Nothing's End

Corvus walked the empty streets of Nihlos without disquietude, his shadow cape flowing long behind him, blending with the night. An echo pursued his boots, heavy against the cobblestone thoroughfares and the living mist that swirled around him as if attempting to swallow his intentions as well as his physical body. Nothing about Nihlos, or 'Nothing's End' as the Living Worlder's called it, was real. Not the streets, with their quaint houses and shopfronts in them, not the iron lampposts that flickered at random, playing their silent game of musical lights; not even the perpetual purple haze that seemed to fill this space between worlds every time Corvus entered. The large moon that leant Nothing's End its light, was but a ghost of its living sister. A shadow. The young Soul Trader noticed the giant black and white beasts who often circled it together in their strange, preternatural dance were absent tonight. He'd often longed to call one down, to touch one even. But Nihlos, was an illusion. A limbo. A place of in-between. It wasn't a place for the living, but a place for the passing, the mind-sacked, and the lost. The lost were as good as dead here, which is why Corvus' profession was coveted so.

The bounty had come through at least one day's and one night's passing from whence the child first became detached from her soul. Corvus had jumped on this immediately, along with every freelance trader in Scire. The souls of children, in particular those under three years of age (what Scirentian Traders called 'new' or 'fresh' souls) were incredibly rare, and therefore held considerable value. No sooner had he received the brief,

Female of twenty-seven months

No mortal wounding

Soul to be captured and returned to body

100 Gold pieces, or equivalent paid in gem of choice

then Corvus had taken his newly charged Varium crystal and incanted, Aperta Fabricae, to ready the passage into Nothing's End. The crystal had glowed its distinctive violet phosphorescence, and Corvus than spoke the words to teleport into Nihlos- Inter Mundos.

The ghostly plane seemed a cold place, and not just because the spirits wandering around frequently spoke in hoarse voices, fumbling around their consonants and stammering out their vowels like they'd been out in the snow unclothed. It seemed cold, because when they breathed -when Corvus breathed, he could see it. In truth, Nothing's End wasn't cold, nor was it warm. It was always at perfect temperature, or rather, there was no temperature here at all. The spirits obviously felt something though, most like because they were so close to death. The Soul Trader continued his journey through the dark town until stone gave away to terrain, an expanse of fields lay to the East and the North, and beyond that a large forest of tall pines. He could see them standing sentinel in the distance, the trees so dark they appeared black against the indigo sky. It was never daylight here, so in all possibility, Corvus supposed, the pine forest was black. The moonlit grasses he now walked on were awash with purple as the clouds parted once more, and a flicker of electric violet drew his eye Eastward- another Trader had entered Nothing's End. Seconds later another, a bright spark in the far distance. There would be more, Corvus knew, and soon...the wind was catching. With so many hunting the same mark, he wondered whether two Traders would port in on top of one another- he'd heard tales before- how if it happened, the Trader's bodies and souls would fuse as one and they'd have to strike a bargain with Mors. Of course, nobody living had actually faced Mors, so the tale was probably a lie, or else those two unlucky Traders were stuck forever. Perhaps they died. Corvus couldn't imagine sharing his mind with another. He took out another crystal fixed to his baldric, smaller than the Varium, and held it in his ungloved hand. He referred to it as his spiritual compass, but its proper name was a Quaesitor. Every Soul Trader had one, a vital tool in one's toolkit for the tracking and locating of souls. Nihlos' landscape was far greater than it appeared to be, with seemingly no end- again part of its elaborate illusion. And so, the souls that lingered were not exactly easy to find- catching them was another matter entirely. It was safe to say that a Soul Traders job was far more complicated than it needed to be, and could be at times, challenging.

