Éloïse sits on the chair she made from the cobblestone wall and ground. She put her head in her palm while her elbow rested on her lap. She kept staring at Henry, who seemed to be confused and a little scared. "Why, scared?"
Henry looks at her while holding the Celestial cage in his hand; his eyes show clear nervousness and panic. He then moved toward James' body and sat on one knee. He touches James' body and then closes his eyes.
Before he could do anything, Éloïse spoke up with a sigh, "Don't worry, I'll help you out; just reach the realm of death and life."
Henry opened his eyes and looked back at her with a smile, then he nodded but didn't reply with a single word. He looks back at James and then closes his eyes. Henry opened his left hand's palm and put the Celestial cage on it while touching James with the other hand.
And then after a short time, that Celestial cage starts fading in the air with a blur. And then Éloïse stood from her place and went close to Henry. She put her right hand on his shoulder. "O, soul, you may reach the realm of truth…"
As she spoke, Henry's body fell silent; he stopped breathing, and his body went still, like he was dead. And then he fell to the ground. Éloïse snapped her finger, and Henry's body, which had collapsed on the ground, now lay properly on the ground.
Éloïse looked at Henry's face and smiled, then cleaned the drop of blood from his face with her fingertips. "Ooh, boy, I don't think it'll be easy to take care of you. You and your dreams are going to give me a little problem, but it's alright until you are safe."
In the realm of Death and Life…
Henry opened his eyes and found himself on red, crimson ground, which had black flowers on it; the place seemed to be endlessly infinite. The sky was filled with endless darkness and a crimson moon bigger than the usual moon.
The moon was cracked into pieces, and those pieces of crimson were joined with each other like a puzzle to complete the crimson moon. There was not a single soul or living being in that realm, not even big plants or trees, just an endless ground of crimson, and on it, black flowers.
This is the realm of death and life? Henry's mind filled with thoughts as he stood on that crimson ground.
He didn't waste his time on thoughts and examining the place. He held himself after standing and narrowed his eyes around him, and his eyes stuck on James' soul. He, without wasting time, reached out to him and put his hand on his shoulder.
James, in his soul form, looked back at Henry; as he saw Henry, he started laughing, "Death will come after 30 seconds. You've got no time to capture this soul of mine."
Henry didn't reply, nor did he react; he just closed his eyes, and then in no time, James's soul form started forming in the Celestial cage. And in about 10 to 13 seconds, he completely turned into Celestial Cage.
And after turning into a Celestial cage, Henry opened his eyes and found that the Celestial cage was floating in his left hand's palm.
From that Celestial cage, James' sound came off as a laugh, "Hahaha, caught me, did you… But… how'll you leave this place?"
Henry's eyes widen open as he starts panicking and thinking about what James just said. He's right. How will I leave this place? Oh, wait Éloïse… Before he could complete his thought, he heard the sound of a portal from behind him.
Henry turned on his back and found a portal that was black crimson colored. From that portal, a woman came out; she wore a pitch-black dress. His black hair flowed as she walked out of the portal. Her crimson red eyes were fixed on Henry.
She steps out of the portal, and the portal starts vanishing into the air. She didn't turn back, nor did she speak or reach; she just kept going outward. Henry's voice stuck in his throat; he was unable to move because of the pressure of her presence.
James laughed from the Celestial cage, which was in the left hand of Henry. "Hahahaha, now what happened…? Did you see your own death…? Oh, sorry, of course you did." James' voice stopped for a moment before speaking again.
"Look at her, she is no mere mortal or a god… She is actual death, Maiden of Eternity; she is the universal concept you are facing right now. There's no turning back; your end has been rewritten because of your own mistakes and plans. You can't escape from death now."
As he speaks, Henry's body starts sweating out of fear and panic. James from the Celestial Cube speaks up again, "Pfft, what the fuck, even your soulbody is sweating. Hahaha. Remember, I'm in a Celestial Cage; it's built to catch souls, which means not even death can touch me. So yeah, I'm safe but…"
He stopped for a moment before continuing with a playful voice, "...You aren't." Henry felt like he was dead standing, his eyes wide open, staring at that woman who was approaching him.
She stands in front of him without saying a word; she just keeps staring at Henry. After a short time of silence, Henry, with a fearful voice, said, "W—Who are you?"
She didn't react to his question, but then she raised her right hand, and a dark crimson light flashed in her hand, and after that, that dark crimson light formed a gladius sword. The Gladius was black in color but had crimson lining on it and was glowing.
She lowered her hand and then, with a serious and deep tone, said, "I'm the truth most living beings refuse to accept. I'm Death, Maiden of Eternity. It's been 196,147 days since I became death, and in these 196,147 days, I have taken 29,422,059,089,321 lives of humans."
