Reema's End

Yesterday, Rome was not quite up to the challenge of defeating MASAL's Sipre so Rei's blue spirit entered the fray. As an Essessoni, he was entirely up to the task. Unfortunately, Sussen was there with a plasma blaster. Rei couldn't let go of the Sipre because then he would lose Rome. He couldn't defend himself which meant he was going to die. His only hope was that his spirit, his soul, would live on and keep the Sipre down:

     Just as Sussen squeezed the trigger, Reema leaped in front of the blast and a good portion of her left side disappeared. Her body crumpled to the ground. Looking up, in the ethereal world, Rei could see her orange spirit flare up with pain then start to grow dim.
     “Ombare!” Sussen cried out and lowered her hand, just for a second.
     Suddenly, a gunshot rang out. With his earthly eyes, Rei looked and saw that Bonnie was holding the Beretta. She had shot Sussen in the forehead. Bonnie calmly squeezed the trigger again then yet again, shooting Sussen twice in the chest. The bullets pushed Sussen’s body backwards. In the ethereal world, Sussen’s blazing green spirit withered and quickly disappeared, even as her earthly body toppled over.
     The sinister battle with the Sipre prevented Rei from taking the time to consider what had just happened. He focused all of his attention to the ethereal world. The Sipre was still struggling but growing weaker. A glittery shape caught Rei’s attention to the left. It was the tiny pink spark hovering nearby. Feeling no ill intent, he ignored it and pressed harder, trying to ease the gnawing pressure on Rome’s soul. By will alone, he slowly extricated her and repelled the Sipre. He would not allow it to damage Rome any further. The points of contact grew fewer and fewer until finally the Sipre succumbed.
     It released its hold on Rome altogether. In the real world, Rei could see his wife panting, drained of all color. In the ethereal world, his spirit caressed hers and Rome grew stronger. In the metaphysics of this strange realm, Rome was actually drawing upon Rei’s strength. It wasn’t long until she seemed healthy and whole again. Once she had recovered, Rei was tempted to let go but he dare not. He knew that as soon as he did that, Rome would be in mortal danger again.
     Suddenly, Reema spoke up. With her dying words, the Onsira leader addressed the ethereal mass of spirits. “All of you listen,” she said. Her spiritual voice was growing weaker by the second. “MASAL never cared for us. He only cared for himself. But in the end, he recanted. He wanted us to live our own lives. The Sipre is just the distilled form of MASAL’s prior selfish interest. It wants what it wants and would leave us behind. We are just its eyes and fingers. We mean nothing to it. But no more. It is not fit to be in charge of our samanda. You must build your own.”
     With that, her spirit dimmed and disappeared, extinguished as the life force drained from her body for good.

Sussen is dead. Good. Reema is dead. Not so good. Rei has the Sipre captured. This is good. But he can't let go. Not so good. How will it end?