“Noah…” Lorelei choked, looking at the pond as the images inside began to blur.

The twisted face of Noah’s younger self stabbed at her heart like smoldering steel. She wanted to hug him. To comfort him. To take the pain and fear away. Yet all she could do was rub away her tears and throw Orhana a petrifying look.

“How could you do this? How could you look him in the eye after that and call yourself his friend?!”

“It was necessary,” said the ghost in a distant voice.

“Necessary!?” Little by little, Lorelei’s voice was getting louder. “You let him suffer for so long! You watched him get hurt over and over again! You watched while his soul was being torn apart! When you could deal with them in a blink!”

“We needed to be sure that he is the right one to bend the prof-”

“To hell with you and that prophecy!” screamed Lorelei and jumped up. “You arbitrarily decide to use him. Didn’t you speak so grandly about offering me a ‘real choice’? What choice did you give him before making him a puppet in your plans?”

“If not for Yanosh, Noah would be dead now,” came the cold reply.

Lorelei took a sharp breath but couldn’t refute. Gritting her teeth, she lowered her head and tried to put a lid on her raging emotions, but… it felt impossible. The rational part of her mind knew that, without Yanosh, Noah would have been doomed. And yet, deep in her heart, a hatred for the Star-gazers and their prophecies took root. Playing with the lives of mortals on a whim. Deciding on who to live and who to die. Withholding their knowledge or trying to manipulate the future… it felt just as bad! Such power should not have existed in the first place!

After a few minutes, she exhaled slowly and lifted her head.

“Be honest,” the ice in her words was enough to freeze the Netherrealm itself, “why have you shown me this?”

“Because only after knowing the full truth can you really make a choice.”

“Truth? Choice?” Lorelei snorted. “Won’t you stop beating around the bush and tell me already?”

Orhana nodded but didn’t immediately speak. Instead, she studied the young woman before her for some time. Shivers ran down Lorelei’s spine, the feeling that the Binshi could see right into the depths of her soul growing stronger by the second.

“You love Noah.” The calm statement of the ghost almost made Lorelei tumble.

“W-what…? W-why would you even mention…? What made you think that?” she stuttered, losing her laboriously crafted composure. Her anger was displaced by a familiar bitter-sweat pain that made her heart rise and fall like a bird in flight.

“Your every action. Your every expression. You are like an open book, little sister.”

Lorelei opened her mouth to deny it. She didn’t love Noah. She wasn’t allowed to love him. Those feelings… They were just a burden to both of them. He had his duty - a realm to protect; a prophecy to fulfill. On the other hand, she… she was nobody. No power, no wealth, no connections. Nothing that she could support him with as a partner besides some immature medical skills. What if she had feelings for him? Feelings were just… a fleeting whim of the heart.

“You are wrong.”

Orhana’s voice startled Lorelei. She saw the sad smile on the ghost’s face and realized that she had said everything aloud.

“Feelings have more power than you can imagine,” continued the Binshi, her translucent face becoming sad and distant. “Feelings can connect two souls for eternity. They can create and destroy worlds. They can heal or break a soul.”

“What…” Lorelei cleared her throat.” What does this have to do with the ‘truth’ and ‘choice’ you are mentioning all the time?”

“The choice, little sister, is whether you’ll leave this place. Whether you’ll brave the future that is to come by Noah’s side, or will you choose to move on to the realms beyond. As for the truth,” Orhana pointed at the mirror surface of the pond, “there are three things you must know. The first one is that Noah is connected to the fate of Norden and Limeria. If you stay by his side, not just your life, but also your soul, will be in danger.”

The Binshi dipped her hand in the silver water. Akin to trails of ink, colorful streaks flowed out of her fingers to form images yet again.

“The second truth you must know,” she quietly said as the blurred outlines slowly became crispier, “is that Noah has lost so much already. Even before he became part of the prophecy, he had tasted despair one-too-many times. If things continue as it is, he’ll soon reach his breaking point and forsake the light.”

The images in the pool began changing, flowing into each other. In a dimly lit room, Lorelei saw a little dark-haired boy clutching the hand of a beautiful woman with mahogany skin who lay lifeless on a golden bed. As the boy’s cries mixed with the roars of thunder, a flash of lightning illuminated the big red stains spreading over the sheets.

‘Mama! Mama! Don’t leave me!’

‘Hush, shekri.’ Another young woman ran to the boy and hugged him. Her tears smeared the golden paint that covered the brand mark around her left eye, leaving behind shimmering traces over her dark skin. ‘She is at peace now. She isn’t hurting anymore.’

