Threads of the Soul

Chapter 482 - 482: A Light in the Darkness

Ava watched with wide eyes as a guard saved a prisoner from a Hollow. It was lunging for her as she struggled on the ground, unable to untangle herself from the chains on her ankle shackles.The guard could have left her there, let her die to get an easy kill. Instead, he put himself between the Hollow and the Woman. The Hollow, not caring which soul it devoured, quickly latched onto the man and started to drain his essence.

While his very being was getting devoured, the guard still managed to grunt out an order to the prisoner.

"Run! Get away now!"

He shouted, pulling the trigger on his gun multiple times, burying bullet after bullet into the gut of the Hollow. But no matter how much lead he pumped into its stomach, the Hollow refused to drop. Its hands just clamped on tighter, as it leaned closer and increased its rate of absorption.

The flailing between them was enough to knock off the guards helmet, revealing a mess of scraggly red hair and a young face spotted with freckles.

'Oh god...' Ava gasped in her mind, clamping her hands over her mouth as she shivered more 'He's... He's barely older than me.'

Even with his face rapidly sinking and loosing its vigour, that much was painfully clear. Somehow, even with his life being sucked away, the young boy managed to glance over his shoulder. When he saw that the woman he had protected had managed to get away, a sad smile spread across his face.

At least he hadn't died for nothing. That made it all worthwhile.

He struggled to the last moment, as more and more of his life was drained away, until finally the Hollow exploded into ash with a shrill scream. What... What? The guard, little more than skin and bones yet still very much alive, collapsed to the ground and coughed up the dust that had drifted into his mouth.

Looking up, he had to shield his eyes from the blinding light as an Angel reached towards him, the pure white light pouring off of her body.

"Are you okay? What's your name?"

Actually scratch that, he must have died. There was no way that he hadn't died. That's why this angel was before him, ready to take him to heaven. As he grasped her hand, he felt a surge of energy flowing through him.

His sunken and deflated skin started to regain its colour and its mass, as he inflated slowly like a balloon. The 'Angel' pulled him to his feet, slapping him a few times across the face as she repeated her question.

"What's your name? Who is the soul inside of you?"

"T-Tommy. Tommy Russo."

"Nice to meet you Tommy," The radiant girl said with an adorable smile, as she patted his cheek softly. It was a simple action that made his heart flutter and his mind completely forget what was going on around him.

"Thank you... For helping me."

"But... I didn't help you. You helped me. Y-you saved me." He managed to stutter out, his cheeks flushing completely red as he felt the warmth of her hand still lingering where she had touched him. It was a warmth that seeped into his very being, replacing the vitality he had lost and filling him with even more power than before.

Ava let out a soft giggle, stepping away from him and pulling her hand from his, "Yes... I suppose I did. But you helped me in more ways than you realise."

With that, she turned on her heels and ran off to join the fight with a skip in her step.

"Wait!" Tommy called after her, completely focused on the sight of her glowing back retreating from sight, as if she was the only thing that mattered to him. The only light in the darkness.

"How did you do that?"

Without stopping her steps, Ava gave him another angelic laugh as she shouted over her shoulder,

"I have no idea!"

And with that, she was gone.

Leaving the boy in her dust, Ava charged through the crowds with a smile on her face. She had been helpful! She hadn't just sat around waiting to be defended, she was the one that had done the defending and it felt great!

She couldn't help but let out another laugh that was overflowing with joy as she threw her arms in the air. If the people around her weren't so focused on running away, they would have given her the strangest looks.

When she finally reached the section of the crowd with feasting Hollows, which birthed new ones, Ava actually had an easier time getting through the crowds. Her body glowed with a radiant and warm light that comforted all that felt it touching their skin.

Charging straight to the closest Hollow, she threw the most feeble and weak punch imaginable, yet despite the lack of power and any sort of technique behind her punch it completely obliterated the Hollow on contact.

The former human let out a high pitched, inhuman screech as its body rapidly dissolved and exploded into dust. The only thing she could think was the reason, was that she was too much energy for them to handle.

It was like trying to charge a battery off of a nuclear reactor. Their capacity was just too small, and so when she tried to force all that energy into them they just... burst.

It was a good theory, in all honesty. But Ava had no possible way of knowing that she was wrong. She couldn't know that she wasn't overloading them with energy because these Hollows were physically unable to absorb any amount of her energy.

How would she know that her energy was the antithesis of their existence and that she was literally purifying their abominable existence, like ridding the world of germs.

Eradicating another Hollow and reducing it to dust, Ava skipped to a stop in front of a shocked and confused Seth with a bright smile on her face.

"Teach me to fight!"

Seth blinked at his sister a few times, his eyes drifting over the particles of Hollow dust drifting down through the air, before laughing softly to himself. He tossed her his spear with a smirk,

"Alright then, try to keep up little sis. Your lesson starts now."