“Not again!” Arya blurted, her eyes big and round.
“They’ll find their way back to the palace eventually. You’ve done this dance before, sweetie,” Spirit replied. “I cannot rely on your Lord and Lady Supreme for this, but I will not topple your leadership. I leave the politics to you. What I’m interested in is knowing whether any of you are willing to do as I ask.”
“So we bend the knee, and you teach us how to keep Eternity under control?” Arya asked. She gripped the long knife tightly, her knuckles turning white. She’d kept her mouth shut about the first seal and what she’d seen, but she wasn’t fully on board with Spirit’s plan—not yet, anyway. This had to be the tipping point for her. She’d gone with the flow until now, but Spirit was asking for her active participation going forward. It was different.
“Yes. Swear fealty. You’ll be making a pact with a Reaper. You will never be able to break this bond, and you will always follow my will and instructions,” he said. “I can teach you everything I know. I can make sure you all survive, and that Eternity never sees the light of day again. But before I do that, I obviously need to make sure you can be trusted.”
Arya and the noblemen exchanged a few brief glances before she ultimately conceded and dropped to her knee.
“Ugh, I saw this one coming,” I mumbled, finally accepting the terrible truth that had been hiding beneath Arya’s pleasant smile and willingness to help GASP. Mira and Kemi had no idea, but she’d sold us all out long before we’d even landed on Visio.
“The very first Darkling,” Valaine said, sadness dripping from her voice.
“My friends—they don’t know!” I replied.
“I will serve you,” Arya said. “Until my dying breath. Beyond eternity.”
Spirit smiled as the remaining noblemen joined Arya on one knee, swearing their fealty to him. These were the first of their kind, the founders of the Darkling movement. The servants of the Spirit Bender and perpetrators of heinous death magic designed to keep Death and her agents at bay while he developed his plot with Brendel and the Hermessi.
“Good to see so many of you still have sense,” he said, motioning for them to stand up. “There is a lot of work ahead. Many obstacles to overcome. The entity I serve must never know what happened here. The same goes for other Reapers who may soon come or are already here. I’ve gotten rid of some, but you’ll have to pick up where I left off, and quickly.”
“Other Reapers?” Arya asked, raising her eyebrows.
“You’ve lost thousands of Aeternae already. What do you think happens to their souls?” he asked, but his question was only met with silence. “Good grief, you people have a lot to learn. Anyway, first things first.”
Spirit whispered into Unending’s scythe. Its blade shone red as he gently pressed it against Arya’s belly. Crimson light burst inside her, glowing through her flesh and dress. She gasped as she looked down, then gave the Reaper a confused look.
“You are with child, my dear,” Spirit said, amused. “And your child will be the physical manifestation of Eternity.”
“What?” she croaked, unable to follow. I wasn’t surprised. We’d had a hard time understanding exactly how the three seals worked from the very beginning.
“To stop the Black Fever, albeit temporarily, I’ve bound Eternity to a physical body,” Spirit explained. “She will be born. Her incarnation will have no knowledge of who she is. For as long as it’s possible, she will live in sheer bliss.”
“So she’ll be one of us. My child,” Arya murmured, deeply conflicted. I could tell that she was no longer sure about this.
“Yes. But Eternity is very powerful. This third seal might not be enough to keep the Black Fever at bay forever,” Spirit said, running a hand through his hair.
“What does that mean?” she asked.
“It means you might have to kill your child someday to restart the cycle. It’s how I designed the seal. Every reincarnation holds the Eternity’s power under control and in a dormant state. Should she struggle, should she awaken beneath it, you will see symptoms of her wrath and suffering. You will see a return of the Black Fever. You’ll have to kill her, so she can be born again.”
“Good grief…” Arya mumbled. She was horrified, and she had every reason to feel that way. First, she’d just learned that she was pregnant. Second, she’d just been told that she might have to kill her child someday.
“That may not happen for a few millennia, at least. We won’t know for sure until… well, until it happens,” Spirit replied.
