Soul Bound: Dweller Saga, #1

By A.J. Flowers

The gods are dying. Thane has served his goddess for thousands of lifetimes, but even he knows that time is running out. There's only one way to save her, to save all of Dweller kind, and it's a suicide mission.

The host is a boy named Jakob. His ancient soul is one of the rare sources of power still recycling in the world of flesh. Thane has taken so many souls to his goddess, but this one could save them all.

It's only when Thane learns the truth of the gods does he deny them their power. Souls aren't recycled. They're destroyed, and his goddess isn't a deity... she's a monster.

Permanently melded with his human host, Thane meets his soulmate, a woman who captures his heart like his goddess never did. He'll do anything to protect her, and the gods know it.

• Language: English
• Publisher: FCC Books
• Release date: Sep 1, 2018
• ISBN: 9781386315841

A.J. Flowers

A.J. Flowers is a fantasy author, book blogger, and automotive engineer in Detroit. She loves her writing, her work, and above all, her faith and family. When not writing or designing, you can find her saving the world from annihilation on her favorite video games side-by-side with her Dutch husband and princess Blue Russian kitty named Mina. To follow AJ's blog for new writing tips, head on over to https://ajflowers.wordpress.com

Book preview

1

To Kill a God

Out of all the assassinations Thane had performed for his goddess, this one was the first to make him hesitate. He should have been prowling through the shadows, tracking his prey, but he wasn't. Instead he leaned, back-to-back against Cynthia and stared at his hands.

Please don't do this, she whispered. The words came with bells and hints of snowflakes. Cynthia, his most trusted comrade and friend couldn't agree to this. She'd had his back for centuries, but this time, she knew what it would take to fell a god. He'd have to unleash the tiger he'd held at bay for so long.

I have no choice, Thane said. I don't serve a reasonable goddess like you.

Silence was the only reply, and after a moment frost climbed across his back where his primal warmth met her icy power. Cynthia served Igraine, goddess of ice and beauty.

He endured the cold that slithered over him and whispered of Cynthia's frustration and disapproval. But he couldn't do what she wanted. He couldn't disobey a direct command from Lilith, the goddess of darkness and shadow that had fashioned him from flames and Aethyre.

He couldn't deny his goddess anything, even if he'd been commanded to kill a god.

Cynthia jerked away, causing his core to flex to keep himself upright. She latched onto his shoulder and shoved him around. Her catlike green eyes swirled with Aethyre, the power that fed the Dweller race, and he knew she wasn't going to let this one go. "You can't, she persisted. And it's not just about the tiger, she said, her voice lowering. If you fail, you'll be reborn into his territory."

I know, he said. He ground his teeth together and tried to not shiver under her unrelenting waves of cold as she glowered.

Rochner, the god of chaos and oceans was his ultimate target. His territories spanned far and wide, mostly comprised of wetlands and small, dedicated tribes. He wasn't the strongest god among Dwellerkind, but the others had grown so weak that the water god's influence took the majority of human worshippers, and thus what little Atheyre the world had left.

Thane was a Dweller. It was his duty to endure the cycle of life and death to gather Aethyre for his kind. But to be reborn in Rochner's territory would mean he'd no longer serve any god. Even if he could find a soul to latch onto, Rochner would hunt him down.

Shrugging off the fear he couldn't face, as well as Cynthia's icy grip, Thane bared his teeth. Sharp fangs poked through as his power kicked in. The tiger in him was primal and didn't like Cynthia's aggression. But it remembered the scar she'd given him in self-defense. She was an alpha.

I like it better when your goddess keeps that thing muzzled, Cynthia said with her lip curling at his fangs. Her graceful finger ran down his left eye and over his cheek where she'd sliced him with her ice. The wound had been fueled by so much Aethyre that it had never healed.

Thane grinned, serving only to bare more of his teeth at her. Even though she'd scarred him the first time he'd unleashed his true nature, she'd formed a bond with his primal side. No one knew him like she did.

His goddess feared to let him roam as a beast. He was the last shifter of Dwellerkind and misunderstood. But Cynthia had taken the time to wrangle the beast and come to an understanding. I think you like having your mark on me, he said even as silver fur rippled over his body and his bones shifted and cracked.

She didn't turn away as he transformed. This was why he was Lilith's First. This was what made him so valuable to the goddess of death.

But when he fell down on all fours and shook his new mane, Cynthia trailed her fingers through his thick coat. I just don't want to lose you, she whispered.

Her voice came through his feline ears distorted and the icy sounds grated painfully against his senses, but he'd heard the tremor of worry beneath the words. He looked up at her and tried to see her expression behind the aura of blue power that swirled around her frame. She was so powerful these days and in his white tiger form he could truly see how much she'd changed.

You worry for me, yet you keep secrets. We're not as close as we once were.

She frowned at him and he slunk off into the darkness, leaving her with those parting words in her mind.

