Page 119 of Requiem of Silence

Wraiths poured from the opening in the sky. Though it was nighttime, their inky darkness was even blacker than the night. Kyara and Tana had stopped in a tiny patch of grass located at the intersections of two wide streets, just a couple of blocks from the rapidly emptying market.

Kyara dropped into her other sight and instructed Tana to do the same. They stood hand in hand as the darkness above them became flooded with the fluid forms of wraiths. The portal they emerged from shone bright with Nethersong; it led to the World After and an infinite number of spirits waiting there. A shiver rippled through Kyara as she considered the potential of the threat they faced.

In her pocket, the death stone’s icy fire practically burned through the fabric of her trousers. Though the Breath Father’swords had hit hard and she never intended to use it, she still kept it on her person at all times, knowing she needed to ensure the powerful caldera did not fall into the wrong hands. The current crisis was more than enough to handle without adding to it with a disaster of that magnitude.

“All right,” she said, trying to keep her voice steady for Tana’s sake. “This is as good a place as any to make a stand. Stay in your other sight, we should have enough range to handle a large section of Portside from here.”

Splitting up may have been wiser, but she couldn’t very well leave the girl on her own. The spirits raining down seemed to be focused on this neighborhood, so this is where they’d work to defend and she had no idea where Mooriah was. Tana squeezed Kyara’s hand in response.

Spirits weren’t stymied by walls or any material barriers; they shot through buildings with ease and some even went underground, seeking out the folks hiding in basements. Tana’s family, huddled in one of the emergency shelters, came to mind. The Singers who’d agreed to help had been told to stay close to their assigned locations—hopefully they were doing their jobs, she and Tana must do theirs as well.

Trying to be as methodical as possible, Kyara searched the area around her in sections, ejecting the spirits from the hosts they’d taken over. One after another she forced them out, the knowledge that they would just seek out another living body scraping at her.

Many of the wraiths seemed to be converging in one location. “Do you see that, there?” she asked Tana. “About ten blocks down.”

“Yes, why are so many of them focused on that building? What is it?”

“I don’t know. But we should go see.”

They raced down the now-empty street as rumbles and crashes of devastation clamored around them. The wraiths appeared to be focused on causing as much destruction as possible. They were using their superior strength to punch holes in walls, shatter glass, and overturn vehicles. But as Kyara and Tana ran, the wraiths they encountered and dispelled were focused on the power lines.

The two Nethersingers drew closer to the building that so many of the dead had congregated around. She couldn’t read the Elsiran words written in bold, block letters, but the logo on the sign displayed a pipe and a drop of water. This must be some sort of water facility. She settled back into her other sight and got to work expelling spirits from bodies.

The Elsiran capital was completely wired for electricity and every place she’d been in the country had running water. It looked like the True Father was targeting his army’s attack on the utilities. Elsirans long used to the luxuries would find life difficult indeed if he succeeded.

Though she and Tana were doing their best, they were only making a dent in the number of wraiths running up to the building and tearing it apart with their bare hands. The heavy doors leading inside had not yet been breached, but it was only a matter of minutes.

More than one spirit tried to target them, but the Nethersingers were easily able to deflect the shades with their power. Tana was beginning to wobble on her feet though, the exertion getting to her. Kyara shot out a hand to steady her as more wraiths flowed from the portal. Unsure how much longer Tana could keep this up, Kyara began to get worried.

The sound of a vehicle roared behind them. She chanced a glance backward to find a large truck pull to a stop. A dozen Raunian men and women piled out armed with batons. Each also borelarge packs on their backs. They leaped into the battle, knocking out wraiths with the batons—nonlethal weapons, Kyara noted, though the hosts would feel the effects of the blows when and if they returned.

Roshon’s fiancée, Ani, was among them. The young woman gleefully rained pain down upon the heads of the wraiths—even one-handed she was fearsome. She yelled a string of words at Kyara, who shook her head, not understanding.

Then Ani pulled out something from her pack. It was a square of dark fabric, cut in a long rectangle as tall as she was, and made of something like mud cloth or waxed canvas. Ani yelled again and Tana translated. “The wraiths can’t get through the cloth. Force the spirits out and her people will cover the bodies.”

The fabric must be coated in whatever that substance was that gave the Raunians their immunity. In Kyara’s other sight, the sheets of fabric were invisible—pockets of emptiness amidst so much death energy.

“All right,” she responded. “Why don’t I push the spirits out and you tell the Raunians which bodies to cover?”

Tana nodded her agreement and began speaking in halting Elsiran to Ani. The next few minutes blurred as Kyara drove out the spirits, while the Raunians continued fighting hand-to-hand as well as gathering spirit-free bodies together to cover and protect. An Earthsinger would be needed to revive them and heal their injuries. She caught glimpses of bloodied hands and some limbs twisted into painful positions before the dark cloth covered them from sight.

Even with the aid of the Raunians, the wraiths had breached the outer door and walls of the station and were rushing in, no doubt causing all manner of destruction.

Streetlights and the lights inside of nearby buildings winkedout—either the power lines or the electricity generator must have also been damaged. The strategy was a good one and would leave the city paralyzed for days or weeks to come.

Tana was holding up, but just barely, looking drunk on her feet as she pointed out body after body to the Raunians, and continued to expel some spirits. Kyara felt little better. She’d never thought her Song could be drained like an Earthsinger’s could be, though every minute she felt on the edge of burnout. Depletion wasn’t a real risk as there was plenty of death energy around in a city—and sadly, some of the former wraith hosts were among that number. Many had already died, and an Earthsinger would be needed sooner rather than later before the others succumbed to their wounds.

Once she realized that the freed hosts were still at risk of death, Kyara began to pull Nether from them. This boosted her Song, but did not help her flailing energy. Her focus was fractured between jettisoning spirits from bodies and pulling Nethersong from the dying to keep them on the cusp of life until help could come. She was afraid she was going to unravel if this lasted much longer.

Pulled taut, nerves frayed, and senses bleary, gasps from those around her dragged her attention away from the carnage. She shuttered her other sight and followed the gazes of the others, tilting her head back to watch the night sky—now illuminated by a figure practically glowing from within.

Her first thought was that Fenix had returned, but then her gaze focused and she made out Oola, hovering not far from the portal. The flow of wraiths had stopped, thank the seeds, and the Goddess Awoken peered into the tear in their world.

From this distance, Kyara couldn’t make out the woman’s expression, but She tilted Her head back and forth as if examining the portal. Then, as if responding to a silent signal, the spiritsbegan to flee their hosts on their own, racing back to the portal, passing Oola in a whoosh of thick, black smoke.

Still staring up, Kyara felt the energy drain from her. Her Nethersong was not depleted, but her human body was. She collapsed in a heap, and the last thing she remembered was the glowing woman lit against a dark sky.

CHAPTER FORTY-TWO

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