‘Please, Neli, please, make mama wake up! Please, make her feel better again!’

‘I can’t, my love.’ Neli sobbed and pressed him tighter in her embrace as her eyes returned to the woman on the bed. Two silent, pale midwives put with shaking hands two bloody little bundles on their dead mistress' chest. ‘They are all gone now, my little prince. Far away where I can’t reach them.’

The room trembled and blurred. When it cleared, the black-haired boy had grown up a bit. It was a sunny day in a lush forest and he was playing with a fluffy little puppy under the supervision of an adolescent page.

‘See, Johan, I told you he is clever. I bet I can train him to be the best tracker dog in the palace.’

‘And what will you be hunting, Young Master? Rabbits? Foxes? Maybe a boar?’

‘No. I’ll someday go south with Imperial Uncle and take him to hunt a real lion!’

‘Don’t forget to take this loyal servant too. I always wanted to see the Golden Desert.’

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Their laughs and bubbly chatter were suddenly interrupted by a short howl as three large dogs jumped from behind the bushes. Their eyes glowed with madness, big chunks of white foam dripping from their mouths with every growl.

Shouting a warning, the page quickly drew his dagger and jumped before his little ward, his eyes peeled on the three rabid dogs.

‘Damn! They are as large as ponies!’ mumbled the youth and licked his lips, careful not to move a muscle, lest he provokes an attack.

‘J-Joh-han!’ A feeble squeak came from behind.

‘Master Noah,’ the page said, daring a quick look around, ‘listen carefully. When I tell you to run, you’ll run and climb that big tree on the left.’

‘B-but Johan… I c-can’t. It… It’s so high. And you-’

‘I know you can do it,’ interrupted the page. ‘And I’ll be right behind you. GO!’

Giving his ward a gentle push, the page turned around to face the attacking dogs. Screams and howls filled the air as the little boy ran towards a towering old oak. His fingers desperately dug into the cracked bark, clinging to the last threads of hope as he began to climb. The first branches seemed so impossibly high. His hands hurt. His fingernails were bleeding. Then, his foot slipped.

With a shriek, the boy dangled from the trunk, a hand grip away from safety or certain death. Suddenly, a mighty force hit his legs and pushed him up, his hands managing to wrap around the life-saving branch.

‘Go to the top.’ Johan’s shrill voice gave the boy strength. ‘Don't look back! Wait for Sir Duncan!’

Noah climbed and climbed, the sound of him snapping twigs mixing with growls and cries of pain. Gritting his teeth, with eyes blurring from tears, he fulfilled his friend’s last order.

When a searching troop headed by Duncan arrived at the spot at nightfall, their torches illuminated the bodies of the three bloodied dogs and the mangled remains of the loyal Johan leaning against the trunk.

The picture in the pond faded and reformed, again and again. And with each new vision, a piece of Lorelei’s heart was torn away. Maids, teachers, servants, she saw them all die by steel or poison; getting drowned or strangled; being pushed down walls or crushed by debris as they protected their young ward. Lorelei saw Noah’s tears, heard his screams and pleas. To run away. To let him die. With time, his tears dried up, replaced by intense hatred that could level mountains. His pleas also deadened, replaced by a cold promise: ‘I’ll make them pay!’

“W-Wh…?” Lorelei choked and shook her head. “Why are you showing me all this!?”

“Because now you know the pain he bears,” replied Orhana calmly. “And knowing it, answer me this. Are you prepared to take away from him yet another one he loves?”

For a final time, the pond around Orhana’s hand rippled to create an image. It was a dim bedroom that looked more than familiar. A young woman lay beneath a pile of sheets, her gray, chapped lips and sunken cheeks giving her the look of a fresh corpse. On the edge of the bed sat a large black-haired man, his dark skin seeming pale when compared to the black armor he had donned. Sadness and gentle yearning were written on his face as he carefully touched the woman’s forehead with his clawed gauntlet.

‘Wake up, Duchess!’ His whisper shook Lorelei to her very core. She could see the sparkle of a tear at the corner of his gray eyes. ‘Please, Lorelei, don’t… don’t leave the ones who love you behind. Oh, Norn, Father of Darkness, give her back to me. Don’t take her where I can’t reach her.’

Lorelei felt her chest tighten, her heart - throwing itself against its impenetrable cage, trying to fly out. To reach him! There was so much bitterness and hope in his words. The woman on the bed would wake up any minute. She would jump up and embrace him. She would dry his tears with a smile… But she remained rigid like a statue of ice.

