Gladius

When I opened my eyes again I felt like I woke up from a long nap. I yawned and stretched and sat up for a bit to let my eyes adjust.

Wait.... I sat up!? wasn't I paralyzed before!?. I quickly shot up from where I was sitting and looked around franticly but it was dark, too dark like pitch black everywhere except for the stars above me, when I looked up I almost couldn't believe what I was seeing, a sea of stars that stretched as far as I could see I even saw great big planets with huge rings, comets, nebulas, asteroids, even small galaxies, this was like watching those old space documentaries as a kid again... it was beautiful but where exactly was I? If I remember correctly I'd just gotten my back blown out by a BMW and paramedics were picking me up but I lost consciousness on the stretcher. With no people around and with me now being in this strange new place its safe to say I'm not on earth anymore or alive for that matter.

I realized that now with all that's happened I really won't ever see my loved ones again but if I'm dead and this is the afterlife shouldn't there be someone here to help me or at least more dead people like me? this doesn't even match anything that people usually say the afterlife is like in manhwa and comics I should have seen a bright light but instead I'm in deep darkness, I'm not scared of the dark but who knows what's lurking in this place but with the stars shining above me this place didn't seem all that bad so I thought it would be best if i at least looked around, who knows maybe I'd be able to find someone who could help me. I walked and gazed into the stars above watching comets fly and stars explode.

I kept walking for some time until I walked into something something big, something hard.

(I know what you're thinking but get your minds out the gutter)

"Ugh, what the fuck is it now!?" I yelled as I held my hopefully not broken nose.

i looked around but I couldn't see anything, just the darkness that stretched for who knows how long and the same sea of stars above me that I'd just lost myself in. I stretched out my hand in front of me to try and feel what it was that hit me in the face and there was nothing so I just walked ahead again until my face was met with yet another invisible wall but this time I put my hand out and tried to touch it, slowly pressing myself against the wall I followed it to try and see or at least make out its shape but that's when something smashed into wall right beside my face and to be fairly honest I'm a ghost right now but I'm pretty sure I just shit myself...

"How many of you do I have to kill before you leave me alone!?" a voice rang out, it was hard to describe it, it sounded human but distorted to sound really deep...like when you heard monsters in movies talk but it was feminine for sure.

I swung my head around and smashed myself against the invisible wall sitting on the floor in a tight ball and tried to see who just spoke. I was happy that I may not actually be alone here but by the sound of that voice I'm slowly regretting it bit by bit, suddenly the voiced boomed again even louder

"WHO SENT YOU!? WAS IT JEGAL? MORDA? CALTRE!? HOW MANY APOSTLES DO I HAVE TO KILL BEFORE YOU ALL LEAVE ME ALONE!? HAVENT YOU BASTARDS TAKEN ENOUGH FROM ME!? STEALING MY LOVE, TAKING MY BODY, TAKING MY POWER, ERASING ME FROM EXISTENCE !? WHAT MORE DO YOU FUCKERS WANT FROM ME!?!?" the voice grew angrier but sounded so sad like they were on the verge of tears.

I don't know who those people who's names she just mentioned are but they really hurt this person but before I could utter another word another object smashed the wall next to my head and I could feel something run down the side of my neck, again I moved away from where I was as fast as I could but this time I actually saw what was thrown at me before it disappeared , it looked like a huge blade made out of light, I couldn't call it a blade though since its shape was closer to a jagged piece of glass but at that moment my one and only thought was "stay away from stabby stab" one if those things grazed my neck just now and I'm bleeding which means that even though I just died these things can hurt me and possibly kill me, I just died on earth and came here and I'm pretty sure there's no after-afterlife so I need to stay safe and get out of here.

Now I know you guys are expecting me to over analyze my situation the direction of the shards and escape with my ligaments intact yes? No the second those things came at me I hit the dash in the opposite direction. Sadly the second I started running I got a few of those shards in my back and crashed to the ground sliding on my face, I don't know if it was the fear of dying a second time or it was me being pissed at the fact that I can't even go to the afterlife in peace but I ripped the shards out of my back and started running again though this was more of a fast paced limp, this time I saw flashes of light in front of me and ducked while more of those things flew over my head. This time my enemy was right in front of me and I didn't care weather I could see them or not I charged full speed to try to at least get a hit in on them but was met by an invisible wall.

"Ah, buck!" I screamed as I held my pretty sure it was broken this time nose.

"You're not an apostle.....are you?" a voice said from behind me. "Who's bere!?" I said still holding my nose. the voice then started giggling as if amused by my torment but I wasn't having it, whoever it is just attacked me and diddled me full of holes just now after mistaking me for someone else and is now laughing at it. I was pissed and scared at the same time but mostly pissed. After a minute or two of looking around franticly the voice finally answered.

"I'm sorry, I thought you were someone else human, my apologies."

