When did he last hear her laugh?
What was the final thing she’d said to him with a smile on her face?
I can’t remember.
Did Neyu hear him say he loved her, or was she in too much pain?
Pain I gave her.
Saer’s breath caught and pressure built anew in his throat, behind his eyes.
Is this what humans go through when we take their loved ones?
“I imagine it’s not dissimilar.”
Saer hadn’t realized he’d spoken the question aloud, but the intrusion startled him.He took a shuddering breath into too tight lungs.
“ToHellswith you, Little Ghost!”His voice cracked despite his ire.
The spirit of Ruki looked at the sky, then at its feet standing on the knoll.It shrugged, profound sadness on the soul’s face.“It would be a change of pace at least.”The spirit paused, then added with quiet and genuine sympathy, “I’m sorry she’s gone.”
Ruki’s spirit saw it all.
Saer didn’t deserve the compassion.
Sounds from further down the hillside rose.Humans stirring from their dwellings as pre-dawn light filtered through the sky.Night ended, and the village roused to join him atop the hill.
“The harvest,” Saer whispered to himself and a new surge of anguish washed over him.Gritting his teeth, he cursed as he stood, wet ashes stuck to his knees.
“It looks like they’ll be here”—the solemn essence gauged—“by the time the sun is in full view.That’s when you told them to arrive so you could slaughter and then abduct them, after all.”
Saer glared down the hill at the gathering crowd.Years and years of hard work, culminating to this moment, and now it tasted as sour as the bile in Saer’s throat.The setup was complete—thousands of lives already dedicated themselves to he and Neyu, together.All that remained was to kill them and bring them to the Hells.Without Neyu…
“I can’t,” Saer whispered.
“Can’t what?”
An annoyed and tortured glance was all Saer spared the soul before redirecting his attention to the approaching throng.Perhaps because his usual companion was gone, perhaps because he needed a non-threatening entity to speak with, he answered, “I can’t go back.”
“Can’t or won’t?”
Saer opened his mouth to snarl a response, then stopped and considered, voice shuddering.“When did it all change?”
“I’m not sure what you mean.”
The top of the knoll lay quiet save the distant susurration of the approaching crowd and the falling sprinkle of rain.Saer struggled to put into words all that circled his mind and danced through the hollow shell of his body.“Little Ghost, what should I do?”
Ruki’s spirit gaped.“What should you do?With all those people?You’re askingme?”
Saer turned his head to Ruki’s soul, his mind frayed and weather worn.Rather than push back on the obvious question the spirit asked, Saer replied with the heaviness of all he felt, “Yes, I’m asking you.”
Incredulous, the soul did its best to answer.“Well, you could just leave…”
Saer punctuated his ongoing stare with a slight raise in his eyebrows.
“…And when they eventually die they’ll be like me with nowhere to go since there’s no one to take them anywhere.”
Saer nodded once, still waiting.
