Page 92 of Between Ghosts and Gods

“Well, I can only see one way out.” Arun turned to the reincarnation wheel.

“Are you insane? We can’t use that!”

“Because you think you don’t deserve it?”

Kasu shook her head. Perhaps a few weeks ago she would have felt that way, but that was before she had regained the memories of her death, before she had fought her demon mistress, before she had come to the heavens. Before the heavens proved to be just as corrupt as the under-realm.

“Your mother wanted to bring the reincarnation wheel to the under-realm. She was willing to risk her life to do so.” Even if most ghosts and demons were uninterested in redemption, they should at least have the chance to try and be better.

“I know what my mother wanted, but if we stay here we’re dead.”

“But…”

That was not the only thing bothering her. She turned to Arun. Everyone leaves, he had said to her. Kasu wanted to be different. When he said everyone, she didn’t want him to count her among that number too.

“If we go through the wheel, we’ll be reborn,” Kasu said. “I thought you wanted to stay together. Even if we can set the basic parameters so that at the very least we’re both human, there’s still an element of randomness. There’s no knowing where we’ll be born or what our lives will be like. We could be born in completely different kingdoms far across the sea from one another. We could be born in the middle of a war and die before our first birthdays. We might be enemies. We might never see each other again.”

Arun smiled. “We will.”

Kasu’s brow furrowed in confusion. “You can’t know that for sure. Once you go through the wheel, you forget everything about your previous life. Even if we did meet again, we wouldn’t even know who we were!”

What we meant to one another. She might not like the under-realm, but at least she would still be herself. At least she would still be able to remember Arun.

Arun smiled at her with infuriating confidence. “All right, so I don’t know for sure, and I can’t guarantee anything, but why not have a little faith? You believed in the Heavenly Principles for so long, why not believe in this? I’ll know. I will always know who you are, Kasu.”

“You’re speaking nonsense,” she muttered.

“But it’s true.” Arun took her hand, lacing their fingers together. “Even if I don’t remember your name or why you’re important to me, I will know you. You’re imprinted on my very soul.”

There were fishhooks in her heart, pulling her towards this inevitable conclusion. Behind them, the reincarnation wheel stood to attention, waiting for them to step through. When she looked at it, she was looking at years of dreaming and quiet longing. Her heart trembled, though whether with fear or hope she could not tell.

A noise echoed from the hallway. Kasu jumped. The longer they lingered, the greater their chance of being discovered.

“I’ll find you,” said Ruo. “I can teleport to any open space I have visited before. If I can get to the courtyard here, I can warp back to the under-realm. I’ll lie low for a bit, maybe enjoy the chaos of the city, and then head to the mortal realm. I found you when you were a ghost, even though I didn’t know who you were. I can find you again when you’re a human. Then I can tell you about your previous life.”

“And you think I’d believe you?”

Ruo was a curse. There was a greater chance Kasu would run away screaming. What if, in her ignorance, she ended up hurting Ruo? Just because they were a curse didn’t mean they were invincible.

Ruo grinned. “I can be persuasive.”

Running a hand through Ruo’s fur, Kasu wrapped her arms around the cat.

“Thank you.” She did not know what would await her when she stepped through the wheel – perhaps it would be a life just as bad as her last – but she knew she could handle things with the cat by her side again.

With a grin, Ruo slunk out of the room and bounded away.

Arun ran his hands over the outer ring of the wheel, touching the outer buttons. The reincarnation wheel began to move again. Stone slid against stone, grinding as the wheel spun faster and faster.

Then, just as abruptly as it had started, the spinning stopped and the rings began to glow. At the top the indicators pointed to dense forest and a group of humans. The empty space within the wheel shimmered like a soap bubble. Kasu wondered if stepping through it would make it pop, or if it would envelop them in a pearlescent rainbow. Arun took the first step towards it, gently leading her to its mouth.

“Who gave you permission to use the wheel?”

A cold, unsympathetic voice.

The Celestial Empress stood in the doorway to the storeroom. Not a single hair fell out of place, but the hem of her golden dress was splattered with blood.

“What happened to General Shusa?”