“There were the ones I already knew of,” she answered. “The Elf Realm, Dark Forest.” She chuckled. “Obviously, I’m well acquainted with that one.”
“Yeah, that wasn’t exactly the best of times,” Heather piped in. “Although your information about drinking urine might actually come in useful here. You know, since we have nothing to drink.”
Andora shook her head. “I’m not drinking anyone’s liquid waste.”
“You’d drink your own, sprite queen.” Heather sighed. “We’re not that gross. Onlyslightlygross.”
Andora’s brow lifted. “That’s very reassuring. Thank you.”
“Jewel.” Fane returned the focus to the healer, knowing that Heather was as bad as his mate and her two best friends about running off into rabbit holes.
“I actually read about the Pixie Realm before visiting there.” Jewel glanced at the sprite queen. “Never thought I’d go, considering the book said the realm had been sealed.”
Andora lifted a shoulder. “Sometimes we let those who record history think what they want. The truth is not always safe, no matter what you learn as a child about telling it.”
“Fair,” Jewel agreed. “There was the Troll Realm, which I didn’t know was a thing, even though I knew trolls existed. Peri never spoke about their realm. I guess I just thought they’d always lived in the human realm, like werewolves. There was one realm that was mentioned only a couple of times. And it didn’t seem like the author of the book really believed what they were writing.” Jewel paused and looked around the area surrounding them. “It was described like this, now that I think about it. I guess my mind has been on other things that I didn’t even pay attention to this environment.”
“Not that I don’t love a good story,” Heather interjected, “but is there an answer somewhere in this?”
Jewel dropped her legs down, crossed them, then folded her arms across her chest. Her leg began to bounce as she looked at Fane. “It was called the Realm of the Dead.”
“So wearein hell,” Heather declared, as she slapped her hands onto her thighs. “I didn’t need a book to tell me that.”
Jewel shook her head. “No, it was made very clear that this realm wasnothell.”
Fane wondered how he’d never heard of this realm. How had his father never told him about it? Had his father even known about it? It was hard for Fane to consider that his father didn’t knoweverythingbecause he always seemed to have an answer for Fane, no matter his question.
Fane cleared his throat, pulling himself from his thoughts. “How is it different?”
“The book said that hell was only where evil supernatural beings went. Like evil, evil.”
“Are there reallylevelsof evil?” Heather asked, dryly. “Because in my book, evil is the opposite of good. No variation or scales.”
Andora clasped her hands and let them rest in her lap. “What about those who do evil but are repentant of their actions?”
Heather tilted her head to the side. “That begs the question, were they truly evil? Is there a difference betweendoingsomething evil andbeingevil?”
“Good point.” Andora agreed. “Did the book make a distinction, Jewel?”
Fane considered all the beings he’d encountered over the past years since meeting his mate, and there were only two that he could say hadcommitted an evil actand weren’t actually evil: Cynthia and Myanin. Both of their actions had been guided by anger and resentment, but in the end, they’d repented and even atoned for their actions. In his mind, that meant there was definitely a difference in those who did evil things versus those who were actually evil.
“Yes,” Jewel answered. “I mean, it was kind of convoluted in the explanation, but I understood it.”
“You’re a genius,” Heather pointed out. “Of course you understood it. Dumb it down for us regular folk.”
“Hell is for those who have lost the possibility of redemption,” Jewel explained. “Redemption is what is given when a person, or in our case supernatural, has not only sought forgiveness for their wrongdoing but turned away from that evil. They’ve done a complete 180. They recognize that they cannot have a foot in darkness and a foot in light.
“One who has let the darkness consume them, and repeatedly chosen to pursue those things that are malevolent and despicable, are the ones destined for hell. The book also explained that the momentthatis decided is upon their last breath, because that is the moment the option to choose has been forfeited.”
“That’s really depressing,” Heather grumbled, tossing a rock across the ground. “So the rainbow in this story is that those evil people are not here with us. Correct?”
Jewel nodded. “That is true, but that doesn’t mean that those who are here are actually good, per se.”
“You’re not instilling confidence in my rainbow.” Heather narrowed her eyes at the other healer, despite the fact that she couldn’t actually see her.
Jewel tilted her head to the side as she looked at the blind healer. “My job is to tell you what I read. Not instill confidence in the fairytale you want to believe.”
Heather’s brow rose. “Damn. You’ve gotten snarky in your newfound rebellious status.”
