a famed critic met his unfortunate and untimely demise after eating a plate of potstickers that had been laced with cyanide. as a result, this became his reason for vengeance. it was unfair that he died doing his job, but with the abilities given to him by the queen of the cursed, he would make sure nothing like that happened again.
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The bitter taste of cyanide remained on his tongue as he dropped his chopsticks and fell from his chair. He couldn't see much, or feel much, really, but he got the sense that he was being carried. Or maybe it was his head spinning and his body reacting to the poison that coursed through his veins.
Then he was flooded by a searing pain and he screamed, only for something to be poured into his mouth. The pain grew, but he couldn't scream. Something was blocking his throat and he could only manage a muffled groan of agony.
"Why'd you do that?" he could hear somebody ask, though their voice was faint and muffled. He could tell the voice sounded accusatory. "He did nothing wrong."
"You know he did," someone else snapped in a high pitched voice, though this was hard to hear now. His ears must've been affected by whatever torture he was just subjected to, but he thought that this person sounded like a child. "I don't like it when he embarrasses us like that. How dare he embarrass the Chen family—"
"He's a food critic, son."
"He's what?"
"A food critic," the first person said. "Here to see if our restaurant has quality food."
"Our homemade puffy potstickers aRE QUALITY FOOD!" the second person shrieked, the sound loud enough for his already weakened eardrums to shatter.
He floated around in darkness, surrounded by silence. It was strangely peaceful, and he thought that he could remain in this state forever. But suddenly, he thought of the food, the puffy potstickers that he'd eaten and how he'd been unfairly killed.
Sure, he might've written some harsher reviews for the town's newspapers, but he was only stating the truth. His reputation of being one of the country's most well known food critics had preceded him, though along with this reputation was that of being one of the strictest critics in the country. He knew that people both dreaded and looked forward to his criticism.
Some took it well, while others... not so much.
Him being dead and floating around in nothing should prove as much.
"Well, look what we have here," a smooth female voice suddenly said.
He was standing at the end of a bright green carpet, facing a tall backed chair and a figure shrouded in mist. The figure held a plate of puffy potstickers in their hands.
"You're a skeleton," the mystery woman said, the voice coming from the figure. "I thought skeletons belong in the Underworld, under the rule of General Samukai. Guess I was wrong."
"Skeleton?" he asked as he looked at his arms. "Arms are bones!" he exclaimed with shock. Then he froze at the broken speech that tumbled from his mouth. He knew he didn't talk like that in life.
The woman tutted before laughing softly. "You've been dealt quite the number of blows to your head," she said as calmly as if she was asking what time it was. "And the amount of poison you've ingested was enough to cause parts of your brain to not receive enough oxygen, as you mortals call it."
"What happened to brain?"
"Do I need to repeat myself?" the woman asked.
"No?"
"Good." The figure on the chair straightened herself and she continued. "Now, what else happened?"
"Poison," he said. "Lots of pain, screaming for help. No one came. Am skeleton."
"That's right," she said gently. "No one came to help you, right? But I'll help you."
He gave her a look of disbelief.
"Who is mist figure?" he asked.
"I am the Preeminent," she said. "I rule over the realm of cursed souls, such as yourself. And I give them a second chance to prove their worth to me."
He wanted to prove his worth. Well, he just wanted to eat that plate of puffy potstickers the woman had but he doubted he could taste anything anymore, if his skeletal body suggested anything. He desperately wished to have the senses a human had, but that was probably unlikely. If he got all that, then he would prove his worth.
"Second chance?" he asked again. This time, he hoped that the way he said it could convey its meaning.
"Well, I have a proposition for you, Ghoultar," the woman said. "Train with two of my most feared generals. They're my only generals, really, but that's not important."
"Train with generals?"
"Yes, and I'll give you the ability to detect any poison or chemical in the food items you're given."
He could barely contain his excitement. He even got a new name!
"Ghoultar is new name?" he asked, just to confirm.
"Yes."
"Ghoultar will train with generals!" he exclaimed proudly. "And find poisons in puffy potstickers."
"... yes," the woman said. "And you'll also be gifted with enhanced strength to make up for your... bone structure. No one would be able to do what those two people did to you ever again. But you must train diligently. Hone and perfect your skills at scythe wielding."
A glowing green scythe appeared in front of him and he grabbed it quickly. He looked at the detailed carvings and engravings on the blade and long handle. He thought that it was a cool weapon.
Then two other ghosts appeared, both about the same age and clearly friends with each other. One was a young woman and she had two swords while the other was a young man and he had a set of bow and arrows. He knew these two must be the Preeminent's only generals.
"Hello!" he said, waving at them.
"My Queen, why is there a skeleton here?" the young woman asked. "Shouldn't they all be in the Underworld?"
"This is Ghoultar," the Preeminent said, sounding slightly annoyed. "He is going to train with you two. If he does well, he'll become a general like you. I don't want to hear another word about the Underworld, is that clear?"
"If I hear something about skeletons or the Underworld, I will banish you there, understand?"
"I'm sorry, My Queen," she mumbled. "I understand."
The archer eyed him with suspicion, but he eventually held out a hand for him to shake. "I'm Soul Archer," he said. "That's Bansha. Don't make her scream at you, you'll regret it."
"Ghoultar has no ears," he said. "But Ghoultar can hear."
"That's true as well," Archer said. "But seriously, don't make her angry." Beside him, Bansha lightly shoved his arm in a joking manner.
"Don't touch his arrows," she whispered to him, loud enough for Archer to hear. "He'll claim your soul and you'll be forever indebted to him."
"Don't touch Ghoultar's food," he said, crossing his arms and cringing when he heard the bones rattle lightly at the movement. "Ghoultar likes puffy potstickers."
Both Archer and Bansha blinked before nodding. "Alright," Bansha said. "We leave your stuff alone and you leave ours alone."
"Yes."
"Great!" Archer sounded more friendly now. He even walked beside him as they left the Preeminent's throne room. "We have to go train now. Can you show us some cool moves with the scythe?"
He went with the two ghosts as the Preeminent had instructed. He wasn't going to ignore a direct order from someone of higher authority even though in his past life, he had been the one people looked to for direction.
Similar to before, thinking of his past life caused slight anger to flare up. He hated that his death was so unfair. But on the good side, he got a new name and powers out of it. And maybe it was time for a change and become a follower instead of being followed.
He would make the Preeminent proud and he would train with Archer and Bansha. But most importantly, he would make sure that the next time he got his hands on a plate of puffy potstickers, no one would be tampering with it.
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so with Ghoultar's story, I sort of went down the comedic route because he seemed like the most "chill" ghost out of the other generals. I had the idea of making him a food critic in his past life, which explains why he likes food and why people don't really like him/are scared of him.
this might also explain why the puffy potstickers were taken off the menu at Master Chen's Noodle House, though the timeline might be a bit off on that.
anyway, this is the last part of this mini series, so I hope you enjoyed reading it!