Chapter 52: Let There be Death (Part 4)
[Clock - 18:09 | 06:09 PM]
[Calendar - 01/04/2003]
[Location - Beastialis Kingdom - Old Gotham, Gotham City, New Jersey ]
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POV Change
3rd Person POV
A wave of soft gray energy emerged from Atlas' body.
Nothing happened at first, and that confused the people for a few moments- Until a gasp rang out. One of the people that had died got out of their seat, coughing vicariously and with the strength of a raging bull. A small child who had his leg broken before diving into the healing waters, being held by a broken hearted wife and mother, cried out as she saw her father rise up from his place amongst the dead. And such scenes happened as more than 250 people were brought back to life in a single casting of a spell. Families, previously broken by the unbreakable line beyond life were recreated and reforged from the ashes of the broken hearts that shedding away their sadness seemed to glow with the rebirth of a certain god. Gods... Oh gods. Thinking about religion right now was like mixing oil and water! The major culture of the US of A is that Christianity is the "one true religion" and that there are "no gods before me" or whatever the fuck sky daddy says in his book that makes men submit to him and put on sub collars.
But... Many prayed. Even in their despairing minds, they begged a higher power to save them. It just happens that the higher power that answered had the head of an animal!
"..." With panting breath, the ethereal looking young man that was perpetually floating above them, seemed to sag a little bit. His body slowly seemed to lower itself, until like a puppet that had their strings cut off, he fell- Only for this black blur to fly by, and for the one person the crowd came to know as King Croc, to settled him down softly on the ground: "Oh, that uses a lot of energy..." Groaning, his almost transparent and ethereal form seemed to flick in place for a moment before he spoke the following words with a voice so weak that it made the listeners almost feel like he was about to pass out as his voice was barely a whisper above what others could hear- and yet, it sounded as loud as thunder: "People of Beastialis... Enjoy your second chance with your family, because this will be the last one." And soon enough, after saying this, he passed out indeed.
"...Robert, can I trust you and your friends to safely separate everyone here?" Taking the man in his arms, the giant crocodile man with this and shimy onyx scales spoke. His voice was not as loud as the voice of the man that had just passed out, and somehow it carried even greater power within it. The bat-like human he was speaking to simply nodded, still looking in awe towards the one within his king's arms: "Very well. Make sure everyone is safe and comfortable enough- i will take my love to our room." With that said, these enormous lizard-like wings bursted out of his back, and soon he took to the heights. His body seemed to simply float as the wings flapped gently, barely even causing wind movement as he flew. It took him a few moments before he reached the base of their palace. The opening to the upside down pyramid was pretty obvious, made to be reached by everyone so they could get an audience with the king whenever called. As soon as he settled down on the stone marble floor, he released the man in his arms as he asked: "Was that convincing enough, my love?"
"I believe I am a good actor myself." The man simply did not fall- he floated horizontally as he looked into Waylon's eyes. There was a soft smile on his lips before he sighed: "Well, I believe it's time to meet them... You can step out of the shadows now- would you like some tea? Burbon? Water?" As Atlas settled down, he pointed his fingers forward as these two two very different chairs appeared. One was thin and delicate and seemed to be made out of silver, and the other was this thick metal throne that was seriously heavy looking. Right between these two chairs, a small tea table appeared, and atop it a tea kettle alongside two tea cups: "I can also do some vodka, if that's your vibe."
Stepping out of the shadows, behind one of the pillars that was created to serve as a secondary way to go up and down the floors of the big upside down pyramid was this woman. She had pale white skin that looked paper-like, her eyelids were completely black as was her hair and lipstick. Her hair reached her shoulders and she was wearing gothic clothing, holding this black and long umbrella that is normally seen in movies where the people wear all black and hold big black umbrellas to go to a funeral. "Huh, this place is a lot more interesting than I thought..." Those were her first words as she stepped forward, taking a seat in the silver chair that immediately turned completely black: "Sorry, silver is not my color." She apologized, a soft smile on her lips. She took hold of the kettle on the table and poured herself a drink, and steam started to rise from her cup as she took a sip and sighed: "Well, it's nice to see someone who has taken their second chance and made something so grand out of it." Of course she would know that this wasn't his first life! She is death, and death leaves a mark in someone's heart and soul, no matter where they come from and what type of death they meet. No matter the incarnation of Death that is met in whatever universe, death is death is death. That is inevitable: "I am also very happy that you've found love too, it is something very beautiful."
