Twilight and Moondancer lay on their bed, horns glowing and pulsing, hind legs entwined, rubbing and grinding their damp mounds together, nipples stiff and ruddy.
Twilight panted and leaned in, nibbling at Moondancer’s ear and neck: “I-I’m so glad all that craziness is over! You have no idea how long I’ve waited to get back to bed!”
Her lover exhaled luxuriously: “I’ve missed this, too, Twi! I’ve gotten really tired of taking care of myself!”
Twilight grinned: “Well you’re going to have to wait your turn! I’m the one who just went through a traumatic experience, after all! I need you to charge me up!”
Moondancer rolled her eyes and sighed dramatically: “Fine! I’ll do my duty, your Highness!”
Twilight laughed, flopped over onto her back, and brusquely pushed Moondancer’s face down her abdomen: “That’s more like it!”
Moondancer’s eyes glittered as she ran her mouth slowly down Twilight’s chest, licking and nibbling, pausing as she dropped below her belly, biting and sucking at Twilight’s erect nipples.
Twilight gasped and arched her back, letting her quivering legs spread as Moondancer slipped down between her loins, breathing in the musk, teasing the dark folds with the tip of her tongue.
Twilight’s nostrils flared as her breath came in short bursts: “Oh-oh okay! Th-the horn thing I showed you! Oh, sweet stars and moon, do the thing with your horn!”
Moondancer slid her forelegs under Twilight’s hips as her horn began to glow and radiate a gentle heat. She leaned in and slipped the tip between Twilight’s glistening folds.
Then she stopped, furrowed her brow and tried again.
Twilight bit her lip and writhed in delicious agony: “Do-don’t tease! Just--oh, please!”
“Umm, I can’t…”
“Wha-what?”
“It won’t go in, and now there’s some sort of glyph or charm sealing you shut.”
Twilight pulled her forelegs in against her sides and propped herself up so she could look down between her legs. She squinted at Moondancer’s upturned face.
Moondancer shrugged and pointed to a glowing, golden symbol, hovering just above Twilight’s sex: “See?”
A sharp buzz split the air, startling both mares. Moondancer shimmered and faded as the room was washed away in a blaze of white light. The buzzing grew louder.
Twilight cracked an eye open and glared at the alarm on the whitewashed nightstand, announcing the time as seven o’clock. The buzzing continued.
She lashed out with a hoof, smashing the clock: “Three. Damn. Nights of this!”
She sat up, yanking a damp hoof from between her legs, throwing the twisted sheets aside, wiping the beads of sweat from her brow. She slid off the edge of the bed and took a wobbly step toward the bathroom.
Twilight chewed her lip as she stepped into the cool, tiled room and started the shower: “Maybe I can talk to Luna. No, I don’t know...”
She stepped into the shower as steam filled the room.
Reaper phased-in near the outdoor entrance to Celestia’s solarium, and looked through the glass, noting that the other five attendees were already present, chatting and taking tea.
He grinned: “I wonder if I announced myself as ‘the Late Reaper’ if that would be a bit too on-the-nose?”
He opened the door and stepped inside, bearing left so as to keep maximum distance between himself and Zecora.
Luna glanced at Zecora’s drooped ears and wide eyes and stood: “Good morning, Reaper! Please, come sit by me!”
Reaper slowly worked his way behind Twilight and Noble as Celestia moved closer to Zecora and placed a gold-shod hoof over the zebra’s trembling foreleg.
Zecora furrowed her brow and glanced at Reaper: “I hope you will not think me rude / if with you here I seem subdued!”
Reaper adjusted his cloak and sat down with a smile: “I know we’ve never met, Zecora, so your discomfort is understandable. I won’t tell you to ‘just ignore me,’ but I assure you my presence gets a little less daunting as time goes by.”
He nodded to Celestia: “Isn’t that right, Princess?”
She grimaced: “You’re definitely an acquired taste.”
Luna smiled at Zecora: “I know Reaper would be very interested in speaking with you sometime regarding your memories of Gil and Bramble, and especially Kla’atra.”
Reaper nodded: “Yes--I have something of an interest in how the Void came to be, and the bits of your story I’ve heard second-hoof have me intrigued.”
Zecora’s eyes darted back and for the between Reaper and Luna as she tapped a hoof nervously on the table: “I’ll be glad to tell you many tales / if on your patience I might avail!”
