A Shade of Vampire 87: A Shade of Mystery

by Forrest, Bella

  “Wow.”

  She glanced toward Rothko. “The other Hermessi could never reach it. It’s an elusive force. It is undefined and uncontrolled. No one really knows what it does, but there was once a species of fae that were deeply connected to it.”

  “How have I never heard of them? Why have the fae themselves never heard of them? No one ever brought this up!” I exclaimed, my heart pounding with excitement as we resumed our walk toward the green-and-white world. One side was covered in the darkness of the night. Out there, a small moon hovered, sparkling like an unpolished emerald.

  “No one remembers them. They died ages ago—well, presumably—and their history was never documented. This happened before the Reapers were created, Tristan. My siblings and I know very little about them. I met one in Death’s palace, in the early days.”

  “So they went extinct? They just died out and vanished into the unknown past of this universe? What a sad way to go.”

  Rothko grew bigger before us. I could feel its gravitational pull tugging at my stomach. It rotated slowly, revealing generous lands covered in forests, dark blue waters, and frosted poles. Storm clouds gathered here and there, lightning flashing in the middle as the tempests gathered their strength and prepared to pummel the jagged coastlines. Soon we’d breach the atmosphere and begin our descent into a world I knew nothing about.

  “I call them soul fae,” Unending said. “They had different names for themselves since they were split in tribes. But I couldn’t think of a better way to describe what Death said they could do. They were feeble creatures, not strong in body but in mind. They could read emotions and minds better than witches and sentries. They could implant thoughts and emotions, which meant they could manipulate wills better than any Mara. Death kept one of them in her palace for a long time, for company, long after the rest of his species was wiped out. The last of his kind, his spirit still lingering in this world…”

  I had a feeling I knew where this story was headed. I’d already connected the dots, but I stayed quiet and gave Unending the room she needed to tell me something she’d likely never shared with anyone before.

  “When he asked to be allowed to move on, Death suffered greatly. She’d grown fond of the soul fae. By then, she’d created me and a few of my siblings. I knew him personally. He was intelligent and charismatic. He’d led the soul fae with grace and kindness, never resorting to coercion. But he wished to leave, hoping he might join the others in the afterlife, since the world around him was no longer his, ever changing, ever strange. Death granted him his wish, but she copied his soul first and made the Spirit Bender.”

  My knees weakened at the mere mention of that bastard’s name. “The irony is glaring, considering the Spirit Bender was basically defined by his power to manipulate, to bend the spirits of others.”

  “I know. Death noticed it, too. The copy she’d made was flawed, and no one could explain why. But the soul fae she’d cared about was gone, and the Spirit Bender was… different. Well, at the time, he wasn’t yet a monster, Tristan. Remember that. He wasn’t the Spirit Bender you met. That came later, the result of frustration and anger, of being stuck in this realm against his will.”

  “Hm… I suppose Death didn’t want to let go of him like she did with the soul fae.”

  “Exactly. We talked about him a few years back, during one of my rare visits to Mortis. She reminisced about the Spirit Bender, and she brought up Shah’s name. I’d almost forgotten about him.”

  “Okay, so… what do the soul fae have to do with finding Anunit? Or with Rothko, for that matter?” I asked.

  We settled on the edge of a cliff. The wind blew fiercely, making me shiver as the ocean roared beneath the gathering storm. Thunder clapped in the distance, bright streaks of lightning spidering across the darkened sky. This was a restless world, I realized. Its elements were wild and violent. Behind us, a kingdom rose proudly—thousands of houses and villas covering miles of lush plains. In the middle, a great castle emerged, with tall and slender marble towers. It reminded me of Camelot, or how I’d imagined Camelot while reading about it, anyway.

  “Rothko was one of Spirit’s favorite places,” Unending explained. “Knowing who he was and where he’d come from, he used to visit this world a lot. Unlike the others, however, he never exerted any influence here. He never touched Rothko. It was a sacred realm because this was where the soul fae died out.”

