This was wrong. It was a lie, a manipulation. Aureus had known the people who took her would resort to that sort of thing. Her mother had made that clear when she told the girl and her siblings who they were dealing with. These were the people who helped murder Kushiel, for the crime of doing whatever it took to save her species. It wasn’t a pretty job, or one that she was proud of. But their people were dying out. If not from the eternal war with the Fomorians, then from their own population stagnation. They couldn’t have enough children to keep up with the losses they suffered in war. Slowly yet steadily, they were being worn down. In time, if things stayed on this path, they would lose. They would fail. Their people would fall and the universe would fall soon after. The unstoppable plague of the Fomorians would spread to every world. They would kill every other form of life in existence, and used the biological matter left behind to create more of themselves, more of their own abominations.
Kushiel could have stopped that. She could have saved their population and the rest of the universe. She could have brought all of civilization to a new golden age. But these people, the bleeding hearts who didn’t understand what had to be done, had been doing everything they could to stop her. Not all were like that, of course. Not all of her mother’s enemies, those who celebrated her death, were so naive to think that they could create such sweeping changes to save their species without hurting a few people along the way. No, some were actually jealous of what Kushiel was capable of. Those people would rather see the universe burn and allow the Fomorians to kill everyone than accept that she could do what they couldn’t.
Either way, be they naive or jealous, those people had stood in Kushiel’s way. They had murdered her in cold blood, while she struggled to reach her daughter, her actual biological child. They took advantage of her moment of weakness, as Kushiel tried in vain to break through the brainwashing that those enemies had subjected her precious daughter to pull her out of their control. In that moment, they killed her and stripped her light from the universe. Or tried to. But Kushiel’s drive to save her people was even greater than death itself. She returned, if only as a ghost, to help Aureus and her siblings do what had to be done to protect the universe. Painful as it was, Kushiel had no choice but to leave her daughter in the hands of those same manipulative creatures who had turned the girl against her.
Those very manipulations were what Aureus feared this entire situation was. After being captured and imprisoned by her mother’s enemies, she knew they would try to do to her what they had done to The Child. She refused to even think of Kushiel’s daughter by that other name, the name they had given her. Some day, they would be forced to restore Kushiel’s memories, forced to remove the spell that had erased her child’s name from everyone’s mind. Because they couldn’t even allow the woman to have that much, they had to use magic to ensure that no one in the universe could remember the name she had given her daughter. Some day, that magic would be undone. But until then, she would simply be Kushiel’s child to those who loved Kushiel.
And now, here Aureus was, standing in what she had first believed was an illusion of some sort. An illusion of some human vacation spot. Was this the start of it? Was this what they had done to Kushiel’s child as they rewrote her memories and turned the girl against her own mother? That fear, that her own mind would be twisted, nearly made Aureus incinerate that half-human boy where he’d stood. But something had stopped her. Something made her actually listen to his words as he told her where they were. This wasn’t an illusion, it was some sort of mental construct built by the multiple personalities of a traumatized human girl. One of whom she had already met in the outside world. That zombie girl who wasn’t a zombie. Bucket.
Why did she believe that? Why had she gone along with this nonsense and actually helped the boy search for the missing ‘Aspects’ as he called them? It had to be a trick. They had grown tired of trying to manipulate her the slow way and were doing this to find a backdoor into her own mind so they could force her to turn against Kushiel.
And yet, she continued to actually go along with this. She had teleported herself high into the air and then told the half-human where she had seen activity, at that old mansion with the gravestones. They came to this place, met several of the ‘Aspects’ and ventured into the basement to see what was happening.
Why? Why had she gone along with this probable-charade? Why did she entertain even the idea that it might be real rather than some trick to poke around inside her brain and figure out how to turn her against Kushiel? Why did she give them that much, when accepting even a little bit of this could erase her own personality, turn her into a puppet for them to twist to their own uses the way they had with her mother’s biological child? Why did she take that risk?
