“So you’re saying you can’t open a time vortex on your own?”
No, I don’t believe so. The other mutabeecha who reside in the afterlife know how to do it, because their memories haven’t been tampered with like mine. I cannot comprehend it. Not here, anyway.
“What if you go back to the afterlife? Will you get those memories back?” I pressed. “You can still travel between realms, can’t you?”
I can. Allow me a few minutes, and I’ll go speak to the other mutabeecha now.
Oberi jumped into the air, and I expected for him to disappear as he left our realm. Instead, he crashed to the ground and gave a whimper as he landed on his face. Oberi took a cautious step back.
Oberi’s tone wavered, causing my stomach to plummet out of my abdomen. Oh, Charlie. I fear the boundary between us and the spiritual realm is so broken, even I cannot cross it.
“You have to!” I cried. “You’ve always spoken about how you’re a higher being, free to move between the realms.”
I’m trying, but I can’t anymore. The Warden has ruined everything so badly that I’m stuck here, just like all the other spirits who’ve been unable to cross. In normal circumstances, I could make this journey, but with the connection to the afterlife broken, even a spiritual being like me could get caught in the in-between. There has to be another way… some connection that remains that I'm not seeing.
“How’s that possible if the boundary is broken?”
We've always looked at the boundary as a gate that has closed, and it is, but it's a bit like a bridge, too. At first, it was only crumbling, and though crossing over was difficult, it was still possible. The main entrance closed when the Warden brought the dark gods to Earth, and spirits have been unable to cross over since, but other entrances like the Elven Gate remained. This is how Ava’s ancestors were able to show up through her compass when you were in the hospital, and how the Elven goddesses sent Ava visions during her initiation as Holy Mother. There are pieces of the afterlife still holding on even if the gates for souls are closed.
“The war in the Blessed Haven between the gods has grown,” I pointed out. “Things have only gotten worse.”
Yes, but there are powers that remain, and influences at play. There's still some connection there. Otherwise, the realms would cease to stand, Oberi said. If we look at the divide between our realms as a river, you can imagine this bridge as the main crossing point between them, wide enough to allow passage of thousands of souls at one time. The crowd can’t pass through anymore, but we may be able to find another place along the divide, somewhere downstream, where the water flows more smoothly or the rocks are prevalent enough to provide passage for just a few souls at a time. I know there have to be other crossings, because the Warden’s using them to get back and forth from the Blessed Haven to Earth. It’s how he showed up outside our shield after walking through the Elven Gate.
“Then we have to find one of these crossings,” I insisted.
It is our only option, Oberi agreed. This spell to summon a time vortex is going to take all the mutabeecha, so I must travel to them and request their assistance. And Charlie… if we can do this, we may still have a chance to fulfill your prophecy.
“My prophecy was finished when I chose the world over Ava on that beach,” I stated bitterly. I didn’t know why he was bringing this up.
Not that prophecy. I’m speaking of the one that came from the Elves. Oberi recited the prophecy we’d learned of when we arrived in Forevermore. The emperor’s legacy will return, and bring light to a new dawn.
“We always thought that referred to me leading the Elves through the Elven Gate, to their true Forevermore,” I mused. “But if we can reach the mutabeecha…”
They might know of another way to repair the broken boundary. The wisdom of the mutabeecha is immense. They are the companions of the Great Spirit, after all. They would know how to open a time vortex to destroy the Warden and potentially have knowledge of how to repair the broken boundary. Then you can still lead the Elves to the Blessed Haven, and prevent the fall of all supernatural kind, Oberi finished for me.
I couldn’t believe what we were talking about. It sounded impossible, but we’d faced the impossible before. We could still save everyone’s soul. If there was even a chance of accomplishing what Oberi was talking about, we had to try it. “Where do we start?”
I don’t know, but we may know others who do. We must summon a meeting between all our allies and see what the other races know. There’s a chance one of them knows a back-door way into their afterlife, so we can use it to wander through the Blessed Haven and find the mutabeecha.
I snatched the record up from the table just as Takahashi entered the room.
He hesitated, clearly noticing the mess on the floor. “What’s going on here?”
“Oberi and I found something. Alert the Demigod Guardians to round up all our allies and meet us in the Elvish council room,” I told him. “This can’t wait.”
I wanted to get to the council room as quickly as possible. I hurried out the door and Oberi followed, his paws padding on the marble. Takahashi went in a different direction to summon the Demigod Guardians.
I was unprepared for the grasp of pointed nails that dug into my neck, wrenching me off my feet before slamming me into a marble column. I panicked, flailing as I attempted to fend off my attacker, but my arms went limp as I felt the warmth of raging flames ripple up my body. The fires licked at my skin but didn’t burn, signaling that a powerful Koigni had surrounded me with their magic. The nails dug in deeper, and I caught a smell of expensive perfume as the skirts of a velvet dress swished around my shoes. A lioness Familiar gave a rumbling growl, which made my blood run cold.
“You absolute vermin,” a spiteful transatlantic accent hissed in my ear. “It wasn’t enough for you to take away my granddaughter’s magic and Familiar, was it? No. You had to saddle her with an infant.”
I’d barely spoken to her, but she’d been intimidating enough that I could never forget that voice. Eleanor Doya. Ava’s grandmother, and Sophia’s mother, had cornered me here in this hallway. She was strong for an elderly woman. I squirmed against her hold, but I didn’t think I could break out of her grasp unless I hurt her, which I wasn’t stupid enough to do. The lioness at her side gave another deadly snarl.
“My dear, please, let’s take a breath.” The pleading voice of an older man, whimpering as he cowered beside his wife, did nothing to ease the conflict.
“Elliot, I’ve had enough. I’ve dealt with far worse cockroaches in my time than him. He’s an afterthought,” Doya spat.
At least Professor Baine was with her, but I doubted he’d be able to convince his wife to let me live, or step in if she committed to burning me alive. Baine was definitely terrified of his spouse, so if Doya decided to end me, Baine would stand there and allow her to do whatever she was going to do.