“This is a sacrifice you’re asking of me,” Arya said. “To kill my own child so that my people can survive.”
The irony of it didn’t escape me. It was a recurring theme among the Darklings. Mothers committing the unimaginable evil for the survival of their species. Their child’s life for the lives of their people. What an awful condition to abide…
Spirit offered an unsympathetic shrug. “And you’re asking to live forever. Surely, you didn’t think it would come with no strings attached. Besides, the chances of… oh…” His voice trailed off as he looked around at the other nobles. Several of the women present had a red glow coming from their bellies. Arya wasn’t the only one, and Spirit seemed surprised, if not a little troubled. “This is odd…”
He looked at Unending’s scythe, its blade still carrying a scarlet shimmer that gradually faded. Arya glanced back and noticed the other Aeternae women. “What’s going on?” she asked.
“I may have used the wrong sub-word for this,” Spirit grumbled.
“How so?”
“You’re not the only one with child, first of all. And I think my seal used all your unborn children to stick,” Spirit replied. “Basically, yours might not be the one to be born as Eternity. It could be one of theirs. We won’t know for sure until much later.”
An Aeternae noblewoman with long blonde hair and inquisitive green eyes stepped forward. “You mean to tell us you don’t know which of us was chosen to carry Eternity’s incarnation to term?”
“Yes. Sorry,” Spirit said.
“Kemi was right. You’ve been winging it this whole time,” one of the noblemen muttered. Arya reached him in a flash and cut off his head with her long knife. The others gasped, but no one jumped to his defense. He collapsed, his bloody head rolling on the mirrored floor.
“The Spirit Bender is our lord and master,” Arya declared, wiping the knife on her dress. “We will do his bidding so that the Aeternae might live forever. Eternity gave us a precious gift, and we will forever be thankful, but she wanted to take it away. The Spirit Bender is helping us keep it. And we must do as he bids us in return.”
“You killed him,” the blonde Aeternae woman breathed, still wrapping her head around what had just happened.
“And I will do the same to anyone who disrespects or betrays our master,” Arya replied bluntly. “I have forsaken many parts of myself to live forever, and many of you might feel the same way. We cannot let the bogus self-righteousness of a few spoil the future we’ve already sacrificed so much for. Are you with me?” she asked, but no one answered, so she raised her voice and asked again. “Are you with me?!”
Eventually, they all nodded their tacit agreement, while the Spirit Bender chuckled, clearly satisfied with the outcome. “Your Lord and Lady Supreme—I doubt they’ll see things your way,” he said.
“They will never know,” Arya declared. “We’ll keep it from them. For their own good.”
“What of the others? What if there are more people on their side than on yours? The Aeternae seem rather conflicted at this point,” Spirit replied.
“Then we’ll figure out a way to push through,” Arya insisted. “If you teach us everything we need to know, nothing will stand in our way. The others won’t even need to know Eternity’s role in the Black Fever. I’m confident that time will heal most wounds. It will cover the truth, and we shall build a new civilization. A better world. One that will last forever.”
“I lik
e you, Arya. You’ve got foresight. It’s not often that I come across a visionary such as yourself,” Spirit said, fumbling through his coat pocket. He took out the ring he’d made with Unending’s second seal and put it on her finger. “You will be my Master of Darkness. My loyal servant. My friend. My disciple. Here…” He gave her the Unending’s scythe, as well. “Let the ring be the mark of your leadership. Let Unending’s scythe be a reminder to you and your colleagues of the sacrifices that must be made for your species’ survival.”
The shadow of a smile danced across Arya’s face as she looked at the ring and the scythe. “This… this feels strange, milord.”
“It’s the power of death coursing through your veins,” Spirit said. “The scythe of a Reaper is a powerful weapon in the hands of those who know how to wield it. I will teach you everything I know, Arya. I will give you all the tools you need to take your people to glory and beyond. Most importantly, I will help you make sure Eternity never regains her memories or freedom ever again.”
