1 The Path Least Walked

"How many people do you know? A lot? Dozens? Hundreds? Thousands?"

"How many of them do you really know-- how many of them would you remember after not seeing for years?"

"Now, how many of them know you?"

A ray of light flashes past in the night. Lightning, perhaps?

The light briefly streaked across the walls of a dark alleyway. Trash was strewn about on the floor near an overfilled dumpster. A number of rats scampered to and fro from garbage heap to garbage heap, but they all instinctively steered clear of something.

A young boy in horrible, pitiful condition, leaning against the wall as he tried to stand yet again.

Were he not hungry, exhausted and heavily injured, this youth would have realized that a car had gone on down the road. The fact was that his eyes had lost their youthful luster. What replaced it was a bloodshot, blank stare.

He, once more, could not fight the exhaustion and fell to his knees. Having had no food for months, drinking nothing but tainted water and wearing a horrendous, ghastly collection of cuts, scrapes, bruises and infections, it was a miracle that he had survived for as long as he did.

He fell into an even deeper sleep than he had grown accustomed to, welcoming the ever-present darkness. He could not recall just how long ago it had been since he had been able to sleep as well as he was beginning to. He felt his mind drifting in that darkness, breaking away from his self and 'flying' away to somewhere new.

"How many of them really know you? Will they, too, remember you once you've been out of their sight and mind?" You can only hope they do, or perhaps that they do not."

The boy's dying body slowly fell, his limp arm sliding against the wall that once helped him stand.

"After all, who truly wants to live on only in the memories of others? Especially when you're dead everywhere else. Was death not meant to be a freedom?"

Endless darkness often granted certain illusions the mysterious flair they needed to become visually stunning. As the boy would soon realize, the darkness his mind swam in would transfigure into something else entirely.

"What is seen in the dark beyond nothing? That which is as far from the truth as possible."

As the darkness consumed his consciousness, it very quickly gave way to dazzling lights, all of which filled him with warmth and curiosity, things he had never felt.

Those lights were each specters floating toward a narrow road. The road was smooth and pitch black, as was anything to the left or right of it. All there was to see was a towering beacon before him, which the road led to. Behind him, he saw a red and wavering breach in space.

That breach brought forth more and more specters with each passing second, but as they stepped upon the road they faded, disappearing from his sight.

He stepped onto the road himself, and immediately heard a familiar voice. This had been the voice speaking out in his mind as he slowly lost his life.

"Are you forgotten, or do they still remember you?"

What was speaking was a small floating speck that only appeared once he stood on the smooth black road. It stuck close to him and moved when he moved. He looked around, beginning to worry about his current situation. There was nothing behind him put the portal, and there was noting before him but the white tower.

Could this be a dream? But when had he ever had anything but nightmares?

Before long, he noticed that he too looked just like the other specters he had seen. His body didn't seem real, but metaphysical in nature. As he saw this, he recalled fractured memories of fairy tales and the ghosts within them.

"I'm dead?"

"Yes you are. You walk the path towards after-life."

The speck floated around him, perhaps perusing his ghostly form. There was something to be observed in how his body lacked any of the dazzling light that all the others seemed to have. As more and more specters stepped out of the portal, it only became more obvious that his body was much dimmer.

"Your glow is strange. Have you never been happy?"

The boy shuddered at the thought of his life, so he chose to ignore the question instead of trying to remember whether or not he had experienced some fleeting semblance of happiness.

As he got closer and closer to the light of the beacon, he noticed that his body was changing.

"You assume a new form in the afterlife. Since people remember you, you live on as whatever their memories say you are."

The boy nodded and kept a steady pace; not too fast or too slow. He began to lose his eagerness, finding that he had no reason to truly be eager. He was more concerned with what he would be remembered as. As he thought about it, he wondered if he would even be remembered at all.

"What if no one remembers?" He asked the speck.

A chuckle came from it as it flew off higher and higher in the pitch black sky, but remained close by.

"No one has ever been forgotten. At least, I haven't been alive to see it."

Hearing that it was possible, the boy frowned. "How long have you been alive?"

The speck laughed once more as it returned to his level. "A long time. I've seen many people just like you come and go, but not one has been forgotten."

The boy made an 'oh' sound and then looked toward the tower of light. "What about when the people that remember them die?"

"What do you think? Are you not also dead? Can you not remember your life and the people in it?"

At the thought of his past, of the horrors he had been made to suffer, the boy's glow surged. He did not notice, but the speck did.

"So, what are you?"

A whistling sound came from the speck as it answered, as if it was beginning to recollect something from long ago. "Well, I was once a person like you. Then I died, wound up in after-life, and once the Yama saw that I was alive for too long he gave me and some others a task."

