Reth didn't know it was the handle of Deneck's sword in his hand until the blade's glint glared at him. It felt uncomfortable, biting and pinching his palm, as if the weapon knew he wasn't its owner. But its gleam was sharp. Good enough to behead bodies. Good enough to carve his path to Sianna.

A whisper by his ear, beautiful as it was sorrowful. "I am sorry."

Calera's blade swept across his eyes and slashed down in front of his nose. A dark streak by his ear. Another across his chest. All empty swings as Reth effortlessly dodged. Yet, he felt heavy. A weapon in his hand—his sword—and Reth couldn't use it. If he did, then it would belong to Reth now, and that meant that its previous owner really was...

"Reth so help me you better start swinging that fucking sword!" Sianna's voice cut through his thoughts.

He couldn't chance to look for her, but one thing was certain. To get to Sianna, he had to go through Calera.

Reth caught the next attack with his sword, the sharp clang vibrating down his arm. Silver eyes nestled within hollow sockets met his. They were much like his own except for the somber cloud in their depths he had never noticed until now.

"I am sorry too," he said.

She blinked and that cloud grew darker.

Calera kicked his stomach, but Reth caught himself by planting his leg behind him. Bonds enclosed around his wrists and lifted him up in the air. It took him a second to realize it was Calera's extra limbs, invisible now that Ayodite wasn't enhancing her magick. She was probably down to her original pair, but they still pulled with an incredible amount of strength. Reth grunted through his teeth, his shoulders popping and burning. She twisted his arms behind his back. Pain lanced through him like a lash from a whip.

But Calera still hadn't noticed the glow.

One of Reth's runes traced the air behind her, tiny golden bolts connecting and becoming. The tip of a bladed spear cut through the middle of the buzzing lines. Reth willed it to launch.

Calera whirled around, the flat of her blade swatting the spear away. Her sword shattered, dark fragments exploding. But Reth had cast another spear. It stabbed her forearm like lightning from a cloud before disappearing as quickly. The skin above her elbow ruptured, arm hanging from shredded muscle that unraveled like pulled spool. Calera's grasp on Reth disappeared, and he attacked.

Several small runes manifested and sizzled around Calera. She gripped her injured arm, recoiling, but the whirl of the air in front of Reth told him she had resummoned her invisible arms. Yellow bolts shot from one of the runes and caught them in midair, sparks of light curling and charring around invisible vines. Calera dodged a rune's attack directly aimed at her only to run into another. The rays darted out quicker, like the lightning it resembled, until she couldn't keep up.

Her cheeks and forehead split open. Her dark locks sliced short. Her clothes shredded off, limbs bared against the sharp slashes. A few of the bolts bent and disappeared where her invisible arms managed to shield her, but they soon proved useless. Standing in a cage of light that burned and cut, Calera was a skeleton that wept blood.

Reth tasted his own blood in his mouth as his careless use of magick ate him, but his rage was absolute. And he wasn't finished.

The runes shattered and collected under Calera's feet. Piecing together again, they wove a larger pattern that resonated with the still crackling beams. It called for them to dance and stretch and hum. A tiny gasp escaped Calera's lips, somehow heard through the chaotic buzz.

The encasing light exposed her magickal arms within a kaleidoscope of shadows before they erupted with crimson explosions. The blood hung in the air, erratic currents caught in the golden song. Calera screamed before she collapsed on the fading rune, her blood falling on her like rain.

Reth coughed, red flecks hitting his chin, as he too fell to his knees. Another stain on his glove as he wiped his lips. He searched for Sianna but spotted Kota first.

Her jewels sparkled like comets as she dodged a column of fire originating from Pherah's hands. A strange shadow followed Kota's every move, watery yet solid. It erupted from the ground and pushed her to a scythe hovering by itself in the air. The weapon sliced down, now held by an Aleyda that appeared out of nowhere. Kota caught the attack with her hand. A clank, like steel hitting a rock, echoed from her the nayichi's palm.

Sianna's yell drew Reth. It was a sound from her gut that he knew well because he had been on the receiving end of it several times. He stood to see her sword pressed against Lycin's. Both hands were on the hilt and a scowl twisted her bloodied face as her blade inched to his shoulder in an attempt to give him another wound to match the weeping one across his chest.

