He was a mess as he stared out into the distance with no life left in his eyes. Everything he’d known and loved was gone—it had been gone for quite some time, but he’d honestly lost track of time and it felt like the life he had was eons ago. And there he stood as the sun began to dip into the ocean on the horizon, feeling the cold breeze of nightfall whispering past him. Normally this place brought him so much comfort and peace, but after time he’d only been feeling misery and isolation here. And now in these last three days, he felt nothing when he stood here. It felt empty. It felt dead.
He took one step forward towards the tide and then hesitated. His eyes closed and he reflected back on everything that had brought him to here. All of the memories flickered rapidly through his head like changing channels on a television set; all the emotions ravaged his heart until the pain became too much to bear. He knew in his mind that all of this could pass and that with time, he could get better—hell he would be better, too. Stronger. He wouldn’t fall victim to such silly things as emotions again… if only he could be brave enough to fight through them…
But why fight them, he had decided grimly. Every day he thought he was beginning to feel better something would just come along and topple all his progress back into the dirt. He used to hear these words from someone else—she spoke these words verbatim, and he remembered that it used to grate harsh upon his nerves.
It’s just easier to stay in the mud so I don’t get knocked back down and hurt again.
He had chided her for so long about that statement. But suddenly he began to understand why she had said it. Too bad his understanding had come too late. For her…
And now for himself.
He closed his eyes and listened to the waves washing ashore as he began to walk again. His march was steady, somber, and true. His mind may have protested for him to stop, but he carried on like a true soldier.
And so he marched, a soldier into his destiny.
2: Chapter OneA pair of pale blue eyes slowly opened, but the world around seemed so fuzzy and out of focus still. The orbs closed and reopened. The blue hue that had colored them seemed to have faded until they appeared almost white. He shook his head somewhat and felt bodies all around him, pushing and jostling him. His eyes came into focus and he realized he was in a prison cell of some description, crammed in a small space with what appeared to be over two dozen other bodies. When he blinked again, he couldn’t believe what he realized about his cellmates—he could see through them, as though they were ghosts. And then he looked down at his own hands and became sick with fear. He was wispy thin as well. He looked at his hands and noticed two hideous throbbing scars that looked almost like the letter X—crosses turned on their sides. Where did he get those, why was he imprisoned, and why was he and his fellow prisoners transparent?
“They’re gonna plunge us to Afterlife,” a shaky voice yelped in alarm. “We’re all gonna be sent to Afterlife!”
“What? No!” Another voice protested. “Damnit, I’ve been in Limbo for years now… I’ve built up so much. They can’t take that from me!”
The first voice whimpered, clearly distraught. “I was halfway to getting a chance for Redemption… if they take me to the portal… I’ll…”
What the hell? He thought in confusion. What is “Afterlife,” and what does he mean about “Redemption?” What have I done wrong to be jailed… Why can’t I remember?
“Hey, kid!” A gruff male voice bellowed as a heavy force jostled against him. “Don’t just sit there like a lump, help us get outta here!”
He blinked and turned to face the heavyset yet semi-transparent man who was barking orders at him. “Where am I?” He asked as he got up to his feet.
“Are ya dumb?” The man mocked. “We’re in the Limbo prison, and if we don’t find a way outta this dump, the Limbo Guardians are going to send us to the Afterlife portal and we’ll be dead!”
“Easy now,” a female voice suddenly chided. “I think he’s the one who just arrived a few hours ago.”
He looked puzzled as the burly man gave him a quick once-over and then laughed loudly. “Ah, that’s right! He’s the newbie!” The man mockingly outstretched his hand. “Welcome to Limbo, son—You died about twelve hours ago.”
“I what?!” He yelped in alarm. “You mean I’m…”
“Yep,” the man replied almost casually. “This is Limbo—the world between Life and Afterlife. Or ‘life’ and ‘death’ as it’s called to the living. Souls whose bodies have died but whose spirits haven’t yet passed to one realm or the other hang out here for a while until a decision is made. You arrived here about twelve hours ago, so that means you’re dead, kid.”