"Apologies my ass you stabbed me and chased me and all I get is a sorry!?"

I thought not wanting to say it out loud cuz I value my life errr death....i still don't know what to call this to be honest.

"I'm sorry I guess sorry doesn't excuse my actions thus far, please allow me to help you."

The voice sounded closer this time like it was right beside me but still I couldn't see anything in this weird space so I still looked around franticly because quite frankly I was still a bit scared just then all my wounds from before had started to heal up and that only made me even more freaked out at this point.

"Oh right I forgot you couldn't see me."

just then almost as if coming into existence from a wall of broken glass a shape started to appear in front of me, a bright light blasted me in the face which mad me have to shield my eyes, when it dissipated what stood before me was....a cat... not gonna lie I expected a dragon or some form of mythical beast but the cat almost comforted me by its small size and cuteness its almost as if this entity knew what form to take as to not frighten me and heck it worked.

"A cat? I was almost killed by a cute little cat."

I sighed but just as I finished my sentence a ring of shards swirled around my neck causing me to stiffen up in fear of getting cut.

"Careful human."

The cat growled.

"I may have made a mistake but you're not out of trouble yet and don't you forgot i can still kill you any time I want."

"Y-yes ma'am forgive my impudence"

I tried talking as sophisticated as I could so I could persuade this thing to not take my head off.

"Hmph"

the cute creature scoffed at me while laying down, licking her paw and for a moment there was an awkward silence.

"So, what's your name?"

I asked awkwardly trying to break the silence and need I remind you my cheeks were still puckered in fear. the cat looked at me and ran me over with her eyes then stood up which caused me to flinch but she only chuckled lightly and put her paw on my leg.

"Relax kid, I'm not going to eat you I'm just stretching my legs."

just then another bright flash of light blinded me causing me to shield my eyes from its intensity but this time when the light faded the cat was gone and what stood before me was a beautiful woman with snow white hair and ruby red eyes, the kind of women that usually play the roles of goddesses in anime and Korean murim comics to be honest I was dumbfounded. she walked over to me and used her hand to put my jaw that was now on the floor back in place, she then walked past me to sit on a ledge and for a moment stared off into the the sea of stars and planets.

"Gladius."

"Huh?"

I asked still in a state of shock from what I'm seeing

"My name is Gladiu

s." she said without facing me "welcome to the black zones human."

I already guessed as much that she was talking about the space we were in now so with that I went over and sat down beside her.

"What is a black zone exactly?"

Still without turning to look at me she started to explain.

"Black zones are rifts in space where time itself is nonexistent, they are made up of mainly antimatter and have unfathomable amounts of anti matter and dark matter, devoid of life, devoid of time, basically its hell"

"And how did you end up here? I doubt this was by choice."

Suddenly she turned around to face me and gave me a light smile.

"Smart kid, no it wasn't by choice, I was betrayed a long time ago, they couldn't kill me so they trapped me here where I couldn't escape,

"Jegal and the others?" I interrupted. "Yeah.....her.... anyways they occasionally send an assassin or two but they're all too weak"

"the apostles?"

"Yes, you're a smart little puppy arent you? they've gotten more brazen as of recent so when I saw you I was just annoyed.....I'm sorry for hurting you, kid"

I saw the sombre look in her eyes and that's when I knew I didn't have to have my guard up so much, she was just stressed and thought I was invading her home and quite honestly she was really cute.

"That's ok, I'd be stressed too."

She blushed, smiled and wiped a few small tears from her eyes, I guess it's been a while since she's had anyone to speak to normally and it was a good change of pace from what just happened earlier to which I started laughing my ass off.

"What's so funny?" She asked almost concerned

"Sorry its just that you remind me of someone I knew back home, you and her have the same cute reactions."

The second I said that Gladius turned beet red and shoved my face away, which sent me flying of course but she caught me midair and brought me down gently and again apologized a few dozen more times before we sat down and started talking again.

I told her about my life back on earth, all the fond memories I had of my family and the people I'd met and of course all my failed relationships, I told her about how my brother was killed and how his killer who spared me as a child came back looking to finish the job when he saw me all grown up and how I had to take his life to protect my family and the people I loved. About how I was breaking down after I did it and ended up telling 'her' about it which ultimately lead to her distancing herself from me. I told her about all the pain, all the happiness to which she listened attentively and last but no least the girl of my dreams that I died before even getting to ask her out, or fixing things with her, telling her how I felt and even seeing if we could have had something though I doubted it considering my luck with women.... Gladius simply listened, nodded and gasped but by the end of it all she simply just pat me on the head and gave me a warm smile.

"Cheer up kid, least you aren't alone here"

She really has a thing for headpats....