Thane had performed hundreds of assassinations for his goddess, not all of them successful. He'd died more than once, but he always came back. That was the way of the Dweller. But there was a new danger in going after a god. His rebirth would be tainted by entering into a cycle so close to the deity. He'd be drawn out like a spec in the cosmos dancing towards the sun to be reborn in Rochner's territory. If that happened, his spirit would never be safe.

He didn't like the cold shadow that lingered in his chest. Lilith's raw power was the only thing capable of killing another god. She didn't dare go after Rochner on her own. Thane didn't begrudge her for it. He'd always done her dirty work because he would be reborn. Lilith, though, she'd traded the perpetual cycle of Dwellerkind for a single life of immortality and became a god. Those she created thrived, blessed with her gifts and strengths. If she went after Rochner and lost, all her peoples would go with her.

So Thane prowled the streets as silent as death in her stead. He would make her proud today. He would do what no other Dweller had ever done. He would take on a god and win.

He'd expected Rochner to do a better job at hiding from his many enemies, but the backwards streams the god had left behind glowed with power and illuminated the way. Thane followed the soft trickles of water, but flared his nostrils and scented the hints of danger on the misty breeze.

Rochner might not have been good at hiding, but he hadn't left himself unprotected.

Creatures stirred from the water's reflections and slimy, taloned fingers broke through the forming portals. His feline heart pounded and fresh adrenaline coursed through his veins. He stalked the shifting streams of water as the ancient enemies emerged. Rochner had found a new power, one that tapped into a deep layer of aethyre that Dwellerkind hadn't seen in centuries. This only confirmed his goddess's suspicions that Rochner was close to unlocking the forbidden secrets of the ancients.

Fully pulling free of their watery prisons, the creatures snarled as they clicked and vibrations betrayed his presence. They had no eyes, but their noses flared and their heads swiveled to him. Their unnatural movements sent the tuft of coarse fur rising along Thane's back.

He didn't give them a chance to attack. He roared and dove for the first creature, sinking his fangs deep into slimy flesh. The tawny muscle snapped under the power of his bite and the creature screeched.

He couldn't block out the deafening sound in his tiger's body. He howled as pain shot through his temples and threatened to jolt him back into his Dweller form.

Fingernails sprouted where claws should have been and panic clenched his chest. He couldn't fight these creatures if they had the power to shift him back. He should have run, but the primal instinct to stay and fight kept him rooted to the ground.

A spear that glistened with ice cut through the air and delved into the creature's open maw. Thane's claws returned as the creature gurgled and fell over dead.

Quit fooling around, Cynthia chided.

The ice-blue hue of her form illuminated his tiger senses and he wanted to jump on her and lick her face, but he resisted. Instead, he huffed a hot breath into the frosty air and slashed his way through another two creatures. Cynthia followed, her spears slicing through the ear-splintering cries with ease.

Thane didn't ask her why she'd changed her mind. While he knew he couldn't do this alone, he didn't want to risk her life. Rochner wouldn't allow anyone to be reborn in his territory. This was a suicide mission they wouldn't come back from, and they both knew it.

Thane picked up his pace and ran with renewed fervor towards Rochner's presence that hummed at the end of the long line of upward streams. Magic wound through the air, its thrum growing louder every ragged breath Thane took. Rochner was up to something, and whatever it was, it involved more magic than Thane had seen in hundreds of lifetimes.

With a roar to the sky he threw off any hope of stealth. The water creatures meant Rochner already knew he was here. He sprang taut muscles against long strides and thudded the ground as he ran. If he couldn't pounce from the shadows, then he would go for a full-frontal attack. Lilith had unleashed the terrifying beast within him that her shadows kept at bay. Fur spiked and magic zapped along his maw as his instincts desired the metallic taste of blood. He risked becoming more beast than man to indulge his tiger, but a god awaited him at the end of this trail. The tiger didn't care about stature of the enemy. Instinct told him to eliminate the threat by brute force.

The ice that spidered past him and up the path betrayed Cynthia's presence close behind him. Her whispers of frost cascaded over the streams that fed Rochner his power and turned them solid. The ancient god drew from the element of water that was a part of his lands and the humans who worshiped him. It would stem his strength, at least for a little while.

Thane roared again and came to the peak of a cliff that overlooked a great cavern and skidded to a halt. Rocks tumbled over the crevice that bent and heaved down deep into the broken layers of rocks. At the bottom Rochner himself pointed a glowing trident at a crystalline barrier that peeked from overturned, muddy soil and jagged rocks. He shook his trident and frowned as his power sputtered. Fish-like hackles along his neck raised until the streams turned into rivers and broke through Cynthia's ice.

Thane didn't have time to react when the torrent of waters came, sending them over the edge in a waterfall that crashed into the stones below.

Cynthia grabbed him by the scruff as she whispered a new command. Ice swirled around them and slowed their descent until his paws met solid ground.

The god was so close to him now. His back turned and his focus on the object he was pouring his might into. Thane bunched his muscles to go for the pounce.

Cynthia yanked him hard and he snarled as the waterfall came crashing in front of them. The hue of Rochner's power illuminated from the other side.

Wait. She dug her fingers into Thane's scruff. Look what he's doing, she said as she bent low to his ear. He's trying to wake an Ancient.

