《Dreamy Journey to the Afterlife》 Ch1 - The Sages sin In a hospital room, there were 2 people with gloomy expressions, a woman and a man, both were old as time had allowed them to be. The elderly couple was kneeling down on the hospital''s hard and broken floor, their hands clasped together. "...Please, your most devoted followers humbly request this of you." Said the old man, with a croaky voice. ".''..£¤..?#..¡®.." the old woman tried to say something, but her voice was so distorted that it couldn''t even be called human speech, time had stolen and consumed her voice. There was only one bed in the room, and they were both facing it, laying on the bed was a girl...or so it seemed to be, from the shape of her silhouette. She was covered with something that could only be described as all consuming darkness, it seemed to radiate pure malice, malice that could make even someone who don''t fear death flee as if their entire existence depended on it. "Soul magic?" Said a being that was observing the girl for quite some time, completely ignoring the couple''s desperate plead The couple didn''t answer, they knew what the being meant. They were guilty of using the forbidden side of magic, Soul magic. The old couple was once the continent''s most famous people, they healed the injured, cured the sick, stopped wars, invented medicines that revolutionized the world and taught the secrets of the universe to anyone who read their books. From healing and curing so many people, they came to be conscious of their own mortality, and like every other, they feared death. The couple in the past known as "The Sages" embarked in a journey to study every kind of magic they could find in all of this world''s corners known by Man, at least that was what everyone thought, what everyone was told. In truth they were searching for the magic arts that could make them immortal. They went as far as to contact the demon continent''s most infamous Lich, Maverick, the one who ''The world'' considered a heretical existence. He taught them all kinds of forgotten arts, and even the magic that caused him to be know as ''the heretical''. "I warn you, the knowledge you obtained here can cause you anguish, unbearable suffering and...". He warned. "From what i saw you are what the rumors say, therefore i trust that you will be able to fulfill your part of the deal, fulfill your promise... however if you don''t, your fate by my hands will be remembered for eons." They had promised to reverse his condition, ''The universe''s rejection'', a consequence of the mishandling of spirit energy while using soul magic. They were truly unmatched in the magic arts, that made them the only ray of hope for Maverick, who couldn''t even use the arts anymore. They studied in the demon continent for years, they conducted experiments on various native species, after a long time they came up with a answer to Mavericks problem, fulfilling their deal. While in the demon continent they developed a process that could truly immortalize, or at least they thought it could. They immortalized themselves and walked around the earth for centuries, eventually, tired of seeing human death they released their immortality secret to the whole human continent. Some people died in the process of immortalization, mostly those who were ignorant in the ways of magic, but those who didn''t lived as immortal beings they called themselves High Humans, and the sages were revered as gods for decades by them. Eventually problems came up, the more the high ones lived the weaker their control on the spirit energy, they were able to live with that, they evolved their way of thinking to obtain technological supremacy to compensate. More problems surged, the high ones discovered their low fertility and their very long pregnancies. As the final straw, the high ones offspring had a terribly short life expectancy, they could only live 14 years no matter what, as the result the sages were exiled from the human continent, the exile hit them both hard, they went ''from gods to human trash in such a short amount of time'', they thought, from their perspective it was short, they were seen as gods for 80 years. They lived in the demon continent with a broken ego and depressed for a decade until they had a child, they never liked children, in fact they hated them, but after their daughter completed 13 years, they realized that they loved her too much to let her go. They put all their efforts in extending her life to the maximum, they did succeed in extending her life if only a little, she fell gravely ill when she turned 16, nothing the parents did helped her, she had a very familiar condition. They tried to heal her the same way they did with Maverick but to no avail, their treatment didn''t make anything better, in fact, their intervention only worsened the situation. They began to perform experiments on the denizens of the demon continent, subsequently getting expelled, hopeless, they moved to an abandoned island and made it their new home, they decided to stay there forever. As the final effort, they used what they shouldn''t, the art that brings eternal Doom... Soul magic, and that only brought momentary relief. At 17 she lived a normal year, the island