"Get Iari!" Sianna yelled without breaking eye contact with Lycin.

Reth grit his teeth. He knew that was an order, and as much as he wanted to help Sianna, he had to follow it. Iari was important in this somehow, Reth knew. Plus his ser was fond of the boy even if she would never admit it, and it would further tear him apart if Sianna had to suffer through another friend's death.

Finding him was easy. His magick was familiar, and Reth only had to dodge a few columns of fires to get to him. Despite his racing mind and legs, Reth admitted he was impressed at how well Kota was keeping three elite Rhokin at bay. Another dodge and he landed several yards away from Iari, but he didn't like what he saw.

Iari knelt on the floor, head bowed, in front of Vulharis. Red and black threads of magick wrapped around his body like thorned rope. They crackled when Iari struggled and the smell of burnt flesh followed.

The wizard rummaged through Iari's satchel as The Eye of Artemis hovered next to him, its pupil darting as if in search of something too. The blood he had drawn from the guardsmen still hovered over his head.

Reth gripped his weapon tighter.

Please, Deneck. Help me save them.

But he couldn't move.

Reth felt the grip of the invasive magick circling around him and around the others, suppressing. Iari stopped struggling. Sianna froze midswing. Kota collapsed to the ground.

Vulharis held them in a trance with an orange glow emanating from a bracelet on his left wrist. He flicked the same hand and the pool of blood above him began to spin. It trashed and swirled into a frothy slush of pink and red until The Eye of Artemis settled in the middle of it. The eye drank and drank, funneling all of the men's blood into its tiny being. Webs of green light pulsed across the orb and dimmed. A sharp crack rang and the orb broke into three pieces.

"Lycin." There was an unspoken order in Vulharis' voice.

The sound of that name churned vicious waves to crash against Reth's chest. Lycin limped into his sight. His lip was busted, and his jaw was swollen. The deep slash on his shoulder would've brought a smile to Reth's lips if he could move.

Lycin plucked two of the floating eye pieces, now dull as rocks, with shaking fingers. Vulharis pocked the third shard into his robes.

"Vulharis." Lycin stared at his fist that held the fragments. He licked his lips. "There is a piece in her too."

Vulharis' eyebrows perked up then settled into a pensive stare. "Then alive. Nothing else changes."

"I hope so since a lot seemed to have while I was gone."

The wizard smiled but it didn't touch his eyes.

Lycin grimaced.

Panic suffocated Reth as it dawned on him they were going to take his ser. Deneck's body—if the giant pile of broken clay and dust could be called that—stood in his periphery. The panic turned to rage.

No.

Lycin walked back to the paralyzed Sianna. He placed a hand on her cheek before throwing away the sword in her hand. Lycin bent her into his arms like a doll and carried her to Vulharis. A raspy, angry scream came from her throat, and it gutted the helpless Reth.

Aleyda appeared next to Iari and threw him over her right shoulder, the left occupied by a naked, bleeding Calera. She and Lycin walked out of sight, and Reth soon heard the sound of horses riding away. Vulharis smiled at them but his words were meant for his two Rhokin that remained. "Kill the nayichi. If you can, bring the Rhokin alive, but not if he gives you too much trouble."

Pherah grinned. "No problem."

Venita nodded, face stoic.

"Good." Vulharis pressed a finger to each of their foreheads, leaving a silver shine that matched the light that ignited in their eyes. It disappeared but Reth felt the rush of magick that suddenly run through the two Rhokin. Vulharis palmed a charm from one of his bracelets and disappeared in a swirl of yellow fog.

Reth regained movement, and he wasted no time. A golden circle under his feet propelled him toward Venita, a statue in a heavy dress that cast a long, dark shadow. But a wall of heat erupting from the earth stopped him.

The fire circled behind Venita, lengthening her shadow. The darkness stretched and ate all the other shadows—from rocks, blades of grass, shrubs, and trees— elongated by the fire. It grew, reaching and consuming until a black tower painted the ground. Swirling. Breathing. Sentient.

