James knelt by the body of a young boy. His black skin and hair was only offset by the loose clothes he was wearing. Blood stained the gray cloth and the child snarled at him, hissing and spitting as he tried to throw James off. The kid had his soul attached to James, pulling with everything he had.

Shaking off the kid, James held the boy's eye open. Silver and filled with power. Skin artificially changed into that of a Forsaken. Not only is his soul partially activated, but it's merged with a cultivators core. A core that is familiar to those that start on the western side of the world. Yet, it is stronger than most and the kid is mixing his soul with Qi for stronger attacks.

A rock the size of an adult crashed into James from the side, breaking against his body as James shook off the dust. Continuing, his thoughts, James opened the kids mouth and found razor sharp teeth.

Mutated mouth and black tongue. Teeth are still white, but gums are bleeding. The child is as strong as a level four soul cultivator. The Elson brothers didn't stand a chance against dozens of them.

Tapping into the child's soul, James ripped it out, killing the boy before he could attack again. Letting go of the boy, James stood and scanned the city. Luna was working with Linda and Amber to take down the children they could find as fast as possible. Souls all around the slums were disappearing, leaving corpses for James to follow.

Latching onto all of the children, he started to Siphon them, only for his connection to break.

Damn. I have to be closer.

Rubbing his cheek, James accidentally smeared blood on himself. Grimacing, he started running towards the next child. A group of adults were trying to protect the weaker souls of their children. Slowly, the adults were winking out.

Arriving a moment later, James found two of the Forsaken children playing with their victims. Three elves were lifted into the air by one of the children while the other used them for target practice with shards of ice.

Mind's warped in some nature. James walked forward and summoned his sword, startling the children into dropping their targets. Turning to him, they hissed and tried latching onto his soul, only for James to grab theirs and pull.

Continuing forward, he slashed through their bodies, destroying their souls in an instant. The demi-human children that he saved and their parents screamed nearby and James turned to them.

"Are any of you injured?" Dismissing, his sword, James approached the group and looked them over. "If you are injured, reach the Blushing Maiden. My healer will take care of you."

A few of the elderly demi-humans grabbed a group of children and bowed to him. "Thank you, Grand Master."

Bowing in return, James turned his attention to the next pair of Forsaken children. Frowning when he realized they were approaching Mender, he turned back to the group that he saved. "I'll move with you. We have to hurry though."

That seemed to snap the rest of the parents out of their fear as they grabbed their children. It was a moment later that James realized that he was at a school of some sort and that the adults were likely not their parents. Thankfully, it was only dead teachers and no children.

James wanted to harden his heart and leave the group to their fate and let them travel alone, but he felt Amber and Luna brushing their souls against him. They were scared and in pain as they fought. They were doing everything they could to save lives and he needed to do the same.

"Stay close," James ordered. "I'll get you to safety."

The elderly couple started walking and James took the lead. Keeping a steady pace of a fast walk, James scanned the streets and grimaced at the dead bodies they were passing. Souls were still blinking out throughout the slums and demi-human district, but Luna and her team were quickly eliminating the children.

Checking on Mender, James could feel rage filling the man as he used his soul to burn the approaching children that were looking to kill him. Jamie was outside with her brother, pain flowing through her soul as she used her Soul Weapon to attack.

The group of five Forsaken children were kept at a distance, but when James rounded the corner, he saw that the tavern was nearly collapsed. Sections were crushed by large stones or shredded from wind blades. Grace was huddling with Bunny inside, terror radiating from them. Zenaria was standing in front of them, her soul trembling.

"Stay here," James warned his group.

Coming to a stop, the elderly couple waved everyone to the side of the street and into a shop where they wouldn't be detected as easily.

Summoning his sword, James joined the fight. Reaching the first child, he cut her down, shredding her soul as the Consecration Field washed over him. The other four children were struggling to push through the flames as burning arrows crashed into their bodies.

Mender's flames tried to burn James as well, but he simply ignored them as he reached the next child. Holding out his hand, he Siphoned the boy, killing him swiftly before turning his attention onto the other three. They were Siphoning Mender and Jamie just as quickly as they returned the attack.

Adding his own Siphon the mix, James ripped their souls apart, killing the children as Mender dropped the Consecration Field. Jamie rushed to her brother's side, holding him as Mender sank to his knees.

"I have a group that needs protecting," James announced.

Mender nodded and glanced back at the tavern.

"Use the inn," James stated. "Zenaria!" he shouted. "Bring Grace and Bunny to the inn!"

The kitsune peeked out of the rubble and nodded. A moment later, she led the terrified skunk and rabbit out of the tavern. Mender recovered quickly and joined them while James gathered his group.

Once everyone was in the inn, James stepped out with Mender and Jamie.

