongest, along with the scent of an alfar.

"An alfar was here."

Clover and Bosnia shared a glance. "Liran-sai!"

"Are you trying to find this alfar?" Annoying Imp offered the cheese to Clover, who politely declined, again.

"She's in trouble. We need to help her."

Rat sniffed the scent's trail. "She's headed to the Outskirts. Could be to the healer. It wouldn't hurt for us to go there ourselves since Annoying Imp's ankle still needs looking at and that wound on your arm."

"Okay." Clover rose and dusted herself off. "Thank you for your help."

Rat squeaked, impressed. "Kijen with manners. I like you. We'll help you."

Annoying Imp's expression was glowing. "Yes! I'm good at fighting. You can count on me." He fisted his chest with pride.

The party picked up Liran's trail, hoping to reach the Outskirts before nightfall.