If it had just been him, he would’ve transported. However, Eva couldn’t, so they were going to do this the slow way. And that meant traversing through other realms, and hopefully not setting off any wards or getting caught. There were traveling portals that could get you from one side of the realm to the other, and they allowed free passage as long as there was a treaty in place between the realms. But it got complicated and a little scary for some quickly. Add in the fact that Ashen only knew part of that from what he had read during this training and couldn’t remember all of the intricacies and politics in each realm, and he realized that he was going to have to rely on Eva for a lot.
“What is the nearest realm to the banshees?” Ashen asked as they made their way to the end of the hilly area where a portal to the next realm would be.
“That would be the leprechaun realm.”
He frowned, wondering if he had ever known a leprechaun. He’d had to, right? That familiar pain slid through him, but he ignored it. He hated that he couldn’t remember his old life.
“And, after that?” he asked, looking around.
“After that, it’ll be the dragon realm, and then a few others. But, thankfully, the road from portal to portal on this end is quite short. If you stay on the portal road, you’re not technically trespassing.”
“That’s always good.”
“Well, I would hope so. Because I don’t really want to end up in a territorial battle or war right now.”
“I don’t either.”
“Especially because most people don’t know that reapers exist. It’s going to take all day for us to travel, but we’ll make it,” she said quickly.
“And then we’ll figure out exactly what to do,” Ashen said.
They made their way through the portal, the magic clinging to his skin. The bear who lay dormant within him started to shift, slowly waking up and stretching.
He rubbed his chest over his heart, wondering what would happen if the bear indeed came back.
Could a reaper shift? Reaper hadn’t been too helpful with that question earlier, but Ashen hoped he could take his other form. He missed his bear, even if he didn’t quite remember what it felt like to shift. But it still felt as if he had lost a part of himself.
“We’re here, at least in the first realm,” Eva said beside him. He looked around, his eyes wide.
“Wow,” he said, his voice a whisper.
“Yeah, the leprechauns don’t really do anything halfway, do they?”
She wasn’t joking. There were literal rainbows crisscrossed over the air, and it looked as if that was what they used as roads. Everything was green, and there were gold pillars everywhere. It looked like a box of that children’s cereal had exploded all over the realm. He couldn’t quite keep his eyes on any one thing because it almost hurt to look at it.
“This isn’t my favorite place, even though I know a couple of leprechauns who are amazing. They don’t live here, though.”
She said the words quietly, and Ashen held back a smile. He hadn’t even realized that he was going to smile, and his face hurt a little doing so, but he liked it.
Eva was funny. His mate was fun.
Mate.
If he were the person he had been before, he knew, unequivocally knew, that this would be what he wanted. To find his mate, and to find that chance for happiness. But he wasn’t that person. And he didn’t know what he wanted now. He only knew that he had a feeling that Eva was it.
“Okay, this next portal’s quick, so we don’t have to stay here too long.”
They went from portal to portal, walking hours in between realms.
They passed others, but nobody really bothered them.
He was grateful that nobody really gave him a second look because he didn’t want others to know precisely who or what he was. Before they hit the leprechaun realm, he had tucked his cloak into his bag and had hidden his scythe in a magical air pocket beside him so he could walk around freely without having to scare others with a large weapon.
That meant he was wearing dark jeans and a dark, long-sleeved shirt that covered up any scars he had.
His new form hadn’t come out whole. He still had what looked like burn scars on parts of his body, as if that had been something so relevant in his first life that they had come back in his second. He didn’t mind because it was a reminder of who he had once been, and he wanted to remember that person.
“Your hair is getting blonder,” Eva said as they made their way through the fifth realm. They were both getting tired, he knew that, but she hadn’t stopped moving. In fact, they just kept going at a steady pace, both of them ready to figure out exactly what was happening. He didn’t want Eva to die, and he didn’t know if he wanted to remain a reaper who listened blindly to orders.
“What do you mean?” he asked, sliding his hands through his hair. It reached his shoulders and had been white before. Now, he saw that it was turning slightly gold.
“That’s interesting.”
“You’re starting to look more like a Viking god rather than the ghost you resembled before.”
He shrugged and slid his hands through his hair again. “I wonder if I look the same as I did before.”
“I have a feeling your eyes are completely different.”
“Yes, I’ve never known eyes like mine. Though all of the reapers have various hues.”
“I never knew that. Of course, you reapers are very secretive.”
“I have a feeling that each paranormal realm does its best to be the most secretive.”
“Well, that makes sense. Okay, this is going to be a longer path after this portal. It’s the wizard realm, and while they don’t mind if we walk through it, we have to be careful with the magic we invoke.”
“I wonder if I knew a wizard before.”
“I know one. He’s actually pretty high up in the hierarchy. If we had time, I would go visit him and see what he and his mate have to say. However, we’re on our way to a dragon.”
Ashen nodded, and then they slid through the magic into the new realm. It looked like old London, complete with magical fire in gas lamps. Well, old London in the human realm probably didn’t have magic, but what did he know? He hadn’t been there. At least, he didn’t think he had. He honestly didn’t know how old he had been when he died.
“Okay, this is going to take a while. We might need to rest.”
She rolled her shoulders back, and he frowned. “Do I need to get you something to eat?”
“I’m not hungry, but if I were, I could get my own food. Just because we are potential mates doesn’t mean that you have to take care of me.”
“I’m a bear, I’m supposed to take care of you. It’s our thing.”
He said the words, and her eyes widened. “That is a very bear thing to say.”
“But I’m not a bear, am I? I’m a reaper.”
“You can still be a bear. You said yourself that it could come back. Do you feel him at all?”
He frowned, nodding. “A little. But he’s taking a while to wake up from what feels like a long nap.”
“Hibernation?” she asked, her lips twitching.
“You know, I would get mad about that joke, but it’s an apt description.”