The Quaesitor omitted a faint golden light and grew warm against the skin of Corvus' palm. He held it out in front of him and waited for the light to strengthen- the direction of the pine forest. The bounty on this mark was one of the highest he'd ever seen, definitely the highest one seen on a child in his time. Soul Traders hunted and traded souls without knowing much about the people who owned them, but mostly the souls themselves would come willingly if they knew there was a chance to be returned to their bodies, if they so desired. Corvus dropped the Quaesitor suddenly as it burned hot in his hand, now glowing a bright gold. A soul appeared on top of him in this moment, and he stepped through it, frustrated. It was a newly departed- Corvus could tell from experience. The man who owned it would pass on soon. He picked the Quaestior back up and continued on, moving away from the spirit so he could find the one he actually wanted.

"H...h...hello?" The soul called out. Corvus turned. Nihlos' temporary guest looked at him, fear and uncertainty abound. The soul floated unsteadily.

" Wh...wh...what's hap...hap...happening?" It looked down at its pellucid body in distress.

The Soul Trader placed him somewhere in his fifth decade, strong shouldered and battle-hardened. He wore a suit of armour with a cape attached at the nape- a man of office. A dark mass had bloomed across his plate mail- a stomach injury- impaled most like, hard to tell since souls were translucent.

"Don't worry, you won't be here long." Corvus waved him away and turned back to the forest.

"No- please, p...please...you must help me!"

"Sorry - can't" Corvus continued walking.

"I...I'm dead aren't I?"

"-And fading quickly...not much longer now."

He heard the soul sigh and moan behind him. "Sh...sh...sh...she is lost to us then..."

"Yes, yes, whomever you're looking for you'll see them on the other side," Corvus said more to himself in answer, checking the Quaesitor,- fading back to a duller hue once more as the soul ceased to follow him. A spark of purple light flashed over the next hill- more competition. He was running out of time.

"Wait!" the soul suddenly called out to him dramatically. Corvus didn't.

"You there in th...th..the hunting blacks!" Y...your a...Soul Trader, a...are you not?" Corvus ears picked up at that. He turned, eyeing the soul.

"What's it to you?" he asked it.

Strange that he'd been identified. It was usually the other way around. Corvus always introduced himself to the spirits he traded, and once they had returned to the Living World, they had no memory of Nihlos. Soul trading was a dark art and therefore, not common knowledge. Most Living Worlders' knew nothing about the magic at play surrounding their departure and sometimes, entry into this world. Maybe this one had been a mage before his death.

"You can h...h...help me."

"No, I can't."

Corvus turned back around, but the soul was insistent, suddenly moving straight through him again so that it now faced him. The Quaesitor burned his hand once more. Corvus cursed and swapped it to his gloved hand, where it dulled back to clear.

"You can bring-" it sputtered.

"-I can't bring you back, mate. Your body is no longer suitable." He gestured politely at the soul's torso. It was fading fast.

"N...N...Not me!"

Corvus trudged through the spirit again, uphill. "I haven't got time for this."

"The ch...child you search f...for, she's v...very import..t..ant."

Corvus stopped dead in his tracks. How did he know about the mark?

"What did you just say?" he asked.

"Cais. Sh..she's the last..." it trailed off, looking at the empty space where its fingers should be.

"Last what?"

"The f...family. S...s...slaughtered," the soul stared down at its bloodied plate mail.

"The child's family? The ones who put up the bounty?" Corvus demanded.

"Du Chavarel..."

Corvus ran his fingers through his hair. Du Chavarel, why did that sound so familar? He closed his eyes in concentration.

"A...coup." the spirit kept saying. "Y..you must s..save her." The spirit was now watching its ethereal body disappear, partly fascinated, but mostly frightened. "Bring her back..." it kept saying over.

Corvus opened his eyes. "DuChavarel...as in Par la grâce de dieu Ronnemiere DuChavarel?" Corvus snapped. "The Royal Family?"

The soul nodded, a cloudiness to his expression. He was beginning to slip away. Whilst Corvus lacked an intimate knowledge of the aristocracy, he was familiar with the immediate Royal Family, or at least their public image. He knew that the King and Queen had three daughters, and one son, although they lived in the capitol, and he'd only seen them on tour once when he was little. He remembered the festivities in Scire two years ago in celebration of the birth of the fourth princess -Cais. But if what this soul had said was true, and the Royal Family had indeed been murdered, it meant that Scire was now under enemy control, or would be soon. Things had just become a great deal more interesting.

