Destined To Die

Chapter 18 - The Shadow of Death

-18-

-The Shadow of Death-

Akane floated through darkness for what felt like hours, an odd intangibility to his form, what was left of his soul floating softly through the dark sky. There were no stars overhead, just void in every direction, shadows moving just beyond his vision as he drifted in the blackened space.

The shadows took on shapes, the echoes of faces, each slowly becoming more and more distinct as his vision focused. He saw Tiamat, the goddess's form blackened and burned. He saw Lorelei, the siren charred almost beyond recognition. He saw Kento, the death god's body broken and crippled. He saw the faces of every soul he'd harvested as they coalesced in the darkness, echoes of the essence of gods, men, and monsters alike, all burned by the soul-rending power of the amulet. They all stared back at him in silence, unmoving,

"Is this it?" Akane asked, his voice carrying through the darkness, speaking to all the figures around him, who did not answer.

They simply stared, motionless and at a distance, his words shaking their structure and blowing them away like dust in the wind. The last face he saw before it disintegrated was Kento's, a knowing smile on his face, a proud glint in those gleaming amber eyes.

Gravity suddenly kicked in as the last of the phantoms faded and he found himself tumbling headfirst, down, down, down. He blazed through the darkness with the speed of a comet, seeing flashes of images on every side, there only for a second before fading.

He saw Maddy sitting on the couch of their house, hair in a loose bun as she flicked through a collection of movies that she'd insisted Akane needed to watch. The image was gone in a second, and then he saw himself standing above Kento, a sword driven through the death god's chest, pain wracking his every limb before that too faded. They came faster and faster with each second as he fell through the darkness with the force of a falling star, driving along the road in the back of Abigail's car, catching her eyes in the rear-view mirror. They he was standing before Koyane as stone overtook his form, eyes locked on Hana's body, then back to the brutal training of the Shinigami, the killings committed in his name, receiving his weapons from the god, the flashes coming faster and faster until it was all just a blur of blood and violence.

One final memory lingered in his vision as he fell, time seeming to slow down as he looked up at his mother through the eyes of a small child, a small bundle of cloth that held his baby sister in her arms. Much as she smiled, gracefully as she held herself, the lines on her face were beginning to show and she looked so very tired. Akane looked up into his mother's eyes, the most beautiful eyes he'd ever seen, and saw nothing but the purest love staring back at him.

That too faded and he was left in darkness once again, plummeting down and down into void as a twinkling light came into existence in the space beneath him, growing with intensity until it was almost blinding to look at, his semi-intangible feet slamming down onto the rugged black stone from his dreamscape.

He looked forward, staring into the blazing eyes of the veiled woman, unblinking, alien in their intelligence, only a few paces from where he stood. Her long dark hair flowed back behind her, trailing back and vanishing into the night itself as she silently waited.

A hand touched his as he shielded his eyes from the light, looking over to see a hand holding his. He met the eyes of his sister for the first time in years, seeing the tears in her eyes, the sad smile on her face. Her hand was cold but comforting all the same.

"Hello, brother," she said softly, leaning in and wrapping both arms around his neck as they knelt together in the darkness of the dreamscape, under the gaze of the unknown goddess.