Looking out to the water from within the woods, Shin looked as if from seemingly nowhere, a ship appeared, and though the sun had begun to set, he could see a pair of people with snow white skin and pointed ears. It was her.

  “COME AND GET ME, YOU PALE SKINNED BITCH!” Gigant bellowed out; quickly running as fast as he could into the forest. Moments later Shin watched as one of the figures hopped off of the boat and stood on the water, then with blinding speed, bounded towards the shore. Right into the trap him and Gigant had set.

  It didn’t take long for Ceon to reach the shoreline and the distance between her and Gigant was closing rapidly.

  “This is my chance.” Shin thought. Using his demonic magic, he melted into shadow to intercept the siofra.

  Ceon was now only a single bound away from Gigant who now stood his ground, great club in hand, letting out a booming battle cry which travelled a great distance. Ceon stopped before the giant spear at the ready. Shin was among the trees and watched.

  “Where is my son?” she demanded; her face twisted with hatred.

  “Your son? It was your son I snatched?” Gigant taunted. Shin, watching the exchange from above, watched as the aura around Ceon changed, and her Thunder Beast poncho started to emit small sparks of lightning.

  “WHERE IS HE??” she roared. Her shout which she enhanced with bri was near deafening and the force behind it caused Gigant (and Shin who’s still hiding) to cover his ears and get pushed back a few paces.

  “You see??” Pek shouted in Shin’s head, “Witness her power! That is your Freedom!”

  “What power.” Shin thought “She really could be my freedom. But at what cost?” As he was thinking Gigant regained his composure, so Shin continued to listen to the conversation. The jotun started to laugh.

  “Oh right. That was your son. While I could show you him, I don’t think he’ll be in the talking mood.”

  She prepared to lunge forward and thrust her spear straight through his chest. But before she could do so, she sensed a presence coming from her right with murderous intent.

  Shin suddenly appeared from the shadow of a tree and in the span of a second, swung his daggers in a slashing motion, planning to use one to slice off one of her hands, and the over to decapitate her in one swift stroke. Ceon reacted to this attack by quickly stopping her momentum and backstepping, but it wouldn’t be enough to avoid the blades.

  Unfortunately for the cursed one, his blades did not grant him the results he’d hoped for. Ceon was wearing her Thunderbeast pelt, and his blade simply brushed off its impenetrable hide which covered her neck. His other blade, owing to the element of surprise, managed to pierce her skin and left a minor slice along her right arm.

  Within the moment after Shin’s attack, Ceon’s thrust her thorned spear with blinding speed, and were it not for his reflexes, the assassin’s head would have been split in two. Instead it just grazed his cheek. He winced as the side of his face burned from the heat of her bri around the spearhead.

  Before she could send the spear back down to slash him in two, Shin used his transparent cloak to fade into shadow once more, but not before slicing Ceon’s arm once again, though this time, it just barely left a nick.

  Ceon now stood still, not expecting anyone else other than the jotun. She noticed her arm was starting to feel numb as she started to lose function. The blades had been poisoned, as prior to this encounter, Shin had dipped his blade in the blood of a fugu pufferfish, a deadly neurotoxin. Realizing this she focused some of her bri to help her body defeat the poison. In the meantime Ceon started to try and sense this unknown foe’s bri.

  To her surprise, she sensed nothing. It was as if he vanished without a trace. Suddenly, it returned, and to her shock it was coming from directly beneath her. She jumped back and away as the vines on the end of her spear shot downward at Shin who was still partially in shadow.

  Unbeknownst to Ceon, this was a trap as a dagger wielding arm thrust out from the shadow of a branch and nicked her left leg. Then Shin would immediately follow up with an attack from behind.

  This time though, Ceon was prepared as she grabbed the lower end of her spear and swung it in a horizontal arc. Shin had just enough time to evade her strike, but to be safe, he used his demonic magic to harden his cloak akin to steel. Even then the blade of her spear cut through the cloak like a hot knife through butter. Shin took a brief exhale of relief that her swing had missed.

  After her attack, Ceon took a knee as the poison coursing through her legs took effect. Gigant simply watched and smiled; seeing his enemy be brought to her knees.

  Even though she missed this time, Shin knew that the longer this went on, the more likely she would land a hit, and with her strength there would be no second chance. He had to end this now.

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  Shin’s hand shot out towards Ceon; shadow engulfing his hand. This would be his trump card, the “Nwalma-Súr?”, a move which would rip out Ceon’s soul and leave her dead where she stood. The one which would make him whole again.

  He pushed the hand into her chest and waited for the sensation he always felt when a soul left his target’s body. But to his surprise, he felt nothing. Shin instantly jumped away to try and get to a safe distance. As he jumped away however, Ceon launched a surge or bri through her Thunder Beast cloak and lightning lashed out at Shin, shocking him. He felt an intense pain from the shock from the pelt’s bri lightning course through his body, forcing every muscle in his body to spasm and contort violently before tumbling across the ground.

