“Esme, thank you,” Kalon said after a minute or so.
I was confused. “What for?”
“You didn’t give up on me,” he replied. “You got Nightmare to get inside my head.”
“It’s true. If it weren’t for you, I doubt any of us would’ve thought about it,” Sofia said, giving me a warm smile. “Your relentlessness might save us all.”
My cheeks were on fire. I thrived on positive feedback, but I didn’t feel like I’d accomplished something extraordinary here. Not anything praiseworthy, anyway. After all, this whole thing had ended with Kalon ripping out his own mother’s heart. That would stay with him forever.
“I did the best I could with what we had. Besides, Nightmare did all the work,” I mumbled.
“I would be screwed if it weren’t for you,” Kalon insisted, slipping an arm around my shoulders and pulling me closer. The painful pang in my heart reminded me of the cruel reality we’d yet to escape.
“You’re still screwed,” I said, pointing at one of the dark veins.
“We’ll get through this,” Ansel replied, trying to encourage his older brother. The teenager was terrified, and he wasn’t very good at hiding it, but he got bonus points in my book for trying. Tudyk and Moore looked to him for comfort and guidance, so Ansel had to be their rock. There was great potential in all the Visentis boys, especially in the absence of their mother’s toxic influence. I’d promised myself I’d do whatever it took for them to have a better future.
Time came back, but the look on his face made me feel uneasy. “We have a situation,” he said. I instantly shot to my feet.
“What’s wrong?”
“Your brother,” Time replied. “He’s not waking up. Neither is Valaine.”
My heart stopped. I clutched my chest as I stared at the Time Master. “What do you mean he’s not waking up?”
“You’ll need to see this for yourself to fully understand.” He stepped aside so I could walk out the door first.
I took a moment to hold the others back, as the Visentis boys, Kalon included, were already preparing to get up and join me. “No, all of you stay here. Remember the Black Fever? Yeah, it’s still up there, so maybe don’t make things worse. Your older brother is temporarily contained. Valaine isn’t.”
Derek and Sofia sprang to their feet. I looked at them, blinking rapidly as I tried to formulate a response. These were our leaders. It wasn’t like I could tell them what to do, even though I didn’t want them anywhere near the Black Fever. Valaine’s condition was critical, her darkness capable of infecting and even killing vampires. The curse had repeatedly stuck better to the Aeternae, but we were still susceptible to infection, and the last thing we needed was to find out that we, too, had become unable to shake it off once it affected us.
“Just keep some distance,” I told Derek and Sofia. “He’s my brother, so I have to go, but you… you don’t. Okay?”
Kalon pulled himself up to a standing position. He wobbled for a moment, but Ansel was quick to support him. “Esme, be careful,” Kalon said, his brow furrowed.
I hugged him tight, putting all the love I had into this single gesture. It was all I could do to try to reassure him. I had every intention of coming back to him, so that we could try our luck at an eternity together someday, but until then there were still a few hurdles to jump over.
“And you be safe down here.” I kissed him. It felt good to soften in his arms like this. I would’ve given anything to have this moment last forever. Alas, time was not on our side. The Reaper was, but his patron dimension wasn’t. I looked at Ansel, Tudyk, and Moore. “You kids be good, okay? I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
“We’ll both be back,” Time reminded me. “I need to put Kalon under again.”
Derek, Sofia, and I followed the Reaper upstairs. Every step I climbed brought me closer to the source of my anxiety. By the time I entered the interdimensional pocket, I was shaking like I’d walked into a Dhaxanian freezer. It got worse when I saw my brother.
“Oh, wow…” I heard myself mumble. “What the…”
“He’s been like this for hours,” Lumi said. She looked worried, and I couldn’t blame her.
My brother sat with his legs crossed, unconscious and stiff as a board. Most importantly, he was glowing, as if pure light flowed through his veins. Valaine seemed to be suffering from a similar condition, and I wasn’t sure what to make of it. Once Dream and Lumi filled me in on the trigger spell that Spirit had hidden inside Unending’s subconscious, a whole new sense of terror came over me, and I found it harder to stand upright.
Sinking down, I settled on my knees next to Tristan, staring at him and wondering if there was anything I could do to help him. What could I do? This was Reaper territory. I had no knowledge or any understanding of how any of this worked.
“We’ve tried waking him up,” Phantom said.
Morning gave us a faint nod. “We tried getting back inside Unending’s head, as well. But she’s not letting us through.”
My pulse rushed, making my ears hum. I was freefalling, even though my knees were firmly planted on the hard floor. “She’s not letting you through.” I repeated her statement with a shaky voice. Whatever was happening, the Unending had to be behind it. “What if she triggers that spell thing?” I asked, gazing up at Lumi.
I’d hoped for a better answer than the one I got. “She’ll wipe us all out. No discrimination whatsoever,” the swamp witch said.
“Even from inside the interdimensional pocket?” I shifted my focus to Time. Soul wasn’t here to answer, but all of the Reapers knew the extent of his powers.
“There’s a chance it’ll overpower the Soul Crusher,” Time said. “It’s worth considering the risk, though I can’t say for sure. Something tells me Soul can’t either. We’ve never dealt with anything like this before, and there are many unknowns.”