"Who is responsible for this treason?" he asked the spirit. "Where is Cais now?" He wished he hadn't been so quick to dismiss the soul, for Corvus was out of time.

"W...w...without her...b...b...bloodline lost..."

That was the last thing it said before vanishing completely, the once luminous patch of air it had occupied darkening once more. The Soul Trader tried to make sense of the information he was given, a smile suddenly playing upon his lips.

He laughed, "That conniving bag of bones."

A Royal babe. Knowing now the girl's identity, Corvus was surprised the bounty hadn't been set higher- a King's ransom. But the Par la grâce de dieu had been smart, or his advisors had been wise in their counsel at least. They'd set the bounty high enough to garner attention, but not so high that it raised suspicion. Clever. Corvus reattached the Quaesitor back to his baldric and swapped it for the Varium.

"Porta Silvae Gravis."

The crystal glowed violet in his hands, and within seconds new, but familiar surroundings materialized around him. Varium crystals were useful like that, storing within them the memory of prominent locations throughout Nothing's End. Shame he couldn't use them in the Living World. The Soul Trader found himself in a graveyard, located in a clearing in the middle of the pine forest. At least, that is what it appeared to be- only it was much more. It was a gateway into hell. Corvus walked around. He was alone. Good. He approached one of the fenced graves, its tombstone nameless, marked only by the numeral CXI- Ex had a thing for 1's. Corvus dug into the soil with his hands, but came up naught. He frowned, where was it? It had been a long time since the Soul Trader had entered Exossatus' Sepulchre, and it seemed whoever had been here prior had not put things back properly. He cursed, and began aggressively rummaging through the litchyard, taking care to check whether another Trader hadn't carelessly thrown what he needed into the overgrown spirals of thorned weeds so prominent. A shadow passed above Corvus as thunder clouds enveloped the moon, darkening the clearing.

"Lux Placet," he incanted, wrapping his hand around a Luminare crystal, also fitted to his baldric. It glowed white, and a ball of bright light appeared above him, illuminating the litchyard.

"Much better," Corvus agreed.

After several minutes of searching, he reached into a crevice behind a large statue of a robed figure and pulled out the long humor bone of a wing. It was thin, although deceptively heavy. He held it in the centre and began to scrape one of the ends along the tombstones, creating an irritable grating noise that could indeed, wake the dead.

"Exossatus you son of a litch, come out and pay your respects!" Corvus yelled sarcastically, then laughed.

The graves were as silent as the dead that lay beneath them.

"Come on Ex- don't be shy. Your public needs you," his voice rang out, met only with the sound of pines buffeted by a newly formed wind. He frowned.

He shook the humerus, "I've a bone to pick with you..."

"Then let me open up your flesh and select one."

The voice filled him with dread each time he heard it. It was right in his ear, but the one who spoke was perched comfortably atop the sepulchre behind him, dwarfing the stone building with but one wing overhanging to the earth beneath. There was a time when Corvus used to jump in terror and run back into the forest from that voice, but now he only smiled, and turned to face the Guardian.

"And here I was thinking you'd broken things off between us."

"I like you exactly where I can see your soul Corvus Black, take solace in knowing the day you die is greatly awaited."

Corvus feigned horror. "Well...that is truly both alarming and impressive, considering you have no eyes, and no stomach. But it's good to see you've not lost your humour...oh wait...yes you have- here it is in my hand!"

He regretted the jape immediately, Exossatus' wing sweeping across the litchyard, bones as hard as diamonds knocking him off the ground and sending Corvus sprawling through the air until the back of his head smacked against tombstone. His crystals came loose and scattered to the ground, and the light from his Luminare dissipated.

"You speak in a manner unbefitting of your station, death-cheater." Exossatus hissed.

