even noticed this subtle change in her appearance. It did coincide with Lumi’s current state, so I figured it was related to their close proximity to Death. “What’s stopping you now?”
The question seemed to surprise her. “What do you mean, little Water child?” Death replied, her demeanor changing, darkening even.
“You stopped the first ritual. Why can’t you stop this one?” Eira formulated her question clearly. I had to admit, I was in awe of her. She’d been the most apprehensive about doing this in the first place, yet she was the one touching what clearly was a sensitive topic for Death.
“I must say, you and your friends are incredibly brave, if not stupid,” she said. “I should give credit where it’s due. You’ve uncovered things that have been kept hidden for millennia. You’ve kicked and punched your way through here. Your resilience is worth noting. But you are in over your heads.”
“Tell me something I don’t know,” I said, mimicking her.
Death laughed. “No one has come to see me in… ugh, I’ve lost track. Let’s say eons. Let’s go with eons. Perhaps I should be a tad more welcoming, even though you popped in unannounced. That would be considered rude in numerous cultures.”
“What happened to you?” Lumi asked her. “Help us understand.”
“The Hermessi happened to me. Their idiotic fanaticism, which clearly hasn’t dimmed over the years.” Death scoffed. “I warned them when they first came up with it, when they realized they could bend certain rules of the universe, that they could create the kind of magic that would unroot entire worlds and obliterate them. I told them not to do it, because it wasn’t their place to decide whether people live or die.”
“What is their job, exactly? Because we’ve only been told that they help create and nurture the worlds. The pink water is a giver of life, but it takes four elements on each planet to build, to bring about the growth of nature and its creatures,” I said.
“And that should’ve been it!” Death snapped. Oh, I’d definitely hit a good spot. “They should’ve stopped there. I have no idea how or when they came up with their wrecking-ball ritual. I only know that the entire universe groans with frustration whenever they try it. And no matter how many times I stop them, they keep doing it, over and over. Even if I destroy them, and other Hermessi take their place, it’s like this radical stubbornness is deeply embedded in their existence, somehow. I admit, it’s a mystery even to me.”
“You’ve stopped them more than once?” I managed, feeling my eyes bulge.
Death nodded, twirling a strand of ink-black hair between her delicate, pearlescent figures. “Since they were first made, they’ve been at this, and I was always there to slap them back into their places. For I am the end of everything, even the Hermessi. Yet, every damn time, they went back at it. They never learned to obey me. I find that irritating.”
“So, I feel like I must ask again, on behalf of all of us,” Lumi replied. “Why can’t you stop them now? What happened?”
“They took something of mine,” Death said. Her gaze darkened, sending icy shivers down my spine. She had a hard time saying these words out loud, and I couldn’t help feeling a tinge of thankfulness toward her. A being like her couldn’t possibly be comfortable with admitting to any kind of weakness, even if it had lasted only a moment. Beyond my astonishment regarding the fact that we were even standing here and having this conversation, I experienced a sense of… sympathy toward her plight.
“We could help you, if you let us,” I replied, without even thinking what I was signing myself up for. It didn’t matter. It was this or certain death for all of us. “We could get it back, whatever it is they stole from you.”
Lumi chuckled. “How did the Hermessi, clearly inferior to your magnanimous prowess, manage to steal from you? Frankly, I’m baffled.”
I shot the swamp witch the hardest stare I could muster. This wasn’t the time or the place to piss Death off, and I had no idea where Lumi was going with this. We had too much on the line to start stomping around like pit wolves in a porcelain shop.
Death narrowed her nightly eyes at Lumi, then at Eira and me. “I thought you were here for my help, not to insult me.”
“You’re not making it easy, I’ll give you that,” Lumi said, still