“Is that why you came so close to me?” I asked.
She nodded once. “I’m tired of all the dead people here,” she replied. “They’re all sad or confused or angry. You, on the other hand, you’re trying to do something. You’re trying to figure out where you are, at least.”
I relayed everything she told me to Lumi, Raphael, Eira, and Taeral. They had questions of their own for the girl, but she didn’t have any useful answers. Lumi took the scythe, then Eira and Taeral, each of them wanting to know more about her and what she’d seen around here.
But she had only seen what I’d seen while holding the scythe. Spirits wandering through the endless woods. A sea of green stretching overhead, for miles and miles on end, with the occasional clearing of a waterfall or a river. Cliffs and mountains in the distance. Animals rushing past bushes and through narrow crevices, then more spirits, most of them quiet and wondering what they were doing here.
“There’s one thing I know for sure,” the girl added as I took the scythe back from Taeral. “I’m not home. I don’t think any of the others are home, either. There are so many species, from worlds I’ve never even heard of.”
“Do you know what your planet is called, or where it is?” I asked.
“I could tell you, but would you be able to find it?”
“Not right now, but I could ask our friends back home. They could look through all the records we have. The more you tell me about your world, the higher the chances of eventually finding it.”
She lowered her head, her shoulders dropping. “What good would that do? I’m still dead.”
“Yeah, but maybe someday I’d be able to go there, find your parents or anyone you left behind, people you might know of,” I said. “If you have a message for them, some last words… I don’t know. Closure isn’t a bad thing, is it?”
The girl smiled, a sense of hopefulness beaming through her. I now understood why they were all semi-transparent, too. It was part of being a ghost. One’s soul manifested in different forms, but for those who had yet to move on, the body they’d left behind was still a part of who they were. The image they’d been born with and had lived with was the only one they knew, the only way they could manifest. Only, without a physical body, they were mere visions, illustrations of the people they’d once been, ethereal and see-through.
She started to flicker, like a screen breaking, unable to maintain its display. I worried. It didn’t seem like a natural reaction, and she was equally confused. “What… What’s happening?” she asked me.
“I don’t know. How do you feel?” I replied.
She thought about it as the flickering intensified. I feared she’d vanish, soon. “Breathless. Heavy. Cold.”
“What’s going on?” Lumi cut in. She couldn’t see the girl now, but she could tell from my expression that something was off.
“I’m not sure. It’s like she’s about to… Oh.” My voice faded as the blue girl disappeared into thin air. “She’s gone. She simply vanished.” I turned around, looking for her, but there was no sign. Even worse, the other spirits lingering around us had begun to flicker as well. I described what I was seeing, but neither Lumi nor the rest of our crew had an answer as to why this was happening.
All I knew was that it felt wrong.
I glanced up and saw someone standing at the top of the cliff, several feet from the waterfall. He wasn’t flickering, but he was watching us intently. He wore a long tunic—black, with a tall, white collar and white sleeves. His hair was long and blond, combed back in a neat fashion. His almond-shaped eyes peered right into my soul. His cheekbones were high and razor-sharp, and his ears were long and pointed. I’d never seen creatures like him before. Not exactly, anyway. Not with his peculiar features.
“What do you see?” Lumi asked, following my gaze.
“If I were to venture a guess, I’d say a Reaper,” I murmured, remembering what Yamani had told us about the Reaper uniforms. Black and white. Adding this guy’s outfit to the fact that no one but me could see him and that he wasn’t flickering and vanishing like the others, my conclusion seemed fair. This was a Reaper who didn’t want to be seen. But I had the scythe. Even if he wanted to hide from me, I had a feeling he couldn’t. Then again, there was so much we’d yet to learn about their kind. I was operating on assumptions and personal experience.
“Is that why the souls are vanishing?” Eira wondered.
“Good question,” I replied. “Maybe. But I don’t think they’re doing it on purpose. I think he’s doing something to cause this,” I added, nodding at the presumed Reaper, who watched me like a hawk.
Up to this point, we had more questions than answers. We still didn’t know where we were, but it was a world riddled with ghosts. We’d figured out that only someone holding a Reaper’s scythe could see them, and we also knew that these souls came from different worlds—clustered here for some reason, not knowing what they were doing or why they were here.
On top of that, there was a Reaper-looking dude watching us, and I was becoming more and more convinced that his presence had caused the ghosts’ flickering disappearance. Oh, definitely more questions than answers… and I feared that guy wouldn’t tell us anything about it. Not unless we made him.
And therein lies the challenge. Catching another Reaper and getting him to talk.
Taeral
“Should we go up there?” I asked.
Amelia shrugged. “We could try. I’m not sure he’d tell us anything. Plus, I’m really worried we might stumble upon another psycho-Reaper situation,” she said. “It could be a long shot, but I think I’m justified in my concern, given our introduction to Reapers.”
“Fair point,” Raphael replied. “But still. He should know where we are, at least. Phoenix is obviously not close to an answer. The clock is still ticking.”
Amelia handed me the scythe. “Here. Look up at the waterfall’s edge. Left side, beneath that tall tree.”
I took it and found myself staring at him. He matched Amelia’s description perfectly. Tall, black-and-white tunic, long blond hair, and dark, almond-shaped eyes. I couldn’t see his scythe anywhere, but I figured Reapers wouldn’t make a habit of flashing such a precious weapon, anyway. My determination grew with every moment that passed. The longer we stayed here, the less we would learn.
To my dismay, the Reaper stepped back, out of sight. I reached out to the others. “Quick, link hands. He’s gone.”
I teleported us atop the waterfall, where I’d last seen him. From up here, the river roared as it dropped below, cascading over the jagged rocks. The wind blew, sharp and chilly, and the view was downright stunning—just rippling waves of green bamboo and aspen-like woods, as green as raw emeralds and as deep as the ocean itself.
But the Reaper was nowhere to be found.
“Do you see him?” Lumi asked, and I shook my head in response.
“Yeah, he definitely doesn’t want to talk to us,” Amelia grumbled, pursing her lips.
“Semper Telluris, Taeral!” Varga’s voice came through in my head, my insides buzzing as our connection lit up across who knew how many galaxies and solar systems. Semper Telluris allowed Varga to communicate with all of us, as a modified Druid spell. All he needed was to call out one name in the group—in this case, mine, and we’d all be able to hear him. “Are you guys okay?”
“We are, for now,” I replied, slightly amused and equally irritated.
“What’s wrong? You don’t sound okay,” Varga shot back.
I chuckled. “You know me so well.”
