Chapter 2: Bundok

  Her young heart projected across the cove.

  Her range was a mere twenty meters,

  But that was further than most managed

  At her young age.

  The problem with Agatha was sight.

  Her excellence in heart projection

  Only served as a cruel reminder—

  I’m the blind one.

  A hickory staff improved her senses.

  The staff was hard won by her father.

  It allowed Agatha to perceive

  Land through her soul.

  This power was by no means perfect.

  All objects bound to the ground appeared,

  But those who flew and floated before her

  Instilled great fear.

  As a soul tool, the staff was superb,

  Crafted lovingly by friends of Broxen.

  An elder tortoise gladly gave,

  His soul to her.

  Broxen embodied great fatherhood.

  He was the leader of the village,

  A devoted husband to her mother,

  And cherished her.

  Agatha tried to be grateful,

  To serve as a filial daughter should,

  But she held such sorrow at what she

  Saw around her.

  The staff imbued her with two meters

  Of crystal clear perception centered

  On the shining elder tortoise shell;

  Yielding no ire.

  She was blessed, or cursed, a heart reader.

  Her heart truly caused her suffering.

  It perceived far beyond two meters,

  Through one’s soul.

  Growing up, she read the souls of “friends.”

  In the beginning they were truly

  Clear and innocent of malcontent.

  Change quickly came.

  Toddlers are not known for their purity.

  Lies crept into their thoughts and actions.

  Jealousy fell upon her treasures.

  Broxen was rich.

  At least he was rich in the eyes

  Of children who never left their homes.

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  In truth the village was poor, but wealth

  Is ethereal.

  Greed grows from lowly comparison,

  And children hold uniformity

  In highest regard. Differences mark

  The ones to shun.

  And so she could not turn to her peers.

  To Agatha all of one's soul,

  All of one's sin, laid bare to her.

  Virtue was sparse.

  Even among her parents she fell

  Into fearful patterns of piercing

  Perception. Most parents did wish well

  For their children.

  Agatha’s parents do care, do love

  Her with all their might, but their souls held

  The stains of their actions to others,

  Held by remorse.

  Broxen held the most pure soul she knew.

  Though Agatha found it difficult

  to examine her own soul, she felt

  Unclean throughout.

  Agatha knew she resented her peers.

  Worse she felt the stains her sins caused her.

  And so she sought solace in the cove,

  Stretching her heartforce across the sea,

  Detecting life.

  Animals tended towards purity

  And clarity in their souls. Weakness

  Of the animals souls correlated

  Mostly with size.

  There are exceptions to this rule,

  The elder tortoise for one, but few

  Beings violated this rule. Those that could

  Held conscious minds.

  Humans were aberrations to all

  Norms regarding capacity and

  Power within their souls. Even elves

  Were not so blessed.

  Most of humanity did not tap

  Their full potential, but those that did

  Rose to unparalleled heights across

  The mortal realms.

  Agatha was not concerned about

  Giants among men. She strained her heartforce

  To detect smaller and smaller souls.

  Toil grew her spirit.

  Every few months she found she could

  Expand the range of her heart reading.

  And slowly she came to better terms

  With her parents.

  Agatha began to completely

  Forgive herself and humanity;

  Then sprouted hope that she might discover

  A pure soulmate.

  Handyman, it will get updated more frequantly and is set in the same world.