Hypna

  I watch with baited breath as Raiten swims out of the river. The blood runs deep. The pain, deeper. And still, he finds a way to close the wound, and move forward.

  Oddly, I feel proud of him.

  “That was cruel, what you did.”

  I stiffen. Then, I turn around to face my daughter. She has occupied this void of white and transformed it to her liking—this time, she’s recreated the grazing lands beyond our home, where farms descended in steps bitten into the hills, water flowing through golden reeds. I took her here often. Before everything fell apart, that is.

  I clear my throat and try to bury my sentimentality. After all, like she said, this isn’t Tia. “And what about you? What you did?”

  Thraevirula shifts. Her white-gloved hands graze over the reeds as the horizon beckons for the sun’s embrace. The witch’s red eyes stare absentmindedly at the flowing water.

  “Let’s just say, that wasn’t the outcome I intended.”

  “Really? Then what did you intend, Thraevirula?” I gesture around us and snap my fingers. The field burns away and the scenery shifts to Raiten’s memories of the battle. Plagued monstrosities scampering. Men warring spirits. Blood and death. “This? Are you happy with this?”

  “Spare me the lecture.”

  “Because you were so willing to spare Raiten now, were you? His friend?”

  “Like. I. Said.” Thraevirula snaps her fingers and the memory fades to black, leaving us alone in the darkness. “It was not my intention. But at least I didn’t lie to him. Unlike you. I mean really, I never thought you would’ve had it in you. Yet you played the role so perfectly. Not a hair out of place. Tell me, how did Hanata Kuragami’s skin feel like?”

  Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  I stay silent. She presses forward.

  “Imagine what he would do if I told him. Hmm? He would fall apart. The foundations you have built him on are fragile.”

  “And who broke him down in the first place?”

  “Please. I offered him. So. Many. Chances. He refused me at each instance. No thanks to you,” she scoffs. “You’re not even real. Just a disgusting parasite in the mind. A leech. Eventually, you will crumble into dust.”

  She finally looks me in the eyes. I sigh.

  “What do you want?”

  Thraevirula shrugs. “I already have what I want. I won.”

  “Did you?”

  “Saegor’s gone. Fled in cowardice. His mancers failed. And now, Catolica is out of the picture thanks to the Elk. So, my plague will spread. My armies will grow. And I will relieve our continent of its Fifth Season and its dirty Harbingers.”

  I shake my head. She’s so confident that what she’s doing is just. That frightens me.

  Yet, she hesitates in another regard.

  “So why come here?”

  Thraevirula opens her mouth to speak, but pauses and takes her time formulating her thoughts.

  “He has ten days of respite. Then, I’ll hunt him. Both in his dreams and in reality, he won’t escape me.”

  She turns away as if that’s the end of the matter.

  “Why?” I ask, even though I know the reason. I just want to hear her say it.

  If she can.

  She affords me a contemptuous stare, colored by a hint of something else. Something so complex it can’t be put into mere words.

  Then, she smiles and Thraevirula is back, laughing like a storybook villain.

  “Call it a ceasefire. My treat. I’d suggest he enjoy the respite and do his best to get out of my range. Maybe then, he can last a little bit longer.”

  “Do you think this is what I want from you?” I ask. I have to try, one more time. See if I can bring my daughter back. “Do you think this will fix anything?”

  Thraevirula pauses and turns back to me. Her body slowly begins fading into the contours of the black, red hair swallowed up by tendrils of darkness. “It doesn’t matter what you want, Hypna. After all…” she laughs again, this time, the sound echoing into the shadows all around us.

  “You’re dead. And Raiten? He’s just a dead man walking.”