"You were alive, too, a long time ago," Varga retorted.

"I sometimes forget," Seeley replied. "It was more than a thousand years ago."

"There's the throne room," I said, pointing ahead.

It didn't feel like it had before. The weight of her presence was gone. The silence was understandably creepy, but I didn't experience the curious dread I'd first faced upon walking down this hallway.

"Not too shabby, if you ask me," Soul said. "Then again, she had plenty of time to spruce this place up after she lost Thieron."

"She didn't lose it. It was stolen from her," Phantom corrected him.

"Speaking of, I still can't wrap my head around how that happened, in the first place," Eva said, cautiously looking around as we reached the throne room doors.

"I only know what she told me," I replied. "After she stopped the previous ritual, she was weakened, tired. Brendel stayed close enough so as not to get burned by the pulse, then swooped in and snatched Thieron. Death didn't have the strength to go after her."

Soul chuckled. "Brendel was never an idiot. A fanatic, maybe, sure. But she always had the smarts it took to eventually pull off this insane ritual. Believe in something for long enough, and you'll make anything happen."

He glanced at me as he spoke, and I caught the hidden meaning of his words. He'd felt me losing faith in this endeavor, and he was ready to stop me from making a full descent into madness and despair. For that, I would be forever thankful. I gave him a faint nod, just for him to notice.

The throne room doors were open, we realized, as Soul, Widow, and Phantom pulled them to the side.

"Oh, dear," Raphael muttered.

We froze in the doorframe, gawking at the silent horror lying before our very eyes. The throne room's painted paper walls were torn down, and darkness reigned beyond. The wind howled through, fluttering across the dead Reapers that had been left behind.

"Holy crap!" Amelia croaked, pointing at three familiar figures. "Theoth, Wrik, and Baethal! The snarky triplets!"

They were all dead, just desiccated corpses whose more familiar features we could all still recognize. Their scythes were on the ground, shimmering in the faint light coming down from above. Looking up, I could see the flames dwindling in the chandeliers. Soon, this entire place would be swallowed in the same kind of darkness that surrounded the torn walls.

"Their throats were slit," Seeley said as he did a brief survey of the room.

There were dozens of Reapers here, with black-and-white uniforms of different styles, but Baethal, Wrik, and Theoth were still easy to identify. They were closest to the throne, on their backs. Their eye sockets were empty, as if the galaxies that had twinkled in them had vanished upon their assassination.

"Only Death or one of the First Ten can kill Reapers like this," Phantom said. There was genuine concern in her voice, and that worried me the most. This scene worried her as much as it did us. "It's called True Death."

Indeed, this was eerily different from the last Reaper death I'd seen. When Seeley had killed Yamani, he'd turned to ashes in an instant. "How does this happen?"

"It's a cruel way to kill a Reaper," Phantom replied. "The soul is bound to the Reaper's form, forever stuck, unable to move on, unable to do anything. The form itself withers, as you can very well see. It's like staring into eternity as it flows past you, and you… you can't escape."

"The irony being that it's called True Death, when, in fact, it's infinitely worse than a usual Reaper death," Seeley mumbled, his brows furrowed as he stood next to the throne.

"Why would anyone do this?" I asked, my blood running cold. "How evil would you have to be to do this to these Reapers?"

"Whoever is responsible, they wanted them to suffer," Widow said. "This is the one fate I hope I never encounter."

"You said only Death or one of the First Ten can do this," Amelia replied. "Do you think she's responsible? That she killed them all and fled?"

Soul gasped. "Why would she do that, when Thieron was so close to coming back to her?! No, it doesn't make sense!"

"Then one of you did it," Raphael said. "Well, not one of you three, here. One of the other seven First Tenners?"

Soul, Widow, and Phantom stared at each other for a while. They probably had a hard time even imagining the culprit as one of their own. But Seeley didn't seem all that surprised. "What's your theory on this?" I asked him.

He whispered into his blade and pointed it at the throne. The scythe lit up white, as if reacting to something—my guess was Death's trace. "She was here until not that long ago," he said, looking at the three First Tenners. "The slivers of energy she left behind are fading. I'd say she's been gone for a day or so, tops."

Soul walked over to the throne and whispered into his scythe, repeating Seeley's motions around the regal seat. His blade hummed and shone white, as well, prompting him to nod in agreement. "One of our brothers or sisters was here, as well."

Phantom and Widow joined in their own study of the throne, using similar spells, while the rest of us stilled, watching in silence as the Reapers investigated this otherworldly crime scene.

"Do you know which of your siblings was here?" Lumi asked.

They all shook their heads. Seeley moved away from the others, holstering his weapon. "I know Kelara was investigating the First Ten."

"Ah, right. The sharp one." Soul chuckled.

"You knew about this and you didn't tell us?!" I replied, suddenly blindsided. I remembered Kelara as the Reaper representative in the Calliope sanctuary, but that was pretty much all I knew about her. That she was investigating anything regarding the First Ten was new information—at least to me.

"There was no point in telling you anything until Kelara came back with something concrete. Which she has yet to do," Seeley said, his tone firm, as if I'd offended him.

"Has she said anything since we last spoke?" Soul asked him.

Phantom seemed as confused as the rest of us. "What is this about?"

"While we were outside the glass bell, waiting for you to release Phyla, Kelara got in touch," Seeley explained. "She was following a lead, persistent in her theory that a First Tenner had been helping Brendel. Chances are, if she's right—which, by the way, I think she is—then that First Tenner has been supporting Brendel's ritual mission for a long time. Likely since before she stole Thieron."

"It makes sense, if you think about it," Widow said to Phantom. "How else would Brendel have known when to strike?"

Phantom nodded slowly, looking at Seeley. "Any word from this Kelara?"

"Not yet," he replied. "I tried reaching out to her the moment we got here, but she hasn't responded."

Amelia sucked in a breath. "So, it's no longer a theory, huh? I mean, we've all sort of thought about this since we got Zetos. That someone super powerful must've helped Brendel. We just didn't know Kelara was also on this."

"You couldn't have. You were busy between the silken sheets of Phantom's dream," Soul shot back, grinning ear to ear. “Phantom told us all about it. We have a telepathic connection, remember?” It was enough to make me shudder.

The skies boomed outside, bringing the entire conversation to a sudden halt. We all glanced at the doorway. My pulse started its race through my body, setting me up for an adrenaline rush. My survival instincts were kicking in, demanding that I leave the premises immediately.

"I think they're coming," Nethissis spoke, nervously glancing around.

Footsteps down the hallway made me stiffen, until a figure hurriedly emerged from the semi-darkness. The wall sconces had begun to die out along the way. It was Kabbah.

"I figured I'd be better off if you just teleport us all out of here," he said to me. "The four Mortis Hermessi are circling the palace. I doubt it will still stand after they're done with it. They didn't look friendly."

"Of course they're not friendly. They're serving that maniac," Herakles replied dryly.

It was time to go. Teleporting everyone to the pink water cave wasn't going to be a problem. However, as the ground beneath us began to vigorously shake, I found myself annoyed by the fact that we had yet to establish our next destination.

We could jump into the pink water, sure… but where would we go?