GREY

Loose Ends

The harbinger responsible for ferrying souls past the human plane of existence in this region was called Liara. As a human, Liara had died at a young age of four. Her village had deemed her a witch when she showed signs of elemental affinity. Being holy fanatics, the villagers had burnt her on a stake. The Sentient had given her a chance to live again by contracting her to harvest souls from the human plane after death. Since her goal was to live, her contract had no end.

Liara was over five hundred years old, but due to her confinement to the death plane, her mental growth was slow. Whenever she could, she followed humans and observed them from a distance. One of the rules the Sentient had given her avoided her from manifesting a physical form or interacting with humans because proximity to living beings increased their risk of dying. That had changed when the Sentient’s chosen emerged.

Grey had discovered Liara following him when he first came to Emroth with the human princess. Being a harbinger also, he could see things from other planes. With Liara’s help, Grey had located other infernals and brought them safely to Emroth. In return for the assistance, Grey had used a nature spell, charm, to grant Liara temporary power to manifest in the physical human plane.

For each day, Liara could infuse her death essence into the charm, which granted her a brief time of using her physical form without affecting anyone. Liara usually used this time to walk in the woods, climb trees or go swimming. Most of all, she loved to eat. She had recently developed a fondness to a rare wine that came with the big ships from the West. Grey always bought it or stole it specifically for her, but with his contract fulfilled, he had rested and she was alone again.

Grey contemplated his plan to find Ryssera. The Sentient never disclosed the location, he only gave targets. He’d have to visit some inns and taverns for news. He knew a few human souls who owed him. But first, he had to fulfill a task he never got to see through during his previous incarnation. Grey spotted a dead knight as he walked. The man must have died a few days ago, as no residuals of life essence lurked around him. However, his body was still fresh despite being clad in steel plate armor. Looking closer, Grey noticed that the man’s body was pale. Crusts of ice rimmed his eyes, nostrils and ears. An infernal must have killed the young man using frost magic.

The dead man’s clothes were relatively tidy, and Grey was grateful they were not stained with blood. He stripped the knight and donned himself in his tunic and breeches. Suddenly, a cold sensation raced up his spine, erecting the hairs on the nape of his neck. Someone was watching him from another plane. He twisted sharply, and there she was. A teenage girl who possessed a feral demeanor. She wore a black dress with torn sleeves and a ragged hem. Her skin looked like wet ash, her eyes like glowing embers. She had a thick mass of black hair that danced in the light breeze like tongues of flame.

“Grey?” the girl started.

“You need to stop crawling up on people,” Grey said, unfazed. “It’s…frightening.”

The girl tittered. Grey knew she could not express true emotion in that state, but who knew, maybe she had found a way.

“Liara thought Grey was dead,” the girl said, walking from her hideout shamefully.

“We both are, remember?” Grey reminded her with a humorless chuckle. “Now since you’re here, you can help me find what I’m looking for.”

“Of course,” Liara said. “Grey is Liara’s friend. Liara helps friends. What does Grey want Liara to do?”

“You knew my disciples, yes? Did you ferry their souls from this plane?”

“Yes.”

“Good. Can you show me where their bodies are?”

“What does Grey want to do with them?” Liara asked, her eyes aglow with inquisition.

“You’ll see.”

Liara led Grey to the Vespers bridge. On the way, she irritated Grey by blabbering about her new discoveries and inventions. She had grown significantly since their last encounter, but her character could not have surpassed that of an eight-year old. She had never been forced to kill anyone by the Sentient. She was innocent and full of light. Grey envied her for that. She’d get to live an almost normal life until the world ended. She was an angel of death.

“Watch this,” Liara said.

She infused death essence into her charm and started morphing into a physical form. Much to Grey’s surprise, she did not maintain her human form. Her body shrunk. Instead of skin, she had feathers. Her arms curled into wings and sprouted brown feathers. The joints of her knees bent backward, and her shins narrowed into splayed feet. Liara spread her wings and flapped. She was an emperor hawk, large and noble. She took to the skies and circled twice above Grey before swooping down to assume her human form. She smiled brightly.

“How was Liara’s performance?” she asked.

“Impressive,” Grey commended. “I take it you found a way to harness your elemental magic when you use the charm for transformation?”