Reaper smiled: “Of course! There’s no hurry, and we can meet any time and any place you’re comfortable. Bring somepony with you, if that makes it better.”
Luna turned to Reaper: “I actually have a thought on this topic--we could use Dux’a’s baths. They are a tightly-controlled, private bit of the dreamscape, and your effect should be attenuated, as long as I am present.”
“Whatever works for Zecora. Like I said, anytime, anyplace, with anypony in attendance.”
Celestia smiled and poured Zecora more tea: “Have you and Twilight had a chance to catch-up? I suspect you each have many questions for the other.”
Zecora took a sip and shook her head: “No--we’ve both been under constant care / and haven’t had the time to spare.”
Twilight nodded: “Between the Royal Surgeon and her psychiatrist sidekick, and my attempts to get some sort of narrative roughed-out, I’ve rarely been out of my room.”
Luna raised an eyebrow: “And you have not been sleeping well as a result.”
Twilight took a drink of cider and chewed her lip for a moment: “There are multiple reasons for that…”
“I understand. Perhaps the three of us could meet for a time this evening, and you and I can introduce Zecora to the Baths. It might help relieve some stress.”
Twilight’s eyes flickered toward Noble for a moment: “Stress…”
Noble looked up from his plate with a raised eyebrow. He swallowed and straightened up: “So other than debriefings and narratives, is everything laid to rest, so to speak?”
Reaper took a deep breath and let it out slowly: “I think so. The twenty-three plus Bramble are accounted for, Grey Thorn will likely spend eternity in Tartarus, Zecora and Twilight are on the mend, the table is destroyed, and Grey Thorn’s mirror is gone, as it the Void itself.”
“Yeah, what about that? What finally became of it?”
“It’s sitting at the very edge of what I call the Last Horizon. That’s the vanishing point beyond the Waiting Room where spirits depart this world.”
Celestia furrowed her brow: “Just sitting there? Is there any risk?”
Twilight laid her ears down and stared into her cup.
Reaper glanced at Twilight: “No. Nopony but me can get into the Waiting Room anymore. The Void’s just lying there, a ruined husk, a cold, silent monument to folly. Zecora indicated there may be remains of Green Streak and Top Cover in there somewhere; I’ll take a look. If I find anything I’ll bring it back out for proper burial.”
Celestia nodded: “We can ask nothing more.”
Luna tipped her head slightly to one side: “What became of the mirror, exactly?”
“I pitched it into the Pit. And since I had used the last of my stallion blood to highlight glyphs and runes on the Void, there’s literally no trace of mortal me left.”
Twilight raised an eyebrow.
Celestia sat back and drained her cup: “Well, that seems to have resolved everything, then. Noble, I know Captain Shatter is interested in seeing a report from you, and--”
She turned coolly toward Twilight: “I will be interested in seeing your recollections as well.”
Twilight smiled weakly: “Yes, Princess.”
Celestia stood and gestured toward Luna: “It sounds like you three have plans for the evening, and I have matters to attend to, so I bid you all a good morning!”
Zecora stood and turned toward the door leading to the garden: “Your garden seems so bright and fair / may I please take my tea out there?”
Celestia smiled and magically opened the door: “By all means! I’ll send an attendant out in a minute with a fresh tray!”
Zecora bowed and walked through the door into the sunlight, mane bouncing in the breeze.
Noble drained his cup, stepped back from the table and bowed: “Well, I guess I’ll get started on that report. Your Highnesses...”
Twilight bit her lip, then stepped briskly around the table, blocking Noble’s path: “First, I need you to come with me, Steel--you’re going to help me get rid of something that’s been haunting me now for months!”
Noble glanced between the three alicorns in confusion: “I...don’t understand. How can I help?”
She sidled next to the unicorn and draped a wing over his shoulder: “Reaper took care of his blood, now we’re going to take care of mine!”
Twilight teleported Noble and herself away in a bright, violet flash.
Celestia furrowed her brow and looked at Luna: “What was that all about? ‘Blood?’ Is Noble in any danger?”
Reaper grinned: “No, though I’m sure he’s in for a bit of a shock!”
“I--I still don’t understand…”
Luna’s eyebrows suddenly jumped as she turned to Reaper: “Her blood! Virgin’s blood!”
Reaper chuckled: “Not for much longer!”
