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It had been quite some time since the party that had gathered so many Shattered together at once. In fact, it was only now, so much time later, that Asrafel had finally completely cleaned up that room with the mirror that had shattered that fateful day. He was cleaning the whole house, in fact, and had come to this room to inspect the full damage. With a whistle while he worked, he vacuumed up the tiny bits of shards in the rug that were left behind.

His whistle died out. He started to feel funny. His heart was aching. He turned off the vacuum cleaner and looked around, trying to figure out what was making him feel this way.

He could almost hear voices.

Whispers, perhaps.

Cries. Heartwrenching cries.

He dropped the vacuum and put his hands on his head, pressing against his temples. He tried to get the distant sound of crying and screaming out of his head, and stepped back. As he walked back, the sounds became even more distant. Realizing this, he backed out of the room and listened.

There. Nothing again.

He stood there in the hall and took a deep breath. Perhaps he shouldn't watch those scary movies at night anymore, they were making him paranoid..

"Asra?"

"Yes?" The boy turned his head, a smile already on his face. Sadly, there was no one there to receive the smile. He turned from one side to another, looking for the source of the voice, but when it came again, a chill went down his spine as he realized where it was from.

"Asra, don't be alarmed now. I do so need to speak with you dear."

Slowly his head turned towards the mirror in the hall which had haunted him before. There, once again, a beautiful woman's face looked back at him. He knew that if he didn't steel himself against the shock, he would faint again, so he forced himself to look without thinking too much about how implausible it was.

If he was going crazy, so be it. At least he would do it with dignity.

"I'm listening."

The figure in the mirror smiled affectionately. It was an infectious smile, and Asra almost felt himself returning it. Almost.

"I want you to listen to me, sweet Asra. I know that you will not like it, but I promise you that it is necessary. I want you to go back into that room, and to continue to vacuum. Ignore what you hear, and clean the room thoroughly. Then leave the vacuum in the room and go. The sounds will bother you no more from then on. Can you do that for me, Asra?"

"Ignore them?" He asked, doubt clouding his features. "I don't know if I can ignore- but what are they, anyway? Who's crying? Can I help them?"

She shook her head. "It's just a trick, Asra, you have to trust me. Finish vacuuming, and leave. It's as simple as that."

Asrafel was a simple soul. He knew that there had to be more to it than that, but the woman was so soft and gentle looking.. he couldn't help but trust her. If he had been a bit less naive, perhaps he would have questioned further.

But Asrafel and naivety went together like peanut butter and jelly.

In he went, to pick up the vacuum. As soon as his hand touched it, he heard the screams and cries. He winced, stopping for a moment, but he felt the soft nudge of her presence behind him, watching. He almost felt her there, but knew she wasn't.

He turned the vacuum on, and focused on the sound of it's machinery. The cries filled the air around him, overwhelming him. It was a horrible time, but he stood stronger than he had ever done before, until every inch of that rug had been vacuumed. The room was clean and devoid of any remnant of glass.

When he turned the vacuum off, he could still hear the sound of their cries. Whose cries? He couldn't help but wonder..

He put the vacuum down, and left the room. As he closed the door behind him, he felt the pressure of air as if something was hurrying him up. His eyes widened, and he opened the door almost immediately. It had been only a split second, but the cries were gone.

His vacuum still sat there on the floor where he'd left it, and he gave a sigh of relief. He closed the door once more, completely oblivious to the fact that the bag of the vacuum had disappeared.

Nobody could.

Halexei sunk down into the corner of the alley, clutching his sides against a sharp and sudden pain. It had been days since the conflict with Lillian, but merely hours since he had begun to feel his immortality melting away. The sensations were both fascinating and horrifying. Perhaps it was the way his body screamed without making a sound, or perhaps it was the fact that he could no longer ascend to his own plane. Either way, one thing was clear; whatever Lillian had done, it was making him mortal.

It must be undone.

Halexei struggled to his feet and choked back a mix of bile and spit that rose in his throat. Humanity was.. disgusting.

“You musta done somethin’ pretty bad to piss the lady off like that,” the man beside him said quietly. Halexei turned on his heels sharply; he had not expected his power to be so far gone that he would not feel a realm-walker in his presence. He choked on the cloud of blue smoke that the man blew in his face, half snarling when it finally cleared. “Ain’t never seen a woman with that much ire.”

“You..” Halexei put the pieces together quickly enough. At least his intelligence hadn’t gone… yet. “You did her dirty work.. do you have any idea what you have do-“

“Tell me somethin’, Harbinger. Halexei, wasn’t it?” Rictus interrupted him, leveling a narrowed gaze in his direction as he paused to take another long drag. “The hell did you think was gonna happen when you took them souls off that planet? That place is hell even to the demons, man. And you go ********’ around making links to a place that God himself forgot?”

Rictus laughed, blowing out puffs of smoke like a steam engine, “And you’re surprised she went wrong.”


“She was not suppose to live,” Halexei managed, swallowing down the lump that had risen in his throat. “She was suppose to die, and join the other half of her soul back on Aliith. It would have sealed off the gateway forever. Somebody had to be sacrificed, you know how these things work.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Rictus waved a dismissive hand, “But you ain’t answering my question. Why’d you do it in the first damn place?”

Halexei paused, and the memories of infinite years spun through his head. He had done it for the soul that he had followed throughout a dozen reincarnations.

“For Saralinda.”