In the Lantern Light

(Warning: Content may be deemed sensitive to some readers. Discretion is advised.)

A chilling wind howled through the moonlit ruins. The bone-strewn streets echoed, with the slapping of Ruby's bare footsteps. She couldn't remember her past, or how she got there. A black cat guided her through the winding city. Flitting through the shadows, pausing to see if the girl still tagged along. The feline's silent invitation was impossible to resist. Ruby followed, a sense of dread growing. Shivering, she had awoken alone. Dressed only in a thin, red night gown. Which provided no protection, from the merciless cold.

Venturing deeper into the city's heart, Ruby caught glimpses of a fleeting specter. A phantom, haunting the edge of dreams. Like a malevolent force was pursuing her, intent on the girl's demise. Sudden noises from a darkened alley froze Ruby's heart, as she imagined a monstrous figure emerging to claim her soul. However, it was just the cat. Who crept from the shadows, the only living thing she had seen, to confidently rub against her legs. Still claiming Ruby, for his own.

Now, he led her to an imposing gothic structure. Part castle and part palace, standing in defiance of time. A strange light beckoned from the tallest tower. Inside, Ruby found herself confronted with a vague sense of familiarity. Like she knew this place, somehow. But, she questioningly thought, from where? A thick, decaying scent hung in the twilight halls. Halfway to the top of the curved marble steps, she realized The cat was gone. Leaving her alone on the landing.

A booming sound, from the darkness above, made her heart go still. As the shadows gathered, Ruby fled. Her fiery hair and billowing nightgown trailing behind, barely outpacing the encroaching gloom. Panicked, she burst through a nearby door. Slamming it, hard. When the last reverberations echoed across the vast entry hall, silence fell. Broken only by her pounding heart. Moments passed, achingly slow, but the expected hammering at the door never came.

A weathered voice said, "You are safe, child." The suddenness negating its comforting intent.

Ruby whirled around, facing an elegant sitting room. Illuminated by a lantern, who's light could not be described with any word for color. It was blinding, yet dim. Light but, also dark. As warm and merry, as it was cool and serene. It was all colors, yet none. It was just... Light. Yet, it meant everything. She wanted to go into it. To forever be a part of it.

"That is also an option." the saddened voice dismissed.

She squeaked, "Who's there?" Causing her bravado to fade.

From a shadowy corner, came the silhouette of an elderly gentleman. Standing in elegantly dark attire, Ruby wondered if he was the ruler of this castle. His gaunt face, with its salt-and-pepper facial hair, was partially hidden by the shadows. Hinting at his underlying handsomeness.

"You have other concerns," he replied coldly, "my dear Ruby."

Stunned, she asked "How do you know my name?"

The old man receded into the shadows, muttering about the waning moon.

"Choose wisely," he ominously warned, "before the end of the witching hour."

Ruby reached for the old man, but he had vanished. As if he were never there. What choice, she silently wondered, and what happens if I don't do it in time? The overdue hammering at the door, came at last. Answering at least one of her questions. Better late than never, the nervously sarcastic thought ludicrously intruding on her panic. Terrorized, she raced through the shadowy halls. That was when she stumbled upon the cat, placidly preening on a table. Calmly, the feline dropped to the floor. Pausing, to see if she would follow. Which she did.

He moved with a sense of purpose, apparently knowing exactly where to go. The castle was a scene of destruction. With broken, blood-stained furniture and walls. The cat descended two flights of stone stairs, leading her into a cellar. He stopped at a solid wooden door, seating himself before it with a mournfully quiet "meow." Ruby passed through the silent portal, to find a candlelit alter. Dried blood, and a half-eaten rat, lay atop its bronze surface. When she placed a hand upon the cool metal, Ruby's mind was blasted to another time.

---

The world was a blur of crimson and decay. Ruby, a mindless husk, awoke to a cacophony of gnawing and the stench of rotting flesh. Which burned, with its own kind of fire. A ritualistic dagger, still embedded in her chest, throbbed with a dull pain. A primal hunger consumed her and she looked to the rat, gnawing at her lips. She tasted its blood, satisfaction flooding her. She wandered the castle's depths, driven by this hunger. Eventually encountering a lone maid, happily tending to her duties. The maid turned, oblivious to the danger.

"Mum," concern in her jovial voice, "you aright?"

Understanding came too late, as the maid's face contorted in terror. The Poor woman had no chance to scream, as Ruby sunk her teeth into flesh. Blood pooled, crimson upon the cold stone floor. After feeding on the maid for about an hour, while still chewing some of her bloody bits, the body began to convulse. First, the fingers. then, the arms and legs. Finally, she rose to a seated position. Ruby became aware of the woman's pain. Feeling it, alongside her own. This would only be the first, of many.