Celestia sighed: “Maybe it will be good for both of them. I know prolonged stress, life-and-death situations, combat, things like that can lead to heightened...tensions.”
Reaper nodded: “Well, I’m sure we’ll know soon enough. In the meantime, Luna would you mind if I joined you three in the Baths briefly this evening? I’d like to see if you’re right and I can use that space to chat with Zecora--at a much later date, of course!”
“Not at all. I will look for you there.”
Reaper bowed and faded away.
As Celestia turned to leave, Luna cleared her throat and caught her sister’s eye: “Might we chat for a moment?”
Celestia moved back to the table and pulled out a chair for them both: “Certainly!”
Luna sat and poured a new cup of tea, slowly, silently and deliberately. Celestia watched her fidget with the tea for a long minute: “Is something wrong? You seem distracted.”
Luna chewed her lip and glanced at Celestia, before looking away: “On the heels of what just transpired between Twilight and Noble, I have a question of some delicacy, and I am a bit embarrassed to bring it up.”
Celestia raised an eyebrow: “Embarrassed?’ Now I’m intrigued! You’re almost never embarrassed!”
She poured herself a cup of tea and continued: “For Harmony’s sake, you gave me a blow-by-blow account of your weeks on Kur and didn’t bat an eye, even as I was blushing to death half the time!”
Luna took a deep breath and nodded: “Interesting you should bring that up. I would appreciate it if…”
“Yes?”
Luna swallowed apprehensively: “If you would explain the logistics of your ‘Honored Consorts,’ and assist me with a selection process.”
A light smile spread across Celestia’s face, and she set down her cup: “Of course, sister! I would be glad to help with that!”
Luna sighed and smiled shyly and finally sipped her tea.
Reaper phased into the Waiting Room, sat down, closed his eyes and reached out with his mind. His eyes moved rapidly beneath their lids as his head sank forward.
He opened his eyes slowly, stood and peered down the dim hallway, lit by oil-lamp sconces. He heard voices coming from around a corner, and walked slowly forward, stopping just before passing under a low doorway. He cocked an ear.
“Wait, even though it was your first time, you had to explain how to touch--”
“Ladies--hush! We have a spy in our midst!”
Reaper grinned and entered the bath chamber: “Luna! Now, you know my gender expression is just an affectation. I take no side in the eternal struggle between stallion and mare!”
Luna smiled coolly: “Perhaps, but one cannot be too careful!”
Reaper chuckled and walked around the side of the bath, finally settling on a bench across from the women lounging in the steaming, perfumed water.
He scanned the three figures, noting Twilight’s scarred face and missing hand. He paused at Zecora: “Interesting. You have the same basic coloring as Luna, though your white-shocked, black hair would have been even more out-of-place on Kur than her hair was!”
Zecora lifted her arms out of the water, turning them over, flexing her fingers: “Yes--this is a very different kind of body. I’m not sure what I think of going about on only two legs!”
Luna sighed: “It was definitely a learning experience for me...”
Zecora tipped her head and regarded Reaper: “Why are you in pony form? Should you not also have the form here that you had on your old world?”
“I’ve retained my pony aspect here for two reasons: first, this is who I truly am. The man I was died twice on Kur, and good riddance. And second, I strongly suspect that were I to appear in my Kurlin form, it might lead to some discomfort.”
Luna shook her head: “I appreciate that, however I assure you that I have come to terms with--”
Reaper tipped his horn toward Twilight: “Not you, Luna--her.”
Twilight raised an eyebrow: “Me, but why? I mean, I don’t even think I know--”
She closed her eyes for a moment.
“Oh! That-that was you! In the visions!”
“Well, strictly speaking it was Gerrar, but yes.”
Twilight shuddered: “Yes--seeing you like that would have been very--wait! Those were real? Not dreams or visions?”
“They were real. They were memories of the man I once was. I knew I had to shock you, knock you back, and I figured scenes so alien and brutal would disorient you enough for me to land my final, desperate blow.”
Twilight bit her lip and stared down into the water: “Dew Drop…”
“Yes.”
She looked over at Luna with pain in her eyes: “Between the two of you I don’t think I’ll ever be able to eat strawberries again.”
Reaper smiled sadly: “I know, but I did what I had to do. The only being in the world who could defeat you by that point was you, and I had to appeal not to a sense of ponyness or connection to others--you had already started to lose that over the last few days--but to your own self-centeredness.”
