The truth hit me harder than any punch. The implications were larger than life. Within suspended seconds, I realized I wanted nothing more than to make Death's words come true. I needed to be let out of this pause… I had to do something, if I could. But how?
Understanding that my enthusiasm had gotten the better of me, I eased back into the present, my eyes fixed on Death.
"When time resumes its flow, you must kill the Spirit Bender first. You have Thieron. You can do it," she said.
I would've loved to ask how I could possibly do that, since I was technically under his full control. The Time Master reached out and took Spirit's scythe away from him. While still looking at his brother, the Reaper broke the curved blade with his bare hands. Suddenly, something snapped inside me. A string that Spirit had used to tug, to push and pull as he pleased. His control over me was gone.
"The Spirit Bender's powers are no more," Death announced. "He no longer has control over you or any of the spirits present. In fact, no soul he's ever touched with that blade will ever bow before him again."
She got up and walked over to me. The clinking of chains drew my gaze to her ankle, where a solid iron cuff tightened, connected to the bottom of the lake by a thick chain. It shimmered strangely in this white light.
"It's the first seal. The others will have to be broken before we get to it," she said. "That will take time. Anyway, don't worry about me, Taeral. I need you to do something, if you wish to stop the ritual. I will tell you the words, and you shall whisper them into Zetos, Thieron's blade. It will activate my weapon's full potential, and you will have full control over it. You'll know what to do next."
She leaned closer and whispered the words in my ear. They poured straight into my brain, like ice water, causing an intense headache. This wasn't a language I knew or understood, but I memorized everything. Every syllable and accent, every single letter. It had been seared into my memory with ice fire.
The Time Master raised his scythe, giving me a brief glance. "Your time is now, Taeral."
He flicked the blade, which zinged with delight.
It is my time now.
Taeral
Spirit stared at me in sheer disbelief.
His power had been taken from him. Time itself had been stopped in order to strip him of everything that had given him an edge. Despite his machinations and years of planning, it had all been dismantled in a matter of minutes.
As the world resumed its flow, I realized my hand was still up. Thieron was between us. Spirit glanced down for a moment, but he didn't get the chance to react.
I pushed the blade forward, deep into his chest. I heard its song as it pierced through him and commanded that his existence be ended, right here, right now. The Spirit Bender gasped. His figure disintegrated in a shower of white sparks that scattered across the inflamed whiteness still reigning over Aledras.
The light was still coming. The ritual was about to unfold.
Without a moment's thought, I pressed Thieron's blade against my lips. I could almost sense the Spirit Bender's essence, somehow embedded into it—as if he'd simply been returned to his point of origin, the very core of Death's cosmic power concentrated into the three pieces that made up her scythe.
"Ha'krul. Ha'bril. Ha'shemenef," I whispered into Zetos, the cold metal making my lips tingle.
Death looked at Lumi and Nethissis. "Dear brother, thank you for your offer to help. Fortunately, I still had an ace up my sleeve, as you can see."
Around us, the light expanded, eager to consume everything in its path. I heard my friends whisper and murmur as they got closer together. Soul said something about me being way cooler than he'd thought.
But my heart was pumping as I continued my death spell. "Ka'fune. Ka'ori. Ka'sheniel."
Zetos began to react, and I could swear I could hear it whispering back, repeating every word I gave it. For a moment, the two of us spoke at once, on the brink of nothingness.
"I was ready to do whatever it takes," the Word said through Lumi and Nethissis at once. "What your offspring did has caused a grave imbalance in the universe, sister. The others will not be pleased."
"They'll have to suck it. We're fixing it," Death retorted. "Though I do appreciate your concern. It's most brotherly of you."
"Are you people kidding me?!" Amelia blurted. "The world's about to end, and you're exchanging pleasantries?"
"Relax, toots." Soul chuckled. I couldn't see any of them anymore, as the light was intensifying and blinding us all, but I could hear them. I could feel them all close to my heart, forever tied to me through bonds that transcended time and space.
As I whispered the final words of the spell, everyone I knew and loved presented themselves to me in a flurry of flashbacks that dated all the way back to my birth. Astonishingly, I could see my mother holding me in her arms, her beautiful face covered in sweat, and my father fawning over me, thrilled to welcome his heir into the world.
"You'll make a great king someday," he said.
"Ma'vari. Ma'omania. Ma'feshalim. You are mine, and I am yours," I murmured, tears streaming down my cheeks as I wondered if I'd ever get to see my father again. I'd left him to die in The Shade.
Ma'vari. Ma'omania. Ma'feshalim. Thieron echoed back, as if agreeing to my demand.
"Give him a second," Soul said to Amelia. "He's got this."
"Tae…" Eira's voice came through, and she manifested as warm sunlight flowing through my body, like the million kisses of summer and sweet nectar… like the promise that tomorrow would still come, and it would bring her to me.
I was gone from this world for a moment. I was with Thieron, somewhere between the many strings of the universe. One with the instrument of Death, my soul tied to it, irreversibly connected to it. In this white light, Eira's presence prevailed, much to my surprise. All I wanted was to get back to her. To hold her in my arms and to thank the fates for having brought her into my life.