Corvus' head rang. The Guardian took his missing bone from where it had been flung to the ground and reattached it to its rightful place. As the soul trader got to his feet, and regained his vision, he could see Exossatus' other wing had now re-materialised, which now in his complete form made him even more imposing. Corvus gathered up his crystals. Of the Bone Dragons, there were fourteen. One each was tasked with the guarding of Nihlos' individual gates. It was rumoured that seven of the gates were doorways into Caelum, the other half- Gehenna. The dragons themselves were supposed to be neutral, but Corvus suspected Ex's gate led to Gehenna, because he had a complicated and dark nature that made the Soul Trader curious about his life before.

Corvus straightened up. "I seek a lost soul."

Exossatus omitted a sound like a scoff, mingled with the rattling of bones. It was always unnerving looking into the sockets of a dragon skull, wondering what the creature's mood was. He knew contempt seem to be Ex's default.

"It is no duty of mine to be seeking lost souls. That, is your burden."

"Except when someone has taken one unlawfully." Exossatus was silent, jawbones lined with rows of sharp teeth closed.

"I think you know the soul to which I speak," Corvus said carefully.

The dragon laughed, again a faint rattling from within. "Do I?"

"Princess Cais DuChavarel," Corvus spoke confidently. 'The bounty on her soul was placed but one day and one moon's passing."

"Indeed." the Bone Dragon lifted his head skyward. "I sense much flesh in Nihlos. It reeks." Exossatus shifted his weight, and stone crumbled from the sepulchre.

"Where is the soul, Ex?"

"Gone."

"You lie."

"She was in my forest. And therefore, mine to ensnare."

"Your forest? The forest belongs to Nihlos," Corvus corrected him.

"I AM NIHLOS!" roared the guardian, as purple lightening cracked through the sky above.

The Soul Trader bent to the ground, using his arm to sweep his shadow cloak in front of him like a shield, right before a blast of ghostfire from the dragon hit him. Corvus held strong against the onslaught, shadows dancing in the bright blue blaze. Only when he was satisfied that Ex was once again tranquil, did he regain composure also. He unfurled his shadow cloak and waited.

Steam rose from the dragon's nostril cavities. "If I release the child's soul, what will you give me in return?"

Corvus shook his head. "Doesn't work that way Ex, you're not allowed to claim a pure soul- you know the rules. Besides, I highly doubt the soul of one so small came to you willingly."

"How do you know whether or not I can claim a pure soul?"

"Do you deny you guard a gate of Gehenna?" Corvus cocked his head thoughtfully. The orbits of the dragon's animate skull seem to look into his own soul.

"You think your quite clever Corvus Black."

"Ah, avoidant til' the end then."

Although it was obvious, Ex concealed the identity of his gate by eschewing any mention of it. Perhaps Mors had made it so- a statute of his very likeness was here in Ex's litchyard. Corvus had only ever found the first gate, given away by the single numeral etched in the frieze of the sepulchre. He suspected being the first, that the other Bone Dragons were more powerful than Exossatus. Perhaps being the lowest guardian on the rung was why Ex was never quite...agreeable. The guardians of Gehenna were allowed to take the evillest of souls who arrived in Nihlos, and the guardians of Caelum received those of the purest. The man who had clearly been murdered earlier Corvus would have guessed was going to Ex's gate, considering his soul had arrived in a location close to the forest. But another of the Bone Dragons must have claimed him, which meant there was another gate nearby.

"She's the last of the Du Chavarel bloodline Ex."

"You say that like the reason you are here has nothing to do with financial gain. I care naught for mortal grievances."

"I'm starting to think you do, otherwise you wouldn't be holding the Princess' soul hostage. Is there something about this child I should know?" There was no answer. "Well...if you won't give it up, I could always just bring along a necromancer next time and allow him to pass mention of your interference to the attention of someone above your station", Corvus bluffed.

"Few and far between Soul Trader. Few, and far between."

Another of Ex's non-answers. "So, what's it going to be Ex?"

