Chapter 2: Some years later

Never in a million years did I ever think that I would be spending my eternity in the afterlife recovering lost souls from various demons and monsters. To be honest, I didn't really think those things existed. Sure, after seeing Alex's transformation and seeing the magic of the mages, It made me think a bit more, but to this extent? I never thought that this many creatures would just be existing alongside humans.

Dolan had spent the past 3 years working for the old man who bullied him at their first encounter. He had no name. Dolan, as well as Emilia, just referred to him as the spirit king. Dolan had been tasked as a soul harvester. His job was to go seek out those who were dead, or nearly dead and harvest their soul then bring it to the spirit king. Dolan didn't really know what happened after he gave the souls over to the King, he just assumed the people disappeared. This day Dolan was tasked with receiving the soul of an old man who was dying of terminal cancer.

Soon into the job Dolan realized that the different places he went to were from different eras and ages in periods of time. When he asked the spirit King about this, the King merely said this, "Well, people both present and future are all bound to die right? Someone has to gather their soul." And Dolan was that guy.

Having warped to the dimension the old man's soul was crying out in, Dolan rushed over. This era seemed more 'modern'. People drove typical 4-wheeled cars, and large skyscrapers decorated the skyline. Dolan, hovering over an immaculate city situated by the water, began to survey the area in search of the screaming soul. Dolan's face made a frown. He had spotted the multistoried building the soul he was searching for was hiding in. Diving towards the soul, he phased through the walls of the building (Because he was also a spirit). As he entered the patient's room, his heart broke. Connected to a quarter of a dozen tubes was a frail old man laying prostrate upon a hospital bed. Beside him stood a wrinkly old woman holding a small purse in one hand, and a tissue in the other. Around the room stood a plethora of little children and adults. Older people filled the room as well. Dolan could tell this man was well loved.

Landing beside the old man's bed he said, "Hey pops. You ready?" Dolan said, tapping his wrist.

The old man lying in the bed turned his head towards Dolan and smiled. As the old man moved everyone in the room gasped, and the old woman standing beside his bed hardly grabbed his hand and shouted, "Hurry! Grab the doctors! He moved!". The old man, knowing the situation, just grabbed his wife's hand and said, "No dear. I see him. I see the angel." He finished saying, looking at Dolan.

Dolan looked away. "I can give you a minute more if you nee-"

"No. I'm ready." The old man said looking back towards Dolan. The old man's family and friends began to cry and weep.

"Gah" Dolan sighed. "I hate this part." Reaching out his hand Dolan put two fingers on the old man's eyelids and closed them. Then, turning his hand sideways, he thrust his hand into the chest of the old man. When he pulled his hand out, inside of his palm was a tiny blue sphere radiating light. Looking back towards the old man's family who were stuck listening to the stillness of the heart monitor buzzing, Dolan said, "I know y'all can't hear me, but I just wanted to let y'all know that he's gonna be in a better place now." Dolan finished, a sad smile forming from his face.

Slightly shaking his head, he began to chant a ritual the old man taught him when he first became a soul harvester. It was the chant to return to the King's castle. "Redi ad alta animam tuam, return thine soul unto the deep." And with that Dolan was whisked back to the central area of the Spirit King's castle. Taking a deep breath, he looked down at the soul in his hand. "You're off to a better place old dude."

As Dolan entered the King's throne room he saw Emilia standing before the king. "Oh hey! I uhh- I've come back with another soul."

The king and Emilia looked toward Dolan. "Good. Very good. Bring it here my boy. But stay silent." Dolan obeyed, and quietly walked towards the king and placed the blue soul sphere of the man into the palm of the spirit king. The king didn't even hesitate to open his mouth and eat the soul. As he licked his lips he said, "Today marks the day that all the other members of the spirit realm were annihilated. That is why we are so solemn boy."

Dolan nodded. "I understand. I didn't realize that today was special. I won't interrupt you two again. I'll go study in the library." Dolan quietly left the king's chamber and made his way through the empty corridors of the castle to the library of the king. "Man," Dolan thought to himself. "I can't imagine being the last of my kind." Then a thought dawned to Dolan. "Maybe I can figure out how they all died. If I can figure out how everyone disappeared then maybe I can understand Emilia and the king a little better. Maybe I can figure out why he collects souls."

