“Of the twelve surviving rifts, seven of them lead to planes that feel more… dense,” Taylor explained as the two of them made their final checks. Taylor had pulled out two old, worn backpacks for the two of them that they’d presumably plucked off of some of the scattered corpses of those foolish enough to try wandering through this plane without knowing what they were getting into. “Since you explained planes and tiers, I think that means they are higher. Stronger planes.”

  “I still don’t understand your ability to sense rifts and get that level of detail, but seeing as I’d just be flying blind anyways, we might as well go with your gut,” Leo admitted, tightening the straps of his new backpack so that it sat snug against his back. Thanks to Taylor, not only did he finally have a method of storing his belongings beyond his many pockets, he was the proud new owner of some actual survival gear. A few small knives, some fishing wire, a bag of charcoal, a flint and steel, a few rolls of bandages, a frying pan of all things, and, most importantly, a few containers of basic spices that Taylor had miraculously never touched. There wasn’t a lot to work with, but just about anything would be better than the strips of magical beast jerky they’d been eating for the past two weeks.

  Leo was pretty certain he was well on his way to developing scurvy at this point, and he was determined to find a fruit sooner rather than later. Luckily for Taylor, it seemed however their physical body had been changed upon first absorbing their gem had allowed the stranger to subsist almost entirely on meat, fish, and bugs for years on end.

  “I told you, you need to open your soul,” Taylor repeated for what had to be the fifth time. “I learned how to do it years ago.”

  “And I told you, you’re not making any sense,” Leo repeated yet again, his slight frustration finally giving him the courage he needed to just come out and ask what he’d wanted to do all this time. “If it’s that easy, can I peer into your soul and watch you do it? I still don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “You can do that?” Taylor blinked, tilting their head as they stared at him. Leo had long since learned that a slight head tilt was the stranger’s usual method of showing confusion. “Why not ask sooner? Would have made things easier.”

  “It’s… well, looking into another’s soul is considered rather intimate,” Leo tried to explain. Seeing the continued head tilt as Taylor stared unblinking at him, he sighed. “Intimate. Means something done only between two people who are very close. Like family members, or husband and wife.”

  Most of the time not spent cultivating his soul these past two weeks had been spent helping Taylor grow accustomed to having someone to talk to again. Unsurprisingly, when Leo had first met them, the stranger originally had the vocabulary of a child. Leo was still finding himself having to explain what certain words meant every now and again that he just assumed most people already knew.

  “Ah, I see,” Taylor finally nodded, their head straightening again as their question was answered. “I don’t mind. How does it work?”

  “We just need to be touching, and you don’t fight it,” Leo explained, holding out his hand. “The soul is naturally contained within the body, which is why physical contact is needed. Our souls need to form a connection from one to the other.”

  “That is wrong… but okay,” Taylor shrugged, reaching out and taking Leo’s outstretched hand. It wasn’t the first time Leo had felt Taylor’s hand, as the stranger had been kind enough to help change and redress his bandages while he’d been recovering. Yet even now, Leo was impressed by the sheer strength and roughness of Taylor’s fingers. “Do I show you now?”

  “One second,” Leo said, closing his eyes and clearing his head as he focused on his soul. Again, here was something he knew how to do in theory, but had never actually done in practice. Remembering his lessons, Leo focused on a small portion of his soul, stretching it out from his core and down the length of his extended arm. There was a slight pause when he reached Taylor’s hand, and the stranger grunted as they blocked his feeling soul-tendril by reflex, before they relaxed and let Leo through. Nodding his thanks, Leo continued on toward Taylor’s own core, pausing just outside it as their soul finally came into view.

  Leo could only stare in shock at what he’d found. Normally, souls were like giant gems all on their own, with sheer, perfect layers that denoted ranks, each one hardened and completed without question. The moment each layer was finished, it solidified and became permanent, never to be touched again unless something cataclysmic happened to a person’s cultivation.

  Taylor’s soul was the exact opposite.

  It was practically a living, breathing thing, flexing and pulsing almost like a second functional heart within the stranger’s body. Each layer was firmly contained within the next, but they were constantly shifting about, never staying in one place for long. The outermost layer, which Leo confirmed was the unfinished twelfth layer as he’d first suspected, was the most volatile of all, with energy literally bouncing up and off the layer shifting throughout Taylor’s entire body and even out of it now that Leo was watching. A soul was supposed to be contained within the center of a person’s chest, but Taylor’s was so volatile and active, it seemed to fill up almost their entire body more often than not.

  It was insane. It was terrifying.

  It went against everything he’d ever learned.

  “That’s not how souls work,” Leo muttered, his brow furrowing as he watched the power freely drifting off of Taylor’s outermost soul layer. “It’s not contained! Your soul is open!”

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  “Yes… I have been saying that,” Taylor snorted. “Does that mean you’re ready?”

