《An Afterlife Odyssey》03. The Lucider and the Ferryman
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The moment I fell, I suddenly started wondering about gravity. How does it work in a world like this?
My butt hit the ground before long, and I heard a thump. I looked over to see the Charon, so I got back up and ran.
The ground under my feet was still pitch black, but I could see where it ended. Above my head, the sky swirled slowly like liquid, and emitted a pale light in undefined colors. We were no longer at the entrance to Irkalla.
The Charon kept chasing, I kept running. It was like a silent cartoon. I didn't know where I was or where I was going; Erek gave me no further instructions except not to enter Irkalla. There were no stars to guide me, only a kind of hazy instinct.
The Charon occasionally yelled and cursed. Goddamn lucider, they called me. Must be refering to lucid dreams.
The way it felt, was indeed like a lucid dream. Maybe this had all been just a dream. Maybe Death was just a long dream. Maybe the whole universe was a dream, and I was God.
Once again I reached a dead end. A cliff. I could see in the distant, however, the other side, hiding in the mist. A swift, terrible current flowed between the two sides.
If this was a dream, I could make it to the other side. My feet bounced up from the ground, and I let myself float. It worked. I could try to fly.
"Yer aren't fool enough t' try t' cross the Styx by yerself, are yer?"
A figure, tall, hooded and ancient, emerged from God knows where. He sounded like an old man. He held out a yellow lantern between his bony, darkened fingers, scrutinizing me. A long stick in his other hand.
"How'd yer get to this side anyway? Are yer dead?"
I stared at him, a bit startled by the question. Should I admit I was dead?
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"As a human, yes, I am living a new life."
The Charon caught up to me but halted and curiously looked at the old one. He turned and pointed the lantern towards the Charon. Then, totally ignoring them, he turned back to me:
"Good eyes. Yer don't look like yer dead."
"Oh but she is!" The Charon said, walking forth.
"Get back, puny puppet! This is MY water!"
The old one's voice was not loud, but menacing. The Charon seemed to gasp. They asked in frustration:
"Who are you, anyway?"
The old one lowered his lantern and stood straight up:
"Ah, yer know me. They called me Old Man Charon."
The other "Charon" was dumbfounded. They shook their head:
"You're not in the system."
"Didn't have a "system" back then. Didn't need no puppets. Five gold coins for the other side, young lady." Old Charon summoned a little boat. I fumbled to will five little gold coins into existence. They weren't pretty, but they passed for gold. The "young Charon" protested but the old man continued to scare them away.
"Didn't know you raised the price." I smiled.
"Naw. Still one gold for the way here, five for the way back. Always. But only for the good folks." Old man Charon pushed me onto the boat. "Sit tight."
The young Charon jumped up and down by the shore. They seemed to have been blocked by something.
The old man hit the shore with his stick and the boat flew slowly, slipped through the few gaps in the great current. The current felt terribly powerful, yet it made no sounds. I unconsciously sat as modest as I could in the middle of the boat.
"The Styx is merciless. She'd tear yer apart." The old man laughed. I nervously nodded.
"Living, dead. No one's got a thing against the rivers. They watch us. They watch everything. From Hell to Heaven. Everything. Keep them in check."
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Old Charon sounded proud. I didn't understand much, but at least I'd know better now not to jump into currents. The Styx was terrifying up close.
"Excuse me." I decided to ask. "How do I enter the country of demons?"
"Demons!" The old man continued to steer the boat with the stick. "That's what they call them now, isn't it? Well, I wouldn't know. Why'd yer want t' go?"
"I'm... interested to see one of them." I said. Black smoke suddenly came out of the tablet I held - and completely forgot I was holding. The smoke formed a shape and the young Charon sat there next to me, disgruntled.
"Ah. Yer can't be away from the tablet, little puppet?" Old Charon laughed.
"Shut up." The young one said. "Give that back to me!" They demanded. I shook my head. No way.
"Yer'll probably find demons in the old land too." Old Charon suddenly returned to my question. "If that's what yer interested in."
"Not just any demon..." I confided, reluctantly. "I have one particular in mind."
"What gives?"
"I don't know." I shrugged. "Some stories. Some dreams. Before I knew it I just wanted to see them."
"Some love-struck girl yer are!" Old Charon laughed again. "Bet yer make things like songs and statues. Crafty folks are always like that."