Dolan began to search the immaculate library. But this library was by no means small. It was a beautiful and ornately designed piece of art. Two grand wooden doors interlaced with gold stood at the entrance, and immediately upon entering you can see the hundreds of levels of books just stacked to infinite heights. The floor and stairs were made of marble, and pathways jutted out from one level and floor to another. But for all it's beauty and design, it was pretty much just for show. It was almost impossible to find a solid book with so many different choices.

"Now where should I start looking?" Dolan thought, looking up at the different levels and floors. "Guess I'll start here on floor one." Walking over to a section of books slightly suspended in the air Dolan began to search through them. As Dolan was scanning through the pages he frowned. "Son of a gun. These are about ancient beasts." Dolan almost put the book back, but one of the creatures on the page he was on caught his eye. It was a giant winged snail with one eye. It was said to be made of spirits and fed off of the souls of the deceased. It possessed the power to transcend time and space. It was called the Vulga. "That's a disgusting name." Dolan said out loud.

He continued to flip and search through various books throughout the library, but none of them showed any sort of history about what had happened to Emilia and the Spirit King.

"Hey dummy. You aren't gonna find anything on how my people died."

Dolan jumped and turned around. Letting out a heavy breath he said, "Freaking woman. What the heck is wrong with you. Gonna kill a dead man." Shaking his head he went back to looking through different books.

Emilia put her hand on top of Dolan's and looked at him. Giving a half smile she said, "There aren't gonna be any books in here about what happened because everyone who could have wrote them are dead."

Dolan's face fell flat. He immediately slammed closed the book he was looking at. "Yeah umm. My bad. I didn't think of that."

"Don't worry about it. Did you find anything else interesting though?" Emilia said putting her hands behind her back.

"Ahh. Not much. Just read a little bit about some magic and monsters. But! There was this one book." He raised a lewd magazine up where Emilia could see. "There was this little elf pixie in there and, phew, let me tell you-"

"You're an idiot." Dolan just smiled gazing at her.

"So how did it happen? How did they all die?"

Emilia stopped at the doors to the library. "Walk with me." They continued out of the doors of the great library and made their way to the courtyard. It was more of a flower garden than a courtyard. Giant rose bushes spiraled high above Dolan and Emilia's head creating a cascading canopy that rolled down the pathway providing shade from the shining sun. Delicate lilies were happily sprouting up from the ground showing blooming purple petals.

"So, as you know, I'm not a natural resident of this land. I'm an elf. But when I was really really young a few soul collectors found me as the lone survivor of my village after it had been attacked. I'm sure they were there to collect the souls of the dead, but anyway. I was raised here, in this palace. All sorts of people wandered around. And it wasn't spirits! It was normal people like you and I. They were made of flesh and blood. We had a set order of rules that we all abided by. But one day, the king decided to just abolish the laws. Now these were not just any laws-"

Dolan cut her off, "The king I know? The spirit king?"

Emilia shrugged. "I honestly don't know. I hadn't met the spirit king until he found me all alone out under the center pavilion. I didn't even realize the full scale of what had happened till he told me. If it wasn't for that I don't think I would have even met him. But continuing on, the laws. These laws directed and ordered us. They were our centerpiece of power. But the king decided to just up and get rid of them. And a few days after he did, people in the palace just started to disappear. They would just vanish. No trace of what happened to them. And it just continued on until it was just the king and I left."

Dolan stopped walking in front of a patch of white lilies. "So you don't really know what happened." Emilia shook her head. "Well" he said, taking a deep breath, "That sucks. At least you didn't murder aton of innocent people. I was a total ass in my past life. And I can't even blame anyone but myself. At least the spirit king gave me a second chance. For that I'm eternally grateful."

Emilia just gave him a half smile. "Yeah." She muttered. "I guess it's a second chance at life. You're a nice guy, you know that Dolan. A real nice guy."

Dolan turned and looked at Emilia and smiled. "Well gee honey. Thanks for the compliment. But usually the nice guys get made fun of."

"ARGH!" The king's voice echoed throughout the halls of the palace. Looking at each other, they nodded, then darted off towards the king's throne room. Upon entering his chambers the pair saw the old man hunched over in pain. His staff lying on the floor beside him. Emilia immediately went to his aid and helped him sit up. Dolan walked over to his staff, and went to grab it. "NO!" The king shouted at Dolan. "GET" *cough* "GET AWAY FROM THAT STAFF! *cough*."

Dolan gave the king a queer look. "What do you need? How can we help?"

"SOULS!" The king shouted. "SOULS! I NEED MORE SOULS!"

Emilia looked to Dolan. Nodding, Dolan darted off toward the center pavilion, and began to chant the king's command of teleportation.