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“Son? Is that you?”

My father’s voice was a soft echo of the past, yet it hit me with the brute force of a tidal wave as I struggled to stand upright. Myst was right beside us, observing quietly, but I saw the blue of her eyes flash white with intense emotion when I glanced at her.

“It is me,” I managed. “Guess I’ve changed.”

“You’re a grown man,” he said. “The years have been good to you, my son. You’re a handsome devil, huh?” A playful grin came over his face, and I truly recognized him. My father, Acheron Nasani, the young and valiant Lord Supreme with a silver tongue and the adoration of the empire. My mother had always played second fiddle to him as a ruler. Thinking back now, I could easily see why she’d sought to see him gone from this world. Dad was too good.

I exhaled sharply. “I wish I could hug you.”

“Where are we? What’s happened? How old are you, son? My memory is fuzzy,” he replied. He wore the clothes he’d worn the day he was murdered by my Darkling nanny, but the colors were different than I remembered. The high-collared tunic was white velvet covered in swirling leaves of silver embroidery, with matching breeches and light gray hide boots that went up to his knees. His hair was short and soft brown, just like I remembered it, but his eyes drew my attention the most—galaxies of iridescent sparkles swirled within them. I was looking at my father’s spirit in its purest form. And he seemed a little… lost.

“What happened to him?” I asked Myst.

“I cannot answer that,” she said, offering an apologetic smile. “He knows you. He remembers you because of your blood ties. You’re his son, after all. But here in the living realm, even as a projection, Acheron feels out of place and disconnected. Keep talking to him, and he’ll ease back into who he was. It takes time, once the soul has been plucked from its place in the beyond.”

Shifting focus back to my dad, I realized that everything else about him was unchanged. My memories of him and Mom had faded over the years, but seeing him here now… it was all coming back to me in bright colors, his voice clearer and louder than ever. “Dad… I’m a vampire. It’s been twenty years since you—”

“Since I died,” he said, his gaze dropping for a moment. I didn’t want this conversation to slip into something sad and mournful. Being near him made me happy, so happy I could find my way up to the stars if I tried hard enough. I didn’t want us to cry about this. If only I could touch him.

“Do you remember that day?” I asked.

Dad nodded once. “I was not reaped right away. I saw a lot of things I never wished to see… Hm, I remember running a lot, too, from ghouls and… and hiding from Aeternae with scythes. But I snuck around, too. They never got to me. Perhaps I was fortunate.”

I wondered what that must have been like. The Darklings were reigning supreme on Visio at the time, with their Knight Ghouls and death magic trickeries. I’d wondered about his spirit after he’d died, but the Time Master had assured me my father had moved on. “You saw it all, didn’t you?” I replied, my voice trembling with anger. “The Darklings, their beasts…”

“I also saw you, growing stronger despite the madness. At least you got half of me to keep you going,” Dad said, chuckling faintly. “I’m sorry your mother turned out the way she did. My heart broke at the time, but now… it seems so far away.”

“It is! It is far away!” I insisted, instinctively reaching out to take his hands in mine. But I only felt the coolness of wintery air when my fingers brushed through him, as though he were made of mist. “Visio has been reformed. Unending was freed. The Aeternae are no more. Balance has been restored, and everyone is happier for it.”

“That is good to hear,” Dad said, and his expression reflected genuine joy. “I perpetuated our bloody culture because it was expected of me. I was raised to be an Aeternae, and I did not know how to be anything else. But even so, had I known what Danika and the Darklings had been doing for so long…” He paused, taking a deep breath to calm himself. “I should’ve burned them all alive.”

There he was. My father. The great Acheron. I’d missed that side of him the most. The fierce Aeternae. The angry soul who found no mercy for those who went against his principles. I remembered our way of life from my childhood days. Most of the Aeternae had known little to nothing about the Darklings, and never enough to form a coherent opinion or to truly understand what we were at the time. It was part of the reason why the Aeternae had ultimately failed as a society. When suddenly forced to confront the possibility of mortality, they’d turned against Unending. They’d chosen to support the Darklings and to keep the first Reaper buried under the seals.

The memory of those days made me quiver. “What was it about Mom that drew you to her initially?” I asked, choosing to steer away from the harsh truth of my Aeternae culture.

