AllFreeNovel
Share Us
When I’m at Court, surrounded by the Lake of Souls, it becomes much more difficult to feel you. If we had a true blood oath—
Did I crack your chart, Natos?I giggle and do a little jig, garbed in nothing but the tattered scraps of my soul chemise. Enough to get one secret? The Scourge, Lux, Neo’s heart, Death itself…I hope. Eyes wide, heat frolicking through my body, stardust spreading to clothe me, I press on. Finally sensing him, unhindered, through the bond we do share, I lift my eyes to that icy Court O’ Death and discern him on a hundreds-feet high balcony that extends over—
Elysia, if you want to come to my Court, you must pass across the Lake of Souls,Thanatos alerts me, gesturing to how the walkway descends to that Lake spread like a silvery raiment. I must refrain from bursting out laughing. Destruction has a pool. Death has a vast, boundless lake: the Lake of Souls!
Armies of souls, millions if not billions, abound in that watery sanctum. Even from here, their energies flow all around me with a multitude of endless wild emotions. Waves and torrents of rapture, pain, woe, elation, regret, and even peace. To anyone else, it would be overwhelming. Instead, I absorb those energies, bind them to my Halo, and write them upon my heart, knowing I would heal every soul in the world if I could. The Lake spans hundreds of miles. Nothing but this single bridge of a path narrowing.
Without pausing in my step, not even when the walkway thins to barely the width of my feet like tiptoeing across a balance beam, I raise my chin high and proclaim, “I’m coming, you radiant Reaper!” Jubilation shining within me, I cross the threshold of the Lake of Souls.
A dark, seductive chuckle before Death announces in our bond,Crack, Halo-Bearer.
Crack. I’ve cracked his chart! One check for me.
Now, the Lake is but a breath of space below my feet. Souls congregate around me, drawn to the Halo dust exhaling off my skin, to that atom bomb of energy that desires the purity of release. Like will o’ the wisps, those souls echo their stormy serenade to my heart. Dozens leap from the water to kiss my skin, to spiral around my legs, cold as ice and hot as flame. Spreading my arms wide to maintain my balance, I move forward while smiling at the soul sirens.
Until that walkway narrows to nothing more than a hairline. I’m walking on an icy tightrope! I lift my gaze to Thanatos. There he stands—on his balcony in his Reaper robes sealed to every inch of his form, apart from that Death angel face of dark silky skin, of godlike cheekbones, of a full and bewildering mouth that tastes of fantasy and starlight and serendipity.
Compared to him, I am a naked luminous orb of soul skin, flesh, and blood. A tempting treasure he cannot have, but I do not forget: Thanatos is not the Dragon.
I take my eyes off him, and my bare foot skims the tightrope of stone. When a soul ruptures the water, prancing to kiss me, I lose my balance. I fall! A scream erupts from my throat. Closing my eyes, I prepare to plunge into deep water, lost to all those souls who long for me to unite with them.
I strike something hard. Somethingcold. Without opening my eyes, I curve my nails, gushing at the familiar sensation. Ghosts of frost ripple around my body like an echo of my personal…dream within a dream.
Oh, Saints!
Heaving and gasping and choking back all this atomic, violent emotion, I open my eyes and plant one fist on the cold and hard crystallineicebeneath my body. On my knees, I gush to behold the Lake of Souls that has become completely and utterly frozen. Nothing more than a single-layered sheen of ice. Thick enough to hold my Halo of a soul but thin enough for the billions of souls to still swim and gather toward me, glorying in my soul form. Like silvery wisps collecting to kiss my shining form.
I snap my head up to Thanatos, biting the inside of my lower lip over a knowing smirk because we both know he’s added another check mark to his chart. The tingling in my fingertips and the liquid gold on my thighs confess as much.
Hands on my hips, I stand, stare up at the Prince of Death, and sharpen my whip-smart mouth.Oh, dear Death, you want to go all “Once Upon a December” on me, do you? Care to know how I kept in shape for the Underground and how I channeled my love of aesthetics? Four years of figure skating!
Elysia…purrs Thanatos as if he knows, as if he understands, as if he knows all my secrets as if he…I see you.
I flinch when a pair of gilded frost skates appear on my feet—silver and crystalline and more beautiful than any pair I’ve ever worn. Though his figure is but a dark shadow, I raise my chin to that tower platform and flutter my hand in a mocking bow.I’ll showyoua dream within a dream, Elsa!
A dark chuckle echoes in my mind.
Another check for me, Death,I counter.
Channeling my inner queen where my greatest competition is my own mind or, in this case, my soul, I sweep my hand in a graceful arc like a swan—and smile at the little current of Halo dust fluttering from my motion. Tonight, I won’t be just a comet. I’ll be the damn meteor shower. Somewhere within the dark expanse, familiar music plays to the motion of my hands. A serenade of serendipity.
Oh, you naughty Reaper!I chastise Thanatos, but I know he recognizes my inner smirk at the Swan Lake ballad wafting into my ears.
Show yourself, Elysia, he banters.
Did he just—damn that frosty fucker with his checking fetish!
Embracing the lulling melody, I follow the familiar cadence. The rhythm caresses my glowing body, long strokes scrawling over me so I may sway to the tempo. Halo filaments, threads from my resplendent crown, stream from my curls to tantalize the air while I glide into a flawless arabesque.
It’s not about the technique. Here, nothing is about the footwork. Nothing is about the memory of all my training. Everything is what it could be—what dreams and fantasy are made of. In this land of the dead that longs for Elysium that is always out of reach, everything is about heart and spirit. Of serendipity and soul. My imagination knows no bounds. The entire world narrows to the emotion, to this elated warmth circulating within me.
And the eyes of Death follow my Haloed spirit the entire time. Tempting, tempting, tempting…my blood, my teeth, my tears, my flesh, always out of reach.
At one point, I sweep my hands into the air, imagining my fingers radiating gold rivulets. They rise and shine—hundreds of feet into the air—aiming for his throne—my splendorous arrowed soul flames. Then, I push out my chest, swing my shoulders forward, and glide my body back in grace, in beauty, in power, in celestial feminist force glory. This is far more about me, my life, and my soul than it is for him. This is my rapture and romance.
Multiple times, I spin, I spiral, I dance, cascading starlight and embers into the deepest of darkness. A darkness that surrounds me like a deathly serenade.
Spirit aflame, I launch into countless twirls, charging higher off the ground until I spring withflight. Thanatos spins his frost to whorl around my skates, mimicking my motions in flawless synchronization. It thrills me. A dangerous fever of desire kindles my blood. My stardust catches onto that frost, becoming a compelling dance of golden Soul and silvery Death.
