She sat up straight and did not answer, staring at the skeleton with tired grey eyes.
The boatman waited for a bit, then shrugged.
"Are you feeling well? You… you have not been speaking much these past few weeks, creature. Has your mind finally gone?"
The young woman remained silent, making the skeleton uncomfortable. He shook his head.
"Huh… something about you feels different today. Your shadow… it seems to have grown deeper? How peculiar!"
There was no answer.
They continued to sail in silence for a while. Slowly, the fog receded, revealing a black shore. The skeleton changed the course of the boat and let it drift until its bottom scraped against the rock.
There, he let go of the oar and sighed.
"This is it, creature. That is as far as I go."
The young woman remained motionless for a while, then stood up and touched the lantern, letting the white flame travel from it to her palm. After that, she jumped onto the shore, staggered, and slowly straightened herself, looking into the darkness.
Finally, she spoke:
"How close are we to that place?"
The skeleton shrugged.
"Close enough, I'd wager. Uh… sorry for lying to you, by the way. In my defense, you only have yourself to blame, creature! Who would be foolish enough to believe that anyone can cross the Underworld? This place is not the likes of us to traverse. Getting this close to its inner border is already a miracle."
He hesitated for a while, then added:
"Are you sure that you want to go on? There are worse fates than death, creature. Trust me… I should know."
The young woman glanced at him, then asked:
"What about you? What will you do?"
The skeleton laughed.
"Me? Oh, I don't know. Now that I've been taken off that damned tree, there's not much time left for me to exist. Maybe I'll try to find what remains of the Shadow Realm, to have a proper death. Maybe I'll just go back and tease Azarax for a while, one last time. That fellow was really insufferable, you know. Spending an eternity in his company was the greatest punishment of all! A piece of advice… choose your eternal companions carefully, creature."
The young woman lingered for a few moments, then nodded and walked into the darkness. Her steps were steady.
Then, without turning her head, she said:
"Thank you, Eurys. Farewell."
The skeleton watched her go, and then sighed.
"What a foolish abomination… still, I wish her luck. Even though I don't know what she seeks, I hope she finds it."
As the young woman walked further and further away, the light of her flame grew distant and dim. The darkness surrounded the skeleton, and the white fog flowed slowly in his direction, as if wishing to consume him.
Eurys watched the fog draw closer, and then sighed again.
"...She is not as foolish as me, at least."
Then, the white mist swallowed him, and his voice abruptly fell quiet.
Soon, impenetrable darkness reigned the cold river once again.
…And far in the distance, a lonely spark of light continued to climb higher and higher, soon disappearing from view.
[End of volume four: Chain Breaker.]