was once a place of top secret medical research but was abandoned after a certain incident.If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. Abandoned by humans but not deserted, it had many useful buildings, working tools and demi-humans. The sages came to know true despair 3 months after their daughter turned 18, she suddenly fell, and never woke up again, a deep coma which not even the most forbidden and most powerful magic could wake her from. "W-what is that? My baby!" Cried one of the sages, the wife, when she saw a dark mask covering her daughter''s delicate face. "Don''t touch that!" Shouted the husband, sensing the dangerous aura that the distressed mother failed to. One month after their daughter fell into coma, darkness began to cover her body, it started from her face and in only one week it had completely covered her body. In the broken down corridor of a abandoned hospital, two very old people looked at the floor with a gloomy expression. "What should we do?" Asked the wife, her eyes devoid of any life. "I don''t know." Answered her husband, with a sorrowful expression. There was nothing they could do, the only being capable of doing something wouldn''t help them because they had *sinned*. That was they thought of themselves, sinners undeserving of forgiveness, they committed various atrocities such as the unspeakable experiments they made on the living, but the worst they did was using Soul Magic. "!?" "!?" They both suddenly felt an immense amount of spirit energy coming from their daughter''s room. They mustered the strength to run, and run they did, as fast as the two of them could. As soon as they got inside the room, they knelt before the peak of power, this world''s guardian, also known as "The world". They knew who that spirit energy signature belonged to, the only being who could help them. They both knelt and lowered their head so fast and with such force that they broke the floor tiles. "My lord, please..." said the old man, his voice accurately conveying his state of mind. The being who didn''t have something that could be called eyes didn''t even show a reaction, the couple was being completely ignored, the being''s attention was solely on the girl laying down on the bed. They could do nothing so they waited. "!!" The being gave them a single glance and that was enough to completely nullify their immortality, making time move forward to their bodies, they aged decades in seconds, it seemed that the being didn''t want to kill them because they didn''t turn into dust as a person with more than a thousand years should have. "M-My lord..." Stammered the old man, his mouth dry and his voice distorted. "Please help our daughter..." He stopped to recover his breath. "...Please, your most devoted followers humbly request this of you." He continued. His wife tried to say something but she couldn''t, the stress from everything made her age even more than her husband and her vocal cords could no longer produce her once seductive voice. "Soul magic?" Said the Being, focusing on the girl again. "You dare call yourselves my followers after using Soul magic?" He said, his voice calm, fruity and almost melodic, so soothing that humans would call it angelic. "..." There was nothing they could say in their defense, they broke the most important rule on their religion. "Your daughter shall not pay with her soul." The world declared, touching the girl''s forehead with his thumb. They understood that perfectly... No child should pay for their parents mistakes. The geniuses that they are, it didn''t take a week before they realized what that darkness was doing to their daughter... They knew that it was damaging her very soul. "A damaged soul takes thousands of years to heal, but she is not as bad as i thought, her healing should not take long, i will send her where she needs to go." Said The world. For the healing process to start, the soul must NOT be inhabiting a living body, a living damaged soul had the opposite effect, therefore she had to die. "We understand." Said the wife with a clear voice, she had used all her strength to rejuvenate her vocal cords and was now on her husband''s arms, her purpose being a "goodbye" to her beloved daughter. Moments before, when The world touched the girl''s forehead the darkness began to slowly dissipate, their daughter was now free of that darkness. "Mom?" Their daughter called, no longer laying, but sitting. "Yes dear, I''m here, I''m here for you." The worried mother cried, tear streaming down her face. "Dad?" She called again. "I''m here honey, everything is going to be okay." Said the father, doing his best to suppress all emotions and reassure his daughter that she was going to be okay. They both hugged her tightly, not wanting to let go. After a while, they noticed her eye getting dark, they understood that it was time. The girl smiled at her parents, knowing she was loved helped her calm down, she then looked at The World, the world had transmitted thoughts into her when it touched her, informing her of everything. The girl who had never seen The world before, so she was amazed at The world''s appearance. It was 2m tall, from the proportions of its body it looked female, it was hard to distinguish