  “Oh…”

  “You see, the energy Hermessi I mentioned? It didn’t really care about its connection to the soul fae. It didn’t need them to manifest. It didn’t need them, period,” Unending continued. “His relationship to that entire species was never strong, unlike the bond the other elements have with their respective fae. Eventually, it cut itself off from the soul fae, and they went extinct. This was Shah’s kingdom.”

  “It looks pristine,” I mumbled, trying to wrap my head around everything she had just told me. “We’re talking about billions of years since the soul fae died, right? How is this place still standing?”

  She smiled. “Others lived after the soul fae. I think Rothko has been through at least fifty mass extinctions, and yet it still spins. It still breathes, and life seems to keep finding its way back to the surface. I think maybe that’s what made it so appealing to Spirit. It wasn’t just because of its connection to Shah, his original. Rothko is one of the most resilient planets in all the dimensions—known or otherwise.”

  “I understand. And because Spirit and Anunit were close, you think he might’ve brought her here?” I asked.

  “Or maybe she came out here without him. We know very little about my brother’s personal life and relationships with other Reapers. And given what a colossal monster he turned out to be, I wouldn’t be surprised if those who knew him might choose to pretend that they never even shook his hand.” Unending took me away from the rocky and storm-ridden cliff. We made our way down the grassy path that led to one of the main roads into the kingdom. Spherical carriages were pulled by horse-like animals with long and spiraling antlers, their big amethyst eyes glimmering in the sunset light that blanketed the land. The men who tugged their reins were slender and handsome, reminding me of the incubi, with pearlescent skin and piercing silvery eyes.

  “They call themselves the Aruni,” Unending said, as if reading my mind. “There is some soul fae gene still alive inside them, but they don’t have any supernatural abilities. They do live longer than humans, however. The eldest Aruni in recorded history died at the age of six hundred.”

  “You mentioned multiple mass extinctions. I take it the Aruni aren’t the direct descendants of the soul fae?”

  She shook her head. “Before the Aruni, there were Crearins. And before them, the Masafittes reigned supreme. The thing with Rothko as a planet is that it’s a sentient organism in and of itself. Its Hermessi are ruthless and firm, and whenever the people reach beyond their means, whenever they begin to drain Rothko’s natural resources, it… reacts. Mercilessly.”

  No wonder we were seeing a world that seemed to have not yet reached the point of industrial revolution, unlike most other humanoid cultures had in different parts of the Earthly Dimension. From an anthropological point of view, this was an incredible discovery, and I was thrilled by what my being here entailed. This was a young world on a very old land, its history buried beneath layers of natural destruction.

  “So the Spirit Bender never interacted with the Aruni or the Crearins or any of the other species before them?” I asked.

  “Nope. He merely came around, once in a blue moon, to observe them. I guess, deep down, he hoped to see remnants of the soul fae. I think Rothko was sacred to him, and if Anunit was a friend of his, Spirit would almost certainly have brought her here or at least told her about it,” Unending said. “Rothko isn’t well known in our society. It’s a distant world in a barely inhabited galaxy. A savvy Reaper could stop by to slip through the cracks, if only for a few years.”

  We’d come to Rothko more or
less on a hunch. Unending’s name tracking spell didn’t function across greater distances. It could only be cast in the same realm as the person whose name would be used in the magic. In this case, we had Rothko as a possible realm. An idea that maybe Anunit might’ve been here. It worried me, because it didn’t sound like we had much else to go on.

  “I know you’re doubtful at this point,” she continued, once again picking up on my emotions before I could even voice them. It was a regular thing with us. We’d been together, completely inseparable, for two decades now. This was bound to happen, considering how open we’d been with each other from the very beginning. “But Rothko is the only lead I could think of regarding Anunit. It’s a good place to start. I cannot promise it’ll get us anywhere, but I figured you would encourage me to try, nonetheless. Right?”

  I felt a smile stretching across my lips. Pulling her into a tight embrace, I kissed her with all the love I had in me, our hearts thudding in wonderful unison as the storm raged hundreds of miles away over the ocean. After a long moment, I took her hand in mine, and we made our way down the battered road.

