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I've decided to keep persuing this story until everything makes sense here, so feel free to hop on for the ride!

Ch. 3


The young man leaned against the sheet rock wall with a silent stare, one leg resting, slightly bent, in front of him, and one leg curled up against him as his forearm lay across his knee. He leaned on his other arm, his palm pressed flat against the concrete foundation below. He stared in realization through the many authorities and managers bustling around the room as they took pictures of the bare room and set up yellow tape around their subject as they compared notes to get their unusual story straight in several close circles and questioning neighbors who had reported a putrid smell coming from the room.

The young man’s focus was a body he knew all too well lying in that all-too-familiar, time-worn yellow couch for two, alone under the thin, shabby covers, his bare feet sticking out from them, placed on one armrest, while his head hung over the other like a makeshift pillow, pressing against his short, mahogany-colored hair. That face that he recognized was completely relaxed with its eyes closed, as if asleep, except for a trickle of dried blood that drew a line down the side of his face from his cold, pale lips.

His eyes never wavered from that sight as the people passed back and forth, passing through his outstretched leg, as oblivious to him as he was to them.

More people squeezed through the only door with a stretcher and body bag to take the corpse away while most policemen decided to leave the room to question the landowner and other residents about possible health issues that have been appearing in the building, leaving the young man alone staring at the tape-wrapped couch, dazed and unnoticed by the people who had left.

‘It took them two days,’ he thought with a snort as the door clicked shut and he clenched his shaking fists, breathing slowly and deeply as if he had been battered in a scuffle, ‘Two… ********… days...’

The man stared down at his hands, noticing the glowing blue-white color he emanated, his whole body wispy and without solid form. His clothes felt like an entirely new part of him, stuck to him like a sleek bodysuit, although the clothes consisted of a long white dress shirt, black vest and black dress pants – his waiter’s clothes from two nights before.

He always knew he was sick, but he didn’t think it would happen so quickly. One coughing fit a day turned into several until it seemed non-stop, depriving him from sleep and physical activity, but now he couldn’t feel anything, like a sudden lull resided inside him and in the small barren room.

There seemed to be an empty space, too, in his head, like there was something that he knew that he had forgotten-- if only he could figure out what. Most of the memories he had in life seemed so monotonous and repetitive that they all jumbled, combining themselves, making the memories compact and almost shoved into one corner of his mind. He stared at the couch, thinking. Certainly, he knows something, but before he could think any further, a sudden lurch pulled him to his knees and a familiar scene appeared before his eyes.


The straw ceiling made a background for his muddy-faced peers, absolutely potent and in unwashed burlap rags. He heard murmuring voices and saw an arm outstretched – his own – besieged with red and purple welts and all assured him the priest would be there soon.

A voice unlike the others – himself, younger and more exhausted– spoke as he turned his head and closed his eyes, “I’m going to take a nap before he comes. Wake me when he’s here.”

The other faceless peers yelled, urging him to stay awake and he
opened his eyes to find a tall figure, his hood masking his face, staring in the young man’s general direction. The man scurried out of the bed, and he felt his legs freeze in fear as they reached the floor.

“Y-y-you… Death, personified!” he stuttered as Death took the scythe that appeared in his pale, bone-thin hands and ripped open a seam in the floor before the man.

He gawked at the sight and stared up at the figure, preparing for his utter doom, when a girl’s voice entered his ears and Death stopped to look behind him to see a young girl dressed in pure white linens, giving off the faint scent of honeysuckle and blackberries.

“Wait! I know you’ve been through a tough time, Death, but this isn’t how the process works!” she eyed the gaunt Death with an iron glare, “He deserves the same respect as any other soul, you know that.”

Her eyes then caught the man’s eyes and they stared into each other, hazel mixing with blue and she gasped, turning to look Death in the face.

“This isn’t right, Death! Aren’t you supposed to guide people to where they belong? You don’t just toss the souls into Beyond! It might tamper with the process!”

“If only the world was that simple. But, in this period of time, with the state of the world as it is… It is not as if I can ask Time for such a request!” Death turned away from her, flinging his arm, gesturing to end the discussion.

“If you have enough time to argue with me, you should ask him what he believes! If you’re so exhausted, let me help!”

