I was once again sneaking through the streets and in between buildings of The Soul Well. Right now I didn’t have a particular destination in mind as I was still recovering my meager magic ability from an earlier training session and just wanted to enjoy my stealth training. 

As I walked, I tugged at the mask I was still forced to wear, which also reminded me about why I was still only at a level two Soul Gem. This was because I was apparently so ugly they were waiting to upgrade my Soul Gem until after they’d done something to make me, well, less ugly. When that would be, I had no clue, but if it meant I got to keep enjoying these practice stealth missions through the streets instead of more advanced training, then I was fine with waiting longer. As far as I knew, I was one of the few with this much freedom to move around. Of course if I was caught, I’d get beaten to a pulp, but that wasn’t happening as much lately, even if I couldn’t use magic.

As I moved across the Soul Well, I came to the only remaining obstacle that I had trouble with, the main street, but, as I had no reason to cross it, I turned and headed towards the wall. Yes, this was actually more difficult to cross, but as I had actually found a nice spot just on the other side of a particular section of wall where I could relax and clear my mind. It also allowed me to get a better view of the area outside The Soul Well so I thought it was worth it.

Once I got to the wall, I stopped and looked it over. The patrols weren’t that hard to get past, but one glance up at the Neery nests overhead and the at the moment two flying overhead, revealed the real problem. Still, Neery didn’t have the best night vision so all I needed to do was head to a section that didn’t have as much light, then time my crossing to just after a Neery passed overhead and just before the next one turned to view the spot the other had just passed over so I just needed to wait for the right time.

My opportunity came when a Neery swooped down at something on the other side of the wall a distance a way from where I was waiting, probably to bully a slave working in the acid pits. I then watched the second Neery and to my relief it went to watch the first, making my move across the wall much easier. It hadn’t been the best timing with the patrols on the wall, but I made it across without raising an alarm.

Now on the other side, I moved out from the base of the wall which was always lit up, to the darkness beyond. I was always nervous crossing the wall, but now I could relax until I needed to go back. As it was still early in the night, I’d have a few hours, and would only need to watch for the occasional patrols that made their way around the narrow strip of land between the acid pits and the wall.

I found a pile of rocks that provided some concealment from patrols, but offered a good view past the acid pits if I climbed partway up. From here I could see all the way to the ocean to the east of the narrow peninsula The Soul Well was located. To the south was a small hill that marked the edge wetlands that stretched for miles. To the east a stream of putrid water flowed from the acid pools and followed the base of the hill to the ocean. North of the stream was more wetland before eventually transforming into a small forest, until eventually changing back to wetland with the occasional grove of trees here and there. Behind me to the west, was the large hill, almost mountain, that contained the mine with Ignatio’s fortress built into the side, near the top.

I looked at the wetlands and trees to the north. Sometimes my master had taken me out there to find plants to make various poisons and other toxins. They were useless here as Golems were immune to them, but once I was given my first missions I imagine I would be using them quite often.

I put my hand on the blowgun and darts in my arsenal of weapons and tools I always had on me. Not only could I coat them with my substance of choice, I could also temporarily imbue them with magical effects that could alter or quicken the effects of whatever I put on them. My master had me try these effects on him with sleeping drugs and the former put him to sleep after a minute or so, while the latter made him instantly drowsy and lethargic instead of taking time to go into effect. Apparently I could do both at the same time when I got more magical ability, but for now, I was stuck with one or the other.

I noticed movement from the corner of my eye and looked up from my poisons and darts. At first, I couldn’t see what had brought me attention, but after a moment I saw what it was. A boat being pushed off from the docks on the opposite side of the sludge pits.

The slaves punished to work at the acid pits worked day and night, so it wasn’t unusual for them to come and go as the exchanged buckets of recovered acid, but it was unusual for them to land on the opposite shore. In fact, I recalled all of them were ordered to stay away from it, an order their Soul Gem curse made them obey absolutely. This included me. I could come here all I wanted, but going past the sludge pits was against my orders.