because even though it had the features of a human female it wasn''t one, it seemed to be made of glass, her insides were like the starry night sky, full of stars and something the girl had never seen before, little spirals made of small dots, stars, the girl presumed. The limbs were slim and delicate, it didn''t have hair, eyes, mouth, ears or nose, just a smooth head, the rest of the body was the same, minimalistic design. "It''s time to go." The world said. Her parents hugged her even tighter than before. "I will eventually return her to this world, once she has healed." ''Eventually'' from the perspective of a true immortal being, could mean thousands or even millions of years, the old couple didn''t have that time, they would be dead, they weren''t immortal, they just aged very, very slowly, enough that a normal person wouldn''t notice, but they weren''t normal, they never were, so they did. The ''immortality'' they developed wasn''t true immortality, it was once called the ''curse of life'' by the ancient races, they had remained as old as they were when they ''immortalized'' themselves only for 700 years, after that, they began to slowly age. After some research and investigating, the sages deducted that at the rate they were aging they only had 500 more years before dying. And with what The world did, they would probably only live for 1 more month. "Worry not..." Said The world, ironically see through them as if they were made of glass. "I didn''t lift your course." One star inside The world twinkled and the sages grew younger again... younger that they were when The World arrived. They stepped away from the bed. "..." They didn''t have to explain anything to their daughter, she already knew her circumstances and who caused it, but... "I forgive you." She said, the exact words they desperately needed. They smiled gently... Fake smiles, they all knew the emotions that were bubbling up inside them. "Pay close attention..." The world told her something then handed her a box that disappeared as soon as she touched it. "Have a good journey my child." The world said slowly moving her index finger to the girl''s forehead. "We''ll be waiting dear." Said the mother, smiling. She was gritting her teeth. "We love you so much, we''ll wait for you, no matter how long it takes." He was tightening his fists so much that his nails were piercing his palm. The girl smiled, a genuine smile but with a hint of sadness. "I know, i''ll came back, mom ,dad ,i love you too." "?!" The world touched her forehead. In that very moment her body lost all strength, her lifeless body fell to the bed as her eyes showed no sign of life, and the room went silent for a moment, not even bird chirping could be heard. In that day, the sages mourned the death of their only daughter. And in the spiritual dimension a long journey began. Ch2 - Maria In a Modern-looking train station there was a girl, a girl with an emotionless expression on her beautiful face, she was wearing a light blue pair of loose-fitting pants and shirt, pajamas, presumably. She looked around the empty station and realized that she was the only person there. The station was well lit and clean, it only had two things that stand out, a wooden bench on the middle and the door that had a strange symbol engraved on it. The train wasn''t there yet and the door from which she thought she came from was locked. "Hm." She was a little afraid to be alone in a unfamiliar place. She knew what train stations were, she had traveled by train in the demon continent, but the stations there were not as clean or modern as this one. I''ll just sit here and wait. She thought, as she sat on a bench at the middle of the station. She stood there for about 10 minutes, in which nothing happened, neither train or people arrived. I wonder if I''m stuck here. She thought, she had tried to open the only door in this station but it was sealed shut. The bench were she was sitting and the rails were separated by a almost invisible wall, where she smashed her face, when she tried to see what was beyond the tunnel. The only way out and in was through that door, and the place was silent. She just stayed there hugging her knees, and waiting for something to happen, she wasn''t afraid, not anymore, the bench had somehow made her feel comfortable. After 40 minutes passed... She remembered something important that was handed to her. She searched for the box, but couldn''t find it. Where did i put it? She thought, as she lazily looked for the box in her pockets, her pants had some rather big pockets. "Oh." She realized that she couldn''t even remember holding it. She didn''t panic. Maybe... i lost it? She thought. Then she heard... Or... Remembered someone saying... "... If you need it just extend one hand and think my name." And so she did, as a result, a box the size of her head appeared above her extended right hand. The box was a little different from what she remembered. The first time she saw the box, it was a simple and small black box, with a matte finish, like the ones where you keep a wedding ring. It was now, much bigger and had a glossy surface with a red stripe around it. The girl tried to lift the box that could now be called a small chest, and