Chapter 1: Prologue

It drifted along in this seemingly endless void. It flowed in a direction, following the current of whatever it was in or on. Their were vague memories of something before. The life it had lived as a person drew at the edges of its awareness and it tried to recall those vague memories back to its mind but they were always just out of reach, like an ephemeral dream.

Something then changed. The current continued the way it was going along with whatever else was in it, except for it. It was suddenly being pulled, as if beckoned, in a slightly different direction. Time itself felt strange and trying to understand the passing of such became an exercise in futility. It had already arrived at wherever or whatever it had been pulled to. Then there was some feeling, as if its senses were being restarted or recreated.

It was in a place full of gray. It was sure it was a thing that had once lived and should now be dead so it reasoned that this must be some kind of afterlife space. There were several presences in the distance and one such presence was nearby. There was some time as the presence did something to it, then finally it could hear and understand.

"Finally. You are a somewhat interesting soul, you know. I'm quite lucky to have found you in the drift. Now, I'm sure you have many questions but let's get the obvious ones out of the way. I'm a god of a different world than you're coming from. We all cycle souls between our respective worlds to help with growth and all that. You are dead and were headed to be washed clean of memories and such. I happened to get a little interested in your particular soul and decided to pull you out for a better look. Sometimes there's a soul that's like yours: interesting in some small way or another and with the kind of potential to help advance our world. When we find them we will typically offer a chance for a special reincarnation with intact memories or skills. Does that answer your staring questions?"

That answered more questions than it had even thought to ask, really. It was satisfied that it could understand what was going on now. It did wonder what all was going to be required of it or what would happen now, though.

"Ah. What will happen now, huh? Well, normally I would offer you to reincarnate with your memories and personality and all that but there's a few minor problems, you see. Reincarnations like that haven't been doing much to help advance the world recently for one, so just doing that again may not be all that useful even if some of the others disagree. Another problem is in who you are. Or who you were, I guess it should be said. You have a strange duality about your soul. It wants and thinks in complete opposites over so much that sending you intact like that would likely draw whoever you reincarnate into to be driven to insanity. Do you even have an idea of what kind of reincarnation you want to have?"

Now that its thoughts were starting to work better and more clearly it had a kind of understanding about this god's words being true. Even the answer to the question left him feeling torn. It wanted an interesting otherworldly life where it was given little and had to work for much using the knowledge it could to try and achieve new and interesting things as it lived and led its own life as freely as possible. At the same time it wanted to be given great power and exist in a simple manner with little of its own decisions as the tool and advisor for another, maybe something like an intelligent weapon.

"Hoh. One idea is mostly normal aside from not asking for those 'cheats' that some seem to do. That other one, though is quite fascinating. A soul that wants to be a weapon instead of create one. Yes. I think this can work. It will require some help from another god besides myself but I think we can actually fulfill both requests. Let us have some fun for once and figure out what kind of thing you will be. After that, I will split your soul in two and send one to the next most appropriate candidate while the other will become the first living weapon in our world."

Awesome! Maybe it would be a sword like all those stories it could kind of remember. Actually, that seemed kind of boring. Maybe a different weapon, then? Something that wasn't too far out of the ordinary but still felt special and cool. A scythe, maybe? Or...a sword that turned into a scythe? That seemed like a pretty neat idea.

"Wait wait wait. You're coming up with such fun ideas too soon. Let me call that other god over here real quick, first."

Another presence soon came closer. It could feel the presence's attention focused on it and it started to feel a little stifled. Was this new presence the god that could help it become some sort of living sword-scythe?

"Sword-scythe? What's that? Hmm? This soul wants to become a living weapon and not create one, is it? Very well, you have indeed piqued my interest. Now let me hear of these ideas you seemed to be having."

Ideas? It'd only really started considering vague possibilities, though. Like being a large sword that just seemed sharp and sturdy but if wielded by someone it approved of would be able to turn into a large scythe with unique abilities to help its wielder in whatever quest they might have. Maybe it could give its wielder advice. It did enjoy the idea of using whatever knowledge or wisdom it might have to try and help a good wielder reach it's potential. Or powers. It could somehow slowly feed its wielder power to make them stronger, maybe? Maybe even siphon the strength of enemies to feed to its wielder? That sounded kind of badass, honestly. It also might want some way to make sure it could stay with an appropriate wielder. It would seriously suck if it found someone that was worthy and then got taken away or something.