The Bone Dragon snarled, shaking his wings out to their full extension. The bright sound of a child's laughter followed soon after. Corvus spun around, surprised to see the luminous blue light of a soul no higher than his knees toddling through the hedge stones. He smiled, walking towards the new soul.

"Hello, little Princess," he said gently, kneeling to her height.

Corvus snapped a nearby dandelion in half and lured her to him with it, twirling it around between his fingertips. She giggled and came towards him with a translucent hand outstretched.

"My name is Corvus. I'm here to take you home."

He carefully took out his largest crystal, the Locas Animarum. It was his last one.

When she couldn't take hold of the flower, her tiny hand moving straight through, she jabbered incoherently, outraged at the injustice of it. He moved the crystal in place of the flower, and it glowed the same bright hue as her soul. She smiled, and slowly started to dissipate, the energy transferring to into the Animarum. Once the soul had been caught, the crystal remained luminescent. Corvus stood, satisfied. He turned. That had seemed way too easy.

"It's good to see you've still- " he trailed off. The Guardian had gone. He sighed.

"Ex?"

Corvus listened, but only the wind answered. Ex was gone. He spied the dragon's humorous bone on the ground in front of the sepulchre and walked over to retrieve it. The Soul Trader returned it to the mound of earth in the grave marked CXI. He took the Varium crystal back out.

"Mundo Vivo."

Once back home in Scire, Corvus moved quickly. It was raining, and there was a nervousness outside on the streets in the faces of the city's civilians. The murdered soul had been truthful, but it seemed Scire had not yet been taken by the enemy. Corvus changed his clothing, bundling up his shadow cloak and replacing it for a grey hooded one of rough spun. He emptied his baldric, concealed his knives, and rolled his crystals with velvet into a small pouch. Corvus opened a drawer and took out the parchment with the bounty for Cais soul. He turned it over.

"Revelare atramento."

An address appeared on the back of the parchment:

Monastery of Sisters

Quartier Royale

Royaume Des Forts

The Soul trader frowned. The capitol had been conquered, which meant the child's body may not be in that location anymore, but it's all he had to go on. He took his map of Royaume Des Forts and packed it with the parchment. Once ready, he left his apartment through the window, (he didn't have doors) and stopped by the marketplace. Corvus purchased food for a night's journey to the capitol and paid a swine herder twice the regular price for discreet and safe transport. The road was pocked with rain puddles, the wheels of the old wayn struggling to find their purchase. Three times, the swine herder had been stopped by enemy guards traversing the road, the wayn checked thoroughly each time. Not thoroughly enough. Corvus had been prepared for delay, and found himself invisible under rags and hay, nestled between the warm bodies of the animals.

Dawn broke when the swine herder arrived in Royaume Des Forts, the rain softened long before. Once waved through by the guards, Corvus slipped out unseen. He opened his map of the city. Corvus had traded souls for bounties more than once in the capitol, but never had he been to the Royal Quater. The Monastery of Sisters was a holy building, and no doubt guarded, but Corvus suspected that during the invasion, a new guard had not been established yet, new titles and orders not yet designated and so he would be able to enter easily enough. He approached by rooftop, careful of his footing where rain had slickened the surface. There were platoons marching down every main thoroughfare, and a set of two guards each patrolling the narrower ones that fanned off. Heavy silver plate mail, and purple banners with what looked like two shapes, he was not close enough to distinguish what they were in this rain. Corvus was unfamiliar with these usurpers. He crossed the tops of several buildings, climbing into a bell tower to locate the Monastery as he followed the map. There. He could see the spires with their holy emblems worked into the iron they were made from. A warm sensation against his hip- it was the Animarum, Cais was still here, and she was close. Corvus scaled the last two buildings, until he was forced to descend onto the street. He kept his head down as strangers stared out their windows, expressions of mourning for their King. The Soul Trader approached the unguarded Monastery. It was locked, naturally, but the Animarum had risen in temperature. Corvus stepped over a boundary gate and walked down the side of the stone building until he reached a small prayer garden behind. The Animarum was getting hotter as he began to look for a secret entrance. There had to be basement under the monastery, surely...

