The Soul Engine Ch. 53 (Original Fantasy) (Patreon)

A/N: Bula's plan was solid. She was sure of it. Oh also this is the Bula POV chapter I mentioned a while back. Surprise!

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As she slams her battle axe down into yet another Child of Syl, cleaving its skull in two and roaring in victory, Bula can’t deny it… she’s finally feeling at home in these damn woods. Beneath her, the great best she’s just slain crumples to the ground and she raises her gore-covered axe into the air.

“Mikael! Another one over here!”

A few dozen feet away, the human man turns away from his last ‘meal’ and gives her a nod, coming on over while carrying Avina with his magic to absorb Bula’s latest kill as well. A feeling of vicious satisfaction suffuses the half-orc as she watches him take in the power and grow stronger. She likes Mikael strong. She’d like him even more if he was even stronger.

Though… the fact that he was even able to walk over unmolested to consume the ‘meal’ she’d just made for him in the first place spoke to a greater problem. Brow furrowing as Mikael ‘eats’, Bula looks around them to take in the state of the battlefield. They’ve sort of walled themselves in. Killed five of the creatures so far, and their bodies are big enough to form natural barricades after a fashion.

Of course, Bula is currently standing on top of one of the great beasts. Meaning she can see over the other corpses… and recognize the fact that no other Children of Syl are coming their way. Indeed, there’s still battles raging on around them… but strangely enough, both sides of the conflict are giving them a WIDE berth at this point.

It’s one of the strangest things Bula has ever seen on a battlefield if she’s being honest. Sure, there had been times where her enemies tried to avoid her before on account of her being a half-orc. But that shouldn’t have applied here, not where their opponents were so much larger than them!

“Bula?”

Pulled from her thoughts, Bula looks down to see Mikael staring up at her in confusion. Huffing, she looks around again to make sure and then speaks plainly, as is her preference.

“They’re avoiding us.”

Mikael’s eyes widen in surprise at that, and he and Avina share a glance before speaking to one another about this strange occurrence. Clearly, this has piqued their interest. But not Bula’s. No, rather… this frustrates the half-orc to no end!

She’s not the smartest or the wisest person in the world. She fucking knows that! She doesn’t really care… it’s never bothered her. But standing there wearing her… her mother’s shitty dress, bathed in the blood and gore of her mother’s enemies, all Bula wants to do is keep killing. And she can’t. Because the damn fuckers are avoiding them!

She’s just about to leap down and drag Mikael and Avina to the nearest conflict between elves and Children of Syl when a voice rings out from overhead.

“What the HELL do you think you’re doing?!”

Turning, Bula huffs and crosses her arms over her chest as Daylor Krislamin swings down on a rope of all things and lands atop the same corpse she’s standing on at the moment. In response, Mikael uses his blue-green magic to lift him and Avina up so that they’re eye level and can back Bula up. She appreciates that, how Mikael has had her back since they showed up at this place. But when he goes to speak, she cuts him off with a shake of her head. She’ll do the talking here.

Looking around blankly for a moment, the ‘High Executor’ just stares at the destruction. But far from realizing she’s not some weakling maiden like her mother and that Bula can take care of herself, the elven man just looks angrier when he finally turns back to her.

“I ask again. What the hell do you think you’re DOING?!”

… Yeah. Bula knew she wasn’t the smartest or wisest person around. But at least she acknowledged that fact. Sometimes… sometimes it felt like people were too fucking smart for their own good. Like… like they let their thoughts get overly complex, and then let that need for complexity infect what were otherwise simple situations.

Like this High Executor fucker. He reminded Bula way too much of her bastard of a father. Amusing really, because her father was twice Daylor’s size and green to boot. Still, they both had the same attitude with her. And it grated on her nerves something fierce.

It was obvious, at least to Bula, that Daylor was making a simple situation too fucking complex. So she does her best to make it simple again. For his sake as much as her own.

“Killing. Because that’s what I’m good at.”

The way his eyes widen in outrage… was he expecting her to submit? Fool. She was only submissive to one man in this world and that was Mikael. He’d beaten her in single combat more times than she could count and earned his position as the top dog in their relationship. He was also… good. She liked him for that too, even if she would never admit it. She liked that he’d cared about her enough to free her.

“You… you utter simpleton! You risk your life out here and for what… to scratch some sort of biological itch?! Without you, The People are doomed. Your purpose… your ONLY purpose is to become High Priestess and bind with Syl! Only then will these attacks stop! Only then will The People be safe and able to rebuild!”