The first voice cried, “And if we don’t get away from here before the guards take us to the Afterlife portal, we’ll really be dead! All of us… you included!”
He attempted to wrap his head around the concept—he was dead? And his death had been recent? But what happened exactly? Aside from feeling kind of depressed, he had been perfectly healthy and strong. He looked down at the scars and gingerly touched one. In the back of his mind, he heard the sound of rushing water… like waves. And then a sound that resembled bubbles—
The cell door opened and several guards with bright, flickering rods directed everyone out of the cell. Some attempted to resist, but the rods quickly encouraged the rebellious ones to behave. One of the guards grabbed him up by the wrist and flung him into the group. “Let’s go, you.”
The group was heard cursing, crying, and otherwise bargaining as they walked into an outside hallway. He looked up at the sky, which looked as though it was daytime—if not for the blackish red sky and the low crimson clouds. The air felt heavy and electric with energy, but the wind that rushed past sounded empty. For a moment he remembered this same noise from somewhere before—maybe before he’d died?
Suddenly they were forced into a room where the air was crackling with an immensely strong energy. The air even rippled from the power of the energy contained in this room. The prisoners were all lined up on the edge of the stone, and they whimpered loudly as they looked down. Down in a very long pit was a scary looking whirlpool with red lightning erupting out of it and a horrid roaring noise from the winds churning within it. It pulsed and quaked with energy. He tried to step back from his precarious place on the ledge, but a guard quickly pushed him back into place.
What’s going on here? He was panicking now. Am I really about to die… forever? I didn’t even get a chance to figure out why I’m here!
“As you all are aware, it is illegal to willfully linger in Limbo longer than forty-eight hours,” a booming voice declared. “And as punishment for lingering, you are all sentenced to Afterlife by plunging.”
His heart raced furiously. Plunging… did they mean they would be forced to jump from where they were standing now? His eyes cut down to the horrifying whirlwind ravenously spiraling some several hundred feet below. He was hoping it was some nightmare—a crazy nightmare that he was about to wake up from and then laugh at himself for having. But a scream suddenly snapped him back to reality and he watched in horror as the first prisoner was shoved into the abyss. The guards moved to the next person in line, and he quickly counted. There were only six more people between him and the pit.
The next victim screamed as they were sent to their demise, and he was unable to cope with this terrible sound. He broke away and attempted to run. Several guards chased after him and caught him with ease, lifting his feet from the ground and marching towards that damned ledge. He writhed and fought for all he was worth, screaming in protest, “But I didn’t get a chance!” He suddenly found himself dangling helplessly over the huge tornado, and his breath caught in his throat. And then to his horror, he felt them let go and his body went limp and weightless. He was plunging downwards rapidly, the portal racing up to meet him. Not knowing what else to do, he threw his hands in front of himself as though to shield himself.
Suddenly he heard a voice shout something in a strange dialect, and he abruptly stopped falling. He looked up to see a figure in a black cloak pointing a finger at him, somehow keeping him levitating in place. The figure then took its right hand and pointed it at the guards, speaking another strange sentence before a blast of white light erupted from its palm and blasted back the guards while leaving the prisoners unharmed.
“If you care for your life, Damiyon Blue, you will listen well to what I say,” the voice suddenly spoke to him. To the others, the figure instructed, “Run now, but be ready to fight any other guardians. You must fight for your lives now—if they catch you again there will be no second chance!”
“Look! It’s the… the Soul Reaper!” A person shouted. “We need to get out of here before it takes our hearts!”
The cloaked figure floated him back up to solid ground, but more guards were quickly coming to surround him. He turned to the figure—which the others had run away from in fear for their lives—and didn’t know which way to go. As he attempted to step back, he suddenly felt an invisible force violently squeeze his body, choking the air right out of his lungs. Eyes wide, he looked at the figure whose hand was pointed at him again.