Before long, a horde of undead servants roamed the castle. Driven by a primal instinct. Ruby was connected to them, sharing their pain and ever-present hunger. News spread beyond the castle walls. Armed with torches and pitchforks, the citizenry marched towards the fortress. Determined as they were to purge the evil within, they proved no match for the horde. One by one, they fell. Adding to the growing army of death. The valiant knight who commanded that lost army, found her atop the marble steps.

The battered man climbed the steps to the throne room, shambling horde close behind, where Ruby aimlessly wandered before the doors. He saw her glazed eyes and outstretched hand, mindlessly grasping.

"Goodbye," voice breaking and sorrow clear on his noble face, "my love."

With a heavy heart, he dealt the decisive blow. Ruby fell, spirit released from its rotting prison.

"Goodbye, my... Aaaahhhhh!" Just in time, to watch the horde rip him apart.

---

Her heart ached, as she returned to the now.

"Oh," Ruby gasped, tears of despair in her virescent eyes, "my poor Gareth."

She knelt before her lover. A silver helmet and bones marked his resting place. Reaching out lovingly for the helm, with an expression of loss, she was surprised when her hand passed through. Then, Ruby finally took the time to notice her surroundings. She was alone atop the marble stairs, golden doors of the throne room behind her. She had no memory of leaving the altar. Memories, realization dawned, those were my memories. Hesitantly, she turned. To find the evidence laying upon the marble floor.

There was even less of her, after what must have been at least two years. Some bone fragments and a ritual dagger, crossing blades with Gareth's holy sword. Piled together with the moldy, torn and bloodstained rags of a red nightgown. The very one Ruby was wearing now. I'm dead, she concluded. Stunned, she remained kneeling amidst the desecrated hall. Then, rising with her anger, came the question.

"Who did this to me?" the dreadful tomb echoed, with the shouted demand for answers.

As if in reply, the shadows began to gather. The specter had heard and was responding. Ruby, still numb, did not care enough to react. Sitting there, waiting for the dark to do its worst. The converging gloom hesitated, not expecting her to do nothing. Then, it seemed to collect itself, condensing to a single point. Taking the form of a black cat. Recognition struck, filling her with hate.

"YOU!" came the wrathful statement.

His lidless eyes were filled with darkness, save for the small points of light in their depths. Quelling her rage. The shadow-cat ignored her, walking towards the doors. Next she knew, the woman's spirit was on the other side. A red velvet throne stood on a raised dais. Illuminated by the moonlight, falling through the shattered window behind it, the rest of the room was obscured by the shadows. Inexplicably drawn, Ruby slowly mounted the steps and sat upon the oversized chair. The natural feal of it, once again, took her out of the now.

---

With nervous determination, Ruby clutched the bone hilt of the dagger. I must do this, steeling herself with the thought. She had stripped to her red nightgown, lying on the cold altar. As she waited for the witching hour to begin, the grown woman remembered her pure, youthful self. Her hopeful days as a street urchin. Snuffed out, by the Crown Prince and his father. The day the girl learned the capricious natures, of men in power. They taught Ruby to fear death. Not just her own, but of those she cared for. Her friends, who were killed anyway.

Hot tears of rage and sorrow, sprung to Ruby's cheeks. Like the others, they believed she was dead. The girl almost was, when the hag found her. The old witch raised her, teaching her Necromancy. The girl became a woman grown and, after the witch's passing, used her newfound mastery to raise an army of the dead. Ruby sought revenge. Not just against the kingdom, but against the people as well. They knew such depravity existed, she thought at the time, yet they did nothing. In her mind, letting it happen was as bad as committing the act.

The war lasted only three days, thanks to royal interference and ineptitude. Placing her tormentors' undead heads upon spikes, Ruby became the Witch Queen. Ruling Malachi with tyranny. Then, she met Gareth. Originally sent to kill her, they fell in love. Thawing her frozen heart. He convinced her to ban Necromancy, and undo the magic she had wrought. Teaching her to love her people. Past experiences, however, taught her that love made loss more painful. The old fear returned, of losing those she loved. I do this, she justified, for my people.

The old hag had hinted at the spell, warning that such things have many interpretations. It required a pure soul, darkened by tragedy, consumed by vengeance and redeemed by loves embrace. Ruby's life, up to that point, matched perfectly. If I understand this correctly, the witch carefully reviewed, placing the dagger over my heart and breaking the skin will put me to sleep. Then, she confidently concluded, my slate will be cleared, and the trial of suffering will begin. Placing the tainted blade to her breast, Ruby began to drone the incantation.

"My light restored, through love's power. As the full moon wanes, now comes the witching hour. I'll discard my past, and all I've said. And share in the pain, of ten-thousand dead."