Because it was an adventure. And in all her life, through all the intense training her mother had put the girl and her siblings through, under all the responsibility she had groomed them for, Aureus had always, always longed for one thing. A true, real, adventure. Not a mission, not a job where they were sent to extract an asset, guard one of Kushiel’s friends, or any of that. No. She wanted an adventure. And to be an adventure, a true one, it had to be something new, something unknown. They had to venture into unexplored territory, meet people who had never been met before, do things that few if any had ever done before.
Aureus had been raised and trained to hide, to stay in the shadows and follow very specific orders. She had been taught to protect her siblings and their mother. And, of course, to do anything Kushiel told them. That was the most important part, by far. Kushiel had a vision for protecting the universe, a vision which extended far beyond the understanding of Aureus or any of the others. They did what they were told, they followed her instructions.
But that was the whole problem. Kushiel had her vision, her plan. It was all mapped out for Aureus from the start. It wasn’t new or unique or… hers.
The girl knew her responsibility. She knew that she was meant to help Kushiel, her mother, carry out the plan that would save the universe. But that was a long term plan that she had very little direct part in. She wanted to see her own new things, experience her own triumphs and failures. She wanted to be out there, seeing things and meeting people.
She wanted an adventure.
Through all the many books she had read, and there were so many of them, adventure always meant embracing something new and unknown. Sometimes reluctantly, sometimes enthusiastically, but the unknown was a key component. She had spent what seemed like every moment of her life longing to be out in the universe, exploring, experiencing, and simply living. But she had to stay hidden, had to stay in training to be ready when the time came. So she lived vicariously through every adventure story she could get her hands on. She read stories from every world, and wistfully projected herself into them.
That was why she ignored every voice in her head (most of which sounded like Kushiel) telling her that this was a bad idea, that she was being manipulated. She set aside every bit of common sense that repeatedly reminded her that these people were her enemies, and went right down into that basement. And, upon seeing those mysterious doors that none of the others could open, her immediate impulse had been to force them open with a little explosion. Some might’ve thought that was because she was angry about her situation, that she was blowing off her annoyance by blowing up anything that presented itself as an obstacle. But that wasn’t it at all. No, despite everything, Aureus was excited about what was happening. This was brand new. It was unheard of. At least, as far as she had heard. And that was what counted when it came to new adventures. She wanted to open those doors to see what was on the other side. She wasn’t angry at them at all. On the contrary, some part of her wanted to hug them for presenting a real, actual mystery, something she could throw herself into even if it meant forgetting her real responsibilities for a little while.
Then those doors opened of their own volition, announcing the arrival of an even greater mystery and adventure. The original girl whose personalities had been split off to form all of these other aspects, and the remnant of the boy her powers had been drawn from both appeared through that open doorway. And they brought with them one other very important piece of this little puzzle. A Reaper. They brought a Reaper with them, a woman with pink hair and probably more power in her index finger than anyone Aureus had ever met. This woman was a real, honest-to-void Reaper, and she was there to help them.
Stolen novel; please report.
No, she was there to send them on a quest. An actual real quest. This was a being of impossible power and mystery, and she had literally appeared to give them a quest to explore a world beyond imagining. No, worlds beyond imagining. More of that girl’s Aspects were out there, lost in various Reaper realms. And she wanted Aureus to go and find all of them.
Well, not Aureus exactly. She just happened to be there. But that hardly mattered. How many epic quests had begun just like this? She had read, watched, and even listened to so many stories about this very thing. She was the reluctant bystander being dragged along on the adventure who ended up being critical to the entire thing! It was perfect! She could finally, finally go off and see something truly unique and new. And when it was over, she would have so many stories to tell her siblings. They were going to be so incredibly jealous, and they’d definitely have to stop bragging about that time she’d had to stay behind to guard that medical supply station while they got to visit the asteroid belt in the Gamlet system. Which wasn’t even fair to begin with. She was the one who had pushed for the trip in the first place, and then she had to stay behind just because she made one teensy explosion a few feet from that ignorant lieutenant’s face? The man was an arrogant waste of oxygen and he’d deserved that little jolt to his system.
