Soul Bonds

Amir remembered when Aria introduced him to her boyfriend. They were just teenagers then, he was sixteen, just a year older than her. Amir was not happy with who she was dating.

He pulled her aside.

"He and his friends beat you up. Have you forgotten? How can he be your boyfriend?" Amir whispered harshly occasionally looking in his direction.

_Soon he recognized him, he was a little older but there were no significant changes. Oroc was Aria's boyfriend. At that moment his heart broke.

He walked over to them, "Where are the others? Where is Art?" Amir asked and Oroc walked towards him with a frown. Aria got in his way before he could get to Amir.

"Why is he angry with me? " Amir asked Aria who turned and shook her head. He knew Oroc did not like him. He felt the same way about him, that he remembered. He was confused as to why he would try to strangle him.

"Where are we?" Amir asked and Aria sat him down.

"We are in the Aporia, and we need to get out. That is all you need to know now. Will you help us?" Aria explains to Amir who is still confused.

"Yes, of course, we are siblings. What can I do?" Amir said eagerly.

"This is a breakdown of things. We are trapped here. We can only leave if we are summoned by Solomon." Aria said kneeling in front of Amir.

"Who is Solomon?" Amir asked then looked at Oroc for a reaction.

"We would get to Solomon later. Now what you have to know is the horn of the tower puts us to sleep. When you hear the blast of the horn you will forget. The only thing that can wake us up are these light keys. We search for keys during the day and climb the tower at night. We need to destroy the horn so we can remember." Aria explained their situation to him.

"Wait does that mean we have had this conversation before?" Amir asked and Aria nodded.

"Yes, a variety of them." Aria helped him up.

"Why did you guys not wake me up?" Amir asked and Oroc walked up to him. Amir wondered what else he had forgotten.

"What good would it do, we went into the tower with you and you got Art killed." Oroc shook his head and walked away.

"When did he and Art become friends?" Amir wondered but knew Oroc's sadness was genuine. It was written all over his face.

"I cause Art's death, I would never. At least not on purpose." Amir mumbled to himself.

Amir wondered if that was why he had tried to kill him.

One of the guards entered the tunnel and they all got up and picked pickaxes. Immediately the guard saw this he turned around.

"We only have six light keys, we need to find more to climb the tower," Aria said as she dug.

"Five, five keys," Oroc said glaring at Aria. She knew he was not happy that she used the key on Amir. As Amir dug memories kept flooding in.

He remembered when Hospice sent for him. He went to the training room and saw Aria. Soon Art and Oroc joined them them. Then Olson, Masha, and Bain joined them.

When they were all there, Hospice asked about the progress of their training. After they gave him an answer he brushed it off.

"Never mind, I need the seven of you to follow someone. Tomorrow at dawn he would be at the market behind the bark store. You are to follow him and report back to me. If he notices you, then take him out." Hospice said and they nodded.

The next day they did as they were told. They hid and watched out for the man. After the man waited for a while he left and they followed him. He walked through the market. A buzzing sound echoed across as several voices blended.

Smells of spices stung their eyes Bain coughed and the man turned around. They blended into the background by pretending to shop. They continued following the man until he entered the woods. They spread out to stay conspicuous, and they walked through the meadow hiding behind trees. The further they went the more trees they encountered. After a while, they were in a thick forest.

The man turned all of a sudden catching one of them in the corner of his eye. He quickly ran and they chased after him. All of a sudden he stopped running. Amir gestured at the other to surround him. At this point, the sun was rising, and the forest was golden. The trees stripped the forest with their shadows. Aria shot an arrow at him but it just dropped mid-air. She threw a couple but they all kept dropping.

Bain lunged at him only for his throat to get slit. They look in each other's direction. They did not know what was going on. The man did not move. They looked around to see if there was someone else in the forest with them. Then Amir saw it a shadow figure. It wasn't too fast all Amir could make out was a blur.

Oroc threw his kusarigama and the shadow figure caught it. This time they could see it clearly. It was a man with amber flames burning around his body. He stood there looking at Oroc the pulled on the chain of the kusarigama. Light a paperweight Oroc flew right in front of him. He fell at his feet but Aria shot arrows at him drawing his attention.

This gave Oroc time to get out of his way. Masha who found it difficult to stand fell to her knees. Art and Amir seemed to have the same idea.

They attacked simultaneously, they both stabbed him from both sides. Unfortunately, it had no effect on him. They both then took a step back.

"End this." the man said and in a flash, they were all on the ground bleeding. Amir could smell the rain from a distance. He watched as his siblings bled out.

He looked in Aria's direction and his only regret was not telling her how he felt. All of a sudden everything went dark.

Suddenly there was light he did not know how long he was in the dark but he was grateful. On his knees, he lifted his head to see who he was grateful to.

"I am Solomon Sane, heed my command. You will protect me at all costs and do my bidding." the man said.

Amir was on his knees looking at his murderer. He burnt with the same amber flames as his executioner.

"Yes, master," Amir said and he meant it. He watched as he commanded the souls of three others.

Oroc, Art, and Aria.

He wanted him to resurrect the others but he had no say in the matter. After the soul bond of the other three the world around them dissolved.

"What is going on" Before Amir could finish his sentence a horn went off. They all held their head and fell to the ground. They got up not saying a word to each other they picked up pickaxe and started digging like everyone else.