Page 74 of As Darkness Fall
“Here,” Vir said, tossing me my outfit that he’d snagged from the battle site.
I only partially turned away from the others as I got dressed. At this point, it seemed fruitless to bother trying to hide my nudity from them. After all, the team had seen me naked so many times by now that I may as well be a porn star. What was one more glimpse, right?
Perhaps I should start charging.
Now there was a thought. I chuckled briefly at the image of asking Vir to pay me in treasure each time I had to get naked to shift around him. He probably wouldn’t take that well. So I made a mental note to do it.
I made a face at the feeling of the leather before swiftly pulling on my boots, which Vir had also thoughtfully collected. It all clung clammily to my skin, the already wet leatherfarfrom an enjoyable experience, but what choice did I have? I wasn’t going to walk naked through the Underworld.
Vir didn’t have enough treasure for that much of a show.
“Shall we?” I said, gesturing in front of us to continue.
Nobody moved.
“Okay? Anyone? Why are you all acting so weird?” I asked.
Everyone’s attention was on the land around us. None of it was on me. I wasn’t even sure if they were listening to me. Each of them had turned, facing out. Watching…nothing? I didn’t get it.
“It’s not us who is weird,” Vir said.
“Are you saying I am?” I asked somewhat crossly.
“No,” Aaron said quietly.
I looked at him. He wasn’t facing me, but that didn’t seem to stop him from somehow knowing I was watching him.
“It’s out there,” he said quietly. “This entire place. That’s what’s weird.”
Turning slowly to take it all in, I looked hard for any changes. For anything that might be out of place. Yet, as far as I could tell, it wasn’t.
“It looks the same as it has for hours, guys,” I said, growing tired of the lack of explanation. “Nothing has changed. Is this something only you immortals can see? Is that why I feel blind?”
“No,” Aaron said. “You can see it, too.”
Exasperated, I stormed back over to Vir. “What the fuck is he talking about, god-man? Can you please make some sense of this and stop being so damn cryptic about everything! I don’t follow. I’m new. Go easy. Please, I’m practically begging you. I don’tseeanything!”
“Exactly, Dani,” Vir said with a slow nod.
I frowned, re-orienting my perspective on the Realm of the Dead. Everything around us was empty. So…
“WhatshouldI be seeing?” I asked, hoping that, for once, I was on the right track.
If I ever came across Amunlea after I died, I was going to make sure I gave her an earful for making Vir so damn mysterious. There was no way someone could be worse than this if they tried.
“Souls,” Fred said, speaking for the first time, his voice filled with reverence. “Many,manySouls.”
I opened my mouth, but Aaron spoke up.
“And the Guardian’s of those Souls,” he said quietly. “Escorting them to the Pits. This place is empty, Dani, but it shouldn’t be. It should beteemingwith death. Yet, instead, we have this void. A place without death.”
I rubbed my chin, staring at the landscape with new eyes. They were right. We hadn’t seen a single sign of, well,anything. No lost souls, no angry guardians. No more demons, no fallen angels,nothing.
“The Realm of the Dead is…dead,” I muttered. “How ironic is that.”
Nobody responded.
“So, what do we do now?” I asked, my unease mirroring that of my comrades.