Opening my eyes, I felt a sudden relief, as if a thousand bombs had been set off inside me. A pulse erupted from Thieron and warped through me, making changes on an atomic level. But it didn't stop there.
It burst outward and knocked everyone back, except Death, Lumi, and Nethissis. They stood firmly while the others came down, like trees in the path of a hydrogen bomb's blast. The pulse went out, stretching for billions of miles across the In-Between and the Supernatural Dimension.
It cut through the light like a red-hot knife through cold butter. The ritual's ominous glow fizzled into incandescent flakes, revealing Aledras for what it still was: a world with beautiful sights and elevated cities. All the damage had somehow been reversed, as the light sparks faded away.
The sky was clear and blue.
With trembling fingers still wrapped around Thieron's handle, I exhaled sharply and found the strength to take in my surroundings. They were alive. Dazed and confused, knocked over by the pulse, but breathing and moving.
The Reapers flickered like bad holograms for a minute or so, until they regained their visible forms. The spirits were lost and scattered around. The ghouls were down on the ground, covering their heads and shaking like leaves in the wind.
Death and the Word smiled at me—the three of them.
And I smiled back. I had no idea what the pulse would do beyond Aledras. I only knew I'd set it free, beckoning Thieron to help me stop the madness, so no more people would die. The Hermessi's ritual had finally been ended, long after its beginning, but it had been ended for good, this time.
I could breathe again. I would live.
Zeriel
The sanctuary had become a ball of white light, enormous in size and as bright as a miniature sun. My soul was tattered, my heart broken a thousand times over. I could barely see anything, and yet I could not look away.
Up there were people I'd held dear for a long time, among them my fiancée and the love of my life. I'd been bracing myself for this ending, but I couldn't accept it. I still couldn't adjust. In a few minutes, I'd be go
ne, and so would Vesta and millions of other fae. We'd done nothing to deserve this mindless wrath.
For as long as I could remember, I'd done my best to live a good life, to be a decent Tritone. I'd sought to harm no one, unless it was in self-defense. Granted, I'd never been the most noble or righteous of Calliope's monarchs, but I'd been kind and forgiving. Even with Azazel's reign threatening to destroy everything, I'd held on to the hope that better days might come.
Upon discovering Neraka and its complicated, bloody history, I'd put my own life on the line to make sure that others got their chance at a better future, much like I and my people before them. My path had crossed Vesta’s along the way, and nothing was ever the same after that. Our Stravian mission had brought us close, tying our life threads together, and only death could tear us apart.
I'd found love and comfort in her arms. Bliss and sweetness in her smile. Energy and humor in her mind. The four elements had made her a noteworthy fighter, and, by the stars, Vesta had everything a creature like me could ever wish for. The strength of her character amazed me, even now.
But death was coming for us all, and I doubted anything could be done about it. The one thing that could break us had finally arrived, so bright and beautiful that it caused conflicts in my emotions. On one hand, I wanted to run and hide, overcome with crippling dread. On the other hand, however, I had to keep looking, to understand this cosmic beauty and the destruction it was about to unleash.
My ears were ringing.
Tears streamed down my cheeks as I knelt on the ground, the light growing brighter from within the sanctuary. My lips moved, aching to say her name, over and over again. My resolve wormed its way to the surface, eventually. If I was to die, I would do so while looking up at my beloved Vesta, my warrior fae.
I would look death in the eyes.
"I love you," I whispered, expecting devastation to erupt from the sanctuary at any second. Holding my breath, I thought of the first moment I'd met Vesta, and the eyebrow she'd raised at me, as if saying, "Who the hell is this guy?" in her typical, off-the-cuff manner. I remembered her pale blonde hair, the caramel tan of her soft skin… the sound of her voice, and the way she tilted her head back whenever she laughed. I loved it. It had been music to my ears.
What I wouldn't have given to hear it again.
A loud boom thundered above, and I sank my hands into the dried-up dirt, bracing myself for the killer wave. It was coming. I could feel it. The ritual had been unleashed, and this was it… that final moment. That fabled last breath.
I would've liked to see the lagoon again. To bask in the sun and bathe in its crystalline waters. To shift into my Tritone form and swim for days on end, up and down the sandy western coastline, from White City all the way down to the Dorasor Mountains, where the River Pyros originated, with its hot springs and lush jungles.
There was no time left for that. It would've been nice.
A few minutes passed, while I waited to die.
It took me a while before I began to wonder what was taking so long. Not that I'd gotten in any way accustomed to the idea of dying—not at all. But prolonging the inevitable irked me more than the concept of dying. The Hermessi had already taken everything I treasured most. They might as well hurry up and take my damn life, too.
But nothing happened.
Instead, the ringing in my ears died down. The bright light faded, and silence settled over the realm in a most peculiar fashion. Could this be the calm before the storm? It didn't feel like that.
The air was breathable again. There was no weight crushing me. No sense of doom.
Looking up, I could see the sanctuary again. The sky was clear, and its glow had vanished altogether. The building hovered, but barely. It wobbled. I heard the tinkling of glass inside, the steel beams of its structure moaning. From all the jostling, remaining bits of dirt clumped to the bottom began to fall off.
