Skye's POV
I wasn't shocked when Josephine stabbed me in the chest, but I was shocked when I arrived. The underworld was a beautiful place; wild and untamed. There were hundreds of souls when I awoke. Their forms were the same as in their life, but were translucent. Smoky white and light blue lights traveled throughout their forms. I must be dead. I looked at myself but only saw flesh. I squeezed my fists a few times and stretched.
"Ow!" I grabbed my chest and blood ran through my fingers.
"Careful, or you might really die." Josephine sounded a little too happy.
"Wouldn't that be grand?" Sarcasm dripped from my tongue like honey.
"It would be incredibly pleasant!" Josephine clapped her hands in anticipation. I rolled my eyes. Josephine calmed herself. "You aren't dead, just nearly dead. You are able to walk the Underworld like this."
"Alright." I stated and we began to follow the other spirits.
"You'll come across a gate soon and Jacqui will meet you there."
"Wait, aren't you going to tell me what I need to do?" I stopped walking. Josephine rolled her eyes and pulled me along. I ripped my arm from her and followed the spirits along.
"She'll tell you what you need to do." Josephine stated before vanishing.
"Great." I scowled. I hadn't planned on seeing that particular goddess until I was strong enough to defeat her.
You won't be strong enough to defeat her until you become a Demigod. The voice in my mind reminded me. And you won't get there until you complete trials from ALL the deities.
Great. You're still here.
You want me gone?
It'd be nice to have my own mind again.
As you wish.
The presence vanished as I came upon a mountain range. The spirits in front of me had quit moving forward and were simply gossiping with one another. As they were translucent, I was able to see a giant stone gate with some form of creatures under an awning speaking to each individual spirit and letting them in one by one.
"Excuse me!" An older human spirit grabbed her translucent tunic and pulled it over her chest while looking at me.
"What?" I eyed her and she glared.
"Don't you have any decency, son?" An older human male grabbed the woman's arm and pulled her away from me. Several spirits around were glaring at me and I shrugged. They huffed and turned away from me. I stared forward again and watched as four spirits were let in which took half an hour. I need to get this over with.
"Excuse me, pardon me, excuse me." I repeated as I went through the spirits to get to the gate. Someone screamed as I went through them which caused quite a bit of chaos around me. Spirits began running around, some screaming, some children playing. Some spirits huddled as far from me as they could but then stared at me as I continued on my way. When I got to the actual gate the creatures seemed to be made of stone. They had long claws and they had wings that I wasn't sure they could unfurl. Four of them gathered around me. One of them approached me.
"Who are you?" The voice came out like an echo in a cavern.
"Skye Firebird." I answered. One of them handed the one I was talking with a scroll of parchment. The creature looked at it for some time.
"You're not on the List of Dead." The creature looked at me. "And you don't seem like a soul either."
"Could you tell by the way I have flesh?" I waved my hand in front of its face.
"Um, yes." The creature gulped as dark clouds gathered above us. That's odd. No time for that now, though.
"Awesome." I began to walk towards the gate. "So, do you open this or do I do it myself?" The stone creatures fluttered in front of me blocking my entrance.
"As someone who is alive, you may not enter the Lady Jacqueline's Realm!" Figured. How am I going to get in?
"My name is Skye Firebird and I am Lady Jacqueline's Chosen. You will allow me in." I stared down at the creature in front of me. Lightning was seen throughout the dark clouds. The creature gulped and looked from side to side.
"I-I'm s-sorry, human, you c-cannot enter! It's against the rules!" The creature stuttered out. My frustration rose and the lands darkened until it seemed like night.
"You would tarry your Goddess's Chosen Hero?" I didn't yell, but my frustration was present. The little nuisance gulped again.
"Please, human, there's a designated area for the living. If you could accompany us there." The creature pointed with one of it's claws to our left, away from the impressive gate blocking the way.
"Is that through the gate?" I asked as sweetly as I could. Which wasn't sweet at all. The creature was shivering in fear now.
"N-n-no." It answered.
"Then I'm not going." I pointed at the gate. "I am going through that gate whether you want me to or not!"
"Enough!" Her voice commanded the area and the souls. All chaos, all unnecessary gossiping, all darkness stopped. She had my full attention before I allowed myself to look at her. Breathing in deeply to calm down, I finally looked at her.