“You know we have no time for this!” he grabbed her by the shoulder, interrupting her, “I give him the same respect as I would any other soul, especially during this day and age, but there are too many dangers that each dying soul faces! With more experience, I hope you will learn to understand,” he turned back to the man and from his palm a visible shock wave tipped the soul over into the white portal, taking a last look at the young girl whose expressions were a mix of fear and fury at Death and the sinking man, sending him through the sudden blackness of what he deemed to be his personal Hell.


“Wait! Nooo…!” her voice echoed and her arm extended toward him, then blurred into smoke as his mind’s eye brought the startled man back to the current scene and he fell to his side onto the floor, staring wide with shock and fear.

“I… I remember everything now! Me dying- it’s happened before! I’ve escaped from Hell’s authority and now I’m on the run again! Damn! If only I had stayed oblivious inside that sick body… If only that damned reaper didn’t send me to Hell in the first place!” he stood to pace in circles, but suddenly collapsed onto the couch with exasperation and let his moaning head fall into his hands.

He would be sent back to Hell, he knew it by instinct. His arms and legs shook vigorously as he tried to calm himself enough to think.

‘Well, there’s no point in blaming anyone at this point,’ he sighed and leaned back to the cushions and shook his head, ‘I’m out in the open and I can think of no other place to hide than to be born into another body. But, to do so for the rest of eternity? I don’t think that’s practical. I may end up as another sick child that holy men avoided and animals squealed at. Come to think of it, I don’t even think my pet goldfish liked me much. Not sure if I’m willing to deal with that again.’

“That girl! She was with him,” he thought aloud, “Was she a ghost, like me? Or was she something else? Maybe she wasn’t, since she spoke of a procedure…” he shuddered, “I don’t think I want to know what that means. Think I’ll meet her again? Maybe, after all… I’m on the run. I’d like to, anyways…”

‘Wait… Why?’

“Hmm. I remember that… She tried to prevent what happened. She reached for me like I reached for my last bit of breath. But, Death seemed to be her guardian or something of the sort. I can’t deny that she was slightly adorable, aside from the fact that her voice didn’t match her body. Smelled nice, too. Better than those other guys.”

He made a disgusted face for a short time, then the youth stood onto the couch suddenly and looked closely around him as though he were seeing everything in a new light and said with a steady voice, “But it’s been two days since I died… Two ******** days. And nobody has come for me! Not Death, not any demons, nobody!”

He smiled wide at the thought of no longer being chased or captured or being frozen in fear when spotted by evil spirits and, feeling elated, he ran to the door and scanned it up and down in thought.

Deciding to test something he had on his mind, he raised one arm, placed his fingers on the polished wood and pressed into it, seeing his fingertips disappear, but feeling nothing. Pulling his arm back with a smile, he nodded in satisfaction, thinking that going through walls would be his greatest advantage at this point.

However, this triumphant feeling scattered like wild birds flocking away from sudden earthshaking movements, which is exactly what he felt inside of him. The vibrating started in his head and his navel and spread down through his arms and legs, then back up to his heart, quivering and racking himself to the point where he has to balance himself on one knee, his fingertips reaching for the floor. Something was taking its time to approach him and he wasn’t willing to stay and find out.

The man scrambled for the opposite wall despite his shaking body and glanced behind him for a split second to find a large un-earthly oozing beast squeezing itself throught the crack under the door, which looked like its flesh had been rubbed pink and poorly molded to a sluglike shape. This glance turned to a horrified stare, the type that grabs one’s attention because of the subject’s unfamiliarity and gruesomeness, as though he were a child gaping at a carnival freak side-show. He couldn’t look away as his whole body shook more violently at the sight of the creature’s flesh, which opened to reveal two eyes placed on the sides of its head, opaque, glazed and without pupils, taking in the soul’s appearance.

“Looks like I spoke too soon,” he muttered and the eyes closed as another pore opened on its face and revealed a long tongue, much like an anteater’s, only the color was an uncharacteristic blood red.

He quivered in disgust at the sight, shifting his feet back little by little, before he felt the wall at his fingertips. He pressed his fingertips against the wood, but couldn’t push through and he felt the despair and fear of the near presumed future: back in Hell, in long periods of torture and toiling under the prongs of hot, twisted black metal and the whips that licked his figure with uncontrolled fiery blurs, each lick giving him unbearable seizures, feeling the different pains rush through him in an inconsistent pattern.

