Bethryl of the Shen Clan had set out from her home in search of truth. Having found the truth of the world, she chose to pursue the mysteries beyond it. And yet what were these mysteries of the spirit? Was it enough to simply close off the flesh and the body and to live with the spirit alone?
Ashar seemed to feel this way, but she did not. She was not an otherworldly being; she could not know the spirit without the flesh, and so she had decided that if her gift had any purpose, then it would be to bring these two worlds together. When the time would come, she would depart on her own and begin this journey of hers.
And yet right now now, where was she?
A faint sting brushed her senses as her eyelids opened. Her vision, still unfocused, revealed a vast expanse of red stone and sulphur, stretching endlessly along a sea of flame. The air trembled with heat, and Bethryl curled inward, overcome by a sudden shiver of fear.
"Is this… the underworld?"
"Yes."
"Then have we died?"
"Not quite," said Raizo. "This is as far as material beings can go. We are not allowed to progress any further."
At the edges of her hearing, and deep within her mind, echoed distant wails and screams. The sound carried meaning, though she could not yet fully grasp it.
"Somewhere in this Realm, my true body is hidden," said Raizo. "So long as it exists here, I cannot die. I am forced to remain. That is my curse."
Bethryl turned to him.
"Who are you, to move between worlds like this?"
"I no longer remember," Raizo replied. "I was born with the body of a killer. That is what I am. That is the will of Axios."
As he spoke the name, Bethryl noticed how he pressed his hands together and muttered words to himself. He had done this several times now, she noticed, as if it was not for some purpose, but simply for the maintenance of form.
Suddenly, a scream tore through the air between them, neither fully human nor entirely something else.
"We need to leave," said Raizo.
"And go where?"
"Where do you think?" he said. "I still have a task to complete. I still have to find him."
The echoes of suffering rippled alongside them.
Raizo loosened his body, his neck, his shoulders, his legs, as if trying to recover strength.
"A few minutes more…" he murmured. "We'll have have to wait down here for a while."
His eyes shifted suddenly toward Bethryl, who stared down at the ground and at nowhere in particular.
"You're trying to speak to him, aren't you?"
Bethryl did not answer. Her gaze drifted into the shadows. She tried to find Ashar in the other Realm, at the beach where they always sat and talked, yet he was not there right now. In that timeless place, the waves shimmered eternally, and she understood why Ashar loved this world more than the one he was born into, as she was now no different. Through seeing the world's fate in its entirety, she only felt the urge to depart from it.
"I've seen it before," Raizo continued. "In that other place. The two of you are always speaking."
She did not know him. And yet, unlike Vaelor, she did not feel threatened. With Ashar, and with Raizo, there was something else, something that brought a strange sense of calm.
"It is natural," Raizo said, "that the two of you are bound. Not everyone can adopt the Eye of Sophia. I could not. Both of you were chosen."
"Chosen for what?" she asked. "What do you know about any of this?"
"You are already communicating with him, aren't you?"
"Maybe."
"Then where is he?"
Bethryl remained silent. Her expression was distant, detached from the world around her.
"You know," Raizo said, "I have studied Sophia for many years. I believe I understand what determines who she chooses."
He paused.
"It is not a matter of good or evil. It is a matter of purity. Only purity can serve as a vessel for her visions of creation."
He turned his gaze forward.
"Perhaps this is why you were chosen. Your uncorrupted quest for understanding was enough for her to choose you. And within Ashar, there is purity as well, but not the kind you imagine. I saw it the moment I looked at him. He is the kind of man who will destroy the world, and claim to love it as he does so."
Bethryl met his eyes.
"And what about you?"
Raizo seemed, for a moment, lost in a dream.
"You are a killer," she said. "And yet you pray in battle, as if violence itself is sacred. Tell me, how can a life of bloodshed contain purity?"
"Get behind me, Bethryl."
"What?"
The screams rose again, louder now, and from the vast red horizon, something approached.
"Hello… hello… hello!" a voice called, laughing.
It was a starving, shirtless man, with long red hair and a tangled beard. Blue flames burned around his body. But as Bethryl looked closer, she saw it clearly—
This was no human.
Every part of him was slightly wrong. It was as if someone had taken the face and body of a man and changed it slightly in every area, just enough to show that this was not a human but a warped parody.
"Turn around," Raizo said calmly. "Leave this place."
"What's your name?" the creature hissed, drooling. "Tell me your name. I want to be your friend."
Bethryl activated her sight, but saw nothing. There was no past, and no future.
The creature was empty of time.
"I want to be your friend!" it screamed. "I want your energy! Give it to me!"
Raizo stepped forward.
"By the will of Axios," he said, "by the blade of Michael—"
His voice hardened.
"I will cut you down."
The bright flames of Raizo rose up against the blue flames in front of him.