The Takamori Story

Takanashi Kiara

When the particles reached the highest place in the underworld, they vanished.
Kiara's ashes started glowing, and before she knew it, she was back, luckily still in her human shape.
Left laying down in the soft grass of what was left of the field, she stared at the blue sky until she cleared her mind and remembered everything.

-"...(Mori-san...)"

Since she knew Calliope had kept her word there wasn't really that much to discuss, she got three things from her last life:

One, her friend was dead and never coming back because, Two it's impossible to have an immortal friend, therefore Three: What she did to Calli had no justification.

On top of missing her friend now she also had to carry the guilt of having harmed the one who helped her in the first place.

-"I truly am ungrateful..."

She didn't feel like moving, but she couldn't stay there forever, so she got up. What she saw didn't help her feel better at all. All the trees were burnt, all the leafs and flowers were ashes, the house was in ruins and the crops were desecrated.

She couldn't stand seeing that when she knew who was to blame, a sudden urge to leave took over her, and she ran away as fast as she could.

~~~~~~~~~~

With the passing years she had time to think. She completely gave up on her wish to have an immortal friend and decided to live her current life in more than a single location, going from place to place, seeing if something was interesting enough to dedicate to it. Despite being clear minded most of the times, sometimes she just couldn't help but think about Calli, and how she regretted harming her. And those thoughts weren't out of place either, Kiara witnessed death in multiple ocassions. Sickness, duels, battles in the distance and even public executions were some examples. She even stole a crappy shortsword from a blacksmith's garbage so she could kill other beings, but it was worth it, cooked chicken was tasty.

At some point, death was all she could think of, not that it affected her life or the way she lived, she just couldn't get it off her head. It wasn't fear of death, she was immortal. It wasn't love for death, it was painful. But maybe what dying implied for her was what made her so fond of the concept.

One day, however, she found herself trapped by death.

It was just another day of traveling, she had no business left in the city she was in, she was on her way out and already off the boarders.
She didn't pay attention to where exactly she was going through, she made a path to follow to the next city, but she realized she had miscalculated when she stood up in a hill and saw that different sided armies were approaching from both east and west.
She was stuck in crossfire, and there wasn't much time left before they reached her.

Still staying under control, Kiara looked around to see which side would be the shortest exit. But before she figured it out, she saw the horizon being filled with mist, and the strong wind becoming still.
The moment she noticed just what was happening, she was already behind her.

-"Hey"

Said Calliope.

Kiara turned around while keeping a serious face.

-"...Am I supposed to die now?"

-"Yes, let's make this quick"

She numbly said as she pulled out that same scythe again.

But Kiara had a feeling she couldn't explain, despite being so accepting of her constant demise, she didn't feel like her life was over yet. Despite knowing just who Calli was, she thought she couldn't decide when someone lived or died, and she wouldn't do it now.

With this in mind she pulled out her sword just in time to block Calli's incoming slice. They both recoiled.

"What the hell are you doing?!"

Kiara ignored her and turned around.

-"I won't die today!"

-"There's nothing you can do! I thought you'd know that by now"

Both armies were coming closer, and Kiara finally saw the perfect path out of the place.

-"Oh yeah? Well, Watch me!"

~~~~~~~~~~

Her body was nailed to the ground. She couldn't move or even speak. She was expecting to be able to make it out of the battle, but she didn't expect a tornado to come out of nowhere. All she saw was a silhouette in the way of the sun's light.

-"Wow, you're stupid"

~~~~~~~~~~

She was yet to rise again, but the pain woke her up somewhere else. The light was barely bright enough to see what was around her. The width of the place reminded her of the field she died in, but the ground was similar to gravel, the sky was pitch black and there was no living being anywhere to be seen.

When she stood up, she saw in the distance what looked like wooden scaffoldings with lots of souls bringing more materials to build with.
It was the underworld