“What do you mean?”
“By that point other ponies were already becoming abstractions. I had to make you see what the Void and your connection would mean to you specifically--the smells, the sensations--”
“The taste…”
“Exactly.”
Twilight felt the bile rise in the back of her throat, and waved over Eska. The parzaile poured a cup of wine and settled into the water next to Twilight with a vial of warm oil. She began to work Twilight’s shoulders.
Reaper turned to Zecora: “A question for you, if I may.”
Zecora avoided Reaper’s gaze, but nodded: “Please.”
“So the others have told me about you, and we met briefly this morning; I thought you always rhymed. Why not now?”
Zecora smiled nervously: “I didn’t rhyme in the Void, either.”
“Oh?”
“Gil explained that the Void shared many aspect of the dreamscape. He asked if I always rhymed in my dreams, and I allowed that I did not.”
Luna took a cup of wine for herself and nodded: “I can confirm this: you do not always rhyme. I continue to be disconcerted by how much Grey Thorn clearly knew about the dreamscape.”
“Well he’d had years to study you while working under Starswirl, and centuries to fine-tune after you became Nightmare Moon.”
“True.”
Reaper gestured at Zecora: “I very much wish I’d had the chance to know Gil.”
“It made me sad to see him and Kla’atra destroyed by the Vacuum. I think I could have borne dying if there really had been a way for their spirits to escape the Void with mine at the end. She didn’t belong here--this wasn’t her world or her reality.”
Twilight shook her head: “Knowing the field the containment device generated, and the constraints of the first sacrifice circle, there was no way. All three of you would have been absorbed by the field and snuffed-out.”
Zecora nodded sadly: “That’s what Gil said. Still…”
Reaper adjusted his cloak and sword: “Well, I’ll glean what I can from Bramble’s death vision. And I hope to learn even more about the alien, Kla’atra.”
“I will tell you what I can.”
“That will be most appreciated. Maybe you and Bramble’s vision can also shed some light on a unique happening at the very end.”
“Oh?”
“Never before has a pony left this world with a lesser creature in-tow.”
“Creature?”
“Some sort of root-starfish hybrid thing. It followed behind Bramble and disappeared beyond the Last Horizon.”
“Squish!”
“Squish?”
“That’s what the others called it. They assumed it had come along with the Sentinel when it was extracted from its home bog. I asked about it, and realized none of them had any experience with animals or plants. I assumed it was some sort of larva or fragment of the Sentinel itself.”
“Well somehow it became ennobled and passed on.”
Luna raised an eyebrow: “Is such a thing possible?”
“Absolutely. I know of several dragons born bestial that slowly became ennobled over their very long lives.”
Zecora furrowed her brow: “Hmm. I wonder about the Sentinel, then. Do you think…?”
Reaper glanced at Twilight, whose eyes were now wide. She chewed her lip and began to tremble.
Reaper shook his head: “No. My encounter with the entity inside the Void led me to believe it was still bestial--like a timberwolf or early dragon. Perhaps eventually it might have gotten to that point, but at the end it was still not enoblled. The creature you call Squish must have developed independently.”
Zecora smiled: “I’m glad. It had had some sort of relationship with Bramble for centuries, and seemed to be helping us at the end.”
Reaper closed his eyes for a minute: “Clearly. It actually blocked an attack from that entity and saved Bramble.”
Luna furrowed her brow: “Is it possible that you have a death vision for it as well?”
Reaper’s eyebrows jumped: “An intriguing idea! I’ll have to check and double-check as I unpack the millennia of visions from the twenty-four ponies who escaped. I hope I find something!”
Twilight took a deep drink and furrowed her brow: “If I can be of any help…”
“I’m sure you and I will have several sit-downs over the coming years. For now, you just worry about putting your own pieces back together. Those who know what happened will help.”
He turned to Luna with a wink: “In whatever way they can!”
Luna grinned, Twilight raised an eyebrow: “What?”
Reaper smiled: “I stuck my head into Noble’s quarters just before coming here; I had a question for him.”
Twilight shifted nervously and tapped the edge of her cup against her lower lip.
“He looked like--what’s the expression--like ‘he’d been ridden hard and put away wet!’”
Twilight blushed as Zecora and Luna chuckled.