When the candleflames turned blue, she hesitated. The bone-handled dagger seemed to vibrate, pulling itself ever closer, as she forced herself to continue.

"If I be worthy, in thine sight. Forever I'll carry, the immortal light. Your dark shadow, my counterpart. To Death I give my mind, body, soul and heart."

There was the sting, as the deadly tip parted the flesh. However, Ruby did not fall into sleep and the blade continued to push deeper into her chest. She remembered the words "heart's blood drawn" and "pass into twilight." How could I have missed it, came the panicked reprimand. The dagger must pierce the heart. The spell only works, if the caster dies. The sorceress, for all her power, could not resist the inevitable push of the cursed blade. On that night, the Witch Queen died. In the depths of the palace, where she forbade anyone to go.

---

When Ruby's mind returned to the present, she no longer sat the throne. Upon the widow's walk, she looked out over the ruined city. At the end of that lofty pier, ring hanging from an invisible hook, floated the same lantern she had found in the sitting room. With its unusual, beckoning glow. The moon signaled that the witching hour was ending. The evidence of her "good intentions" could be seen, rotting in the streets. She wanted to rid them of suffering, and the fear of death. They could not die, but their existences had become pain.

"Not so long as the light shines over the city." If not for the cold echoing quality, the deep voice might have been comforting.

This time, the gathering gloom took a more physical and familiar form. The skull of the Reaper, small points of light in the empty darkness of his eyes, was draped in a cloak of shadows and damned souls. Ruby caught glimpses of their faces. Most, begging and pleading. Some, bargaining or debating. Manny, raging and denying. All trying to resist inevitability. Before her, stood the incarnation of death. The form darkened, shrinking down to the size of a human, before revealing the old man from the parlor. Still with those earie, lidless eyes.

"The glow of the lantern," the weathered voice assured, "relieves the hellfire of their rotting flesh. Which is why you cannot hear them moaning."

"However," the dark god warned in a lecturing tone, "Once I leave, that suffering will return, and the dead will go forth to conquer the living."

"Thanatos," the Witch Queen respectfully replied, "I am ready for my punishment." Her voice cracked, guilt ridden tears springing to her cheeks. She knew this guide to the dead was no friend to Necromancers.

Ruby's eyes widened at the sound of his chuckled response, "For casting a spell I made. Dear, foolish child. This was not a spell of immortality."

Pointing a finger at her, the visage of the old man revealed, "The words you spoke, were not incantations. They were wedding vows. The souls below, waiting for release, are your dowry."

Numbed by this twist of events, "Why?" was the only response she could think of.

Death was silent, thinking of how to answer the deceptively simple question.

"In the beginning," he hesitantly began, "there was nothing. Only emptiness. Then light, the first of we three, came into being. From light, our sister was born. Life. However, life is a struggle. Inevitably, as the first forms of life failed that struggle, I was born."

Pointing at the lantern, "My job, is to guide souls back into the light. Which will disperse them back into life, and so the cycle continues."

Ruby could not help but wonder, "Why the spell... or vows?"

The expression upon the Reaper's face looked sad and tired. In that moment, the Grimm Reaper never looked more human. Through the slouch of his shoulders and the pained expression he wore, Ruby could see the weight of his office was nothing but a burden to him. All that power, her heart ached at the thought, but he would give up eternity to just have a friend.

"I am unhappy." he admitted, "I cannot do this work alone, anymore. And I don't want too."

Worriedly, the Queen glanced between the lantern and her cursed people.

"Before you ask," a sly smile touched his lips, "nothing will happen, if you say no. Your citizens will only continue to suffer, as long as you remain a lost soul. Your continued presence, in this world, is what's sustaining the curse."

"If you choose to find your lover in the light," the Reaper comforted the woman, a hint of sadness in his voice, "they'll all be free to join you."

"If you do choose to take my hand," the pinpricks in his eyes seemed to brighten with hope, "and become the keeper of the lantern's guiding light, I will restore them to life. They'll curse your name, but they will live and can rebuild."

"Time is run..."

Suddenly, the Grim Reaper was struck silent. When Ruby swept up to him, cupping his all too human face in her hands, and repeated the last two lines of the spell.

"Your dark shadow, my counterpart. To you I give my mind, my body, my soul and my heart."

Ruby no longer saw the specter, but another lonely soul. Who bore his pain, with quiet dignity. He was not forcing her. Yes, she did this for her people. And for herself. But for him as well. No one, she determinedly believed, deserves to be alone. The Witch Queen decided, if ending his solitude was the only price she had to pay, to save her people from the mess she created, then that was a bargain. On that night, silhouetted by the waning moon, they kissed beneath the indescribable light of the lantern.

Lost, and all alone

Shadows creeping out of sight

Fear seeps into bone

Shining beacon in the night

Death's kiss... In the lantern light