“Yes!” Liara said excitedly.

“I suppose you can use that elemental magic to clothe yourself?” Grey said, looking away from Liara’s naked form. The girl’s cheeks turned red.

“Humans prefer their partners like this when they… Liara saw it once in the forest.”

“What?” Grey frowned. “Don’t be weird.”

Liara pouted. She was behaving like a human adolescent. Perhaps physical manifestation allowed her to emulate human characteristics, but Grey could not tell. Liara fabricated a white silk dress and flowers for her hair. She even planted some in Grey’s hair and complimented his new look. Grey humored it. He was all the poor girl had.

The Vespers bridge came into view. Liara ran down towards it, her hair and dress flowing behind her. She stood on the bridge and faced the morning sun, spreading her arms wide. She closed her eyes and savored the moment. She had a few moments left in the physical plane.

“She’s down there,” Liara said as Grey joined her.

Grey hated water. He’d have to swim to retrieve s***h’s remains. He convulsed just thinking of the depths. Liara read his mind.

“This form doesn’t have much time left, but Liara can manage.”

Without waiting for Grey’s response, the girl jumped off the bridge and into the Vespers. Her body swirled and shifted into a winged beast. Grey sighed with relief. The challenging part was convincing Liara to go against the Sentient’s rules.

Upon death, the soul of a person parted ways with the body. The soul consisted of two entities, the spark of life and the will of living. A harbinger’s duty was to remove the spark from the living plane before other forces contracted the soul.

A contracted soul was that which was offered another chance to live, either by holy or evil forces, and death harbingers were strictly on the guard to avoid such circumstances. After removing the spark of life from the soul, a process called reaping, a harbinger incorporated the soul’s will to themselves and submitted it to the Sentient, who was the Keeper of Wills.

Grey assumed Liara still held s***h’s will. While he tried to come up with something to give the girl in exchange for s***h’s will, Liara reappeared. She flew onto the bridge and laid down a disfigured body, retracting her eagle wings in the process.

“Liara cannot hold this form any longer,” the girl said, her wet body shivering.

The very moment, all color faded from her form. Her dress dispersed into thin air, and so did the flowers and her vibrant skin, leaving her body pale and clad in the ragged black dress as she materialized in the death plane.

“Thank you,” Grey said.

“Does Grey wish to bury this girl?” Liara asked.

Grey observed the decomposing body before him. Both hands were missing. Its stomach had burst open and most of its entrails had been lost to the Vespers. Half of the face was still intact, but the rest of it was an image of nightmare. Worms worked their way in and out of the discolored flesh. Grey knelt beside the body and touched its forehead. The corpse was anchor to s***h’s existence on the living plane, and since her soul had been reaped, it had no spark.

A spark summoning was the exact opposite of reaping. Where removing a soul’s spark from the living plane strengthened a harbinger, summoning one back drew a vast amount of death essence. It was the only known way that could mortalize a harbinger. Liara saw what Grey was attempting to do.

“Grey, it is forbidden!” she warned. But it was already done.

“Do you still have her will?” Grey asked.

Liara remained quiet, afraid for both hers and Grey’s well-being. Harbingers were not supposed to meddle with life. That duty belonged to angels. Their duty was death, and death alone.

“I need her will,” Grey pressed. He closed his eyes, apologizing silently for resorting to lying. “If I don’t get it, I will cease to exist.”

Liara moved forward, kneeling beside Grey and offering s***h’s will without asking questions. She was too trusting, which only made Grey feel worse.

“We will be punished,” Liara said quietly, her tone filled with sadness. “But Liara does not want Grey to die again.”

Grey united the spark with s***h’s will. The corpse twitched. Its jaws snapped open. The body transmuted. Its rotting tissue melted into a viscous fluid that looked like blood. The substance warped and twisted into a shapeless mass, then it froze still. Slowly, it started reshaping itself.

Grey stood, feeling fuzzy and lightheaded. He watched as the mass stretched into a torso, branching into limbs and a neck, and eventually, it formed hands, feet, and a head. Dark hair sprouted out of the scalp and formed long curly locks around the head. The body was complete. The eyes opened and looked about lazily. When they came upon Grey, they grew wide, and the body made a strong effort to rise. s***h opened her mouth.

“Grey?”