"It is now my responsibility to teach other people about what after-life is and how it works." The boy nodded.

He was now standing right in front of the beacon. The beacon itself was bright light, so bright that he couldn't see the thing itself. Around it was something almost like a barrier of light that he could touch.

"Attempt to walk through the barrier and touch the beacon. Once you cannot advance further, come out and then we'll get on with the rest."

The boy did as instructed. With careful steps, at first, he eased through the barrier of light. He had been expecting some kind of resistance, and thus had closed his eyes. Once he was on the other side, and found no resistance, he relaxed.

The boy approached the light and put his hand forward. There was one final layer of light around it which he could only now see. Taking a breath, he brought his hand to it and braced for impact. Seeing it easily go through, he gulped- if gulping was possible for a ghost- then he pushed himself through it in order to stand directly in front of the barrier.

What followed after that shocked both the black speck and the person watching the events from afar. The boy had pushed directly through the light and reached the beacon as if nothing was stopping him.

As he did this, the world around him changed. It became a world of golden lights, sparkling rubies and endless stars. The road vanished from behind him, and even the black speck changed to became a pale-skinned and gangly man whose black hair covered his face and reached his knees.

From atop the tower the boy could see towering trees, flowery fields and a starry sky like the expanse of outer space. He looked down on a world of grassy meadows with people frolicking, lazing away or exploring. He saw trees so massive that wooden castles were built within their trunks, and mountains so vast and mighty that he became even more acutely aware of his insignificance.

This was like a paradise.

For a moment, he felt what it meant to be mesmerized by the world around him and desire to see all it had to offer. He hadn't been able to see enough of his previous world to have any sort of reverence for it.

Now that he saw this marvel before him, he suddenly felt a desire to have it all for himself. He felt that it was the perfect way to make up for his suffering.

All in all, he looked forward to living there, but was brought out of his excitement when he heard a loud and unfamiliar noise.

It was actually the neighing of horses and galloping hooves.

Looking up, both he and the tall man behind him saw a chariot bathed in purple flames. This fire emitted a biting cold that could eradicate someone's very soul. However, the boy did not feel the cold as the chariot approached. He was fixated on the skeletal horses on whose hooves and necks the purple fire raged as well.

"Amazing."

The tall man, who was once the speck, removed the hairs from his face. He could be mistaken for a girl if one was not careful, as his eyes were thin and his brows were narrow and rounded. Even his lips seemed feminine, being full and having a and peachy color to them.

"King Yama!" The man hurriedly fell to his knees, but he failed to attract the boy's attention despite his various attempts. He wanted the boy to quickly kneel and pay his respects, but the youngster was too amazed by the sight of the horses that ran on the air.

"Vorya!" The tall man raised his head and responded to his name being called.

"Your Majesty!"

"How has this child touched the beacon!?"

Vorya's eyes widened. "I... I do not know..."

King Yama abruptly leapt off the flaming chariot and made his way to stand before Vorya and the boy. His violet robe and dazzling silver circlet stunned the youth, making him think that that was what a prince or king would look like.

Apart from the gold ornaments and fancy clothing, what stunned the boy the most was how manly and handsome King Yama was.

"How can you not know, Vorya? He touched the beacon! That means that the power of memory has no hold on him. He has no ties to any world whatsoever!"

King Yama snorted coldly as he stared directly at the awestruck boy.

"You mean to say... He's forgotten?"

King Yama gave a look as if he was saying 'duh,' then walked over to the boy. "You are forgotten. This means you have a choice. Live as a king here, but never be able to leave, or be free to journey everywhere else in the cosmos."

Vorya walked over to King Yama's side like a subservient attendant.

"Your choice, kid." King Yama smiled warmly.

The boy paused for a while, his consciousness suspended in meaningful contemplation. As he thought about what Yama said, he felt an attractive force gently tug at him from afar.

He knew what he would do.

"I don't want to stay here. I want to see everything there is to see."

As he said that, the beacon glowed and then shot a beam of light at him.

King Yama smiled and waved, but then his smiled widened into a grin when he got an idea.

"He's just a kid, Vorya. Help him out." King Yama slapped the slender man on his back, sending him flying toward the beacon with a loud cry. Once Vorya was close enough, a beam of light also shot at him. As both their bodies assimilated in the light, they began to fade away.

"Maybe one day you'll be able to come visit!" King Yama gave a final wave, then he returned to his chariot of purple flame and urged the horses to fly away. They galloped on the air, leaving the boy with a lasting impression before he completely faded away.

'So cool.'

As that blinding light broke them down into something impossible to describe, they flew away through time and space to arrive at an unknown location.

That boy would finally be able to live.

As for the undead Vorya, well, he would have a front row seat to an amazing spectacle the likes of which had never been witnessed.