Chapter 48: Chapter 48 – Demon Soul
Faynn, Farzan’s secretary was writing something on the computer when Faralynn and Matthew entered the room. She looked up from the screen and said politely:
"You two can go right in. They’re waiting for you."
Faralynn went in front of Matthew and opened the doors of her father’s office slowly as if she was scared of what was inside.
When Matthew passed through Faynn’s desk, she winked at him with a sly smile and chuckled to herself when he almost tripped on himself.
Inside the dean’s office, Farzan was sitting on his chair, Professor Claude was standing beside him and Roland, Farzan’s Seer friend, was sitting on a couch by the window dressed in his white robes and holding his staff.
"Please, sit you two." Farzan said pointing to the chairs in front of his desk.
Faralynn and Matthew obeyed. Matthew noticed how she moved slowly, almost scared. This could not be good news. Most likely he would be expelled.
"First, let me say one thing to you, Matthew." Farzan said as soon as both of them sat down.
Matthew’s blood froze and he almost didn’t hear Farzan’s next words over the sound of his own beating heart.
"Thank you." The Dean said lowering his head and making Faralynn blush. "Thank you for what you did for Mia. And specially, for what you did for Lynn. Roland said you’d be a good friend to her and keep her safe, but until now I was skeptic and even suspicious of you. But not only did you keep my daughter safe you also saved Mia, her friend, from a grim destiny. Thank you very much Matthew."
Matthew was taken aback hearing those words. He didn’t expect someone as important and as powerful as Farzan to lower his head like that. He was expecting to be expelled or at least scolded, but he was met with sincere gratitude.
"I killed that man." Matthew blurted out averting his eyes to the floor as confessing a sin.
"Yes you did." Professor Claude spoke out with his ever soothing voice. "But what you did was not wrong. You felled an enemy in battle for a just cause. There is no need to worry about that." The priest absolved him.
"He was asking for mercy." Matthew finally said out loud his worries. "But even so, I decided to kill him. And this time was not because of the demonic mana. I wanted to. I wanted to kill him for he did to Mia."
Faralynn’s hand searched for his when he uttered those words, but her shyness prevented her from taking his hand in hers.
The men in the room looked at each other, not in reprobation for what he said, but in understanding. Older men who lived far longer than the 18 year old in front of them. They all understood well his feelings.
"Ho-ho-ho." Laughed Roland rubbing his white goatee. "I would’ve done the same, boy."
Matthew looked at the old man with wide eyes, surprised by how lightly he was taking it.
"He deserved it." Farzan was succinct.
Claude smiled at him and approached putting his hand on Matthew’s head.
"It’s not something I can applaud or condone. But it is something I can easily forgive. The fact you regret it, shows me that you are a pure soul. You don’t need to carry this weight, Matthew. You did what you should, what all men, but saints, would do." The priest said gently rubbing his hair.
Matthew looked at him with his eyes filled with water:
"Thank you."
"Speaking of souls." Roland said standing up. "Let me see that eye of yours, boy."
Matthew turned to the old Seer and removed his eye patch.
"I see." Roland said examining Matthew’s left eye. "Can you do that thing that allows you to see?"
Matthew hesitated for a while, but surrounded by those three men who were clearly leagues more powerful than himself, he felt there was no danger in losing control there.
"That’s very interesting." Roland commented looking at Matthew’s glowing red eye. "Most impressive turn of events."
"What is going on?" Faralynn asked with concern looking at Matthew’s glowing eye.
"Matthew’s demonic mana took an unforeseen aspect." Claude said.
"He’s no longer fully human." Farzan said with a regretful smile.
"What do you mean?" Faralynn asked getting up from her chair.
"Let me explain." Roland stepped back allowing Matthew to use purify on himself to hide the demonic mana. "This past weeks, I went to the places Matthew has been. Taking a look at his past." He said sitting down on the couch again. "It all happened in the Blue Moon gate. Matthew here used a very powerful skill without knowing what he was doing and with not nearly enough mana to use it properly."
