The void of regret and guilt was dark and cold, with nothing but the darkest black in every direction. In the very middle of the emptiness, a single girl was drifting unconsciously. She had no body, so she couldn't speak, nor did she have a mind able to produce any kind of coherent thought. The only thing there was a single red soul.
It was faint and weakly flickered as it was besieged by a near-infinite amount of verbal thoughts that came from the hundreds of people who have died by her hand.
Why did you kill us?
It hurts so much!
Mommy, I don’t want to burn.
HELP!!!
I had a family, you know?
Same here. I’ll never see my daughter again.
My son only had me. And now he’s alone.
His son is an orphan, thanks to you.
Thanks for killing me, I guess.
Did you have to kill me by breaking my limbs?
Or me by tearing my head off?
Or my brother by burning him alive?
Or my daughter by beating her to death?
Or my father by burning him?
Or my cousin by ripping his head off?
Or me by tearing my limbs off?
Or me by slicing my foot off?
Did you really have to let out that wave of fire?
Yeah, did you? That really hurt.
All of my skin caught fire.
I didn’t even leave any ash.
Nor did I.
Same here. I still feel those hellish flames burning my skin even now!
You killed people.
You killed innocent people.
Even if they were guilty, they didn’t deserve to die so painfully.
You’re nothing but a mass murderer.
You don’t deserve to be happy.
You robbed me of my happiness.
Just die.
Please die.
Why do you get to live?
It’s not fair!!!
Do the world a favor and die.
You’re a Demon.
Or maybe a devil?
You’re evil.
That’s right, you’re 100% evil.
You’ve killed children!
Children!
Children!
Why did you kill those children?!
Do us all a favor and die.
Can you just die? I hate having my strength becoming yours.
It’s not fair. I worked hard to get this far while you did nothing! That’s my strength, not yours.
Those skills are mine!
I spent thirty years training and training only to die to some whore with a fancy sword.
Hey, how many other kids did you kill today?
How many children have you robbed from their fathers?
What about their mothers?
I wanna live!!
Daddy!!!
Mommy!!!
See, you got grown men begging for their parents!
Only heartless witches can do that.
More like heartless bitches!!
They're really the same thing.
A heartless witch bitch killed us all.
She killed me while I was asleep.
Same here.
Well, I burned to death.
Same here.
Same here.
Here also.
Can’t forget about me.
I’m pretty sure the majority of us died by burning.
Not me. This bitch's flying swords did the trick.
That's what got me.
Same here. My head was split open.
Join the club.
I got stabbed through the heart.
My arm got cut off.
My legs were gone.
I wonder what happened to my family?
Kelly, I miss you.
Donnie, please grow up to be stronger than your old man.
Bailey, I hope you take good care of our son.
Toni, your daddy loves you very much.
Becka, I hope to see you in the Heavens Above.
Darby, may you get revenge for foolish grandfather.
Abu, remember to eat your vegetables.
Blu, remember that your uncle loves you.
Amelia, please listen to your mother.
Daka, I’m sorry I can’t take you to the summer festival.
Thelma, remember that your friend Louise loves you. I’m sorry we couldn’t go to the canyon together.
I miss my mommy!
Daddy, I’m scared!
Father, I’m sorry your pathetic son had to die like this.
Sister, I wish I could be there to see the birth of my niece or nephew. Please forgive me.
Brother, please take care of Molly for me. Be the father I could never be.
What would you do if your friend found out?
Would she call you a monster?
How about a killer
Or a murderer
A mass murderer?
Murder monster?
A killer monster?
Does it even matter?
She’ll still hate you.
She’d leave you.
She’d wish she’d never met you.
She’d wish you died.
In fact, why didn’t you die?
Why do you get to enjoy living even after your heart was pierced?
Or you lost most of your blood?
Or having your intestines fall out?
It’s not fair that such a monster is immortal.
How come I’m not immortal?
What made you so special?
You’re not special.
You’re just a murderer.
A killer.
A child killer.
You killed children
Why did you do such a thing?
They didn’t need to die.
They never even had a chance to feel the touch of a woman.
Nor have they experienced a kiss.
You’ve killed them before they even had a chance to really live.
How much strength could you have possibly gained from children?
You should die.
You should really die.
Can I kill you?
Can you slit your own throat?
What about drowning yourself?
But you can’t.
You can’t die.
It’s not fair.
In reality, it was her voice and her voice alone that cursed her. It brought her so much pain. It flooded her with grief. In the dark mistiness of the void of regret and guilt, her soul was nearly out of strength. And right when even the universe and all of creation were certain her soul would be flickered out of existence, it suddenly exploded into a swirling vortex of red energy.
