Lucy slaps the wall.“He added conditions to the original one.Conditions that bought him what he wanted,me, without cancelling his right to your soul.The original contract is still running underneath.It always was.”
Ignatius turns to me.“What my daughter isn’t saying is that the fabric of the universe still wants your soul reaped.The subclause bought you some time, but ultimately you still need to be reaped to settle the balance.”
“There’s no getting out of this,” Lucy says, her voice cracking.
I knead my forehead.“Or else what?What happens if I’m not reaped?”
He shrugs.“The contract doesn’t disappear just because its deadline passes.It collects the debt any way it can.Usually, the soul begins to decay from the inside.”
I churn his words over, shift position on the floor, my back aching where it presses into the damp stone.My soul is decaying…
Ignatius’s smile turns to a sneer.He cocks his head at me, waiting for me to understand.
Lucy finally stands up and when she turns to face me, there’s a streak of tears rolling down her cheeks.
“What does that mean?If I’m not reaped, my soul will what?Die?Decay?Disappear?”
He nods once.“All of the above.Either way, you are going to die.Let yourself be reaped and you live out your life in the underworld, or you don’t and your soul will eventually decay into nothing.But fate is coming for you, one way or another.”
With that, he turns his back on me and we’re dismissed.The realisation that this was all for nothing weighs heavier than any countdown to reaping ever did.
“Nothing left of my soul?”I whisper.
“Bingo,” Ignatius says.
“How long?”I ask, my voice meek.
But Ignatius is done with me, so it’s Lucy who answers, her voice barely audible.
“If we’re lucky, a week.Maybe a bit longer.”
34
Architecti
Over our time together, Gellara taught me much about her world, the seven devils, the demon ranking and how their society functions.Including the fact they get their magic from deals.Which is why I am heading to find one demon in particular.
“He has an ego the size of the realm and he’s hungry.I’ve no doubt he’ll become the archdevil at some point,” Gellara said one morning.
We’d spent the night making love, and then I’d gotten curious about the leadership of her culture and why she couldn’t simply push her campaign through.
I was missing home, frustrated that I’d yet to find a way back and curious about how her world worked.So she explained how she needed approval and that it had to go through the ranks.
Gellara pulled me closer, running her fingers up and down my waist.“I think it’s so adorable you’re interested in our world.”
“I’m interested in you.Everything about you, including the world you come from.”
She sighed as if this is the most boring thing.But everything that came out of her mouth was fascinating.She could be recounting the terms and conditions of the most inane contract and I’d still be riveted.
She tiptoed her fingers over my ribs and began again.“Ignatius Corvine is his name.Handsome fellow, but my gods does he have the heart of a bastard.He’s the most ambitious demon I’ve ever met.Can’t imagine what it’s doing to him being second in command.He’ll have centuries to wait before Arcadius even considers retiring.”
I blink, and the memory dissolves.I harden knowing that this is it.What happens tonight will determine the course of history.I will need a few decades or so, I imagine.Interitus’s moth has had a lifetime with her.
But when I rise again, I will come for Interitus and end this once and for all.
I use cloud cover to fly.Nightfall is a must.Since the events that led to Gellara’s death, my face has been plastered across this city.Interitus vanished.I’ve not seen her, no doubt she’s crawled into a hole somewhere to recover.She won’t stay down for long, the parasite.
I have no home now.Banished from the Celestial Realm for a sin I did not commit and hated by the mortal realm for sins I willingly perpetrated.