A low rumble growled in the back of Thane's throat as he watched the god through the hue of the waterfall. The distortion did little to hide the grotesque layer of scales that festered over the god's body. He'd met Rochner many times before, but he'd never seen him like this. He'd spent too much time in the human world of Alterine. Spikes jutted out from his neck and webbed in a large fin that fanned in and out as he speared the trident, sending torrents of magic and water to beat against a barrier not meant to be broken.

He'd known that Rochner had stepped outside of the unspoken laws of Dwellerkind. But this was worse than he could have imagined. No one disturbed an Ancient.

The walls of crystal screeched under Rochner's unfurling power and the ground bucked. He stepped forward, releasing a cry of victory and shoved the torrent onto the barrier until it seemed as if it would shatter. If the Ancient hadn't woken yet, it would soon.

Thane, Cynthia pressed. She looked through the mist as her brows scrunched. His instincts told him that this wasn't the warrior he'd grown to admire. This wasn't the woman who'd bested him in a fight. Her heart fluttered in her chest like prey. Thane, she said his name again as if it were a plea. Where is everyone?

Even though his lips curled in a snarl, he forced himself to be rational. The open cavern should have been filled with followers. Human souls was where the Dweller obtained their power. Raw Aethyre didn't exist in the world of men. It could only be found in their hearts and given freely in worship.

Or… in sacrifice.

Thane realized his mistake too late. The leftover streams he'd followed hadn't been the beginning of Rochner's power, it was what was left after the god had drowned all who'd followed him here.

Thane flared his nostrils, but the waters had swept away their scent. The only evidence was the long trail of mud that rippled down the cavern and into the darkness where he saw their bodies, drenched and still.

The waters rushed again, impossibly strong from the Aethyre Rochner had pulled from hundreds of souls. Creatures unfurled from the mud and staggered towards the barrier. They were going to break it. If they got in… If Rochner actually managed to wake an Ancient…

Thane couldn't finish the horrifying thought. He sprang, Cynthia's screech in his ears as he burst through the waterfall and spread his massive claws. He landed on the god and sank his fangs into the putrid flesh.

Rochner, seemingly unaffected by the tiger latched onto his neck, continued to flood the cavern until the waters soaked Thane's fur.

He tried to twist and saw at the flesh under his maw. He sank his claws into the god's thin armor and readied himself to buck and tear.

But then the waters came, crashed into him and choked off all breath.

He tasted metallic blood, but his instincts screamed, because the blood was his own.

Rochner laughed, the sound a terrifying boom under the surge of waters as he turned, twisting the trident that wedged deep into Thorn's soft underbelly. The pain rolled through him with a nauseating wave, but the tiger had taken control. Pain shoved away and only the mindless instinct for survival remained. Thane's maw ground and he thrashed until Rochner cried out with rage.

The water hardened as Cynthia's ice took hold. She hadn't abandoned him. She couldn't save him, not when his lungs burned for oxygen. But she could give his soul a chance when he died.

Perhaps Thane could have won had he been able to breathe. So much rage and power coursed through him. But as they slowly solidified in the grip of Cynthia's ice, he ceased his struggles and accepted a peaceful death. Perhaps the mission could be completed. Perhaps Cynthia could make sure they took Rochner with them into death.

The cold seeped over him until it lulled him into the depths of darkness. He closed his eyes, and the end came, and his spirit was set free.

It was too much to hope that Rochner would have died. He was a god of water. Cynthia's ice couldn't kill him, but it could distract him.

Thane's spirit barreled through the chaotic tunnels of the Aethyre roads. Dwellerkind had mastered this realm long ago, built layers upon layers of cities and dreams, but they'd left the Aethyre roads untouched. The long, winding tunnels that swept through the underbelly of their ethereal world of Amoura flashed with new souls sweeping light and power through them, ready to be reborn.

He didn't fight the powerful current that sped him through winding paths. He used his energy to find a human soul to latch onto. He was a Dweller, which meant that he had no soul of his own. If he were to be reborn in his own form, it would take a great offering of Aethyre that his goddess didn't have. He knew that she couldn't save him. Even so, he sensed her mournfully watching him as his essence traveled through the Aethyre roads. The searing walls ripped at him and made him snarl with rage. His tiger never understood this death. It was wrong and strange to be in a place that threatened to rip him apart.

He shivered as an unfamiliar cold drifted over him and the Aethyre road he traveled shifted downwards towards the souls under Rochner's domain. He couldn't fight it, but he still found himself longingly looking up at the softer roads where his goddess would have welcomed him with open arms.

He'd died too close to the god of water. And so he was swept on a current with so many others that had recently drowned. It surprised him to feel how many souls he mingled with. Any of them could have served as his host, but he didn't allow his essence to attach. Rochner would eventually break free of Cynthia's prison, and when he did, he'd track Thane down and rip his spirit out of the host body.

Then Thane saw a brilliant orb of gold that couldn't exist, but there it was, a powerful soul unlike any he'd ever seen. Humans had been recycled for so many centuries that the old ones