Serenity hopped down the slight rise into the water. If the thing was only a few inches down, there should be something that would hold him, as long as he stayed next to the bank. He was right; there were some rocks there, and he’d have to be extremely careful about his footing since he couldn’t see through the water.
“No choice, old man. We tried the usual. It wouldn’t break. I don’t know what was done to-”
“It’s a Death-based stability enchantment.” Now that he was close enough, Serenity could tease apart the magic that was used. “Putting it here would probably eventually work, but not because it’s being damaged; it’ll run out of power.”
Helena ran to the edge of the rise above the water. “No! Leave it there! It’s not safe to touch!”
Serenity looked up at her. “It’s Death magic. I’ll be fine. You said you wanted it destroyed?”
Russ walked to the edge and looked down at Serenity. “I was going to try not to draw too much attention, but it’s too late now. You may as well.”
Helena turned to yell at Russ. “You’re ENCOURAGING him? He’ll get himself killed and then we’ll be down another Guardian! YOU of all people know how hard it is to find new Guardians!”
Serenity reached down to pick up the “phylactery”. It really wasn’t a true phylactery; instead, it was a glass marble. At least, Serenity thought it was glass; it was very smooth and cool to the touch as well as marble-sized and shaped. It could have been a marble-sized cut and polished stone instead.
“He’ll be fine, Helena. You’re thinking of him as an inexperienced Guardian trainee, and for all that he’s new to being a Guardian, he isn’t inexperienced.” Russ was calm despite Helena’s shouting.
“I’m an experienced mage with a specialization in Death magic that I generally prefer not to use,” Serenity stated. It was the best way he could think of to describe himself. “I happen to be engaged to Russ’s daughter, as well. Since I’m capable, Russ asked if I’d be willing to be her Guardian.”
The spirit inside the box attempted to reach out to Serenity. He could feel it trying, but it wouldn’t be able to do anything unless he let it, and he wasn’t interested in listening to it. If he’d been in private, he’d probably have literally eaten the marble, but that seemed a bit much in public. The other way was better.
Eat Death
Serenity felt the Death mana (and a tiny amount of essence) flow into him. The stability enchantment went first; it was obvious it was completely gone when the marble simply cracked in his hand, breaking the tie the spirit had to the stone. The absorbed Death mana would last a while, but he didn’t have any plans to cast a Death-based spell, so it would simply bleed off on its own after a few hours.
The revenant redoubled its efforts to attack him, unable to reach anyone else, but Serenity simply consumed the spent Death magic until the spirit faded. Without a connection to anything other than the marble’s remains, the spirit would vanish to wherever the dead went in hours at the most.
“There. Anything I should do with the leftover bits?”
“J-just toss them in the Sea.” Helena sounded a little uncertain.
Serenity did, then rinsed the remaining minute particles off his hand before climbing up the rise to join the other two.
“You are a mage. But mages don’t become Guardians, they get Guardians.” Helena seemed to believe them that far, at least.
“I’m weird. It’s fine. I know I’m weird. Don’t worry about it.” Serenity looked up and down the shoreline. “It was this way, right?”
Helena stared at Serenity for a moment, then turned back to Russ. “Why are you here? It’s not just to introduce a new Guardian.”
Russ lifted his shoulders and let them fall. “I’m going to throw Serenity in the Starlit Sea and see what happens.”
Helena blinked. “You’re going to what?”
----------------------------------------
No matter how hard Helena tried, Russ wouldn’t say more than that as they walked to the Starlit Sea. Serenity appreciated that.
In a lot of ways, Serenity was growing to like his future father-in-law. Russ was probably a bit too inclined to throw Serenity into the deep end to teach him to swim, but at the same time Serenity didn’t really mind it. It would be worse being coddled; he’d been on his own for far too long to take that well.
Serenity did hope that he used different training techniques on less experienced people. He knew he had a wealth of abilities to fall back on if things went wrong, but others wouldn’t. He figured that surely Russ at least provided more of a safety net; otherwise, he wouldn’t have been able to train “half the living Guardians” as the magma creature mentioned.
Russ stopped when they topped a small rise to let Serenity take in the view of the newly-revealed landscape. The hilly country ended abruptly in a wide sandy plain. The shoreline they were following had narrowed to nearly nothing, only about a foot wide at the narrow point, before it connected up with a new sea.
Serenity didn’t immediately see anything different about the new Sea, but he figured there had to be something different so he tried using Mana Sight and Essence Sight. Both the Guardian Sea and the new Sea glowed with magic. Once he worked past that impression, he could see that the Guardian Sea was bright and bold, while the new sea’s magic was calm, almost cold.
Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.
The new sea felt like a calm place after the boisterous excitement of the Guardian Sea. “Is that the Starlit Sea?”
“Yeah. We’re headed out to that walkway, it’ll take us to the middle of the sea.” Russ pointed, but Serenity wasn’t sure what he was pointing at.
“Walkway?”
“Yeah, it’s the thing that looks like a wooden dock leading into the water. Right over - “ Russ stopped. “Sorry, you probably can’t see it. I forgot about your weird vision. It’s right at water level, so waves wash over it; look for where they get lower and change shape, maybe?”
