Ynduz River

"What do you mean?" If it weren't for the serious tone of her voice, I would have thought that she was just teasing me by putting the words 'death' and 'cute' in the same sentence. 

But she looked dead serious. 

Pun intended.

"The only way for us to meet her together is by crossing the Ynduz River with Azrael." She was studying my face carefully. As if she's waiting for me to take back my suggestion about tagging along with her at the mention of the Angel of Death and a river that I've never heard of.

"Ynduz River? Is that like the river of death?" I asked instead of jumping to conclusions. As much as I loved watching anime as a kid, I've also fallen in love with Asian dramas and movies when I was in my teens. 

And in a lot of those films, the mythical 'river of death' came out several times in a variety of names.

She chuckled, probably realizing where my thoughts were coming from. "It's quite similar to that. But if it's the unrested spirits you're afraid of, then there's nothing for you to worry about. There are no trapped souls underwater or anywhere in this world."

"I didn't say that I was afraid of them." I said a little too defensively.

"Yeah. Sure. If you say so." She placed her empty cup on the tray and leaned forward to focus her attention on me. "Anyway, what you should be worried about is the river itself. It was designed to keep humans from crossing it."

Really?

A smile crept on her face. "Long ago, I heard that a couple of people tried to cross it because of the rumors that they could meet their dead loved ones on the other side or they could have a single wish granted by a deity if they managed to cross it."

I unconsciously took a dry gulp. "And?"

"Nobody made it back. Not even as corpses."

More than the fact that the story was creepy itself, the grin on her face was what made chills roll down my spine. It reminded me of that time when we first met and as I was busy admiring her ethereal beauty, she was also busy discussing my death with the Angel of Death himself.

I could only force a chuckle out as I diverted my gaze away from her face. "I guess they got their wish one way or another."

"Pfft." She held back her laughter which made me feel suspicious of what she was thinking. "I never thought of it that way. But that's a nice way to put it. I guess good people really do have a special way of seeing things."

"I'm far from 'good'." Not wanting to ponder on what happened to those people in the past, I focused my attention on the task at hand. "You said that we will be crossing this river with Azrael. Will that make it less dangerous for us?"

"Not in the slightest. Azrael will only be our guide to make sure that we go in the right direction. One wrong move and we could get lost in the Stream of Space without him." She placed her hand on the top of my head and it made me blush. It's been so long since someone did that to me. "The only person that could protect you from the enchantment and dangers of the river is yourself."

I stared at her for a long time and hastily calmed myself down before she could start reading my thoughts again. "Roger that. I won't make you look out for me. When are we leaving?"

"On the daybreak of the Summer Solstice." When she saw that I was about to ask what she was talking about, she added. "We need to travel during the time when Darkness is at Her weakest. Any other day will make the danger sevenfold."

I still didn't know what Summer Solstice was but I just nodded and decided to trust her. Between the two of us, she's the one who's more knowledgeable when it comes to these supernatural things that I used to know nothing of.

It felt like it was just yesterday when I was drinking my ass off with all the other guys during Craige's bachelor party, completely oblivious of this mysterious side of the world and the dangers it entails.

But now, here I am discussing with my Shadow about crossing the famed river of death.

"When is this--"

The rest of my words trailed off when I saw that Xes dropped her head low with her eyes closed. I thought she was just in deep thought but her body slowly tilted to the side so I quickly caught her by her shoulder to keep her from falling.

"Xes?" I called out just in case I was mistaken. But her even breathing gave her away and I could only sigh with worry. "I guess we'll have to add 'sleeping' to this growing list of peculiarities since the contract. She'll definitely freak out when she wakes up tomorrow and learns that she fell asleep."

I got the tray out of the way and placed it on the table. Then I scooped her tiny frame up and was surprised by how light she was. Pushing my consternation aside, I brought her to my room and tucked her in my bed to let her rest properly.

Shadows will always be with you 24/7.

Shadows always listen to every word and thought without exception.

Shadows know every little thing you did.

Shadows never go hungry.

And Shadows never needed sleep.

Those were only some of the few things that I learned from her.

And seeing her experience these uncanny changes, makes me feel bad about staying perfectly normal and healthy after the contract despite her suffering like this.

Not to mention that I could not help but worry whenever she looked the slightest troubled.

I was no kid anymore and I knew exactly where these unwarranted concerns could lead to.

I was starting to actually care for her.

I could not remember when my fear turned to concern but it's a feeling that I was quite familiar with so it was not that hard to recognize it.

And I trust that it was not something that I could not handle.

But looking at her pretty face sleeping peacefully made my heart skip a beat. I rubbed my fist against my tingling chest with a chuckle. "Calm down buddy if you still want to see the daylight tomorrow."