Souls and Sentience

Minutes after the battle had ended, Damon saw the council exit the tree line.

Damon himself was resting on the ground. Although it was charred beyond recognition, it was better than nothing. Behind him, his knights were absorbing more universal energy to recover.

The council landed and Cassandra stepped forward.

"How did it go?"

Damon grimaced in response. "Although we won, it was really only due to the element of surprise. The knights were able to steamroll because they had the advantage of numbers and overwhelmed their Psykers. In the future, the Old Guard will be able to plan against and counter them."

Although Cassandra was a bit disappointed, this result was to be expected. Afterall, what can artifacts do against fully cognizant humans with souls?

"It's likely that this battle was initiated just to see how strong the knights were. We should plan to end this war soon, before the Old Guard are able to fully counter your artifacts." Cassandra concluded.

Damon nodded with a pondering expression. "Stay hidden until I can get ready. I'll be upgrading the knights some but I'm not sure how long it will take. In a month, we can meet again."

Cassandra looked hopeful as she withdrew a scroll from her bag.

"This is an artifact that we stole from the Old Guard. It will allow one person to write on it and the other will see the message on their scroll. Tell us when and where you want to meet, once you're ready."

Damon inspected the scroll as the council prepared to leave. It had golden edges and a black pen attached to it.

Suddenly, an old man turned to Damon and bowed.

"My name is Earl and I am Miss Cassandra's retainer. I would like to thank you for your help. I've always been too weak to truly make a difference in the fight with the Old Guard."

Damon inspected the man using spirit vision and found something peculiar. Although he was a Saint, his soul was bleak and dim.

'Is it an injury or some sort of condition?' Damon wondered.

"There's no need to thank me. I'm doing this because I want to see humanity rule the world once more. Nothing more and nothing less." Damon said righteously.

Some of the members of the council looked impressed while others seemed suspicious.

Either way, they all followed Cassandra's lead as they flew away.

—

At the manor, a man with black hair and purple eyes was working on a group of golden knights.

Damon was attempting to upgrade the knights but he kept running into the same problem. The knights simply couldn't circulate universal energy outside of their body due to their lack of a soul. The programming he had given them, however, acted as a sort of mind which allowed them to fight smoothly.

They were unable to keep up with humans unless they can use their universal energy in varied ways. So now, there were two paths he could tread down. He could take a big risk, and try to make the knights into living beings. This way they would have a soul, be much more intelligent, and be able to grow stronger as time goes on.

Or he could play it safe and strengthen the energy capacity and physical body of the knights. This would make them a deadly front-line fighting force that could best most humans in combat.

As Damon thought it over, he came to a realization.

'Why choose when I can have both?'

He could slowly experiment with upgrading a few knights into lifeforms, while he kept the rest as artifacts.

With this in mind, Damon approached the first two knights he had ever made. He inspected them as he thought of the best way to make them sentient and living creatures.

With the other artifacts he had made, he used a set of programming in order to control them. But now, he would need something more powerful. Something that could enforce loyalty but also allow the knights to grow and develop.

'Every living being I have come across has had a soul. Could I split off a portion of my soul and give it to each knight? That would solve the issue of growth as they could cultivate normally now.' Damon theorized.

"Would that work, James?"

Their was a brief pause before James responded. 'That will work fine, just remember to make them sentient by allowing them to self-replicate. It would all be for naught if you didn't give them balance and thus a consciousness.'

Damon grabbed onto one of the knights as he imagined himself to be tearing a part of his soul off.

"AHHHHHHHH!" He screamed as excruciating pain invaded his mind.

Damon slowly began to see stars as his soul finally separated from it's smaller piece. All of the strength in his body felt like it was being drained away.

Before the stars completely consumed his vision, however, Damon was able to inject his soul fragment into the knight's core.

Thud!

Damon completely blacked out.

---

A dull throbbing pervaded Damon's mind as he began to sit up.

When he tried to get up, however, Damon felt unfamiliar with his body. He fully stood up but immediately...

Thud!

Damon stumbled down onto the grass. His whole body felt like the nerves and connections were cut off. Like it was a sleepy limb.

"James! Are these the side-effects?" Damon shouted angrily.

'There are minor side-effects. Since you tore your soul apart, it is taking time to recover. But you are different than a mortal. Gods have all parts of their being connected within the Divine Spark. A disruption in one part will inevitably effect the other parts.'

Damon breathed in deeply as he grit his teeth. "Then why, for the love of God, did you not say anything about it?"

'The side effects aren't well researched and I merely wanted to see the results for myself. Afterall, who in their right mind would tear their soul apart when they have technology that can replicate their soul? They wouldn't happen to be stuck with a member of a backwater world who only knows how to swing a sword, right?'

Damon swore that he could hear a hidden mirth and heavy layer of sarcasm.

"James!"