Chapter Thirty-six
Thanatos the Phantom King had been back in his realm for several hours, by mortal standards. Time moved differently on the Phantom plane, otherwise known as Purgatory. It stretched out to accommodate the never-ending arrivals of spirits of those who had died unnatural deaths. Those spirits were called Anime, and it was Thane’s job to process them.
It was a job he’d had since the invention of murder and in all honesty he was now pretty sure that he sucked at it. He was pretty sure he’d always sucked at it. The true leader of his realm, the one who had actually been good at this job was his wife, his best friend, his Queen. Siobhan.
And she wasn’t here.
It took a certain amount of empathy and patience to calm a restless spirit and send them on their way. Until Siobhan had entered his life, Thane had simply assumed that Purgatory was meant to hold Anime and that this was their natural habitat. You die an unpleasant death? You get sent here. End of story.
But Siobhan had been dealing with these deaths and those who’d suffered them for some time now. And the fact was, no one was supposed to exist in Purgatory. It was a place of transition, of reconciliation, where spirits went to figure things out. And then they were supposed to move along. Purgatory was meant to be a fork in the road and not the road’s destination. He knew that now.
For thousands of years, millions, Thanatos had simply “welcomed” in the wronged and told them to make themselves comfortable. But then Siobhan had come along and shown the spirits a depth of empathy and kindness that had pretty much blown Thane away. And rather than remain here in Purgatory, the spirits she interacted with continued to wherever it was they truly belonged.
He'd been doing it wrong all this time.
And now that she was gone again, he was sure to fuck things up just like before. There was an enormous part of him that wanted to take a hiatus. He wanted to put a “Gone Fishing” sign on his proverbial door and let the spirits back up until Siobhan was there to deal with them properly. The Queen of this realm was so much more adept than the King, it was ridiculous.
He was lost without her. And everyone else was too.
But he knew that if he waited, the dead really would back up. They would amass like an army just outside the gates to his realm, and he would never catch up. While they waited, they would suffer confusion and pain. The wounds they sustained in life would continue to bleed, so to speak. There would be no peace for them, not in their hearts nor in their minds.
So he would just have to do his best.
Thanatos ran a hard hand through his pitch hair and prepared to let the next one in. The last dozen had consisted of four victims of rape and murder as an act of war, three children and two otherwise healthy adults who’d fallen to the effects of a flu epidemic, and three “soldiers” under the age of fifteen. Death was as impartial as ever… but the flu was worse than usual this time around.
He mulled that over a bit as the next Anime materialized before him in his garage. This was where he always met the newly dead because this was where he was most comfortable. Here, he was surrounded by the vehicles he’d rescued from the annals of plane, train, and automobile crashes over the years. Here, he felt he was making a difference. Saving someone. Or something, anyway. Now he wondered whether he’d always preferred it here because it was actually the only difference he really was making. These really were the only things he was saving.
The Anime wavered and then solidified. Sort of.
“Pi?” Thane asked incredulously, taking a knee beside the tiny flame. It was see-through, but aside from this difference, the small elemental looked as it always had. Like a piece of fire brought to life.
“My lord!” said Pi respectfully. He greeted all of the kings this way when he appeared in their hearths. But Thane felt a yawning pain in his chest at the sight of the little guy here in his realm. Because it could only mean one thing.
“Pi… what happened?” he asked softly, bewildered.
“I’m so sorry my lord. I had no time to react before the Darkfire burned away my life force. Now my mortal body, such that it is, is working for the Triad. It’s off to deliver a message to one of them right now!”
“What is the message?” asked Thane, his attention at once focused.
“I don’t know,” said Pi, and the little see-through flame seemed to shake its head. “I was only around long enough to hear one of them say he had a message he wanted delivered. And then… I was here.”
The elemental appeared to look around at his surroundings, and though Thane immediately wanted to leave and rally the forces – the Triad was awake and on the offensive – his heart panged for the flame that had been friend to so many of the sovereigns of the Thirteen Realms.