Reaper stood: “And since I believe that’s roughly where I came in, I will bid you ladies a good night.”
He walked toward the exit and nodded toward Zecora: “I look forward to speaking again with you sometime.”
She winced: “That still has a dark undertone to it!”
Reaper smiled sadly as he passed through the doorway: “Occupational hazard, I’m afraid.”
He walked slowly down the dim, twisting corridor, emerging finally from the bath’s front doors. He turned and sat down in the niche beside the caryatid column and scanned the surrounding porch, now bathed in the last rays of sunset.
Luna appeared next to him, swathed in a silver-trimmed, indigo robe: “I finished out the entrance just for you.”
Reaper smiled: “The attention to detail is fantastic--you’ve really outdone yourself! If you put this much effort into that pocket dreamscape you created back on Kur, then Gerrar’s even luckier than I thought.”
Luna turned the robe’s sash over in her hands and smiled softly: “I assumed this place would see extensive use. It only seemed right to lavish attention on a setting that must do double duty as a place of relaxation, and of painful recollection.”
“For you and Twilight, both.”
“Yes.”
Reaper chewed his lip for a moment: “What about Zecora?”
Luna shook her head: “No, she will not require intensive sleep therapy. She already perceives her time in the Void in such a dreamlike manner, that I do not believe it will leave any lasting pain or shadow. A return to her beloved forest is best for her.”
“I understand. And I hope a return to familiar surroundings and duties will likewise be beneficial to Twilight.”
“We shall see.”
Reaper rose and gestured at the porch: “Again, thank you for this. It’s a fitting reminder of our time on Kur--both good and bad.”
Luna stood and nodded with a smile: “Of course! Will I see you at the castle in the future?”
“Unlikely. I need to return to my duties, and fade back into the shadows.”
He phased away: “But you might see me in a dream, from time to time…”
Luna smiled and turned to re-enter the bath’s doors as the sun’s dying rays glinted off her robe’s sparkling trim. Larg rose, cold and silent, above the roofline.
A tea kettle whistled. Noble Steel rose from his desk and crossed his quarters, stopping in front of the stove, turning off the burner. He poured hot water into a teapot, set the dark-blue pot on a tray with a cup and milk, and returned to his walnut-brown desk.
He sat down, moving aside a picture, dated three years earlier, of Zecora and her team assembled in the caverns beneath Canterlot Castle.
He poured a cup and blew on it as he browsed through the morning’s reports. Suddenly he froze as a thrill ran down his spine. He carefully placed his cup back on its saucer.
“I was wondering when you’d finally show up.”
Reaper stepped out of the shadows: “I’ve been busy.”
Noble turned to his right: “For three years?”
Reaper smiled: “Very busy.”
“And here I thought maybe you’d forgotten about me, and I could just quietly live out my days as an immortal.”
“To be honest, I should have reaped you the day I got back from Kur--you and Shatter both. Twilight broke the rules, and I should have set things aright then.”
“Why didn’t you?”
Reaper took a deep breath and gazed at the ceiling for a moment: “I had a sense you might have more to do, and honestly, your service--then and later--earned you a bit of a reprieve.”
Noble smiled sadly: “Well, I appreciate it. I’ve tried to live each day like it was my last, assuming my days were numbered.”
“All ponies’ days are numbered, Captain.”
“True, but I really knew mine were numbered! I tried to live the best I knew how, and help others live the best they could, as well.”
“That’s all anypony can ask, Noble.”
Noble stared into his cup: “I just wish I’d had the chance to see Twilight one more time, to say a proper goodbye. I mean, I just chatted with her over the weekend, but the last time we saw each other was six months ago.”
“Shatter’s funeral.”
“Yeah--there’s one I just couldn’t help. She never really got over Smudge’s death, or her making it out alive.”
Reaper nodded: “Survivor’s guilt.”
“Right. I talked with her over the years, but the drinking just got worse, her moods just got worse, then the accident…”
Reaper blinked slowly: “Yes. Pushed that prosthetic wing too far one too many times, and the recklessness finally caught up with her.”
Noble frowned and drained his cup: “Yeah. Wait--was that you?”
“No. Again, her own behavior finally got ahead of her.”
Noble furrowed his brow: “Suicide?”
“No, just fatalism. I talked with her for a moment in the Waiting Room. She just didn’t really care anymore.”
