How I ended up where I did, I didn't know. Where I was, I didn't know. There were no signs, no houses, nothing to tell me where I was. In either direction, there was only one thing within sight. Corn.
Slipping the flask from my pocket, I focused on the gossamer thread of energy. The pull tugged me down the road, so I walked. I walked and walked. With each step, I grew more convinced I wasn't making any progress. The only things keeping me from believing it were the utility poles and the trees. Every step carried me closer to and eventually past them. I passed the trees and found more corn.
In short, the things I saw were as follows: corn, corn, corn, corn, soybeans, corn, corn, cows, barn, corn, and of course, corn.
After that it was a quick trek through the woods. Well, quick in this context meaning two hours of trying to find my way across a ravine before saying screw it. I climbed over the edge, holding onto rocks and roots. Five feet from the bottom, my hand holds gave way and I fell onto the rocky bottom. I groaned and facepalmed.
"I forgot I could float. How did I forget that?" I picked myself up. My hands grazed my back and my legs before searching the back of my hea for injuries. No blood, and the pain of impact had faded, thanks being dead. I never thought I'd say that, but there I was thinking it. It took maybe twenty minutes to get out of the ravine and back on my way.
My head and body swiveled, as I walked out of the trees into a clearing. I turned in circles, barely avoiding tripping on a hose. Myriads of flowers bloomed; some lined the stepping stone pathway, other climbed up trellises. I recognized roses,morning glories, tulips, wisteria, sweet peas, and several other flowers. There were more I didn't recognize. I took a deep breathe, enjoying the way the flowers mingled. For a brief second anyway. After that it turned into a cloying scent that gave me a headache.
Bees bumbled and buzzed from bloom to bloom, legs coated with pollen. I squatted next to a flower and stared at a particularly large bumblebee. There was a different type of buzzing and I turned my head in time to see a hummingbird dart by, its ruby red throat shining in the sunlight. Another one flew by.
I smiled, enjoying being surrounded by nature. It was a nice break from the lifeless atmosphere of Death's dimension. I sighed. Too bad I couldn't enjoy it, I had a job to do and it couldn't wait. Standing up, I walked under the trellis and across a footbridge. It seemed like a different world. Fruit tree after fruit tree bore fruit, despite it not being season for half of them. Butterflies rested on the ground, on small branches, and on fallen fruit. Some had yellow wings, some had white ones, sone had their wings closed, but no butterfly could be seen more than any other. One with black and red wings flew past me, followed by two more near identical ones.
Dragonflies and damselflies joined them in their aerial dances, sun lighting their exoskeletons in incandescent splendor. Occasionally one would catch a butterfly in mid air. Whenever that happened, the butterfly would somehow escape with no harm, leaving no doubt Life had an influence on this place.
Faint humming floated on the wind. I strained my ears, trying to discover the source of the noise. It was close by, I could tell that much, but where? No trellis and no path showed a way deeper into the garden. A rough stone wall enclosed the area, disappearing behind the trees. I pressed my lips together and followed it.
Close to the wall, the branches hung low and mixed with weeds, so I found myself with several leaf cuts, which are like paper cuts but felt like Luci appeared next to me to rub salt into them. I ducked under branch after branch, whacking my head on more than a couple. I crawled under one last one, mumbling to myself about not walking through the more maintained trees. Complaining aside, I emerged into a clearing straight out of a painting. Flowers and bushes ringed it with a small gap allowing a stream to run in and feed a small pond. More flowers and hanging baskets hung from the branches of a large tree with beautiful green leaves. Part of its trunk had been scraped, chopped, or eaten away and was covered with amber glass. A worn stone bench sat in front of it, between the tree and the pond. A few bottles, jars, and clay pipes sat in a corner, some only with dirt others with plants; that's where the girl I took to be Clara knelt.
"I think you lost something," I said. Every muscle in her body tensed. She picked herself up from the ground and turned to look at me. A smile spread across her face, brilliant white teeth standing out from golden brown skin.
Her purple eyes, so much like Life's, fixated on me, and I took all I had not to get out of there. She looked so much like her, from the way she held herself, to the way her hair fell around her shoulders, even to her white tank top. I doubted her appearance was the reason why Life made her immortal, but it could've been.
"You're not Death," she said with an accent I couldn't place. "Drop the act." My hand moved to my hood; I paused, took a deep breath, and pulled it down. Clara raised a perfectly shaped eyebrow. "Huh, I never thought Death would convince someone to work for him, especially someone my age. What are you? Sixteen?"
"Seventeen. You're thousands of years old, so we're nowhere near the same age. And, for the record, I had no choice. All I wanted to do was haunt a couple people, but no." Sarcasm dripped from my lips like the steady droplets from the head of her watering can. "I had to become his apprentice instead."
