“Then show yourself,” Taeral said.

Looking around, it wasn’t difficult to tell that we were all scared and uneasy. On further thought, however, we likely all saw something like this coming. I would’ve appreciated more information, though.

“I’m not going to,” the Soul Crusher answered. “That’s not how this works.”

“Then tell us,” I shouted. “We’re in the dark here. Figuratively speaking,” I added, noticing the light beams mounted on the ceiling. It looked artificial and man-made, a strange thing to see on the bottom of an ocean on the Fire Star. Then again, the levers weren’t a normal fixture anywhere in this dimension or the next, either.

“Well, I think we should start with an official introduction,” the Soul Crusher said, while I turned around several times, trying to pinpoint the source of his voice. There weren’t any holes or speakers anywhere. It had to be ancient Reaper magic. “I am the Soul Crusher, faithful agent of Death and protector of Zetos. I am also genuinely impressed that you made it this far. I thought I would never get to try my puzzles on anyone, ever! The Widow Maker hogged all the players.”

“Where is he?” Herakles asked.

The Soul Crusher giggled. There was a tinge of “deranged lunatic” in his voice, but I dared not mention that out loud. Whatever this room was, it was part of his domain, his magic. If we wanted to get out of here in one piece, we’d need to be smart and calculated about everything we did or said, going forward. “Why? Miss him already?”

Herakles scoffed. “No. Just wondering. He promised he’d help us.”

“Oh, he can help you outside. In here, you’re all mine. Don’t you think Death’s spell would’ve seen this coming?” the Soul Crusher said.

“So you locked him out,” Taeral concluded.

“Should you survive, I’m sure he’ll be thrilled to see you all again,” the Reaper replied. “Should you survive. Emphasis on that, please.”

“Where are we?” Lumi asked, moving around the room and analyzing each of the levers. She threw us the odd I-have-no-idea-what-these-do look, every now and then.

“In my domain. I thought I said that already,” the Soul Crusher said.

Eira moaned. “Guys, there is something wrong. I feel… wrong.”

“Ah, there it is. It’s finally dawning on you,” the Soul Crusher said.

Raphael took my hands in his, watching me closely. “Do you feel it?”

“What, exactly?” I replied.

Indeed, there were plenty of strange sensations to pick from. The uneasiness, the sluggishness, the sense of doom lurking in the back of my head, the dull aches in every single muscle… the heavy breathing, the lead ankles. I noticed our breathing devices were gone. We’d had them on before getting sucked into this place, since we’d been underwater.

“There are a few things missing here,” Raphael sighed.

Despite our awakening daze, we could all see the things that were off. We could feel them, even.

“I can’t teleport,” Taeral said, his voice faded.

Varga covered his mouth in shock, his eyes wide with horror. “I can’t use my True Sight. I don’t see your auras anymore. What the…”

“Crap.” Lumi’s response stated the obvious, as we all looked at each other, the reality of our new situation dawning on us.

“You took our powers?” Eva hissed, shaking. “I can’t even turn into a snake anymore. That is so not cool!”

The Soul Crusher laughed wholeheartedly, and I instantly understood what was going on. Nevertheless, I kept quiet, waiting for him to elaborate. I figured he was dying to tell us himself. “This is how you’ll take up my challenge for Zetos,” he said proudly. “You must find your way out. You must solve my puzzles. That is, of course, if you want the blade.”

I remembered I’d felt like this before, back when I was still human. I’d experienced similar muscle pain and heaviness after a rough gym session. We’d all been reduced to our most basic selves, without our supernatural abilities. We shared common ground, now. We were all equal, and that was not good. At all.

“What puzzles?” Taeral asked, a shadow drawn deep between his eyebrows.

“Oh, I’ve been working on them for millions of years. You’ll love them,” the Soul Crusher replied, then paused for a moment. “I’m kidding. You won’t like them. You’ll probably hate me for it. Some of you might not survive, either, so you might want to take that into account. It will require wit, courage, patience, and, most importantly, cooperation.”

My stomach was heavy, as if an iron ball had been dropped in it. We kept exchanging glances, wondering what it all meant. What kind of puzzles could a Reaper this old come up with? How did he intend to test us, and, most importantly, how dangerous would it be?