But no, she got in trouble and had to sit around that dump while the others saw something truly amazing out among those asteroids. Well now they would just have to shut up about it, because she was going somewhere even better! She was going into the Reaper Archives.
Oh, and while she was there, she could also probably get a whole bunch of information for Kushiel so her mother could add that into her plans to save the universe, of course. Which was even better. She could go on a real adventure, see something new that would make everyone else incredibly jealous, and become their mother’s new favorite. It was win-win-win.
“Right, you probably wanna stay here, huh?” That was the half-human, Tristan. He was looking at her, drawing Aureus’s attention back down to their actual situation and reminding her that she had been staring off at nothing for the past few seconds. Belatedly, she realized she had been glaring. He probably thought she was angry about this whole thing, rather than simply imagining how much fun it was going to be to shove it in the smug faces of those–
“Stay here?” Forcing herself not to daydream again, the golden-haired Seosten squinted that way. His actual words had finally penetrated the haze of anticipated adventure. “Are you trying to leave me behind so you can keep the mysteries to yourself? Afraid that I’ll see something you don’t want me to?” She was glaring challengingly at him by that point. If this boy thought she was going to allow him to keep her out of this adventure, she would–
“No, no.” Tristan raised both hands, shaking his head. “I just thought you probably wouldn’t care about risking your life to go off and find some people you don’t know. Although now that I say it out loud I guess you are pretty dependent on us finding Walker so you can get out of here.”
Oh, right, that did make sense and was a completely valid reason for her to insist on going along on this little trip. “Of course,” she retorted coolly, expression betraying nothing. “And left to your own devices, I doubt your ability to return with the transporter. So I will be accompanying you to ensure we are not stranded in this… place.”
The male-presenting Aspect who dressed like some sort of human soldier spoke up from the corner of the basement where he and the other members of that group who were actually present had been quietly conferring. “Well I think I speak for everyone else when I say this place isn’t so bad when you get used to it. Especially now that we managed to get the roller coaster working right. But uh, yeah, we’d appreciate all the help we can get to go find the rest of ourselves. They…” He visibly swallowed before rubbing one foot against his other leg. “They could be in real trouble out there.”
Before anyone could respond to that, the Reaper cleared her throat. Immediately, Aureus spun that way, dropping to one knee with the other raised in front of her so she could put both hands on it in an upward-cupped position with her palms showing, head bowed to stare intently at the ground. “Long breath and sure step to you and yours, Arisen.”
An extended moment of silence passed, before the nearly-invisible, glass-like Aspect quietly spoke up. “Um, did I miss something?”
“Dude.” Tristan took a step over, leaning down to whisper. “What’re you doing?”
“She is a Reaper,” Aureus hissed, feeling a slight flush find its way to her neck and face as everyone stared at her. “They are the Arisen, the most powerful beings in the universe. She must be treated with the respect and honor due someone of… of… what is that smell?”
“Oh, sorry.” The pink-haired figure in question offered a large flat box she had seemingly produced from nowhere. In her other hand, she held a triangular piece of bread covered in various sauces and toppings. “You want some pizza? Iiiiit’s freeeeesh!” She drawled out those words while waving the food temptingly.
“Yeah, I uhh… I don’t think she’s exactly what your people think of when it comes to Reapers.” Managing that with a straight face while taking the offered box so he could withdraw a piece of the strange food himself, Tristan added, “But hey, she’s here to help, so I’m not about to complain. Um, you are here to help, right, Miss Reaper Lady?” From the look on his face, the boy felt as absurd saying it as Auriel thought he was just from hearing it.
“Okay, first,” the being in question put in, “it’s Jones, like I said. Not Miss Reaper. Sorry, that just sounds way too formal.”