“You will go nowhere unless I say,” the figure warned him. It was then that it took its hand and pointed at all of the guards in the room. They suddenly began rising from the ground and were thrown down into the pit towards the portal. He attempted to ignore the sounds of their horrified screams as the cloaked figure watched with what almost seemed like immense joy. After the last cries were silence, the figure turned to him and grabbed his wrist. He was forcibly lifted into the air and found himself being taken away by this mysterious “Soul Reaper.” But he couldn’t squirm or try to fight—the strange figure had rendered him paralyzed. The next thing he knew, his eyes rolled back and he lost consciousness.
***
When next he awoke, he was staring up at red clouds from beneath a canopy of broken tree limbs. The branches were snapped, bent, and twisted, almost looking like broken arms and legs of humans—they even had a bloodlike color to their bark.
“You’re awake now, I see,” a voice suddenly made him aware there was another presence. The cloaked figure was casually sitting on a rock, staring at something it was holding in its hands.
“Yeah, I am,” he replied as he sat up. “Who are you? I heard them call you ‘Soul Reaper,’ but surely you have a more… personable name?”
“Indeed I do, Damiyon,” the figure spoke in a tone that almost sounded friendly.
“I prefer to be called Blue,” he corrected as non-confrontationally as he could. “I don’t like my first name much.”
“Why is that?”
“Because someone once told me it is a variation of ‘the devil.’ And I’m not a bad guy. So if you could please call me Blue instead.” He admitted.
“Of course, Blue. And you can call me Maya.”
Blue felt stunned when the figure pulled back its hood and revealed the face of a young woman. He was immediately drawn to her eyes—they were bright gold and almost looked like the eyes of a cat. But then he realized that this woman looked and felt familiar to him, and when her eyes made direct contact with his, he felt an overwhelming sense of regret and guilt. “You’re a…”
“A girl? Very clever,” Maya replied with a small giggle. “My name is Maya Day. And if you’d like to thank me for saving your afterlife, you may wanna hurry up with it.”
“Oh, right. Thank you for the save back there,” Blue replied distantly. “But I’m confused. All I know is that I woke up in some crowded jail cell being told I died twelve hours ago and am in some limbo-like place?”
Maya nodded. “You did die earlier, yes,” she explained. “In fact, everyone you’ll see in this world is dead. This place is called the realm of Limbo, where souls go after their bodies die. Here in Limbo, souls are judged to see if they can have another chance at Life, or if they will be sent to Afterlife. If you are sent to Afterlife, then your body completely dies and that’s the end of your story.” She took a strand of her wavy jade green hair and tucked it behind her ear. “And you, Damiyon Blue, died twelve hours ago.”
“How do you know that?” He asked.
“I’m the Soul Reaper,” she answered matter-of-factly. “I know where the Ledger is, and I read in there all about you.” She shook her head as if scolding him. “You were a naughty boy, Blue.”
“What do you mean?” His brow furrowed in confusion. “How did I… How did I die?” He felt almost scared to ask that question, as though maybe some things were better left unknown.
Maya rose to her feet and walked over to him, grabbing the collar of his shirt and lowering it down to reveal another ugly X-shaped cross on his chest. She looked him in the eye. “Suicide, dear Blue.” She released his shirt and began walking back towards the rock she had been sitting on. “You took your own life just half a day ago.”
His stomach grew icy cold and nauseated. “I… did what?”
She nodded. “Indeed, you ended your own life. And you opted to take a most painful way out—something in Life must have really left you hurt and hopeless.” He noticed that while Maya’s words sounded sympathetic, her voice almost sounded as though she was amused.
“What did I… do to myself, then,” he forced himself to ask.
Her catlike eyes shot a sideways glance at him and a small smirk crossed her lips. “You’ll know with time. Here in Limbo, you’ll have a lot of time to regain the memory of why you’re here in my company.” She chuckled beneath her breath. “Or, at least, you better hope you have the time to figure it out. Being that you’re a marked soul and all.”
“You mean these scars on my body?” He looked down at his hands. “What do you mean I’m marked?”
