But was this our end? Our true end?
Or did the rope go on for a little while longer?
Part of me was virtually incapable of letting go. As long as I still had breath left in me, I could do something. The Spirit Bender vanished for a split second, and I knew he was coming for me, so I teleported myself beside Taeral, instead.
Spirit reappeared where I'd stood, his scythe glimmering, thirsty for my life. Gripping my sword, I pointed its sharp end at him, while Taeral smirked. The Time Master was missing for a reason. I knew that now.
"We're not done here," I said, as the battle raged on. "We're not the kind to just give up so easily, especially when our foe turns out to be just a toddler Reaper throwing a tantrum."
The Spirit Bender turned to face us, his expression skewed by anger.
"Then you shall die here, while the entire universe burns," he replied.
For some reason, I found it hard to believe him. Even with one foot already in the hole, none of us could give up. Maybe that would eventually save us.
Taeral
The Spirit Bender's motives didn't make any sense. Perhaps to him they did, but to every other living being in the world, they did not justify this level of hatred and damage against people who had done nothing to him.
I caught glimpses of Death beneath the ice. There was no way of getting any closer to her, though. I'd tried, more than once, and Spirit had pushed back every time. The worst part was that I had to be careful about his scythe. One cut was all it took for me to become his slave, much like the thousands of spirits he'd hoarded here, on Aledras. We all knew that a First Tenner’s powers could affect the spirits and bodies of the living, too, and not just those of the dead—and our experiences with Soul, Widow, and Phantom had more than proven it. This was one of the reasons why they were so important to Death in the first place.
Not all of the spirits were from here, I noticed. In fact, most of them seemed foreign, in different shapes and sizes, ranging from gargantuan figures with bulky arms and legs, to little folk with pixie-like wings and long claws. His methods had yet to fully come to light, but I had to assume he'd gathered them from wherever he'd visited. He'd used bits of Reaper objects to amplify them into specters, and he'd bent them all to his will, forcing them to do his bidding.
There were too many. Without the ghouls, we couldn't clear out enough of them to give us an edge against the Spirit Bender. The more the Reapers cut down, the more came from behind, twice as eager and determined to take us all out. I hadn’t had the chance to deal with any of them myself, as I'd focused my efforts on the Reaper who'd brought them all together. From the looks of it, Spirit wanted to keep me to himself, as the specters seemed to avoid me.
"You think you're better than me?!" Spirit said and bolted toward me.
I zapped myself to the side, knowing he'd have his back guarded. I'd spent minutes trying to study and understand his movements. Without Brendel's elemental force, he didn't seem capable of blocking my teleportation abilities, which I found odd.
"I don't think I'm better than anyone," I replied. "I just think you shouldn't punish billions of innocent people simply because you hate your maker."
"At the risk of repeating myself, your mind is simply too small to understand."
Raising Thieron, I let its energy surge through me. It was desperate to cut Spirit down. I could feel it in my bones. "Or maybe yours is too empty to accept reason," I shot back.
He came at me again, and I vanished once more, reappearing closer to Death, for the first time. She spoke beneath the water. I could see her lips moving, but I couldn't hear her. This was my chance. I brought Thieron down against the ice, hoping it might at least help break the Silence seal.
Spirit rammed into me, knocking the air out of my lungs. We wound up sliding across the ice and into a skirmish of specters. In their madness and desperation, they jumped us, cutting and screaming their heads off. I swung Thieron outward, slashing at several specters at once. To my astonishment, they burst into golden sparks.
"What the…" Spirit was shocked as he pulled back and waved the others away.
Kelara swooped in, almost out of nowhere, and tried to take him down. He swatted her like a fly, and she fell, quickly tackled by multiple specters at once. Her screams of agony tore through my heart.
I rushed past the Spirit Bender and used Thieron against Kelara's specter fiends, causing more swirls of golden sparks to explode. Seconds later, I helped her up. She was as surprised as Spirit. "Tae, you can reap them," she said. "Even though you're not a Reaper yet… with Thieron, you can reap them!"
"I'm not done with you yet!" Spirit snarled, and I turned around to face him, while Kelara got busy with more of the incoming specters.
