Page 67 of To Dwell in Shadows
When they reached the entrance, Ruth paused. She turned back toward Selene and lifted a hand in salute. The grateful look on her face brought a lump to Selene’s throat.
Vanthee then raised her tattooed arm and swept it in an arc over Ruth's chest. With a sudden whoosh of unseen power, Ruth was pulled forward. The blue dome’s light embraced her instantly,wrapping around her until her figure dissolved into the brilliance. Selene squinted through the glow, watching its hue shift from deep sapphire to sky-blue.
And then Ruth was gone.
At peace.
Selene sighed gratefully. The sense of accomplishment that swelled in her chest was unlike anything she had ever known. To witness something so beautiful—and to have played a small role in making it happen—felt like a profound privilege. Tears welled in her eyes, the moment forever etching itself into her memory until Vanthee’s voice cut through.
“All right, flesh-bag, I’ll be back soon. Don’t do anything stupid!”
Selene laughed through her tears at Vanthee’s bluntness. She lifted a hand in a small wave, watching as the demoness disappeared into the large white dome, her torch flickered until it was swallowed by darkness.
Wiping away her happy tears, Selene glanced around the valley and shivered. There was a strange energy to this place. The air was still, but beneath her feet pulsed a low hum, almost too deep to hear, but impossible to ignore. Overhead, the sky churned with bruised purple and gray, hinting at a storm that would never come.
It felt like a place not meant for mortal understanding.
She stared at the dome Ruth had vanished into, still struggling to grasp the enormity of what she was seeing. It was almost too much to comprehend, being privy to the place where souls went after death. The soft, shimmering light emanating from the blue dome filled her with a sense of calm and made her feel hopeful. Serene.
She looked over at the white dome, waiting for an emotion to stir, but nothing came. Only curiosity about where it led.
But when she turned her focus to the red-lit dome? That hit different.
Staring into the dome that led to the Sanctum consumed her with a thick, creeping dread. Suddenly, every regret she’d ever had came rushing back. Every shameful deed, cruel thought, and mistakeshe wished she could undo resurfaced. They tumbled through her, growing louder, heavier—like a snowball gathering mass as it rolled downhill—until all she could feel was shame.
Thankfully, the sound of voices and approaching footsteps from the white dome pulled her gaze away. Moments later, Vanthee emerged, trailed by an enormous crowd of spirits drifting silently in her wake.
They moved in unified procession, their translucent forms flickering. Vanthee led them to the center of the triangle formed by the domes, where she held her torch high, casting a warm light that cut through the eerie twilight around them.
One by one, each spirit approached her, as if instinctively understanding that their final journey would soon be determined. Vanthee placed a hand over each spirit’s heart, then nudged them toward either the gate with the blue light or the gate with the red light. Her movements were steady and practiced, as though she’d performed this ritual countless times.
As the spirits crossed their designated thresholds, each gate reacted differently: the blue light of the Afterworld embraced its travelers, growing brighter as they dissolved within it, while the red light leading to the Sanctum flickered and flared, swallowing its chosen ones in an angry flash.
It all happened quickly. Selene estimated that Vanthee directed thousands of souls through in just a few minutes. And they weren’t all human. She saw many Aurelians, three giants, several dwarves, and a handful of faeries. Most went to the Afterworld, but the ones bound for the Sanctum received an extra hard shove from Vanthee.
A few souls drifted away from the herd, looking lost and unmoored. They drifted around the valley, further and further from Vanthee, until like moths to a flame, they glided toward the palace.
Selene watched the whole process with awe. Knowing she was the only human to witness such a sight left her deeply humbled. Every person she had ever lost had come through the Underworld.Both sets of grandparents. A co-worker with cancer. A friend who died in a car wreck.
All of them had been guided by Vanthee.
After the seemingly endless line of souls crossed over, Selene assumed the ritual was finished. But then she saw a final figure stumble out of the gateway—a human boy, perhaps no older than six. He wore a hospital gown that swayed around his ghostly frame. Unlike the other spirits, whose faces held a serene acceptance, this child’s face was streaked with tears.
Selene watched as Vanthee approached him slowly, moving with an unexpected gentleness. She knelt down to his level and extended her torch toward him. With a subtle wave of her hand, the flame shifted, transforming from fiery orange to a soft flicker of pink, blue, and green. The colors danced like a quiet rainbow in the dim light, and the boy’s tearful expression softened. His mouth curved into a tentative smile.
Vanthee then extended her forearm, and a snake’s head rose from the tattoo on her skin. It observed the boy curiously, tilting its head like a puppy. When the boy reached toward it, Selene held her breath, half-expecting the snake to strike, but instead, it arched with pleasure as the boy stroked its scaly skin. He began to giggle.
Once the snake finally retreated beneath her skin and the boy’s tears had dried, Vanthee pointed toward the gateway to the Afterworld. The boy nodded. Together, they walked toward the shimmering threshold. As he stepped closer, his expression shifted—from fear to pure, radiant joy—and the sight made tears stream down Selene’s cheeks.
Vanthee blew him a kiss. He beamed, then stepped forward into the embrace of the blue light.
And he was gone.
After watching a few moments to ensure the boy had fully disappeared, Vanthee returned to the white gateway, presumably to check for any other stragglers. Finding none, she blew on her torch toextinguish it, looped it back into her belt, then turned toward Selene and frowned. “What are you crying about?”
“What you do… it’s beautiful,” Selene said, wiping her eyes.
Vanthee seemed disarmed by her words. “I take my job very seriously.”