The door was in the ground. A wooden hatch, with iron rings for handles; concealed expertly under a woven square of linden branches, this covered again with the leaves shed from last Fall. Corvus slunk down into the stone steps beneath, closing the door carefully as he did so. There had been yelling somewhere off in the city, and sounded like a fight had broken out, but he'd worry about leaving later.

"Lux Placet."

The Luminare he had in hand lit the way; a dark tunnel lined with empty sconces. He couldn't see the end and began to feel along the walls in case a hidden lever had been installed. After some time, he heard the echoes of a man's voice travelling through the tunnel, a faint orange glow of torchlight.

"Lux Auferet," Corvus gripped his crystal and commanded the light to disperse.

The voices were getting louder, the footsteps of two people he could discern approaching quickly. He clutched the blade at his hip, for soon he would be caught, and he knew not if those who came were enemies, part of this new order. He ducked down as the torchlight came, ready to spring for the assault. The two figures- a man and a woman came into view, wearing blue-grey robes with their hoods thrown back. Both were elderly, and Corvus stood, these two were of the faith. They stopped ten paces before him.

"Who goes there?" The old man stepped in front of the woman, using the torch as a shield.

Corvus reached into his side pouch, and took out the Animarum, holding it in its velvet wrapping. The old man dropped his shoulders, his eyes falling to the crystal.

"Caelum's grace!"

"It is a miracle!" cried the woman.

Corvus walked towards them. "I'm here to collect a bounty."

"Yes, yes, very well. Come with me- quickly now," the man hastened.

The woman took Corvus' arm, and they followed the torch light until the robed man stopped in front of the tunnel walls. He pushed a hand against one of the stone bricks and a part of the wall slowly came away, sinking down into the earth under their feet. It was an entry way into an expansive room lined with torches, the flames still. An underground sanctuary. Four sisters, in the same blue-grey moved silently around the body of a child that lay on an alter in the centre- Cais. The Animarum burned.

"Hurry now child," the priest ushered Corvus to the child, still as stone, a cloth of silver covering her tiny body.

The Soul Trader worked quickly. The process of transferring a soul from an Animarum was a delicate one. He touched the apex of the crystal against the child's crown until a faint light seemed to glow beneath her skin. He followed the same against her forehead, her throat and finally, her heart. Cais began to glow, and Corvus closed his eyes and started his incantation, the crystal quivering in his hands.

"Per coeli lumen,

In nomine gratiae tuae,

Hanc animam redde in locum suum iustum."

A vortex of blue light swirled around them both, and Corvus held tightly to the Animarum as the glow within it began to die. The sisters huddled together in fear, but when the child Cais opened her eyes and began to babble, they rushed to her in an instant, touching Corvus's arms and his back and making the sign of the holy grace. The priest took the Soul Trader aside toward the dais, and pushed multiple pouches into his hands, heavy with treasures clinking.

"Take it all. Your kind will be remembered for this day." He turned to join the sisters, who now busied themselves with carrying the child from the sanctuary.

"Where are you taking her?" Corvus found himself asking, not unkindly.

"To safety, child." the priest responded, disappearing into the tunnel behind them.

It took Corvus a moment to realise what was happening. The passageway was beginning to close.

"Son of a litch!"

But he wasn't fast enough. Corvus pushed his arms through the top of the open gap but had to pull them in before the stone wall filled the space completely and he lost them both. The sisters had locked him in. Why? The Soul Trader cursed. The sisters were sworn to the Du Chavarel aristocracy, and therefore would rather sacrifice themselves than handover the last living heir to enemy forces. No. It was fear. They wanted no evidence that Cais was here, and no witnesses. The priest had not lied- they were taking her to safety. Corvus walked around the sanctuary, lifting red velvet banners as he looked for another way out. He was out of luck it seemed...but not completely. Corvus took out the Varium, it had but one charge left. For now, it seemed, he was going back to Nihlos.

"Aperta Fabricae,

Inter Mundos."