One of them landed on my head, and I cursed from the sudden jolt of pain it sent through my skull. This didn't make sense.
Suddenly, the sanctuary came down in all its glory, and I scrambled backward as far away from its landing point as I could at such short notice. It hit the ground hard, with a spine-tingling thud. The marble cracked here and there along its core beams and around the already-broken windows.
The thud reverberated across the surrounding land, as if a Deargh had suddenly fallen from the sky. Chills rushed through me as I tried to make sense of what was happening. There was no one else around, no one to ask about this. All the people had gone as far away from here as possible and were probably hiding, trembling with fear.
I managed to pull myself up, startled by a pulse that shot over the sky, something akin to a shockwave. I had a feeling it had something to do with what had just happened to the sanctuary.
Without even a hypothesis in mind, I rushed into the building and came to a sudden, breathless halt. I could see the Reapers, hundreds of them, standing by the crystal casings. The fae inside no longer glowed. There were no spirits in sight. Not even Vesta's.
My heart jumped in my throat.
"What happened?" I asked, my voice hoarse and tired, my eyes stinging.
One of the Reapers to my right came forward, wearing a sad look on his slim, aristocratic face. "I am truly sorry, Tritone King," he said.
"Who the hell are you, and what are you sorry for?!" I blurted, my mind no longer functioning properly.
"I am Rudolph. Vesta's Reaper," he replied.
For a moment, I made a connection. A distant link between what had just happened and the fate of my betrothed. But I couldn't put it into words. It scared the life out of me to even consider saying it out loud.
Vesta was in her crystal casing, and, for the first time, the absence of the Hermessi's glow worried me. Her skin was pale, her eyes closed. Her chest didn't move. There was no breath. No life left in her.
I'd braced for this moment, and I'd thought it would all be over with the white light. But I was still here, while Vesta was… gone. All the grief in the world was cradled inside my chest, pulling and tearing my heart into little pieces.
"The ritual was stopped," Rudolph said. "But Vesta and the others… they didn't make it. Their life-chains snapped when the five millionth fae was taken."
"What… What do you mean? You said the ritual was stopped," I breathed.
"Yes. But after the Hermessi reached their required number," another Reaper interjected, his tone careful and low.
"Taeral," I said, inching closer to Vesta's casing. "He did it… He stopped the ritual before it destroyed us all."
I should've been happier about this. I should've let a sigh of relief tumble out of my chest. I should've cried tears of joy. But how could I? Vesta was dead. So were Lucas, Kailyn, Ben, Grace, Caia, and Vita… and many other fae, both GASP agents and civilians. The loss of life was catastrophic, and I… I was now looking at a future that didn't have Vesta in it.
River had lost most of her family here.
"Why can't I see her anymore?" I asked. "You showed her to me."
Rudolph sighed. "She's dead. The rules—"
"Screw your rules!" I exploded. "You let Nuriya see Sherus after he died! Screw all your rules!"
The second Reaper came forth, his hands out in a defensive gesture. "Seeley did that on his own, against our regulations. Please, be patient. We're all waiting on updates from Seeley and our superiors. This here… it's unprecedented. You were allowed to see Vesta before because she wasn't dead yet. That has changed, and we are all sorry for what you're going through, but we cannot break the rules of our own accord."
I was crying. I didn't even realize it until I heard myself sob. "What the hell do you mean? Am I going to see her if your boss okays this? Is that what you're trying to say?"
"In a nutshell, yes," Rudolph said.
Letting a slew of profanities out, I took out my long knife and rammed its steel pommel into the crystal casing. I hit it, over and over, but nothing happened. My arm hurt, but
there wasn't a single scratch or crack to signal that I could get to her.
"The witches did an excellent job of warding these things," Rudolph observed, and touched the casing with the tip of his scythe. It all came down in colorful shards, suddenly disintegrated. I reveled in the sound the pieces made as they fell onto the marble floor.
I scooped Vesta in my arms and settled by the doorway with her, as the sun shone through and bathed everything in its warm afternoon glow. My soul ached, but I held Vesta close. Her body was still warm, but that would soon fade.
Crying, I pressed my lips against her forehead, knowing this would be the last time I felt her skin like this. The world had been saved, but my Vesta had paid a heavy price.
This was supposed to be a victory.
It didn't feel like that at all.
Nuriya
"Did you feel that?" Sherus asked me.
I nodded slowly. "I think the entire Shade felt it."
The pulse had rushed across the island like a tremor, but its origin was unmistakably supernatural and otherworldly. I'd listened in on the GASP comms line, with reports coming in from agents who'd chosen to stay behind on their home planets.
The sanctuaries had lit up, and a sense of impending destruction had gripped the hearts of billions of creatures across the Supernatural Dimension and the In-Between. They'd described the event in great detail, all the way down to its unexpected ending.
After some confusion, it had taken them all some time to realize what had happened. Taeral had stopped the ritual, somehow. He and his team had probably found Death, and the wave of annihilation had been pulled back before it destroyed everything that lived in its path.
A Shade of Vampire 77: A Fate of Time Page 19
