Soulbound Ch 19: Subjugation of a World, Salvation of One

(Kaida)

I sank into the couch with a soft sigh, the cushion adjusting automatically to my mass, humming beneath me with energy resonance. I didn't relax though. Not really.

Because I could still feel it.

Scott's fear.

It was faint, residual, like a whisper left behind after the wind moved on. But it was there — and I hated that. I hated that he had to go through something so... violent. Even if it was necessary.

There just wasn't another way.

His soul couldn't leave that vessel unless the vessel itself was destroyed — thoroughly. And as much as I hated doing it, I had to remind myself: I made sure it was quick. Instantaneous. He didn't suffer. Not truly. I felt it in the bond. The moment he broke apart, the moment his soul disconnected, it was like a light switch flipping — pain gone before it had time to register.

Still... I didn't like it.

I stood up, letting the ambient light in the room shift back to neutral as I stepped away from the lounge. My eyes drifted down — and there it was. A faint mark. A smear of organic residue, like the faintest outline of where his body had once been.

I smiled despite myself.

"Clean vaporization," I muttered. "Didn't even scorch the couch this time."

It was a weird thing to feel proud of, I guess. But hey — first time I had to extract someone I actually cared about. Let me have this one.

Now, the important part.

I closed my eyes and focused, my consciousness fanning out like a net across the chamber. Souls were impossibly small, even to someone like me. Less than microscopic. Like a single floating atom drifting on the edge of perception. Normally I wouldn't be able to see one without effort.

But this wasn't just any soul.

This was his.

"Now where are you, little star..." I whispered, stepping forward. My heart pulsed, and in that moment — there.

A flicker. A glimmer. A blue spark of light hovering in front of my chest, like a firefly lost in a dream.

"Ah," I breathed with a grin. "There you are." I said realizing that he was unconscious as I drew closer, couldn't blame him.

It danced lightly, pulsing to the rhythm of my own heartbeat. I could feel the warmth of him even now — the recognition, the pull between us. Soulbound. Always soulbound.

"In you go," I said as I spread my legs over him, revealing the entrance to my soul chamber, his home. I watched with bated breath as his soul, drawn to my very body, made it past my lower lips and entered into my body, I couldn't help but let out a moan of pleasure as I felt complete again, now that he had returned to me.

I walked slowly toward my room, my hand resting gently on my belly, where Scott's soul now slumbered deep inside me—safe, sound, and undisturbed. He deserved rest. After everything, I wouldn't let anything get to him. Not while I still had work to do.

The crystal-lit halls of my home sparkled around me like rivers of starlight, the walls shifting in hue with every step I took—soft blues and silvers that pulsed with a heartbeat that matched my own. My domain was always quiet, always vast... but now, it felt heavier. Heavier because of what I was carrying... and what I was about to do.

I stopped in front of a familiar door—tall, sleek, and black with a swirling design etched into the center. I pressed a circular button just to the side, and the panel hummed with a low tone as it slid open. A smaller chamber greeted me on the other side, sterile and simple, its silver walls humming faintly. I stepped in, the door closing silently behind me.

To my right, seven buttons lined a glowing console, each one labeled in my native script. I pressed the red one—the activation sequence. At once, the lights dimmed, casting the room in a deep crimson glow. It always gave the impression of something... final.

With a hiss, the far wall began to split open, parting in a wide, circular motion. I felt the shift immediately—the vacuum of space beyond the opening, the silence so vast it could crush a mind not prepared for it. I floated forward effortlessly, letting the lack of gravity carry me out into the endless black.

Once I was a good distance away, I turned around and gazed back at my home. Even now, after all this time, I never got tired of seeing it from the outside. My domain... a glittering, glass-like sphere suspended in the void, glowing faintly like a polished jewel with threads of light flowing through it. A sanctuary among the starless dark. And now... it was his sanctuary too.

"Alright," I whispered. "Let's get this over with."

I stretched out my hand and space bent around my fingertips, folding and curling like silk. From that pocket of warped reality, I pulled free my interdimensional bag—the one I'd used to hold Veridia during our journey. It shimmered green and gold in my grip, humming softly. The bag itself felt heavy, but not from weight—from responsibility.

I looked down at it, frowning. "I don't like this either... but rules are rules."

I unsealed the bag and released its contents.

The small green planet smaller than a speck of dust, so small I couldn't see it without the use of my powers floated out gently, spinning ever so slowly—perfectly preserved.   Veridia. Its oceans, its forests, its clouds. Untouched. It hovered there like a bead of dew in the dark. Beautiful. Fragile.

But out here, in the void between galaxies, that beauty wouldn't last.

No starlight. No gravitational tethers. No harmonic resonance. Veridia's systems would begin to fail in minutes if I didn't act fast. The atmosphere would destabilize, the biosphere would collapse, and everything Scott loved would be lost. I couldn't let that happen.

I clenched my fist and took a deep breath, locking my gaze onto the little world. "Let's do this," I muttered, my voice resolute.

This wasn't just some planetary relocation.

This was a subjugation.