For the whole night, Grace did not stop running. At some point, she had already lost her way after having to evade the bandits' encirclement of the village.
They had been thorough and methodical with their attack, ensuring no one would be able to escape and alarm the city.
Unfortunately, they did not think anyone would be foolish enough to enter the forest.
Even though this forest was safe and devoid of soul beasts other than small and weak plant-type soul beasts, a single moment of confusion could lead one to an entirely different place—to the outer region of the Star Duo Great Forest where the most numerous terrestrial soul beasts prowled about.
The only reason this relatively tiny patch of woods were safe was because the density of ambient soul power here was lower than Star Duo Forest.
No soul beast would settle here when there was a better choice deeper in.
However, after being worn down by poison, Grace finally succumbed to her weakness. She stumbled and fell, but not before twisting her body to prevent her children from hitting the ground first.
Caelum and Celine were in distress, not knowing what to do to help her. They were still children who knew very little of the world.
She was afraid of leaving them alone, but fate would not let her have her way. Its hold on her very life was tightening with each passing moment.
"Take these…. Inside are… what I've been saving… for you."
She pulled on her necklace on which a pendant and two rings hung.
The rings were soul tools that contained a small pocket of space of about three cubic metres each.
They were things she had taken with her during her escape from Clan Blaiddyd. Now, they contained the money and resources she had saved up for her children.
She knew the limits on her talent would only waste them so she had never touched them at all.
She looked at her children. And though her vision was clouded, she could recognise their features.
She gazed at them lovingly, branding their image upon her very soul.
She reached out with her weak arms to caress their faces, wiping away some of their tears, but she was already too weak.
Her arms fell limp once more as she struggled to smile, a final bit of reassurance for the two who made her feel the love of true family.
"Don't cry… I love you both… forever…"
As Grace breathed her last, something in the air around them shifted, like a vacuum had sucked out everything.
Caelum was in a daze when suddenly both his martial souls manifested.
For a moment, he seemed to have lost control over them.
Both his body and the chair glowed with furious lights as black as the void sky, but amidst this mystical display, Celine noticed the brief flash of light that escaped their mother's body in that instant.
It was too fast for her to follow, but not for a certain someone.
Following the manifestation of the two martial souls, the ground suddenly trembled. A mound quickly rose up before the two children as a huge white soul beast emerged.
Under the moonless night sky, its faint white and golden glow were enchanting. Its segmented plump white body was adorned with dazzling golden circles—ten of them, each representing an incredible milestone.
Upon its mildly disturbing face was a set of twelve golden eyes staring at the children with unconcealed intellect and something resembling pity or perhaps empathy.
And then it spoke, not with its mouth, but with its mind.
'Do you seek vengeance, child?'
The children froze in place, despair washing over them as the realisation of death staring them right in the face dawned.
An inescapable fate awaited them.
And yet, after a moment, the two seemed to share the same thought as they quickly calmed down, their expressions a mask of hope and acceptance.
They wondered whether they would still be with their mother in their next lives. They prayed for it.
The soul beast, understanding that they believed death had come for them, spoke once more. This time in a slightly gentler tone, but still carrying the edge of pain and resentment.
'Answer me, child. Do you seek vengeance? Do you seek the power to harm those who harmed you? I can give you that power.'
Hearing the soul beast speak once more, the two finally registered its words.
It was not here to kill and eat them.
They were not going to die.
For a brief instant, disappointment flashed in their eyes before being replaced by resolve.
They stared at the soul beast and only then noticed the scratches and minor discolouration in parts of its body, bruises from a tortured escape.
It too had a story to tell and pain to ease. Perhaps they could hear it out.
'I am a million-year-old Skydream Iceworm, a unique existence in this world. If you seek power, then I shall give it to you. I shall be your first soul ring and help you with your vengeance. In return, all I ask is two things. The first is that you avenge me as well. And the second, become a god and resurrect me.'
The Skydream Iceworm was fortunate to have stumbled upon these children.
It had just recently escaped captivity a few years ago after a sudden earthquake wrought chaos upon the continent.
Even the depths of the core area of Star Duo Forest was affected, to the point that a ripple in space had torn apart a gap in the isolated hidden realm that allowed the its escape.
It had managed to flee all the way into these woods outside where no other soul beast was willing to stay.
It was a million-year-old soul beast. Even if it had stayed in the forest where the density of soul power was higher, it would not have helped its cultivation.
Hiding out here until those tyrants of the forest gave up searching for it was the best option. And in so doing, it met with this fateful encounter.
"I accept."
Caelum answered with only a few moments of deliberation.
He did not bother consulting with Celine as he had a feeling she would have chosen the same.
Right now, it did not matter to them whether they lived or died. What they needed was power to survive.
Vengeance, while sounding comforting in a twisted way, is not realistic. After all, they had not even seen the face of the person who shot the arrow that killed their mother.
All Caelum wanted right now was power in its purest sense.
'Very well, then we shall begin. Your body is still too weak to bear all of my power, so I will seal most of it within you, releasing them slowly as you grow stronger. Now, use your martial soul and absorb my power!'
The Skydream Iceworm erupted in a mystical golden flare, an immolation that offered its very essence to the boy. For a moment, it wondered if this was a bit too impulsive, but it discarded the thought immediately.
It knew that the only way for it to survive, not just the hunt of other soul beasts but its coming tribulation as well, was to aid this boy in becoming a god.
Fortunately, the boy's martial soul was uniquely suited to it.
It had never seen any human with their entire body being their martial soul, but it knew it would be the perfect vessel of a powerful mind.
What it did not expect, however, was that the boy would retract his body martial soul and begin absorbing the Skydream Iceworm's essence with his chair.
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A/N: The next 3 - 4 chapters will be mostly about soul skills since he has quite a handful. Just bear with it. I promise they're decent.