The River and the stranger

Eventually, everything seemed to go still for a moment as he waited to go to nonexistence, but all he received in return for his waiting was this feeling that he needed to go forward. And as if by long-lost instinct, he felt himself move forward towards something. But as he moved forward, and try and understand why he needed to move, he figured out why and it left him shocked.

He could hear the sound of a flowing river rushing forward, and like a choir of Sirens calling to sailors to the bottom of the sea, he felt compelled to enter. Compelling him to forget what life he had in the past and to progress on into the next life in the future. His soul felt like it was required to float into the river as if the river commanded him forward.

Slowly feeling dazed by the river's wonderous song again, he started to wander over to the river. He drifted loosely towards the gushing river, slowly sinking himself into the river itself. But before he was completely submerged in the chilly water, right then and there, if a spark of clarity awakened in his soul, he stopped.

He didn't want to forget, he wanted to remember all the people he met and the life he had while he was living. He didn't want to lose all of the interaction he had with people, all the sadness he felt during his life, all the joy that rang out in his memories, anything! So he stopped, just stopped and ignored the wonderous song of the river, and its promise of a newer better life, after forgetting all about the horrendous past. As he forced himself to ignore it, he heard something new compared to the river, as it was a voice that rang through his soul far greater than the river ever could.

"Hmmm, why aren't you moving on? Are you unwilling to see a new adventure?"

"..."

Then the voice became annoyed and disappointed, and as it continued, "... you know you can talk, right?"

A little shocked about the tone shift from the voice, Lucas replied, "Wait- I really can! I thought since I was dead, I couldn't speak as I don't have a body now…."

Sighing, the voice responded to Lucas in a tone that sounded more relaxed than angry at his misunderstanding, ".... you are a soul, and I am in charge of making sure that souls move on to their new lives. If I couldn't talk to souls, and souls couldn't respond, then it would be a much harder job."

Lucas felt that the voice made a good point, but something greater came to focus. Lucas quickly remembered what it said and freaked out as he was talking to the person in charge of moving souls into a new life. Now he wouldn't be able to not move on, sadness enveloped him as he knew these memories of his would be lost now.

The voice, seemingly understanding Lucas's fears continued with, "Hey, calm down there, nothing bad is going to happen. Also, know you can look around, even though you don't have a body, right? You are in the domain of souls, and as a soul, you can look around. Now tell me why you're not going into the river?"

Understanding, Lucas tried to open his eyes or whatever they are, and when he did, he finally saw the river, glittering like a warm tub. It was calling for him to just come in and relax in it as it was up to its old tricks, drawing him to completely submerge. Ignoring the annoying river, he looked at the voice, and just saw just a man. Overgrown blond hair draped his shoulders as he stood in a black suit. His face had a light stubble with a patient expression as he waited for Lucas's answer on the shore of the river.

Deciding to get closer to the man, Lucas walked out of the river. As he moved out, he started to think about what he should say, and finally, as he got close, responded to the strange man, "... I wish that I would remember the past! Everything that happened to me, my friends and family, all my struggles and triumphs, or my own adventures as you put it."

Staring at Lucas for a moment to see if he was telling the truth, the man groaned and asked, ".... ugh, so you're one of those…. Fine, why do you want to remember?"

Seeing that the man seemed annoyed his initial response, Lucas quickly responded, "If I forget the past, then I forget what I am, I don't want to lose myself. We are our memories and I don't want to lose everything."

Slight shock appeared on the face of the man, and slowly he examined Lucas with his black eyes. Looking into him as if reading his life, his soul forms itself, all of his secrets and past. Slowly he sees his life begin to flash before him. His struggle to find a stable home, his crush rejecting him, his struggle to find good friends, his self-dedication to school, and his unfortunate series of events that follow wherever he went.

"Hahahahaha, ahhhh a life full of different adventures, no wonder you don't want to let go of them. Now I want to see what adventures you can bring to me now. How about this kid, I let you keep your precious memories but in exchange for each time you die, I get to see the life you had before you died again? You seem interesting enough for this..."

Lucas, shocked by this response, took a moment before he quickly nodded his head. This is what he wants to achieve, as even with his horrid memory, he could now continue with whatever memories he got and just continue. Even if it was a drawback later, he would accept it as he at least was still going to be him in the end.

Seeing him nod enthusiastically, the man smile as he continued, "Now I am not evil enough not to give you a chance to be yourself completely, as you say, your memories are who you are, and since your memories are bad, I'll give you something for that. So I'll give you your notebook that you died with and a special little treat I have for something like this occasion. Also, I will be reading the journal from time to time as I might get bored here. "

Lucas smiled beamingly as he just chipperly replied, "Wow, thanks for this. I thought you were just going to make me forget everything."

The man just seemed to relax after hearing Lucas and lazily responded, "Nah, do you know how boring this job is? The river does most of the work, and I usually don't get a chance to do something. I even made something for this occasion in my boredom… Eternal life isn't all that they say it is. Welp goodbye and make sure to write a fascinating story that keeps me entertained…"

As the man finished his words, Lucas felt himself lose consciousness. Like falling into a deep slumber, he didn't even see the man attach a box and a notebook to his soul body and then push his soul through a newly appeared door the man opened.

As the man pushed Lucas through the door, he felt happy. How long had it been since he felt that? Too long to be sure, but he was also curious how a [hidden] soul could have resisted the river's ability.

When he saw Lucas stop right before he fully submerged himself in the river, he thought it was just a fluke. As sometimes, the magic of the river weakens when a lot of souls enter it at the same time. But to his surprise, even though Lucas thought it was a moment that he stopped, it had been about an hour earthen time that he stood there.

This completely shocked Herbert, as he was the god of souls and the afterlife. Even with the new apocalyptic setting on earth created by total nuclear annihilation, the mass flow of souls that needed to begin a new life would weaken the magic of the river. But, the river should have taken care of it in just a few earthen minutes.

What shocked him even more was the fact that the one that resisted the magical song was a [hidden] soul, a soul close to [Redacted]. Such a soul should not have been able to resist the river even if it was weakened.

But one had, right before his very eyes. Even through the millions of planets that were under his watch, he has only ever seen someone resist the river a few times, and can be easily counted in ones head.

"I can't wait for what's next. I get to see something interesting finally after so long. Someone close to forgetting everything that they are wanting to remember everything that he has had before. Will he fall and his soul be [redacted] forever or will it continue through multiple deaths and become an existence to be feared, Who knows… But it will be amazing to watch"

The roaring of the river in the background became the only noise as slowly Herbert disappear, as he now needed to watch the river, and wait for Lucas to tell him of his interesting adventures.