"Hold on. Some of that seems interesting but some of it is a little too much. We'd also have to make sure there are restrictions on things. Hmm. We'll also need good materials. It's also best if we have an actual resident of the world forge the initial weapon. Having a weapon being made here and then sent to our world would only cause too many problems."

Maybe the weapon could form naturally, then? Or maybe even it could be made in small pieces by some divine revelation and someone would have to bring it together? It could also work as a dungeon reward or something probably.

You are reading story SoulSliced: Edge at novel35.com

"Our world doesn't have the kind of dungeon you're thinking of. Having it start in multiple pieces, though...hmm...this will require some planning and checking on a few details with some of the others. For now let's figure out more about what kind of weapon you wish to be."

Like some kind of soul-damaging, blood-drinking, nightmare-inducing weapon of terror when wielded appropriately, maybe?

"What kind of ridiculous cursed thing do you want to be?! Even as a god I feel slightly terrified by that. No, wait. Perhaps we can use that as a sort of direction. I assume that some kind of perception of the surroundings would be required for anything you think of?"

Well, it was either that or be able to borrow its wielder's senses. As long as it could recognize its wielder as well then it shouldn't matter too much which one.

"Hmm. Maybe if we use that as part of the restrictions...okay. I think I can work with that. We'll also want the right materials, here. If you're to have a chance to grow as a living weapon then it can't be completely inorganic materials. I think I have some ideas there as well. Of course, by the end of this you would actually be considered an immortal life. We'll have to make sure everything still falls within the rules."

They continued discussing all the details and things that were possible or required. Time seemed to continue on until a clear picture of what was going to happen was in its thoughts. The first god that had pulled it here concluded the discussion with saying that fate would play a hand in making sure that everything got set up. It wasn't so sure about how well that would work out but as long as it worked then there were no complaints.

"Now that that's done. Let's get the other side ready. I've found some potential candidates: there's some wolfkin that have almost nothing, some dragonewts that are a little removed, and some rather unique fey race that could use someone with ideas before long."

Honestly, they all sounded like they were in pretty bad situations. It wasn't entirely sure what the different races were other than what the names implied but the wolfkin sounded kind of interesting. Unlike the other two, the wolfkin sounded like they at least had the potential to go out and enjoy the world without being ostracized. Maybe the fey as well but that seemed like even more of a gamble.

"Right. Wolfkin it is. It might take a while before a proper candidate to hold your soul appears, so I'll be holding onto that half. Once I slice it in two, you'll become two separate entities. Only a few of the stronger memories and experiences will likely be shared in full. One side may hold stronger and clearer memories than the other for the rest of it. Your personalities should end up different as well as some of your natural talents. Right then, the cut should happen about...here?"

Suddenly it felt sort of incomplete. It could sense something next to it that was similar.

"Right then, I'll hold on to this half for a bit. Now then. It might take a little while for you to be completed but I figure you should know the basics of what you can do. You will be able to grow. Not physically, of course, but you can keep learning and growing stronger. You'll only have the ability to change or speak clearly with a wielder that you choose to bond with as well. Otherwise the best you'll be able to do, at least for now, is project some of your emotions to whoever is holding you. If you do find someone to bond with, then you can briefly let them receive a kind of simple set of instructions on how they can do that but be careful because you can only bond to one person at a time and the bond won't disappear until they die. We also adjust your mind and soul slightly so they won't be easily manipulated by those who have the ability to do so but it's not perfect protection so that's something you'll just have to figure out yourself, along with pretty much everything else. Any questions? No? Good. Let's get you where you need to go. Have fun!"

Then it was falling. The senses it had were disappearing again. Then it was alone and everything but itself seemed to be gone.

It waited.

You can find story with these keywords: SoulSliced: Edge, Read SoulSliced: Edge, SoulSliced: Edge novel, SoulSliced: Edge book, SoulSliced: Edge story, SoulSliced: Edge full, SoulSliced: Edge Latest Chapter