The Last Flower on Earth

Clarissa Isendale, Goddess of the Dead

With the black and white ceramic tiles the deep red between them, and the mahogany fog blurring the distance, I find myself back in The Waiting Room.

"Stand Martivich, I have something I must talk to you about." I look up from the ground to see a woman with red hair and crimson red eyes.

I force myself to my feet, pain spikes through my body, almost paralyzing me. But I can feel my heartbeat.

"Am, I dying? Don't say I'm dying!"

"Martivich, you aren't dying. You are in a state similar to a coma, you are between life and death." I get a grasp on walking.

I ask her what she wanted to talk to me about, she takes the initiative and begins walking. "My name is Clarissa Isendale, you may call me Clair, as everybody else does."

"Alright then Clair, I've died a couple of times now, why haven't I been taken to the other half yet?" She continues walking.

"You haven't been able to move on yet because you have a job to do, you are more important than you can possibly imagine." She says in a monotone and stoic voice. "You can do something that me, a goddess, cannot do."

"You're speaking in riddles, could you please tell me clearly?" We continue walking through the abyss.

Two seats appear before a massive door. "Take a seat."

I sit on the kinda comfy seat. "Is this velvet?"

The lady thinks. "The Artires, you call them Hate Demons right?" I nod.

"Those are lost souls, but I've told you all this before."

"Are you the goddess of death or something?"

"I am many things. But we all have our roles we must play when asked of us, you hold a power that drives you forward, something only you still have." She takes a deep breath. "Trust me when I say this as I've seen your life unfold, the horrors you've witnessed and suffered through. Martivich, your life, will never be easy, you still have a long way to go before... I can't say that."

I stay silent and listen. "But something I can tell you is this. Artires can be killed, you can decapitate them, or burn them. Those are the only ways to send them back here so they can move on once and for all. For those tortured souls to finally have peace."

"Clair, why do the Hate Demons want us dead?"

"They want you dead because you're alive, they want to take your life in false hope it'll bring them back again. They believe that by taking your life essence, your mana, they can rejoin the living. but that's not how it works."

"Clair, can you tell me this." She stares directly at me. "Am I the only person alive on Earth?"

Silence.

"Is there anybody else?"

"I wish I could tell you, I know the answer, but you won't like it."

I lean back in my chair. "Tell me, you know what I've been through, you know the hell I pushed through to get here. I can handle it."

"I can't tell you."

"Tell me." I lean forwards.

"I can't."

"Tell me Damnit!"

"Martivich! You will learn the answer through time! If I tell you now!" Her head hangs low.

"You have a goal, everything in your life has been leading up to a moment. But I cant tell you."

I stand myself up. "What all can I do here anyway."

"Through those doors," Clair points to the massive doors, "Is where souls get to move on to wherever they desire, Heaven, Hell, another world, re-birth. But I cannot permit you to go past it, as your story isn't done yet."

"You keep on saying that 'my story isn't done yet', what happens at the end, do I die?"

"Idiot, all things die eventually. But not even I know what your future holds, my role in this story is to keep you on track, you decide what the future holds for you then the time comes."

"You, say that as if I care what the future holds, you speak like I actually have a happy future ahead of me and not the eternal darkness looming above and the fear of dying alone around every corner. You haven't lived through that."

Clair stands up as well. "I have not lived through exactly that, but we both have our own traumas that we wish only to keep to ourselves. But I can tell you this Martivich. Your future can be brighter than your present, but that is for you to decide."

I blink and Clair vanishes as if she was never here in the first place.

It is comforting to know that even the divine is on my side, but still, being told that my story doesn't end here so consistently is concerning. Do I not get a choice in my life? Has everything I've done up to this point only led up to one predetermined thing?

I stand around under the fluorescent lights and wait, last time I got pulled out there was a massive light from above. "Clair, can you still hear me?"

"Yes, I can." The voice came from within my head. "Did you want to ask me something?"

"No, I just wanted to know if you were here or not."

I look up to the light.