Bula flares her nostrils at that. Daylor is a coward, through and through. She’s thought as much since they first met and he and his soldiers felled that Child of Syl with poisoned arrows. That wasn’t a proper kill. It certainly wasn’t a clean one. And it could hardly be called a fight either. No… the High Executor and his people were all fucking pansy-ass cowards.

She hated people like that. Not least because they reminded her of Zadicus Quinn. The Lord of Alether had tricked her into serving him for more years than Bula cared to count. And even though he was dead now… that’s why she dislikes Daylor so much, Bula finally realizes. He reminds her of both her father AND Zadicus Quinn. He’s like their worst parts all combined into one.

And yet… Bula glances over at Mikael, who is watching this in silence for the moment, currently following her lead upon her silent request. She… she thinks she might actually love Mikael. Not just care about him. Not just appreciate him. But… love him. She can’t be sure, of course. She’s never felt this way about anyone before.

But she feels that way about him. And she knows he feels that way about Avina and Thayla as well. That’s the plain, simple truth. Bula… does not love Avina or Thayla. However, she does not dislike them either. Thayla is a warrior and Bula approves of her efforts to follow the warrior path even with the weakness inherent in her human female body. Meanwhile, Avina is small but… feisty. She’s the reason Mikael is alive in the first place and it was because of her that he was able to grow strong enough to beat Bula and free her from Zadicus’ control.

So yes. Bula does not begrudge Mikael his other two lovers. She might not care for them in the same way she cares for him… but in caring for and loving Mikael, Bula finds herself needing to take into account Avina and Thayla’s wants and desires as well, because Mikael will do so and if she wants Mikael to be happy, then she needs the two of them to be happy too.

“Well?!”

Ah. Bula snorts in amusement, which only seems to piss the High Executor off more. But the amusement isn’t directed at him, it’s directed at herself. She’d just let herself do the same thing she’d looked down on Daylor for doing. Making a simple situation way too complex. It wasn’t complicated. Bula liked Mikael. Mikael liked Avina and Thayla. Thayla needed help to save her homeland. Avina wanted revenge for her family. That was why they were here.

With that in mind, the half-orc lets out a low sigh as she gazes into Daylor Krislamin’s furious eyes. She despised him and everything about him. But… she would try to be diplomatic. Her version of diplomatic anyways.

“I refuse.”

“What?! You-!”

With a swing and a roar, Bula slams her battle axe into the flesh of the dead Child of Syl beneath her. This startles the High Executor enough to silence him for a moment as he takes an instinctive step back. That one, Bula doesn’t necessarily blame on his innate cowardice. Even the most courageous warrior would take a step back in the face of a seemingly furious half-orc. Putting distance between you and an orcish foe was just good battle sense really.

“I said I refuse. I am not going to go back to that damn circle. I am not some fragile flower like your previous High Priestess. I am a warrior, not a maiden. I will always be a warrior and so that is how I will fight this battle for you. I will help you because Mikael needs me to. Together, he and I will kill your enemies to the last.”

Pulling the battle axe free of the beast’s flesh for the second time, Bula grins a savage grin, knowing full well that she has blood splattered all across her front at this point. She doesn’t mind it. It will hopefully help drive home her point.

“After we’ve killed all of these monsters, you will get your army together and we’ll march it out of these woods to go fight that old fucker and his undead. And after that, I’m going to be changing your pansy-ass ways and making real warriors out of all of you once all is said and done. Because I’m not about to be High Priestess to a bunch of cowardly fucks.”

There. That was diplomatic, right? A glance at Mikael and Avina shows that they might not agree. Avina is covering her face with her hands while Mikael seems frozen in place. When their eyes meet, he gives her a weak smile. Good enough.

The High Executor on the other hand… just looks incredulous. Not cowed in the slightest, in fact. Hm… maybe Bula was losing her touch?

“What are you talking about, whelp? Why the fuck would we leave these woods to fight in some human war?”

The disrespect rankled… but the question was actually a fair one. Only because Daylor hadn’t been around these past three days for Mikael to explain though. She’d heard him and Avina talking about it when they thought she wasn’t listening. At one point, Mikael had claimed Daylor ‘ghosted’ them. She didn’t quite understand what that meant seeing as the elven man was still alive, but thankfully Avina didn’t know what he was talking about either. Just one of those Mikael things in the end.