much to her surprise, the box was very light, as light as two big apples. She opened the box, inside was a small piece of paper, with something written on it. I see. It seemed to be a rundown of rules and some instructions. "??" She felt something softly landing on her head. I''ll read it later. She thought, as she closed the box and shifted her attention to the thing in her head. She Swiftly moved her hands to try and grab it, but the thing quickly jumped up and avoided her hands, then landed on her head again. "Hm." She slowly moved her right hand to the back of her head and her left in front of her face. While slowly moving her right hand to touch the thing from the back, she used her left to deceive it. Got you. She thought, when she touched something very fluffy and round. "Hn!" The thing made a cute high pitched sound, as it descended from her head to the floor, landing elegantly. "Don''t just suddenly touch people like that, humph." The thing said, pouting. It was a fox, a White fox, its fur looked really healthy and fluffy, it was quite small, about 30 centimeters long. A pup? It had a bushy tail, with a single black stripe around it, cyan blue eyes that seemed to glow and small paddy looking paws. "No, I''m a grown woman." She... Read my mind. "No i didn''t, i just have very good instincts." She boasted, puffing her chest. So, who are you? "..." I known you can hear me. Hellooo? Hm, maybe she can''t hear me. The girl thought. "Would you mind telling me... who you are? and... Where am i?" The girl asked, speaking softly. The fox answered immediately. "I go by the name of Maria, a proud member of the High spirits. From now on, i shall be your spirit guide. I will be the one who will guide you in this journey, ask me anything, and i will tell you." The fox said, loudly, and she was... grinning. Cute. "Spirit guide?"Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation. "Yeah-uhum..." She cleared her throat, then continued. "Yes, The path to mother is sometimes tricky, so you''ll need a guide, a spirit guide. And there is no better guide than a white fox spirit." "I see." She had read that, to heal her soul, she had to meet "Mother", someone who can help her. "!!!!??" Both the Girl and Fox''s attention quickly shifted to the rails, they could hear the sound of a VERY, VERY loud horn that resounded throughout the station. A train horn? The trails shone blue, and as the girl was looking curiously at the station, the fox seemed to be more interested in the box the girl was holding. "Hey, amm..." "Oh, right, my name is-" the girl tried to tell the fox her name, but the fox quickly rebuked her. "Didn''t you read the rules?" She shouted, she was angry. "You want to stay here forever?" She continued. After seeing the confused look on the girl, she asked. "Read the first rule..." The fox said, softly. "Do never under any circumstances reveal your name to an inhabitant of the spirit realm." And below that... "If you do, your soul will be bound to this realm, and you won''t be able to see your parents again." Oh shoots. The girl went pale, she was so close to commiting the worst mistake. "Thank you for that, why didn''t The World tell me this beforehand?" She asked to no one in particular, after she sighed in relief. "You were sent here by The World?" The fox was so surprised that, her jaw practically hit the floor. "Yes.." "Right, Right, that explains the black box and this VIP treatment." "Huh?" "I''ll explain everything later, anyway, were you alive when you met The World?" "Hum" The girl nodded. "That''s why. You can''t talk about specifics of the spirit realm to the living, that''s very dangerous." "Oh, i get it." "Now, read the rules, and don''t worry too much, I''ll always be here with you, nothing bad will happen." "Ok." "Now quickly, open the box, the train is coming, we don''t want attention." "Um, ok." As soon as the girl opened the box, the fox transformed into a white gas and was sucked into the box. "Can you hear me?" A voice asked, inside the girl''s head. "Yes, i can." She answered in her mind too, as a test. "Good." Wait... Could she hear my thoughts from the beginning? Hey! She didn''t answer. "Hello?" "Hi, don''t shout like that." "I didn''t... Sorry" "Hehe, just kidding, you can''t raise your voice using telepathy."" Hmmm" she could still transmit emotions. "Ok, ok, sorry." "So, you read my thoughts from the begining, huh?" "Nah, like I said, good instincts, besides, telepathy transmits intended messages, not your thoughts." "Hm." "Trust me, I''m a white fox, not a red one, besides I''m your guide." "Ok. I''ll trust you." "Good, now, read the rules, while i slee-aham while I keep watch." The girl read some rules, some she immediately forgot, but she didn''t worry, like the Maria said, she would help her. "Hey, Maria, what is the sixth rule?" "..." "Maria?" "..." "MARIA!!!" The girl called, loudly, not using telepathy. "I''m here, what happened?" "Somebody stole my box." "What? How? When? Where the did the thief go?" Maria said, apparently panicking. "Hahaha" the girl laughed. "What are you laughing at? This is serious." Then the fox realized, there was no one in this station, there was no way of getting in or out and more importantly