“I understand.”
Reaper took a step closer; Noble shuddered and put his cup down: “So how’s this gonna go? What will it look like?”
“Ruptured blood vessel at the base of your brain--old injury.”
“From the caverns.”
“Right.”
Noble took a deep breath: “Makes sense. Please tell Twilight goodbye for me.”
“I will. I’d actually thought of letting her know, asking if she wanted to have a final visit, but…”
Noble sucked at his teeth: “No, it’s just as well. It’d have been awkward.”
“My thought exactly. Are you ready to go?”
Noble grinned: “Would it matter if I said ‘no?’”
“No.”
“Worth a shot. Just let me push this tea set aside so I don’t knock it off, or something. I’d hate to leave a mess behind.”
Reaper smiled and drew his sword, stepping up behind the unicorn, now hunched over his desk, eyes closed. The blade rose into the air.
“Time to go wherever warriors go, Captain Noble Steel of the Third Grenadiers.”
“Thank you.”
The blade plunged silently and bloodlessly between Noble’s shoulder blades. He gasped, then slumped forward as his eyes opened slightly, and his mouth went slack.
Reaper bent forward and touched the thin mist with his horn. He stood, arranged Noble’s tipped teacup, and pressed the intercom switch by the picture.
He heard hoofsteps approaching from the hallway, and faded away.
Twilight walked slowly across a well-kept lawn toward a pale-blue, clapboard cottage, pausing for a moment to admire the sunset to the west, turning the sky pink, and sea orange. She walked up the steps to the porch, then the door; she knocked.
A trim, elderly, pale-pink earth pony answered and bowed: “Oh, Princess! Has it been another year already?”
Twilight smiled: “Yes it has Harvest Lily, and this is the tenth year I’ve asked you to please just call me Twilight!”
Lily chuckled: “Well, maybe next year! Please take a seat out on the porch swing and stay as long as you like. Would you care for some tea, or cider perhaps?”
“No, thank you.”
Lily nodded and returned to the cottage, closing the door behind her. Twilight sat on the porch swing and looked out over a neat field of strawberries, nearing harvest. She breathed in the salt air and closed her eyes.
She felt a familiar tingle at the nape of her neck: “Good evening, Reaper.”
“Good evening, Princess. Ten years. How long do you plan to hold this vigil?”
“How long do you plan to hold ponies’ memories? Take a seat, please.”
Reaper adjusted his cloak and sword and sat next to Twilight: “That’s different. That’s my job, my responsibility.”
“Yes, and I’ve taken it upon myself to be responsible for what little bit of Dew Drop remains in the Cosmos--her last shred, her final echo. And when this world goes dark, and I finally go on, I’ll pass it on to you.”
Reaper nodded: “Just don’t let it consume you…”
Twilight took a deep breath: “It won’t. I finally understand that I can’t control death, nor really even understand it. I can just be respectful of its power, and fight as hard as I can to ensure others have the chance to live their best, fullest lives, no matter how brief."
She pulled out a flask from her shoulder bag and took a sip: “Perhaps they shouldn’t be hauled kicking and screaming past that Last Horizon, but maybe they should still drag their hooves a little, and try to squeeze out one last drop.”
Reaper nodded: “Just a heads-up for your next visit--I don’t think old Lily will be here to greet you.”
“Yeah, I figured as much. That’s okay. I’ll shed a tear for her, and all my friends in due course, and let time’s waves wash over me, secure in the knowledge that we’re meant to die--even we ‘immortals,’ and that it’ll all make sense then.”
Reaper grinned: “That’s my girl! If only I actually believed you…”
Twilight shook her head sadly: “I've been practicing that speech for a couple of years now. Not convincing?”
“Try it again in another century. Maybe by then you'll actually believe it yourself.”
Twilight smiled softly: “Maybe. Will I see you again next year?”
“Will you be here next year?”
“Yes.”
“Then, yes.”
They sat in silence for several minutes as the sun sank beneath the waves, filling the sky with bands of blood-red and purple.
Reaper suddenly looked to his left and stood.
Twilight turned her head: “Duty calls?”
“Never fails.”
“Neither do you.”
Reaper smiled as he faded away: “And neither will you.”
Twilight sat for another hour as dusk deepened into night, then stood, bowed toward a small grave near the house, and teleported away in a violet flash.
死