*** A PLACE WITHOUT A NAME ***

***Daniel ***

Daniel opened his eyes and gasped.

Below him was his own body drenched in blood. The last bullet hit him just below his right eye and blood poured out of it like a faucet. He was dead.

He slowly shook his head. He should be appalled or shock or freaking out on what happened, but he wasn’t. And he finds it amusing that he is more interested in the state of his mind than the state of his actual health.

He did cringe when the young man who shot him, kick his body to confirm his dead. The moron simply didn’t believe that a shot in the head might not be fatal. He then went to his unconscious friend. He was about to say something to his friend when some powerful force suddenly lifted Daniel up and suck him to the sky.

The next thing Daniel knew is that he is floating in somewhere black, with tiny brilliant lights all around them. Floating sensation slowly changed into a more movement of purpose. When he tried to analyze how he felt, he is surprised to feel nothing. Absolutely nothing at all.

No that’s not exactly true. He felt something. A sense of unbelievable peace is what is in his heart at that moment.

“I guess this is the other side,” He said to himself. He didn’t feel any apprehension or fear. He actually felt something close to acceptance.

Then a face of a child entered his mind and suddenly he cannot wait. An overpowering sense of happiness filled his heart. “How could I ever forget,” Daniel said. “I will be with her once more. Finally.”

Nothing in his previous life ever made him happy anymore when his child left him. He should have died a long time ago. But that was the past, and now is now. He can be with his beloved daughter once and for all.

Suddenly he is urging whatever force that is pulling him to move faster. While he is doing so, he almost jumps when he finally notices the woman smiling next to him. “Jeezes woman! You almost give me—“

“A heart attack?” She asked mildly. “Do you know how ridiculous that sound? You’re dead, remember?”

“Yeah well… You know, still…” He mumbled lamely. With nothing to say, he went on the attack. “And who the hell are you anyway?”

The woman raised an eyebrow and giggled. “I’m your spirit guide. I’m supposed to ease the transition from your old life to beyond. But I guess I’m not needed in your case. My, I have never seen a more enthusiastic spirit, and I’ve been doing this for years.” Daniel had an inkling that her description of “doing this for years,” was a mild understatement.

But Daniel barely acknowledges the woman back for something peculiar is happening to him. His overwhelming longing to see her daughter Mara, made his senses zoomed in further and suddenly he can feel his daughter’s spirit essence. It was inside the light that they were going to.

*** IN THE PLAINS OF THE VOID, A SPACE KNOWN ONLY AS THE HELIX ***

*** Mysterious Goddess ***

“No!” The naked woman said, almost empirically. “You must not die, knight. I still have need of you.”

She leaned down and touch the dead knight’s chest. Multiple magic circles suddenly appeared, bright yellow lights surrounding them. Two spheres of Radiance generated on top of her and started gathering pure life force around them, only to be channeled back to the woman for her exclusive use. The magical circle brightened even more with its own inner light and the runes around the circle began to move and change.

Repairing the broken body is child’s play to her. Cells were regenerated, veins were regrown, anything that can be repaired is fixed and body parts that cannot be repaired are discarded, only for a new parts to be regrown. The massive amount of blood are refilled and infections from bacteria and dirt are vaporized. All in all, it took exactly 6.4 seconds for Amriel’s body to become good as new.

But the real problem was his damage soul. The woman immediately anchored the young knight’s soul to his body. But almost half of Amriel’s life force was burned out during his last fight. And that’s what made his situation really critical for the goddess.

She can do a lot of things, but re-growing souls were not one of them. She did repair it to make sure nothing else leaks out, but that is the extent of her divine healing powers.

“Think Alshurasha-an,” She admonished herself. “What would your brothers and sisters do in this situation?”

They will let the poor soul go and join the creator. The child is too far gone, nothing can be done with him. Despite all their considerable radiance and massive powers, they too have their limits.

“No!” She said to herself. “I will not let him go.”

And then an idea came to her.

The woman has many names since the beginning of time. Some she made for herself, others were titles given to her. Alshurasha-an, the daughter of the moon, Mustada-Ashi, Sheyra, The lady of the ocean forest, She-wolf of the red desert, Goddess of the third ring, Mav, Red Eyes, Death, the Hag, and Demon Bitch.

Whatever they call her, she is part of the void. The old ones, the balancers. Many worship her and her siblings as gods and to them, magic holds no secrets. So what she is attempting to do is what an Archmage of the 11th order will consider impossible, but to her is merely difficult.

The magical circle around her enlarge on its own and became even brighter as more pure radiance poured into it. The runes at the edges of the circle started to float in the air, becoming even more complex sigils and runes, as the very magical circle itself started to rotate, change and evolve.

What she is trying to do is cast a massive radiance net that will encompass all seven plains of existence. She is trying to grab a lost soul, someone who has no heavenly destiny or someone who is not bound to the cosmic law. She knew it is a long shot but it was her only chance to save Amriel’s soul.

*** A PLACE WITHOUT A NAME ***

***Daniel ***

“What the –,” Daniel said, startled.

For he had sense his daughter’s spirit suddenly started moving out of the great light beyond that he is going to.

“Wait, what the hell is this?” He said incredulously.

“What is it?” The woman beside him asked.

“What is going on with my daughter?!”

“What are you talking about?”

Daniel tracks the spirit of his daughter moves out in the direction to his left.

“My daughter’s spirit is moving away!” Daniel protested, but the woman simply looks at him sadly.

“I’m sorry. I too was hoping that you and your daughter’s spirit will be reunited. But if you have seen her moving somewhere else then that is her destiny.”

“What?”

“Your daughter’s spirit is destined to be reincarnated somewhere else. To be reborn and start a new life in a new world.”

Daniel looks at her, and she stared back at him, willing him to understand. “I see,” he said almost calmly. “Then I will go there as well.”

“But-”

“I’m not leaving my daughter’s side ever again.”

The woman shook her head very slowly. “It doesn’t work that way. You also have your own destiny, and that is to go to the great light in front of you.”

“Like hell,” Daniel growled. He watches the tiny light that represents her daughter’s essence move to a different place. Then without actually knowing how he did it, his own self started to slow down then gradually change direction and followed her daughter’s path.

“What are you doing?!” the girl with him said, aghast. In all her years in this place, no one has ever done what Daniel had just done. “You cannot fit your will against destiny!”

“Watch me!” Daniel answered, gritting his teeth.

“You cannot do this!”

“Be gone!”

The girl tried to hold Daniel but she turned into blue dust and evaporated into the wind even before she can do so. Daniel meanwhile, had already forgotten her, and all his attention was concentrated on following his daughter.

“I’m coming, babe. Wait for me…” He whispered.

********

Author’s tiny note:

Author has a day job and with traffic, means being out of the house for more than twelve hours a day. Weekends are strictly for the family. That means that the only real time to write my novel will be that one or two hours before I go to bed and sleep.

If you like my story, please comment, follow or favorite. Those small comments are really the difference between when you hit a blank spot, you either just shrug and say “let’s do this tomorrow” or get some milk or do some stretching exercise while you think about new scenes for the story, and then start writing some more for another extra 30 minutes.

Good day to you all and hope it’s not raining in your part of the world Very Happy