Destined to the Reaper (The Shadow Realms #2)

Chapter 13

Pharos

I couldn’t help another smile when my woman didn’t hesitate to start piling a generous serving of the various dishes onto her plate. As guilty as I felt about exhausting her so thoroughly on an empty stomach earlier, I loved seeing my Kali have such a healthy appetite and especially enjoying Myress’s cuisine.

My bride probably hadn’t noticed, but I knew the Cambion well enough to have sensed her worry that Kali would ask her to leave. The poor Myress was so used to people rejecting her merely for what she was or her unusual appearance that she had come to expect it from anyone in some sort of position of power over her. Thankfully, I perceived no such sentiment from my female, only genuine curiosity.

“So please tell me in what world Grizelle is not evil,” Kali demanded between two bites.

I chuckled while filling our respective glasses with wine. “Like all other Keres, Grizelle is a slave to her genetic nature which demands for her to constantly hunt and feed. It’s nothing personal against you or anyone else. In many ways, she’s like a wild beast.”

“But she’s sentient and able to hold a rational conversation. She was clearly mad at me for taking you from her,” I argued.

“She was furious with you. You took away her greatest prize. Grizelle—like all Keres—is cursed by an insatiable hunger. In other words, no matter how much she eats, she will constantly feel hollow. I was an endless source of food for her. Losing me sets her to starving again. Instead of being able to rest in her temple while draining me, she will have to hunt every minute of every day. Today was a devastating blow for her after centuries of comfort,” I said softly.

“Okay, I can see how that would be terrible for her. But that doesn’t make it less evil that she would condemn you to this life of slavery,” Kali challenged.

I smiled. “That would be true of a human or some of the more evolved species of the netherworld. But do not be fooled by her ability to hold a conversation. It’s not a reflection of higher thinking. Have you ever spoken with a gnome? They can converse with you, but they’re dumb as a rock. There is a reason many of the lesser demons and lower tier species never achieved the type of evolution humans have. They live in primitive conditions, only chasing after their next meal or a safe place to sleep, despite the powers that could have helped them advance. Their thinking capabilities and mental range are basic. They do not have the analytical minds to weigh things such as right and wrong, ethics, and morality in general.”

Kali frowned and pursed her lips while reflecting on my words. “I see what you mean. But I still struggle with seeing her as something other than evil.”

“Evil requires an intent to cause harm for the sake of cruelty or for entertainment. It is understanding right and wrong and choosing to go on the darker side. Creatures like Grizelle are literally unable to feel emotions such as empathy and compassion. They are purely driven by their instincts and will mindlessly pursue whatever can ensure their survival. To her, killing you or trapping me are logical actions that anyone in their right mind would do in her shoes.”

“Right. I can see that,” Kali conceded with a hint of reluctance.

I took a sip of my wine while reminiscing on how this entire mess took place to begin with.

“Creatures like her are easy to manipulate because their driving force is obvious, allowing to smoothly cater to it,” I said pensively. “That’s how Cornelius was able to recruit her into enslaving me.”

“I wondered about that! But frankly, I thought it had been the other way around, and that Grizelle sweet-talked Cornelius into it.”

I snorted and shook my head. “She’s not intelligent enough for that. As I understand it, Cornelius brought her victims to feed her blood pool in exchange for information about Reapers.”

“Information like what?” Kali asked while cutting a piece of meat, her eyes sparkling with curiosity.

I hesitated as to how to best answer the question. “Mortals are distributed among Reapers in order for us to harvest their souls upon death. Most of them are randomly assigned as they draw nearer to the end of their thread. But they are weak marks that could be overwritten by one of us if we wished to claim them as ours to escort.”

“Like you did with me!” Kali said, her beautiful face lighting up with understanding.

I nodded. “Death creatures like Reapers and Keres—among others—can see that mark. It is like having our names branded on that person. Grizelle mostly haunts battlefields where she can get large feasts from all the fighters dying. She would roam around noting those marked by an Angel of Death instead of a Grim Reaper.”

Her eyes widened with surprise. “Why specifically an Angel?”

“Because we are more compassionate. Cornelius needed one of us to increase his chances of achieving his plan. Grims usually teleport in, snatch the soul of the dying, and leave. We Angels tend to linger, comfort the dying, and ease them into departing.”

“So she identified a few potential targets, and you just ended up being the unlucky one,” my mate said pensively.

“Exactly,” I said, bitterness seeping into my voice.

“But how? I always wondered how a much weaker necromancer could have ensnared a demigod,” she asked sheepishly.

“It was part of the deal he made with Grizelle. Remember how the blood pool only had partial limbs and random organs floating inside?” I asked.

She nodded.

“The agreement was that Cornelius would bring humans for her to feed off their blood and life force, but he got to keep some of their parts for his constructs. It took a while, but he eventually managed to kidnap one of the humans marked by an Angel of Death who she had identified for him.”