Reth evaded a black tendril that shot at him, but the shadow multiplied. Dark, wiry fingers bent and chased him like black rivers carving through the earth. The black waters split again and lunged, edges glistening sharp. Dark fangs to devour the Rhokin.

Reth summoned a cluster of runes to shield the attack. The shadows swallowed them and punctured Reth's chest. They shifted and twisted, tearing through him and lifting his body like a specimen speared with needles. The shadow held him there, a macabre display. His fingers twitched, flicking the blood dripping down his arm on the darkness that impaled him. His head lolled and then snapped up with the new pain he felt. His wounds were opening. Slowly. The weight of his body was pulling him down the shadow spikes, his spilling blood as the lubricant.

He tried to summon his runes, but they sputtered and shattered, tiny golden suns fading around him. For a brief moment, a memory of fireflies, a creek, and Sianna's eyes graced his thoughts before the pain overtook everything.

A shadow figure manifested next to him. It stared at him with a bent head, its elongated arm flat on the ground, hand sprouting from the earth like a sick tree. It was what was piercing through Reth's body. "Please stop moving," it said, voice a mirror to Venita's, "or I will really have to kill you."

Reth spit out the blood welling in his mouth, wishing it was instead magick swirling in his belly. "Where...is...Sianna?"

It retracted its clawed fingers, and Reth crumpled to the ground. His involuntary twitches spilled gore out from wounds big enough to fit a fist. A black ribbon slipped under him and cocooned his body, tight enough to stop his bleeding. The cold touch of his sword against his leg made Reth realize he had never let go of it.

A burst of wind, like the flap from a giant bird, swept Reth's hair and pumped air in his lungs. The roar and heat of the fire behind the shadow creature died. A heartbeat of stillness, of amazing silence, and the shadow beast fell too. In the distance, another figure also collapsed into a puddle of heavy clothes.

"Venita!" Pherah's voice sounded far away.

Reth blinked, each time bringing what was growing around him into focus.

The forest had come alive.

It stood taller than the highest tower in the Citadel with hair that was a cascade of leaves bigger than Reth's head. Branches knotted like muscles into arms and legs. Flowers and vines swirled and clung to a giant ribcage of moss covered logs. Eyes orange and wet like a pool of citrine blinked and narrowed. Embedded inside the groves of the bark and vegetation were jewels that twinkled with each movement.

"Kota?" Reth whispered.

The nayichi reached out with root fingers and grasped the unconscious Venita.

Pherah screamed, a carpet of flames breathing to life beneath Kota in rhythm to the Rhokin's wails. A blast surrounded her, hair spiraling around her face at the white-hot flames. Pherah shot in the air, the fire following and swirling, smoothing around her like a ball.

Kota extended her free arm. Branches broke and rolled through the earth to suffocate the fire below her. Several darted at the approaching Pherah but she dodged, leaving lines of fire wherever she touched. Kota swatted at Pherah while vines rolled down her neck to snuff out the fires left by the Rhokin. Pherah zoomed around the giant nayichi in a way that reminded Reth of the dead faeries' orbs of light. Only this orb burned.

Within seconds, Kota was a smoking giant. Peeks of glowing orange billowed through her arms and chest, causing her jewels to shine wildly. The only limb that wasn't smoking was the arm and hand that still held Venita.

Reth blinked, fighting against the headache and tunneling vision that lulled him to sleep. A screech widened his eyes.

"Give Venita back, you bitch!" Pherah voice cracked like the very fire around her.

A staccato laugh echoed from Kota's chest.

Pherah yelled and attacked.

She dodged with agility her size didn't suggest she had. Kota twisted behind Pherah and swung at her. She missed.

No.

Rather, Kota had thrown something. Someone.

Venita's listless body flew through the air, her layers of clothes flapping like several pairs of wings. She clashed with Pherah, knocking her out of the air. They cratered into the ground, and Pherah's flames died as spurts of their blood ribboned around their bodies.

Reth blinked away the grass and dirt thrown at him from their landing. He inhaled as much strength as he could before flipping on his stomach to crawl over to the crater. Each movement felt like his skin was scraping off, like the rocks were leaving his muscles as shredded meat on the ground. After an eternity, he reached the edge. The fact neither Venita or Pherah emerged during his writhing meant they were unconscious. Or dead.