And from the red energy came a vaguely humanoid-like figure. With a flick of its hand, a red cage formed around the soul, protecting it from any further abuse.
The red being turned around and smiled, though no smile appeared on its face while it lovingly stroked the cage. Servi, I will protect you, and I will help you. Allow me to take hold of these negative emotions and energy and cage them far away from you. Please, rest easy and be at peace. Once I'm finished, I'll talk to you about Fisher Jin. I think he's a man we can trust and rely on, especially after hearing his story. I don't think you remember what happened tonight, but I do. I'll tell it to you. So please, listen to my voice....
Immune to all attacks on her soul huh
Those „souls“ are kinda hypocrite. Talking about her being a child killer when most of those dead people abused and enslaved children and did. who knows what to them. Just shows how set in their way those people were not believing slaves are people too.
The things the 'souls' are saying aren't really coming from the souls. It is Servi's way of punishing herself. Those words are coming from herself as a manifestation of her guilt.
The souls are just there to provide power and Potential, nothing else.
Thelma, remember that your friend Louise loves you. I’m sorry we couldn’t go to the canyon together.
Really? Ok.
Also, caging those emotions up is really not a viable long term solution. She's going to have to face, and come to terms with them over time.
In my defense, I watched Thelma and Louise a few days before writing this part. Maybe it's a bit out of place? I might change or remove it.
Also, caging those emotions up is really not a viable long term solution. She's going to have to face, and come to terms with them over time.
That is true. In fact, I'd say it's a very short term solution.
@RuggyRuggy Don't feel pressured to change that line, meme away my friend.
"How about a killer Or a murderer "-> killer. Or a murderer.
"You killed children"-> add period
"she really could feel bad in the first place."-> couldn't
Hmm, so these "demons" are the sentience/anger of the souls she's absorbed? Possibly that compounded with her broken mind/soul from her previous life and being tortured in the coffin. When did she kill kids? Were they caught in the big flame domes she made? Or did they just happen to be kids that died of some other cause when she was nearby and she got their souls incidentally because she was in the area? It could be either really-her mind is broken and tormenting itself, so she could blame herself for the kids' deaths even if she had nothing to do with it
For what Itarr might do in the future to help Servi get past this-she might slowly siphon off the excess emotions into herself where she can dispose of them later where it won't hurt Servi. Once they're able to process it all Servi should be better equipped to deal with future events where souls could try to overwhelm her with negative emotions since she won't have a massive amount of them already built up.
Your dog passed away? That really sucks. You have my condolences
Your dog passed away? That really sucks. You have my condolences
I appreciate it.
Yeah, some of the demons are some of the guilt that's squeaking through the holes in the metaphysical cages that's holding back her negative emotions. The souls aren't doing the talking, it's her own guilt pretending to be the souls to torment her. It was her voice that did all of the tormenting.
When did she kill kids?
Book One, in Servi's second nightly stroll. It was in part 5. There were five kids that defended Casa and they wouldn't back down. They were the only ones left alive after Servi killed all of Casa's other guards. Servi ended up killing them.
And thanks for the fixes in the spoiler.
@RuggyRuggy oh right, the knights/guards that were new to the force and really too young to be there.
So it isn't actually the souls doing the tormenting? That's actually a relief to hear, it means this won't be a recurring issue once Servi and Itarr manage to sort out the clusterf*** that are Servi's suppressed emotions. Thinking of it, there is precedence with how Fisher's inner demons tormented him, so it's not too much of a surprise
@FallingLeaf
So it isn't actually the souls doing the tormenting?
That's right. It's her guilt masquerading as her souls to torment her.
In this case, it's because, while unconscious, a lot of her guilt broke free from the cage.
In the fight against Fisher, it was Servi's rage and anger that broke free from their cages. And since so much broke free at once, she started growling and sort of resembled a mad dog.
It's not a spoiler at this point, since it was just revealed, but it was these emotional leaks that caused Servi to have those mood changes. She'll be happy, then all of a sudden she'll be sad or upset or something. Those emotions were leaking. Then when Itarr fixed the cages, Servi ended up becoming happy again.
And it's these sudden and numerous changes that explains those weird decisions that Servi made in some of Book One and all of Book Two that were contrary to what she actually wanted to do, like picking up Feral's shield.
By the time Book Four ends, all of the emotional stuff will be handled and dealt with and Spunky Servi is going to be back.
@RuggyRuggy For the spoilered thing- looking forward to seeing that then!