Life After Death: Reincarnation

~ Aeris // 3 days ago ~

What would you do if you were told that the apocalypse will happen in seven days, and that only you can stop it?

A few days ago, I would've said "you're crazy", shrugged it off, and go on my merry way, but now things are different.

God is literally the one who told me that I'm the only person who can stop it and I have seven freakin' days to do it.

How in fiery Underworld am I gonna do it?

"Even I cannot be certain of how things will unfold," He said as he interrupted my thoughts. I forgot that he can read minds. He waved his hand and the mirage of images turned into smoke. "And I'm supposed to know everything."

He stared at the burning fire in the north and put his hands in the pockets of his jacket. "A long time ago, I dreamt of standing on this very hill. Beside me was a figure of light. I couldn't make out its face but it was that very person that stood at the gates of the temple of Agartha."

Ah, yes. Agartha. From what he told me, she's supposed to be this all powerful person, the one who can restore the scales when it tips.

When the balance tips.

"For whatever reason, I can't see past that gate nor who the light is." He took his right hand from his pocket. "But I have a strong feeling that it's you."

"What made you say that?"

"This hill." He said. "And the fact that Agartha chose you as her vessel."

"Why would she pick me?" Instinctively, I looked at him for an answer to my question. Well, he's God after all.

"Contrary to the popular belief, I don't know all that there is to know. Just like how I don't have the slightest idea of what will happen beyond the gate of the temple, I don't know why Agartha chose you." He started walking down. Naturally, I followed. "But there may be a way for you to know."

"Let me guess; you don't know that either." How come the creator of all things doesn't know everything?

"You're in luck" He waved his right hand to the left and the entire scene changed as if it was a slide show that he was presenting to me. The entire place was just a white space with a pair of chairs and a coffee table in the middle. It looks like everything a mirror of including ourselves, were floating in the air yet I felt the hard floor on the soles of my feet. "I know of way to let you know why, and that is to talk to Agartha directly."

"How am I even supposed to do that?"

"It's very simple; All you have to do is look within yourself." He calmly sat down on the chair closest to him.

"Look within myself?" I began to sit on the chair opposite to his.

"She's already there," And as my bottoms were just about to hit the chair, "You just have to find her." I woke up at the end of Death's scythe.

My body lies still at the end of a scythe by a murder frenzy reaper. Her Grim Scythe was still planted through my ċhėst. I held the blade, trying to stop it from going any deeper. I looked at her and tried to talk. No luck, I was in too much pain to even try to move. I looked into her eyes hoping to see if she was still in there somewhere. As soon as her eyes locked with mine, everything changed again. .

Everything shifted into absolute darkness. There was no light, no sound, it was absolutely empty. I was alone here, or so I thought.

In the distance was a glowing set of red eyes, snarling as if it was angry that I was in it's territory.

"Lucio?" My voice, it changed. It was high pitched, conservative, and cute. It sounded like a woman's voice. Oh, was I in for a dozy.

I looked down and saw what I was wearing; a chiton inlaid with golden threads. My skin was practically radiating light. Adding to that light was my blonde hair, waving in the non-existent wind.

"Agartha?" As it slowly approached me, I could slowly see its face. It was a man. He was a large man over six-feet tall wearing his fine blood like colored cape that waved into the non-existent wind. Crimson lines gleamed over the onyx paint of his armor. His skin was pale which made his blood shot eyes pop-out. In his right hand was a claymore almost the length of his body, decorated in runes both angelic and demonic, tainted in blood. From the soles of his boots, came the darkest of all smoke. He smiled but his fangs didn't make it any easier for him to be less terrifying.

"Oh thank the All-Father!" She put her hand to my ċhėst.

"How is this even possible?" Loki stared at me, bewildered by the situation. His young face slowly shifted to a man in his thirties. "Being stabbed by a weapon of exile should've killed you. You'd be halfway to Tartarus by now."

I sat straight up, despite Charon and Maya trying to stop me. Surprisingly, the wound already healed itself. It didn't even leave a mark, just a torn shirt with a smothering hole in the middle where the scythe went through. "You're right. Good thing I had some divine intervention"

We gathered at the war room, which was now separated from the Charon's chambers, armory, and treasury (amazing, considering that it's only been half an hour since we left the gigantic room). We laid Death on Charon's bed. Maya immediately tended to her damages.