“Eventually managed?”

I nodded. “As most of the targets were on battlefields, too many died before he could get to them. It isn’t easy to abduct someone surrounded by the other members of their units.”

“Right, not to mention him getting to wherever the battle was taking place in time,” she said.

“Exactly. But once he got the almathar , Cornelius set up the trap to lure me in. Almathar is the name we give a person about to die who we will escort shortly to the afterlife,” I explained when she gave me a confused look. “As his magic wasn’t powerful enough, Cornelius needed Grizelle’s help to boost his own skills and achieve his goal.”

“Wow, he really planned this out!”

“That’s one thing I must grant him. Cornelius is extremely calculated and thorough. No challenge is too great when it can help further his ambitions.”

“So I see,” Kali replied with a shudder. “So what happened?”

“As soon as their life thread is about to end, we receive a call. It’s a tug similar to what you felt when Cornelius was trying to pull me back as you were transferring me into my body.”

She nodded.

“Normally, as soon as we receive the call, we can directly teleport to the location of our almathar . Unfortunately, certain places present an obstacle that requires us to appear a bit farther away, as is the case with the Hemdell Crypt. The place is cursed. Too much magic prevents us from appearing inside. The closest we can appear is right outside the entrance in the burial grounds.”

“That’s why after we bonded you had to fly outside instead of just teleporting out?” Kali asked.

I smiled. “Correct. So that’s what I did. I appeared outside the crypt and flew all the way down to the sacrificial chamber. By the time I arrived, my almathar was screaming while Cornelius was severing his limbs, cauterizing them as he went to keep him from bleeding to death. Grizelle was feeding on his life force and fear. Such cruelty infuriated me. A Grim should have been assigned to this man. They could have ended his pain immediately.”

“But as an Angel of Death, you were forced to let it follow its course until he died,” my bride said with empathy.

I nodded with a somber expression. “We’re usually not assigned gruesome deaths. I could see that his thread had shifted from the original path. But as per the covenant, I could not end his life until his fate was 100% sealed. In this instance, Cornelius wasn’t just sacrificing the human, he was turning him into a sentient construct. Therefore, there was still a slim possibility that the almathar would survive the ritual. The only thing I could do was to sever the soul from his body to end his pain.”

“Wait, I’m confused. Wouldn’t that kill him?”

I shook my head. “The soul can remain inside a body without being directly connected to it for a maximum of twenty-four hours. During that time, while that soul still animates that body, it will not feel any of the pain that vessel endures. It is something we often do for extremely sick people in the last few hours of their lives. That’s why you will sometimes hear of terminally ill patients who suddenly regain their lucidity and almost seem normal, hours before their passing.”

“Oh wow! I didn’t realize that,” Kali said, impressed. “But how did Cornelius use that kindness against you?”

“He had already set up a ritual meant to trigger the moment I performed that specific act,” I said, the old anger swelling again inside me. “To sever the link, we only use the tip of our scythe on the thin thread which connects to the spine right below the skull. It is a very precise procedure which requires great care. But the moment my scythe touched my almathar’s soul, it felt as if I had been struck by lightning with such strength that I instinctively yanked my hand back. Unfortunately, with that gesture, I ended up involuntarily severing his head, killing him instantly.”

“No!” Kali breathed out, before pressing her fingers over her mouth with a horrified expression.

“The worst pain I’d ever felt struck me to my knees. Remember the wounds I sustained for killing the Skarachs that attacked you in the crypt? The ones I received for killing that man before his time—a man whose thread still indicated he might survive—was a hundred times worse. Before I could recover, Grizelle swooped in and sucked me dry.”

“By the Gods, you never stood a chance,” Kali said, compassion and anger on my behalf filling her voice.

“None, and it was my own fault,” I concurred with a dejected expression.

She recoiled. “How was that your fault? You were trapped!”

“I was,” I conceded. “However, I felt something was off the moment I stepped onto the island. But that entire place is permeated with so much evil that I didn’t really spare it much thought. Since Cornelius was performing a ritual right there on my almathar , I just assumed what I felt was directed at him. But it was aimed at me.”

“You still had no reason to suspect a trap. Who in their right mind would have expected a human to be so crazy as to go after a Reaper?” she challenged, as if I’d said something silly.

“Fair. But I should have listened to my instincts when they told me something was amiss. But Cornelius perfectly planned this whole thing. As is often the case with dark blood magic, a human sacrifice was required. For this specific one, it needed to be performed by an Angel. Therefore, he found a clever way to get me to do just that as I never would have consented to it otherwise.”

Kali uttered a series of swear words under her breath. The self-righteous anger she felt on my behalf touched me deeply.

“So between the punishment of the covenant, and Grizelle leeching me, Cornelius was able to easily take my scythe from me and perform the binding ritual. And so, for the past five hundred years, I’ve been helplessly watching his power grow as he used me. The most painful part was watching him use my powers to doom my own brother and steal his tail,” I said bitterly.

