The voice came again.
"Come home, my son."
Rive stood motionless.
Beyond the enormous portal, something covered in darkness watched him. Its massive fingers curled around the edge of reality, while silver cracks spread across the air around its body.
But Rive barely noticed any of that.
He had heard that voice thousands of times.
When he was sick.
When he returned home late.
When he forgot to eat because he was too busy drawing.
When he pretended everything was fine, even when it wasn't.
His mother's voice.
The one voice he had desperately wanted to hear since the day he died.
"Mom…?"
His lips trembled.
The creature extended its hand.
"Come here, Rive. You've been away for so long."
Rive took another step.
Vikram immediately caught his wrist.
"Stop."
"Let go."
"Rive, listen to me."
"That's my mother!"
"No, it's something pretending to be your mother!"
Rive turned toward him.
"Then why does it sound exactly like her?"
Vikram didn't answer.
"WHY DOES IT KNOW MY NAME?"
His voice echoed through the ruined chamber.
For a moment, even the Reapers remained silent.
Rive looked back at the portal.
The creature's enormous fingers moved gently, almost invitingly.
"It's all right, sweetheart. Come home."
Something inside Rive broke.
He had imagined this moment countless times.
He had imagined returning to his house, opening the front door, and finding his family waiting for him.
He had imagined his mother scolding him for being late.
His father asking where he had been.
His sister making fun of him.
He had imagined telling them everything.
That he was sorry.
That he missed them.
That he hadn't wanted to leave.
He had imagined all of it.
But he had never imagined how painful it would be to hear his mother's voice and not know whether it was real.
"Vikram…"
His voice became small.
"What if it's really her?"
Vikram's grip loosened slightly.
For the first time, he didn't look like the powerful Guardian of the Afterlife.
He looked like someone who understood exactly what Rive was feeling.
"Then we'll find a way to reach her," he said quietly.
He paused.
"But not like this."
Rive lowered his head.
The creature waited.
Then it spoke again.
"Rive, please. I'm waiting for you."
Rive closed his eyes.
And remembered something.
Something ordinary.
Something that had once annoyed him more than almost anything else.
His mother had a terrible habit of calling him by his full name whenever he was in trouble.
Not Rive.
Not sweetheart.
His full name.
Usually followed by a lecture long enough to qualify as a university course.
Rive opened his eyes.
He looked at the creature.
"Hey, Mom?"
The darkness tilted its head.
"Yes, sweetheart?"
Rive swallowed.
"What's the name you call me when I'm in trouble?"
Silence.
The creature's fingers stopped moving.
Rive's voice shook, but he continued.
"You know. When I break something. When I forget to do my homework. When I accidentally burn food because I thought I could cook."
Vikram slowly looked at him.
Rive continued.
"You always call me that name before telling me I'm going to regret being born."
A long silence followed.
Then the creature answered.
"Rive."
Rive's expression changed.
"No."
The creature's fingers tightened around the portal.
"Come home."
Rive shook his head.
"My mother would never just call me Rive when I'm being stupid."
Vikram stared at him.
"That's your test?"
Rive glanced at him.
"It's a very reliable test."
"Your standards are concerning."
"My family has high standards. I have survived by lowering mine."
Under different circumstances, Vikram might have laughed.
Instead, he stepped between Rive and the portal.
The creature's voice changed.
The warmth disappeared.
"Come home, Rive."
Its fingers scraped against the edge of reality.
"Come home."
The chamber trembled.
"COME HOME!"
The voice became a distorted roar.
Rive flinched.
The creature's fingers tightened, and a massive crack tore across the portal.
The lead Reaper immediately raised its weapon.
"Emotional mimicry confirmed. The entity is attempting to establish a soul connection."
Lysara, standing beside a broken pillar, looked horrified.
"A soul connection? With Rive?"
"Not merely with him."
The Reaper's mask turned toward the portal.
"Through him."
Rive stared at the enormous hand.
His expression hardened.
"So you aren't my mother."
The creature became still.
Rive took a step forward.
"You're just something wearing her voice."
The darkness pulsed.
Then, from somewhere inside it, came a whisper.
"You sound just like your father."
Rive froze.
His father.
The creature had changed its voice again.
This time, it sounded exactly like him.
And Rive knew something was terribly wrong.
Because his father had never spoken those words.
Not once.
Not in any memory Rive could recall.
Yet somehow—
Hearing them made his chest ache.
As though a memory buried deep inside him was trying to awaken.