The deathly regents

Chapter One

Call of Destiny

Letum

I was watching ripples on a pound in the Quiet Garden, being in the company of arousal buzzing bees and bumblebees which were busying themselves by pollinating abundant trees of heady-scented sort I had never known the name of but was mesmerized by the beauty of tiny, star-shaped, white flowers. I had spent a long time in the world of fleshies in my ghost body, so I was glad to be finally kissed by the rays of the Afterworld's sun. It was early morning and even birds were not awakened yet despite the sky burning in the flame of the deepest orange shade of the waking up enormous star which gave us warmth and light.

A sudden impulse brought me down to the grassy softness of the emerald lawn by the bank of the pound. The night had happened to be a tough one, but my eyelids refused to shut and sleep over the picturesque view worthy to be captured on the canvas by the masterful hand of a gifted artist at dawn. However, I overestimated the endurance I possessed and gave up all the attempts of resisting the tiredness which was devouring me completely. I closed my eyes and succumbed to the urge to drift somewhere far away to the lands of tranquility and comfort, being lulled by the pleasantly cool blow of the morning wind.

Of course, my nap did not last long. The remote shouts and whines brought me back to my senses, and swore aloud but because I recognized the one in the background who had not been in the training center for a while and I had the misfortune to realize I missed her much, not because of irritation.

I took off and headed to the hall where the shouts were coming from the open window, reaching it in a matter of seconds. I found myself standing at the doorway, my eyes fixed on her. Her red-wine bob was chaotically traveling in the air in rhythm with her lunges and strikes. The drops of sweat ran down her face. I entered the bright room in the morning beans where there were only two of us. My sibling set aside the wooden sword at the sight of me and curved her lips. Her elegant but no less strong hand wiped sweat away from her forehead and at the moment I failed my try to sneak up from behind her back by brushing the lying on the floor training equipment with a loud noise which outed me (I blamed the drowsiness after the rough night for the absent-mindedness), two black eyes revealed themselves, piercing the solid flesh of mine.

"Good morning, sunshine," she greeted me wryly with a shortness of breath. The whimsical notes in her tone made me mirror her smile.

"Tory," I said to my sister with a saucy jerk of my head as a way of greeting, "when did you come?"

Tory leaned on the wall on her right to catch her breath, "About three hours ago."

"And instead of finding your sibling first you started with a workout, did you not?"

It looked like my question affected her not just a little because her attractive features got tensed, "Actually, brother, I spent some time at first to find you chambers because, my dearest sibling, you did not bother to tell me that something had changed in there, and then to be told that you were in the world of living."

The nebula in my head caused by lack of sleep had not let me comprehend what Tory had said about the time of her arrival so I had rebuked her in vain. For sure, three hours ago I still had been cleaning the mess in the fleshy world, showing the newly minted deceased fleshies the path to the Great Line where, according to our beliefs and tales, they would have to find peace or would be suffering for their sins until the time had its end. Even regents were not aware of what would happen to a soul after death. We had been born to chaperon mortals to the Afterworld and the Great Line for after death people had not always understood what had been going on and millions of stray souls used to wander in between the realms to never find the way away.

"Hey," Tory's voice which sounded less carefreely now brought me back to the present, "Are you feeling good?"

My head nodded quicker than I could think, "Do not worry. I need a rest, yes, but I am fine, or will be after a long deep sleep. Is Talia with you?"