“So, this is where we go, huh?” asked Pi softly.
Thane shook his head. “No, Pi. You need to move on to the Origin Plane. There, you may be reborn.” The Origin Plane was where all elementals were born. It was also where they went when they died.
Pi seemed to perk up at this news. “You mean like the Nomads?”
No, thought Thane. You won’t remember who you are. You’ll just start over as someone else. He wanted to lie. He wanted to assure Pi that everything was okay. That it was fair. That all you worked for and earned and grew to love in your lifetime actually meant something. But that just wasn’t the way it was. “No,” he finally said with a single shake of his head. “Not like the Nomads.”
Pi hesitated. The dancing of his flicker slowed. “You mean I won’t be me anymore, don’t you?”
Pi was a very young elemental as elementals went. They aged so very slowly. Time moved differently for the rocks and the wind. But even as young as he was, he was quick. He always had been.
“I’m sorry,” said Thane softly. He meant it with all of his heart.
“Can I stay here?” Pi asked, just as softly.
There was no way Thane could turn down a request for asylum from an Anime. And he wouldn’t have refused his friend anyway. “Of course, little one.” Thane rose and held out his hand, gazing steadily into it as his wife, a practiced warlock, had taught him to do. A small fire appeared several inches above his palm and remained there, burning without any visible fuel source. That was magic.
“Hop on,” he told the little flame.
Pi crackled excitedly and popped out of existence where he’d been floating to reappear bouncing restlessly in Thane’s hand.
“You can stay in the kitchen hearth until I find a place more suitable for you,” he told the elemental as he left the garage through the kitchen door and made his way to the fireplace that divided the kitchen from the dining and living room beyond. It was a simple design and a simple house with few decorations. He and Siobhan liked it that way.
Thane waved a hand at the fireplace, which was not currently burning. It leapt to fiery life with fresh crackling flames, and Pi once again vanished. It took a moment for him to get acclimated in the new fire, but once he did, he came to the forefront of the conflagration and Thane could swear he was smiling. “Thank you my lord!”
“Pi,” Thane said as he once again knelt beside the little flame and grew serious. “You can stay as long as you like, and this kingdom is vast. Fires burn in various places throughout, and now that you are an Anime, you will naturally be able to locate them all. But… you cannot leave here.” He shook his head. “Your form will dissipate and be lost forever the moment you try.”
It was several seconds before Pi responded, but his tone was not the dejected sound Thane had expected to hear. Instead, it was upbeat and grateful. “I know!” he said, bouncing to and fro. “Now go! I don’t know what message my dark flame is supposed to deliver, but I’m positive it isn’t good!”
Thane stood and hid a smile. He had been deeply saddened by Pi’s sudden passing. He’d been missing him before the little flame was even gone. But now it appeared he wasn’t gone after all. And it made him wonder… if anyone ever really was.
Thane had ruled over the Anime realm since the beginning of life. But he had no idea where the spirits he met went when they moved on from his realm. He wasn’t a religious man; he’d seen too many versions of “heaven” and “hell” to believe in one over the other, or in any of them at all, really. But Pi had died, and he also hadn’t. His form had changed.
When a human died, their bodies decomposed and became sustenance for plants, which were eaten by herbivores, provided oxygen for those who breathed it, and shade for those who needed it. If they were cremated, they became ash, which possessed heavy metals and carbon, the building blocks of life. Nothing had ended there. It had only changed.
Like Pi.
Thane rubbed his face, smiling behind his hands. This was a string of thought Siobhan would have had. It was more like her than like him. Maybe she’d rubbed off on him. Siobhan, he thought naturally, missing her like an actual hole in his chest. He closed his eyes and reached out with his mind and heart. Where are you, little warlock?
The Phantom King dropped his hands and eyes flew open, glowing silver standing out in stark contrast to his handsome face when against all reason, an answer came faintly from beyond.
Thane! Siobhan called out to him desperately. We’re here! Go to Kristopher! His realm holds the key!