"Thank you." Atlas smiled as Waylon sat down on the big black metallic chair that Atlas had conjured for him. When he sat down, Atlas sat down directly on his lap and lifted a hand. The kettle on the table poured him a cup of black coffee before he sighed and took a sip as well: "So, is this the part where you tell me I've broken the rules for bringing back so many people at once?" He was ready to face death and bargain with it, but to his surprise the lady simply stopped her sipping motion and raised an eyebrow: "...You know? Like, the unwritten rules of death? The Don'ts? Like- don't bring back hundreds of people back to life because that violates my rules, or something like that?" Doing little jazz hands, Atlas nervously went over the little information he had managed to gather about Death of the Endless, which wasn't much.
"...what? No!" Surprised, Death waved his concern away with a single motion of her hand- quite literally, seeing as as soon as ¹ she waved her hand, the sensation of worry and dread simply vanished from within Atlas' soul and mind, being filled with calm and serene thoughts: "I mean, you saved me the work of coming for these people that weren't meant to die here and now- I mean, a few were destined to die this year, but thanks to that little brat, Destiny was having an annoying time trying to rewrite their entire lives as it ended, but then you just brought them back and saved us the headache! That was cool." Shrugging, Death went to get another sip of her tea, when Waylon who had been silent this whole time just couldn't help himself anymore.
"Uh... Who's this?" He asked- he had never met this woman before in his life! The only reason he didn't immediately attacked her was because Atlas, his love, seemed to be expecting her or something similar: "Never seen you before, lady...?" He expected a name, but all he got was a smile as she said-
"Death. Nice to meet you."
-did he hear her wrong? He turned to look down at his Queen, and Atlas simply nodded, a look of consideration crossing his eyes before he grinned, and as if quoting something straight out of some sort of play, he said: "Waylon Jones, Death. Death, Waylon Jones - And I don't mean it metaphorically, or rhetorically, or poetically, or theoretically, or on any other way. She's Death. Straight up Death. The embodiment of the metaphysical, physical, and natural phenomenon itself."
"Oooh! I love that movie." Death chuckled happily: "I loved the interpretation they had of me- Its a very good movie, or will be." She twiddled with a little thin straight thread of black, easily crafting something Atlas couldn't identify...
"It wa- is going to be a good one." Atlas frowned a bit- damn, he keeps forgetting that the future is yet to come and the past was long gone! He tried to identify whatever it was that Death was making, but the very idea of trying to figure it out died as soon as he thought of it, and thus he just ignored the need to even try.
Clearly they were speaking of something ony they knew about? And that is was going to happen in the future? That's pretty much clear to him! "Huh, nice to meet ya, Lady Death." Waylon tried not to react- while there was no panic in his heart (almost as if it simply couldn't grow there, the emotion soon dying as he thought of it) for himself, there was an almost instinctual adjustment of Atlas' positioning on his lap. Waylon just pulled him a little bit closer and further away from death. Not that he believed that he could stop death- Death is Inevitable -but he still did it out of pure, unadulterated instinct. "So, uh, not to be rude but what're you doin' here if you're not killing anyone?" Did that sound rude? He might have to take some lessons on how to speak with the embodiments of natural phenomenon around the universe! What's next? The embodiment of all fucking perverts out there in the world?
...don't answer that.
"Oh, right!" She snapped back to attention, letting the cup fall from her hands. It simply floated slowly down, not a single drop spilling out: "I came here to speak to you about something and then I found out you are an Elysian Soul and that was pretty cool, they're really rare and I got distracted." She pulled out this small ball of black yarn that seemed to slowly shift in place, its threads moving ever so slowly into a pattern that they couldn't really comprehend. In a single moment it looked spherical, and in the next it looked like a 12 sided dice! "Here you go. This is just a little gift for you for bringing back those people and, well, essentially reducing the work I need to do by a small margin- please feel free to ressurect anyone who hasn't died the way they were supposed to, that reduces my work by a lot. That little sphere I gave you might have enough power for you to use and protect this place... I kinda like it here, it's cozy."
And within the blink of an eye— she was gone.
Immediately, Atlas let out the heaviest of sighs of relief. It was like the heaviest weight had been taken off of his chest! She was an agreeable cosmic entity, but damn she is fucking intimidating as fuck! Atlas was basically bathing into the magical presence of her might, and even now he felt dizzy and drunk. "Okay... I need a nap." With a groan, Atlas let his body fall back, the back of his head hitting Waylon's muscles: "Who knew dealing with a cosmic entity was so tiring? I didn't... I'll just... close my eyes a little bit, okay?" Without anymore of a warning, Atlas simply passed out. It was a combination of factors: Using magic to ressurect 267 people in a single moment, being in the presence of an Endless, and having to hold to dear consciousness as tightly as he could.
Waylon simply looked down at the boy in his arms and sighed.
Well, they'll deal with whatever consequences of them saving as many people as they could would have.
Meanwhile, Atlas: Ah, I forgot to say the riddle to her... Does she have an email?