Sensing the man’s sudden panicking, the monster morphed its tongue to a sharp pointed spear and started to form hairless claws attached to thick, stubby legs.

The soul blinked and realized the monster’s motive and pushed against the wall once more, succeeding in getting through the wall all the way up to his elbows.

‘He’s coming closer! C’mon, a little further!’ he kept pushing and the feet of the fiend started with a jerk into a full-out charge.

“I thought that putrid smell came from here,” a disgusted voice filled with malice emerged with a crescendo from the far corner of the room accompanied by a figure cloaked in wispy black matter and before the man could see what the figure held in its hands, a white flash had cut off the demon’s tongue and the man had phased completely through the wall and fell through the air, landing in the crowded street below on both hands and somersaulted onto his backside with his legs spread out in front of him as the unsuspecting living treaded through him, feeling only a slight chill that they assumed was the rain pelting them from above and the puddles from below. However, the chill turned into a gust as the man sprinted from the scene through the passerby ahead.

Back up in the room, the monster reacted with a primal squeal and many pores opened up to reveal many bloody hands to grab the figure: the reaper Ace and his now blood-stained scythe.

“Damned creature! Looks like a newborn’s first pile of vomit!” he grunted as he tore his scythe through the demon, cutting away several hands to distract the monster with pain.

He twirled his weapon above him and slammed the blade to the ground, ripping open a portal, which dragged in the fleshy monster inside without coercing from Ace.

After the short battle, Ace noticed the soul had fled through the wall and glanced through to see that the soul had disappeared without any trail except for the civilians gathering their coats and umbrellas closer to them, expressing their sudden cold spell.

“Well, s**t. This is only going to get harder for me,” he pulled his head back into the room and rubbed the back of his neck, sighing in disappointment and annoyance.

He floated back down the stairs with urgency, scolding himself, ‘I’ve got to stop practicing on those lesser demons. I should just mess with Connor next time if I want to shape up.’

He exited through the door to see Alcyone pass him by with a wink, catching him with a surprised look on his face.

“I see him, Ace. I’ll take care of it.” Her coattails beckoned him to walk with her as they flapped in the calm wind, which directed the rain every which way.

He blinked and shrugged his shoulders, “Fine by me. Makes things easier. Say, what’re you doing here at this hour? Aren’t you usually at your thinking space or whatever?”

“Well, I thought I’d finish a little early today. Maybe I could find something new to think about by walking around.”

She glanced at Ace’s scythe, which was still dripping with monster blood and asked, “Did you meet another peon or were you just bored enough to start painting?”

“Yeah, there was a scuffle. It seems they just can’t get enough of those souls. But this one was stranger than the others.”

“Oh?”

“This one grew legs. They were just stubby ones, but… I was starting to worry a bit, honestly.”

Alcyone stopped for a minute to take in the information and furrowed her eyebrows. Ace stopped beside her in a puddle, but his footsteps didn’t make the water react, rather, the water ignored his movements as though he didn’t exist.

“I wouldn’t think too much into it. Its tongue wasn’t whip-like, anyways. It was more pointy and stiff. They’re probably just getting more advanced. Evolving like the creatures here,” he walked forward and looked back at her as she stared at the road to her left.

“Maybe. There could be a connection between the creatures on both planes,” she continued to walk with him and he nodded in reassurance.

“I still doubt it, though.” She smirked at him and he snorted, shaking his head.

“Well, where’s the guy?” He passed through a living person as Alcyone moved out into the street to avoid contact with the people.

“Hmm? What are you doing in the middle of the road?” he felt puzzled by Alcyone’s avoidance and followed her.

“Do you see that man you went through?” she nodded toward a middle-aged, gray-bearded man holding an umbrella in one hand and briefcase in the other, as she stuffed her hands in her black, denim pockets. He seemed normal, but the look on his eyes showed that he had suffered somehow and silently trembled as though he couldn’t breathe. However, he kept walking down the sidewalk, shielding himself from other people’s attention due to possible surprising actions.

“What about him?” he raised his eyebrow, expecting nothing more than an odd reference from earlier centuries.

“His beard wasn’t gray before you stepped through him. You took away a couple of years from his lifespan. Not to mention you might’ve made him look injured.” She raised her eyebrow at the man walking away with a slight stagger.

