It's Not Fair to Them

Sayane took me at once to the Fifth Heaven, a giant walled city amidst a seemingly endless shore. I had only been to the Islands Beyond the Shore once in my life, but this place reminded me of how the Islanders built their cities, walled beauties nestled tightly between the cliffs and the shoreline. The Watcher's eye began to dip into the water below, closing for the night, only to be replaced by his night eye. If time passed here as it did in the world of the living, it was possible I had been dead for several hours by now. And if that were true, my chances of returning to life slipped away with each passing moment.

“It's beautiful, isn't it?” Sayane asked me, standing some distance away from me at another part of the city wall.

I sighed, “I suppose it is…” I watched as the Watcher's eye continued descending into the water. Here in the Fifth Heaven, despite the eye being much closer here than it was in the world of the living, it was safe to observe the movements of the eye without risking any harm to our own eyes. Such was one of the perks of being a spirit, I thought to myself.

“You're thinking about her, aren't you?” she asked about Queen Rini. Her assumption was correct. “She came here two days ago. She is very pretty.”

“She was murdered in cold blood by her own bodyguard,” I told her, trying to feel sad about it, but once again finding myself unable to do so. The rules of this place were much like the other heavens I visited so far, particularly in it preventing the souls of the dead from mourning or expressing any other emotions other than absolute joy or plain neutrality. “Neither I nor her other bodyguards were able to stop it from happening, I especially. I was much too weak to help her.”

“You wish for her to forgive you,” Sayane observed.

“Yes,” I answered. “If nothing else, I wanted to apologize for failing her. Perhaps she will forgive me.”

“You did not fail me,” the now former Queen Rini said. She was behind me, but I dared not turn to face to see which direction she came from. “Sinos betrayed my trust and his oath. He alone is responsible for this.”

I felt a hand try to brush up against my shoulder, and then a second and a third time. But like all the souls of the dead, we merely passed through each other. She stood right next to me.

“I just wish I could have done more,” I told her. “I should have seen it coming.”

“It was an ambush,” she replied, waving her hand through my shoulder several more times. “There's nothing any of us could have done, and there's nothing to forgive.” I wanted to tell her that she couldn't lay her hand on me no matter how many times she tried. The more she did it though, the more I began to suspect she wasn't trying to do that, but rather she had something else in mind.

At last, I turned to face her. “Do you like it here? I’d reckon you've taken the news a lot better than I have.”

“You weren't here yesterday,” Rini corrected me. “They had to drag me kicking and screaming into the Fifth Heaven. I told them I had so much more to live for. You want to know what they said to me? That's what they all say.”

“I can believe that.”

“You keep staring at the Watcher's eye,” Rini observed. “I never took you for a closing eye guy.”

“I never was,” I replied. “The closed eye represents goodbyes, like how you died at night, with no Watcher's eye in sight. It's all just loss and sorrow to me. The opening eye, on the other hand, is new beginnings, new friends, and new missions to me.”

“So what finally did you in?” Rini asked.

“Ayya was right under our noses the entire time,” I explained. “Sinos tried to kill me, but Tomosse and I fought him. Except… he wasn't Tomosse, he was Ayya. Drove a sword right through me and dumped my body into the ocean.”

I turned to see Rini smiling at me. “At least we're here now, and we don't have to worry about such things anymore. We can be together forever, living the life we never could.”

I chuckled a bit at the idea before fixing my eyes on the Watcher's eye once more. “I highly doubt I could earn my way here. What's the Fifth Heaven even for, anyways?”

“I was told it was for the studious and the wise,” Rini answered.

“Alas, I think this might be goodbye for us,” I told her. “I never was very studious or wise. I'd be lucky to land in the Second Heaven.” I sighed. “Maybe it is better this way…”

“That's the spirit,” Rini told me. “No more worrying about worldly affairs.”

“It's just not fair to them,” I continued, “to those still among the living. Here we are living the good life and they're still down there dealing with the Demon Lord and politics and famine and disease and -”

“Worst comes to worst, they will find their way here in due course,” Rini said. “Just relax. Allow the bliss to wash over you. As long as you make it to any heaven, you're home. No more worries, no more fears, and no more pain. I imagine your bones are most thankful for that last one.”

“That is true…” I turned to face her once more. “It's just… It doesn't feel right, is all.”

Rini turned to face me. “Was that alliance ever meant to last?”

“No, I don't think so,” I admitted, still feeling little more than simply average. “Even if they somehow defeated the Demon Lord, they would just go back to hating each other, the same way they had hated each other for hundreds of years.”

She smiled. “I'm not so sure about that. I think some things are starting to change. I still remember when the Merfolk King and I met after that first council meeting and he had just threatened to serve your head on a platter.”

“Ah yes, I remember that incident as well,” I agreed. “Half the world wanted my head on a spike. Now, they'll never have that chance unless they fish my body out of the Summer Sea.”

She laughed at the thought. “No, silly. The night I died, I met with the Merfolk King again. He would never admit it to your face, but he told me he had begun to reconsider his feelings on your presence at the councils.”

“Now, I find that hard to believe.”

“Maybe some good will come of this yet,” Rini told me.

The next thing I knew, she was gone and Sayane had taken her place.

“Why did you do that?” I asked her. “She and I were having a moment.”

“You'll have eternity to have a moment with her,” Sayane answered, “provided the Watcher deems you worthy of being here. Time is wasting, and he is ready to pass judgment on you. I told him you have one more visit. Choose carefully, for after this visit comes the judgment.”

I turned to face her. “I made my decision the moment you told me I had the choice to make,” I said. “Take me to Hattu the Red.”

Sayane's face turned sour at the idea. “Are you sure you wish to do that?” she asked me. “Surely there is someone else you wish to visit?”

“I need answers from him,” I explained to her. “He did something to me that indirectly led me here. You could say I have unfinished business with the dead as well as the living.”

Sayane backed a couple of steps away from me. If ever she was capable of being nervous, she started acting as such here. She did not like the idea one bit. I could see it in her eyes, the uncertainty, the fear. It was an unusual sight to see, having seen so many spirits of the dead during my visit here.

“Are you absolutely certain of this?” she asked.

“You're a divine creature, aren't you?” I asked in response. “Souls cannot feel fear in this place, but you can.”

“I am a creation of Nardos the Stranger,” Sayane admitted. “My sole purpose is to guide the dead to their final resting. But this… What you ask of me is dangerous.”

“Why?”

“Hattu the Red resides in the realm of Arakkia, the land of the wicked,” Sayane explained. “It is a dangerous realm designed to destroy the soul over time. He may not be the same as you remember him. You may not leave the same soul as when you arrived there.”

I would not be persuaded otherwise. There were so many questions I needed to ask him. Whether or not he could answer those questions was another matter entirely. But it had to be done.

“Take me to him.”

Sayane sighed. “Very well…”