"Is that how it was? You were in love with a demon? More like the idea of one?" The other Charon leaned toward me, trying to snatch the tablet again but failed. "You didn't even have a proof of connection. Talk about being delusional."
"Delusional or not, I couldn't be locked up in there. I'm sorry." I said, scowling. "Where are we going anyway? I just wanted to get away from Irkalla..."
"To yer Mother." Old Charon said. "There she is!"
We had arrived on the other side. I could see right away that it was a vast land. I shuddered because something felt different. The winds. The winds brought smells. I was breathing for some reason, and my heart was beating.
"What is this place..." I uttered.
"Used t' be called Earth." Old Charon shrugged. "Welcome back t' life. Try not t' lose it again!"
"Lucider. The tablet." The young Charon stayed on the boat, holding out their hand. I'd come to like the nickname they gave me. I held out the tablet to them, but stopped halfway.
"Are you sure about this?" I asked.
"Sure what?" They frowned, or that was my impression.
"Are you sure you don't want to come with me?"
The Charon froze. "What nonsense-..."
"You don't have a proper name. You're overworked. He called you a puppet and you didn't even retort. Come on, you've never set foot out of Irkalla, have you?"
Not that they had a foot. My bad.
The Charon gazed at me for a bit, then said:
"I'm not like you, Lucider. I don't have choices."
They floated onto the ground to reach for the tablet in my hand, pausing for a few seconds, staring at the brown-red soil, then looked up:
"Go find your demon."
As soon as the tablet left my hand, the Charon faded away. The old Charon tapped the shore with his stick again and steered the boat back into the mist.
The young Charon's words somehow lingered in my head, and tugged at my heart.
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BODY&SHADOW
AN ILLUSTRATED NOVEL • UPDATES TUESDAY AND FRIDAY In a time before living memory, the King Dragon of the Void watched the world and realized there was a crack. He realized that humanity was destroying the rock upon which they lived; they leaked life’s code into the churning chaos. At first the change was imperceptible: nanites overtook microorganisms, bacteria, viruses, amoebas. Insects became increasingly inorganic; birds and lizards followed soon after. Even humans were infected by their own advances, cell by cell, till there was not a person left on earth who wasn’t at least part synthetic, the product of a prior generation’s carelessness. The world’s population was ravaged by mechanical viruses with no vaccines; they were mercilessly overtaken by bacteria that knew no death. Soon, most of the planet was empty and only a handful remained who remembered the hedonist realm they came from; only a few were left who remembered what the world looked like when their buildings touched the sky. The King Dragon of the Void watched the rock turn. He watched humans cower as the Old World fell down around them; watched their great monuments crumble into dusty ruins; watched their codes become precious, ancient gem memories forged under the crushing pressure of so many fallen stones. The world has spun many times around the sun since chaos swallowed man whole. It is a simpler time than the one that died out, but the people now are not immune to the folly of the people before. There is old code everywhere: in the water, in the air, in the trees. The heart of man has been replaced by power cores, many of which are hard-coded with preternatural abilities—when they die, an esoteric mountain sect collects their cores and stores them in their hollow mountain home to preserve the sanctity and dignity of human death. They’ve learned to harness artifacts of the old world, gemstones full of codes their nanite infused bodies can parse as spells imbuing their users with great power; they inlay them into their bodies, into their skins, connected to their cores by copper conduit and gold tracers; they dress themselves in tattoos to advertise their prowess; they battle for relics in arenas, fight for them in the open world wherever they are found. The King Dragon of the Void watches the rock turn and wonders: when will this hunger finally make the rock stop spinning? WELCOME TO FANXING CITY … Twenty-five years ago, Fanxing City and the surrounding lands were commanded by the mad King Zao Beiguan. For many years, the King hoarded wealth, artifacts, food; he demanded tribute from a people already taxed to the edges of their existence and expected they be happy with their circumstances. Noncompliance was often punished harshly, bodies displayed proudly on Fanxing’s streets as a warning, from the city gates to the Zao palace’s golden doors. The youths of several prominent clans came together to overthrow the tyrant and made names for themselves as legendary heroes across the land: Tian, Ren, Feng, Gui, Ma, and Zhenxi. Even wanderers from the Luanshi sect descended from Yunji mountain to aid the rebellion. When the dust settled after three years, Tian Yunyong ascended the throne of Fanxing and swore to honour his slain father’s memory, and has maintained Fanxing’s peace with generosity and mercy where fear and cruelty once reigned.
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