The girl who had started all this, the original, spoke up. “Jones is a friend. She helped Theodore and me when we showed up in her place and she said she’ll help us find everyone else too.” Biting her lip nervously, she added, “Right?
Jones, as she apparently wished to be called, offered a bright smile that was entirely at odds with what Aureus expected from a Reaper. “Darn straight I am. Like, you guys really don’t want to go poking around by yourselves in the other Reaper spaces. They won’t take it very well. Think of me as a sort of babysitter. Errr, in the least insulting way someone can mean that.” She shrugged, taking a bite of that ‘pizza.’ “I mean, most of them don’t really want me around that much either, so we still won’t exactly be met with open arms and presents. But at least it won’t be as bad as if you were on your own. They’re always a bit on the edge about strangers.” A brief pause followed before she gestured toward Tristan. “Get it? Edge, Strangers.”
“You are definitely not like most Reapers,” Aureus informed her while awkwardly picking herself back up to her feet. She felt strange kneeling there like that while no one else was. Even if it did feel wrong to stand and talk so casually with an actual Reaper. None of this felt right. But then again, if it was leading to an actual adventure, she would have talked with a sapient balloon wearing a wig.
Jones, for her part, gave her a thumbs up. “Yeah, I’m really not. So it’s pretty lucky that these two ended up in my space. Or maybe it wasn’t luck. Maybe they were drawn there? I don’t know. But if the rest of your people are spread out among all those other Archives, then we need to go find them. At least, everyone who’s going. Some of you should probably stay here. You know, in case they find their way back. I’ll just let you work that out amongst yourselves.”
Looking at her curiously while holding out a piece of that pizza, Tristan asked, “What was that thing you said when you were showing her respect? Long Breath and Sure Step? Where did that come from?”
Her blush was back, but the girl fought to not show any reaction. “It is a phrase and posture used by the Reapers’ servants back when they employed such. I read about it in–” An adventure story featuring my favorite star-trotting archeologist, during this amazing sequence where she was trapped in a time vortex that was ripping apart the planet she was trying to save. “– a field report.”
Rather than question that, or remark on the pink color that had crossed her face, Tristan nodded. “That’s cool. Here, eat this. Something tells me we’re gonna need our strength if we’re going into these Reaper Archives. Especially if they’re anything like this place. That’s the idea, right? Somehow Denny inherited the ability to make one of these places, these Archives, and that’s what the whole carnival is. The physical space, I mean.”
Aureus had no idea if he was actually asking her or just talking. Either way, before she could respond, they heard the sound of footsteps upstairs. Everyone turned to look that way, before one of the Aspects who were still present, the one wearing a hood and cloak that the others referred to as Belfry, spoke up. “Uh, that’s none of us, right?”
“Maybe someone else came back!” With those excited words, Denny dashed toward the stairs, only to stop short as the door opened and two sets of footsteps began to descend.
Knowing it could have been a threat, Aureus took a few steps forward and brought both hands up. She didn’t make a move other than that, and paid little attention as the others took up their own positions. She simply watched, as two figures descended into view.
“Dakota?” Tristan was staring at one of the girls who had appeared.
“Tristan?” the girl in question sent back. “Denny?”
“Jones?” The other new girl, a blonde who looked to be about thirteen, spoke up while looking past all of them with an expression and tone of utter shock. Her voice was weak, trembling even within that single word. Which was even more apparent as she added, “It’s… you.”
“Casey?” If anything, Jones the Reaper seemed even more surprised, and even a little awed. “What? You… you’re…” Abruptly, she vanished in a burst of pink smoke, reappearing directly in front of the girl before lifting her off the floor. “Casey!”
“Jones!” With a squeal of laughter as she was picked up, the girl threw both arms around the Reaper’s neck, legs wrapping around her waist. They embraced one another like that, both of them giggling by that point. They spun and spun in circles like that, clinging to one another as their delighted laughter filled the air.
“Uh, so…” Tristan managed while standing next to Aureus.
“What exactly did your field report say about something like this?”