Page 25 of Reaper's Ruin
Something shifted in Selyse’s expression—a flash of deep understanding, of shared pain. She reached out instinctively, though her hand passed through Soraya’s arm.
“I understand,” she said softly. “More than you know.” She was quiet for a moment, then nodded as if coming to a decision. “I don’t have an answer for you, though I wish I did. But I’ll help you in any way I can.”
Soraya’s tears slowed. “You will?”
“Yes,” she said definitively. “A daughter should have the chance to find her mother again.”
Soraya wiped away her tears, composing herself. “But you don’t know anything about how I got here or why I was pulled from the Mortal Realm?”
Selyse shook her head. “I’m sorry, but I do not. I’ve never heard of anything like it. But no matter where you are or why you’re here, there is always one common thread in how all souls find their doors. They must know peace. And I can sense your soul is in turmoil and not at peace.”
“How can I be at peace?” she sniffled, those heart-wrenching tears starting up again, but she swallowed them down. “I was murdered. In my living room. By some random dude with a dagger.How can I possibly be at peace about that? I was so young! And he killed my mom!”
“You need to find peace with your death and hers to move on.”
“But how?”
“Every soul is different,” Selyse said. “I know that my mother occasionally helped souls she’d encounter find peace before the Reapers came. Most got there eventually, but some had unfinished business. They either needed me to relay information to a loved one, or needed justice for their death.”
“But she helped them move on?” I said, intrigued.
Her eyes filled with a soft sorrow. “Some of them, but others never did.”
She looked at me, and I knew she meant they met their fate with my kind.
Possibly even by my own hand.
Soraya’s voice lifted with panic. “But how am I supposed to find my door? I’m stuck in a strange world I know nothing about. I have only fragments of memories about my death, and I have no idea how to find my peace. Do I need to find out who killed me to move on? Is that what it is?”
“Your instinct is likely correct,” Selyse said. “If that is the first thing that came into your head about what could be stopping you from getting your door, then figuring out why you died or who killed you is the most logical path to finding peace.”
“But how the hell am I supposed to find this person? I’m in an entirely different realm!”
“Tell me what you remember,” Selyse said, then we sat back and listened to Soraya recount her whole, gut-wrenching death and what followed.
“The dagger,” I said, my interest homing in on that clue. “You called it a strange dagger. Do you not have ornate daggers in the Mortal Realm?”
Soraya shook her head. “No. I mean, we have knives and things, but I’ve never seen anything like that dagger other than in like a fantasy movie. It was really strange looking.”
“What did it look like?” Selyse asked.
“It wasn’t normal. It had these... symbols etched into the blade. They almost seemed to glow.” She traced a pattern in the air with her finger. “Curved lines, like this. And there were crystals embedded in the hilt—blue ones.”
Selyse and I exchanged a glance.
“That sounds like fae craftsmanship,” Selyse said slowly.
“Fae?” Soraya’s eyes widened. “Are you saying a fae killed us? But why would anyone from this world cross into mine to murder a nursing student and her mom? We’re nobody.”
“We don’t know that’s what happened for certain,” I cautioned. “But the description matches weapons I’ve seen in Faelora.”
“So, our best guess is that my killer was fae? Is that why I ended up in Faelora? Like he took my soul with him? Is that a thing?”
Selyse and I exchanged glances.
“It’s... possible?” she said, though unconvincingly. “I’ve never heard of anything like it, but it certainly makes the most sense at the moment. Realm travel is rare and completely forbidden, but if a realm walker traveled into the Mortal Realm and killed you, perhaps your soul moved through a tear he left behind in the veil between realms.”
I nodded. “It sounds mad, but it makes the most sense so far. There’s no other way to explain how a mortal made their way to Faelora.”