  Ahead, one of the spherical carriages wobbled as its horses pulled it over a steep hill.

  “Come on,” I told Unending, a newfound sense of determination strengthening my resolve. “Let’s go figure out where Anunit fits in all of this. And let’s see if she’s the real thing or not. We deserve this.”

  “I wouldn’t do this without you, Tristan,” she said. “Thank you for joining me on a quest that anyone else would deem crazy.”

  “It is crazy,” I replied, trying not to laugh. “But we’ve done crazier things together, my love.”

  That much was true. We’d defeated worse odds. We’d destroyed every obstacle that had dared stand in our way. Our love was as resilient as Rothko. A veritable force that drove us beyond our limits and into the unknown.

  It made my existence all the more exciting, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

  Tristan

  We spent hours moving through the kingdom, unseen by the Aruni, since we remained under Unending’s Reaper cloaking. We listened to the people talking among themselves and learned a little bit about this world. In terms of sociocultural development, the Aruni were near the equivalent of the late Renaissance period on Earth, but far more tolerant and focused on scholarly advances. They lived in perfect synergy with the land, mainly because they’d discovered ancient burial sites of previous civilizations. They’d learned that Rothko didn’t forgive those who hurt it in any way, from their studies of the earth and from deciphering ancient writings hidden and stored within the tombs and mausoleums. The last of the previous peoples had made sure to pass the message on to the next civilization, if only to stop history from repeating itself. The first of the Aruni were, in fact, a handful of survivors from the era before.

  The Aruni loved music and the fine arts. There were detailed paintings and realistic sculptures everywhere. Main thoroughfares in the center of the kingdom were littered with art supply shops. Musicians played their strings and flute-like instruments in the town squares, sitting on the edges of beautiful artesian fountains. The Aruni also favored elegant fashions and appreciated nice things, but they were careful not to waste any of the materials they used. Their ecological sense was truly something wonderful to behold.

  Technologically speaking, they had yet to discover electricity, but they made do with fire. Life was much simpler here, and I’d learned to appreciate the simple life wherever I found it. Politically, the Aruni had lived through seven different ruling dynasties. The current king was generally well liked, from what I picked up across multiple conversations.

  Despite all the mental notes I was taking about these people and their culture, we weren’t having much luck in terms of finding Anunit. “We’ve searched most of the kingdom’s center,” I told Unending as we made our way up the stairs of a tall marble tower. “Are we getting any closer?”

  Several watchmen descended, moving past us as they made their way to the ground floor. This was an observation point, one of the tallest structures within a three-mile radius. The Aruni were split into nations—different kingdoms with varied interests. The one we’d come to was driven by pacifism and the development of arts, while the others were described as either corrupt or warmongering, hence the need for watchtowers. The locals had seen an invasion or two over the centuries.

  “There’s a faint trail here,” Unending said, eyeing the glimmer of her scythe. I hadn’t seen it brighten for at least an hour, but it was definitely picking up something. The light had intensified slightly. “It’s more than what we had earlier. I think we’re finally getting somewhere.”

  Unending was using a more obscure Death spell, one she’d devised herself with words and subwords the other First Tenners had never used. It homed in on the faintest energy trail left behind by a specific Reaper, whom she tracked by name. Like she’d told me, names could be powerful tools in death magic, if one knew how to use them. Although I’d had my doubts at first, especially since we had no idea when Anunit had last been here, I could see for myself that it was working now.

  We reached the top of the tower. No one was here. The Aruni men we’d seen earlier had been relieved of their duties, and there would soon be others to take their place. Until then, we had the entire level to ourselves. Unending paced the round room for a while, carefully watching for lighting fluctuations in her scythe. She stopped and kneeled beneath one of the large windows, putting the blade down.

  I crouched beside her, curious to see what she would do next. “How long ago do you think she was here?” I asked.

