Chapter 13

Spreading my soul like wings around me I jump towards the roof of the mall. Using my soul like that allows me to push myself upwards, which prolongs my jump by quite a lot. There are no guards on the roof, seems like they don't see a need to man it at night, I guess they wouldn't see anything useful anyway and they don't have spotlights. My target is now right below me. I see him nailed to a cross. There were some lights lit in the inner courtyard, I guess they are remnants of its use as an pleasure garden.

“So the dark angel descents to end the martyr's suffering...” a weakly voiced Steve says, while I descent, slowing my fall with my soul. “Either you can see my soul or you are delirious.” I respond. “What a cruel god it must be to banish such a beautiful soul....” “Stop that crap, I am neither an angel nor did I come here to end you, far from it actually.” With those words I use my soul and rip the nails out and catch the falling martyr.

It takes me half an hour to return him back to an acceptable state, his soul didn't resist at all and so I tested what I could get by reading it. It was a mix of memories and thoughts, the result was a pretty accurate definition of his character. What I found pleased me, he would be a good leader for his people. Time to get them under his control. I lead him towards an hideout and begin my hunt.

It is really handy to know where every person around you is located when one tries to assassinate someone. My list is a bit long though. I sneaked towards where the first one should be located. He is fast asleep and alone, I enter his room and his soul, soon he is helpless. I try to not destroy his soul while reading it, I only want to find if he is guilty or only manipulated or blackmailed. But very soon I draw my blade and give him my judgement, he is guilty of many crimes against his fellow men.

This procedure soon becomes my routine. I need an hour to clean the guards of its most prominent and high-ranking evildoers. The outcome are four dead and five knocked out people. I also learned an interesting piece of information, the only persons with the keys to the third floor are the elites and nobody except them is allowed there at night. I guess they satisfy their fleshly lust in the day.

Not one of the guards I 'interrogated' knew why that was the case, most even criticised this decision, arguing that they couldn't help them in case of an emergency. That is actually a sound argument, so what could be the reason that not even one key remains on the 2nd floor? Which secrets did they need to protect so urgently?

The door is unguarded, thick and has an expensive and secure lock. Every attempt to force it open would alarm the whole second and third floor, hence it wasn't guarded. But it isn't a hindrance to me. It is not more than a small telekinesis exercise to me. I open the door and walk towards where the six elites are according to my soul-sense. They are awake.

I enter the room, but I wasn't prepared for what I see there, I would never be. The six of them were stylishly dinning, but their dinner filled me with such anger that I lost my control. On a big tray there lay a big cooked animal, except it wasn't an animal it was a human child. Even though there wasn't a lack of food, even in the lower levels of this building, they were eating their own kin.

What happened to their mind? Did they always have those tendencies? Could the storm have changed them? I would never find out, my soul itself exploded in rage, creating a wave that I willed against them. It completely overwhelmed them, destroyed their souls and left their empty hulls on the floor, which I killed.

Bathed in blood I awoke from my rage. I don't think that any of them wasn't guilty, but I still lost my calm. I cant allow myself to ever let that happen again. Not after I witnessed first-hand what I was capable of. I fled from the mall. I had left orders and a map for Steve at the hideout.

From what I observed the next morning there was a lot of panic when they found the bodies, but that was perfect for Steve, he easily managed to take control, no one in the guards wanted a bloodbath and the civilians backed him with all they got. They finally got some hope and they weren't willing to give it away.

The next few days the community in the mall was filled with activity, in preparation of moving to the military base, and with stories of a two-faced angel, one side filled with mercy towards the injured, sick and oppressed and the other filled with malice towards those that enjoy suffering and injustice. I really should keep up a more human appearance in the future.

When they left towards the military base I followed them and kept their path clear of any soulless, all they found were corpses of the changed ones. Something they also declared a miracle, I am sure of it. When they left the city I also left them, there were other places I still wanted to check out.

My way further leads me away from the mountains. I follow yet another highway, this time towards the capital of this small country. It took me almost a month to reach it. It was now the 1st of April, at least if my sense of time didn't mess up at some point. The way took me so long because I checked every city I crossed for survivors, but I only found few groups, which I advised to travel along the highways towards the other groups I left behind.