Clara laughed, a loud bray which threw out any semblance to Life. She brushed the dirt from her hands and checked her short nails. "He hasn't change much, has he? Didn't give anyone in Egypt the choice on what we'd do? He followed God's orders to punish everyone, even if we didn't agree with the pharaoh. He doesn't give you a choice, and then he wonders why we fight against him."
I almost wanted to agree with her. I didn't want to be his apprentice, but sabotaging him wasn't what I wanted to do. As much as I disliked the job, it was an important one, and I'd rather enjoy the afterlife rather than finding enjoyment in the apocalypse.
"Did he kill your brother or something?"
"My brother, my nephews, and my son," she said, a wistful look in her eyes. "Everyone thinks it was only the babies. Any first born son was killed, even if they had a family of their own."
"You know he doesn't get a choice, right?"
She snorted. "He lets you think that, doesn't he? He doesn't have to kill everyone in that stupid book of his. He can choose to spare people, he does it too. So why couldn't he spare innocent children? My son was a month old when he died, how could he have done anything wrong? And the others wonder why I still worship the old gods." Clara sighed and bent to pick up a basket filled with gardening tools; the striped cloth bag on her hip swung with the motion. "I know you won't be able to grow anything around him, but do you want some seeds anyway?" She pulled the pouch from her belt and open it. She slipped her hand inside and pulled out seeds which she threw on the ground in front of me.
They sprouted.
Vines circled my feet, tying them together. Sharp thorns, razors against my ankles, dug in with every one of my attempts to step out. My dark blood streamed down onto the ground, and the plants drank it up. Their vines turned almost red, despite my blood being as colorless as the rest of my body, and the thorns somehow got sharper. What's sharper than a razor? Something that cuts up your ankles with the tiniest movement. Moments like these made me glad I didn't have to breath.
"Rude much? You didn't even let me tell you why I'm here." Moving as little as possible, I bent down, pinched the vine between two thorns. and pulled it away. I stepped out before crusing the plant underfoot. "And why would you even have these things? Especially in an actual seed pouch, don't you ever accidentally plant one?"
"I normally use them to slow Death down," she said, dipping her hand back into the bag. "Though I guess these will work much better on you."
"I'm not here to kill you." Before the words had fully left my lips, Clara flung more seeds in my direction. Nothing I could've done would've stopped them from leaving her hand, so I did the only thing I could. I dodged. She threw more seeds, and I dodged again.
"I just want the key!"
This time, the vines were bigger, and second group of seeds grew into brier bushes. Boxed in between the vines and briers, I found myself between a hurty place and a hurty place. Neither option was good, so I stood there and stared at Clara. She walked towards me, getting close enough that I could make out hints of yellow around her pupil.
"Why should I believe you?" she asked, her breath hit my face. I smelled mint, but not the obnoxious scent of a breath mint or gum. "I've never met you before, and Death might be hiding behind that bush-" she gestured to an unruly hedge which looked like it hadn't been trimmed for a couple years. "-waiting for me to lower my guard."
"Wow. Do you really think he could do that without his cloak on?" I raised an eyebrow and moved my arm, wincing as I heard fabric tear. I debated briefly about phasing through the stuff, but I was visible. Mortals being able to see me took a lot of options off the table. I probably could've phased through them, according to ghost shows, spirits can move through stuff even when they're manifested. Given that ghosts exist and I haven't met one who's filled out the paperwork, those were my best sources of information. Either way, there was another reason I didn't try to phase through it.
Phasing fricking hurt.
Considering the fact I was trapped and technically in the middle of a fight, I should've been paying more attention. Something the seed that hit against my forehead proved. I didn't have a chance to react; it grew into a large plant the wrapped around my face. I couldn't talk, I couldn't see, and I couldn't pry it off. I bit down, a bitter liquid filling my mouth as I chewed through it. I continued to pull at it until it came away in my hands. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't get the bitter, yet spicy taste off my tongue. When I looked up, I found Clara staring at me.
"What?" I asked. She shook her head.
"That was a poisonous plant."
"Uh, I'm dead." Something nagged at me in the back of my mind, something Death said, but I couldn't figure out what it was.
Clara rolled her eyes; she whistled, a sharp, piercing sound that made me wince. I opened my mouth to ask what that was, but I didn't get a chance. My words died as a dark cloud covered the are. I looked up, and my eyes widened. Every butterfly from the earlier area flew through the air, joined by numerous birds. They dove towards me, latching onto my skin, hair, and clothes. No matter how hard I struggled they held firm and flapped their wings.
Despite the number of them, there had to be over a thousand butterflies, they could only get me a few feet above the ground. It wasn't much, and it wouldn't have hurt too much if I fell, but it was enough for them to pull me towards the tree. Honestly, I had no idea how they were doing it, but that was the least of my concerns.