“What? How would you know if I did that or not? Maybe he just… I don’t know…” Ace stepped back, flabbergasted at the accusation.

“Experimentation: How else do you think I know? I have to say, you’re not very sensitive to the world we’re dealing with. It’s not like you have a grudge against these people, do you?”

“Well, it doesn’t seem to matter much either way. He’ll end up with one of us sooner or later.”

“Wouldn’t you rather have him later? It’d be better for us to not speed up the process.”

Ace just rolled his eyes and pointed out, “You know, that soul is getting away.”

“He won’t get far enough,” she replied, “I don’t think he knows how yet. Anyways, I think you have a bit of antipathy towards the humans. You know that’s going to become a problem. At least, if it hasn’t already.”

“Yeah, thanks a lot, Doc. Now, here’s a diagnosis for you,” Ace pointed at her with a blazingly angry glare, “Seriously, you’re unpredictable. One day, you take things lightly, make us laugh and make forts out of couch cushions and then the next moment I see you, you critique and chastise me like a child, as if I don’t know how to control my movements and powers. You’re hypocritical in the sense that you give special privilege to those who just happen to breathe, but you mess around with us and pick at our flaws, while refusing to notice theirs! Not only that, but when was the last time you took a life prematurely? I have to say that’s quite a step over what I just did!” he now pointed to the aged man, now several blocks away, heading toward the soul, who was busy staring into store windows.

Alcyone said nothing, but stared at him with solemn, half-opened eyes, hands still in her pockets. Ace, in turn, dropped the touchy subject and walked a few steps away and said without even turning his head toward her.

“Your experiments aren’t going to help us much, I don’t think. And I know you’ve learned from your mistakes. But, I have my own view on the humans, and it will take much more than a diagnosis to make me feel a speck of remorse for these ungrateful souls.”

Ace tapped his scythe to the pavement and disappeared without another word, leaving Alcyone to relax with a sigh as she noticed her breath cause another unwary soul to shiver.

‘Perhaps, I haven’t thought enough about the others. Or maybe I just need to organize my thoughts or compartmentalize them, whichever makes more sense.’

She spotted the runaway a few blocks southward, looking up at the buildings in awe, as if he were seeing the murky blues and deep, dark indigos coating the buildings for the first time, while he focused no attention on the people wandering past him or on Alcyone, who strode along the center of the road, arms swaying back and forth.

Staring around at the familiar shops and the warm, colorful lights that burst onto the street and into his eyes, the soul turned around and noticed Alcyone’s shadowed figure that had stopped in the middle of the road before the intersection as a stampede of cars rushed toward her.

He stared in surprise and headed for her in a desperate sprint, hoping he could push her out of the road and from her supposed doom, forgetting for the moment that he was only a spirit.

“Watch out!” he yelled, but she made no reaction as a large white semi turned in her direction.

He gasped and grabbed her shoulder and midriff, his leg grazing the front bumper, and continued to the sidewalk.

“What in the hell do you think-?” he began as Alcyone dug her heels into the wall of a building in front of them and sped up the wall to the roof, carrying the surprised soul around her middle.

She landed upon the concrete roof as he still gripped her midriff, shaking slightly, but then pushed away from her and started to scramble away, realizing the other-worldly feat she just pulled off.

“Hang on!” she placed her hand on his shoulder, preventing him from moving further, “Come now, boy, I am not what you fear. Not what you should fear, anyways – that is why I lured you. Running from fear doesn’t make this better for either of us.”

He just turned and looked into her eyes with apprehension, “You’re not human.”

She blinked and lifted one corner of her mouth into a modest smile as she fidgeted with her index fingers bashfully and shrugging her shoulders, “Well, you are correct, I cannot deny that I am not a human.”

He only kept on staring into her navy blue eyes, then questioned, “Then, I fear you. You’re either One: a demon, but I’m guessing since I was almost charged by one not too long ago, I’m going to assume you’re a higher class of demon or Two…”

“I don’t appreciate the demon comment,” she scratched her head and shifted her weight upon one leg, “Besides, no high class demons come here, now that I think about it, just nightmarish monsters. Providing that you believe in them, there aren’t any angels that come here, either.”

