Landar and Alessia walked toward the waterfall, shouting over its spray. Korr watched from afar.
“It’s just a waterfall…?” Landar said.
“Just like how places can become haunted, they can become hallowed. Sites of hope and reverence. Now you’re going to have to feel your way through this. Close your eyes.”
Landar closed his eyes and took a deep breath. She took his hand. They walked through the waterfall—
Geodesic glass prisms created psychedelic fractal structures that repeatedly mirrored each other, dripping off into infinity. Soft prismatic light pulsed like breath through the landscape.
This was a realm even Heaven and Hell could not tame. A realm of power.
“It’s beautiful,” Landar said.
A cute yōkai bounced by.
“But dangerous,” Alessia said. “The church only wants to use limited amounts of power. But there’s a near-infinite supply if you connect with the Spirit Realm.”
She handed him the ring. It pulsed with negative energy. The cute things nearby started to turn evil.
“Try to remove the curse.”
“How?”
“Breathe. Feel into your stomach. Let yourself be submerged in its magic. Its power. Then make a bridge with the ring. It will overwhelm you. Like ice water for your soul. When it’s over, there’s a heat. A fever. Your mind will flush with pain so intense that suicide seems the only humane option. Then—if you survive—a clarity of pure bliss, like the green after a rain. You have your life, barely. And the ring is cured.”
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“You can do this?”
“Could.”
“Why can’t you anymore?”
She ignored the question. “Hell will rise up and wipe out everything.” She held out the ring. “Can you do it?”
The ring reflected infinite versions of the Spirit Realm in the shine of its metal, kaleidoscoping with a hum of energy.
Landar apprehensively took the ring.
“What happens if I leave the bridge open?”
“Too much power. It destroys you.”
Landar started to focus on the ring. He took deep breaths.
While he was focusing, Alessia saw the little girl. “Shit.”
Landar glowed with energy.
Alessia watched as the little girl walked nearer. “We need to go.”
“I’m almost done.”
“Run. Now!”
She grabbed him and shook him.
“What is it?”
Alessia dragged Landar away as the little girl got closer.
“Why won’t you tell him what’s really happening?” the little girl called.
“Who the Hells is she?” Landar shouted. Then he started to convulse, but he hung onto the ring. The ring pulsed with energy.
Alessia grabbed Landar and sprinted as fast as she could.
The little girl put her hands on the ground. An explosion of anger ripped through the realm.
Alessia jumped with Landar as the wave of energy hit them, and they were blown—
An explosion of energy jettisoned them out of the waterfall. Landar looked like he had a terrible hangover. He got up and retched black bile. “What in the holy seven Heavens was that?”
“What happened?” Korr asked.
“Training,” Alessia said.
“There was a little girl...”
“Ah, so you met Alessia’s ghost,” Korr said.
Landar looked at her in shock. “You... You’re haunted?”
Alessia’s silence said everything.
He handed her the ring. “Here’s your stupid ring. It isn’t cursed anymore, by the way.”
Landar stormed off.
“You scared him off,” Korr said.
“Take him to the angel. That oughta calm him down.”
“Think he has what it takes?”
“I think he’s what we’ve got.”
Alessia looked into the distance and saw the townsfolk starting a fire. She stared into the flames...