“You see, you are an outlaw here in Limbo,” she explained. “Anyone who chooses to end life—whether his own or that of another—is automatically refused the chance for Redemption and is marked with the scars you have upon you now. One on the back of each hand… and, for those who take their own lives, one large scar on the spot nearest to where the injury causing their death was located. For those who kill others, they have a scar for each life they took.” She got up and stretched. “You know, you don’t seem overly rushed to figure out how to return to the Life realm,” she noticed aloud.
“It’s not like I have anyone to go back to, anyway,” he murmured bitterly to himself.
“No?” She looked most curious though the devilish smirk still curled her lips into a most disturbing sneer. “Why not?”
“Because she left me,” he spat out, his pale eyes flickering with a pained fire… if only for half a second. He looked towards his feet instead. “She abruptly told me she wasn’t happy with me anymore and abandoned me.” His face felt hot for a moment and he felt the scar on his chest pulse painfully as tears welled in his eyes. “I guess I wasn’t good enough for her, but she was the only reason I had to go on with things, so…” He tearfully looked up at Maya, who smirked knowingly.
“How cute,” she taunted heartlessly. “The boy killed himself because his lady left him.”
“I did not!” He snapped defensively. “You don’t know the first thing about me other than the fact I…” he trailed off, still refusing to believe he, of all people, had resorted to suicide. He justified in a most bitter voice, “She made her choice and that was it. Whatever she chose to do had no influence on my action.”
Maya raised an eyebrow, clearly amused. “You’re still in the Denial Phase. Oh dear, you’re going to have a long, difficult Limbo.”
“I’ll deal with it,” he responded. For the first time he could remember, he wanted the attention taken away from himself—though he secretly found himself curious about the strange yet somehow familiar woman, wondering how she knew so much about this weird Limbo world… and how she seemed to know so much about him.
“Touchy, aren’t we?” She scoffed. “Don’t cry about your situation, Blue. It won’t do you a lick of good here. Now,” her eyes pierced his soul and sent an icy shiver down his spine as she smiled. “I saved your afterlife, so guess what? You owe me. So you’d best stay on my good side and you better be really good at following orders.”
“And what if I don’t?”
She reached into her cloak and pulled out an onyx crystal with a strange blood-red light throbbing in its center. It hung around her neck on a rusty chain. “I’m the Soul Reaper, remember? Don’t think I won’t hesitate to suck your heart out and send you on to Afterlife. Because trust me,” her eyes narrowed into slits as she finished her statement in a whispering hiss, “your little heart is as pathetic as it is broken. Finishing you would almost be an insult to the time it’d take me to end you.”
He was becoming very irritated with her constant berating and verbal abuse, but he realized she had him over a barrel… at least for the time being. Judging by how close he’d come to nearly biting it earlier, he knew he wouldn’t stand a chance on his own. And though he hated the idea of being dependent on someone else, he wasn’t above sticking close to someone who could keep him safe. After all, he still had to look out for number one—himself—in whatever way he could. “Fine, fine,” he sighed. “Put the scary trinket away. I’ll stick with you… at least until I figure out how to get out of this crazy place.”
“Good decision, Blue,” Maya answered as she drew the hood back over her head. Though her face was now hidden from view, he could see the slightest gold glimmer of her eyes as she outstretched her hand toward him. “Now, take my hand and accept your new afterlife and destiny as the Conscience of the Soul Reaper… if you feel you can handle that.”
He looked at her hand, feeling a hot breeze rustle through his messy sapphire hair. For a moment he felt unsure and an icy sensation formed at the base of his spine, racing up his back until it connected with his brain. The wind picked up once more and this time he felt the heat sear through his flesh and into his bones. It caused him to spasm and shiver as his ears suddenly roared with what sounded like a waterfall. Shaking his head, he exhaled a heavy, nervous sigh and placed his hand into hers. “Very well, Maya. I accept.”