Still, Bula looks to Mikael now and nods her head in his direction. This was definitely something he should explain, maybe with Avina’s help. Seeming to agree, the human clears his throat, drawing Daylor’s attention.

“Ah, right. High Executor, this is why we kept asking to speak with you these past three days. Though I’m beginning to suspect the guards never even told you about our requests. You see, the Kingdom of Ocreatha has invaded the Zuverian Empire with an Army of Undead. That’s actually why we’re here. We came hoping for allies that could help us in repelling the invasion.”

For a long moment, silence falls as Daylor digests this information. Finally, the elven man scoffs and turns to her, dismissing Mikael entirely.

“I see that I have been too lenient in my dealings with you lot.”

Excuse him?

“I left your companions alive because it was clear that you and the human male were in a relationship. I’d hoped that we might be able to secure the High Priestess’ Bloodline along with you renewing the binding on Syl. However, I now realize that there have been… misconceptions.”

Bula’s nostrils flare again at the incredibly condescending tone the High Executor is taking with her. She might not be the smartest or the wisest, but she fucking HATES being talked down to.

“The People do not leave the Sylian Woods. Not for anything. This is our home and we will not abandon it, no matter what.”

Tch, idiots. She’d sort of wondered why they seemed so cowardly but hadn’t run when eight out of nine of their cities had already been wiped out. Bula might not be the best at math, but even she knew those were pretty terrible losses. But it turned out they were the worst kind of cowards… the stupid kind. Not simple like Bula, but idiots pretending to be smart.

“More than that… you seem to be under the assumption that the High Priestess holds some sort of position of leadership among The People. This is not the case. The Council of Executors is where authority starts and ends with The People. As the last… as High Executor, I am in charge here. No one else. Certainly not… you.”

Wait, what? His distaste is palpable, but Bula is too busy being confused about what he’s saying. How can the High Priestess be so fucking critical and yet sound so powerless and weak? It didn’t make any sense.

“The High Priestess only has one purpose. To control Syl so that The People can flourish. As such, I will make this very simple for you, whelp. Lay down your axe and return to your room to attune to the High Priestess’ Circle once and for all. Do this immediately and without further complaint and I will allow your human pets to live.”

She would have laughed at that, but even a simple half-orc like Bula isn’t dumb enough to miss it the second time he says it. Earlier, he hadn’t said binding WITH Syl, he’d said binding ON Syl. Bula hadn’t thought much of it at the time, they’d been talking about it in the form of binding for days after all. But just now… it was impossible to ignore. He’d said the High Priestess’ only purpose was to CONTROL Syl. Not to connect to the God of the Forest. Not to bind to it. But to bind it. To control it.

Bula had been struggling with gathering those connections the High Executor had spoken of for days now. Kneeling in the middle of that fucking circle, she’d reached out and tried to pull on the ‘connections’ wherever she could find them. But they always managed to slip away from her… like loose chains dangling off of something, tugged away at the last second before she could get a proper hold.

Out of the corner of her eye, she sees Mikael and Avina both jolt at the High Executor’s words which just about confirms Bula’s mounting suspicions. At the same time she’s not taking Daylor’s threat very seriously… until she realizes that the battlefield has gone completely silent at this point. The Children of Syl appear to have retreated, and they’re actually surrounded by what seem to be a few hundred elves.

The High Executor has the audacity to look smug… as though this somehow gives him the upper hand. Then again, Bula finds herself briefly considering the arrows pointed at her and her allies. Likely laced with the same poison that could take down a monster the size of a house in a handful of seconds. That was… irritating to say the least.

Didn’t mean she was just going to give in though. She wasn’t a coward like the bastard in front of her. Face contorting into a contemptuous sneer, tusks grinding against teeth, Bula opens her mouth to tell the High Executor exactly where he can shove his offer… only to suddenly stumble as the body beneath her and Daylor shifts.

THOOM.

Eyes widening, Bula immediately leaps down as the High Executor does the same. For a second, she assumes the Child of Syl has come back to life somehow even though Mikael drained the damn thing.

THOOM.

But… no. The moment Bula’s feet hit the ground, she realizes it’s not the corpse that was shifting. It’s the ground itself.

THOOM.

The world is shaking.

THOOM.

The earth is shivering.

THOOM.

It takes Bula a second to realize what’s happening. Something is coming. Something with VERY heavy footfalls.

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A/N: *insert "This is fine" meme here*

I'm sure that something able to cause earthquakes as it walks is probably not that big of a threat. Probably. Also, seems like the elves are turning out to be more trouble than they're worth...

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