“Asheron?” she asked with sudden understanding.

I nodded.

“My brother was obsessed with him,” Kali said with a dejected expression. “During his apprenticeship with Cornelius, he kept talking about the Wraith. The fool thought he would be the one to find the way to ensnare him for Cornelius.”

I bit back the urge to say that Jasper had always been an idiot who greatly overestimated his abilities. But she didn’t need me to bring him down further. As Haroth said, her brother had suffered enough for his foolishness.

“I involuntarily caused so much suffering over the centuries. The way Cornelius used my powers allowed him to do things he never should have, and which increasingly affected the balance. To this day, I’m shocked that the Ancients didn’t get us both executed sooner.”

“You’re not going to die, Pharos,” Kali said with a conviction that took me aback. “You didn’t survive this long and get this far only to fail now. Cornelius is going to pay for all the wrong he has done.”

“This last part, I take great comfort in knowing it is now nearly inevitable,” I said softly. “But the ultimate outcome for me isn’t guaranteed. Still, whatever happens, I’m just grateful that I met you and got to spend these moments with you.”

“And I feel the same about you. Tomorrow, Cornelius will proceed with his plan to bind you and Charon. We need to go there as soon as possible to stop him before he can get too far setting up his ritual,” she said.

“Kali,” I said in a chastising tone. “You know that—”

“Stop, Pharos. I know what you’re going to say,” she interrupted in a gentle but firm tone. “Look, I’m scared. Actually, terrified would be a more appropriate word. I’ve seen what happens to people who allow their souls to be taken over or stolen. I’ve spent the past few years watching my brother gradually degrade. He suffers, trapped in a decaying body, his mind still there but mostly faded. Once we free him, he will be a mindless, wandering soul.”

“There are peaceful places in Erebus for souls such as his. Erebus is the region where we take our almathars until Charon takes them to the region of the afterlife best suited for them. It isn’t limbo or purgatory. Haroth will make sure he’s taken to a good place. With time, Jasper might become whole again and even be reborn as a human. But if he doesn’t, he will never know pain or despair. He will be happy.”

My chest constricted at the sight of the grateful tears welling in her eyes.

“I can never thank all of you enough for this,” she said, her voice thick with emotion. “It is the best that I could have hoped for Jasper. But seeing what happened to him and recent events have taught me that I cannot allow fear to dictate my life. In fact, your brother really helped open my eyes.”

“Haroth?!” I asked, surprised.

She nodded, a frown marring her forehead. “He reminded me of what it felt like when you gave your soul to me. For the first time in my life, I felt whole, at peace, and truly happy. But more importantly, I felt all of you. I may first and foremost be a Bone and Blood Mage, but I’m also a respectable Soul Mage. And when I held you, I perceived no malice, no evil, or underhanded intent from you towards me. Your feelings for me were pure and loving. We vibrated in perfect harmony.”

My heart skipped a beat as her underlying meaning started making its way into my mind.

“What are you saying?”

She took a deep and fortifying breath before answering. “I’m saying that I am scared, but I believe in you. Therefore, the same way you trusted me with your soul in the crypt, I will trust you with mine.”

I stiffened, joy, confusion, and worry battling inside me for dominance.

“You want to give me your soul?” I asked, wanting to make sure there was no misunderstanding.

Kali swallowed hard but nodded.

“You understand that it is not reversible?” I insisted.

“I do,” she said firmly.

Still flabbergasted, considering how adamantly against it she had been not even twenty-four hours ago, I studied her features as if they could reveal the answer to this mystery.

“You have no obligation to make this sacrifice simply to save my life,” I said carefully. “You have no debt towards me.”

She waved a dismissive hand. “I know that. It is not guilt or a sense of obligation that made me come to that conclusion. To be honest, I would have preferred a lot more time to come to terms with such a monumental decision. But holding your soul convinced me that we are meant to be. We may not be in love with each other yet, but there is no doubt in my mind that it will come. I just know that I cannot contemplate a life without you. And I know you will not abuse this gift.”

“But—”

“Stop arguing, Pharos,” Kali said sternly. “I have made my decision, and you will not discourage me. I had the entire night to sleep on it, and I already knew that I would go through with this the moment I woke up this morning. I’m not doing this out of a sense of guilt, but because it’s what I want. You took me out of hell yesterday. Tomorrow, you and I will send Cornelius to its darkest pit. And then, you will get to show me what it’s like to be your bride for the rest of our lives.”

“My Kali,” I whispered, my heart filling to bursting.

Rising to my feet, I went over to her chair and pulled her into my embrace. As I claimed her lips, I thanked all the powers that be for sending my soulmate my way. Whatever future awaited us, this moment would have made it all worthwhile.

She was mine, and I wouldn’t let anything or anyone stand in the way of the future I wanted for us.