The wails were almost on us and then the fiery sky went black.
What the hell. I looked up. But it wasn’t the sky that was black, but a mammoth shadow.
“Uri, what the hell?”
“Malignant. Run!”
Chapter Two
The ground seemed to swallow the pounding of our boots as we ran. The only sound was the wail of the malignant. Louder. Closer.
Where was the Edge?
Darkness descended on us, tearing at us. My scythe flared to life. I swung it in an arc, forcing the malignant back with the celestial light.
The malignant separated into singular entities, crimson laced with obsidian, barely holding a humanoid form as they circled us.
You can’t keep us all at bay.
The voice was a scratch at the back of my mind. It surrounded us, coming from all around us. They moved closer, tightening the perimeter.
“Like hell I can’t.” I swung again to ward them off, earning a screech for my efforts.
Our place, our rules.
Uriel’s hands lit up with silver light and then two silver swords shot out from them. He twisted his wrists so the blades cut through the air menacingly. “Leave now or I will hurt you.”
Our hunger is stronger. We are legion.
Legion, my ass. They couldn’t possess us. We could fight them off.
We wish to see, to feel. We wish to taste.
An idea formed in my head. “Do you want to go back into the fucking scythe?” I held up my glowing blade. “Because I will happily vacuum you all up.”
Please don’t test me. If I did that then I wouldn’t be able to free the pure souls. I’d be saddled with these fuckers.
You cannot hold us. You are not him. You are not one with our world.
Dammit. Malachi would have come in useful right now. I swung my scythe again as they moved in.
I caught movement beyond the horde, a shimmer in the air. “Three o’clock.”
“I see it,” Uri said. “You need to go. I’ve got this.”
“Like hell am I leaving you.”
“It’s been a long time since I had a proper battle.” I could hear the smile in his voice, and when I glanced his way, I caught the grin on his face. Anticipation of bloodshed. Anticipation of battle. “I could do with a little exercise. I’ll be fine. Go before the doorway closes.”
He was a celestial. He was a warrior. If he said he could handle it, then I trusted him. The shimmer was shrinking, ready to move, and if it vanished, we might not find it again.
It was now or never.
“Go!” Uriel ordered.
He rushed forward, swords blazing as he cleared a path for me through the malignant. The spirits screamed in anger and rage, but parted to avoid the sting of celestial light, and then I was through.
“Run!” Uriel bellowed.
I sprinted toward the shimmer, focusing solely on it, afraid that it would melt away at any moment. The spot was a disc in the air, three feet off the ground, and it was shrinking.
Shit.
Uriel’s exultant whoop rose up behind me. Damn, he was having fun. Who knew the celestial had a wicked streak.
The disc was less than a meter away now. Time to jump.
The malignant’s pained screams followed me into the Edge.
I landed on cream tiles in a corridor lined with white doors. The corridor tunneled into the distance until it was nothing but a dot. The doors were unmarked and all looked the same.
This was the Edge?
What was behind the doors?
I took a step and a beam of light shot down out of the ceiling, blocking my way. “Identification required.”
The voice was grating and mechanical, as if it hadn’t been used in a long while.
Um…shit. “Dominus Reaper Seraphina Dawn.”
“I’m sorry. You do not have access to the archives. Press the blue button to leave.”
The wall beside me pulsed, and then a blue button appeared. It flickered, going translucent and then solidifying again.
“Goodbye.” The beam of light vanished but the button remained.
I took a step forward and once again the beam of light shot down to cut me off.
“Identification required.”
Think, Fee. Think. The Righteous had created this place, so maybe they’d have access. Cassius was one of them, so…
“Identification required,” the voice said again.
“Cassius, Dominion, Righteous, Upper circle.”
There was silence.
Shit, maybe I should have put on a male voice?
“Access granted. Welcome to the archive, the home of the remnants who gave their light to save us all.”
The beam of light pulsed.
Was it going to scan me? Shit, if it scanned me it would know I wasn’t Cassius.
But instead of rushing toward me the beam shot away, down the corridor. The doors blazed in its wake and gold plaques appeared on each of them. The plaques had writing etched into them. Names and dates.
The ones at this end were from a century ago. This must be when the Beyond first started to use the purest souls for boosts. It looked like this system had been in place way before the humans started seeing ghosts and learned about the reapers. But it also told me that the Beyond had managed without burning pure souls for a long time, which meant that regular human souls were getting less effective as batteries.
I scanned the doors as I walked down the corridor. Yep, they were arranged in date order. Each room contained a core. The Beyond had created this place. A resting place for the pure souls they’d burned through. But how the hell was I going to harvest them all? Busting through each door was going to take forever.
There had to be a quicker way. “Um, hello?”
Nothing.
“Keeper? Guardian?”
Nothing.
Shit…what was the system called? Wait, it had called this place an archive. “Librarian?”
“How may I assist Cassius?”
“I need to find a specific…remnant.”
“Name of remnant.”
“Lara Dawn.”
The doors whizzed past in a blur, forcing my stomach back into my spine. I was gonna be sick.
We came to a halt and my eyes wobbled in their sockets. I squeezed them shut and exhaled to ground myself.
“Will that be all?” the librarian asked.
“One moment.” I opened my eyes to find Aunt Lara’s door to my right.
She was here. Behind that door. A remnant, whatever that meant.
“Will that be all?” the librarian repeated.
“No. Can I…Can I see her?”
“A remnant can be seen and heard but cannot see or hear you.”
I needed to know. I needed to see. I pushed open the door and stepped inside.
The room was a dark abyss of emptiness; the only light came from an orb floating in the center of the room. Thick silence pressed against my ears, and then whispers filled my head.
A voice I recognized.
Where is it? What is it? Can I go now? Will I be okay? Where am I? Where is this? What was I doing? There was something…something…A soft sob. I can’t remember. What was it? Why? Why?
Aunt Lara’s voice filled my head, the whispers growing louder until they were all I could hear. Her confusion and despair pierced me. Cassius had said the cores were safe, that they felt no pain, but he was wrong. This was emotional torment. Eternal confusion and loss.