“You’re Death personified,” he tore his gaze away to the ground and hid his eyes under his hair and clenched his fists, more out of confusion than despair.

‘He never sounded like this last time, he… she? I don’t even know anymore. Death must be able to take different forms. But then where is the girl this time? Or did he get rid of her, too?’ he stared back up into her eyes for only a moment as she studied him, one hand on her hip as she bit lightly on her opposite hand’s index finger.

The soul continued in thought, ‘That couldn’t possibly be her, could it? Well, maybe, but the eyes are so different. Does Death age then get a successor to train? Either way, this must be an agent of Death.”

“Something on your mind, boy?” she stepped up to him and tapped his nose lightly with her finger, a smile still fitted upon her face.

“You’ll just send me to where I don’t belong,” he grimly stated the next topic in his mind aloud.

“I’ve never had anything to do with deciding your destination, believe me. Your afterlife is based on your decisions, past and present. Now, what do you believe in?”

“Wait, what?” Disbelief shone clearly on his whole figure. The eyes widened and his focus plastered onto the phantom before him, his feet shifted into a defensive position and his arms flailed back and forth, gesturing a dynamic ‘No Way!’, while his face exhibited anger, covered with a thin veil of bewilderment.

“I get that expression a lot, believe me,” she rolled her eyes, tilting her head slightly, “But, what gets even freakier is that no matter who or what you worship, you still have to come through me to get to the other side! Well, either me or the other Deaths. I mean, it’s way harder for one person to pick up the entire world’s roaming souls than it is for seven people. ‘Course, if you saw the others in that meeting a while ago, you wouldn’t be able to tell! So overworked and stressed without one day to ourselves. I think it’d drive anyone nuts, personally, going across the world in a matter of seconds to pick up some ingrate who’s clearly determined to get revenge over something trivial and not paying an ounce of attention to anything that I was saying. What did he say it was…? Something about his wife, maybe. Or was it those little animals stuffed with little beans inside them that have their name and date of birth on the tag? What are those called again? And why are some people so obsessed over them and not others?”

He just stared at her, clearly struggling in an effort to understand what she was saying.

“No. No way. This is insane,” he muttered to himself as his knees collapsed from under him and he sat down cross-legged, putting his head in his hands.

‘This was nothing like last time. She is explaining everything to me now, when none of it could possibly be true. There wasn’t even an exchange of conversation like this during my first passing. Nobody said one word to me. Death just ripped open a hole in the floor and down I fell into a long, bottomless well into a pit of flames and tongues riddled with pain, infections and instills fear in me more now than ever... and she’s telling me a completely different story!’ His thoughts screamed inside of him, turning him unruly.

The figure before the unnerved man sat down in front of him and sighed, “I know this might be a bit… hard to comprehend. You probably didn’t grow up believing anything like this and it might not be what you had in mind, but –”

“No, this is much different!” he now stood and began to pace in front of her, “Everyone I have met ever since I died has been my enemy, will always be my enemy! Those lesser monsters, Death and you! Especially you, because of the lies you have told me thus far!”

“Oh. Lies, are they?” her smile faded and she eyed him as though potentially threatened.

“Yes, lies!” he interrupted before she could say anything more, “My decisions and my judgment never had anything to do with my death and I don’t see how they will now! If I am to go to Hell, then there should at least be a good reason! Let me at least commit some sort of crime so that I deserve the consequence!”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa. No need to start acting like a poltergeist or anything. Who or what said you were going to hell? How do you know that in the first place?” she stood and grabbed his shoulders firmly, “Look, you have probably lived a very strict lifestyle and if you seriously think that just being here makes you go to hell and if you have proof, then by all means! Do a bad deed for all I care! But I’m not going to let you or anything else interfere with the living plane if-there-is-no-point!” she poked his chest emphasizing her last five words, “Besides, you haven’t even heard me full out! If you listen a little longer and ignore my straying from the conversation, you’ll notice that I’m giving you a choice.”

“What? Jeez, you’re so confusing!” he put his wrists to his temples and walked past her to the edge of the building, not willing to make eye contact with her as she stared ahead, gazing at the undrawn line where the sky met the skyscrapers.

