Page 36 of Shrine of Fire

“How did I end up here?” I looked around, noticing that even the shape of the world was different. Softer, somehow, but sadness seeped through the space of the world, like the air we breathed was mourning.

“She reached out to you, through your shared grief, and pulled your spirit into her prison. She tries to bend you to her will.” Kalahar looked ahead, cursed under his breath, and stopped still.

He stared into the distance where two shapes were visible in a field of white snow.

One was a beautiful woman, and the other was Kalahar, although his hair was merely red, and not kissed by flames.

“Evangeline,” the other Kalahar said, his voice broken. Blood ran freely down his side, soaking his white robes. “Don’t do this.”

The woman turned her face up to him. “You know I must.” Her face was pale, contrasting dramatically with her long dark hair. A silver dagger was in her hands.

“Are we still in Hella Mora’s domain?” I stepped forward, toward the couple. “Should we help?”

Kalahar shook his head. “Another of her tricks. This is my domain, or the part of it that she has warped.”

The Kalahar in the field sighed and tipped his face down. “There are other ways to seal her.”

“Those ways are gone.” The woman held the knife out and stabbed him, crossing over his existing wound.

I yelped and made for the man in the field, but Kalahar held my wrist. “It’s only a memory.”

“She’s tormenting you. With the past.” I frowned, touching his side.

“As she does you.” Kalahar looked at me.

“Who was the woman?”

Kalahar’s face fell. “A lover. She succumbed to Hella Mora’s grief. Hella Mora controlled her in the end.”

I pulled him into a hug. “I’m sorry.”

“It is alright.” He stepped away and we walked past the scene of him dying in his lover’s arms. “We carry the pain with us, but this does not weigh me down any longer.”

We walked along the path until the snow shifted into pink blossoms falling softly around us.

“How do we go back?”

“We will be able to go soon.” Kalahar looked around. “We are coming to a more serene place, it will be safer to cross back into your body.”

“I don’t see how Zara does this all the time.” I shook my head. “It’s disconcerting. I don’t know if I’m dreaming or it’s real.”

“Dreams are an easy way to get to the spirit world.” Kalahar gave me a soft smile. “You will get used to it.”

Questions formed on my tongue, but I didn’t ask them. I wanted to know what he’d done to fight off Hella Mora. If his lover had betrayed him a long time ago, or before he became trapped with the spirit.

I asked him none of those things. I took his hand, and strolled through the woods, trying to bring peace to my soul.

“Thank you for coming after me.”

“Of course.” He squeezed my hand. “Your spirit is bright. Hella Mora cannot help but be drawn to it. It puts you in danger but also allows you power over her.”

“I don’t feel powerful.”

“Most don’t.” Kalahar gave me a rueful smile. “The shaman thought that, as a phoenix spirit, I should be able to switch between worlds and trap the spirit. And yet I became trapped myself.”

“What will you do when Hella Mora is trapped again?” I tried to picture a spirit, newly freed, and couldn’t. “Start your old life in the spirit world, whatever that was?”

“No. This is a new world, and I must be ready for a rebirth.” He touched his side. “I can only assume I shall die and be born once the task is finished.”

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