Chapter Text
The amalgat shrieks fury from tens of gaping jaws as her hands rip apart its chest. Or rather, the blackened, rotted flesh and fused bone of what could be considered an abdomen. But by now it’s a pitiful sound, a death rattle protesting a fate already sealed. She reaches into the cavity and gropes blindly, ignoring the stench of decay and the feel of slick meat under her fingers. Eventually she finds what she’s looking for. She hauls a faintly glowing, translucent, and colorless mass out of the amalgat’s body. With one last shudder the creature finally lies still and silent. Panting, she watches vague grey shapes shift and swirl in the mass. She unhooks the lantern from her belt.
It’s arduous work, forcing the conglomerate of souls into the lantern. Altogether the mass is almost half her size, and the lantern’s opening is about as big as an eyeball. Handling the barely substantial souls would be hard enough, even if they didn’t writhe in her hands. But she manages. She always does. A prod of her finger drives the last whimpering soul into the lantern’s door. With the click the latch snaps shut behind it, trapping it inside.
The lantern glows brighter.