But he had to make sure.

His vision went red. Blood. It oozed from his eyes and seeped out of his mouth.

Just two more...

His hand squeezed a pathetic grip around Venita's delicate throat. A warmth on his palms as his last rune glinted, weak light bleeding through his fingers.

His stomach boiled. Curdled.

A small dagger emerged from his hand, but it was enough. It pierced Venita's neck with a gush. Her eyes opened, wide, darted to Reth. He drew his wrist up and tore open her throat and face.

Reth threw up blood, adding to the viscera that was Venita's head. He still had to make sure Pherah was dead, but he couldn't move anymore. Couldn't even breathe.

I'm sorry, Sianna...I...

◌-◌-◌

He only knew two things: it was dark and he was in overwhelming pain.

Reth's body burned, a forever crumbling ember in a lasting sea of flames. Was death supposed to be this painful for someone like him that wasn't human?

"Don't move," said a voice. Familiar.

Reth furrowed his brow, sending a fresh wave of fiery pain down his face and chest, but he still managed to grit out a name through his blindness. "Nikava?"

Her reply was vibrant. "You remembered me! Here. Just-"

He didn't hear anything else as his body splashed and submerged into what felt like water. Tiny hands dug under his armpits and guided his torso above water. He reveled at Nikava's strength, but the soothing, healing waves pushed nothing but relief into him. Was he back in Ayodite again? At Tanis' place? Nikava and what he assumed was the healing pool he and his ser had previously rested in suggested he was.

Knives chipped at his ribcage at the thought of Sianna and how he failed her, but the water lapped and soothed his injuries, lulling him. Reth's lowered his head, wishing to give in.

"Sorry, but I have to do this while you're awake." Nikava poked his forehead with strength that impressed him again. Or maybe he was still in such a weakened state that a little girl's finger could cause his head to loll back. And still, he couldn't see.

He stiffened. "Am I-"

"No, you're not blind." She chuckled.

Reth pushed against where he assumed she was, fumbling. "There is no time for this. My ser needs me. And why can't I see? "

Nikava eased him back into the water. "You will soon. I promise. But you need to listen to me right now."

The rustle of fabric scraped the floor next to Reth as he sensed her sit next to him now that he could sit up by himself. A low hmmm before she began. "Iari is powerful. And he's becoming more powerful the more time he spends with Nata because he's a living vessel for her powers. Just being around her is awakening them. But in order to claim them, she needs her memories back. The memories in The Eye of Artemis."

Reth clenched his jaw. "Vulharis broke it."

"Yes, and he's also taken most of Death's power. Except for the two pieces He hid from Vulharis."

"Two pieces?"

Reth felt Nikava nod. "One is in Nata. And when Nata and Death's daughter died, Death set her aside and for the longest time her existence was simply paused. Until recently. He brought her back to life to have someone slip between the living and Ayodite. She's able to do that because she had the other piece of Death in her too."

Reth contemplated in his curious darkness, her words leading him to realizations he didn't like. "How-"

"But first," Nikava interrupted him again and drew what felt like the tip of her finger across Reth's eyes.

His lips parted. He was blindfolded. That's why he couldn't see. Why hadn't he realized? Felt the wrap around his head, the press of it on his ears, the warmth on his nose?

"Because you can take it off now."

Reth didn't appreciate how invasive Nikava was with her answers and interruptions, but he also couldn't deny there was an odd endearment around her. He pulled off his blindfold to see the girl smiling at him, only her nose and lips visible under her hood as when he had first met her. The room was the same as he remembered too. It was cluttered and dim, the main light coming from the pool he sat—naked—in.

"Can you see okay?" Nikava asked.

Reth nodded, curious how even this close the glow from the water refused to disperse her shadowed eyes. His eyes swept the room again, noticing a missing companion, a missing head. "Where's Ubri?"

She shook her head. "Resting. I wish I was too."

"What do you mean?"

Nikava pulled her hood down and Reth frowned as his memory clicked again. Her hair was braided to the side, but he remembered when it had been in matching braids down her back when she stood next to her master. Yet her eyes were the same.