  “Wait, you’re not already doing-”

  Leo gasped and nearly let go of Taylor’s hand as their outermost soul layer exploded. Nearly a quarter of Taylor’s unfinished twelfth layer erupted from their body, the power blasting outward in some sort of invisible wave that he didn’t even feel as it passed straight through him. He’d just witnessed an act of self mutilation, of soul mutilation, unlike anything he could have possibly imagined. But before he could even start to freak out and ask if they were insane, he watched the power return almost as quickly as it had left, seeping back into Taylor’s body and returning to their core as though it were the most natural thing in the world. Immediately, Leo was able to note that not all of the power had returned, and Taylor’s outermost layer of their soul was a bit smaller than it had been before.

  “There, see? Open soul! Not too hard.”

  “Taylor…” Leo said, finally pulling back his soul and staring concerningly at the stranger. Despite the grin on Taylor’s face, Leo wasn’t smiling. “I don’t know how to explain this to you. Nothing you just did should be possible. Your soul… I mean, I knew you were different. But your soul is very clearly not human.”

  “Eh, who cares,” Taylor shrugged. “See what I did? That was a tiny example, but I can open my soul and let the power drift around the entire plane. Eventually, it comes back, and I get information on everything it touched, like the rifts and sometimes the monsters. Takes a while, but it’s very helpful.”

  “Magical beasts,” Leo said automatically, having grown used to correcting Taylor after all this time. Shaking his head, he realized they were still holding hands, and he finally let his drop. “What you just did… Is that not incredibly painful? You just ripped off a chunk of your soul! That’s like torturing yourself!”

  “Painful?” Taylor asked, tilting their head. “No, doesn’t hurt. If anything, feels good. Feels freeing. Just have to be careful not to do it too frequently. Need to refill soul afterward.”

  Yeah, definitely something weird going on there, Leo thought, watching as Taylor drove their fist through a centipede corpse and yanked out its gem, popping it into their mouth.

  Into her mouth, he corrected himself, the shock of seeing Taylor’s freaky soul finally wearing off enough that he remembered what else he’d felt while interacting with it. He’d already suspected as much from Taylor’s shorter stature and features, but it was nice to have confirmation without having to embarrass himself by asking. Other than confirming she was a woman, he’d also gotten a decent feel for her age. Her soul was far too flexible for any sort of concrete number, but he could at least tell that she’d become a gem holder somewhere between eight and ten years ago, which put her somewhere between twenty and twenty two years old. Older than him, just like he’d thought.

  Surviving all on her own for nearly a decade… Leo tried not to let either of his discoveries change how he viewed Taylor. Neither changed the fact that she was a terrifying, feral warrior capable of literally ripping a monstrous centipede in half with barely any effort. If anything, it was simply even more impressive to confirm just how long Taylor had survived in this plane all by herself.

  “Okay. Disregarding your freaky, soul mutilating powers that are probably going to give me nightmares… You know where the rift is we need to find?”

  “Yep, I picked one of them out,” Taylor confirmed, packing the last of her things into her backpack before slinging it over her shoulder. “Want me to teach you how to open your soul? Like I said, it's easy!”

  “No!” Leo said quite quickly, ensuring his own backpack was secured before he gave Taylor a worried smile. “No, I’m quite good, thank you.”

  Their few belongings secured, and a dark cat gem placed within Leo’s black gem box in case Taylor wanted a snack for the road, the two of them stepped out of the cave for what Leo hoped would be the final time. Other than slipping out every now and again to take care of nature’s call, Leo had been stuck in that cave for two straight weeks.

  He was ready for something new.

  “Took care of the nearby scorpions earlier today, should be clear to the rift,” Taylor said, leading the way as she began heading down the hill. “Still, keep your guard up.”

  “Trust me, you don’t have to tell me twice,” Leo muttered, turning every which way as if expecting one of the dark cats to materialize behind him. Even with his sword in hand and at the ready, and his significantly stronger soul rank, he wouldn’t be able to rest easily until they were gone from this plane. He’d take stronger magical beasts over those that specialized in ambushing any day of the week.

  The two of them walked in silence for a few minutes, descending into the poisonous fog once more as they left the safety of the hill behind them. Now that their visibility was decreased, Leo focused even more on his Minor Tremorsense skill, knowing that it would be his first layer of warning should something come at him from behind.

  Like a dark cat lunging at him out of the fog.

  Sensing the large form with his skill, Leo spun around just as it lunged at him, his arms blurring faster than ever before as they got his sword up and into position to block the magical beast’s fangs. The force of the impact was enough to slide him back a few feet, but his newfound strength prevented him from getting knocked onto his back. The dark cat’s eyes widened as its surprise attack was thoroughly rebuffed, and Leo grinned as he twisted the hilt of his sword, forcing it out of the beast’s mouth before slashing sideways. The blade whistled through the air as it cleaved straight through the dark cat’s neck, slicing it open and sending dark-red blood all over the dead ground before the beast could fully recover and attack again.

  The dark cat managed one startled step back before it collapsed, its lifeblood spilling everywhere and getting sucked into the dry ground. Panting just from sheer adrenaline, Leo turned and grinned at Taylor who was standing there idly, watching the whole exchange.

  “Not bad,” she admitted, walking over and plunging a clawed hand deep into the dark cat’s chest. Ripping out its gem, she popped it into her mouth, swallowing it whole with a feral grin.

  “Not bad at all.”

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