they were still talking to each other. "Hmmmm." Maria seemed angry, but she was faking it. She was worried for the girl, she didn''t show any emotions since they met, she seemed distant and the little fox felt bad for getting angry at her earlier. "So you can hear me talking too?" The girl asked. "Of course, even if you store the box, by the way, just think ''store'' while the box is closed to store it." "Oh,ok, do you know the sixth rule?" "Of course I know, i wrote it" "You did?" The girl thought that it was written by The World. "Yep." "Oh, ok." The fox would warn her, but she still read all the rules. The rails stopped shining, and a train familiar acute sound of a train stopping, she stored the box with the paper. "Wow, where did it go?" "Somewhere... No one knows." "Hm, ok." She stood up and got close to the invisible wall. "!!!" from beyond the wall, there was a very beautiful train, she could see three carriages, they all had different colors and had what seemed to be doors, weird door, they didn''t have a handle. Maybe someone opens the door? She thought. "Get closer." Said Maria, the fox. "Ok." She took a couple steps and was surprised to find that the wall was no longer there. She took a couple more steps until she was 2 meters from the door of the middle carriage, a purple one. The door opened slowly as if welcoming her, she tried to get in but she was stopped by a... Kid? "Please wait a minute, miss." He said, standing in the middle of the opened door. The little boy seemed to be 13 years old, was short, had blue eyes but, without pupils and had short hair. Weird. He was wearing a sleeveless black suit, with a red tie, the sleeves appeared to have been ripped off. "Ticket please." He requested, smiling innocently and extending his hand. Amm. "It''s in the box, just think ''Ticket'' and it will show up." "In the box? I only saw that piece of paper there." "Relax, things show up if you need them." "Ok." Ticket. A long half silver and half golden ticket appeared on her hand. "Here." She said, handing the ticket. "Oh, Mother, huh?" He said, smiling gently. "Amm, yeah." The girl stammered, something about the boy made her feel like the kid here. "Everything''s good." He said, returning the ticket. "We''ll depart in 5 minutes, please get in." He said, smiling, then he disappeared. "Mm?" "Hahaha, he teleported, look at your face, you look like you''ve seen a ghost... Wait... We are all ghosts, hahahahahaaa." "Old jokes for an old lady." "Hey, i said young lady, not an old hag, anyway, let''s get in." "Right." The girl went inside the train carriage, inside she found a variety of races, some chatting, some quietly reading books, others playing table games and some were just daydreaming. Wow. She wasn''t surprised with the diversity, she grew in the demon continent after all, she was surprised with how calm the atmosphere was. When this many races get together, there''s always a fight, a lot of noise and people breaking things. "Look at your ticket, check the seat number." Said Maria. She looked at the silver half of the ticket. "C100-S20B." "Ok, then let''s gooo." After 1 minute of searching, she found her seat, B section, the right part of the carriage, seat 20. The seat number was written behind the actual seat head. Each side of the carriage had 3 seats, all looked very comfortable, she took her seat, the outer right one, by the window, alone, there weren''t any passengers sitting in the other seats. "How long will this journey take?" She asked Maria. "I don''t know, we first need to get rid of the darkness ." "hm?" "Look beneath your shirt." She lifted her shirt up a little, and... Darkness came flowing out of her into the seat close to hers, causing it to decay and become as deteriorated as a seat from a very old abandoned car. "What..." She opened her eyes wide, her heart began racing, she could feel cold sweat pouring out of her forehead, she reflexively lifted her hands, to not touch that dark substance that was oozing out of her, she began to hyperventilate, even though her body didn''t need to breathe. *Huf* .*huf* .*Huf*. "Calm down, calm down, it''s okay nothing will happen if it touches you." The fox said softly, after she got out of the box. Slowly her breathing began to return to normal. "Thank you, thank you... what happened?." "You panicked, remember this, you''re not alive, you don''t need to breathe, eat or sleep." "But i am br..." "Yes, you are, but that''s unnecessary, if you want you can just stop it, there are stores that sell food and people who eat it, but that''s just for the pleasure, you are a spiritual being now, you breathe spirit energy, but that''s only if you want to." "I see, isn''t that dangerous?" The girl asked, looking at the state of the seat. "It''s just corrosive to objects, nothing much." Maria said, lifting one paw. The chair returned to it''s original state. "Magic?" "Yep." "Oh, ok, where are we going now?" "Well, our first stop is... Hysen." "!!!" The horn sounded, this time it was a little muffled. "Please fasten your seatbelts, we are now departing to Hysen." Said a calming voice, it was coming from a speaker on the ceiling. The train started to move, and was slowly getting faster.
Destination: Hysen.