Skye is dead.
How she perished is a mystery. All she knows is that she is trapped in After, a makeshift city of souls surrounded by infinite darkness and terrifying monsters that tear ghosts apart.
But while all other ghosts accept the eternity of...
Blackburne tried to say something, but only spat up blood-tinged sputum. His unblemished face scrunched in pain. He raised a shaking glaived hand, reaching for his son's face. The young boy, just barely a teenager, grabbed it and held it to his cheek. Mud stained his red hair and his pale face, and his tears carved little rivers through the grime. "Geh nicht..."
Blackburne just smiled at his son. His pupils dilated and his body slumped in the boy's arms, but his soul rose. Into a sea of white light, it ascended before bursting forth through black sand.
The dead knight dug himself free from the sand, coughing and choking. Still in full armor, he slumped onto his back in the desert. He watched the red auroras above, touching a hand to where he had been stabbed. His armor and flesh were now mended.
A man leaned over him from out of nowhere and blocked the view of the sky. Amber eyes glistened with amusement. "Allû!" greeted an uncharacteristically chipper Crow.
Blackburne yelped in surprise and scrambled away from Crow, finding his halberd partially buried. He brandished his weapon at the intruder. "Wer bist du?" he demanded. "Wo bin ich?"
Crow smiled crookedly at the uncoated blade and poked the tip with a finger, redirecting Blackburne's aim away from himself. "Ah. Deutsch. Mein Deutsch ist...nicht gut." He looked down the pole of the halberd at the bristling knight. "Sprechen Sie Akkadû?"
"Was?" The knight raised a brow at the smaller man. "Nein."
"Hm. Englisch?"
"I can manage."
"Perfect." Crow clapped his hands together with a grin. "You are dead. Tot."
Blackburne stammered an undecipherable combination of German, English, and confused nonsense. All the while, Crow let him ramble while he brushed stray bits of sand from the simple red wrap over his shoulder. The rest of his outfit was unremarkable, just simple flowing tunic and pants and sandals. But both Blackburne and I were transfixed by his halo.
Blackburne reached out to swat at the glowing white ring of light hovering over the shorter man's head, evidently unaware that he had one of his own. His jaw dropped when his glaived hand phased through the ring.
Crow just chuckled. "Come," he said, beckoning with a hand. "You do not want to stay out here in the desert. I will take you to the kingdom."
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Blackburne tailed his guide closely as they made their way into a bustling kingdom of black stone. Every haloed ghost they passed waved and greeted Crow like an old friend. "This is Aḫ-ḫur!" he told the sullen man following him.
"Ah Hur?" the knight repeated, garbling the accent.
Crow offered a sheepish grin. "You say it wrong, but that is okay."
Blackburne had to step out of the way of a horse-drawn cart hurrying past him. He massaged his temple. "Listen," he said to Crow. "I have to return to my son. I cannot stay here! And stop that!"