Silver met silver.

"You were there," Reth said, "at the Gabard household."

It felt like ages ago, another lifetime with Sianna when all that mattered was protecting her and nothing else. Nikava had been the little girl Rhokin they had encountered there. But how?

Nikava, the ever accurate mind reader, said, "I am Death and Nata's daughter. My father brought me back to help him as a liaison between the worlds and as a contact with Kota. I was only pretending to be in the Guard."

"But your eyes. You are a Rhokin."

"I guess but honestly, it's more accurate to say you are like me. Reanimated."

A coldness settled in Reth that had nothing to do with the water droplets drying on his chest and neck.

"Rhokin are actually the dead brought back to life, and our eyes"-she pointed at her and his-"are the color of the undead. That's also why I had to blind you. The necromancer, Vulharis, that brought you to life has a connection with you and the other Rhokin he creates. He is able to tap into your sight and see what you see. I had to sever that link for us to be safe."

Reth clenched his jaw. Unclenched it.

Clenched.

Unclenched.

Nikava closed her eyes and shook her head. "Don't. You'll just be running in circles. Trust me. I've been there."

A towel appeared in front of Reth's face. He followed the silver arm up to Tanis's blindfolded face. A smile. "You should be healed by now. There's a change of clothes by the chair over there next to your sword."

Reth took the towel, keeping it above the water. "My sword," he whispered.

Tanis and Nikava left to give him privacy. Reth exited the pool, watching the shimmering drops of water cascade down his abdomen and legs. He should've been dead. Well, he was. A small frown crossed his lips as he dried off. Somehow, Nikava had rescued him and brought him here to heal which meant he was needed for something. His frown deepened.

The walk to the dry clothes felt long, Deneck's—No, mine now—sword his only focus. Instead of reaching for it, he clutched the clothes, rather, robes. They were similar to the ones Nikava and Tanis wore with simple cotton pants to wear underneath. His shoes, still decently intact, rested under the chair. He put on the clothes, surprised at the comfortable fit, and kept the hood down.

Reth stared at his bare hands and flexed his fingers. He felt vulnerable without his gloves, exposed and incongruous. And it made him miss Sianna dearly. He pushed down the aching hole in his chest that threatened to swallow him and the whole world when he heard approaching footsteps. Their gait and weight suggested it was Tanis.

"All done?" he asked Reth.

He nodded.

"Then we can now talk. Would you like to sit?" Tanis motioned to the chair that had held the robe.

Reth stole another glance at the sword. "I rather stand."

"Of course." He nodded, giving the impression he also saw the sword and deciphered its meaning.

"You will tell me everything now." Reth lifted his chin, the soft collar of the robe brushing the back of his neck.

Another small smile. "You mean you want me to confirm what you know."

He suppressed his flinch.

"Each time Kota would disappear, it would be to meet with me. Or rather with Nikava who would report to me. Kota was chosen by Death to help him restore his powers and finding Nata is the key to that. Her and her memories. She posses a piece of Death, one of the last pieces of his power, Vulharis must not obtain. The secret to unlocking that piece is restoring her memories and power."

Reth studied Tanis for a few seconds. His silvery skin that slightly shimmered with his subtle movements. The blindfold that Reth believes he sleeps with. Even the sickly blue hue on his nails. "You are saying Nata is alive right now?"

"Her reincarnation, yes. It's not the first time she's reincarnated, but this is the first time she's been so close to her memories and powers."

"Her powers?"

"Yes. Without her memories, she can't wield them properly. They sometimes remain dormant within her." He tipped his head. "Or they sometimes awaken in other people."

Reth clenched his jaw.

Tanis's lips curled into another smile, one that showed his teeth. Reth noticed for the first time how pointed his canines were. "Yes. Iari."

"Then Sianna..." His hands curled into fists, startled by the feel of his own skin.

"Is Nata's reincarnation."

He flinched. "And you? What is your role with Death? Are you another reanimation like...like me?"

Tanis stared at Reth, a gaze that transcended through the well used blindfold. It felt sharp and prickled Reth's skin with needles that probed deep in his flesh. "I think you know the answer," he said.