Serenity searched. The description wasn’t great, but knowing it was right at water level was what he needed. It wasn’t long before he saw an area in the sea where the waves became ripples before rising to waves on the other side. “Oh, I see it now. It’s not far.”
It was only a few steps later when Helena asked, “Weird vision?”
When Serenity looked over at her, she was looking at him instead of Russ. Serenity had the feeling that even though she’d looked towards him before, it was the first time she’d actually looked at him. “Wait, you’re not human?”
Serenity tilted his head. “I assumed you’d noticed by now. We’ve been walking together for over an hour.”
“Uh.” Helena didn’t say anything else as she turned firmly towards where they were going and walked stiffly forward. Serenity was certain she had to be blushing in embarrassment even if he couldn’t see it.
He thought he was oblivious, but somehow she’d missed the fact that he had wings. He wasn’t even trying to hide them!
----------------------------------------
Walking on the wet walkway as waves washed over it was strange but not difficult. It seemed to have a surprisingly grippy surface. Serenity had expected algae or moss to love the mostly-wet surface, but there didn’t seem to be any.
Maybe there wasn’t enough light? It was supposed to be starlit, after all. Or maybe it was salt water. There were a lot of things that wouldn’t grow in salt water that would grow in freshwater. Or maybe it was simpler than that; this was still similar to a dreamscape, and the rules were different in dreams, even shared ones like this. Serenity wasn’t sure; he simply knew that the footing was far better than he’d expected.
The water washing over Serenity’s feet was definitely magical, but far weaker than the water deeper into the Sea. That had to be why the walkway was there: people had to do something near the middle that wasn’t possible at the edge.
It was a surprisingly long walk, almost half as long as the one to get to the Starlit Sea. Serenity found himself falling into a trance while walking. The soft noise of the waves beating on the walkway and the splashing as they moved through the water were the only noises and he simply walked. It was restful.
Moments of peace were things to treasure, and Serenity knew this one would be stored with the others he had. It wasn’t with close friends, no, but it wasn’t alone either.
----------------------------------------
When they reached the middle, Serenity stopped walking only because Russ was in front of him and halted himself.
“We’re here.” It was a redundant statement, but Serenity supposed it was good to know they didn’t have to take another path or something.
When he looked around, it seemed like the walkway had widened into a much larger oval. The sides were closer than the far end. Serenity guessed it was about twice as long as it was wide, but it was hard to be sure when he was judging based on the waves. It was possible he missed the signs, but Serenity didn’t see another walkway leading to the platform.
“Jump in. Swim around a bit, then come back.” Russ’s instructions weren’t the clearest Serenity had ever heard, but they also weren’t a surprise. Russ had told Helena he was going to throw Serenity in the Sea, after all.
“Don’t haze the boy, Russ! You know that’s-” Helena’s words were cut off as Serenity’s head went underwater. If she’d actually wanted to do something about him jumping in, she should have tried something other than scolding Russ.
Serenity wished it were just hazing.
Serenity swam down a little, then realized he wasn’t certain if he was swimming down or sideways. He couldn’t tell which way was up; he was completely surrounded by magic, and he couldn’t see through the water at all.
He stopped swimming and let himself float. Was he even positively buoyant? He’d gained a lot of muscle and he was wearing both clothing and armor. It was probably safest to assume he wasn’t.
Serenity was starting to try to find a solution when the water vanished.
“The Starlit Sea is a consensus opinion and a state of mind. It’s too bad you can’t see it; it’s really quite beautiful. Of course, if you could see it, you wouldn’t have simply assumed it was water.” A hooded figure stood in front of Serenity as he picked himself up off the hard floor. Serenity recognized him as the same hooded figure that spoke to him in Tek’s space station.
“Death?” Serenity was sure that was what Tyche had called him.
“Eh, what do names matter?”
Serenity took that as agreement. “What is the Starlit Sea?”
Death waved a hand and people stood all around the pair, unmoving. “The Starlit Sea is a resting place. A place where those souls that wish to take time to rest and recover can. Some pass through quickly, while others may linger for Ages.” Death watched Serenity for a moment, but before he could speak, Death continued. “You should take some time here yourself. You have been through a great deal, and carry the memories of the dead. Those are not good for the living to hold.”
Serenity didn’t want to think about carrying the memories of the dead. He didn’t mind the fact that he’d killed them; it’d been self defense, after all. Becoming them, however, was not something he was happy about. That thought triggered another. “Russ said he was taking me here to make sure I wasn’t inimical to humanity, he mentioned the Dark Man, the Ones Behind the Veil, and Shadows. How does that work?”
Death laughed in Serenity’s head. “It isn’t solely humanity that I protect. I protect all souls that enter my care. A soul-eater that entered here would not emerge. All of those you listed are inclined to twist or warp others’ minds or souls to their service. I do not approve. Before you ask, what you did released the soul and took what was left.”
Death’s eyes started to glow with a blue-white fire that Serenity recognized as he continued to stare at Serenity. “You did not know that. It is clear that in the moment, you did not care. I cannot warn you; however, you must use more caution. You of all people must know better. If you became a soul-eater, the cosmos would tremble and not know why.”
Death vanished and Serenity was left alone. He was alone among the many people who started moving, going about whatever they had been before Death and Serenity started talking.