Just as I was about to ask her about her past I noticed something shiny on her wrist, I took her by the hand but she flinched and pulled away, I took her hand again slowly and smiled at her and she nodded giving me permission. I moved her sleeve and saw a black shackle on her wrist and when I asked her about it she was reluctant at first but then she said that's how she's being kept in the black zones. She had four shackles, two on her wrists and two around her ankles and each one had a spell on them that in order for her to break free each shackle needed to be broken by a different catalyst, but the curse of the shackles doesn't allow her to say what the catalysts are.

"How can I help you otherwise?" I asked staring into her eyes

"You can't help me kid, no one ca-"

"BUT I WANNA HELP!" I yelled. Before I knew it I had my hands on her shoulders "you're hurting me you know" she scoffed.

To be honest I know that's its non of my business....but I just lost everything and for now at least I'm as trapped in the black zones as she is, I thought that the least I could do given my new circumstance is try to help out, I'm just a trying man after all.

"Kid you're cute and all but there's nothing you can do about it" she let out a loud sigh and took my hands off her shoulder and tried to walk past me but I stopped her by grabbing her hand.

"Look you know my story things in my life had never been easy from the day I was born till now I've had to fight to live, I've had to bloody my hands and I've had to watch the people I cared about the most distance themselves from me and stay quiet even while every cell in my body screamed for me to hold on to them and beg them not to leave me, that life is over now, my loved ones have already moved on and I've long been forgotten but I met you....and even if you did try to kill me when you first saw me you sat me down and even apologized...a goddess like you apologized to someone like me, seeing that and knowing what your going through.....you're a good person Gladius and worth helping in my eyes so please the least I could do is help you to get your freedom back and who knows we may have fun too."

she stood there silently holding her head down but I could already see the tears she was trying to hide.

"how long were you here? how long has she been alone for? how long have you been suffering for?" these questions flew through my mind as I stared down at the crying goddess in front of me.

Suddenly she grabbed my hand and lifted her head "Do you really mean it? Would you really try to set me free? If the others found out about this they'd kill you right away, which means your soul would get erased from existence.....are you really willing to pick up this burden?" She started tearing up again but I placed my hand on top of her head and smiled.

"You're no burden."

Hearing this must have cheered her up because she stopped crying and her cheeks and ears stared to turn pink.

"Thank y-"

but before she could finish her sentence we heard the sound of glass breaking, that's when she moved her sleeve and we saw it, the shackle on her right arm was cracked and soon the entire thing broke apart into a million pieces. Gladius herself felt something too as around her blue flames started to gather around her feet then enveloped her, I already thought that it was just her getting some of her power back that the others had stolen from her because she didn't seem afraid when she saw the flames so I figured I shouldn't be worried either.

when it was over Gladius seemed different, she seemed stronger, even her attire changed and there were now tattoos on her skin and face, she seemed more confident and now her body had a soft white glow around it which made her even more beautiful than before....it was like looking at a star. Soon after she opened her eyes and threw herself on me and gave me a strong hug, really strong.....I think I felt something pop in my back to be honest.

"Does this mean you'd let me help?" I asked her trying to sound as cool as I could.

"You activated the first catalyst, they'll be watching me closely now and if they find out about you they'll waste no time in killing you, before that happens though I'll train you to at least survive in case you bump into one of them or an apostle, I shouldn't even be saying 'in case' because you definitely will meet them now that you've broken a seal but don't worry kid you're in good hands."

"Danny"

"Huh?"

"My name is D-Danny." I said nervously. I tried not looking at her so much because she was really beautiful from the start but I was able not to get distracted by it because of how serious the conversation had gotten.....but now I think if I look at her any longer I don't think I'd be able to stop myself from touching her and I guess she knew what I was up to because she looked at me and smiled gently

"If it was you I don't think I'd mind if you touched me."

...Wait did she just read my mind!?!?!? OK OK stay calm and don't think about it, just ask another question.

"Soooo what do we do now?"

I asked trying to move from the previous conversation.

"Well since I have a bit more power now I should be able to move to other black zones instead of just being confined to this one, and I'll need to train you how to use the same powers as me, I think I'll need double my original strength to break out of here completely so if I taught you we should be able to cover that gap and take the fight to those shitheads."

"Train me!? but I don't have any special powers like you do....."

she smiled and patted my shoulder as she slowly went back into cat form. "All you need is a little of my energy and you should be able to use my powers, over time your body should get used to it enough where you can make them your own."

"I felt it when you grabbed me earlier, you have the same attributes as I do so you should be able to learn and rather quickly at that.....but I have to say this is gonna hurt."

And with that in cat form, she jumped on top of my head and sat there for a few seconds.

"So um.....what's gonna-KUAAAAAAA".

And with that....the training begins.

[SYSTEM NOTIFICATION]

OBJECTIVE COMPLETE: MEET THE FALLEN SWORD, CALCULATING REWARD DATA...