Skye is dead.
How she perished is a mystery. All she knows is that she is trapped in After, a makeshift city of souls surrounded by infinite darkness and terrifying monsters that tear ghosts apart.
But while all other ghosts accept the eternity of...
Around us, other ghosts nodded and murmured amongst themselves, repeating his words like they were mantras.
I shot a glare at After's king. A muscle in the scarred hollow's white-streaked face twitched; the only crack in his emotionless exterior.
A hand found my shoulder. "Skye..." Vale hissed beside me, her tone urgent-a warning. But in my mind, I saw that little girl who was now an orphan. Now alone.
I took another step toward Blackburne and swept a hand over the muttering crowd. "Well, then what about the hollows that survived? The ones who lost loved ones-"
"They'll learn to go without," said the king of After. "As we all do. We've all lost people before, even me. Even you, I'm certain." His fist tightened around his weapon. "Best we can do for the dead is to keep on living. Too many hollows in one place attract shadows. These attacks will happen. It's not like we don't have the numbers to spare."
"Numbers to spare," I repeated under my breath. "We're not talking about numbers here; we're talking about people! Human beings!"
The ghosts watching us shrank back at my mention of human beings, and before I could even raise an arm to defend myself, Blackburne slashed his halberd at me. I fell to the dirt, stunned, while a coldness seeped from my cheek, just under my eye. I touched a fingertip to my wound. Blackburne's shadow fell over me, blocking out the luxlight from above.
"Do you feel that?" he whispered. His eyes narrowed at the healing skin of my face. "No. You don't. You don't feel pain. You don't feel anything because you are not a human being. None of us are. Not anymore." His eyes bored into mine. They were like a predator's; cold. Soulless. I had to look away from his marred face. Quickly, my bravado during the battle with the shadows faded like the rising ashes.
"Understand that our numbers will keep growing, so long as people on Earth keep dying," the scarred hollow continued. "Any hollow killed by a shadow is replaced by ten more naïve and wide-eyed newcomers, just like you in due time-dreamers that still think themselves human."
"Sinner..." hissed the hollows surrounding us. The king held up a palm to them to keep them at bay.
My skin healed completely beneath my fingers. I pulled my hand away from my eye to observe the city. The buzz of hushed conversations filled my ears. Hollows treaded like zombies where their deceased kin had previously lain.
Not human.
None of us were.
Everything that had ended up in this realm was a copy, even the woven bracelet I thumbed on my wrist. It wasn't made from the same fabric I'd worn on Earth. And so, perhaps, was I-just a copy of the person who used to be Skye Rhee.
But at that moment I still felt like meek, little Skye from Earth. Especially now. I also felt caged. The throngs of heartless people around me were the bars of my cell.
"What if you build another city?" I asked. "Somewhere out in the Dark. Outside the wall..."
The joints of his gauntlet clinked sharply as Blackburne's grip tightened around the shaft of his halberd. Jaw clenched, he spun away from me. "In time, you'll see that everything I do is to keep this city standing. But until then, I don't waste my time with anchored souls and their ideas," he said, walking away from me. "It's only a matter of time before you return to what's calling you in the Light." He paused to cast me one last, emotionless glance. "Before you get incinerated. I only hope you don't take anyone else with you when you do."
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