Just like Emon had always done for me when I could not. “Please reveal Emon to us," I said gently, squeezing Riella’s shoulder.
We both closed our eyes against the bright flash of light before opening them again to see Emon's body laying encased in the gold coffin, metal vines curling up over the glass keeping him safely locked inside.
I stared, my breath stolen from my lungs. Even with the ashen glow of his bronze skin, he was beautiful and I desperately ached to see the light peeking out from those golden eyes again, to hear his growling deep voice whisper the one name only he would ever be allowed to call me.
Little umbra.
It was a whisper in my heart and his soul flared gently inside me, despite the taint there. What would become of him, of us, of our family once I returned it to him? How much would the Sanguine change him and how in the goddess was I to save him from it? Even the past shadows, a power unlike this world had ever seen, could not truly fight its relentless hunger, succumbing to it.
I touched my chest still staring at Emon’s soulless body. “I won’t be able to restore him until we leave Sheol, if I do it now, we risk losing him to the sleep again,” I murmured, seeing Riella’sface etched with the same worry. Instinctually, I smoothed back the wrinkles from her furrowed brow, “We will leave, little one. The shadows will take him and us back to the Eithne.”
"Wait!" Riella cried, running across the room to the fireplace, indicating our provision bag. "We have to bring this with us too. Faedere told me so. It also has Jar Jar’s flower inside and Lova told me to keep it on me."
I blinked. I had almost forgotten. Striding towards her, I knelt, "Yes, of course." Rummaging through the pack, my hand fell on a stack of letters. Peering in, I could see that they were wrapped neatly with Emon’s handwriting and my fingertips traced the name addressed on it, pausing on elegant script.
“What have you been up to, shifter?”my thoughts careening along our soulmate bond, but there was no answer back, just the steady pulse of Emon’s soul still in my chest.
Exhaling, I set the stack aside and the flower fell into my hand. The small lip shaped yellow bloom Jar had gifted us still vibrantly alive despite being clipped and taken from its valley.
Raising it up in the fire light, I twirled the delicate petals, feeling a sense of dread for why my daughter would need a flower that could save any being from any form of death. Praying that it would never be her life in question.
Tucking it gently behind Riella's ear, the crown on top of Riella’s dark hair flared in its presence, the dual yellow petals reaching towards it, happily seeking its shimmering glow. She was adorned from head to toe with mementos of our adventures, decorated and honored by priceless gifts that I knew could only be meant for one thing—her protection.
Feeling the dread ease, I smiled softly at her. “I love you, Riella.”
She smiled and her small warm hand reached out to touch my cheek, her eyes turning a solid gold for a brief moment, her father’s eyes, chasing away the rest of my worries, “I love you too, maedere.”
Turning my head to kiss her hand, I stood throwing the pack over my shoulder, and tilted my head to my new lilin shadows hovering nearby. "Take us all back. Take us back to Sheol. Back to the Eithne, to Voltam, to the God of Death."
They swirled briefly before expanding, engulfing us and Emon’s body in their dark shadowy embrace.
Chapter 64
Thebreathrushedoutof us as we unceremoniously slid across the blurred silver path of the Eithne. Zaki struggled to hang onto my daughter's shoulder, his body flailing like a windblown flag before he simply gave up trying and disappeared from existence. Riella giggled as her slide sent her into a pile of white sand that rose to enfold her into its haunting waves, while my entire body slumped with exhaustion, stopping with a squeaky halt.
Flopping over, I breathed it in—the glory of the rainbow hues of Sheol's twilight. The three moons glow, the sparkling stardust, and the cosmos beyond. I let it all drape its peaceful presence over my tired body. Screeching its greeting high above us and setting the sky alight, an fire phoenix streamed across it, embers raining down before turning into rejuvenating ash that kissed my face.
Shadows encroached my view, twirling shamelessly as if they were asking for praise in getting us back here alive.
I arched a brow at them. "You're not serious are you, you dumped us on our asses, how is that deserving of praise?"
Riella giggled, clapping for them despite my admonishment. "I think the umbras dida great job and it was fun!" She frowned then, looking around her, “I don't think Zaki had fun through, he is gone again.”
The shadows' antics intensified, banishing Riella’s frown, and I watched with a smile of my own as they lifted Riella into the air, tossing her into the star-filled twilight. Their boastful pride knew no boundaries, so similar to the shadows before and yet young in their experience.
My amusement was short-lived when I sensed the death god slithering his way across the lands, stopping in front of me. Polished black shoes blocked my vision and I glanced upward, seeing the full powerful smile of Shea looking down. His silver and gold adorned hand reached outward, offering it to me.
I sighed. I wanted to rage at him, to scream, punch, and kick his arrogant smile right off his face. He sent us to literal Hell without a single word of the trials he knew we would face and it had cost us time we did not have. Perhaps if we had been sooner, maybe Emon’s eternal soul could have been saved, maybe he would still have an afterlife.
Instead, I reached up and took it, blinking when I felt myself swiftly pulled to my feet as if I was his darkness to command with ease.
Still dressed in his well fitted black silk shirt and tailored pants, his bejeweled emerald eyes glowed intensely with admiration before I looked at the being gracinghis arm.
“Tell me you didn’t foresee this, mother.” I summoned the shadows to bring forth Emon’s body encased in gold and glass. The stars shimmered reflectively across the case almost as if honoring the incredible fae inside.
Silently asking the shadows to entertain Riella so that she did not become part of what came next, they rushed towards her in a flurry of dark waves. She laughed excitedly, shifting with them and flying through the air.
My mother smiled at my daughter and then looked back to me, sadness etched in her beautiful features. “Even if I had known, Remnant, you would not have wanted to listen, there was only one way for you both to survive this and the future to come.”
