I knew the fall wouldn’t be enough to kill him, so I tightened my thighs across one of Ridan’s scales and aimed my pulverizer weapon at Jacen. A look of realization crossed his face as he looked up at me, and without a shred of remorse, I fired a pellet, shooting him in midair. Jacen was reduced to a puff of silvery ashes.
Above, Amane was applying healing magic to Ridan’s eye. In a few minutes, the dragon would be good enough to launch another fiery frenzy at the enemy below. I slid along his shoulder and jumped off, landing on the ground and tumbling forward to reduce the impact on my body.
By the time I was standing again, Darklings and Aeternae were coming at me from all sides. I’d ended up behind enemy lines, with our base camp about twenty yards away and swarming with nothing but fiends. I heard Kalon shouting my name, but there was no time to do anything. My only option was to fight, so I pulled out my knives and started slashing left and right indiscriminately.
We were in over our heads, but we couldn’t give up.
“I am not dying today!” I snapped, slitting an Aeternae’s throat before I slipped one blade between my teeth and tore his heart out with my free hand. I tossed it in an incoming Darkling’s face before I proceeded to cut and fight my way through the mass of enemies, one bastard at a time.
A silver soldier tried to claw at me. I ducked and stabbed him in his armpit. He screamed and froze on the spot—a precious second I used to finish him off. I did my best not to empty the last of my pulverizer clips, but the closer I got to our defense lines, the harder it got.
Leaving a trail of bodies in my wake, I slipped through the crowd and managed to go unnoticed for about a minute. They were all so busy and desperate to breach the Seniors’ barrier, they didn’t even see me coming.
By the time I laid eyes on Mira and Kemi again, I’d risen behind a Darkling. The former Lord and Lady Supreme briefly stepped to the side while I tore the Darkling’s head off and tossed it over my shoulder. Finally, I reached our defense perimeter, but it was obvious we were overwhelmed. Patches of darkness lingered all around. Shadows moved too fast for me to follow. Ghouls growled and yelped as they demanded more of our blood and flesh.
“You’re okay!” Kalon exclaimed when he saw me.
“For now!” I replied, then looked up at Ridan. Amane stayed on the back of his neck, holding tight as the dragon rattled his scales and prepared himself for another infernal round. “Everybody get down!” I screamed.
Our people knew to immediately stop and crouch. Lumi and Kailani cast a defensive shield over our heads—it glimmered gold, like a tulle blanket. It was beautiful and also kept us safe from the blazes that followed as Ridan unleashed his flames on the Aeternae and the Darklings once more.
Some ran away while some perished in the fire. Still more moved back, but Ridan kept scorching everything around him. We were protected by swamp witch magic, but the enemy? They were barbecue material. In the distance, I spotted lines of black smoke dipping into the horizon. Our shuttles were coming. They’d grown bigger and brighter, back in their V-shaped formation.
This was it. We’d made it this far. We had to survive. The end of this ordeal was so close, I could almost taste the peace and the freedom, like sweet ambrosia on the tip of my tongue. I gave Kalon a reassuring smile, my heart still tiny and stiff but beating ravenously for life.
The war wasn’t over yet, but we were close. As dragon fires rose around us, licking at the sky, and the smell of molten flesh and burnt hair and garments returned to haunt me, I felt thankful to be alive. Our combined will to see tomorrow was stronger than the Aeternae’s desire for immortality. Every second that we were out here, we were proving it.
So screw Death. Screw the Spirit Bender. Screw anyone who thinks they can take us down, I thought to myself. We were not as fast or as strong as the Aeternae, but we were resilient, and we were ridiculously hard to kill.
Kelara
Soul had every reason to throw me inside an interdimensional pocket. I couldn’t blame him for his choice. On the contrary, I understood and sympathized. Corbin’s curse had forced me to become something I was not, and I was now a danger to those I cared about the most. The hunger was unbearable, pulsating through me like spasms of death and destruction.