“What do we do, then?” I croaked, the thought of losing my brother suddenly the most powerful force inside me. It felt like a hurricane trapped in a bottle, raging and roaring, desperate to get out. My bones hurt. My muscles twitched. My very soul bled, because I couldn’t even fathom an existence without Tristan in it.
I’d nearly lost him once, back in the tunnel. I wasn’t ready to go through that, or worse, ever again. Time placed a hand on my shoulder, squeezing gently. “We wait,” he said. “I’ll take care of Kalon, but you should try to talk to your brother. Maybe the sound of your voice will break through whatever wall Unending might have put up. It’s worth a shot.”
“Should we consider evacuating Roano?” Sofia asked.
“Not yet,” Time replied. “I’m not getting a negative sense from Unending right now. Should that change, you’ll be the first to know.”
Derek frowned. “What about GASP? I mean, if the Unending is at this critical point, shouldn’t we use all our forces to evacuate as many people as possible off the planet before the Black Fever is fully unleashed?”
“Perhaps a little more faith in our sister wouldn’t hurt,” Phantom cut in, sounding slightly offended. “She’s trying hard to come back to us.”
“I know she is. And as you can see, we’re all here, ready to protect her,” Derek replied. “But if she becomes a threat to all that is living on Visio, I have to consider a large-scale evacuation.”
“Good luck with getting the Darklings on board with that,” Lumi grumbled. “Listen. As much as I hate it, I actually kind of agree with Phantom on this. I think we should give Unending a little bit more credit here. If anything, Phantom can work with Soul to fortify this interdimensional pocket, just to be safe. Would that be an option, Time Master?”
The Reaper nodded once. “It’s an acceptable, albeit temporary, solution.”
“Okay. Let’s see where this takes us,” Derek said. “I’ll keep GASP in the loop in the meantime. If push comes to shove, we’ll have to notify the empire so that they can hold their airships back long enough for us to assist with an evacuation.”
I doubted Corbin would allow such an operation to take place. His main objective was to kill Valaine, after all. What a cruel and ugly pattern this was—Darklings killing their own children in order to live forever. Looking at Tristan now, I realized how lucky the two of us had been growing up in The Shade, surrounded by love and kindness and tolerance.
Taking a deep breath, I took my brother’s hand and held it tightly. The light shimmering within made my skin tingle, but I didn’t let go. Something was definitely happening to him, and I needed to be here to remind him that we were stronger together.
“Tristan,” I said. “I am waiting for you to wake up, brother.”
I stole a glance at Time, who gave me a faint smile. I took it as a mute encouragement and moved my attention back to Tristan.
“I’m here, just so you know,” I continued. “I’m here, and we’ll cross this bridge together, Tristan. Okay? No matter how shoddy it is. We promised each other that, remember?”
He couldn’t answer in his condition, but I hoped he might at least hear me. He’d suffered enough. We all needed a damn break. Glancing at Valaine for a second, I found myself praying to all the mysterious forces that powered the universe, asking them for one single break.
One single break so that we might all survive this. We’d earned that much.
Tristan
“I remember now.” Unending’s voice came through. “I remember it all.”
Colors danced around us, whirling senselessly for hours on end. I said nothing. Mesmerized by the millions of shades, I could only stand in silence and marvel at what was going through the Unending’s head. We’d made it past the darkness, and we’d found all her memories. I couldn’t see her anymore, but I knew she was in here with me.
“I can’t focus,” she said. “There is so much I have seen. So much I have experienced.”
The colors were starting to make more sense. I was standing in the middle of a tornado of memories, and Unending was having a hard time finding one to hold on to. As if the two of us had been eternally bound, I felt my hand reaching out. If she couldn’t find her focus, I would have to do it for her. We were nearing the end of our journey, and we had to return to the real world, preferably sooner rather than later.
I picked the brightest spot I could find. My fingers splayed and clutched the memory, bringing it to a sudden stop. The moment I let go of it, the brightness burst and expanded. Moments later, I was hurtling toward a planet at a terrifying speed. I was scared, my breath short, but I was also angry and in a lot of pain. Tears flew from my eyes. Flames surrounded me, furiously crackling as I breached the atmosphere.
Unending’s voice sounded in my head. “Tristan, this is the day I arrived on Visio.” It dawned on me that I was seeing it all through her eyes, like I had in the beginning. “I’m grieving and crying… I’ve been wandering through the universe for what feels like forever.”
The upper winds roared as we broke through. My bones ached, but I found relief in the wondrous blue sky that surrounded me as I began my slow descent.
“This place stood out for some reason. I think it was its beauty,” she continued. “Its unparalleled beauty.”
I saw it, too. The Visio of five million years ago was different from the one I knew now. More water, less landmass. Its oceans retained their dark blue hue. Its hills rolled on and on, covered in thick woods. Its plains rippled with tall grass and wildflowers. Its mountains rose proudly with snow-covered peaks and sharp, stony ridges. Yes, I saw its beauty through the Unending’s eyes, and I understood why she’d fallen in love with this place.
