Arc of the Souls Chapter 72: Arc 2, Chapter 49 - The Witch

Read chapter 72 of Arc of the Souls by Noyr on NovelPedia.

Asheera herself was still hiding in the house. She could hear Azrael's announcement, setting her off in a panic worse than she had ever imagined. If there was a chance to live her life free... it just simply doesn't exist, does it? Asheera felt her heart beating faster, almost as if it wanted to crawl out of her body. She wanted to scream, to run, but she knew better. To run was to die. Then, as she sat there, trembling in that dusty, forgotten house, a different sound reached her. Not the marching of the Mobilizers, but a creaking floorboard directly above her. It was quiet. A careful footstep. "Hello!?" a small, reedy voice whispered down. Asheera looked up. A face was peering through a crack in the ceiling, illuminated by a sliver of light from a burning building nearby. It was a young boy she recognized from the village: Karsel, the baker's son. His eyes were wide with a terrible kind of fear. "Karsel? What are you doing? They'll see you!" "Asheera... Oh my god, Asheera! They're going to kill everyone," Karsel's voice was breaking. "Please... get out there... I don't want to die. My family doesn't want to die. We'll burn... Please, if they just take you, they'll leave!" He wasn't evil. He was just a boy who was terrified beyond reason. The words he spoke, however, carried a different weight. He truly believed her presence was the source of all this doom. "Karsel... The mayor said we never let anyone walk alone! We don't sell each other out! We-" "What has it gotten us!? Nothing but pain!" He sobbed. "We know for years that they'd come from you and all we did was just buy time! We're all going to FUCKING DIE IF YOU DON'T GET OVER THERE AND EXPOSE YOURSELF! PLEASE!" Asheera's throat was tight, but before she could say a thing to persuade him, Karsel gave a final look of despair. She saw a jerry can next to him. That was it. The fuel he used to help with the deliveries of the bakery's goods. That was it. "If you won't come with me... then I'll be the one to save us all. It's better for one to die, than for a whole town to be executed." "Karsel, wait wait WAIT! Roselka told me something else!" Karsel stopped. "No matter what you do... Just wait. Let them loot the entire town... They won't ever search this house. There is no one here and nothing here to search. In an hour we are going to sneak out! I'm waiting for Roselka to come back! We made a plan!" "They'll find out..." "They won't. I promise. Let's have faith in one another! For the town, for everyone, for our families. Don't you remember? We were supposed to look out for one another." "I... I..." Asheera's last plea left... "The Mobilizers are ruthless... they'll kill us all if they know I'm here! They're unsure so they didn't attack us. Yet... Come on... We were gonna go on a trip to Nomico... the waterfalls, the flowers... The rocks! The birds singing... ... We love each other, don't we?" That was the last she could think of to convince him. Silence. Karsel's fear was palpable through the floorboards, but Asheera's words... Did not work. Karsel tipped the jerry can over. A sickeningly sweet smell, gasoline, poured through the cracks in the ceiling and onto Asheera. "No... Karsel, don't..." Asheera whispered, scrambling away from the spreading puddle of fuel, but it was too late. "YOU CAN'T DO THIS! YOU'VE DOOMED US ALL! NOT JUST ME!" There was the scrape of a match. A flicker of orange and blue. A single tear escaped her eye, and a sad, desperate whisper... "Please..." "Roselka sold you out. She's one of us." A lie, but a well-placed one. "Roselka... one of you...?" Karsel took out a walkie-talkie and placed it next to his mouth. "Karsel Aguerne, reporting for duty. I've found the Soul-Wielder. I'm starting a fire to pinpoint her location. Kill anyone who tries to save her." Karsel then dropped the match. The room went from dim to bright in a flash. - "Please! Listen to us! The person you're looking for isn't here! What is this Soul-Wielder thing you are talking about!?