I'd yet to find the courage to speak to my mother about this. To make her and my father understand my decision. With Brendel and her Hermessi so close to us, and with only a sliver of Phyla power for Phantom to use upon her release, coming to Mortis to finish this quest had seemed like the more reasonable choice. Every fiber in my body had urged me to use Phyla to revive my father instead, but it would've meant taking the long way back to Mortis afterward, and that would've been a recipe for disaster.
We were already just yards away from the finish line, and Brendel was ready to do absolutely everything to stop us. It was a risk I hadn’t been able to take, despite my unending love for my father.
"What about the sanctuaries? Any progress?" I asked, my voice fading, as I leaned back against the palace doors. No one was coming to answer. No one would open them. Judging by the heavy silence around us, this place was abandoned.
"They're still up in the air, hovering and buzzing weirdly," Amelia said. "They've tried getting closer, repeatedly, but the Hermessi just keep everyone out. GASP is focusing on evacuating the areas surrounding them. Trying to get as many people away as possible."
Herakles crouched, letting a deep sigh out. I could certainly understand his frustration. We were all feeling it. "Nowhere will be safe unless we stop the ritual. If the Hermessi finish it, our people will be dead. We'll all be dead."
Except Lumi, Eira, and me, but I didn't dare say that out loud. It was the least of my worries. "What about the GASP officers?" I replied, looking at Amelia. "Will they stay on or fall back to The Shade?"
She blinked several times, as if struggling to understand this one part of the federation's protocol that everyone seemed to have forgotten about. Since the Hermessi incident had become a clear threat to the In-Between and the Supernatural Dimension, new rules had been put into place. Knowing that those dimensions were in the Hermessi's crosshairs, and that Earth was still safe—at least for a while—GASP had decided unilaterally that all of its agents could retreat to The Shade if they wanted. I'd have understood if they'd chosen to stay and die with their people, too.
"The purpose of going back to The Shade is to protect it and Earth from the Hermessi once they decide to breach that dimension," I explained. "They'll have enough power to come through if the ritual is completed. I hate thinking about it as much as you do, but I'm pretty sure Derek and Sofia have already discussed it."
"Have you lost hope, then?" Varga asked me, his brow furrowed.
"No. But it looks as though Death has gone missing," I replied, tension building up in my throat. "I have to consider all the possibilities. I gave up on saving my own father to be here and… she's out."
Seeley cleared his throat. "I don't think she was planning for it. I would've heard something. She would've told me. I was always meant to escort you all back to Mortis once you got Thieron."
"Then where the hell is she?!" I snapped, too close to succumbing to despair, for my own sake. Eira squeezed my wrist, demanding my attention.
"It's not over yet," she murmured. "We still have a little bit of time."
Lumi walked over to the edge of the platform. "Can anyone see the spirits that used to haunt these woods?"
Amelia shook her head. “Not since the Reapers intervened after our first visit here,” she said, looking at Seeley. “Do you see anything?”
“No,” he replied, his concern obvious. Last time we'd been here, this entire area had been riddled with ghosts, spirits that Death had wanted to keep close. Whether for comfort or just a whim of solitude, I didn't know, but at least we'd felt like there were others around.
"You might’ve taken away our ability to spot them with a scythe, but you should at least be able to sense them. Do you? This place feels… empty, different from the last time we were here." Lumi surveyed the thick bamboo woods that guarded the waterfall platform. The thing with spirits was that we couldn’t feel them ourselves, but their presence had still made a slight difference in how we’d seen this place—as if we’d known, deep down, at least faintly, that we were being watched, that we weren’t exactly alone. Lumi was right. It felt lonely and barren, this time around.
"So, there’s nothing?" Amelia asked Seeley, as if to make sure, her eyes wide with disbelief.
"Nothing at all. Not a single spirit, Reaper… nothing," Seeley said.
"Just as I thought." Lumi turned to face us. "It's not just Death who went away. I think Mortis is quite literally empty."
I glanced at Phantom, Soul, and Widow, the three of them finally reunited after all those years. Seeley stood quietly next to them, his expression darkened by concern. "What do you make of this?"
Phantom shrugged. "Not much, if I'm honest. Like Seeley, I can't feel Death here."
"Then what the hell are we supposed to do?" Eira replied. "You said it yourselves, Brendel is coming for us."
Something thundered above us. We’d been so drawn into Mortis’s tomb-like silence that we’d not even noticed Kabbah coming down from the sky, his body glowing emerald-green. My pulse quickened at the sight of him.
“Took you long enough,” Eira muttered, prompting me to look at her in surprise.
“You knew he would find us here?” I asked her, as Kabbah landed smoothly in front of us, his back to the palace. The glow dimmed, leaving his hands alight, and his eyes burning green.
“Given our increase in strength, as Hermessi, per the ritual, I’m able to reach out to Eira, much like I would any of my brethren,” Kabbah said. I’d almost forgotten that the hostiles’ power wasn’t the only one growing. The rebels were reaching new levels of strength, as well.
“He sounded like a whisper in the back of my head,” Eira said. “He sort of already knew where we were going after what happened on Aledras, so… I just confirmed it.”
“That’s good,” I replied. “Your telepathic connection clearly comes in handy.”
“Where’s Brendel?” the Soul Crusher interjected, glancing at Kabbah.
"She's headed for Mortis," Kabbah said. I'd yet to get used to thinking of him as Kabbah, Nevertide's ancient Earth Hermessi, since he was still wearing Fallon. "I can sense her. She'll be here within the hour."
"What did GASP advise us to do?" Riza asked, staying close to Herakles.
We were all still recovering from the dream world in which Phantom had plunged us for the Phyla challenge. There were snippets of that life woven into reality, and there were moments where I was tempted to believe that Eira and I were a pair, that Eva and Varga were engaged… Phantom had certainly done a number on us.
But reality was much worse. In hindsight, I would've been inclined to stay in the dream world. It would've been better than out here, despite its intricate weirdness. My instinct never would've allowed it, though. The call of my people was too strong. Our desire for survival too powerful, impossible to ignore, regardless of how enticing Phantom's dream might've seemed.
"Derek said we must figure out a way to find Death," Amelia replied. "I'll be honest, he gave me a sense of defeat. He's having a hard time moving forward, and so is Sofia. I don't even know how the others are feeling, but I’d guess they're in the same ballpark. They're relying on us, Tae."
"Figure out a way to find Death," I said, repeating after her. "How does he expect us to do that?"
"The same way you've managed until now," Soul cut in, glowering at me as if I'd disappointed him somehow. "Your girlfriend is right. It's not over yet."
"She's not my…" I stopped, my voice trailing off. If there was one thing that had fueled me until now, it had been the prospect of a future where I could get to know Eira better. Maybe we could even make the better parts of our shared dream come true. I gave her a sideways glance and found her smiling at me, filling me with the kind of warmth I'd been yearning for. It was her quiet way of encouraging me. After all, Eira was still here, by my side, with the rest of the team, ready to do whatever it took to get Thieron back to Death. "Okay. Cool. Figure out a way to find Death. Okay. Any ideas? Reapers go first, since she's your mommy."
The four Reapers looked at one another, but none came forward. I had a feeling I was barking up the wrong tree on this one. Behind me, the palace doors felt cold and unwelcoming.
"We can’t peek inside," I said, shifting my focus to Varga. "Right?"
