The Crescent Hour ✓

Chapter 40. The Two Choices

There was no pain in death. There was only darkness. It weaved around him in weblike patterns. Above him, white specks of light blinked to existence. Thousands and thousands of them. Bright and beautiful. Stars, he realized. He lay there in the nest of shadows, waiting for the fear to set in, for his soul to be cast off into the deepest pits of hell. He knew his soul was damned. It had to be.

Minutes ticked away. Perhaps hours even. It was hard to tell how many. Was this what the afterlife was like? To be left to his own thoughts, forever alone? Surely he would go mad. This was not how he had anticipated the hereafter. It was not what Eryx had told them, fourteen years ago in the annual bonfire held at Amarant.

"The damned find no peace in death," Eryx had said.

He'd told them of the creatures of hell—the demon hashashins who would torment their victims by killing them repeatedly in different ways, the humanoid draagani who would skin their prey alive and swallow them whole. He'd mentioned the ten levels of hell, the rivers of fire in them, the rain made of stone and ashes and the trees born of bones and flesh of the damned.

"The damned will burn and burn until they too become part of hell," Eryx had whispered, silvery eyes glowing in the firelight, face cast in shadows.

Rai had burst into tears right then. Eryx had scared them shitless.

The shadows thinned, vanishing in little curls of smoke. This was it. The hell guardians would come to drag his soul to its final destination. Tamer would give in without a fight. Provoking their wrath would only worsen his punishment. The stars became brighter and larger. They had not been stars at all but holes torn by beams of light. The world blurred around him as the light burned brighter, blinding him. He closed his eyes.

Laughter reached his ears. He opened his eyes to find himself standing against the railing, a grand staircase sweeping down below him on either side. Blue orbs drifted around him, highlighting the ancestral portraits, ornamental weapons, stone carvings and exotic rugs on the walls. Above him, the ceiling was covered in a mural of a sky with a sun at its centre. A flock of birds flew past the sun and disappeared into the clouds. The living mural, one made by the best of the best mages. He knew this place. It was the king's palace. His home.

He heard it again—the laughter. He recognized the voice too. He could never forget it. Just like he could never forget what she would do next, what she had done. She was right there, down the stairs, peering down a clay pot, large enough to fit a six year old boy. He caught his breath at the sight of her.

"Boo! Sneaky, aren't you?" she said, picking up the boy and setting him down. "Now promise you'll go to bed."

"But I want to be at the party," said the boy, gold eyes pleading.

The woman ruffled the boy's hair, his hair, then poked his little nose. "One little glimpse and then you'll go to bed. Now promise."

His younger self lifted his right fist and bumped his left shoulder, a vow gesture made by nobles only. "I promise."

Tamer turned his back on them as they left the hall. The events that would follow next played in his mind, each memory as clear as if he'd lived them in that moment. It has made sure he'd never forgotten. Not the screams of despair or the looks of loathing, the cries of mercy or the blood at his feet. He remembered it all. Was this the beginning of his punishment? The hell guardians would make him remember his sins?

He cast a glance at the empty corridor where his mother and his younger self had passed. A clock ticked somewhere in the hall. It hadn't begun yet...

He found himself moving, running down the stairs and knocking down a vase. If he was wrong—if this wasn't his punishment—then this might be his only chance at redeeming his soul. A piercing cry tore through the silence. Tamer tripped on the carpet. He shuffled to his feet, his heart pounding wild. The ball room was in the next hallway, flanked by giant stone lions. His hand enclosed on the door knob, twisting it open. The door did not move.

The screams got louder, the memories scorching his vision. He threw himself at the door, trying to break it open. He had to save them. He had to...

"Mother! Mother!"

The door flew open at once. Tamer fell down, face flat on the floor. Once again, there was darkness. The screams had stopped. Tamer lifted himself up, flicking away something wet and slick. He knew what it was even before he spat it out of his mouth. Blood. Their blood. Ashamed, he tried to make sense of the darkness. He couldn't see anything.

Then a pair of gold eyes glared at him from the shadows, the pupils slit like his own.

"She lives," a voice echoed. It wasn't just any voice. It was a voice of one and many, monstrous and domineering. "She lives."

It—this monster—had never spoken to him in person. It had always merged its commands with his own thoughts. Tamer stared back at it and for the first time in his entire lifetime, he wasn't afraid.

"Have you come to torment me in my death?" he said.

"She lives."

It moved closer to him until it stood only a hand away. "Death was not meant for you. You, whose true destiny lies in wait."

"Destiny? I am dead, in case you haven't noticed." Tamer shook his head, disgusted by the monster. This thing had ruined his life, plagued him with the sins it had forced him to commit. He turned his back on it, intending to leave the ball room.

"You cannot leave. You must choose."

A hologram appeared before him. He saw himself sitting with Rai and Eryx in Amarant's common room, playing a game of Mar-karata. Rai said something and his other self laughed. He saw Clara wrapping her arms around him from behind, giving him a good luck kiss on the cheek. God, he'd left her with Azmand. The guilt, the realization that he could never see her again left him feeling hollow inside. He shut his eyes, wishing this would all end, this punishment, because what else would this be, if he wasn't already paying for his sins? The hell guardians had taunted him, made him believe he could save his mother and the others, tricked him into believing he was speaking with that monster.

"Tamer, open your eyes."

She was there with him, her voice as sweet as it had ever been. Her fingers brushed his face, cleaning away the blood. He felt the warmth of her body close to him, smelt her jasmine scent, heard her voice whisper into his ear.

"Please, Tamer..."

He couldn't refuse her.

The scene had changed. Clara was gone just as he had anticipated. This too was his punishment. To make him long for what he had lost. He was still surrounded by the darkness but in the distance stood a magnificent floating palace, the light from its windows, his only source of light.

"She lives," the monster repeated, its glowing eyes watching him.

At last Tamer understood what it meant. He let out a cry of misery and rage. His mother was alive. He'd spent every waking moment blaming himself for her death and yet she lived. His father, Helima, Azmand, Idris...they had deceived him.

"No! You lie!" he screamed.

The darkness swallowed the palace, leaving him in its emptiness. Tamer felt anger grow inside his chest, fighting for release. 

"Free me and you'll see those you love again. Free me and you'll have your vengeance."

And Afreet, ruler of the army of the Ghilan, vilest creature from hell, shed off his cloak of shadows, revealing his true form.

"Choose, Tamizan. Life or death?"

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Sorry, it's a bit late. I'm really grateful for your patience, everyone <3 Only 2 more chapters to go. Yes, 2!