She was wearing a yellow dress with intricate designs that shined like diamonds. It brought out her darker skin and her hair. The sun couldn't compare to the bright liveliness she was glowing with. I couldn't believe my eyes. This was not the Jacqueline I had prepared myself to meet. Let alone, slay. She reached toward me and shame gnawed at my stomach. How could I have ever thought of killing her? Unless this is exactly what she wants me to think. I broke eye contact and took a step back.
Idiot! She's the one who brought your friends back to life in battle! She creates all the demons and summons them! Do you not remember the banshees she summoned in your fight? And now, because she's drop dead gorgeous, you want to forget? She's the only one with the power to be behind it all! Remember your vow. Kill her before Comwen is destroyed. But in order to do that I need to become a Demigod which forces me to do her and all the other gods' wills to be "worthy." And she's probably explaining her trial right now! I shook my head and began to listen.
"I owe Czar money!" The stone creature cried out.
"I'll take care of it." Jacqueline giggled. My heart pounded. Enough! I cut to the chase as I followed them.
"Is my trial taking care of this Czar character?" At least, that's what I meant to say. Jacqueline's beauty was making it difficult to pay attention.
She is quite the beauty. Came the voice to my rescue. But you need to pay attention!
I got it! I yelled in my head. Pretty soon, Jacqueline was summoning giant worms out of the sand. She got on one and straddled it to ride and I assumed the second one was for me. I quickly copied Jacqueline and soon we were in a beautiful oasis in a desert area. She jumped off her worm and I jumped off mine and the worms disappeared into the sand. We're alone. My heart skipped a beat and I bit the inside of my cheek. Instead of following Jacqui into the shade, I decided to keep my distance.
Maybe you shouldn't even look at her so you can pay attention!
Shut up! But I followed its advice. I faced the field of lily pads while my trial was explained. So, basically, I have to find a scapegoat for her. That's when I noticed she was tearing flowers off the lily pads. Her face was scrunched up in frustration. Maybe this is a ploy to get me to do as she says. Even so, her frustration seemed real. It didn't fit with her loveliness from earlier. Before I knew what I was doing, I stopped her hand from tearing another wild flower off it's pad. Her skin was soft. Mine was rough. To rough to be touching a literal goddess. I removed my hand quickly and felt blood rushing to my cheeks. I turned away to fulfill my task when I felt her poke me all of a sudden.
She had such an innocent curiosity about her when I faced her. What does she want? I wasn't sure what was happening as she continued to poke me and then all of a sudden she held my hand. Desire to stay like this forever consumed my senses.
Snap out of it! I pulled my hand away and hurriedly left.
I rode the closest sand worm thing across the desert until I happened upon a large number of souls seemingly just wandering the desert.
"Oy!" I called out from atop the giant worm. The souls looked up at me. "Do any of you know where the Fountain is?!" I yelled. All of them shook their heads yes and several of them called out, "Of course! It's this way! Follow us!" Well, that was easy. After getting off the worm I followed the large group of souls to the east and eventually we wound up in some very grassy fields.
"We call this The Fields." A soul sauntered beside me. "The Fountain is past The Fields and in the middle of The Selva."
"Selva, huh?"
"Yep!" A child's soul ran up to us. "The selva is where I like to play hide and go seek with my friends! It's a fun spot full of all sorts of trees and vines and bushes! There's always somewhere new to explore!" The child ran past me and the older soul laughed heartily.
"I hope he isn't taken." The older one smiled, but reality slammed into me. This is why I'm here. To save my world. To stop the innocent from being abused and used to do evil.
After traveling for several days through some untamed fields, a line of trees rose through the translucent bodies of souls. Feeling close to my purpose, I began to run towards it. Happy souls skipped beside me and the same kid from earlier ran beside me.
"Look, mister! I can show you the way! You have to run slower though!" The kid gasped. I laughed and let him lead the way to the Fountain. After entering the dense trees, we simply made a beeline straight through. I'm not sure what I was expecting but it wasn't a giant pond with a stone wall surrounding it. There was also a stone statue of a fairy rising out of the pond pouring vases of water into it. I also wasn't expecting to see hundreds of spirits crowding the area. The kid tried to take my hand but he went right through me. "Whoa! Well, then when you get to the Fountain just ask to see your family and they'll be there! Pretty cool, right?"
"Yeah." I rudely interrupted some spirits as they tried to see their own family and sat on the edge of the wall. The kid's words ran through my head again: just ask to see your family and they'll be there. But what happens when someone alive is asking? Should I even be doing this? I know my family is here in the Underworld somewhere, but what if they've been taken? Will the Fountain show me where they are if they are being used against their will? Marcos flashed through my head.
"Show me him."