My stomach hurt. My limbs felt cold.
I was alone in this place. It looked like a vast emptiness, not unlike the huge black hole that had settled in the center of my soul. It was quiet, with no distractions, allowing me remarkable clarity. I’d missed this state of calm, regardless of how inexplicable it was that I had it now, in the first place. I welcomed it, because it gave me a chance to bring some order to my chaos-ridden mind.
Outside, the war was raging. Outside, our people were fighting tooth and nail to keep the Aeternae at bay. Unending was out there somewhere, working with Tristan and Thayen to break the seals before Spirit got to her. In here, I had time to think about everything that had happened, including all the decisions that had led to my current predicament.
In more ways than one, I’d done this to myself. I’d willfully engaged in self-sacrifice, knowing that Soul would do more good as a free Reaper than trapped like me. It had to be either him or me, and I didn’t regret my choice. Despite the pain and the agony consuming me, I was at peace with what I had done. I was sorry for attacking Nethissis, but I didn’t have the strength to even look at her anymore.
Her soul shimmered so beautifully, my appetite just flipped on, and that was it. I couldn’t control myself. I knew I couldn’t eat a soul, or I’d go down a path I could never come back from. But holding back had become virtually impossible. Physically speaking, nothing had happened. The sensations that haunted and dominated me, however, felt like torture. The famishment burned my throat and pierced my stomach. The angst made me walk around in circles, my gaze darting all over the place as I instinctively searched for a way out. There wasn’t one.
I was alone here. Just me and my thoughts. I kept going through the same motions over and over and reaching the same conclusions. I felt miserable about my condition while at the same time proud I’d been contained, that I hadn’t fed. And to think only a few months ago, I’d been busy toiling away at one of the Thousand Seals, wondering why Death had chosen me, of all Reapers, to stay there with her and help. Even now, I couldn’t quite wrap my head around the concept. She’d said I was special, but what did that mean?
“As if it matters now.” I scoffed, remembering everything else I’d heard during my hunger daze shortly before the first attack happened and I was let loose.
Everything Death had done and said so far had had an ambivalent stench. On one hand, she’d wanted us to find Unending and free her, to stop the Spirit Bender’s legacy from further affecting the universe. But on the other hand, she’d allowed his return, she’d put limits on Taeral’s ability to help us, and she could see it all through our eyes while she awaited the Unending’s return. It just… it didn’t make sense. What was her angle? What did she want? Why were we pawns on her chessboard, mere players in her cosmic scheme? And what was her damn cosmic scheme, really?
I stilled in the darkness, my ravaged brain finally connecting two dots. “She can see through our eyes,” I whispered. “She… she knows what’s going on. She can’t intervene herself, but she has seen it all. And she’s still holding out on us.”
The farther I got with this line of reasoning, the closer I felt to some form of breakthrough. As if an illuminating idea was just around the corner. At least it was quiet in here, though I would’ve preferred to be out there helping Soul. Helping my friends. Unfortunately, I was of no help to anyone in my current state.
“She can see through us,” I heard myself say. A smile crawled over my lips as I realized I was stringing full sentences together again. The hunger was still there, mercilessly tearing through my spirit, but in here it was… better. “Wait, she can see through us. She can see through me!”
An idea formed in the back of my mind, like a pretty little flower surroun
ded by ghoulish weeds. Turning around a few times, I tried to get a sense of the space around me. The ample nothingness offered little use, but if I could use this silence to my advantage, maybe…
“I could pray to her. I could reach out to her.”
Dropping to my knees, I closed my eyes for a moment. Several deep breaths later, and the world seemed to have stopped spinning. What were the odds that I could get Death to listen to me? I couldn’t do anything in the war beyond this interdimensional pocket, but perhaps I could talk to my maker. I had to make her tell me what was going on. She had so many answers to so many pressing questions.
“Death… I know my eyes are your windows. I know you can see the darkness before me,” I said. “But can you also hear what I hear? Can you hear my voice?”