Her hand slowly closed its grip around his, and he couldn’t help but notice her hand felt cold and almost bony—as though she had no life or flesh. He felt his stomach grow cold and another icy pulse raced along his spine as Maya’s golden catlike eyes suddenly lit up from beneath her shroud. She levitated from the ground and took him up by his arm, flying high above the barren Limbo terrain. Her grip became so tight around his hand that he could feel his racing pulse vibrating against himself. She began to speak in a strange dialect as she pulled the black crystal out into view. The pendant began to hover and take on a life of its own, the strange red mist dancing within it seeping out and wrapping its way around her like some kind of wispy serpent. Once it had completely surrounded the strange girl, she turned her eyes to the sky above her.
“As the Soul Reaper, I bring forth and represent the power of the Emperor Life and Mistress Death. In their stead I stand as judge, jury, and executioner of the denizens of the realm of Limbo. In order to fulfill this task fairly and justly, the Soul Reaper must have a Conscience with which hearts and minds are permanently combined and forever bound to one another.” Her words began to warble and echo as she spoke, the air around both her and Blue beginning to quiver with a strange energy.
At this point Blue wanted to retract his acceptance of Maya’s offer—what did she mean by them being “permanently combined and forever bound” to each other? All he wanted to do was figure out how to get out of this crazy nightmare! The red energy was pulsing around Maya, growing more and more solid and taking on a form that looked like some kind of demonic snake. Suddenly he felt a hot sensation coming from the girl’s grip searing into his wrist and palm with incredible heat. He winced and cried out from the feeling, unable to break away from it as it began seeping down his arm and into his chest.
Maya continued, “I have chosen my Conscience to be this man, Damiyon Blue, and he has agreed to the conditions of this judgment.” The red energy by now was a solid mass that looked like a blood colored cobra, its eyes focusing directly on him. The searing pain had crept from his arm, through his chest, and was working its way down into his legs. His whole body was now writhing as though he were on fire. “Blend the mind and heart of Damiyon Blue to mine, and should he fail to fulfill his responsibility as my Conscience, may he be cast into Afterlife through means of explosion.”
​ ​She said what? He thought to himself, but the thought was fleeting as he felt overwhelmed with the fiery sensation coursing through him. His eyes began to grow hazy as they looked up at Maya, his heart beginning to hurt with each beat it produced. Was she cooking him alive? What was happening here?
“Combine the Soul Reaper with her Conscience!” Her voice erupted loudly, the red serpent creature around her lifting its head into a striking pose. Blue’s eyes met and locked gaze with the scary form as it emitted a demonic hiss before lunging at him, wrapping around him quickly and choking the wind from him. He could only watch in terror as the snake thrust itself into his chest, feeling it slithering violently within his body as his vision became the very color of blood. Gasping raggedly, the man looked up at the Soul Reaper as she let go of his hand and he began to tumble to the ground. His eyes rolled back as he felt the weightless sensation of hurtling through the air, never once flailing or otherwise fearing the impact below. Instead, his hand seemed outstretched upwards, as though waiting for Maya to grab him once more.
3: Chapter Two​He found himself standing in a magnificent room that appeared to be made out of shiny white marble. Beautiful green vines wrapped around the columns and bright pink lilies blossomed along their path. The air felt cool, peaceful, and calm and soft rays of sunlight poured in from a nearby window. He walked towards it, looking out at a coastline with a beautiful blue sky overhead. It looked and felt so familiar to him—in fact, the sight made him involuntarily smile.
It’s nice, isn’t it. A woman’s voice suddenly interjected into the room, and his head rose up instinctively. His heart seemed to flutter and halfway miss its rhythm at the sound of this voice. He turned around and was blinded by a great white light. He squinted due to the light and could make out the silhouette of a woman in a long, flowing gown—and long wings on her back, it looked like from where he stood. Though it was impossible for him to see any features of this mysterious woman, his eyes seemed to brim with happy tears and he was overwhelmed with a warm sense of relief and familiarity. He wanted to run towards the woman, but was so overwhelmed by his feelings that he was stuck where he stood.
It always was your favorite place. And yet that place has also become the place of your most terrible of decisions. Damiyon, why would you choose to run away from your problem instead of trying to fix it?