“The Trakkians were curious and wonderful creatures,” she said as we landed in the middle of a sprawling city with marble towers that looked to the east, the west, the north, and the south. This was Roano, I realized, in its earliest days. It was much smaller than its present-day version. Smaller than what it was two million years ago, as well. Overlooking the ocean, it was home to thousands of pre-Aeternae known as Trakkians.
The day the Unending had come had been recorded in history, and I could certainly see why. The Trakkians gathered around slowly, warily, as if the wrong move might get them obliterated. Their reserve made sense. After all, this powerful creature had just come down from the heavens.
“They welcomed me,” Unending said. “As soon as they looked into my eyes, they understood that there was no reason for them to be afraid. I’d come to say hello, to learn more about them, to see how they lived. I’d spent a long time wandering through space with no particular direction, so Visio felt like a good place to stop and get my bearings.”
I watched the years go by as the Trakkians, led by Mira and Kemi, built their shrines in Roano and in every other major city. Altars for worshipping the Unending rose in small towns and villages, too. Wherever there was a Trakkian alive, there would be an effigy of the first Reaper they knew as Eternity.
“I never bothered to correct them. I didn’t feel like they needed to know my real name. After a while, I started working my magic. A healing here. A river dam there. Every spell that affected the physical realm could be found in my arsenal. I couldn’t bring the dead back to life. I couldn’t do impossible things, of course, but I did what I could to make the Trakkians happy.”
Now I sat on a throne in the imperial city, hundreds of miles south of Roano. The palace looked different, with lots of open-air spaces and wide terraces. Hanging gardens adorned the façade, and ivy-like splendors grew across the walls in shades of lime and spruce green.
“This was my first time sitting on this gilded throne,” Unending said. Before us, the Trakkians gathered, bringing offerings of flowers and jewels, precious gemstones and fine silks—all the best that Visio’s craftsmen had to offer. “They made me their Lady Supreme, and I accepted. They wanted me to lead them, and they listened to my advice. In return for their love and adoration, I gave them immortality. I admit, it felt really nice. So nice, in fact, that I became emotionally addicted to their attention. I thrived on it. I’m not proud of it now, but… you know.”
I saw my hand reach out, my delicate fingers splayed once more. Tiny specks of light came out, like millions of wandering fireflies. They spread and dissolved into the Trakkians, melting into their pearlescent skin. With each deep breath, they became immortal. They became Aeternae. I was witnessing one of the Unending’s greatest achievements—and the moment that would eventually lead to the creation of vampires, in another plane, in another world. How strange that it had all started here, with a Reaper’s broken heart.
Mira was the first to bend her knee before the Lady Supreme Eternity. The first Aeternae, too. Kemi was next, followed by all the others. I saw Arya and others who’d survived all the way up to our mission in Roano. It was a chilling scene. More than half of these people would die, while the other half would live up to five million years, begging to be allowed to surrender their lives.
As wondrous as it looked now, the light and grace of this moment withered when the Unending became a prisoner. All I could do was watch and learn from her experiences as she remembered it all, piece by piece. I was stuck inside her consciousness, seeing and feeling everything she’d been through while the world unfolded in a stunning time lapse from the earliest days of the empire down to the moment she was sealed inside the body of an Aeternae.
“This was my safe haven,” Unending said, as the Spirit Bender brought down his blade and struck her. I felt myself coming apart into a cloud of restless, aimless atoms. She’d lost her form, and she was being absorbed into the very fabric of Visio. “This was my home. I’d come here to get away from Death and her betrayal. I’d come here to mend my soul. Truth be told, I wasn’t sure I would ever be able to love again. I’d thought Erethiel had been my one and only.”
I disappeared, and my singular point of view vanished. A second later, I could see everything. I’d become a part of Visio, and I was able to see, hear, and feel everything through it. It was an overwhelming sensation, and it would take a long time for me to
get used to it all.
“But the Aeternae I’d created betrayed me. The one who killed my lover hurt me even more. I was rendered helpless, trapped in a purgatory of my own making. If only I’d steered clear of this place. If only I’d wandered some more, so that the Spirit Bender wouldn’t find me.”
It was too late for such regrets, and deep down, Unending knew it. Good things had come from what she thought was her greatest mistake. We, the vampires, had returned to our origins, and we were ready to let her go.
“I became a sliver inside my own artwork, cursed to experience everything without ever walking away from it,” she said. “Yes, I see it now. The loneliness. The rage. The disappointment. It’s how the onset of Black Fever began…”
Knowledge washed over me like ice water. The chills went deep, into my bones, making me tense. I felt everything she’d felt. I was trapped, like she was. But I knew everything now. I saw the moves the Spirit Bender had made. I heard the words and sub-words he used against her. I understood who the Unending was, and what could be done to set her free.
From every loss, gains had been made. From every death, life had been brought forth. From every failure, we had come one step closer to victory. As the memories kept playing out before me, I found comfort in the thought that soon the Unending would walk this world in her true form once again.
The First Reaper would return, and there was nothing the Darklings could do to stop it. We’d passed the final milestone, and we were rushing toward the finish line.
A Shade of Vampire 85: A Shard of Soul Page 8