I waited for a minute or so, wondering whether I should keep going. Skepticism nagged at me, but what other choice did I have?
“There’s a lot about you I still don’t understand. Some of your decisions have been questionable at best. You’ve been sullen and stubborn and downright foolish more than once. Perhaps the mistake was mine to expect more from you. You see, the living see you as a kind of deity. A force to be reckoned with. I guess that comes with the idea of a noble character, a balanced mindset, of an ethical sense that you clearly lack.”
Pausing, I took a deep breath, cautiously looking around. I wasn’t sure it was working, but while I still had the ability to speak, it felt really nice to let it all out for once. These were thoughts I’d been carrying with me for a long time. Thoughts I hadn’t shared with anyone else. Maybe this was the right moment to share them with Death herself. Maybe she could hear me.
And if she didn’t, well, at least I’d have this cathartic experience to comfort me, regardless of what the future might bring.
“I understand now. You’ve been around since… I guess forever. No one explained the basic tenets of existence to you. Everything you learned you picked up by yourself. No one was there to tell you that what you were doing was right or wrong, and I’m inclined to believe that even with an army of Reapers around you—along with your beloved First Tenners—you still do things your own way. I’m confused. I mean, I’m honestly baffled because you’ve let us all down.”
A low wind whistled past me. My undead skin tingled. Was it actually working?
“This is one of those ‘you had one job’ moments.” I chuckled. “All you had to do was be honest and tell us everything. Instead, you’ve allowed us to enter the eye of the storm without a full understanding of what awaited us there. You did that more than once. And now my friends are out there fighting for their lives, for their right to exist as they wish, while you sit on the edge of your frozen water hole, held down by what’s left of the Thousand Seals, and you continue to play with us, as though we’re your puppets. It’s a little embarrassing, I’ll have you know.”
The temperature dropped, and the tingle in my skin concentrated on the back of my neck. Oh, I definitely had her attention. She could hear me, and the universe was reacting to her telepathic presence, even inside this interdimensional pocket.
“I need your help. We need your help. You’ve had your fun, and the Spirit Bender is back, like you wanted. What now, huh? Don’t you want Unending to free you? If he gets to her first, everything will be over. You’ll take ages to emerge again, and in that time, Spirit will have destroyed it all.”
“Kelara, you’re upset.” Death’s voice echoed in the darkness, and I was equal parts excited and furious. I shot to my feet, knees trembling.
“There she is!” I exclaimed, unable to control my snark.
“I’m sorry this happened to you,” she said.
“Screw you, because it’s your fault!”
She laughed lightly. “I’m not the one who walked into a trap.”
“You could’ve let Taeral help us much sooner. Then Spirit would never have returned in the first place, and Soul and I wouldn’t have been without help in the Nightmare Forest!” I shot back.
“There’s one thing you did get right about me, Kelara. I’ll give credit where it’s due,” she said, while I struggled to catch my breath. Being on the line with her this way really pissed me off. “I never had anyone to teach me morals. Right and wrong are abstract notions that I will never personally adhere to. Everything I do is for my own satisfaction.”
I exhaled sharply, shaking my head in dismay. “Okay, so what satisfaction does the Spirit Bender’s return offer you?”
“I get to kill him myself this time,” Death replied.
“You’ve got to be kidding me. If he gets to Unending first, you won’t be able to do a thing. You’re tied up, remember?”
“For now.”
“Oh, come on!” I shouted, exasperated.
“Kelara, I’m reaching out because I heard you. And you made some valid points, whether I want to admit it or not,” she said. “Unending needs your help to succeed.”
That came out of nowhere. “Wait, what?”
“She needs you.”
“How? I’m one soul-munching away from turning into a ghoul, and the only peace and quiet I’ve had since Corbin cursed me has been inside this interdimensional pocket, which, by the way—spoiler alert—I can’t escape! On top of it all, even with Corbin dead, I’m still under the ghoulish hunger’s influence… How the hell am I going to get through any of this?”
