“

In the end, all we did was trading places. I saw the paths the other two walked, saw what they have done to make it possible for me to walk and chose to walk along the path they have provided me with.

I have no regrets, though I am still sad that I couldn’t see his face one more time.

”

I woke up at a grassfield. Not the most logical place to wake up at, if one was to ask me. Just a few seconds ago I was at the Palace, fighting a Death. I looked at my shoulder and saw that my arm was reattached, even though I could very clearly remember it being lost in battle.

“This is a space outside reality, so things like that don’t matter here.”

I looked in the direction the voice came from. A tall person sat about three meters away from me, a polished black skull reflecting the sunlight that fell on it. The creature wore a black robe.

“You are…”

“Jonathan. At least that’s what my name used to be. You can call me that for the time being or you can call me something else, not that I care that much about names.”

Jonathan shifted his weight a bit, revealing the black bones of his hands underneath the robe. 

“Is every Death a skeleton?”, the question flubbed out of my mouth before I could think the question through.

“Is that how you see me? Interesting.”, Jonathan shifted his weight again, “See, usually these appearances are unneeded because they are masked by the cloak we wear. I don’t know how it works exactly, but it creates some kind of aura around us.”

“This must be the black smoke I saw when he materialized”, I thought. In the meantime, Jonathan continued:

“However, it doesn't work here. This means that you have to see something, right? But get this, Death has no appearance. The concept of a Death standing in front of you is so alien to your mind, that it creates a mental image of what a Death should look like, that’s what you see.”

I seated myself near Jonathan. The grass felt refreshing to touch, the earth had a strong and grainy texture. A bug zoomed by.

“So, where are we exactly?”, I asked as I stared into the horizon where nothing but endless grasslands were visible.

“Where, you ask.”, the Death shrugged, “Why don’t you ask the elf friend of yours?”

Head Inquisitor…

“I can see on your face that you remember her”, the black skull seemed to be grinning, “She’s a special one. One that is not confined by the laws of this world, one that is truly free to do whatever she wants and yet is forced into maintaining this world by her creators, robbing her of the freedom she has.”

Jonathan stopped talking for a second, pondering what to say next, then resumed:

“As for where we are, we’re inside a soulstone. She forced a soul out of me and forced your soul together with me inside. We can actually see where the stone is, by the way. Want to steal a peek?”

Without waiting for my answer, Jonathan made a sharp movement with his hand. When he did so, a crack appeared in the air. This tear in the fabric of space slowly expanded until it looked like an oval window. In that window we could see a small room with a single bed in it. On the bed lay…

My heart skipped a beat.

The Death smirked, almost chuckling, and watched me stare at the window between realities.

The small room smelled of salts, herbal tinctures and strong medicinal alcohol. Although the sources of the smell were safely stored in a white cabinet in the corner of the room, whose storage compartments were locked tightly, the smell still escaped through the tiny cracks in its old wooden frame.

Only two other pieces of furniture were present in the room, a simple wooden chair for visitors and a bed for patients.

The room itself was so bland, that no one would want to stay in it longer than they should. The wooden floor, the walls, the windowsill, the bedsheets, the chair and even the long and partially see-through curtains were white, with stains of gray here and there reminding the room’s inhabitants of the passage of time and the decay it brings with it.

Currently the room hosted a single person, a young woman. She was sitting on the bed, her back against the low headboard, looking outside through the open window. Her light green eyes captured the paysage outside: the laid roofs of houses below, the dirty cobblestone street, the various people scurrying towards their destinations. A slight breeze combed through her long dark brown hair, making her shield her face so no strand would enter her eyes or mouth. 

The sun was setting when she heard a knock on the door. She didn’t answer, nor did she move when another person entered the room. That person was a woman of short stature, triangle ears poking from her head.

“Good evening, miss.”, she greeted the young woman while scanning the room. One could say that it was the force of a habit, but maybe she was expecting to see something beside the young occupant of the room. 

“How are you feeling? No sudden pains? No feeling of distance from this reality?”

Her tone could be mistaken for nonchalance, but the young woman immediately understood what her visitor expected. She turned her head to meet the eyes of the guest. Now, in the afterglow of the setting sun, one could see that the woman’s right eye was as dark as the deepness of the night sky.

“Oh, I see. Looks like you’re a proper Death’s disciple now.” The visitor walked over to the bed, grabbed the pitiful excuse of a wooden chair and placed it near the bed, all while looking straight into the young woman’s right eye. “But”, she said as she sat on the chair, “You do remember your name, right?”

The young woman was deep in thought.

“Yes.”, she answered after a few seconds had passed, “And I remember you too. From his memories.”

“Oh? I hope you see me in a positive light then.” An air of arrogance emanated from the guest.

“I… don’t know, to be honest. He didn’t think about you that much, for he had different things on his mind.”

“Right. Other things.”, the woman’s tone became sinister, “Like attempting to kill the ruler of the Islands right in his own palace. While I have a fair amount of information to deduce the probable motive behind his actions, I still wish to know what you think of it. No, I want to hear everything you know about it.”

“I…”

“Will take it to the grave”, is what the young woman wanted to say, but couldn’t. Like a cat that bit its tongue, she made uneasy movements with her mouth, trying to get the words out, but couldn’t.

The guest, seeing the struggles of the young woman, waved her hand. “Don’t force yourself”, she said, “It’ll take a while to adapt to your body. It’s already impressive that you were able to talk this much after resting only for a half of a day.”

The visitor stood up from the chair, which upon being suddenly released from its duty of bearing the weight of several dozens of kilograms of blood, bones and flesh let out an unpleasant creaking sound. 

“Well, you should rest some more right now. Get those memories and feelings together.”, she said while walking towards the exit, “I believe that you’ll be in a better shape tomorrow, that’s when we'll talk about our cooperation. You’re in my debt after all, it’s not that easy to bind a Death, even a rather low-ranking one.”

The young woman stared at the back of the visitor. The door opened and the woman almost made it past the threshold.

“M-miss Head Inquisitor, what about my brother? C-can I ever meet him again? Where’s he?”

The Head Inquisitor stopped in her tracks and looked at the young woman again.

“Well, you see…”, she searched for something again, then, finally finding what she had been searching for, she pointed with her gloved hand at the small crystal that had been hanging around the young woman’s neck the entire time, “You better protect that crystal you got. It is very important. I’ll tell you more tomorrow”

She then finally set her foot over the threshold of the door and said with her back facing the white room and its occupant:
“Also, call me Izora.”

After saying these words she exited the room and closed the door. The young woman was left alone once more, but now she could feel it. A strange warmth of a kindred soul emanating from the crystal hanging around her neck on a fine chain of silvery metal. She brought the crystal close to her chest, as if clinging to someone. Someone dear to her. Just like that, she slipped into slumber while hugging the stone close to her chest.