"Why are they all children?" Jamie asked.

"I don't know," James admitted. Explaining his discoveries only took a moment, but Mender grew steadily angrier as his grip shattered his staff. Resting his hand on his friend's shoulder, James tried to calm him. "We can't save them. What we can do is bring an end to their suffering and save the people that we can."

Nodding, Mender glanced back at the inn. "Thank you for bringing the children that you could."

Jamie took her brother's hand. "We'll be fine, James. Mender and I can handle it if another group comes. You need to be out there, finishing this."

Closing his eyes for a moment, James spread out his soul and found the number of Forsaken children shrinking rapidly. Luna and her team had nearly cleared them out and only had two groups left to kill. That left James to meet up with them and discover where they came from.

"Keep everyone safe," James said softly. "We've already lost too many."

"Are the brothers…" Jamie didn't need to finish asking as James turned to her with a shake of his head.

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"I have to go." Leaving Jamie and Mender, James started running towards Luna and the others. They were currently finishing a group off and were prepared to move onto the last one.

He beat them to the two remaining children, and didn't hesitate to strike them down before they could finish killing a group of demi-humans. Luna arrived a second later, dropping her Soul Form and changing back into her human form.

"James!"

Amber arrived a second later. "Was that the last of them?"

Nodding, James only focused on Linda, who was hopping down from the rooftops. Walking over to the elf, James pulled her into a hug, not letting her go as he used his soul to soothe her.

Linda sobbed into his shoulder, her heart broken as Luna and Amber surrounded them.

"I'm sorry," James whispered. "If I had stayed with them…"

Linda pulled away, tears still streaming down her face. "T-there was n-no way to know." Pushing her face back into his shoulder, she held him tight.

James didn't let go as he spread his soul out over the city. The odd souls of the children were gone, but panic was running rampant through the district as demi-humans hid. The injured were screaming, and filling the air with cries for help.

"We need to get people to Mender," Amber stated. "He's the only one that can heal everyone."

Finally letting Linda go, he met the elf's eye. "Are you okay to help?"

Nodding, she swallowed hard before wiping her eyes. "Yes…" Taking a shaky breath, she looked back toward the roofs. "I'll go up and scan the area."

"Find the worst groups," James ordered. "Luna, you and Amber will need to carry who you can. I need to find the where the children came from."

Nodding, Luna pulled on Amber and pointed out the group of demi-humans that were cowering in the nearby buildings. James could feel a few of them were wounded.

Leaving the women to get started, James turned his heading to the compound where it all started. He needed answers.

***

Shadow Paw froze with his mouth around the neck of a stag. Blood dripped from between his teeth, speckling his whiskers before he dropped his prey. Turning toward the city, he felt his master's soul in anguish.

"What's happening," he whispered to himself.

Elder Strong Beak dropped from the sky and nearly slammed into the ground, filled with anger. "My family is ready to mobilize."

"What's happening?" Shadow Paw asked. "Am I needed?"

Strong Beak shook his head. "Keep the others safe. Something is killing hundreds of residents in the city. It appears to have stopped, but Master's soul is still disturbed."

Nodding, Shadow Paw growled at Striker the wolf. "Take our prey back to the others. Keep them near the dens."

Striker quickly ran forward and grabbed the stag. His pack surrounded their leader and helped guide him back.

Turning back to Strong Beak, Shadow Paw asked, "what do you think happened?"

"I don't know," the elder said softly. "But Master was filled with pain multiple times."

"Why didn't I feel that?"

Strong Beak shook his head again. "I don't know. My connection with him is stronger than all the others. I believe something killed his followers."

A growl rose in Shadow Paw's chest as he started walking toward the city. Strong Beak hopped in front of him, spreading his wings.

"Stop!" the elder ordered. "My family will assist if needed. Keep the others safe for the day our master bonds with them."

Reluctantly, Shadow Paw let go of his anger. "Very well, Elder." Turning to the den's he started walking. His stomach was queasy as he pictured what his master was going through.

***

James reached the compound and slowed to a walk as he found Bronson's body outside the main gate. The man had been torn apart, his soul gone for good. Grinding his teeth, James put his friend's corpse in his ring to bury later.

I shouldn't have left the brothers alone…

He was kicking himself over and over for leaving. He knew Luna would slap him for thinking like that, but his soul hurt too much to care. It felt like a piece of it was missing and he didn't know if he would ever get it back.

Entering the compound, he found Brakin's broken body near the stairs leading down. Three of the children's bodies were around him and James felt his eyes tear up as he knew the man went down fighting. Collecting the body, he went to find Boris.

Wiping away his tears, he blew out slowly as he reached the living quarters of the old king. The albino man was clearly keeping the Forsaken children in his compound, but for what reason, he didn't know.

