The Reaper's Tomb

There weren’t always dragons in the Valley. We were all witches, sure, but no dragons among us, at least not for hundreds of years. Everyone was so sure that they’d all died in the war. But it’s not like we could ask any neighboring village. Fire waged a war on Water, and now there’s not much left except for the Valley. We’re sure it had a different name once, but that was a long time ago. We don’t know much about who we were or where we came from. We may have had some indication of who our ancestors were if Water, the dragon in the east, hadn’t submerged half of the city underwater. We built above the water to survive, but we never expected what came out from underneath.

***

If I was capable of sprinting to the greenhouse, I would have. But unfortunately for me, the greenhouse was in Middle Point, the center of the Valley, only accessible by boat, and I had a very crucial piece of paper in my hand. Even so, I felt my muscles prepare for a dive into the water. It had, for as long as I can remember, been a daily ritual for me to leap from the balcony of my room into the water (it was only a 10 foot drop), towards Noa and the greenhouse. But no. Not today. This piece of paper, with “Navya Khatri” signed in messy cursive, determined the next five years of my life, maybe more. It needed to survive the trip. So I quickly made my way down the stairs to the dock of my home, my long black braid jostling back and forth with my steps. I quickly tuck the piece of paper between my shorts and the wrap around my waist before settling onto the wooden board with a paddle.

As I rowed towards Middle Point, I let myself take time to close my eyes to the sky, feeling the sun warm my chocolate skin. There was a soft breeze coming off the mountains today and it made my curly wisps dance softly against my skin. God, that felt good. It felt almost wrong to take time to breathe, considering I hadn’t opened the piece of paper from Leader Savedra yet. Conjurer witches were very rare, considering there was only one bloodline of conjurers. But the Valley only required one conjurer witch and my mother already had that title. From her, I learned everything I could ever need to know about the gift of life and death. Under my belt, I had eighteen years of anything I could ever need to know about healing a person, communicating with the dead, controlling bones, etc. Every pebble has been turned over in both my general and conjurer education. And yet, she treats me like I’m not ready. Conjurers were capable of reviving beings or, vice versa, killing them, but we were banned from doing those sorts of acts. My mother still taught me anyway, without Leader Savedra knowing, but it only made me more ready for whatever was to come. I knew there would come a day when I would be required to step up as Valley Conjurer, and I was okay with that. But what I wanted more than anything was the chance to be a diver. My mother hated the idea, naturally, but I want to be the one who finds things, history, that were previously lost to time. With each role in the Valley, there was a time at the end of five years that a person could either continue or terminate their role. This tiny piece of paper contained either five years of complete and utter freedom or a lifetime of fulfilling a duty I never asked for. The gift of life and death was about as serious as it sounds. To hold someone’s life in your hands is a big responsibility and I didn’t ever want to be the one to metaphorically pull the trigger.

It’s a very delicate thread.

Oh yep, there’s the panic.

But lucky for me, Middle Point was quickly approaching, the top of the architecture, moving to block the sun from my face. I rowed under one of the many marble archways and paddled left until my board was pressed against the elaborate stairs. I cautiously unloaded from my board, the water hitting just above the knees, making sure the paper was secure and dry as I ascended the stairs. I wrung out my wrap as I approached the top of the stairs and rounded to the right toward the section of the greenhouse. Middle Point was home to a plethora of places. It was once a towering palace and even after the flooding, it is grander than any other building in the Valley. It is the place where meetings are held, historians do their research, and there is even a massive library filled with all sorts of recovered books. I mounted the second case of stairs. The greenhouse sat at the very top of Middle Point and was probably my favorite place in the entire Valley. There were a lot of people who preferred time in the greenhouse over any other place. And for good reason.

I make my way to the entrance. The sunlight pours out of the greenhouse and reaches my feet, slowly climbing up my legs, my damp skirt with each step and when I reach the staircase, the sun’s warmth engulfs me, as does the greenery. Hundreds of trees are planted here in species groups. Palm trees, magnolias, willows, and in the middle of all the trees, a spacious wisteria in full bloom. There was also a small makeshift river that ran through both the trees and the fields of crop, a few bridges spread out for crossing. A system of bridges and staircases also connected the second and third levels of plant life. The greenhouse, while gigantic, was still only a limited space for so much vegetation and therefore, platforms were used to make the most of the space. The greenhouse, bustling with green witches in the midst of their activities, seems like one complete organism in lively sync.