  “I’m not sure. But I’m guessing at least a couple of centuries,” she said. “Energy signatures never really fade away. There’s a permanence to our existence that not even moving on into the afterlife can erase. Regular Reaper tracking spells can’t read such fine traces. And even my magic is fickle. Sometimes it works. Other times, I’m unable to tweak it in a way that serves me, which is why I rarely use it. Death magic is complicated but also unstable, depending on how you mix the words, the subwords, and the sounds.”

  “Like complex chemistry, I suppose?”

  “Indeed. A formula might work for some, but if you get one quantity wrong, even by a milligram—or in my case, a sound—it might fail.”

  “But Anunit was definitely here,” I concluded, giving myself permission to hope. She smiled gently before returning her focus to the scythe.

  “Yes. There’s an echo of her. The spell senses it. I’m going to make it manifest now.”

  I frowned. “Manifest? How would the echo manifest?”

  “The traces we leave behind are pure death energy, as you know. I can replay the moments in which they participated.”

  I imagined it was similar to a hologram but waited for the actual spell before asking more questions. Unending was a patient and loving being. I just didn’t want to be the “why” kid who shadowed her everywhere. Her lips moved as she uttered the magic required for her next step. Different colors danced along the blade, neon reflections that grew brighter with each passing moment.

  Eventually, the colors expanded beyond the metal, turning the scythe into a projector of sorts. We backed away to allow the image to form in front of the window. My breath caught in my throat as the vision of a female Reaper emerged.

  “Oh, wow…”

  She had an eerie beauty about her. Tall and slender, with broad shoulders and long golden hair that flowed down her back. Stars glistened in her big, round eyes, and pink roses had been immortalized in the color of her lips. Anunit was unlike any other Reaper I’d ever seen. She was… different.

  “Anunit…” Unending murmured. She watched with great interest as Anunit glanced over her shoulder at a man who joined her by the window. An Aruni man, judging by his physiognomy and facial features. He wrapped his arms around her slim waist, holding her tight as they both gazed out into the world.

  “Mar-El Mavris, you’ve stolen my he
art and you refuse to give it back,” Anunit said, her voice like honey pouring straight through my very soul. She had a powerful effect on me even though I’d never seen or met her before.

  “My darling, I could say the same about you,” Mar-El replied, nuzzling her ear. It made her laugh lightly, and she tilted her head back so he could trail kisses along the side of her neck.

  I cleared my throat, and Unending looked baffled when she glanced over at me. “Well, this is unexpected,” she mumbled.

  “A Reaper and a living man in love?” I shot back with a broad grin.

  “Yes,” she replied, holding back a smile. “Considering how distant our worlds are, I didn’t think anyone else would have come together like this. You and I were paired by dire circumstances, so I can’t help but wonder what caused Anunit and Mar-El’s paths to cross. You know our rules. You understand the austerity of our kind.”

  I nodded once. “I do. But maybe Anunit revealed herself to him. Maybe there was something about Mar-El that beckoned to her.”

  We watched as Anunit and Mar-El kissed, before the Reaper took a step back and caressed his cheek. “I don’t know when I will see you again,” she told him. “Death is still looking for me. Well, a handful of select Reapers are looking for me, following her secret orders. They won’t stop until they find me, and I can’t linger here any longer, or they’ll discover my energy traces.”

  “I understand.” Mar-El sighed. “But I don’t like it. What life will I live without you?”

  “A full one. A beautiful life, Mar-El. I will be thinking of you, and I promise I will do whatever I can to return to you,” she said, kissing him one more time. They hugged, and she bid him a fond farewell. “Take care of yourself, my love. I will be back for my heart.”

  He watched her disappear, and his sigh made me shudder in the silence that followed.

  The hologram faded away. That was all that had been left of Anunit. A trace that regular Reaper spells would never have captured. I had to admit, I was impressed by the depth of Unending’s magic, but also by Anunit’s ability to stay off the radar for so long. Without Unending’s spell, I doubted anyone else could’ve tracked Anunit here. I had a feeling she’d learned a lot from the Spirit Bender, if only in order to keep herself safe.