The air thickened with a peculiar pressure as the earthquake died down. The third seal had fallen into place, and the Unending had been stripped of her consciousness. She’d been bound to a body, soon to be born as Keryn, the first incarnation. There was nothing but pain and suffering ahead for her. Mira and Kemi would try to fight the Darklings off, but without knowing that Arya was their first and true leader, they would fail over and over.
There was nothing more dangerous than a foe disguised as a friend.
This was the pivotal moment in the history of the Aeternae, when a handful became Darklings and disciples of the Spirit Bender—dedicating their lives to learning the arts of death magic and making sure the Unending never regained her full consciousness. From this point on, every ten millennia or so, the Darklings would begin to spot the signs and rush to identify the Unending before the Black Fever would wipe them all out.
They would pay attention through their network of spies. They would keep their identities secret, working in the shadows. They’d try to advance into the public eye, as well, but Mira and Kemi wouldn’t allow it. What a tormented world this was.
“How do we break the third seal?” I asked Valaine. “We’ve seen it now, but I don’t know how to break it.”
As if having considered my question, Spirit nodded at the scythe in Arya’s hand. “There are three sigils in place, now, Master of Darkness. The order in which they were made is not the same as the order in which they can be broken. Your primary duty is to make sure they’re never broken.”
“None of us here would dare do such a thing,” Arya replied.
“Do not underestimate those stubborn enough to bring about the end of their species in order to attain redemption. Mira and Kemi will take the opportunity if you give it to them,” Spirit said.
One of the noblemen cursed under his breath. “Perhaps we should just kill them.”
“Don’t be an idiot!” Arya hissed. “We are better than that.”
“He might beg to differ.” Spirit chuckled, nodding at the dead nobleman’s head.
“He is a statement to all those present,” Arya replied. “Have faith in me, milord. I will lead us down the right path. Our Lord and Lady Supreme will never know of my involvement. They trust me, and that will come in handy later. Like I said, public opinion is frayed and fractured right now. If we’re to do this, we must make sure history does not remember today or what came before.” She paused, turning to face the Spirit Bender again. “How can one break the seals?”
The Reaper pointed at Unending’s scythe. “That holds the key. First, ownership must be taken of the blade to destroy the ring. Consider it a double whammy, if you will. That will break the first and second seals.”
“And the third?”
“The vessel must be killed after the ring is destroyed.”
Silence settled over the room, as the devastating truth sank in. My heart broke. I could feel it coming apart, as if it had been made from porcelain. The one thing I’d hoped to avoid was our only way to release the Unending.
“Valaine must die,” I said. The gravity of my words felt like a hammer to the chest.
“A sacrifice is necessary,” Valaine replied, slowly shifting into the Unending again. “Valaine won’t really die, Tristan. She is a part of me, and I am her. All that dies is the body. Or as Spirit calls it, the vessel.”
“It doesn’t change the reality of what we’re facing.”
Corbin had the scythe and the ring as Master of Darkness. We had to get to those first before… killing Valaine. The pain was dull but persistent. My entire being ached, and I wondered if Valaine was listening. If she, too, had become aware of what needed to be done.
In here, Valaine and the Unending were the same. But out there, they were still worlds apart despite sharing the same body. The woman I’d fallen in love with, whose lips I’d felt on mine, whose heart I’d heard beating in sweet unison with my own—she was fated to die.
Of all the things the Spirit Bender had done in service of his own agenda, this was certainly the worst. For a moment, I wanted to turn back and leave. The temptation to drop everything and run away with Valaine was remarkably strong. But I could never bring myself to actually do it. Too many people had died because of this whole mess, and many more would soon perish, unless we freed the Unending, who I also loved with equal force.
We had to wake up now. Our people needed to know about Arya. She’d been pretending to be an ally for quite a while. Mira and Kemi were in the dark, and Arya had access to our secrets and most precious elements. Arya had access to Roano and Thayen.
This was strange and awful.
But it was also the only way forward.
