Vengeance: A Halloween Novella

Chapter 6

October 28, 2023

Elias Pettersson's Limbo

Elias Pettersson blinks awake. He watches the train roar down the tracks away from him, eventually vanishing into a poof of mist like a ghost train. He pushes himself up, finding that the ropes are gone from around him.

The railroad dissolves away around him into an eerie dark, cloudy space. Flashes of light like lightning light up parts of the clouds, which look endless around him. But he can feel a smooth, cold and solid ground under him.

"No...no, no, no!" Elias gasps, jumping up to his feet.

He runs along the lightning clouds programmed into the dark room and slams into the camouflaged outer wall. He falls backward and lands on his butt, stunned. Where the hell am I? The storm clouds billow all around him. It really throws him for a loop like motion graphics that are displayed on the ice during a pre-game.

He gets back up to his feet and spins around.

"HELP! SOMEONE HELP ME!"

As if in a response to him, a glowing black book sails out of the air and lands on the stormy ground right before him.

Elias freezes in place, staring at the book for a few minutes, before he walks toward it. He picks it up and examines the cover.

"Welcome to Limbo, your ultimate knowledge guide for the other realms that lie between heaven, hell and life."

Elias looks around him. Where did the book come from?

All around him, the clouds billow and the flashing light continues. He is reminded of being trapped in the middle of one of the storms raging non-stop on the planet of Jupiter. Only it's just a projected motion graphic to twist his mind's reality.

He turns his attention back on the book and flips it open.

"Part one: Acceptance. Accept that you have died and are stuck here."

Elias nods. That doesn't help him out any.

"Hello?! Is anyone else in here?!" Elias shouts out to the air. "Who sent the book?! I want answers!"

There is no reply.

Elias sighs and sits down on the ground. He flips to the next page.

"Part two: Learn the Limbo. You're trapped here, so the least you can do is stop screaming for help and someone to help you and just read. Chances are you're here because someone else died unexpectedly and got revenge."

Elias glances up and looks around, but ultimately shrugs and resumes reading, flipping to the next page.

"In Limbo, you have many options. You can go mad like a prisoner in solitude, you can perfect your newfound magical skills, you can return for one whole night on the anniversary of your death. Some will say that you can achieve this by simply taking the blood out of a living soul. But don't jump too quickly on that.

It's a bit more complicated. In order to return for the full night, you'll need to brew up a witch-like concoction. It's not too difficult. You take the blood of a living soul (usually a mortal enemy), mix it up with a lock of your own hair and your own blood. Then, voila, you can return to the real world.

Most times, you'll wake up in your own grave in some cemetery thanks to your friends, family or loved ones. (There's rare occurrences where you don't.)

Want to take it a step farther?

You can even return to the living for good."

Elias looks up, blinking.

"Yes. It is true. All you need to do is concoct the potion, return to Earth and kill your most hated enemy."

That must be what Tkachuk did?! But Brock told me that Tkachuk was obsessed with me...why would he kill me? Unless something caused him to snap?

As Elias ponders things, he sets the book down in his lap. He doesn't even feel someone come and sit down beside him, until they touch him on the shoulder, nearly scaring the shit out of him.

"You okay?" a man asks him.

Elias yelps and jumps in place.

"Whoa! Whoa! I didn't mean to startle you!" The voice belongs to a stylized wavy dirty blond haired man with dark blue eyes and a young face. He has on a dressy gray shirt with dark blue jeans and black semi-nice shoes.

"Who are you?"

"I heard you yelling, came to check it out. Call me curious or whatever, but I'm always somewhat interested in the newbies that pop into Limbo," the man rambles on. "Oh, and you asked me my name. I'm Connor Zary." He thrusts out a hand with a warm, welcoming smile on his face. "Though you can call me, Zar, Zabu or Zarbu."

Elias shakes it. "Elias Pettersson."

"Wait, THE Elias Pettersson?" Connor gasps.

Elias nods. "Vancouver Canuck superstar forward."

Connor's face is bright, lit up with excitement. "I was supposed to be a future Calgary Flame, drafted in 2020, but Matthew Tkachuk had other thoughts. Needed my blood for a mission."

"Yeah, I can guess it was to return to Earth to kill me." Elias sighs.

"I'll let the others know you're here!" Connor exclaims, jumping up to his feet. He snaps his fingers and a loud whistling sound echoes through the empty air.

A familiar curly brunette man with bright amber eyes manifests out of the projection clouds wearing a simple white t-shirt under a medium gray jacket with black pants and tennis shoes. At his side is a short, stylized dark brunette haired man with blue eyes. He is wearing a white jacket over a black t-shirt with black jeans and white and black tennis shoes.

Another short man with dark, wispy brown hair and chocolate eyes, soon appears. He is wearing a navy blue polo shirt with khaki shorts and navy blue shoes. He looks kind of like a kid going to school with a dress code.

A few moments later, a fourth man appears. He is a short, wispy brunette with gray eyes and is wearing a dark blue t-shirt with dark denim jeans and white tennis shoes.

They all look familiar, but Elias is struggling with names.

Connor clasps his hands together as they walk over to them. "Jason Dickinson, who used to be a fourth line Dallas Star, Kailer Yamamoto of the Edmonton Oilers, Clayton Keller from the Arizona Coyotes and Tyson Jost--"

"I'm Colorado's favorite depth forward!" Tyson remarks with a thumbs up and a cocked eyebrow full of sass and personality.

"Tkachuk killed all of you?" Elias questions. "To get to me?"