Imperial (Insight #8)(74)

“He has every reason.”

“No, he doesn’t. The Reaper lets people stay because they want to be with people they love, or because they need to protect them. The Reaper knows I am not needed to protect you, that Vade would do so, if not Rasp. He knows I have left no one behind. He will tell me to move on.”

I knew the Reaper well, and in some ways I knew the Creator well. Mazing may not know it, but she was keeping Silas alive, and Silas was dear enough to be chosen to protect the first child of metallic energy. Mazing had a precious fate before her, but she couldn’t see it because she was full of wrath...because she was just as I was.

That thought made me all the more angry at myself when I thought of the time I had wasted, how I could have very easily wasted so much more if the Reaper hadn’t kicked me out of death temporarily. That act forced me to see what I had taken for granted, forced me to see my own demons and move past them.

“He will speak the truth to you, just as he does to every soul.”

“Like I said, it has been a pleasure.”

This must be how my Creator felt. He always gave me all the signs, all the words He needed to in order for me to see my path, yet I remained blind.

I was going to lead Mazing the same way He led me. I was not going to lay out her fate before her or tell her what to do and how to do it. It was her choice either to follow or ignore her destiny, and I knew that once she saw what she was chosen for that she would see how her pain was a very small price to pay for the gifts life had prepared for her.

“We will leave this Veil together,” I said sternly.

I could feel the instant comfort my words gave her. She was so undeniably faithful to me, to her race.

The stones landed on the first level of The Realm. Vade did not glance back at me. We were on stage now. I could not see what was around us, but I could sense every line. I could sense a recent war.

We moved through The Realm, then entered the Veil. There, the souls I had seen before, the trapped dead, were utterly aware. It was like they were waiting for us, that they knew that the actions that were about to occur, in time, would either set them free or imprison them forevermore.

I held my head high, offering no promises, for the choice was not mine at the moment; it belonged to my dear confidant, the Reaper.

From that point, we manifested to the doors of the glorious cathedral. I was now standing at the place where I had watched countless souls pass. It seemed all the more intimidating from this vantage.

I dared not look into Vade’s eyes as he and Rasp halted at the doors. I couldn’t, for I knew that my foolish thoughts would convince me that it was the last time, that my reprieve had served its purpose. Vade knew I loved him, and now my line was raised to a more powerful existence. In a sense, by feeling that sacred emotion I ensured that my daughter would forever be protected.

On any other night, there would be a massive line of souls, a line that would still be growing when the Reaper left his throne. But tonight, the cathedral was empty.

Mazing and I walked gracefully slow to his throne.

I stared into the blinding light of the Reaper with each step I took. I let all my immoralities pass through my thoughts, all the moments that wrath had blinded me from. I let my last days vibrate through my thoughts. I wanted the Reaper to know that I had awakened. At the very last moment, I had awakened to the gifts that were always mine to claim.

When we reached him, we both bowed to one knee, not letting our eyes meet his.

“Rise, my dear friend,” he said to me.

I did so with hesitation. I let my thoughts plead with him to see Mazing as me, for him to know that I needed her for a million and one reasons. But then I realized that he very well knew that, that at this moment he was going to have me move on and allow her to stay and love the man that was guarding my daughter.

“I expected you long ago,” the Reaper said with a bit of a mischievous grin.

“I had to overcome dark emotions to understand why I was released.”

“And why is it that I released you at this juncture?”

“I can only hope it was because you knew the lessons that I was meant to learn here were near completion.”

“What lessons were those?”

“That any existence is too short to hide emotions that create our being.”

His grin widened as he leaned forward.

“Has Glory discovered what her soul is made of? What all souls are made of?”

“Long ago. But my internal war distracted me from the obvious.”

“How fare thee with that war?”

“The girl within and the sovereign are one.”

“I see. So you feel that your journey is complete?”

“I wish it not to be. I wish to live this existence once more so that I can experience it as it was meant to be.”

“Glory,” he said tenderly. “You cannot live your life over.”

I felt my soul sink.

“That saddens you?” the Reaper asked me.

“It does. I have lost much.”

“On the contrary, your thoughts state that you have gained much.”

“That, I have.”

He settled into his throne as he thought deeply. “I do not feel that you are truly awakened.”

“I feel love. I love Vade, our daughter, my line, and each soul I was designed to protect.”

“Ah, but that is my point. You were designed to love. To guide.”