After a few painfully long moments, Noah stood up, his face hidden behind a stone-cold, lifeless mask. And yet, there was so much pain in his eyes as if something had pierced him straight in the heart. Pain that even his composure couldn't hide.

“No! Don’t go!” shouted Lorelei, attempting to grab him, but her hand just splashed in the pond, erasing his image forever.

“So, little sister, what is your decision?” Orhana flicked a few droplets from her fingers.

Shaking from head to toe, Lorelei balled her fists.

“You are such a hypocrite!” she quietly replied. “You claimed you were giving me a true choice, but then showed me all this. What choice do I have now?”

“The same as before.”

“As if I could leave him, knowing all this!”

“You can. After all, it is your life.”

“Hadn’t I seen and felt all this pain…” Lorelei wrapped her arms around her body. “What you are offering to me is knowingly abandoning him or risking my life to be beside him. What is the guarantee that I won’t meet the same fate, just at a later time?”

“Nothing. Now or later, you will go on to your Father of Darkness. Maybe Noah will find the strength to overcome your loss. Maybe he won’t. Maybe if you die at a later point, it would hurt him even more-”

“Stop it!” Lorelei screamed. “You are trying to manipulate me again! Why wouldn’t you just let me die in peace?”

“This is the third truth you must learn - one that is passed down as legend; an old ritual that your people have continued performing out of habit but whose origin they have forgotten. When a living creature dies, its soul remains in the Mortal Realm for forty days before moving on.”

The ghost stood up and approached Lorelei, placing a hand on her shoulder.

“If you die, you will remain here long enough to witness Noah’s suffering. And not only his. There are many more people who love you, Duchess.”

Orhana’s other hand brushed gently Lorelei’s hair behind her ear and wiped away her tears.

“You are the most tender of souls, little sister. But someone as compassionate as you is also at the greatest danger of becoming evil. The burden of guilt, stemming from the pain your loved ones would feel, can easily twist your soul. Your love for Noah would be the downfall of your spirit - the unrequired yearning, the regret, the inability to ease his pain. This might turn you into a vengeful wraith that would haunt Noah, feeding on him until he dies.”

“No!” Lorelei jumped back. “I’d never do that!”

“My foolish little sister.” Orhana smiled sadly. “You are denying impulses you won’t be able to control. There is a reason why we Binshi begin losing our feelings after death. It is a gift from Mir-Mama so that we can remain in touch with the living world for a bit longer. Without the body to control them, a spirit becomes an amalgamation of memories and feelings it can’t act upon. You can’t imagine the unquenchable desire, the yearning. That’s why it is so hard to keep your sanity as a spirit outside of the Spirit Plane. That’s why your people perform the Second Burial ritual forty days after death to purify a suffering spirit and send it away forever.”

“Y-you mean… that I’m going to become a demon after death?”

“No. But there is a high chance you might.” Orhana looked at her. “Here are my three truths and the choice you have to make. What will it be, little sister?”

Lorelei stood amidst the silver forest, its pure whiteness unable to touch her as Orhana’s words stormed her mind and soul in dark waves. Yet again she was betrayed, used, toyed with. But at the same time, it also felt… liberating. Everything was so simple - she loved Noah. She knew that she wanted to take away his pain. And she was definitely sure that she didn’t want to risk turning into a soul-suking wraith and harming her friends.

As a storm of feeling raged inside her chest, a center of calm began to form. Lorelei lifted her head, a domineering aura surrounding her body like a shield of frost and fire.

“You made sure to show me Noah’s pain and past. That I can no longer change. But the future, mine and his, is something to build anew.”

“So, you are going back?”

“I am.” Lorelei sighed. “It is so daunting that all I saw of him were memories of his pain and none of his happiness.”

“His happiness was scarce, but there is hope....” Orhana smiled but suddenly, her face twisted in pain. “Mir-Mama! Are we too late-”

“Too late?” Lorelei interrupted her as her heart quacked with the beat of a bad premonition. “What’s wrong with him!?”

Without saying a word more, Orhana pointed at the silver lake. But now it was no longer clear and placid. Black bubbles rose to its surface like it was a churning tar pit. Dark mist coiled over it, carrying the stench of rotting flesh and blood.

“What are you doing?” Lorelei’s eyes rounded.

“Nothing. This is the inside of his heart right now. I don’t know what’s happened, but right now… he is about to plunge into darkness!”