The person on the boat didn’t look out of the ordinary, and pushed towards the docks in a hurry, but I still watched the boat curiously and wondered if one of the Neery had noticed it too because this was probably someone sneaking in. Now, I had no orders to stop anyone from entering The Soul Well, so I merely watched them make their way across the pool.

Apparently a Neery had seen them, and flew over once to get a closer look. It looked like this one was Yejun, one of the less mean, though still narcissistic Neery.

The person on the boat paused, and cowered in the boat. This was the correct response, as the Neery loved harassing defiant slaves and would batter the boat with wind until the slave cowered or fell over. They weren’t allowed to knock the slaves into the acid, but accidents happened so the slaves learned quickly to cower whenever they got the attention of a Neery.

Yejun came back and stopped just above the person on the boat. 

Apparently Yejun didn’t like what he saw, and shouted, “Intruder!”

The person immediately jumped back to their feet, and threw something at Yejun.

Yejun reached for his neck, but fell into the pool of acid before he could scream in pain.

My eyes went wide as the intruder leapt into the pool of acid, but instead of sinking inside, they stood on the surface as if it was solid ground. It was a technique my master had taught me. Water Walking. Now, anyone could learn to Water Walk so that didn’t surprise me, but I was certain that Yejun had gotten hit by poisoned darts or throwing knives which was what did. This still wasn’t enough evidence to make me certain, but I was pretty sure whoever I was seeing was an Ieroquin, or at least someone trained in their style.

The intruder barely made it ten paces when another Neery dove at him. He dodged at the last moment, then countered with another thrown attack, knocking this new opponent into the acid.

The intruder didn’t have time to rest as two more Neery dove from their nests at unnatural speed thanks to their magic assisted flight. The intruder noticed this too, and took a defensive stance as he stood on the acid, steam coming from the soles of his feet as the acid dissolved his shoes.

The two new Neery were prepared this time, and used their wind magic to deflect the thrown attacks that came at them. At this, the intruder pulled out a short sword and swung at them as he dodged out of the way of the Neery as they attacked them with their own swords.

Another Neery joined in, but this still wasn’t enough. Whoever this intruder was, they were good. Very good. They easily dodged the clumsy swings given by the Neery, and landed several blows of his own. 

As I watched, I wondered why the Neery even tried to use swords. Their wings were similar to those of a bat’s which meant their hands were at the ends of their long wings. Between having to use their wings for flying and their awkward arms, this meant they had to rely more on passing attacks than actual swings which made their attacks predictable.

One Neery flew off after receiving a blow to his wing that left a large gash that almost completely bisected the membrane.

Another fell into the acid after taking a blow to his stomach that caused his intestines to start spilling out just before hitting the surface.

My least favorite Neery, Alan, was the last to join in. He had been circling overhead watching the fight and swung by just out of the intruder’s reach, buffeting them with a strong gust of wind. The other Neery pulled away and soon returned, buffeting the intruder with another gust of wind.

The two did this again, but the intruder lept high into the air, avoiding the worst of the wind and dropping towards Alan.

Alan dodged, but his wing still took a blow from the intruder's sword. Alan didn’t seem to care and used the momentum from his dodge, to land a blow on the intruder's ribs with a fist, forcing the intruder off of him and back onto the surface of the acid.

Something landed in the acid, causing a wave of it to splash onto the intruder while also forcing their legs to sink into the acid momentarily before recovering. 

The intruder, myself, and the Neery, glanced towards the nearest gate just in time to see a Siege Fodder lob a second large rock at the intruder.

This was my queue to move as the very pile of rocks I hid in were set aside for Siege Fodder to use, and, as I looked around, I saw one was heading right to me. This wasn’t the only reason I had to move. I wanted the Neery to go away. Neery were the second rarest race in The Soul Well, which meant for every one lost, it would take a while to replace them. This meant it would be easier to sneak around while also weakening Ignatio’s defenses. I couldn’t hurt them directly, but if I could indirectly give the intruder some help…

I easily reached the shore to the acid pool and channeled my meager magical power into my legs. I used this magical power to leap across much of the pool, and just before landing, refocused my power to my feet so I too could use Water Walk. I felt I could only use it for about seven seconds after using my boosted jump, but it would be enough with time to spare so I could make it to the boat the intruder had abandoned.