“Well, she was an absolute beauty,” Dad chuckled, hands casually resting on his hips. He gazed to the side, momentarily losing himself in the darkness of the redwoods as he remembered my mother. “Danika was a fierce creature. Her presence filled an entire room and made it hard to breathe without her. She carried herself with grace and poise, and she was ready to tear the head off of anyone who threatened her.” He stopped for a moment, shaking his head in disappointment. “And I was foolish enough to think she would take all that and invest it into our family. Into you.”

“You couldn’t have known,” I said. “I was blindsided too.”

“Yes. But I was your father,” he replied, his expression suddenly serious. “I was supposed to protect you, to keep you safe.”

“Dad, you did everything you could. Mom fooled everybody.” My eyes flickered to Myst. She must be so confused right now.

Myst gave me a curious look. “I take it this is a story you will share with me sometime?”

“And who is this wonderful creature?” Dad cut in, suddenly aware of Myst’s presence beside him. He measured her from head to toe with a gleam of admiration in his multicolored eyes, a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.

“I’m the one who raised you from the beyond,” Myst replied, raising her chin. “I am Myst. A Valkyrie of Purgatory.”

“Purgatory? Oh wait, that was my judgment. You were there, yes! I remember you now. We’ve met before,” Dad said. “You carried me off, right?”

She couldn’t stop herself from smiling. “And you kept asking me to join you.”

“Dad,” I chided, but I was laughing too. It sounded just like him. My father had never been a womanizer, but he’d always appreciated the impact of a beautiful woman. He’d loved jesting in that vein too. Some in the imperial court had found his comments offensive—but only when they’d been aimed at their wives or daughters. Otherwise, they’d laughed with him, and shamelessly so.

“Your friend, I take it?” he replied, pointing a thumb at the Valkyrie. I nodded once more. “I have to tell you, kid. I am proud to see you’ve chosen to aim above your level. It’s impressive.” He looked at Myst. “My son is a good man. A fierce man. A noble man. I don’t need more than a minute here with him to know it. I hope you know it too.”

She didn’t respond right away, and I held my breath for a few seconds. Dad eyed me with a mixture of curiosity and amusement, but when Myst spoke again, he listened intently.

“Thayen is one of the strongest spirits I have ever come across,” she said. “An army of Berserkers will not break his soul. His body, yes. But not his soul. His soul has the power of the entire universe crammed inside it. And I am fortunate and honored to consider him an ally.”

Dad shot me a grin. “I think she likes you.”

“How are you?” I asked, my cheeks burning as I proceeded to move the conversation away from yet another difficult subject. He had been away for so long and was unaware of so many things, it was hard for him to know when to stop with his playful jests and devilish innuendos. In that respect, he was just as I remembered him, and it filled me with a familiar warmth. My Aeternae family was twisted and gone, but my father’s spirit had braved the unknown and had found his way back to me. “How have you been? What is it like for you?”

“I’m fine, son.” He then proceeded to give me details of his new existence, but I heard nothing. Only saw his lips moving. He was certainly saying something, yet I wasn’t getting any of it. “Wait,” Dad muttered, his voice back. “What’s going on? I’m talking, but it is silenced… Why?”

Myst rubbed the back of her neck. “There is a control system in place,” she said. “The living can never know what the beyond is like. Therefore, if you talk about it, your voice is taken from you. If you talk about anything else, your voice is yours again.”

“That is a neat trick!” Acheron replied. “I would have liked to have that handy during my days in court. More than once I yearned to listen to silence instead of the constant whining of councilors and overprivileged nobles…”

“Dad.”

He looked at me, serene as a summer’s morning. “Yes, son?”

“I love you.”

“I love you too,” he said. “And looking at you now, I understand how much I miss you. But I do not regret how things worked out. You have found happiness, have you not?”

Smiling, I decided to tell him about the people who had saved me. “Do you remember Derek and Sofia, by any chance? I know it was so long ago, and I’m not sure what rings familiar and what doesn’t.”

“Derek and Sofia Novak. Yes. I remember them.” My father sighed. “I hope they survived that nightmare.”

“They did. And they adopted me. I’ve been living in The Shade for two decades now,” I said, then told him about the Aeternae losing their immortality and the preservation of vampirism. I didn’t go into too many details, unsure of how much time I had with him, but I wanted him to know that things had turned out well in the end. “I’m okay, Dad. I’ve been lucky.”

“You deserve every bit of good fortune that comes your way, my son,” he replied. “I only wish I could’ve been there to watch you grow up and become the man that you are today.”