She stopped for a moment, then continued, "The moment I'm talking to you, 104,167 people die in this moment. And from all these humans' lives I have taken, not a single human has ever been able to defeat me."
Before she could speak, James from the Celestial Cube spoke up in a hurry, "Hey brat, do you know the number she tells? It's just humans. Not other living beings, like animals and birds, are included in this number."
She holds her Gladius in her right hand but still speaks in a serious tone, "And in these 104,167 days, not a single death has been interrupted. But today you interrupt one… You have unbalanced the cycle of death for this planet."
Henry seems to be like he is dead; his eyes didn't even blink, and his sound stuck. He tried to move his body but was unable to do it.
She continues speaking without any reaction, "So to balance the cycle of death, I'll put you in 13 trials of death and life. You will fight me for your life. You will have 13 chances of saving your life; defeat me in any trial, and you will be free from death forever."
Henry, with too much force, starts taking steps back. He starts to feel terrified, and panic covers his brain. Thoughts run in his head as his inner monologue keeps screaming to him, "Run, run, run; not in a billion years will we be able to defeat her. Run for life."
His brain seems to be completely a mess of thoughts because in his whole life until now, he has never crossed paths with something like this. He tricked the king, queens, and even the smartest person of Velgravia and other nations, but this time, he is against the truth of his whole life.
He can't resist it, he can't run from it, he can't fight it, nor can he trick it. It's just death he is facing. He starts running to the opposite side of Death at the speed of sound while screaming, "I can't die today, I can't. I have my goal to complete."
As he was running, Death saw her and kept staring, "Meaningless." Then she raised her left hand and snapped. As the echo of the snap spread in that realm, Henry found himself standing beside Death.
She speaks without any emotion or tone, "You can't run; this isn't the ground of a planet, this is the realm of death and life, which is created in Eternity. It's my place, so without my permission, you can't do anything."
In the meantime, in the real world, Éloïse's side…
Éloïse was sitting beside Henry's body, which had no soul. She put her hand on Henry's chest. "Still no heartbeat… What the hell are you doing, Henry… Did you meet death? No way, it can't be real; he must have captured James' soul. I should keep doing the ritual."
She rubs her hand on his chest and closes her eyes. "Ooh, soul return…"
As she closed her eyes, she saw an endless crimson domain full of flowers and a crimson moon in an endless dark sky. Then saw Henry, who was crawling backward on the ground while facing an infinite dark crimson presence.
The black crimson presence turns its gaze from Henry toward Éloïse's vision, and a whisper comes to her ear, "You can't save someone from death."
As she heard this and saw those dark crimson eyes of that black crimson presence, she opened her eyes in a hurry and seemed panicked. She stood from her place and started taking breath heavily.
She put her hand on her chest for a while, taking out some heavy breaths. "What the hell was that? Was it death…? No, no, no, Henry's soul is in danger. I have to do something right away."
She closed her eyes and started imagining things in her mind. Think, Éloïse, how would Papa handle this situation? After some thoughts run through her mind. She finally smiled and breathed comfortably, like she had figured out the method.
If I cut through the wall between the real world and the realm of death and life, then I can create a door to pass through his soul… But the problem is how I will save myself from death…
While thinking, she starts moving here and there in the room and continues thinking. I'll think about this later; first, let's cut through the air and make a door to the death and life realm.
She closed her eyes and opened her right hand's palm. She put her left hand in her pouch, which was on her right side. And take out a bottle of perfume from it. She opened the bottle while closing her eyes, and then she planted the pater on her left hand's palm.
As perfume was about to touch her palm, it started forming into golden light. And in a short time, that golden light turned into a dagger, which had a blade of gold, and from it, a golden aura was forming.
She opened her eyes and stared at the dagger, then smiled. She put the empty bottle of perfume on the ground while holding a dagger with her right hand. She turned toward Henry and sat down on her knees.
She then placed the dagger, which was covered in a golden aura, in her hand above Henry and then swung the dagger in the air 1 foot above Henry. As she swung her dagger, the air cracked open and formed a portal in the air.
The portal was golden in color and seemed endless. It feels as if we put something in it, it'll disappear. She then placed her hand on Henry's chest while smiling, "Wait for me…"
She then placed that dagger in front of her, pointing straight toward her chest. She, without hesitation, raised her head above the ceiling and closed her eyes, then plunged the dagger into her chest. "Ohh, death take me to your home…"
With a golden aura, the dagger gets stabbed in her chest until the handler of the dagger touches her chest. But instead of blood, a golden light came from her body and entered that golden portal in front of her above Henry's soulless body.