“I’ll give you a summary, then,” she turned around with a calm expression to face his backside, hands pressed against each other, and then approached him, stopping right behind his shoulder, “As you know by now, I am a Grim Reaper—one of seven, to be precise. Seven of us against approximately five-trillion-some-odd humans—Let’s say that doesn’t seem to be a fair number. If you don’t feel comfortable with what you might be up against, I usually give that soul about 72 hours—!”

“At least 48 of which I spent staring at my corpse because I didn’t know what to do or how to do it! Listen, I don’t have tangible proof, but I know that if I get sent through a portal that your scythe rips open, I know it will send me to Hell!” he interrupted, throwing his arms down to his sides in frustration, testy at the fact that he didn’t have much control over his situation.

Alcyone stared bewildered at his knowledge this time and stepped back a couple of spaces, “How… How did you know about-? Did Ace… Did that other reaper you met tell you anything?”

“No, I escaped while he attacked that monster,” he sighed and relaxed his shoulders, “Look, I understand that you and the others are exhausted. I refuse to explain anything to you, since I think it’s unwise of me to try to explain without…” the images of torment reappeared fresh in his mind, like reawakening from a sick, repetitious nightmare, but continued, shaking his head, “Look, why don’t you just skip me and go after other souls while I spend the rest of my time here?”

“I tend not to leave anyone unattended once I get to them. And besides, you know more about what I do more than any other soul I have encountered. What’s more: If one of us doesn’t get you within 72 hours, you, the soul, will expire. That monster you encountered earlier was after you because you were a fresh soul. It would absorb all of your memories, abilities and energy as you lose yourself to a fate worse than what you deem to be Hell,” she crossed her arms and walked up to the ledge of the rooftop with the soul following her a little ways, his attention fully caught and intently absorbing this new information, “But, when you expire after 72 hours, you also lose your memories, abilities and energy to the point where you would fade away. You would just fall apart and there isn’t any plausible remedy to put you back together. Even as we speak, you are losing memories from the life you’ve lived. It’s a shame, though, that you spent all that time just staring at your body. What, did you not want anyone to touch it, or were you just waiting for it to grow tubers?” she rolled her eyes and stuck out her tongue sarcastically.

The soul only harrumphed defiantly in reply, refusing to admit she had a point. Even though Reapers never faded away, they were stuck with a great responsibility and could never be free as long as people died. Souls, even though their time was limited, were free to do whatever they pleased.

‘I guess I never thought too much into it. I only received that memory recently. But, why did I remember it, if that was a memory from a long time ago? Shouldn’t have I forgotten it when I went to Hell?’

The young man sat down on the ledge, still more questions building inside him, when he noticed Alcyone staring intently at him in thought,
with her eyebrows kneaded, her upper body leaned over her bended knee, and head resting on her wrist.

“Oh, what now?” he rolled his eyes and let his upper body collapse, arms resting on his thighs, back hunched, head lolling to the side, and his eyes looking up at her with a look of defeat, “It isn’t like you can badger me with any more confusion, can you?”

Instead of answering, she stated, “You haven’t a clue of the situation you’ve put me in, do you?”

He shook his head and responded, “I’m in a bit of a jam myself. What’s worse is I can’t think of any way out. What about you?”

“Well, I can’t really leave you alone since not only will the monsters likely eat you, the fact that you know too much about Reapers and the
Hell situation can be potentially threatening to us. I also haven’t a clue of how you know and that just annoys me even more. Your situation is either risk going into Beyond or you fade away. This may be a stalemate…”

“Wait,” he interrupted, “Why can’t you just let a monster eat me? I mean, wouldn’t it make your job easier, just letting us get eaten?”

“That is. The Most HORRIBLE. Thing you could say,” she stared at him in shock and disgust, “Everyone deserves a chance at going where they wish to be as long as they made their best effort at decisions piled against them. What, you think after an old person lives their life to the fullest and expects to go to their paradise should have their peaceful minds stripped away from them and just get eaten? And in any case, I’m more affectionate to your kind than the other Reapers. You might even say I care about who I guide to Beyond, hoping their choices did them good because the life they lived was probably the best thing that could ever happen to them. They had freedom and choices. Yes, even those who felt as though their life had been miserable and yes, even for those who were suppressed by others, mentally, physically, emotionally. It is for those people that I wish to empathize with, yet I cannot, because they have had more opportunity than me, who has never even taken one breath, who has never felt that gut-wrenching experience whilst falling from a great height, who has never been able to choose to be a Reaper, not for one minute. Beyond can be whatever they determine it to be, depending on few simple concepts. Their choices, how they lived their life, what they wished they could have improved, what they still wish to accomplish, what they believe about life and afterlife from what they learned during their time on the mortal plane, everything of that nature. Boy, I ran that train off the track, didn’t I?”