Today was MoonDay and Noa worked in the corn crop located on the second level. I made my way across the left mid bridge. The corn crop was almost a straight shot to the back of the greenhouse. I took my time getting there, gently brushing my hands along the wisteria as I went. It was easy to spot Noa amongst the green witches in the corn crop, despite the uniform green piece. Her fiery red hair acted as a beacon as she worked. I practically ran to her, my bare feet pounding against the damp soil. Noa wasn’t the most observant and I wasn’t surprised when she didn’t notice me a few mere feet from her, so I gently kicked some dirt up at her to get her attention.

“Well, well, well. If it isn’t Navi Khatri.” Noa said as she looked up, breaking into a smile.

“You say that every time I come in here. I come everyday.”

“Yeah, I know, but we got a good thing going. So what horror stories do you have from working with your mom today?”

“For once, I’m not here to complain about my mother.” I reply with a barely-contained giddy expression. Her quizzical green eyes grew about three sizes when she noticed the piece of paper at my waist.

“Navi, oh my God! What did you get? Please tell me you don’t have to be an apprentice to your mom, because that would be the worst-”

“Noa, I haven’t even opened it yet. I wanted to do it with you here.”

“Well,” Noa drawled as she stood and dusted dirt off her hands. “‘ I’m here so there’s no need to wait anymore. Open it!”

“Okay, okay, I’m opening it.” Yet, I did not open it. I hesitate, the panic booming in my head and my heart, making my hands shake slightly. Instead, I began to fold and unfold the paper in my hands. “I mean, what if they don’t take me as a diver? This is one of the only things that I’ve really really wanted. But what if I didn’t do well enough on the diving test or they think I need more time with my mom-”

“Whoa, whoa. Navi, take a deep breath.” Noa took a breath with me while gently rubbing the palms of my hands.

“Do you feel better?”

After a moment, I nod.

“Good. Now, Navi, there is no use in worrying about any of that now. I understand that this is a huge deal, but you have done your best to achieve this goal haven’t you?” I nodded, more sure this time.

“That is what matters, Navi. You’re even wearing a blue suit today. You know you’ve done all that you can and now whatever happens, it’s out of your hands. What’s meant to be will be.”

“What’s meant to be will be.” I repeat, letting the words fill me with reassurance. After another deep breath, I unfold the paper.

Navya Khatri,

Due to your unusual situation and with the role of Valley Conjurer filled for the time being, you have been given a chance to be selected for a valley role outside of your conjuring abilities. With that, I am happy to inform you that you have been selected as a Diver. This will be your role for the foreseeable future, or until the role of Valley Conjurer is to be yours. I wish you the best on your unique endeavor.

Leader Savedra

I stopped reading after the word, “Diver.”

“I’m in! Noa I’m a Diver!” Without thinking, I jump onto Noa. And then I remember she only weighs about 100 pounds and we fall onto the soil together.

Noa giggles as she rolls me off of her. “This is great, Navi! I’m so happy for you. And now you can shut up about the water “calling” you.”

I chuckle, realizing how ridiculous it sounds when I hear the words back. “Okay, I know I sound unhinged, but I’m serious! There’s something down there for me to find, I just know it. Don’t ask me what it is, because I don’t know, but it’s waiting for me.”

Noa examines my face before, her eyes soften before saying again, “What’s meant to be will be.”

“What’s meant to be will be.”

***

My mom isn’t half as excited for me as Noa is.

“Listen, I know that you don’t have to be my apprentice, but a diver? Absolutely not. There is nothing down there for you but miles of junk and sirens.”

“Mom, nobody sees sirens anymore. And it’s not “junk” it is artifacts and books and knowledge. We know so little about who we were before -”

My mom cuts me off by saying, “It doesn’t matter who we were before, it matters who we are now.”

“Mom, that is not true and you know it! There could be something down there that could help us progress. Help us move forward so we don’t repeat history.”

My mother takes a deep breath and pinches the bridge of her nose. “Navi, I just don’t want you going down there, okay? So much can happen down there. And I know you feel drawn to what’s there under the water, but it’s best to leave it alone, alright? Trust me.”

I take a long look at my mom. “Mom, do you know what it is?”

A deep sigh. “No.”

“But you feel it, too, don’t you?”

“Yes, Navi. I feel it, too.”

I take a deep breath and sit down on a stool beside her medicine table. “I need to know what it is.”