A lone tear escaped his eyes, which were suddenly refilled with their bright blue color. “I…” He stammered and stuttered but couldn’t justify himself before this angelic being, feeling like a guilty child who had done wrong standing before his mother. It was such a strange feeling and he’d not felt it in so long—but though it felt strange, he was happy and even relieved to be feeling it again.
I hope you choose wisely from now on, dearest Damiyon. You always had such a hard time making the right decisions… and so many of your incorrect choices left you with so many scars and so much that you lost. Damiyon… what have you lost that you miss the most?
“I… miss…” He found himself silenced.
Think about what it is you miss the most and let your conscience be your guide…
***
“Hey, Blue,” another voice drowned out the angelic echoing still ringing in his ears. His eyes opened and he found himself in Maya’s arms. His heart seemed to sink as he realized he wasn’t dreaming—he was really in Limbo. Her catlike eyes flickered for a moment as she realized he was coming around. “Oh, you’re back now. That’s good—I was getting worried you didn’t survive the ceremony.”
“The… the ceremony?” He asked, his head feeling heavy and his body feeling numb and tingly.
“Well yeah, the Binding Ceremony—in which the Soul Reaper binds his or her heart and mind to that of his or her Conscience,” Maya explained. “We’re now bound to one another. There’s only three ways this can be undone. Either I release you from your responsibility, I kill you for not doing as you should, or one of us dies.” She smirked slightly. “And since I’m the Soul Reaper, chances of me dying are pretty slim… so you better be careful.”
“Thanks,” his response dripped with sarcasm. “So why did you have to bind me to you? I mean, why did you need a ‘Conscience?’”
The sky overhead flickered with a bright purple lightning bolt that darted from one cloud to another as Maya toyed idly with the crystal around her neck. “A Soul Reaper is a powerful being who can rip out the hearts of whoever they want, whenever they want. But because of this immense power, their minds may become warped and they could destroy people’s souls just for the hell of doing so. It’s for this reason that a Soul Reaper must possess a Conscience—an individual of weaker power who will be able to sense a potential victim’s heart and render a judgment as to whether that victim is destroyed or not. If the Conscience decides that the person should be spared, then they can render a Soul Reaper’s powers useless… it is for this reason that a Soul Reaper’s heart and mind is forever bound to his Conscience.”
“Why does a place like Limbo need Soul Reapers anyway?” He looked up at the clouds as thunder lowly rumbled overhead. “If Limbo is simply a middle ground for spirits passing between life and death, why should there be need for Soul Reapers to destroy anyone?”
“I’ll show you,” she answered as she rose to her feet. From her hand a misty red orb appeared, transforming into a huge opening in the middle of the air. She took his hand and they passed through this opening, arriving at the decimated ruins of what looked like a fortress.
They gently touched their feet to the earth and he felt a strong surge of energy rush up from his feet and through his body. When he blinked, in that split second between his eye closing and reopening, he saw the vision of a large crimson fortress with flags flying, guards patrolling, and wispy beams of light—some red, some white—shooting every which way overhead. This place was teeming with power despite the fact it now stood desolate. When Maya began to walk along the ground glitters of light rose up around her like someone had stirred up dust, only these sparkles were bristling with energy.
“This used to be the Eternal Domain,” Maya explained as she gently touched a weather-worn piece of stone. “This was home of the Emperor Life and his wife, the Mistress Death. Everyone who came to Limbo would come to the Eternal Domain to present themselves before the Emperor and his Mistress. You would be judged by the Emperor and the Mistress to determine if you were to pass on into Afterlife or if you were to return to Life. If you were given another chance in Life, it was called earning Redemption.” Her voice sounded distant and dreamy, as though she were nostalgic in some way.
He shivered as he became lost in his own thoughts for a moment, imagining how he would have handled himself had he been forced to present himself before the Emperor and the Mistress. How would he have justified deserving a second chance when it was his own decision to end his life? How would they have looked at him and what would their judgment have been?