Blocking his scythe with Thieron, I kicked him in the gut and pushed him away. "You've committed so many crimes against the universe, it's downright ridiculous!" I said. "Whatever happens to my world or the others, I promise I won't let you get away with this!"
And I meant it, too. There were maybe minutes left on the cosmic clock, as Aledras grew brighter and more intense with every moment that passed. I knew we didn't have much longer. But even so, I couldn't let the Spirit Bender live to see another day, for everything that he'd done. Justice was needed, now more than ever.
"It'll all be over soon, and you'll be too busy sobbing to bother with me," the Spirit Bender replied, a smirk testing his lips. The certainty in his voice had faded, though. Was his resolve coming down, at last? Had I made him doubt himself, perhaps?
I moved to hit him again before he had another chance to attack, when a crackling sound brought me to a sudden halt. His eyes widened, his mouth drawn into a thin, small line. He knew something I didn't, and it didn't please him at all. On the contrary, it made his jaw clench with rage.
"The wards," Kelara shouted from the side. "Someone broke the ghoul wards!"
As if summoned by the mere mention of their names, hundreds of the former Reapers converged on the swollen crowd of specters. They jumped in and started eating every spirit they came across, while Seeley and the others did their fair share of reaping on the side.
I did feel sorry for these spirits. They hadn’t chosen to be a part of this. They deserved an afterlife, but until Death gave verbal consent to the Word's assistance, our powers were limited. We couldn't do anything other than reap them or let the ghouls eat them. Lumi and Nethissis glowed like light bulbs as they moved and cast protective magic shields to help some of our crew, but there wasn't much else they could do.
Taking the Spirit Bender down was proving to be a lot more complicated than I'd originally anticipated. Granted, I'd thought Brendel was my greatest foe, until she fell. Boy, had I been wrong.
But with the wards broken, the ghouls were unhinged and relentless. The crowd began to thin, and Spirit made his way back to Death. His worried glance darted across the battlefield, and I knew I needed to break him, one way or another.
"You're not invincible," I said. "The odds no longer favor you. Maybe this is the universe telling you something. You should take notice before it's too late."
The Spirit Bender scoffed. "You tart. It's already too late. I've spent centuries figuring out the right Thousand Seals to put Death under. Do you think she'll show forgiveness if I let her out now? Ha! Besides, I'm not one to get discouraged easily. Look around you, Taeral. Aledras is about to explode. Its blast will be so powerful, it will amp up the fae sanctuaries and it'll burn everything in its wake. I win."
"You know what? I've had enough of this insane crap," I declared.
Moving toward him again, I noticed Seeley and Kelara moving in closer. They'd come to some kind of agreement, judging by their conspiratorial looks. They were up to something. Spirit was too busy eyeing me to notice them, and I figured it might work out to our advantage.
Roaring, I charged him at full speed, my boots barely touching the ice. Upon reaching him, he vanished and reappeared behind me. I then zapped myself away just as his
scythe came in from the right. Behind him, Seeley and Kelara materialized. They both attacked him, though Seeley was far more brutal in his offensive.
I watched for a moment, then teleported right in front of the Spirit Bender and brought Thieron down on him. His eyes bulged with sheer horror. Kelara moved away from him, hand behind her back, and vanished. Before Thieron could touch him, Spirit disappeared, as well. I didn't take it as a disappointment, though.
Seeley gave me a brief nod and moved to take down more specters, while the ghouls did most of the hard work, gorging on all the souls they could eat. Even Herbert was hard at it, despite his charred skin and slow movements. There was anger in him, and it needed channeling—so munching on spirits must've seemed like a good outlet.
The Spirit Bender was nowhere to be seen, and I didn't like that. I rushed over to Death and tried to break the ice again. A distant boom erupted in the distance, somewhere to the north. It was swiftly followed by a bright white light, stronger than Aledras's current incandescence. It spread outward like the biggest, most powerful atom bomb ever created.