“Navi-”

“No, mom. I need to know. I’ve never felt anything like this before; It’s like it’s pulling me, begging for me to find it. Besides, I’m diving tomorrow morning with the others and there’s no chance that I could back out now, even if I wanted to. I’m going and you can’t stop me.”

With that, my mom looks at me for a long moment, her brown eyes like the soil in the greenhouse. She then released an exasperated sigh, “I don’t like this.”

“I’m not saying you have to like it. I’m saying I need you to trust me and my abilities.”

My mom gives me a half-hearted smile. “I have never once doubted those.”

***

“Okay, I’m gonna break this down for you guys only once, so please pay attention. This is going to be nothing like the diving practices. This is the real deal, got it? Now, this area should be pretty safe, but just in case, try to stay in groups of two or three…”

As Instructor Rocha drones on, I do my best to steady my racing heart. I can hear it throbbing in my ears and I worry that the others might, too. But as I look on at them, a sea of men in the diver jumpers and women in their blue suits, they’re all listening to Instructor Rocha. I know I should be listening too, but I’m too wrapped up in myself. This is it. I have been dreaming and working for this for as long as I can remember. I don’t have any idea what I’ll find down there, making this equally thrilling and mortifying. But better to know now than to never know.

When I tune back into reality, Instructor Rocha has finished up her speech and the divers begin to space out on the doc, preparing to dive. I do the same and look out, seeing nothing but sun and water. The Valley stands behind me. I look back at it once more, knowing that after this, I’ll never look at it the same. Or maybe I won’t look at it again ever…

The whistle is blown and we dive.

The cold water sends a jolt to my nerves. It’s chilling and exciting, as if the water has kissed a live wire somewhere in my system. This isn’t anything I’ve felt before. I feel the wire stretch from my body, leading far ahead of me and then down, down, down.

I try to take a deep breath, only for water to assault my throat, suffocating me. Looking to see the clear film around the other divers’ lips, I remember that I haven’t taken a mermaid mouth yet. I splay my fingers through my bag, desperately seeking a hold on one of the tiny plastic pills in my pouch. The water in my throat is vacuumed out as I bite down on the pill. The mermaid mouth rapidly spreads to my throat, around my mouth, over my lips like an icy liquid. I take in a desperate and water-free breath before I’m able to place myself back in reality with the group of divers.

I see a number of dark shapes before me. Some round, some odd-edged. Some colossal, some barely of note. It isn’t until we are closer that I can make out the different rides of what was once an amusement park. That’s when we begin to spread out. At this point, my whole body is buzzing with electricity, pulling me past the ferris wheel. I swim in between the mossy bars of the ride and past it, lower to the ocean floor, there is a faint glimmer. Upon swimming closer, I make out a minuscule hut constructed entirely of glass. A greenhouse. It is overgrown with plants and moss and the water has made it hard to see from any real distance, but the entrance stands wide open. It welcomes me with a thrilling curiosity and I oblige, entering into the building. My arms and legs brush against the plants as I swim inside. The interior feels like a hideout in plain sight. I look up to see divers swimming tens of feet above me, but they never seem to notice the little greenhouse as they look down.

I push through the large algae gently swaying in the water, but am greeted by a leering hole in the floor. It looks not as if eroded by the water, but like someone took a sledgehammer and made this hole. For the very first time in my life, I am cautious of what has brought me so far away from my civilization. But I press my hands into the side of the hole and carefully peer over the edge.

Slight ruins and what look to be the beginnings of a staircase. A saffron school of fish mingling among the striking colors of coral. At the center of it all, an exquisite statue of a woman, spared of any evident destruction. The lady of marble smiles and reaches out her hand to me. The invisible string leading me and the ethereal scene below takes precedence over my fears and I dive toward the maiden without further hesitation. I reach out my own hand to hers and take a hold of the smooth fingers, so as not to float back up to where I was.

I take a long look around and it is utterly beautiful. An entire ecosystem of colors and creatures live here, hidden to the world above. Perhaps, that’s for the best. But past all the beauty, all the liveliness, there’s a thrumming underneath. I part with the marble maiden and swim. Over the coral, over the fish, and beyond the staircase. There, I find a dark hall, so far away from the entrance that I see only fading blackness. The thrumming is stronger now. Every nerve ending in my being now feels aflame and I let that lead me further and further into the darkness.