"What skill?" Faralynn asked.
"The Ranger’s Animal Companion." Matthew answered. "It’s the skill that I used and that made me lose my eye."
"Not just your eye, boy." Roland corrected him. "Your whole soul."
Faralynn and Matthew froze when the Seer said that.
"What do you mean?" Faralynn asked with a trembling voice.
"Matthew here sacrificed his whole soul to made that ice bird spirit... Fumi, wasn’t it?"
"Lumi." Matthew corrected him.
"Yes. Lumi." Roland remembered hitting the floor with his staff. "He turned a simple owl spirit into an Ice Phoenix. A feat not even powerful Rangers can do easily. And for that he gave his own life."
"Then... Then how’s he alive?" Faralynn inquired.
"You see. When Matthew purified himself to get rid of the demonic mana without proper knowledge on how to do it, he only made the demonic mana hide inside his body. Then he used all his mana and his own soul to use the skill." Roland explained moving his hands to illustrate what he was saying. "What was left inside Matthew was only the demonic mana. It sustained what was left of his soul. It kept him alive."
"Wait." Matthew interrupted. "Does this mean that I’m a demon now? Or that my soul is now made of demonic mana?" He asked confused.
"I don’t think that the demonic mana you had in you would be enough to supplement your whole soul. But maybe, an eye? Ho-ho-ho." Roland laughed at his insinuation. "But even just an eye was enough to keep you alive long enough for that Lumi birdie to kill the great red werewolf. The mana that was released from it was soon took by the System and transferred into your body rebuilding your soul. Most of your soul, actually, except your eye."
"The mana knows." Farzan laughed to himself.
"What does this mean?" Faralynn asked.
"It means that Matthew here has part of his soul, his left eye in that matter, as a demon soul. Or at least demonic." Roland answered. "That’s why he’s able to see again from that eye when he brings fourth the demonic mana in him. It’s akin to waking the demonic part of his soul that is usually sleeping."
"That’s also why it hurts when we try to purify the demonic mana out of him." Claude explained. "When we reach the demonic mana in his soul, it starts to kill him."
"Then what can we do to get rid of the demonic mana in him?" Faralynn asked.
"Nothing." Farzan shook his head. "The soul is something only greater gods can mend or interfere. Unless one of them wants to help Matthew, there’s nothing we can do, but to pray."
Matthew got quiet with that revelation. This meant he would never get rid of the demonic mana inside him. He would forever have to deal with those feelings and always have to police himself not to hurt anyone.
"Luckily, Matthew has the Purification skill. With enough discipline he can keep the demonic mana in him under control." Farzan complemented. "Professor Claude will instruct him how to keep himself in control."
"I see." Matthew said with a resigned voice.
His tone made Faralynn lose all inhibition. Her hand darted to his grabbing and squeezing it.
"I will..." Faralynn started, but soon corrected herself. "We will help you as well. Me, Erin, Mia... We’ll help keep yourself under control. We won’t let you harm anyone."
Matthew looked at Faralynn’s hand on his. Blinked twice to understand what was going on. Then he looked her in the eyes. Her eyes told him she was not just saying that. She was resolute.
"Thank you, Lynn." He said squeezing her hand back.
He thanked Roland, Farzan and Claude before leaving the office with Faralynn. The walk outside the school was silent between them. Faralynn’s face was bright red for the way she acted in front of her father.
They said goodbye at the school gate where Faralynn got inside a car with her security personnel. She couldn’t go anywhere alone again. Not after her uncle tried to kidnap her one more time.
Matthew took the bus home watching the street lights pass absent minded. He was out of himself. He had no idea how to process the information that part of his soul was now akin to the soul of a demon.
When he arrived home, there was a man in a suit waiting for him.
"Matthew Lordstone?" The man asked.
Matthew was so stunned that he didn’t even question the man. He just said: "Yes".
"You’ve been served." The man said after giving him a thick envelope with government stamps on it.