I was breathless. I doubted even I would survive what was coming, regardless of Death's touch. Everything disintegrated in the light's path. The horizon shimmered and vanished, swallowed by whiteness. The trees and the cities disintegrated, blown to smithereens, utterly obliterated. Destruction was finally upon us, and we were staring right at it.
"Oh, no…" I heard Amelia gasp, somewhere to my left.
"It's too late," Herakles managed.
This is it. The ritual is coming.
The end of days we'd all dreaded and fought so hard against was unleashed.
I was so entranced by the horror unfolding before my very eyes that I lost track of the Spirit Bender. His scythe cut into my back, and I cried out in pain. Frozen on the spot, I felt my self-control slipping away from me.
My soul was under his dominion now.
Taeral
"Your spirit is mine," he whispered in my ear.
My worst nightmare had come true. We'd lost everything. Our worlds would soon be torched. Our families gone, turned to ashes and dust. Our lives destroyed. Our civilizations forgotten. All because the Spirit Bender had a bone to pick with Death, and Brendel had a ritual to uphold. Such foolishness.
The taste of defeat lingered bitterly on the tip of my tongue as I slowly turned my head to look around. In the sea of white, I saw Varga and Eva, their heads covered but their eyes wide and filled with dread. Amelia's hand shaking as she tried to hold the scythe. Raphael, still and speechless. Riza and Herakles standing back to back, unable to utter a single word, their gazes fixed on me. Lumi and Nethissis's expressions were impossible to read, as they were possessed by the Word, but I knew the entity had nothing left to say.
Kabbah was astonished and heartbroken, glowing green with rage through Fallon's body. Kelara stood motionless as a shadow slipped past her. Seeley, Soul, Widow, Phantom, Dream, and Nightmare were all dismayed, their starry eyes coated with… tears. They were all breaking down as the light continued to cover the lands, headed our way with its unstoppable wave of destruction. The ghouls and the specters had stopped, too. No one could move anymore.
Beneath the ice, close to my feet, I saw Death.
She gave me a soft smile, and it didn't make a lick of sense. The Spirit Bender had just cut me, and the entire universe was about to fall apart. What the hell was she so giddy about?!
"Now, stand back and watch," Spirit said, amusement dripping from his voice. "Watch as it all comes down, before Death's own eyes!"
I managed to turn around and face him, but that was all. My body was no longer mine. My soul had been hijacked by his. He grinned, reaching out a hand.
"Give Thieron to me, boy. It's too big a toy for the likes of you," he added.
The worst part was that I couldn't stop myself as I brought Thieron up, ready to give it to him. Eira screamed from somewhere in the crowd. "Tae! No! Don't do it!"
Everything stopped.
The distant boom went silent. The air stopped flowing. I was frozen. Conscious, but still and unable to do or say anything. For a moment, I'd thought it was part of the Spirit Bender's wretched game, until I noticed that he, too, was quite literally paused.
Time had come to a sudden halt, and the Time Master's voice echoed across the paralyzed skirmish. "The thing about hate is that, while it does do a decent job of motivating an individual, it also blinds them."
He sounded so calm, emerging from the crowd of frozen specters and ghouls, moving past his motionless brothers and sisters, his scythe back in his hand. He gave Kelara an appreciative smile. "Thank you, little sister. You may not be a First Tenner, but you've proven yourself worthy of being my sibling, as much as the others," he said, then walked toward Spirit and me.
None of us could move. Time was paused, but we could all hear and see this moment. My heart wasn't even beating anymore. My breath was gone. The only comfort I got from this conscious blip was that I wasn't the only one. The Spirit Bender was just as helpless. While I couldn't see any emotions in his galaxy eyes, I knew there was dread in his blackened soul. This was not something he'd expected.
Kelara had taken advantage of her last attack on Spirit, joined by Seeley and me, to find and snatch the Time Master's scythe. We'd all known he'd have it on his person, unwilling to trust anyone, even a ward or magic seal to keep it from us. But he'd failed, and Time now had his full powers back.