“Me too,” I murmured.

Myst cleared her throat quietly and gave me a weary look. “I cannot hold him here for much longer,” she said, the glow in her sword weakening. “It’s best if you say your farewells. I’m sorry.”

“There is nothing to be sorry about,” my father interjected. His spirit shimmered softly in the semi-darkness of the clearing, the white and silver of his garments a little brighter than everything else. But it was his love for me that seemed brightest, pouring from his kaleidoscopic eyes as he looked at me and smiled. “You have an incredible life ahead of you, my son. And there aren’t enough words in this world to properly convey how proud I am of who you are, of who you’ve become.”

“I’m just thankful I got to see you one more time.” Tears stung in my eyes, but I held them back, unwilling to break down. Not now, not when I couldn’t even hug my father. I had to stay strong and keep a straight face. I had to do him proud. “Perhaps we shall see each other again someday.”

“Well, I hope so. Just remember, Thayen—every step you take, every mistake, every good or bad or utterly terrible choice you make in this life… it becomes experience, and it teaches you to do better. Remember that, and you will be fine. I’m sure of it.”

“Thanks, Dad.”

“Myst, if you’d be so kind, I would like to return to wherever you plucked me from before I start weeping like a little girl,” my father said, his voice shaking slightly. Myst smiled, and the glow in her sword vanished altogether.

The spirit of the great Acheron Nasani went with it, and I was the orphan prince once more. I knew it wasn’t a perfectly accurate description, but I couldn’t stop myself from feeling that way in my father’s immediate absence. I realized I’d had no idea how much I’d really missed him all this time. My heart ached on a deeper level now, and I knew the pain would never really go away. I would have to live with it.

But it seemed a small price to pay for seeing him again.

The silence settled over the clearing like a heavy quilt of darkness and lost memories. I turned slowly to face Myst as she looked my way. “When you told me your real parents’ names and bits about your life on Visio, I remembered I had guided your father into the afterlife. Of course, I’m not normally allowed to say such things, but I suppose this entire situation calls for an exception or two. I would have held him for longer, but I’m tired. My energy levels are not what they used to be. Not in this place, at least. I believe the false island is affecting my kind as well, though not as acutely as the living.”

My arms moved before I could say anything. I wrapped them around Myst and pulled her into a tight embrace. My very soul sang in that moment, the close proximity of the Valkyrie having an unexpected effect on me. It mattered, but not enough to pull me away from her. I welcomed the light and the warmth suddenly coursing through my veins. “Thank you,” I whispered in her ear. “Thank you for this incredible opportunity. I will never forget it, Myst. Thank you.”

She didn’t say a word. She didn’t move. I would’ve liked a reaction, but the silence was fine too. Being pushed away would’ve been infinitely worse. At least this told me the Valkyrie was okay with a hug. I didn’t feel a heartbeat, but every atom of her beamed through me for a short while as I clung to this incredible moment. It only lasted a few seconds, but it felt like ages glowing with the promise of bliss.

“My apologies,” I said as I stepped back, cold without her in my arms. “I didn’t mean to step out of line.”

“No, no, it’s fine,” Myst replied, her eyes burning white. She couldn’t even look at me, and I knew I’d rattled her somehow. My heart was still thumping, proof that something was going on between us, but I didn’t know where it was going or how to pursue it further. “I’m glad I was able to give you some form of closure with regards to your father, Thayen. I imagine it was important for you to say those things.”

“What a power you have,” I said, seeing Myst in a different light. I’d already been in awe of her, but this ability raised her to a whole new level. “Bringing souls from the beyond like that…”

She gave me a shy smile. “For a long time, I thought it was a useless thing. My sisters are capable of extraordinary feats. By comparison, I have felt weak. But seeing you and Acheron just now, I realize how wrong I was. You are right to marvel—it is a great power I hold, and you have helped me learn to appreciate it.”

I would’ve liked to do something for her in return. Maybe I didn’t have the abilities nor the resources for something as incredible as what she’d accomplished with my father, but there had to be something I could offer. Myst deserved that much as a token of my gratitude—only it wasn’t just gratitude I was feeling. There was something else brewing in my chest. Something strong and bright that packed quite a punch.

In the middle of this insanity, I was falling in love, and I wouldn’t have had it any other way. No, I rather liked this sensation as it grew inside me. Myst was changing absolutely everything about my existence, almost effortlessly and utterly unwittingly.