She didn’t answer right away, leaving room for my anxiety to spike. There was so much I had to tell her, yet she was giving me a task. An impossible task. How could I help Unending in my current condition? Why me, of all the Reapers under her command?
“Why don’t you get more Reapers involved now?” I asked. “The Aeternae and the Darklings are distracted. GASP shuttles are on their way. The war is raging on Visio. Now’s the time to fortify our front lines with more Reapers! Sure, some might get trapped or something, but all we need is enough of a push to keep the Aeternae at bay until Unending finishes her job!”
“Unending won’t complete her task until you help her,” Death replied, ignoring the rest of my argument. “You managed to tear two rune collars from your neck. How do you think that happened?”
It was my turn to go quiet for a minute or so. “The ghoulish hunger is strong.”
“Nope. That’s not it, Kelara. Why do you think I had you working on the seals with me?”
“You said I was special, but you never really explained why,” I said, crossing my arms. The more I spoke to her, the calmer I felt—which was an odd reaction, considering how badly she’d annoyed me thus far.
“You are special, Kelara. Every day that goes by proves it even more.”
“Okay, but what does it mean?”
“I’m not sure,” she replied, making my eyes roll hard enough to hurt. “I am being truthful now, Kelara. I’m really not sure. I have a couple of theories, but I’d need to have you within my reach again in order to tell you exactly what it is that sets you apart. I need Thieron back in my hands, too, so I can do a reading of your spirit.”
I thought about it for a moment, and I wanted to believe her. I truly wanted to believe her. She’d proven herself untrustworthy, though, and we’d have to resume this conversation another time and under better conditions—provided I wouldn’t turn into a ghoul in the meantime.
“Something tells me that the moment I step out of this pocket, the hunger will come back with a vengeance, so I don’t know how you expect me to help Unending,” I conceded. “That is, of course, assuming I do get out of here.”
“Do you remember the thoughts going through your head when you destroyed one of my Thousand Seals?” she asked, and I found myself nodding. She must’ve sensed my silent response somehow, because she continued. “I need you to channel that precise reasoning again. Latch on to it, make it the single most important aspect of your existence. Only in this case, protecting Unending is your task, not breaking a seal.”
“Gee, you make it sound so easy…”
“It isn�
�t. I can only imagine what that ghoulish hunger must feel like. But I can help you with that,” Death said. That was all I needed to hear. “I just require my freedom back.”
“Say no more,” I replied, bracing myself for whatever came next. “Okay. How do I break out of here?”
Death didn’t rush to answer, but I already knew what she’d say. “I don’t know. That’s up to you to find out.”
“I hate you,” I declared through gritted teeth.
“I was never lovable in the first place,” Death replied dryly. “Figure it out, Kelara. You’re one of the most capable Reapers I have ever met. That has to count for something. Soul’s power is not absolute. His interdimensional pockets are not inescapable. There’s more than one access point in and out of them. If you focus, if you allow yourself to see through the pocket’s membrane, you’ll see other parts of the world where you can go, instead of Roano. That includes any location closer to Unending, as long as you aim your mind at her. You need sheer force to leave this place. The way in which you found the strength to break your rune collars will be the way in which you’ll get out of there.”
My shoulders dropped. That meant letting the hunger take over again.
“How do I help Unending once I get to her?” I asked.
“You’ll know what to do when you get there. Spirit is getting a little too close for comfort. She’s broken two seals already, with Tristan’s help, but if Spirit catches her before the third… let’s just say you don’t want to even hear the possible repercussions.”
“That just reinforces my previous statement about how you allowed this whole thing to get out of hand, but okay,” I said. “Mark my words—if we get out of this the right way, you and me… we’re going to have a long talk.”
I felt her presence suddenly leaving my soul. She’d hung up on me.
A Shade of Vampire 86: A Break of Seals Page 12