“Should you fail, you will never leave this place,” the Soul Crusher added. “You will die here, eventually. Maybe the hunger will be too much for some of you, and you’ll end up eating one another. Three of you will survive, doomed to spend an eternity down here, with me. Here’s looking at you, Taeral, Eira, and Lumi. You guys will have it the worst.”

“Jeez, you’re sick,” Varga mumbled, pale as a sheet of paper.

There was one thing that worried me. I’d sensed it before, though it had been mild and barely noticeable to most: there had been tension between us since we’d lost Acantha. It had gotten slightly worse after we’d learned about Sherus’s abduction. It wasn’t serious, in my opinion, but I’d noticed the occasional scowl and scoff. This whole trip had taken its toll on us, and now, we were stuck in a room together… for what could easily be a very long time.

The world could end under the Hermessi, and we’d still be here. That thought alone was enough to terrify me. My lower lip quivered as Raphael put his arms around me and held me close. I wanted some comfort out of it, but little came. There wasn’t a single thing we could do to survive this, to live to see another day as free creatures… except beating the Soul Crusher at his own game.

Only, we didn’t know the rules. He did.

We still had our swords, but the pulverizer weapons were gone. Briefly checking my backpack, I saw the healing potions and invisibility paste capsules, but no pulverizer ammo. Would healing and camouflage doses still work? Even so, what good would invisibility do in a Reaper’s realm? The Soul Crusher called the shots, and he’d already stripped us of our powers and magic. “I think I’m getting a headache,” I said, shutting my eyes for a moment. This couldn’t be real. It had to be a nightmare. Right?

“What about the Widow Maker? The Hermessi?” Lumi asked. I could almost hear the wheels in her head turning. She’d spent thousands of years locked up in a dirty basement. She already had her experience with captivity, and I could only imagine the nightmares that had come with it. How is she even keeping it together?

“You’re in a temporal bubble of sorts. Still on the bottom of the ocean,” the Soul Crusher said. “You must move fast. I don’t have the Widow Maker’s protective capabilities. If your enemies find you down here, you’re all screwed.”

“Then why’d you say we could spend an eternity down here?!” Herakles barked, his fists tight at his sides. Riza put an arm on his shoulder, but he couldn’t be consoled.

The Soul Crusher laughed again. “Oh, it was part of the speech. I forgot about the Hermessi when I wrote it.”

“You wrote your speech?” Eva replied.

“Of course! I told you, I’ve been preparing for this for a long time, my darlings! I might lack coherence in outlining the outcome for you all, but it doesn’t matter. Let the games begin! Ready yourselves, because time isn’t on your side, and neither are your Reaper friends.”

“Reaper friends?” I wondered aloud. “Friends? Plural?”

“Are you all prepared?” the Soul Crusher asked, ignoring my questions.

Taeral sighed, his head lowered. “Does it even matter?”

Did it? No, it didn’t. Ready or not, we had to do this. Whatever the Soul Crusher wanted to throw at us, we had to figure it out. No matter what, our only chance of survival and success was to jump through his hoops and solve whatever riddles he’d prepared. The prize at the end wasn’t just Zetos. It was the one step closer we needed to get Thieron completed.

The fate of our worlds had been reduced to our ability to overcome the challenges of an ancient Reaper that had spent millions of years in complete isolation, mostly on the bottom of this ocean. Varga was right. This guy was sick, and he held our lives in his Reaper hands.

Seeley

The Soul Crusher’s blast had knocked me and the Widow Maker out. By the time we’d come to, Taeral and his crew had vanished, leaving us in this coral room with the old iron box. Fortunately for the both of us, we didn’t have issues with the water temperature down here, or any need for breathing devices. We were an ethereal presence, stepping into the living dimension as interactive visitors.

What worried me was the fact that I couldn’t see Taeral anywhere. “Where’d they go?” I asked, shaking myself out of the daze. The liquid mass around me slowed me down a little, I noticed, though not enough to pose any kind of issue.

“I think the Soul Crusher took ’em,” the Widow Maker replied. He stilled upon noticing something I’d completely missed. The coral room had changed its color.