19. Ivy
19
IVY
The void is... different.
Not the endless darkness I remember, not the swirling chaos of lost souls. It’s become something else entirely. Something that pulses with a strange, familiar energy that calls to my very essence.
Time doesn’t exist here as I run faster than I ever thought possible. Or maybe it exists all at once. I can feel every death that ever was or will be, every soul that’s passed through this place. They whisper to me, not in fear or anger like before, but with an almost reverent curiosity.
Life thinks she’s imprisoned me. She doesn’t understand what she’s done.
“You feel it too,” a voice says behind me, drawing me to a halt. It’s familiar, but I can’t place where I know it from. I turn to find another Death watching me with eyes that mirror mine. One of my predecessors, though, which one, I’m not sure. “The change.”
“Everything’s different,” I agree, watching as reality ripples around us like dark water. “The void is responding to me.”
“To us,” another Death appears, this one older, wearing a form from centuries past. “We’ve all felt it. The shift in power.”
“Mazzarat?” I murmur, but I need no response. I know I’m talking to the first-ever Death.
More of them emerge from the darkness - Deaths from throughout history, each one distinct yet somehow part of me. Part of what I am.
“Life made a mistake,” the Mazzarat says, moving closer. “She thought trapping you here would weaken you.”
“Instead, she’s given me direct access to the source of our power. To all of it.”
The souls that Life turned against me swirl nearby, no longer hostile but waiting. Watching. They know something’s coming. Something big.
“But why now?” I ask the assembled Deaths. “Why is everything changing?”
“Because Life has weakened herself,” the Mazzarat says, his form flickering like smoke. “By staying in a mortal vessel for so long, she corrupted her own essence.”
I frown. “Mortal vessel?” The penny hits the deck with a loud thud. “Lila?”
“Indeed. And now?—”
“Now she’s dying,” I interrupt as this knowledge floods my brain. “But that’s impossible. Life can’t die.”
“Can’t she?” Another Death—this one appearing as a young woman with silver hair—moves through the shifting darkness. “She chose to experience mortality, to live as one of them, and mortality, once tasted, changes everything.”
“What is Lila?” I don’t know why I need to ask this, I just do.
“She is a shifter, much like you once were. Not immortal in the everlasting sense.”
“So, was she always Life, or did I know the real Lila?” This is important to me. I need to know.
“You knew the real girl for a while. That is who you became friends with. Life took advantage of that.”
The void pulses around us, and I feel something stirring deep within its fabric. The souls draw closer, their whispers growing urgent.
“She stayed in Lila’s form for years. Playing at being my friend, manipulating everything from the inside. All that time... Kai…” I choke back the sob. I’m not upset over him exactly, although that betrayal stung. It upsets me that I thought Lila could be so cruel. I should’ve known something wasn’t right. I could’ve helped her. “Is Lila okay?”
“She is with those who can help her recover as much as possible. It is not clear what her outlook is.”
“Fuck,” I growl. “I’m going to kill that bitch!”
“Focus,” Mazzarat snaps his fingers under my nose as my rage gets the better of me. “All that time, she was poisoning herself, and now she thinks Morrigan’s wild magick can save her. Can purge the mortality from her essence.”
“But she’s wrong. That’s not how it works. That’s not how death works.”
The Deaths around me nod, their forms becoming more solid as power continues to build around us.
“The natural order requires balance,” Mazzarat says. “Life and Death, two sides of the same coin. But Life...” He shakes his head. “Life forgot that. She tried to control both sides.”
“And now everything’s at risk,” the silver-haired Death adds. “If Life dies, the void collapses. Reality collapses. Everything ends except...”
“Except me,” I whisper, feeling that revelation hit my guts hard. “I’d be the only thing left.”
The souls swirl faster, their whispers becoming a chorus of understanding. They’re not just watching anymore - they’re waiting. For me.
“But there’s something else,” I say, sensing it in the way the void responds to my presence. “Something Life didn’t consider when she trapped me here.”
The void pulses harder, and the souls’ whispers grow urgent. They know what’s coming. What has to happen.
“Life thinks she knows everything,” Mazzarat says, his form shifting like smoke. “She thinks wild magick will save her, that she can control death itself. But she’s blind to what’s really happening.”
“She doesn’t see it,” I say, watching as something new mingles with the darkness around my hands - a faint glow, barely perceptible but growing stronger. “She’s so focused on saving herself, on maintaining her control, that she can’t see what she’s actually done.”
The silver-haired Death moves closer, her eyes fixed on the light threading through my darkness. “She trapped you here thinking it would contain you. Weaken you. She never considered that the void would respond to you like this.”
“That by trying to imprison Death itself, she’d give me access to something more.”
The souls swirl faster, their whispers becoming a chorus of understanding. Life doesn’t know. She’s desperate to steal Morrigan’s power, to purge herself of the mortality that’s killing her. But she’ll never change. Even if she succeeds, she’ll keep trying to control death, to disrupt the natural order.
“Balance,” Mazzarat says softly. “That’s what she never understood. What she’ll never understand.”
Power surges through the void, through me, and I understand at last. This isn’t about saving Life. This isn’t even about stopping her. This is about what comes next. What has to come next.
“Both sides of the coin,” I say, watching as light and darkness dance around my hands. “Not fighting for control, but existing in harmony.”
The Deaths around me watch as the light grows stronger, weaving through the darkness like threads of dawn breaking through night. It doesn’t fight the void’s power, it enhances it, completes it.
“Life would never willingly share her power,” Mazzarat says. “She’s held it too long, become too corrupted by her own fear of ending.”
“But power isn’t meant to be hoarded,” I say, understanding flooding through me. “It’s meant to flow. Like the cycle itself. Birth, death, rebirth. Everything connected.”
The void shifts, and I feel something new stirring within it. Within me. Every soul that’s ever passed through here has left an imprint. Not just of their death, but of their life. Their beginnings, their endings, their transformations.
“She’s playing with forces she doesn’t understand,” David says, drawing my attention to him. “Thinking Morrigan’s wild magick can save her. But wild magick isn’t meant to be controlled.”
“No,” I agree, feeling the power build. “It’s meant to be part of the balance. Just like death. Just like life.”
“And what happens when Life finally fails? When her desperate grab for power destroys her?”
“Someone has to maintain the cycle,” I say, watching as the light and darkness swirl together around me. “Someone who understands both sides. Someone who’s lived it, died for it, been reborn in it.” That’s what happened when I was torn apart. I know that now. I died. It’s why Tate died. We are bound together by a fate so powerful, one can’t live without the other. It’s also why everything got so fucked up in the aftermath.
The souls press closer, their energies merging with the void’s power, with my power. They’re not just witnessing anymore - they’re contributing. Every life they lived, every death they experienced, flowing into this moment.
“Life thinks she’s won,” I whisper, feeling the transformation begin. “She has no idea what’s really coming.”