A boulder hit the acid just after I made it to the boat, splashing acid everywhere, and causing a wave that pushed the boat a good distance away from the battle. I had gotten acid on me, but not enough that I was worried.

The intruder had used wind magic to protect themselves from both the rock and the subsequent wave of acid, but it hadn’t been enough as I could see acid bubbling on their skin, especially their arms and legs.

The Neery had pulled away in time and only had a few small spots where acid had hit them, and now came back to continue their attacks on the now injured intruder.

The intruder’s injuries hadn’t slowed them down, and caught Alan off guard, nearly slicing his left wing off. 

Alan barely made it to the shore thanks to some use of wind magic, before running away in retreat.

The remaining Neery peeled away just as another two rocks came hurtling towards the fight. 

I watched as the intruder dodged the attacks, while simultaneously creating a dome of wind around themselves to block the acid, but it was too much for them as acid overwhelmed the barrier and covered most of their body. 

I pushed the boat towards the intruder who struggled to stand as acid melted their body and they began sinking into the acid.

As I neared them, I saw they weren’t an Ieroquin, but a normal human, probably only the second I had ever seen since most stayed at Ignatio’s fortress while they visited and never came into The Soul Well itself. Only Ignatio ever came down, and that was only to oversee a summoning ritual.

It was hard to make out the man’s features thanks to the strong acid doing its work on him. The darkness also didn’t help, but his narrow eyes and sharp features made it hard for me to think of an ethnicity on Earth to compare him to. Not that I was an expert in how different races looked.

The man locked eyes with me as I approached and watched.

The Siege Fodder had stopped throwing rocks, probably because they assumed the fight was over and I was trying to capture him so he was focusing his attention on me now.

I reached out a hand to him, “Come on.” If I thought about it as trying to capture him, I wasn’t disobeying orders.

The man looked at my hand, then locked eyes with me again, causing me to look away out of discomfort, “My life is already at its end.” He reached out and grabbed my hand, pulling himself towards me, the acid on his hand beginning to eat my own, “Tell me, in your heart, do you serve Ignatio? Do you regret taking part in his fowl sacraments?”

I shook my head, “I…” There was no question what my answer was. “I hate him. I would kill him if I could. Every time he summons new Golems… I… I shouldn’t have come here. I should have stayed dead.”

The man sank further into the acid as his remaining magic failed and I could tell he was in a lot of pain, “Then repent of your sins.” He placed a hand on my head, his hand shaking, “Lord,” he gritted his teeth, “in thy name I grant this woman freedom from her curse and ask that you give her the keys to free the others given the same curse as long as she seeks not to do evil.” I felt an electric shock throughout my body and barely reacted as the man pushed himself away and deeper into the acid. He stared at me with his dark eyes as he sank into the acid, now strangely peaceful, “Free them and stop Ignatio.”

I blinked and regained my composure, “But… I…”

The man was still gritting his teeth as the acid consumed him, but managed to speak one last time, “Trust yourself. Get allies. Have faith.”

I reached out to try and pull him out again, but he closed his eyes and pushed himself in.

I knelt motionless in the boat as I tried to process what had happened. What had he done to me? Was I free now?

I didn’t have time to think more about this as the uninjured Neery stopped at a hover just above me, “Stupid cat, why didn’t you capture him? I was looking forward to…”

I sat back in the boat, looking at the acid burns covering my body, ignoring what he said, “Shut up, bird.” 

The Neery hovered above me for a moment longer, swearing at me under his breath, before flying away.

I sat there for a few minutes contemplating what had happened and what he said. If I understood his… prayer right, I was now free and could free others from the slave curse? I personally wasn’t aware of any magic that could break a curse imprinted on the soul, but I guessed if it was possible to make the curse, there would be a way to break it.

