Free The Soul Forge by Andrew Lashway

the ground with unspeakable strength. Thomas couldn’t draw breath, he couldn’t hope to move.
    All he could do was watch as the Others leaned down and lifted Ms. Anna by her neck. Thomas tried to scream, to shout, to make some kind of noise, but he was denied any verbal release.
    So Thomas was completely silent when the Other holding Ms. Anna squeezed his hand shut like he was squeezing a dish cloth.
    The crack that resounded tore through Thomas like the worst physical wound he could ever have endured. It was the splintering of a tree trunk, and the tree that fell to earth was Thomas. He felt the world fade from him as he stared at the now lifeless body as it fell. Her eyes were still open, vacant and staring and unknowing. Thomas stared into them, a slow numbness overtaking his mind, his soul.
    It was taking over everything.
    Thomas tore his gaze away from Ms. Anna and stared up at the sky, cursing the black smoke that was descending on him. This couldn’t be happening, it couldn’t. This couldn’t be real. He begged the sky and the ground, the wind and the flame that what he was feeling just wasn’t real.
    He would have begged the Dark Priest himself if he thought it would have gotten him anywhere.
    “You seem… upset.”
    Thomas had never heard this voice before, but it was almost like a roar. Deep and echoing, it resounded off of the walls of Thomas’ mind and back again, making a barrage of noise in his head.
    “Who… what are you?” Thomas asked, though he honestly didn’t care for the answer.
    “I am you.”
    “Begging your pardon,” Thomas replied without emotion, “but I do believe that I’m me.”
    “In a sense. But in a different sense, I am you. And you are me. Little Ms. Anna is me, same as little Ms. Anna was in you.”
    “I don’t understand,” Thomas said, closing his eyes, “and I don’t care.”
    “Oh, don’t be like that,” the voice replied, and Thomas felt his eyes open without his volition. The Others were gone, as was the black sky and the destruction from the flames. All that was left was a brilliant blue sky and grass as far as Thomas could see. Ms. Anna was gone, or maybe he was gone from her. Thomas didn’t know.
    “Where am I?”
    “You’re nowhere,” the voice replied, “or, more specifically, everywhere.”
    “Everywhere ain’t very specific.”
    “No, I guess not. But you are.”
    Thomas rubbed his temples, feeling and repelling the tears threatening to build there. “Please, just… explain. Properly.”
    “Fine,” the voice said, sounding almost giddy, “but you’re going to owe me one.”
    Considering Thomas was almost positive he had lost his mind, it wasn’t a hard deal to make. “Sure. Now what’s goin’ on here?”
    “You aren’t dead. But you aren’t alive, either.”
    “That ain’t very proper.”
    “I’m afraid that’s as proper as it’s going to get. Right now, you stand at the brink of death, ready to take the leap… or get back into the fight. That choice is up to you.”
    “So…” Thomas said, trying to understand, “so none of this is real?”
    “No. What you just saw was a possibility of what is to come. Where you stand now is another possibility. There are many, many possibilities. But only you can decide which path will lead to which… destiny.”
    “Destiny?” Thomas repeated. It wasn’t a word he was wholly familiar with. “I thought destiny was fixed or somethin’. That nothing could be done to change it.”
    “Yes, I’ve heard something like that too. Care to test out if it’s true?”
    Thomas knew he couldn’t trust the random voice in his head. He knew that there was no telling what he was going to experience.
    But he would do anything not to suffer seeing that ‘possibility’ again, even if he had to walk through Hell itself.
    “Well then, let’s get moving. I haven’t got all day.”
    The voice chuckled, and it was neither pleasant nor unpleasant. It was just there; a sound that filled the