“…Souls are not meant to remain in Limbo longer than two days at the most,” Maya’s voice came back into focus as he listened to her continue her explanation. “Any soul who remains in Limbo beyond the two day mark is said to be ‘lingering,’ which is illegal by the laws of the Emperor and Mistress, and anyone caught breaking this law is immediately sentenced to Afterlife. To ensure that there were no souls lingering, the Emperor and Mistress would task souls with strong psychic abilities to watch over Limbo and move along anyone who was unwilling to comply—originally known as Soul Guides, they would force lingerers to move along one way or another.”
Blue followed her into the dilapidated remains of the fortress, and in the back of his mind he could hear a raucous, chaotic fervor of voices and saw the quick vision of what appeared to be a riot in the building they were in, the building going up in flames. He shivered violently at the concept of this and watched as a sparkle of energy was stirred up from his walking. He reached out and gently caught it in his hand. Immediately he felt himself enveloped by a strange shroud of darkness.
Maya was still speaking, but her words were a faint, distorted jumble that he couldn’t comprehend.
There was a loud banging pounding on a large door that had now appeared behind him. He blinked and realized that the fortress had been rebuilt around him, and something on the other side was desperate to get in. He saw two people standing nearby, but could make out no features of them. They didn’t appear to notice him as the door behind him suddenly flew open and a mob of angry people flooded in. To his surprise, he wasn’t trampled—it appeared as though everything had simply passed through him.
​She stopped talking when she realized that he had gone still and quiet. She turned around and was watching him.
The mob flooded into the room with flickering rods that resembled those he saw with the guards when he first awoke. The two people who had been standing nearby were now glowing and levitating somewhat, orbs of black and white light erupting from their hands into the crowd. The crowd did not back down but rather surged in its ferocity, deflecting the orbs with their scepters.
“This madness must be stopped at once!” A voice bellowed. It was masculine, powerful, and firm. “I command you to cease your resistance!”
The crowd roared with its denial, and one person in the crowd could be heard shouting, “We wish to be in control of our own fates! No longer should people be afraid to wander around Limbo, fearful that they may lose their chances for Redemption!”
“Let go of that,” Maya’s voice suddenly sounded clear and coherent as she slapped Blue’s hand, causing him to let go of the sparkle of light. “Be careful what you touch out here—Especially memory particles.”
“Memory particles?” He asked. “You mean these little specks of light that keep coming up around us?”
“Yes. Those are called memory particles, and basically are exactly what they sound like. They’re fragments from the memories of events that have happened somewhere. They’re all over the place and if you hold onto one for too long, you’ll experience the contents of it until you let it go again.” She shook her head. “Having you around is like having to watch a curious child.”
“Well I guess you shouldn’t have chosen me to be your Conscience,” Blue retorted without missing a beat. There was a momentary silence between the two before finally Maya’s face turned upwards into a genuine smile.
“Oh wow,” she replied. “I didn’t think you had a sense of humor hidden in you. Good to see that you do.”
“That memory particle showed me what looked like a huge rebellion,” he explained, ignoring her. “A huge group of people swarmed in and attacked these two others, saying they wanted to be free to choose their own fates.”
“The day of the uprising lingers here,” she spoke in a low mumble, as if to herself. She gently wrapped her hand around the crystal tucked within her shroud.
Blue blinked, noticing for the first time that there was something unusual about Maya’s appearance. While he was a semi-transparent form who appeared very wispy and almost like a mist, he realized that he couldn’t see through her the same way. It appeared that her form had some sort of substance that he lacked. Her face and hands were practically white, and she had those strange catlike eyes… Nobody else that he had seen so far here had eyes like hers. He began to feel as though there was more to Maya Day than she had told. Finally he asked, “An uprising?”
“It’s called the Day of Fluctuation around here,” she explained. “There were many people who were happy in Limbo and were unwilling to travel on to Afterlife—whether through fear or otherwise, they just didn’t want to go. So they came together and overthrew the Eternal Domain and the Emperor and his Mistress, claiming that the people of Limbo should be free to choose their own destiny. Nobody knows what happened to the Emperor and the Mistress, and all Soul Guides became nemeses of the people—hence they are now called ‘Reapers’ instead of Guides.”
