“They’ll see us coming,” Acantha added.

“We still have invisibility pellets. Just because Brendel screwed us up there, it doesn’t mean we can’t use what we have,” Nethissis suggested.

“You’re right, Nethi,” Eva said slowly. “Everybody, take an invisibility pellet, red lenses on. Then, Taeral, you go in first and fast, give them all the fire you’ve got. The rest of us will spill out of the tunnel and shoot them with our pulverizer weapons.”

“Got it,” I replied and ate another invisibility spell pellet.

Seconds passed, and we vanished from sight, our red lenses on. Bracing myself for an aggressive encounter, I summoned my inner fire and darted ahead. By the time I reached the pond that Varga had seen, a powerful flame exploded from my hand. I hurled it at the Shills, who’d yet to see us. Their eyes, their many, creepy eyes, popped out as the fire rammed into them with the force of a massive concrete ball.

They screeched in agony, writhing and flailing, desperate to reach the water, but the crew didn’t give them a shot to extinguish my flames. They fired their pulverizer weapons, hitting each of them until all that remained were loose clouds of ashes.

I took a deep breath, setting my sights on the pond. It was perfectly round and bordered by neatly chiseled marble stones. The frame told me that it had been used by temple visitors a long time ago, and, for some unnatural reason, it had been preserved, despite the millions of years that had changed the world around it. Rosy fish swam in it—they were quite the sight, their strange pinkish scales making them look like wobbling rose blossoms. Weird, but beautiful.

“I thought this place was sealed,” Varga said, putting his weapon away. “Where’d the Shills come from?”

“From one of the other tunnels, perhaps,” Lumi replied. “Brendel would’ve made sure they’d be here to greet us, in case she didn’t get to us first.”

Fresh air tickled my nostrils. I could feel the draft, but I wasn’t able to pinpoint its origin. “It must’ve all been sealed until the Shills were brought in. A hatch was left open, somewhere.”

“Yeah, I can smell the fresh air, too,” Herakles said.

“How’d it all stay so pristine for so long?” Acantha wondered, looking around. The walls were, indeed, as polished as the tunnels we’d come through. Time didn’t forgive anything, not even the hardest of stones. This was odd, though I had an idea why it was like this. In fact, it seemed pretty obvious, the more I thought about it.

“It’s Eirexis,” I replied. “It’s got to be Eirexis. Crazy old magic.”

“Older than time magic,” Amelia murmured, staring at my scythe. “Dude…”

I followed her gaze and realized that it wasn’t vibrating anymore. Instead, it was fully incandescent white, its light pulsating softly as I faced the pond. “Oh, it’s definitely down there,” I mumbled.

A similar glow flickered beneath the crystalline surface, the water rippling gently toward the stone border. Fear reared its ugly head, clutching my heart and gripping it tight. It became difficult to breathe, as I knew what I had to do next. The rosy fish swam along the edges in a circular pattern, and their eggs had been laid in clusters on the pond’s walls. Only then did I notice the crevices through which the water moved. The fish could easily come in and out of here.

“Look,” I said, pointing at one of them. The crew followed my gaze. “Bet you it leads straight to the fresh water rosy fish sanctuary that’s near the temple.”

“Probably. An underground stream… Yeah, I can see it,” Amelia concluded. “Then, this used to be an aquatic cave. The water must’ve withdrawn at some point, leaving this empty and accessible to the people.”

“But the ancient Cerixians wouldn’t have seen Eirexis’s glow,” Lumi replied. “Just the pond. Do we know what the temple was for?”

Eira smiled. “No, but I’m inclined to think it was built to care for and worship the rosy fish. It’s too old and worn down for us to tell, but these creatures have been precious to our culture since before our written history can remember it.”

“So, they built the pond to help the rosy fish with laying their eggs, knowing it was linked to what later became a protected sanctuary,” Amelia said.

“Enough about the fish.” I sighed, staring at the underwater glow. It was likely a reaction to my scythe. “We’ve got work to do.”

“I can go fetch it,” Raphael said. “Technically, I’m the strongest and hardest to kill.”

“No, Taeral should do it,” Eva replied, narrowing her eyes at me. “Remember, he can’t die.”

Varga chuckled. “Oh, yeah, that’s right.”

I’d told Brendel about my inability to die because I’d needed her off her game. Knowing that she couldn’t kill me must’ve pissed her off, and Kabbah could easily use that angle to mess with her.