Just when I think there is to be no end, I begin to make out a purplish glow from yet another hole. I can't help but bite the inside of my mouth, the texture being uncomfortably different due to the mermaid mouth, as I peer down this gaping chasm. Here, there is no marble maiden, no school of fish, no color beyond the glowing. I can’t see the bottom of the abyss, only a cylinder shape of rows and rows that fade into nothing. But right below the entrance of the cavern, there is a small opening, a door. And in this door is the home of the violet glow. I make haste of swimming the short distance, desperate to be rid of the sight of the gaping mouth of darkness.

But as I swim through this door, gravity greets me like an unexpected visitor and I am dropped onto my stomach. Hard.

My chest clenches around what little air was not just pounded out of me. What’s curiouser, I feel the mermaid mouth dissolve entirely, something that only happens when one makes it back to dry land. I roll onto my back and am bombarded with the bright lavender light. I flinch away, as it’s a stark difference from the black void I was just staring into. But as my vision adjusts, I see it is not so much of a light as it is a… glowing plant?

My hard fall is a faint memory to my body as I quickly stand, taking note of several large lilacs dangling from the ceiling, all larger than they should be and glowing like only a thing of my imagination. It shouldn’t be possible. I look back at the opening I came in, at the body of water. There is nothing standing between the water and the entrance to this cave, and yet, the water halts at the mouth of the cave by an unseeable force. It’s as if the laws of nature don’t reach this place. I whip my head to the rest of the cave and I am in complete awe. Grass of the richest green lies before me and I dig my toes into its soft, dry soil. Flowers of all kinds, each bringing forth a radiant glow of colors I don’t have the names for. Butterflies with crystalized wings mingle with the flowers and I am pulled, not completely of my own volition, into this ecosystem of wonder.

I venture further and further into the incandescent cave. It’s strangely unnerving when my eye catches on something of mundane color. I quickly realize it’s a body and rush to its side. It appears to be a man, and when I try to roll him over, my system short-circuits and ignites every corner of my existence.

I retract into the corner until my back hits the grassy wall.

It’s him. He is who I’m here for, who I’ve been looking for. Not the vibrant organisms of crystal and magic, but this man. This simple, ordinary man. But maybe he wasn’t simple nor ordinary.

After all, who finds a person so mundane in a place as wondrous as this? I decide to hone into him and him alone, letting everything else slip away from my mind’s grasp. I search his thread of life and death, inspecting his systems, his heart, when I realize it isn’t beating.

I crawl over to him, pushing past the crackle of energy whenever I touch him, and roll him onto his back. I run my magic over him and there is nothing to be found. Nothing. No sign of life, but no sign of death either. There was no decomposition. It was as if his body had been preserved. Like he was in a state of in-between. I’d never seen something like this before.

I take one long look at him. He had a soft expression, like he was merely sleeping. His lips were slightly parted, but there was no breath escaping them. I take a deep breath through my own mouth, release it, and bring myself back to his thread.

Everybody had a different life and death thread. My mother and I glowed brighter than everyone else in the Valley because of our power and closeness to the precious string. But this man glowed brighter than both of us combined. His was an icy blue line that looked to be frayed at the center, almost cut completely, but there was something there holding them together like glue. A bright purple shine. Conjurer magic. But not my work nor my mother’s. This must have been done long before either of us existed.

I summoned my power, my hands glowing a bright purple, and I began to mend his line. I reconnected his individual strands until they became whole once again.

He began to stir.

I jumped up and backed away from him once again as he shifted and slowly opened his eyes. He slowly sat up, back to me, and seemed to take a look around this tomb of sorts. The cautious movements didn’t last long as I stumbled into a group of flowers, their crystal textures coming together to sound like a ringing bell announcing my presence. Great.

The man quickly whipped around and our eyes met. I could feel my cheeks heat and I wanted to look away, but couldn’t as his blazing blue eyes pinned me to where I stood. After a moment, his eyes softened into curiosity, and then I really couldn’t look away. We stayed like that for a mere moment before he broke eye contact and roared in sudden pain. I could only watch in horror as the bones and muscles on his back began to shift in a gruesome manner until something slowly bloomed there.

Growing and growing… into a wing.

I let out my own cry and backed away as I recognized that wing from books upon books covering the war. The dragon war of Fire and Water.

Tears trickled down my cheeks and I thought to myself over and over, What have I done? An abrupt, fierce pain slashed at my ankles. The searing rang through my entire body as two hands dragged me out of the cave. I try to scream, but nothing comes of it and I am pulled down, down, down.