It wasn't hard to find Boris as he was half buried in rubble from a shattered wall near the door leading further down. James didn't want to picture the man's last moments as claw marks littered his body and shards of ice were still melting that had punctured his body.

Slamming his fist into the wall. James screamed in rage as he collected the last of his friends. The wall crumbled from the attack, and James felt Amber and Luna brush against him, trying to calm him.

Taking a deep breath, he assured them he was fine as he started his descent further into the compound. Drops of blood and melting ice littered the walkway down. Chunks of stone were missing from wind blades, and large stones had stopped on rubble.

I don't want to imagine how scared he was…

Slowing his pace, James rested his hand against the wall as he propped himself up. Agony was washing through his soul as his golden flame flickered. He wanted to scream and kill whoever caused this. Whoever planned and created the monsters that he had to put down. Whoever used children as an experiment.

After a few moments to collect himself, he continued down the ramp. When he reached the large cavern, he paused. Cells lined the sides of the room, open, yet leaking a stench of waste and blood.

Moving to the first cell, he found a single bed with no blanket and scratch marks on the stone walls. Blood streaked the marks as if the children clawed themselves bloody to escape.

Grinding his teeth, James moved on. A table at the rear of the room drew his attention. From a distance, he could see many implements that would be used to cut someone open.

Stopping by the table, he touched the bloodstained metal. How many children were on this table? What did they do to these children?

He didn't find any notes or any resources that would have been used in the experiments. Instead, he found enchantments on the table itself and on some of the tools. He didn't recognize them and would likely need Jamie to help him.

Reaching across the district, he nudged his sister. With a gentle tug of his soul, he motioned for her to join him. She started moving towards him at a run, leaving the swarm of souls that had reached the inn behind.

Waiting patiently, only a few minutes passed before she reached him. A gasp filled the air as she took in the cells and him standing by the table.

Waving her over, he pointed to the table. "Do you know what any of these do?"

Touching the table, she ran her fingers over the runes. "They feel more advanced than what I'm used to. The outer runes seem to absorb energy and transfer it to the inner runes, but I don't know what they do. The center rune feels so far beyond me that I cannot even begin to guess at it."

Nodding, James touched the runes. "Do you think they were using these runes to change the souls and cultivation of the children?"

Scanning the tools, Jamie nodded. "Some of those tools appear to concentrate energy. With their blood stains, it's clear they were putting something inside the children."

Rubbing his eyes, James let out a slow breath. "We need to find who did this. The king couldn't have been working alone."

"This requires a few people," Jamie said in agreement. "They would need someone who knew the soul cultivation intimately."

"The elders in the sect," James murmured.

"Most likely." Running her fingers over the table, she muttered, "what sort of monster does this?"

"Let's go back for now," James suggested. Taking Jamie's hand, he led her out of the room. Once they reached the living quarters, they both stopped and looked at the remaining door they hadn't checked.

Frowning, they moved to the door and opened it slowly. What they found was the kitchen and bathroom. Nothing remarkable. With nothing more to do in the compound, they returned to the inn.

James slowed to a stop as he found hundreds, if not thousands of people gathered in the streets. The injured were crying in pain as he felt Amber moving through the group. Luna was by Mender's side, keeping him safe as he used his soul to heal people.

"How many died?" James asked.

Jamie shook her head. "Hundreds."

"In only a few minutes." Steeling himself, he let Jamie go and strode into the crowd. Using his soul, he gently parted the crowd while showing his power and strength.

Reaching Mender was easy. Wrapping up his healing of a woman, he stood and bowed to James. "Master, it's worse than we realized."

A few whispers around them made James twitch as they talked about Mender addressing him as master.

"The injured are still coming in?" James asked.

"Yes. I need help, but the humans won't enter this side of the city. The demi-humans are beneath them."

Calming himself before his anger leaked out, James asked, "are there any that you think would help? Any that you've worked with?"

Nodding, Mender ran a hand through his hair. "I believe so. But I'm needed here and I can't find them myself."

Patting his friend on the shoulder, James assured him that he would check the hospitals. If he could find any of the healers that could help, he would.

Jamie prepared to join him when the world pulsed. Before James could question what happened, a shockwave knocked nearly everyone down. The screams started as an explosion from the human side of the city shot stone and wood high into the air.

Spreading out his soul, James felt panic and pain from nearly everyone on the human side of the city. Souls were growing weak, or winking out as the dust and debris started to come down.

Stones crushed even more buildings, collapsing houses as souls were extinguished. Amber and Luna reached him a moment later, their expressions hard as they all focused on the other side of the city.

"Let's—"

James didn't get a chance to finish before more of the twisted souls started coming to the surface from somewhere under the city.

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