“You.” The Old Man stared at me as he doubled over, gripping the metal basin to keep himself upright. His voice was harsh, like he was slowly becoming his name sake. It could also be that he was actually dying… like he was supposed to be doing. “I don’t know why, or how he thought he’d get away with it, but you’re the reason he did what he did. A thief and a killer made into a muse that would destroy a so called ultimate treachery, I suppose he thought it was just as poetic as the act itself poetic. He was wrong though. Very wrong. We are a force of nature, and I was not the first. Merely a survivor from an era of titanic forces you could not possibly comprehend.”

“And you expect me to respect you or something? You’re dying, man, no way around that. I mean, I have no clue what’s happening, but I like my chances better than yours.”

“So do I, which is why I’m holding out for so long.” He pushed himself into a more upright position and with one hand, grabbed a large coal out of the basin and held it up between us. “I, Raim, with this coal and the old sand it has come to remake, kindle the fires of a new forge, and by my word create a place for it to rest and to burn till the end of days.”

“What in the world are you doing?” My question was perfectly valid, but again totally ignored.

I watched, utterly confused, as the Old Man crushed the coal over the basin Dante had destroyed the mirror in just moments before. He opened his hand and slowly let go of a stream of sand-like white ash. The second the first grain touched the basin it was full of cold white ash, and to top off the whole magic trick all the heat and in the room was suddenly and completely gone.

“This will only hurt for a second.” I had no time to respond to this new comment from the Old Man.

There was a second, just one, when he looked me in the eye and I could see the real age and torment in his glowing eyes… not unlike how Dante’s eyes had been. Only Dante had been the opposite, young, free. That was only for a second though, and then there was nothing. No Old Man, no basin, no ashes, no room, no nothing. For a while, and I couldn’t tell how long, it felt like I wasn’t even… like I didn’t exist. Like I wasn’t me, or anyone else, or anything. Like my mind was just separate from everything.

Then I inhaled, and all at once I was back. It was like every other time I had revived, only this time I remembered what it was like to be dead. Maybe that was just how it was, and always had been, when someone that could never truly die got close. Maybe I had experienced the same thing Amy had during her nap. Nothing, just rest and healing. Only I didn’t feel rested, or healed. I felt broken, and I wasn’t healing. That made sense though, Dante was gone… for all I knew I was totally mortal again and I had been seriously injured.

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As the color returned to my vision though, I still couldn’t tell where I was or what had happened. Everything was dark… well not dark, but dim. Whatever natural source of light there was, wherever I was, was seriously obfuscated… whatever that meant. For some reason I knew what that meant, and for some reason, I was lying on a floor… somewhere. The ceiling of the room, because it made the most sense for a ceiling to be a part of a room and not… not a room… was made of glass. But it was filthy, almost impossible to see anything through. But that was where the light was coming from. Faint white light.

“Moonlight.” I muttered the word. Or at least I thought I’d said it, but it wasn’t my voice. My mouth had opened though, I had felt the air leave my body, but even that had felt strange and different.

Everything, every sensation, was confusing. It was like everything was sharper, like I’d just gotten a really good pair of headphones after listening to music on a pair of five dollar earbuds my entire life… only with everything. But at the same time, I felt weaker. As I tried to push myself up I felt like it took more effort, almost like I weighed more and had less muscle. As I looked down at my body, which I could only just barely see, even with my eyes adjusted to the dim light, I could see that my assumption was accurate. As I stood, I looked down at my body… though it hardly felt like mine.

I was at least a foot taller than I remembered, my arms were thinner… my whole body was thinner, lithe… like Dante had been, only not pale. Not at all. My skin was darker than it had been before, and clearer. Some breeze or motion in the room stirred up the air and pushed part of my hair in front of me. It was long… really long, but held in place at the ends by a short braid… and it was white as snow. The color surprised me, and for a second I almost thought I was completely uncovered, as the small white dress I was wearing was nearly identical in color. The thin fabric even felt similar to my hair, which had never been so silky.

As I continued to look down, I saw something around my feet. Or rather, I noticed that I couldn't see my feet at all, but I could feel something around them. I was barefoot, and I was standing on a patch of soft dirt, with my feet under a patch of soft tall grass. And all around me, were gray flowers. With the entire scene around me, and my body… I felt… beautiful, for probably the first time in my life. And I didn’t deserve it.

“He killed me…” Hearing my voice again… it felt more like mine this time.

“I guess it was about time.”