“More like you pushed the lead car off the track and the rest just followed, making a barrel roll.” He rolled his eyes, facing her, “Look, I’m sorry about that last comment. Really. I just can’t think of any good solution. Everything seems like it’s dissipating on my part and even though you say Beyond is what I determine it to be, my action, especially now…” he left his mouth open, but he couldn’t conjure any sound to express his despair.

“Wait, you even know about Beyond?” she spoke sincerely, leaning even closer to him, hoping he wouldn’t be provoked.

“I’m guessing Beyond is whatever’s on the other side of the portal.” He sat up straight, locking his arms and pressing both palms against the stone ledge staring out into space, his melancholy echoing through his voice.

She sighed, “You know too much… I guess I don’t have much choice.”

“There you go again with the vagueness. Is there another string I should know about?” he rolled his eyes toward her again sarcastically, but was willing to listen to any other alternative.

“Oh, if you go on like that, then I won’t even bother trying to help you,” Alcyone quipped crossed her arms and gave a sly look with her head shaking back and forth.

“Do or do not: There is no try. Oop!” He stood and started to feel light-headed, his feet nearly tripping over each other.

“Well, I don’t think you will appreciate that statement when I describe what might happen to you, so, you ought to watch what you say from
now on.” She stated in warning, feeling a bit of sympathy for a deteriorating soul and caught his arm to stabilize him.

“What’s happening? Is my time up yet?” he blinked several times and looked at his arm in astonishment as though it were becoming disfigured.

“Maybe. I don’t know when exactly you died. I’ll make this quick. What I am proposing to you is that you help me out by becoming my fledgling and taking up the scythe as a new Reaper. That is, if you’re not going to become violent or self-absorbed and you are willing to commit to the job. Once you start, there’s no backing out. You won’t be able to pass on like so many other souls do every day.”

“I will just stay in this plane? In between the living plane and passing on? No going to Hell, no dissipating?” he raised his eyebrow.

“You will be the one to guide souls from the living plane as another Death. As a Reaper, you will not be affected like souls will during their stay here. You won’t need to eat, sleep or have any material needs. On the other hand, the souls will keep coming and it is up to us to guide them before their time is up. This means no breaks, but it’s rather calming, though, guiding them through the process. It’s guiding 24/7/365 days a mortal year. To learn the ropes, you’ll have to stick with me for a while and learn mostly through my examples.”

“Hmm. What about the monsters? Won’t they still be able to attack me?” He stepped back to stand erect as the Reaper gradually let go of him once he gained stability.

“That’s mostly what the scythes are for besides opening portals for those who pass on,” she pulled the long, black decorative pole out of her sleeve and pulled out the blade from one end nonchalantly.

“One of the others seems to have a fun time doing just that every so often. I believe you’ve already met, so I’ll not go into gory details. I try to keep neutral on the attacking subject myself and will only fight as a last resort,” she leaned upon the scythe now, her hips lopsided from the weight shift and the man just looked at her, focused on her eyes as though he had seen them somewhere before.

“Well, are you in or not?” she asked him frankly and he blinked in response, exhaling with a long hum.

“ ‘Hmm’, you say? Is that it?” she smirked with a light snort, “Let me ask you this: Do you still think I’m an enemy? Do you still think you’ll go to the most evil place for the most evil souls just because you existed? Are you willing to stay here as a soul and just fade out of existence instead?”

“All that I will say is that I am sure Hell awaits me and your offer sounds much more… adaptable.” He shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly, as though he were making a decision on what ice cream was his favorite.

“Wow, ‘adaptable’. You probably mean to say ‘appeasing and less painful’. You’re a funny guy, you know that? What’s your name?” she laughed heartily and gave a toothy grin.

“My name is Anthony. I can’t help but think I’ve seen you before.”

“I am Alcyone. I can’t help but think you’re severely mistaken.”
But as Anthony looked further into those dark eyes, he felt that she couldn’t have been more wrong.