Total pages in book: 119
Estimated words: 116396 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 582(@200wpm)___ 466(@250wpm)___ 388(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 116396 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 582(@200wpm)___ 466(@250wpm)___ 388(@300wpm)
He gave a slow nod. “Pretty much.”
“And you can’t have children, right?”
He shook his head.
“So, nothing ever changes. Old generations don’t die out. New ones aren’t reborn.”
“When our population is on a decline, that’s when we turn people. They become our children…so to speak.”
“But that’s not the same thing.”
“I agree with you.”
It was a sick and twisted reality. Living out the same day over and over, making no overall progress, and feeding on other people’s afterlives just to postpone their own deaths. “That’s disgusting.”
“If our bodies didn’t give in to the feeding frenzy, I suspect there would be fewer of us.”
“Why?”
“Living forever is overrated.”
I noticed the despair in his eyes, dull like storm clouds.
“It’s like staying at a party too long. When you get there, it’s fun. You don’t want it to end. People start to file out. The fun dies down. But you linger because you don’t want it to end. But at some point…it just becomes sad.”
My eyes didn’t leave his handsome face. Now I noticed the subtle expressions he made, the way his lips pressed tightly together like he cleaned his teeth behind his skin. I noticed the way his pupils grew full, that blue glow fading into darkness.
“We’re meant to live a single lifetime. Without a deadline, there’s no urgency to do anything. There’s no reason to have children. There’s no reason to plant the next harvest. There’s no reason to even leave your home. We’re meant to die, and without that fear hanging over your head, there’s no motivation to live.”
“So, if you get your soul back…you’re just going to kill yourself?”
He dropped his gaze. “Probably.”
“But Necrosis turned you so young. You’ve never really had a chance to live.”
He shrugged. “I suspect my sister won’t want to go on, and if she doesn’t, I’m not sure how I can.”
“It’s not your fault this happened.”
His eyes lifted again.
“You can’t hold yourself accountable for everything.”
“I’m her brother. It was my job to protect her.”
“And that’s exactly what you did, Bastian. But at a certain point, you need to relieve yourself of this responsibility. If you salvage both of your souls, you aren’t responsible for what she decides to do with it. You can start over. You can find happiness. You can live the life you were supposed to live and then die at the end of it.”
He brought his palms together and rubbed them slightly, his eyes down on the ground. “I’ve got to get my soul back first. Then I’ll decide what I want to do with it.”
FIFTEEN
Elora
At nightfall, we left the cavern and returned down the rocky path we’d come from. With only the light of the stars to guide our path, Bastian took the lead, carrying hundreds of pounds in Ice.
It was easy to keep pace with him when I was completely unburdened by the weight. All I had to worry about were my sword and bow.
Bastian suddenly halted.
I halted too.
He moved to the edge of the trail and gently set all the sacks on the ground, doing his best to be as quiet as possible. The rocks shifted slightly, nothing that caught my ears, but it could have caught someone else’s.
“What’s—”
His hand sealed over my mouth, and he brought my face close to his. “Someone’s coming.” He spoke so quietly, I could barely hear him. “They’re headed this way. I can hear it.” He pulled his hand off my face and looked past my shoulder.
“How many?”
“I’m pretty sure it’s just one.”
“I’ll take the Ice and keep going.”
“No. They’ll hear you.”
“Then should we kill him?”
“No. That’s the worst possible thing we can do.”
“Then what?”
“You hide. I’ll try to talk my way out of it.”
“How are you going to explain—”
“Just hide. And don’t come out until I tell you to.” He let me go then faced the direction from which we’d come.
I moved farther down the path until there was a bend in the trail. I took a seat there, just barely able to make out Bastian where I’d left him. He took a seat on one of the boulders and pulled out his canteen to take a drink.
I heard the footsteps a moment later, followed by the outline of a large Necrosis.
Bastian continued to behave casually, like he didn’t even notice.
The large man came closer into view, the details of his face impossible to decipher in the limited starlight. But he was tall like Bastian, ripped like him too. He was in armor with short swords on his belt and a big dagger too, so he didn’t look like a civilian. Then a deep voice emerged, hoarse as if he’d smoked too many cigars. “Bastian.”
Bastian finished his canteen then rose to his feet. “Damien.”
“What are you doing over here?”
“Passing through.”
“On this trail?”
“You know what it’s like when you want to slip out without a fuss.”