I finally stood back up and looked for the pole used to push the boats through the acid and found it wasn’t in the boat. I wasn’t surprised considering what had just happened, but this meant I was stuck drifting in the middle of a pond of acid until I regained enough magic power to get myself out, or someone came to rescue me. I doubted anyone would come to rescue me unless someone ordered them to, so I was going to have to get out on my own. Thankfully it would only take about ten minutes to recover enough of my magic power at my current Soul Gem level.

Eventually I found my way back to the outcropping my master and I called home. I always wondered if he was okay not having any shelter, but the weather here never got that cold so that wasn’t a problem. It did rain a lot, but that didn’t bother him much either.

My master didn’t look up when I returned. I had done my best to sneak up here, but I had no doubt he knew I had come back. Even if he was asleep, he would catch me if I tried sneaking up on him, often ending up with a broken bone. Today I just sat in my chair overlooking The Soul Well instead of bothering him.

I looked at my clothes. The acid had done a number on my already ragged clothes and while before they had covered up the most important parts of my body, now if anyone saw me they’d get a good view of my breasts.

I hadn’t seen a mirror in The Soul Well so I’d only ever seen my reflection in the water and still hadn’t seen my face. This body wasn’t my type at all, although there were others I bet would love looking at it. I was tall, with a very athletic build, which made sense considering the original was a trained assassin. I was colorblind so I had to guess skin, eye and hair color. My skin was somewhat dark, so I probably sported a nice tan. I took my long fluffy tail and fluffed up its probably white hair. My tail and cat ears were easily my favorite parts of my new body and I often found myself fluffing my tail. As for my eyes, they were large with somewhat light irises like my masters, with the coolest thing being the pupils being slits like a cat’s eyes.

I took my ruined chest wrap off and discarded it then looked at my exposed chest. My womanhood was the most disappointing thing about my new body. It wasn’t that I hated being a woman, as a Golem I didn’t have to worry about periods or hormones, but more that I had small breasts typical of an athletic woman. Sure it’d suck being an assassin having to sport huge breasts, but if I was going to be a woman I wanted a body I could show off.

I looked up at Ignatio’s fortress, and quickly changed my mind about having a sexy body. The only Golems allowed into his fortress were those being trained as sex slaves and spies. I’d watched several summonings while I recovered from injuries or my magic and seen all too many attractive women carried up for… training. We Golems don’t feel pain or pleasure, but we still had everything needed to do the deed. In a way I was lucky my new body was ugly. 

I put my hand up and touched my mask. How bad was it that I had been ordered to never take it off? Wait… I pulled at my mask. Until now, my hand always stopped if I tried taking it off. Now I could touch it all I wanted it seemed. Was this proof my slave curse had been lifted?

I looked around. No one really looked up here, but with a Neery circling overhead, it would be safer to go somewhere less visible. 

I jumped off the ledge in front of me, using some magic to cushion my landing, and saw my master standing there already.

My master regarded me, “You must leave. They will find out if they see you and destroy your Soul Gem.”

I went to reply, but paused. Of course my master could tell if someone was cursed. I could already read some magic signatures if I focused my eyes, so it was probably easy for him. I shook my head, “I can…”

My master shook his head, “I watched the altercation. The spell used on you is beyond your ability at the moment.”

I wondered how much my master knew, “Do you…”

He shook his head, “I don’t know what kind of magic he used, but it was probably one made by a follower of the Creator.”

I recalled hearing about the Creator and his followers. Supposedly they were the original religion of the worlds that fled into exile after The Three Archmages split off with the majority of humanity. I guess it made sense as they were the only ones that could use holy type magic.

I looked at my master with mixed feelings. He had never opened up to me in the year and a half I had trained with him, but all things considered he had treated me fairly, “I’ll come back for you, then we can kill Ignatio together.”

He looked at Ignatio’s fortress, “Perhaps.” He looked back at me, “The Soul Dust warehouse is less guarded thanks to the commotion. Steal some, then leave.”

I nodded and turned. I stopped once to look back, to find him gone, probably back to his meditation.

I fingered the strap holding the mask onto my head, I’d have to deal with finding out what I looked like later. For now, I had some Soul Dust to steal.