Jackal Among Snakes

Chapter 672: Have You Ever Been

Anneliese watched the rise and fall of Argrave’s chest to remind herself that he still breathed. She could see a stunning lack of presence with her [Truesight]—and elsewhere in the obsidian chamber, saw Argrave’s golden soul brimming with vitality far removed from where it should be. She couldn’t fully describe the implement that Raven had used, but she was near certain that he had once used the same thing to clash together Garm’s and Durran’s souls.

“What will he actually be experiencing?” Lorena questioned as she stared down at the motionless body of Argrave.

A new face appeared on the side of Raven’s body, and it asked her, “You don’t know?”

“I didn’t know if it would work, even if my theories were sound,” the dragon said honestly, and Anneliese looked up at her in surprise. “My whole life, I’ve acted with confidence even when I haven’t had it. I suppose the two are indistinguishable from one another.”

“I’ve anchored his soul to his body, but displaced it.” Raven pointed elsewhere in the room—particularly, where Argrave’s soul lingered. “His objective is merely to find his way home to repossess his body. After, we’ll move onto more advanced doings—heading to a separate location, and then returning to his body. As for ‘what,’ well…” Raven paused, searching for words—something that was very infrequent for him. “There is nothing in this world like experiencing life through soul alone. The possibilities feel limitless, yet are nonetheless tightly constrained by the world itself.”

Lorena raised a brow. “You make it sound almost… fun.”

“As fun as any drug. It’s a thrill-seeker’s paradise.” Raven shook his head. “I cannot recommend it because of that.”

“I’ll take your word for it. Still, how long do you think it’ll take for Argrave?” Lorena pressed.

“Getting impatient?” He asked her.

“No.” Lorena shook her head distantly. “Gerechtigkeit’s not the only one who’s used to waiting for a single chance—a single opportunity, presenting itself after millennia of nothing.” Her bright eyes flared brilliantly, and Anneliese studied her face intensely. Lorena quickly added, “After all, my people mate very infrequently, and live very long lives.”

Lorena and Anneliese’s eyes met, only for the young queen’s gaze to break away and look back to Argrave uncertainly. She cast continued glances in the direction of the dragon, feeling some vague nugget of hope yet not daring to voice it lest it be a ruse. Her words about opportunity… could they mean Lorena need no convincing to betray? Or could she working for the Heralds even still, attempting to lure them out by implying her resolve was weak? Whatever the case, Anneliese could not confide the plan.

“On the matter of your people, how do you watch us?” Raven inquired of Lorena as they all waited for Argrave.

“The moon is our conduit,” Lorena explained. “We tap into it to scry. The pact that I’ve formed with it allows as much. It becomes, metaphorically speaking, a gigantic eye that we use to peer upon this planet. It doesn’t see as we understand, but it does ‘see.’ I know that doesn’t make much sense. It takes a long while to learn how to use its sight, but once you do…” She looked up at Raven. “We can know everything, everywhere.”

Raven looked back at her. “I dislike that.”

Lorena laughed heartily. “Why? You mislike having some secret research of yours out in the public?”

“If you’ve seen all, you know my personal failings.” Raven clenched his fist. “Argrave and his coterie being vaguely privy was already far too many for my liking. But now, a whole people know.”

“Of course we know—and we sympathize, Raven. You were a child playing with something you don’t understand,” she said, then shook her head. “You can’t be blamed for what damage you did.”

did and didn’t understand?” Raven asked, a touch of anger in his icy

for generations before I was even born. You call subsuming the flesh of another ‘potentiation.’ We have a similar word for it in our tongue. Much of our childhood is spent learning and adapting to it. You lost yourself to it because you had no one to teach you.” Lorena touched his arm.

and Lorena. She could see the disbelief etched in the typically-unreadable Raven as he asked, “Your people

a tenth as moody.” She pinched his arm, and he pulled it away in

further, Argrave sat up, inhaling deeply. He clutched his head and felt his body frantically, then laid back

nodded, staring at the obsidian ceiling.

“The special one returns. How

time to gather himself, gently rubbing his chest. “The clouds tried to strangle me as I crossed the moat of pointed trees aflame with accusatory fire.” He looked between them all and beheld their confused faces, then clarified, “It’s like lucid dreaming, but the dream itself is also alive and lucid,

apt description.” Raven concurred with a solemn nod. “It could be compared to a battle between souls, yet without an active enemy besides from the forces of the world that seek to claim the soul. Argrave and I

starting to get the lay of the land.” Argrave

prepared. You just have to practice.” She

Road, this narrative should be reported if found

Argrave’s hand. “Do you think you

his neck. “I had a diamond fishhook stuck in my neck. Raven was sitting on his big red boat, reeling me in at all times. Even when I had those cement shoes on, there’s no way I could’ve hit rock

anchored. This is a tool that I’ve used myself extensively, and still I walk. Rest easy. True

with the Blackgard Union, and Sophia.” Argrave raised his hand to Anneliese’s shoulder, then gripped it. “Look after them, please. Make sure everything goes perfectly. I can go back in the belly of the white whale with peace in my mind knowing you’re out there, keeping an eye

“Alright. You know… I think you might have the opportunity to clash souls

at opportunity—namely, opportunity to loop Raven in on their

to it,” Argrave answered back, a hint of

that,” Raven added, ignorant of

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does work quite hard,” Lorena marveled as Argrave’s

do,” Raven agreed, ever the vigilant monitor. “It’s quite a thing to see competency assembled. It only comes in times of great change—when the old is wiped away and replaced with something else. It’s only

Lorena stared back at

asked, “Was what you said

People tried to use you as a force of change. They fostered your rampage. You were caught between countless forces, shepherded

escape her soul-piercing eyes. “I was still the catalyst. I was responsible for

state.” She poked her head back into his vision, reptilian eyes gleaming like stars. “I suppose you were absent when I told those two about it. Well… forget it. I’m not retelling the tale. Suffice to say, I speak from personal experience when I say that making a monster of yourself in the eyes of all who look doesn’t help you

you suggesting I become more like you—carefree,

laughed at what was his obvious deprecation of her character. “No, never that. It’s far more spiriting, though, to be a symbol of hope in the wake of failure, or to be a