As they drew me closer to the tree, I could tell there was something off about the tree, or more specifically what I thought was glass. This close, it didn't look like glass because it wasn't glass. Things were trapped in it, leaves and blown twigs, so it definitely wasn't glass. It looked almost like sap or honey. I didn't get much of a chance to get a good look at it, because I was dropped on my feet. Before I had a chance to move away, Clara's hands pressed against my shoulders and she shoved me back.
Seeds from her pouch were spread at the foot of the tree. She raised her hands, the vines following her movements until they held me firm against the tree, though it's not like I could pull free anyway. That was enough to make panic shot through my chest.
The bark slowing closing in only made it worse.
I struggled, trying to flail my arms anyway I could. The sap held firm. Clara smiled, laughed, and reached her hand back into her pouch. The dangerous gleam in her eye made me renew my efforts. It wasn't seeds that she pulled out. Instead, a large crystal rest in her hand. A beam of sunlight filtered through it, coming out purple on the other side. The same glyph Death wrote on the paper sat in the middle of crystal, etched in gold. The key.
She tossed it from hand to hand. "Normally, I would do anything to keep from losing this, and I would never leave this alone." Clara sat it on the bench. "But there's no way you're getting out of there, and once the tree closes around you-" she grinned. "-no one will ever have to worry about Death again. Enjoy the last few minutes of your existence." Clara turned and walked away, pulling her hair into a low, loose ponytail with one hand.
Even before she was out of my sight, I started struggling against the sap. I struggled and struggled, only for it to be useless. The sap soaked through the cloak and through my clothes. From the corner of my eye, I could see the bark edging closer to me; it slowly covered my legs. Sharp, searing pain shot through my chest, and I cried out. It never disappeared, it only got worse. Each second, the pain spread further through my body. Each second, I found it harder to struggle.
Soon, I couldn't feel my finger or my toes. At first it was a welcome relief, but the numbness spread as wood sealed around my feet. I lost the ability to wiggle my fingers as the tree began to absorb me into it. I strained against my sappy prison, against the vines. I was so close. The key was right there. I couldn't- I couldn't give up. I couldn't fail, not now.
The harder I struggled, the faster the bark closed over different parts of me. My legs went first, followed by my arms. I knew it would only be a matter of time until I'd only have a small hole to see out of and I'd be fully absorbed by the tree.
I thought my head would've been the last to be covered, but it wasn't. The bark closed over my face and neck before my chest. A shudder ran through the parts of my body I could feel; this was it. This is where it ended. I was going yo be destroyed. What happened to destroyed souls? Did they really cease to exist? I was about to find out.
The place where my heart would be, the source of the pain, that was the only part of my body that still had feeling. Everything else had been numbed by the wood and bark encasing my body.
A shudder ran through my body, granting me enough feeling to know the tree had begun drawing my energy, my being, into its own. I wanted to throw up, bile probably rose in my throat because if I could've I would've. Out of nowhere, my body fell from the tree. I hit the ground, my fall broken by the bark still attached to my body.
Tremors wracked my body near instantly, and I threw up. It was mostly sap, mixed with my breakfast. Another surge of pain, not as intense and more spread out, wracked my body. It wasn't from the tree, that pain disappeared the moment the tree expelled me. I laid panting on the ground, not enjoying the spasms. Once they stopped, I sat up and wiped my mouth. I checked myself over, making sure I had every part of my body. Only when I was sure I wasn't missing part of myself did I look at the tree. The once vibrant green leaves were dead, and not in the pretty way. Shriveled and brown they dropped almost straight to the ground. A branch crashed to the ground. I jumped in surprise.
"What the-" I said, choking on the last word. I didn't care. I couldn't believe my eyes; I didn't do this. I couldn't have, but I looked around and didn't see Death's exasperated face. There was only one option left no matter how much I didn't believe it, I killed the tree.
I picked myself up, doing my best to ignore my vomit. I struggled over to the pond and stared at my reflection. "I just washed my hair," I groaned and patted it to see if it really felt as bad as it looked in the water. It did. I sighed and peeled the cloak off.
Sticking to me, it hurt with every pull. The sap tugged at every hair on my arms. I gritted my teeth and pulled. How people waxed their legs was lost on me. After a painful, painful time getting it off, I dumped the cloak into the pond. I climbed in. I scrubbed at my arms with the silt, trying desperately to get rid of the stickiness. When that failed, I slid the cloak on and tried to ignore that it was now covered in sap and a few pounds heavier. Thanks, water.
I grabbed a candy bar from my pocket and took a bite. The only thing left to do was to see if Clara left the real key behind, and to see if I could figure out how to activate it. I crumpled the wrapper and shoved it into a pocket before walking to the bench.
It was my last chance to turn back, but I wasn't taking it.
Chapter: 3,206
Book: 73,090
Should I be doing something else? Yes. Am I? No.
How'd you like it?
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