The war room was in chaos. Loki was arguing with Charon. I couldn't makeout what they're talking about except that we needed to get to Kroy Wen as soon as possible. Thanatos' wing was badly damaged and was being healed by Michael. Meanwhile, I'm just sitting at a corner of the room trying to make sense of what the All-father told me.

'look into yourself' his words keep replaying in my mind. What does that even mean? I closed my eyes and tried to do just that. It didn't take long until everything slowly died out. The noise, the light around the room, heck, even the wall that I was leaning on.

When I opened my eyes, I couldn't recognize where I was. The meadow is amazing; It was just like the one in the visions with the All-father but without the skeletons, glass dirt, and the smell of sulfur. I stood at the end of the meadow, just at the mouth of the forest clearing. Humming birds and buŧŧerflies flew in the air and feasted on the nectar of beautiful flowers that filled the meadow. At the other end was a hill was a beautiful tree filled with apples.

"There you are." At the foot of the hill sat the most beautiful woman I've ever laid eyes on. Her golden hair and white dress graced with the wind as she stood.

"Agartha?" I walked towards her, still in awe of the view.

"Right, you are." She smelled like fresh roses and daisies. "Took you long enough."

"Sorry," I blushed a bit. "I wasn't really given any instructions as to how to get in touch with my inner avatar."

"I guess so." She chuckled. "You must have a lot of questions."

"Actually, just two."

She smiled and walked around the meadow, attracting the wild life around us. It was like everything felt more alive around her. "Ask away."

"Where are we?"

"The garden of Eden, or at least its visual representation."

"HOLD UP. 'THE GARDEN OF EDEN'?"

"Yes, this is exactly where the All-father created the first humans." And just like that, the scene changed. At the foot of the hill were two people, a man and a woman, courting each other and doing lovey-dovey stuff. "This is where Adam and Eve first came to be. Or in our language, Adamus and Evange, who was ripped from his ribs to make him a companion."

At the foot of the tree was a man in white robes, sitting calmly and smiling at them. I'm guessing that's the All-Father.

"I know the story well. Eve ate the apple from the tree and cursed humanity with death."

"The story has had a few iterations." She waved her hands and everything changed once again. A woman in red robes picked an apple from the tree. She stared at the apple for a moment, basking in it's golden light, before taking a bite. Her body was engulfed in a bright light, it was like looking directly at the sun. When the light disappeared, the woman looked completely different. It was the same woman I saw from my vision; skin paler than a corpse, Eyes were blacker than the night sky with red pupils, and jagged teeth. This was her. This was Lucia.

"It wasn't Adam or Eve that ate from the tree, but rather Lucia. A few millennia after the creation of man, the All-father took a vacation and left Gaia to his disciple and messiah, hoping that she'll guard all of his creation until his return."

I sat in silence as the view of the garden changed and turned into a burning village. Creatures of all forms terrorized the townsfolk, eating, killing, doing all sorts of heinous deeds. At the center was Lucia, covered in blood, laughing at the chaos she had created.

"Biting from the apple will give you the power of the All-father, but if your heart is not pure enough it will corrupt you. That's exactly what happened to her." She walked up to Lucia. "The once great Messiah of Gaia that I admired, fell to the ground and became the first demon and drove everything to utter madness, disrupting the balance and order of all things."

"But what does this exactly have to do with me?" I interjected.

"Come with me."

We were back in the garden. We walked up the hill and sat at the foot of the tree.

She plucked a flower beside her. Oddly enough, another one sprouted from where she plucked it. "The All-father had to take action to stop Lucia's rule and made the first avatars; Vangeal, Lucio, and I."

The scene changed once again. The garden was now decimated. Trees that surrounded the meadow were now dead and burning. The bodies of humans, demons, and angels littered the ground. The air smelled of blood, iron, and sulfur. Standing in the clearing was her, the demoness Lucia. Approaching her were the three Avatars.

"We tried to reason with her up to this point, trying to convince her to undo all that she's done and release the souls of the damned so that they may rest in peace. She, on the other hand, wanted nothing more but power. She wanted everything all to herself"

"But you defeated her, right?" My curiosity defeated me.

"That we did. We sealed her and her demons in the deepest depths of Gaia, now known as Tartarus, in a temple named after myself."

"And now she's in turmoil again," I exclaimed. "How do you supposed we stop her?"

"That's what the avatars are for," She put her hand on my shoulder. "Which also includes yourself."

