GHOST OF YOU, luke castellan

⁰⁷death isn't as final as it may appear

chapter seven!
「 ten and a half months after 」

❝ you mean summoned as in a ouija board? „

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ALASKA FLIPPED THROUGH THE CHANNELS, nothing entertaining her. As luxurious as it was, the afterlife was kind of boring. Sure she made friends, but there was nothing to do; plus she missed her other friends—the ones that were still alive.

Sometimes she checked in on them via the television in her room, but that felt creepy so she stopped doing that.

Today would be the day, she thought.

She had been waiting for the others to join her so she could reunite with them before being reborn, but it was just too boring to continue with that. Maybe she would meet them again in her new life?

Alaska only had to make it one more time until she was sent to the Isles of the Blest—a little less than a year ago, when she first arrived in Elysium, she had a flood of memories from her past life before she was reborn as Alaska Rhodes.

She—well, he actually—had been a firefighter who died in a hospital fire trying to rescue people. He had waited in Elysium for the love of his life before the two were reborn.

Skipping breakfast (technically she didn't have to eat in the afterlife), she made her way to the afterlife's information center and waited in the rebirth line for her turn.

"Next!" the attendant called.

Alaska walked up to the counter and drummed her fingers against the counter anxiously.

"Rebirth?" the attendant ghoul asked and she nodded her head.

A clipboard and paper were slid under the glass along with a pen. Alaska filled it out and slid it back under nervously. The attendant read the information before tapping on her tablet.

"Okay Alaska, you are all set. Just follow the arrows down that hall to get to the River Lethe—Oh my, that's not right."

"What?" she asked anxiously.

"You're being summoned."

"What?" she asked in confusion when her skin started glowing. "What's happening?"

"It's not time for your rebirth yet," the attendant said before Alaska dissipated, and with a bright flash, she was in some dark throne room that chilled her to her bones.

There was a man—a god—sitting on the throne. He was very tall and dressed in godly attire including a black, silky robe and a braided gold crown. His throne was made of human bones and, Alaska didn't even need to be able to see auras to know that he oozed power.

"So you're the pitiful mortal being summoned," he said.

His presence alone made Alaska want to die—not because it was so terrible, but it just had an evil, charismatic tone.

This is Hades, she realized before dipping into a bow and standing back up to meet his cold, entertained eyes.

"Lord Hades," she said.

"Care to tell me why you are being summoned? That doesn't follow the rules of the Underworld."

"Summoned?"

"Yes, must I repeat myself?"

"Uh, no," she said timidly. "You mean summoned as in a Ouija board?"

He scoffed and shook his head in contempt. "Summoned as in brought back to life. That disobeys the rules of death."

"I—I don't know," she said, just as confused as he was, though she was visibly showing it. "I was just going to be reborn."

Lord Hades clicked his tongue dismissively. "I don't know who you're making friends with, godling, but they have enough power to disregard my rule. It would be foolish to make an enemy out of me."

"I swear, I don't know who—"

Before she could finish her sentence, Hades waved his hand towards her dismissively and she was filled with an almost painful burst of warmth before another bright light flashed and she was out of Lord Hades's throne room.

When she woke up, she immediately recognized where she was; the sunshine flowing through the blinds and the flowery bedsheets gave it away. She was back home in her bedroom.