Zev straightens and nods, “Yeah, I’m fine. That was intense though. My magic is depleted simply because the vision was so strong.”
“Can you tell us anything?” Khaos asks.
“It wasn’t as clear as some of my other visions, and I think that’s probably because it had, in part at least, something to do with us, but we’re going to get help from an unexpected source. I don’t know who, and I don’t know when or even in what context. I think I also saw the end of this realm. It wasn’t a certainty though. It was like it was showing me a possibility of what could happen if we don’t fix the realm in time. For some reason, the outcome seemed further away than we’ve been told that it is, but again, that’s all the information I have,” he explains. “I’m also experiencing the visions more. Not excessively. I’m not at risk of dying from whatever I could experience in the dream, but I got knocked by someone as they rushed past me because I didn’t move, and he looked back at me, so he felt it too.”
“What? That’s insane. I thought the whole point of visions was to warn you of what was going to happen so that you don’t have to experience it?” Kill asks.
“It is, in theory. For some reason, this vision behaved differently,” Zev explains. He then looks at Rast, “We have been so busy traversing this realm and learning things that none of us have asked a pretty important question.”
“Oh?” Rast asks, equal parts curious and cautious.
“You were born here, right?” Zev asks.
“Yes,” Rast replies, although shadows and secrets pass over his expression.
Zev nods, “What happens to your dead, those who had passed over and those who came here when they died. What happened to them when the realm slowly descended into darkness and started its slow death?”
Shit, he’s right. I didn’t even think about that.
“Well, at some point the Underworld was created, and Hades was put in charge of that. It must have been when this realm was properly closed to outsiders. The dead had to go somewhere,” Rival points out. He has clearly been thinking about this to some degree.
Hades shakes his head, “I wasn’t the god of the Underworld when it was first made. There was one before me. I don’t know his name. I don’t know what happened. That knowledge wasn’t shared with me, and I was too focused on running the realm and everything that came after it to ask questions.”
“Wow, that’s pretty crazy,” I say. “So what happens to the natives that die in this realm now? They don’t go to the Underworld, do they?”
Hades shakes his head, “No. I know every single realm that the souls come from, and none of them are from this one.”
“No one knows for certain. We know that the punishment side of the realm let everyone out and then shut itself down so that no one can get in or out. It gave prisoners enough of a chance to escape, although we know that not all of them managed to and that there were some guards left behind too, but we don’t know what happened to the Tèarmann side of the realm. The realm was, I suppose it might still be, split into three separate zones. The punishment side,Peanasachadh, the zone where all those who died across all the realms went, Tèarmann, and the zone where all those who were born here and helped to keep the realm running lived, Àite-Bheatha,” Rast explains.
“Those are beautiful words,” I reply.
Rast smiles and nods, “They are. For some reason, the language isn’t spoken as much as it used to be, despite it being our native tongue.”
“They mean Punishment, sanctuary, and home, right?” I ask.
Rast looks at me with a surprised smile, “Yes. How did you know?”
“How I seem to know everything that I shouldn’t,” I start and then add with a smile, “I have no fucking idea.”
The guys burst out laughing.
They all know I’m not wrong.
Once they’ve calmed down, I ask, “Sorry, I interrupted you. How come you don’t know what happened to Tèarmann?”
“It vanished,” Rast replies. “It didn’t just get locked down. It completely vanished, and no one has any idea where it went or how it just vanished. There were theories that the realm used what magic it could spare to shield it, so the inhabitants kept the peace that they deserved, but there’s no proof of that. The more disturbing theory is that it was eaten by the Abyss creatures first.”
“What about those who die now. Not the souls from the realms but the ones who die here?” Rival asks.
“That’s always been slightly complicated. Those who are born here and die here still go to Tèarmann, and those who knew them in life can visit them and spend time with them and that sort of thing. As a general rule, they had to stay in their part of the realm. It has magic that sustains them, keeps them safe, and protects them from those who wish to use their essence as a spirit for spells and various rituals that should never be performed. Every now and then they were granted day passes to go into the other parts of the realm, but they went with guards and had to be very heavily protected,” Rast begins to explain.
“They were that sort after?” Hades asks.
Rast looks surprised at his question, “Yes. A soul is pure magic, there are spells that can harness the power of the soul and use it forall manner of reasons, and none of them are good. That soul becomes tarnished, broken beyond repair, and has to go to the Abyss.”
“Whoa, hold up,” Mayhem says. “You’re telling me that you could send things to the Abyss?”
“Are the souls sent to the Abyss the creatures that have come back here to destroy it, or are they trapped there?” Rival asks.
