Life After Death: Reincarnation

~Death~

It was bloody, as you humans would put it. Everything happened so fast, I couldn't keep track of what was going on. I don't even know how we got to the Flying Dutchman.

All I remember after that were loud explosions, flashes of green light, and murmured words that I can hardly make out before everything went black.

"By the All-Father! How did they know we were here?!" I could bȧrėly hear Michael's voice over the sound of the explosion. "Hades! Loki! Could you buy us some time?"

"With pŀėȧsurė." I couldn't see Loki's face but his voice was so clear, I swear I could sense the joy in his voice. "Hades. You gonna back me up?"

"I thought you'd never ask," Hades inched closer to the edge of the circle. He looked over his shoulder with those striking grey eyes of his. "By the way, I sensed something, someone strong amongst them. Thread lightly."

Aeris gave him a nod as he proceeded to jump off the edge. I was half expecting him to reach out and try to catch him, but he just stood still and watched as he held me around his shoulders. A few seconds later, a giant screech owl shot upwards and flew out the hole of the dome just before it got small enough. Loki just disappeared in front of us leaving behind a cloud of green and violet dust of what used to be, well, Loki.

Aeris handed me to Thanatos. "Get them to safety." He then walked over to Charon, who was ȧssessing the situation with Apollo and Thoth. "What's the plan?"

They all looked at each other, then back to Aeris. And just like that, they snapped into action. It was as if he told them what to do telepathically.

"I'll gather the angels to help with the Library's defenses." Apollo already calling upon the nearby angels. As soon as she finished talking she flew with the angels, casting spells all over the dome. You could see the cracks slowly healing as the seconds pass.

"I shall guide the souls through the secret tunnels with the help of the demons." He was about to leave when Charon and Maya volunteered to go with him.

"We'll come with you. We'll bring them to the Flying Dutchman." They spoke in unison.

Thanatos, couldn't help but look at Aeris. "What will you do?"

"Well," Aeris held my cheeks with his right hand. He looked into my eyes and smiled. "Help them."

I wanted to say no. I wanted to find help him, help them, but Thanatos flew me away. The last thing I remember was a flash of green light as we flew through the hole in the dome. And then there was nothing but darkness.

My eyes fluttered open, I sat straight up. Everything felt fine except I was in total darkness, not a glimmer of light in sight. For what lack of light there was, there was no shortage of sound. I could hear the cries of the broken hearted and the widowed. I could feel the whimpers of the abandoned. Their despair filled my ears and heart.

"Do you feel it?" Suddenly there was a small circle of dim light around me. I was on a bed that had a wooden frame, in sheets of black. At the foot of the bed was a ghostly figure in a tattered cloak. She (at least I ȧssumed, the voice sounded feminine) faced the other way, I couldn't see her face. "Do you feel their pain? Their anguish? Their loss?"

"Their despair." I tried to move my legs, to get off of bed, but I wasn't able to. I closed my eyes thinking this might just be some bad dream or a crazy illusion created by intense pain (yes, that's a thing here in purgatory). When I opened my eyes, I was still there in the darkness; Unending, insufferable darkness. The only difference was that the bed had disappeared, leaving my standing, immovable body wrapped in bed sheets. "Where am I?"

"Where are you?" She walked into the shadows. I could hear her but not see her. It sounded like she was walking towards me, circling me just like how a shark circles its prey. I could hear her footsteps as she walked to my right. "Does it matter? Do you think you matter? After everything you've done?"

She let out a baleful laugh as she circled me. Much as it was painful, she did speak the truth. My part as a reaper is to protect souls, to guide them to purgatory, to Atlantis. So far I've failed miserably at being one.

"Xerxes is right," She spoke as if she was whispering directly into my ear. I felt cold air in the space behind me as if there was someone there. "You're a failure." .

She gripped my shoulders so tightly I flinched. I turned around to see her face, and who she really was. I felt so sure that she was there, or at least someone was. There was nothing but air, empty and daft.

Only because She was in front of me.

"You're not ready," She slowly raised her head. "You will never be ready."

"Ready?" Just as I opened my mouth, It felt like the air from my lungs was suċkėd out of my body. I was starting to lose consciousness again. But I need to know... I wanted to know. "What... Who are you?"

"I am the darkness to the light, the end to every beginning, the demise to life," she slowly lifted her head up, showing her face as she spoke. I felt my skin crawl and my bones rattle. Her skin was pale, her eyes were deep red, her smile was treacherous full of fangs that can rip your skin off. "I am...."

And just like that my eyes fluttered open. I woke up on Charon's bed, wrapped in bed sheets and healing threads again, on the Flying Dutchman with Aeris sitting beside me (Well, at least this time I have clothes on top of the threads, thank The All-Father).

"Good morning, Sleepy head." He tucked my hair behind my ears while looking at me with those piercing eyes. "How are you feeling?"

"I feel awful. It's like something dug itself through my shou-" I reached over my shoulder and winced. That's impossible. Was that real? was she real? No, It couldn't be.

"Something bothering you, Death?" His face looked at peace just a moment ago.

"What happened to you?" I didn't have a chance to ask what happened to him while I was out cold. I guess now's a better time to bring it up.

I could feel his stare going through me as if he was studying every inch of my face, then he locked his eyes onto mine. He moved his body closer to mine, his gaze unaverted. He then kissed my forehead and smiled.

"A wonderful story for another time." He rose from the bed, and offered me his hand. "C'mon, you have to see the view."

I followed him through the door and I couldn't believe what I saw.

"It's been a long time since, I've been here," I almost cried at the sight of its marble roads, canals of crystal clear water, and Ivory buildings.

"Ladies and Gents, I give you," Charon stood by the helm with her arms wide open.. "Atlantis."