“You don’t have to come with me,” Will said as we ran.
“What are you talking about?” I huffed.
“This is all my own shit, and you don’t have to get any more involved-”
“Wait,” I interrupted, holding out my arm to stop him. We were in a reception area, and on the floor was a glowing circle of runes. I recognized the symbols as the same ones used for portals, but the whole setup was different. There was nothing on the walls, just the circle etched into the carpeted floor.
“I have a score to settle with this guy too,” I reminded Will. Granted, so did Wulver and Henry, but I had convinced them to leave the battlefield and wait for me. They weren’t fighters, and just as Will didn’t want me to risk my life I hadn’t wanted them to risk theirs. Hypocrite that I was, I had already made it all the way here, so I’d might as well see it through to the end.
Will made no other protests and instead took a closer look at the circle. “Did Bill go to the Ether?” he wondered.
“I’m not sure, but the fact that he left this open in plain sight for us to find has to mean that this is a trap.” For him to place this so meticulously in a lobby just screamed how much he wanted us to go through.
“But he’s on the other side of this portal.”
“Maybe.”
Will took a deep breath. “Alright, here goes.”
The two of us stepped into the center of the circle. I held my breath, half expecting something to explode or kill us. But as the light enveloped us I felt the familiar sensation of being transported through a different plane and into the Ether, and when we emerged we were greeted by a field covered in a blanket of white snow. In the distance were green trees and a few buildings-
Wait, this was still Earth.
And right before us, Bill Dawson plucked at a harp, its haunting melody the only sound in the whole area. How or why he got such a large instrument out here was beyond me. “Do you recognize this place, William?” Bill asked calmly, his tone a contrast to the tantrum he had thrown when we last saw him just moments before.
“Can’t say I do,” Will said with cold indifference.
Bill sighed and stepped away from the harp, but the music continued to play, the strings vibrating on their own. “I suppose you came here for this,” he said, holding out the soul cage.
“Let him go,” Will demanded.
Bill smirked. “As you wish,” he said as he opened the box.