"Why me?" I looked at her, a bit angered and distressed. "There's seven billion people in the world, why did you have to pick me?"

"Before we sealed Lucia, she our fates to forever be intertwined in a never ending turmoil" We were now in the temple. Lucia was on her knees, chained by both light and darkness. The marble stonework of the temple was stained with Lucia's corruption.

"This won't hold me forever!" She screamed at them. "THESE BOUNDS WILL NOT BREAK AND WHEN THAT TIME COMES, I WILL BRING ALL OF GAIA UPON ALL OF YOU!"

"I mean, you can surely try." Lucio put the tip of his blade beneath her chin.

"Try as you may," Vangeal boasted. "You will never break these chains."

"Bound by the curse of Grimm, and the chains of Lucia," Agartha walked in the center of the two men. "You will forever roam the realm of dreams beyond the plain of all reality."

"This is getting boring. Can we seal her now?" Lucio strafed impatiently.

They continued their spell, extending their hands in front of them. A layer of light formed around Lucia. She winced and screeched in pain with a smile.

"If I'm going down, I'm bringing you down with me!" She laughed at their faces, and muttered a curse. "KRUE KATUHNO VREKA TUHK VISH NAHGRU KZHESH KAHRU VEHKNUH!!"

A sudden gust of wind flooded the room. It stunned them temporarily. Lucio approached her as the spell was being cast.

"What have you done?!" Lucio, furious with Lucia, grabbed her by the neck. A shroud of smoke slowly came out of his body. "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!"

"Bound by love, chaos, and unbalance , you all will be." She grinned. "until the day I'm freed from my chains, you will be reincarnated again and again and again. Confused, careless, and drowned in the love you all have for each other, you will forever be trapped endlessly throughout the ages!"

And with her last words, just like when she ate the apple, a great light shone from where she was kneeling.

"It is" Vangeal put his hands down. "Done"

"You never bothered to have her lift the curse before you sealed her?!" Lucio charged Vangeal and lifted him up by the neck. "ARE YOU NOT BOTHER BY THE CURSE SHE PUT ON US?"

"Get your hands off of me." Vangeal calmly removed Lucio's from his neck. "It is a meaningless curse."

"I'll show you meaningless!" Lucio swung his sword at Vangeal which he blocked with his. It was so strong, it sent a shockwave across the temple. He proceeded to push Lucio and they proceeded to attack each other. Just before their swords hit its mark, Agartha jumped in and blocked it with her staff

"Vangeal, Lucio!" Agartha shouted "Stop it! You're better than this!"

"If I didn't love her, I'd rip those wings of yours and throw you down the very same realm Lucia's in." Lucio walked out of the temple and slammed the door shut.

"When are you gonna tell him that we're married." Vangeal sheathed his blade and held Agartha's cheeks.

Agartha looked at her hands where a golden ring suddenly appeared. "In the right time."

"But the right time didn't come." A tear dropped from her cheeks. "Lucio and Vangeal died fighting each other to the death."

The scene shifted once more. We were in a field of reeds where Vangeal and Lucio laid bloody and dying. Agartha was in the middle, cradling their heads.

"Why did you have to?" Her tears fell upon them like rain on a dark day. "Why did you have to kill each other?"

"To prove my love to you." Vangeal gasped as his eyes turned dark.

"To show you that I am eternally yours." Lucio closed his eyes as he, too, joined the light.

"You idiots." She cried even more. "I love you both."

"That curse broke us." I could see that she was trying to hold her tears back. "Ever since then we've been reincarnated more than I can count."

"So you didn't choose me." It was all sinking in. It all started to make sense. Well, at least most of it. "I'm your reincarnation"

"Yes." She wiped her tears. "That's why I'm here. I'll help you gain your footing as the avatar of balance."

With that, I woke up. They weren't in turmoil anymore. All of them, except for Death, were in the war room along with some of the crew members. They were all standing, staring at me like I was a madman.

"What?" They all looked so shocked. "What's happening?"

Maya handed me a mirror and that's when I saw what they were all looking at. My eyes, they've changed. My left eye was now darker than the night, not an iris or pupil in sight. My right eye was the opposite, it showed all the colors any man could ever see, dancing constantly dominated by the white light, with my iris that seemed to blend with it. I could feel the power surging through my body.

And with that I realized, I was becoming the Avatar of balance.