Death

How to Flee Your Death Without Making the Classic Mistakes

I awoke with a scream, my hands pulling at the chains that now bound me to the chair. A man with pale skin looked back at me, his fingers on the new bindings, his red eyes consumed with terror. "The shadows are going to eat you alive," I said offhandedly. The man yelped and put his hand over his mouth, his cheeks turning red.

"N-no, they're not," he replied, taking a deep breath and looking at me again, this time with determination. I shrugged as well as I could, and snapped my fingers.

Through the cracks in the floorboards, my shadows began to wisp into the room of the tribunal. The man before me noticed and screamed, a long, high-pitched keen that made me want to rip my ears out. The shadows twined around his ankles and solidified into tentacles, dragging him down into the floor, which was suddenly not quite there. It still looked as though it was present, but when I tried to place my toe on it, my foot went through.

A few tendrils of darkness unlocked my foot padlocks, and two more untangled the chains around my wrists. Now free, I looked up at the tribunal, and strangely enough, I saw that they were all still sitting there, expressions of eerie calm on their faces. Then, I remembered that they were all reapers.

I had come too far to simply sit back down and lock myself in place, though. And so I raised my hand, closed my eyes, and waited. I waited for the other dimension to open before me, because if I could call forth shadows from that place, it followed that I myself could enter. "Please," I whispered, and there was a terrible sucking noise.

When I opened my eyes, I was floating in a weird oblivion, and the darkness was writhing around me. I could almost hear its sibilant whispering, trying to draw me into the shadows, from which I would not return. But I remembered the feeling of being controlled by them, and so I floated onward, careful to adjust myself so that I wouldn't brush against the living walls.

"The day of reckoning is close at hand," a familiar voice whispered, and I turned my head to see my former clone floating beside me. "You aren't dead. There is no need to resurrect yourself. Perhaps you have more reaper in your blood than I do."

I looked at her, seeing her as she was for the first time. "You're beautiful," I whispered, and then pressed my hand over my mouth. "Sorry."

She smiled wryly. "Yes, and you're alive. So we come out even there. Anyway, I didn't use up such a great amount of my power, appearing before you, just so that we could trade compliments. I came to warn you about the war, but on my own terms. I can't have you leaving your mind-state while I'm talking."

I nodded, careful to keep my body aimed forward. It was taking a long time to reach any landmark, and I wondered suddenly how I would know when to leave. Or, for that matter, how I would leave at all. I wanted to ask the girl, but she looked like she was on a mission, so I kept my mouth shut.

"The war isn't what you think it is. Hell, I would be fighting it right now if the reapers hadn't snatched my mind up to enter yours. Our ranks are being depleted with every demi-human that's born. And the new ones are pulled in on the other side. Like you."

She took a breath, her face green, obviously struggling. "Sorry. It's taking a lot out of me to stay here. Did they tell you that you were the only one? That only you could save them with your shadows? They lied. First of all, there are plenty of demi-humans, just not ones in the world as old as you. Most are like me, having grown up under the reapers' care. Second of all, most demi-humans don't control shadows. I did, and you do, but that's all."

She coughed and pressed a hand to her temple. "I have to hurry. Midas was a demi-human, one of ours, and he was a good one. Now he's dead. Probably in some shrimp's mind by now. You can't fight for them. They control the Underworld, but they're not the only people who live here! The ghosts are here, and so are we. It's time for the demi-humans to rule! So, please. Before they find you, come to our side of the war. I can take you there."

I didn't need to consider a moment before nodding. "I'm a demi-human too, even if I'm alive. And if I'm right, it sounds like most of us are dead...?" I asked, staring at her face and waiting for a response.

She nodded, and that was all I needed. "Show me the way. But, first, enter my mind again. You're turning purple."

She nodded.

Okay.