I wonder why there were so few, did they die or did someone else collect them? I hope the later and they simply missed the few I found. I finally arrived at the borders of the capital. I have never seen it before, I always stayed in my hometown. I never had enough to spare to travel around, nor did I want to. But now I see with my own eyes why everyone told me to visit it at least once.

Even while deteriorating it still had an atmosphere I never witnessed before, it filled me with awe and amazement. Those buildings are huge. While I observe the scenery I decide to climb the nearest skyscraper to get a better view of the city and more easily detect any activities and settlments. I soon enter the nearest building I deem high enough for my purpose. Of course the lift doesn't work...

My climb was really monotonous, even for someone like me it is a pain to climb this many stairs! Not a physical one though but one for the mind. I swore myself to not use those damn things to get down, I will simply glide down. The view that greeted me on the roof almost made my climb worthwhile.

What I found after a short observation definitely made it worthwhile. I can see a beacon, consisting of some flags and a bright flashing light, it looked like someone was rotating an aircraft-spotlight, used to find aircraft in the previous wars. The beacon is near a big park, or what I assume was once a park, now it looks more like fields in the middle of the city. I guess I found a rather large settlement.

I jump from the building and begin to glide towards my destination, using the other buildings facades to regain altitude. When I got close I let myself fall to the ground and begin to walk the remaining way. The survivors built walls between the buildings to wall off the park, it didn't take long and I was spotted by a guard, not like those heavily armed soldiers I met before, it is a simple lookout.

He didn't sound any apparent alarm, but he continues to watch my approach. When I come into shouting range he begins to question me, about my business here, if I have seen some mutants, I guess that is the term they use for the soulless here. I stated my business as scouting for a group of survivors and that I wanted to create a permanent trade and interaction, in short I am an ambassador.

As for the other one I informed him of a group of ten hunting type soulless in the east. He opened a small hidden door in the wall and signalled me to come in. As soon as I enter I am greeted by three guns pointed towards my face, two are unloaded I felt with my soulsense, I guess they have to save ammunition and want to intimidate me.

I soon learn their reason. They want me to strip and check for any mutations on my body, I guess they made some bad memories with soulless that were smuggled inside by their relatives or they met intelligent soulless, which would surprise me. I didn't find any unidentifiable or unknown soul-patterns on my way here.

Since I wanted to keep my human appearance I complied to their demands. I took of my armour and revealed my honed body, thankfully not one of them made attempts to lift my armour, I guess they don't want to make me think that they will steal my stuff. After they are satisfied with what they saw, I was allowed to enter their community and meet their leader, clothed of course.

One of the guys that gave such a warm welcome accompanies me towards a building where, according to him, their leader resides. It is the building with the beacon on top. Trying to make some small talk I ask about how their everyday live is going and if they expect to need more food or if their harvest could suffice. But his only response was that I should mind my own business.

Up till now the only response towards the news that there existed other survivors was positive and filled with happiness, except in two places, the group with their rotten caste system and this place. But it could be that I just got the wrong guard for small talk. While we walk I take a look around, there are a lot of people working on the fields. From the current size alone I would guess that there are way over one thousand people here. This estimate is based on some planning sessions I had with my group back home. We calculated how much farmland we would require.

We reach the building, but a receptionist, a freaking receptionist in an apocalypse, tells me that I won't get to talk to their leader today. So I ask if I can take a look around, they say me, that as long as I stay away from a few restricted areas, I am free to do so. I say my farewell and walk towards the fields, I want to inspect what they planted and how their crops are coming along.

As I take a look around I have to ditch my former estimation, the only reason the fields aren't bigger is the lack of water. It is possible that they have other fields outside the city. As time passes I see more and more people, there are even buses arriving from outside the settlement. They are filled with farmworkers. When night arrives I count over ten thousand people with my soul-sense.

I guess they really collected people from all around the city and also the neighbouring ones. It is a sight to behold, all those people chatting in the plaza while eating. I find a good and peaceful vantage point at a nearby hill and enjoy the atmosphere and the so sorely missed noises of human bustling activity and the murmur of their chatting. It is a peaceful scene and healing scene in this scarred world. Maybe I really just had bad luck with the guard.

It doesn't take long until I am approached by a young women, I wait for her to speak before I turn around. Naturally I already felt her approach long ago.