Against the white backdrop, he stopped by Spirit's side, giving him a sympathetic smile. "You know, when Death first made us, I was in awe of you. I wondered what kind of creature you must have been, to have brought such spirit-bending abilities with you into our version of the afterlife," Time said. "I admired you. I loved you like a brother. Even when you were sullen and angry and eager to find a way to move on, to join the dead beyond… I was by your side, despite the light-years between us. I forgave you, more than once."
He raised a hand and caressed Spirit's bony cheek.
"You were the only one who refused to accept his fate. At first, I found that to be somewhat admirable. It showed great strength of character. But you should've learned, eventually, that there are things in this universe that you simply cannot change. Instead, you let it all turn toxic. You fed on your hate, you allowed it to fester…"
It was an eerie scene to witness. Destructive light was coming at us from all angles. The ritual had been unleashed. Death was under a Thousand Seals and unable to do a damn thing about it. The Word was helpless without her spoken approval. And we were nothing but cutouts pasted into a bigger picture that we'd yet to fully comprehend.
"The damage you've done will take years to repair," the Time Master continued, while my very soul swelled with anticipation, despite Spirit's firm grip on it. "Your spite has turned you mad, and for that, you will pay the ultimate price."
Time moved away from us and kneeled next to Death on the thick ice. Using his scythe, he drew a series of symbols around her. She kept her dark eyes on him, still smiling, unbowed and unbroken by any of this.
"I am sorry this happened to you," Time told her. "I cannot break all Thousand Seals, but I can get rid of the Silence one. Your voice is needed, Mother."
He bent down and kissed the ice, the symbols he'd etched turning blue before they snapped clean off, leaving holes in the frosted sheet. He pulled it out, the crackling sound tickling my ears. To my astonishment, Death could still move, much like the Time Master. It made sense, though. An entity like her could not be bound by the powers of her creations—the same could not be said about the magic she'd taught them on the side, unfortunately.
Death poked her head through the water, taking a deep breath. "Thank you, my dear," she said. Her lips didn’t move, but we all heard her voice. "Thank you for giving me my voice back, and thank you for stopping this madness."
Time bowed respectfully and stepped back, while Death pulled herself up and sat on the edge of the ice hole, her calves still submerged in
the cold water. I doubted she felt the chill like a mortal would. Only then did I see the hundreds of symbols drawn on her with black ink. Her neck, chest, arms, and legs had all been covered in them.
She followed my gaze, looking down, and chuckled softly.
"Nine hundred and ninety-nine seals," she said. "The thousandth put on me, and the first broken, was Silence." She knocked on the ice. "Cold, cold Silence."
I couldn't speak, but I could feel relief washing over me, even though nothing moved. I gave the Time Master a sideways glance, wanting to hug him, but I couldn't move, still under his influence.
"I am sorry, Taeral," Death said to me. She sounded sincere, only the apology itself worried me. What was she sorry for? The Spirit Bender had played her. He'd played us all. "I should have told you sooner. I should have told you all sooner, but I didn't know my Spirit was behind all this. I admit, my ignorance was my undoing."
"None of us knew," Time replied softly.
"That is not an excuse. Not for me, and you know it. Alas, I find myself embroiled in this twist now, and I must make amends." She sighed, her gaze finding mine again. "There is a reason why you can use Thieron so well, why you can even reap spirits, though you're a living creature, and it goes beyond your future afterlife as a Reaper. Taeral, you are the fortuitous wonder I have awaited for a long time. A result of the universe conspiring to assist me in my quest to stop the Hermessi for good. To force them back into their roles as elementals."
I wasn't sure what to think of this. I'd yet to fully understand. All I knew was that time had stopped, smack in the middle of the apocalypse, and that she needed to undo it all before it was too late.
"You're not just a Reaper candidate. You're a Reaper candidate with Hermessi blood flowing through your veins. It makes you all the more special because you have the power to use Thieron. To stop the ritual for good, not just for another four or five million years, when the next Brendel-wannabe decides to give it another shot," Death continued. "I didn't tell you because I wanted to see what you were made of. The Thieron challenge brought out the best in you, and I am so proud… so damn proud of you, Taeral. Thanks to you, the Hermessi will never do this again."
A Shade of Vampire 77: A Fate of Time Page 18
