Lightbringer. That was what the Umbral called me down in the Cradle. Was it addressing the entity I carried?
“Either way, I am grateful, Your Grace.”
Death’s gaze fell upon me once more, their expression indeterminate in that moment. “I would caution you nonetheless. For my siblings have deemed your world ripe for the harvest, and their desire will not be easily quenched. Umbral has arrived first. I can smell the stench of decay on you already. The others will not be far behind.”
Others?
I bowed my head, if only to experience a break from the piercing gaze of Death. “Thank you, Your Grace. A question, if you would permit me?”
“Speak it.”
“Why warn us at all? Do you not share in your siblings’ desire for our world?”
Death smiled at that, the edges of their mouth curling beyond the norm in a mockery of humanity. “All things come to me eventually, Cirian Findlay. I need do nothing but wait. My patience is as eternal as my brethren and I.”
“Then why speak with me at all?”
Death leaned closer, over the body of Tobias on the table, their terrible crimson gaze locking onto me.
“Curiosity. My siblings have each chosen their vessels for the conflict to come, and it will be within those vessels that they will return to me. Now I know what face Lightbringer will wear when they are obliterated.”
Death raised their palm before their pallid lips, exhaling a burst of air that lifted me off my feet, sending me sprawling.
“We will be reunited soon, sibling.”
The icy floor welcomed me with a painful greeting.
“Cirian!”
Sound returned all at once, my muted senses sharpening as I passed through the Veil. Azrael’s face appeared in my vision, alongside the blotches of stars that burst to life when my head met the ground.
“Easy now,” he muttered, grabbing me by the shirt and hoisting me upright.
“Did it work?”
Bastien questioned me frantically. His eyes were wide, and it took me a moment to recall what would be driving such urgency.
“Yes,” I concluded, rubbing the site of impact on the back of my head. “I found him. Go ahead with the revivification.”
He nodded, disappearing from my sight as the language of the Reviled filled my ears, buzzing with power.
“Are you alright?” Azrael asked, no doubt picking up on my lack of enthusiasm. “This is good news, yes?”
My mind was still reeling. It was difficult to determine a response appropriate to looking Death in the face, much less having a conversation with them. Leaning on my honed skill ofcompartmentalization, I pushed aside that interaction for the time being and nodded at the lavender-haired man.
“Yes, sorry. That crack really hurt.”
“Did you find my brother then?”
Lynette was still seated on the second table, craning her neck to watch Bastien at work as his attention shifted to the green anima stone in Tobias’s hand.
“Yes. And he laughed when I said that we tested the spell on you first.”
Lynette seemed pleased at this news, her posture relaxing slightly.
“Then he’s really coming back to us?” Azrael questioned.
I nodded. “Yes. He’s really coming back.”
