The city had grown quiet again.
After the battle, Vikram brought Rive to a hidden place deep inside the ghost world.
It was an old abandoned temple standing between broken buildings. Faint spiritual light surrounded it, keeping most creatures of the In-Between away.
For the first time in hours, the air felt calm.
Rive sat against one of the cracked stone pillars, still weak from the battle.
The power he had used earlier had drained him completely.
Across from him, Vikram stood silently near the entrance, watching the dark streets outside.
For a while, neither of them spoke.
Then Rive finally asked.
"Vikram…"
Vikram glanced back.
"Why are you helping me?"
The question lingered in the quiet temple.
Vikram didn't answer immediately.
Instead, he walked slowly toward the center of the room and sat down on the stone floor.
His expression looked distant.
Like someone remembering something painful.
"You lived near your house," he said quietly.
Rive frowned.
"What?"
"Behind your house," Vikram continued, "there was an old woman living alone."
Rive's eyes widened slightly.
The old lady.
"Yeah… I remember her," he said.
"She was always alone."
Vikram nodded slowly.
"You used to visit her often."
"You asked about her health."
"You helped clean her house."
"You reminded her to take her medicine."
Images flashed through Rive's mind.
The small old house.
The smell of herbal medicine.
The old woman smiling weakly while he helped organize her things.
"She had memory problems," Rive said quietly.
"Sometimes she forgot people."
"Sometimes she forgot entire days."
Vikram lowered his gaze.
"She had a disease."
"One that slowly made her forget everything."
His voice became softer.
"But you never treated her like she was a burden."
Rive stayed silent.
"You sat with her," Vikram continued.
"You told her stories."
"You listened to the same stories again and again when she forgot she had already told them."
Rive looked confused.
"But… why are you telling me this?"
Vikram finally looked up.
His eyes were darker now.
"Because that woman…"
His voice paused.
"…was my mother."
Rive froze.
The words hit him like a shock.
"I died in an accident four years ago," Vikram continued quietly.
"My mother was left alone."
"She was already sick."
"And without me… she had no one."
Silence filled the temple.
Then Vikram looked directly at Rive.
"But you appeared."
"You helped her."
"You stayed with her when she was confused."
"You made sure she took her medicine."
"You treated her like family."
Rive shook his head slowly.
"I was just helping…"
"To you, it was something small."
Vikram's voice became firm.
"But to her… it meant everything."
He looked away toward the dark city outside.
"When I died, I couldn't leave the In-Between."
"I was bound here."
"Not as a normal ghost."
Rive listened carefully.
"I became something else," Vikram said.
"A Guardian of the Afterlife."
Rive's heart skipped.
"My duty… is to protect certain souls that enter this world."
Vikram looked back at him.
"And your family was marked under my watch."
Rive stared at him in disbelief.
"So when you died…"
"I came."
Vikram nodded.
"Not because of fate."
"Because of a promise."
His voice softened again.
"In your life… you helped my mother survive."
"In this afterlife… I help you survive."
The words echoed through the silent temple.
Rive didn't know what to say.
Vikram stood up slowly.
"This world is cruel."
"Most ghosts don't care about kindness."
"But some debts… should never be ignored."
He walked toward the entrance again.
The cold wind of the ghost city moved through the broken temple.
Rive looked at him quietly.
"Vikram."
Vikram paused.
"Thank you."
For a moment, Vikram didn't respond.
Then he gave a small nod.
"No."
He said calmly.
"Thank you… for taking care of my mother."
Outside the temple, far away in the darkness—
Something enormous moved within the ghost city.
Watching.
Waiting.
The world of the dead was far from finished with them.