Soulstealer: A Novel ✔️

Ch.2: The First

Nythan came out of the shower, shaking droplets of water from his body like a wet puppy. His stomach growled as he dried off and got into a pair of shorts.

Oops, he thought. Forgot dinner. 

He walked down the hall and turned toward the living room on his way to the kitchen when another high-pitched creak sounded behind him. Eyes widening, he whirled and looked across the hallway, where he saw a wiry man in the dining room fumble with and drop a platter of Pamela's finery.

"Don't move! Don't move!" The intruder yelled, ripping a knife from a worn leather sheath clipped to his sweatpants. He rushed Nythan.

Nythan's whole body seized for a split second, then he lurched backward.

Forgetting the step-down behind him, he tumbled into the living room. He scrambled to one knee as the trespasser swung the knife over his head and whipped it down at Nythan's shoulder. Nythan raised both hands to block the weapon, but the descending dagger fell short of its target, missed his shoulder, and sliced long and deep into his lower right forearm. He groaned in pain, while grasping the man's bony knuckles on the knife hilt with his left hand to keep the weapon from cutting deeper.

"I said...don't move!" his attacker said, trying to saw the blade into Nythan's arm.

The edge freed itself from his forearm as he threw himself backward. The burglar and his knife came crashing down on top of him. This time, Nythan grabbed for the intruder's wrists, stopping the spiked tip a few inches from his chest. Sweat ran down the burglar's face, a drop falling on Nythan's forehead.

Nythan squirmed to keep the dagger away, but it didn't dissuade the blade's course. His face contorted, teeth gritted, as the blade came ever closer. A millimeter of the knife's point pierced Nythan's left chest muscle, then burrowed further. It felt like a thousand tiny fire ants gnawing on that one spot.

Nythan's face twisted into purerage in a last-ditcheffort to thwart his attacker.To quit is to die!

The intruder grunted and pressed down harder. Both he and Nythan locked eyes as the knife slid in deeper. Nythan gasped and cried out. He felt his lungs tighten and his chest constrict.

Suddenly, his assailant shuddered, eyes rolling into the back of his head. A silver gas exited his nostrils, traveling into Nythan's hyperventilating mouth. The man's grip on the knife released, his body slumping on Nythan. An explosion of energy filled Nythan to the brim, and he yanked the blade out of his chest. He thrust the corpse off him, kicking as much distance as he could between himself and the body. Blood seeped from Nythan's chest and spurted from his forearm.

He started to retch, but then only burped. Traces of the ethereal mist floated out before dissipating. Nythan's attention fell back on his assailant's unmoving body as a prickly sensation washed through him.

What the hell just happened? he thought.

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