Sofia
Dread consumed me with the hunger of a devastating wildfire, only it burned cold. It sent shivers coursing through me, making my skin crawl as I understood the implications of Danika’s message.
She knew about Roano. That meant she would figure out a way to get past the protections. She was coming for Thayen.
I bolted out of the north tower and ran to Thayen’s shelter in the old city center, where I’d left him in Kalla’s care. My heart thumped, sending shockwaves of pain through my ribcage. Cold sweat dripped down my face as my mind struggled to calculate all the possible scenarios. What if Danika knew exactly how to get to Thayen? What if she was already here, somehow hidden in plain sight?
The Darklings’ knowledge of occult death magic—the kind that not even Death herself had come up with—made them incredibly dangerous. There wasn’t enough in our arsenal of ideas and capabilities to help us withstand a full-on attack. Our only hope was with the Unending, and her awakening was obviously taking longer than I’d hoped, even inside the bubble that Soul and Time had put together.
I ran as fast as my legs could carry me, darting like a shadow through the cobbled alleyways of Roano. Derek was with Amal, Rose, and Caleb, drawing up the final details of our defense plans in case Corbin found his way to us—but Corbin paled in comparison to what Danika could do. I’d never seen a creature as determined as she was. Even with the burns that Ridan had inflicted on her, she’d still found the strength to push through with her machinations. Thayen was her ultimate target, and we were the only ones who could protect the boy.
Horror stiffened my joints as I approached the shelter and didn’t see Thayen or Kalla immediately. I burned hot and cold at the same time, and I called out to them.
“Thayen! Kalla! Where are you?!”
Our crews were mobilizing within the city. The Seniors were coming back from the surrounding areas and the Nightmare Forest. They’d all heard about Danika by now, and they were determined to make sure she didn’t get anywhere near Thayen. While I appreciated their assistance, I feared they weren’t enough to keep that maniac at bay. Dragon fire hadn’t put her down, so what would?
“In here.” Thayen’s voice made me come to a sudden halt. He emerged from the makeshift tent with a curious look on his face. Relief washed ov
er me, and I nearly lost my footing. My knees were so weak I could barely stand.
“Thank the stars…” I mumbled.
“What’s wrong?” Kalla asked, joining him outside.
“Danika,” I said. “She knows where we are. She left a message for Esme in the village, along with two Whip bodies. She’s collected more soul shards.”
Thayen frowned, his breath accelerating as he processed the news. “She’s coming for me.”
“I’m not going to let anything happen to you,” I told him, firmly gripping his shoulders as I knelt in front of him. “Do you hear me, Thayen? She won’t lay a hand on you.”
He gave me a weak smile. “I know you’ll do everything in your power to stop her, Sofia.”
“What can we do?” Kalla asked, hands resting on her hips. “I don’t want to see that bitch anywhere near us.”
“I’m not sure what else can be done,” I said. “Time and the other Reapers fortified the city’s defensive shield. Kailani and Lumi did their part, too. Word and death magic have been combined to protect Roano from the Darklings, but since we don’t know how far they can push their occult knowledge, I’m not sure if what we’ve done will hold.”
Kalla sighed deeply, taking a moment to glance at Thayen. “We need to put contingencies in place. An escape plan. Danika will be coming for all the shards we have, not just the boy’s,” she replied.
“I have Ramus’s and Petra’s,” I said. “Amane left them in my care before she left. Unfortunately, it’s all we were able to gather so far.”
“Yeah, I heard about the failed desert mission,” Kalla grumbled. “These bastards are still one step ahead of us, and I cannot for the life of me understand how.”
“Maybe someone told them,” Thayen suggested.
“Who? We’re all allies here,” I said. The prospect of a traitor among us terrified me so much that I couldn’t even bring myself to accept it as a real possibility. “Derek is on his way here with Mira and Kemi. They might have some suggestions. I admit, my head’s a mess right now.”
A Shade of Vampire 85: A Shard of Soul Page 22