  Gigant, seeing the opportunity to finish the fight, walks over to strike down Ceon, who is still trying to purge the poison from her body. He now stood over her and raised his war club, preparing to strike the final blow , but as he started to swing down an arrow pierced his arm. The jotun yelped in pain and turned to the direction the arrow came from, and there he saw the attacker. It was Elouan, and with him was Ceon and his son.

  “Mom!” the child cried. He ran towards Ceon away from Elouan.

  “No! Carantii!” Elouan shouted, but it was too late. Gigant barreled towards the kid with the intent to smash him into jelly.

  “DON’T TOUCH HIM!” Ceon screamed and sent a stream of bri into her spear, causing the thorns to snake underground. Elouan nocked another arrow onto his longbow.

  “They’re not going to kill him in time.” Shin thought. He melted one of his arms into shadow and they appeared underneath Gigant, slicing his achilles. The jotun collapsed to the ground in pain just in front of the child, screaming briefly before the barbed vines pierced him from below and expanded inside his body. The once mighty jotun warlord now laid silent on the ground.

  Ceon slowly rose to her feet and moved her right arm. The poison was now fully purged from her system and she ran to her son. Her and Elouan hugged him tightly in a warm embrace.

  “Oh my goodness, Carantii.” she said with tears in her eyes and squeezing him tightly. “I was worried I’d never see you again.” Carantii, previously composed, started to bawl in the arms of his parents.

  “Hey, it’s the man who saved me!” Carantii said pointing at Shin.

  Shin lay down on the ground, his body too sore and exhausted to move, though he wanted to; watching as Ceon approached her. He saw her hand start to glow with bri.

  “What are you doing?!” Pek demanded. “Kill her! You have the strength to do it! Finish her!”

  “Yes…” Tek agreed. “This is your chance. WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR??” Shin layed there, the sounds of the world muted only to the voices of his demons, and his eyes tunnel focused on Ceon. The demons screamed in his head to kill her, but as she stepped closer, their voices were drowned out by a sensation of calm.

  Ceon knelt down and placed her hand on the wounded assassin, her face blank.

  “Why did you save my son?” She asked.

  “It… it was the right thing to do.” Shin said. “I’m a killer… but innocents, especially children… children of a hero I respect..they deserve better…” he looked at Ceon’s face and the once blank face now drew a warm, motherly smile.

  “That’s what I thought.”

  “Here, take my hand.” Ceon said, “Let me help you up.” With caution Shin reached out and took the siofra’s hand and she gently pulled him up. With her help he was able to get back on his feet, even though he felt as if his body was hit by a truck.

  “I… don’t understand.” Shin said, perplexed at what Ceon had done.

  “Your soul tells you more than you know.” she said, “I am able to read your bri, your soul, and it reveals to me who you truly are.”

  “Then you know that I have one foot in the grave. That my soul is incomplete.”

  “I do.” Ceon answered. Shin broke eye contact with Ceon briefly; not used to a stranger knowing his secret.

  “Then you know that’s why I tried to kill you.” Shin said. Ceon took pause at what her former opponent just said.

  “This is why?” she asked.

  “Yes.”

  “Why?”

  “Well isn’t it obvious?” Shin said. “If I were to take your soul, It would have completed mine. I would be free?” Ceon’s ears perked slightly at those final words.

  “Free? Free from what?”

  “My curse. My demons.”

  “Who I presume gave you those abilities of yours?” Ceon asked. Shin paused briefly, taking a deep breath. Then he continued.

  “Yes. You see, I made a deal with them when I was a boy, hoping to find the rest of my soul. They did. But instead of giving it all to me, they withhold it for themselves. They talk to me in my head, screaming to kill for them even when I don’t want to, and then maybe, maybe, I’ll finally be free.”

  “Yet you didn’t.” Ceon said “you could have attacked me when that Jotun tried to kill my son, yet you didn’t. I’m no expert, but maybe they don’t have the control that you think they do over you.” This left a thought within Shin’s mind.

  “What if she was right?” he thought, “But if she’s wrong…” Shin gave a low bow to Ceon.

  “Thank you.” Shin said, “But I must bid you farewell. I wish you and your son a safe journey home.”

  Shin gave one final thank you to Ceon for sparing his life, giving her a wave and going their separate ways. He walked back to the town, hoping to get some much needed rest. As he trudged back home, the phantom weight of his curse still anchored his limbs, yet the chains of his masters, Pekter and Tekper, felt suddenly brittle. No soul gained. No blood shed for a lie. To him, honor was the only currency that mattered now, and for a man like Shin, the trade was more than fair. He acknowledged his physical vulnerabilities as a mere tactical limitation; his true strength lay in a mental fortitude so vast that no long-range hex or mental manipulation could ever hope to breach its walls. With every step away from the violence, he drew closer to his ultimate goal: to finally, truly, live in peace.

  Several weeks later in the mountains of Ithir, Ceon, Elouan, Carantii, and his many siblings about what had transpired. About how he had been kidnapped by a Jotun warlord, his voyage across the Ithir, and how he was saved by a human who looked like a Siofra with stubby ears. A story which would be told in the family for many years to come