“Well, it’s a nice history lesson, but… Why did you bring me here?” His head tilted slightly to one side as he observed her. “I don’t know much about you, but I do know that everything you say and do is for a purpose.”
Her eyes seemed to flicker with light for a second before she turned to him with a troublesome smile on her face. “I want to find out what happened to the Emperor and the Mistress. You see, Blue, they both possessed great power… wielded in something called the Judgment’s Staff. With it they could do amazing things, such as pulling someone from Afterlife or granting Redemption to marked souls.”
His interest was piqued. “Wait. That staff thing could grant a marked soul Redemption? So you mean if we found it, I could go back to my body?”
“Indeed,” the smile along her face grew wider as she realized her pawn was taking the bait. “Which is why I saved you from Afterlife. You see, Blue, I know why you killed yourself and I know that you didn’t do it because you were done with living… and I know that once you figure that out, you’ll want Redemption. I think it will be an excellent motivator for you to help me find this Judgment’s Staff—You help me find it, I’ll release you as my Conscience and I’ll grant you Redemption.”
“Why can’t I remember my own death?” He finally had to ask.
“That’s normal,” she answered him casually. “Everyone who comes to Limbo hasn’t a clue how they died. It’s only revealed to them when they approached the Emperor and the Mistress, who read it from the Ledger.”
“Why?”
“To prevent people from producing a false impression of themselves when they go before the Emperor and Mistress. This way they can’t attempt to fabricate a story to justify Redemption. More or less, this prevents people from trying to lie their way back to Life if they don’t truly deserve the Redemption. Now… will you help me find the Judgment’s Staff?”
Without hesitation, he nodded. “Not like I have a choice,” he halfway quipped, “since I’m your Conscience and bound to you.”
The smile on Maya’s face seemed to turn genuine and the gold of her eyes lit up yet again. “I think you’re warming up to me.”
“No, I just don’t feel like passing on without at least knowing how I died.”
“Well if you’re serious, you’ll need this.” She tossed a glass pendant at him. He halfway yelped when he looked into the pendant and saw an eyeball floating in it—the blue eye stared back at him. She laughed. “What you’ve got there is called Eye of the Beholder. Whoever possesses one can see the hearts and minds of wandering souls in Limbo. This should help you decide if anyone we meet along the way is worth saving or destroying. Use it well.”
“It’s definitely a… conversation piece,” he commented as he put the pendant around his neck. The eye looked back up at him and blinked, making him shudder.
“Keep it hidden under your shirt,” she instructed. “Since Soul Reapers are now feared in Limbo, the people will kill a Conscience in a heartbeat if they spot one.”
“Great, so I’m an outlaw because I’m marked… and now the rest of the people are going to want to off me because I’m connected to a Soul Reaper,” he complained.
“No pressure at all, right?” She smirked at him.
He traced his finger along the glass orb, trying his best to avoid looking at the eye that he felt piercing into his soul. Something about it was just too weird for him to even try and comprehend.
Maya seemed content with his lack of response, nodding her head. “That’s enough of dwelling in the past,” she finally declared. “Come on, now… there’s a whole future just ahead for us.”
Something about that statement seemed to strike a distant yet powerful cord lurking somewhere within Blue’s soul, for he visibly flinched and felt as though someone had struck him across the face. He looked down for half a moment at the Eye of the Beholder around his neck, and he swore that somewhere inside that disembodied eye’s pupil, he saw the faint image of the angelic woman reflecting back at him. He shuddered, and a quick vision played before his eye.
The sky was a fiery orange color and there was a coastline in view, though it was very blurry and distorted. The waves were crashing hard along the shore, and there was a faint sound echoing between the waves that sounded almost like some sort of soft sobbing. A gentle voice murmured through the breeze, echoing over itself time and time again:
​Damiyon, why did you choose… to have it be this way?
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