“We didn’t ask for it,” I said, sensing the soft jab in Varga’s chuckle. It was aimed at Lumi, Eira and me, the only ones in this group who couldn’t be killed until Thieron was retrieved. I knew that, deep down, it had made the rest of the crew feel uneasy and vulnerable. Varga’s chuckle had been tense, and I didn’t need his sentry abilities to know why. I wanted to reiterate this, though, to avoid the slightest pang of resentment further down the line—after all, Lumi, Eira and I were practically indestructible against a most powerful enemy, and the crew wanted to fight the Hermessi just as much. No one wanted to perish until the show was over. “We didn’t have a say in it.”

Raphael nodded slowly and stepped forward, away from the group. He reached a hand out, and I shook it as he smiled. “It’s cool, Tae. We know that. We may not like the fact that only the three of you are immune to any kind of death, for now, but we understand that Death tapped you for this.” His expression shifted, his lips drawn into a straight line. “That being said, you’re getting your ass down in that pond.”

I chuckled. “I thought you were the hardest to kill.”

“You’re temporarily immortal. Now, get crackin’,” he replied dryly, but I did spot the flicker of amusement in his eyes.

“Be careful,” Eira said.

I exhaled. “I’ll do my best.”

Turning around, I stared at the pond for a few seconds. Above, the war unraveled in the same thuds and bangs we’d been hearing. I couldn’t let my fear hold me back any longer. Whatever happened next, I’d have to figure my way out of it.

I put the scythe back in my thigh pocket, the blade sticking out, and jumped over the stone border. The water welcomed me, fresh and cold, making my skin tingle. Below, the bright white light awaited. The rosy fish moved away from me, instinctively huddling around their egg clusters. My presence here was throwing them for a loop, but, hopefully, I’d be out quickly and with no interference in their precious environment.

Swimming downward, I found myself listening to something—a distant song of sorts. It was hard for my brain to process or describe it, but the sound was delicate and fluid, as if made by the water itself. I wondered if it was addressed to me, or whether it was a mystical reaction to the scythe. Icy water tickled my skin whenever I passed by one of the crevices that likely led to the rosy fish sanctuary—small currents in perpetual motion, it seemed.

It didn’t take long to reach the bottom, which had been handcrafted, as well, much like the rest of this place. Smooth tiles had been fitted across the entire surface, long and curved marble panels that spiraled toward the center of the surface, where a long handle rested.

The closer I got, the better I could see the object. It had been beautifully carved from some kind of black bone… Stone dragon bone! It was as tall as me, vertically held in place by its embedded spell, most likely. Moving around it, I took all the details in. Symbols and geometric motifs had been engraved all over it, from top to bottom. I didn’t recognize any of them, but my soul quivered at the sight of them. Deep down, I understood their significance. This was the first piece of Death’s scythe, Thieron. This was Eirexis, and it held inside it a piece of Death herself.

Of course it would have such an effect on anyone who beheld it. I didn’t even become aware that I was reaching out to touch it until I felt the uneven surface of the sculpted stone dragon bone beneath my fingertips.

The white light that had been glowing around it exploded. It made everything disappear. I was blinded and rendered immobile, useless, even, as the energy stretched out and rammed into me with the intensity of a lightning bolt.

Amelia

The white light didn’t behave like… well, light.

It was a powerful energy blast. It viciously threw us against the wall. I heard my body hit the stone. My ears rang, the high pitch making it difficult for me to even process what was going on. I blacked out for a split second.

When I came to, the high-frequency sound persisted in the back of my head. My body ached, as if every bone had been broken and every muscle had been twisted and strained. I sucked in a breath, realizing that it was, more or less, a sensory illusion. I could move, and I raised my head and saw the rest of our crew facedown on the stone floor. Grunting and moaning from the pain, they, too, began to move.

But the truly fearsome sight was that of Taeral, his feet dangling in the air above the pond.

“Oh, my Lord,” I gasped, recognizing the Reaper who’d gripped him by the throat, casually holding him suspended, at arm’s length.

“Is that…” Eva whispered, pushing herself up into a kneeling position.

“The Widow Maker,” Raphael said as he rushed to my side and pulled me upright. My knees were still weak, so I held on to him until some of the strength returned. Dread froze my blood, making it hard for me to do anything, let alone think any of this through.

The Widow Maker stood, literally stood on the water’s surface, clad in black leather from head to toe. All I could see were his eyes, visible through a slit in the material—two clusters of microcosms, from which thousands of galaxies shimmered, swirling endlessly through the black abyss. He was tall, his shoulders broad and muscles bulging against the leather. A single white element adorned his strange suit, a tear-shaped pearl that had been embedded into his right shoulder.

“Holy—” Varga didn’t get to finish his thought, as the Widow Maker spoke.

“Congratulations. You’ve reached your end.”