Head Over Shoulders

I just had the most frightening nightmare I had in ages. In this nightmare, some weird alien cross thing, high in the sky, started shooting long black needles that killed hundreds, if not thousands of people in an instant. For some reason, I was spared only to be killed by some monster tiger. But instead of waking up, I'm still sleeping.

"That wasn't a dream, moron." I heard a rude man's voice speaking to me

"Who are you and how are you in my dream?" I asked the rude guy.

"I told you this is not a dream. Open your eyes if you don't believe me." The rude man commanded.

But I am afraid to open them. What if my dream was actually reality? Then again, that wouldn't make sense, if I died then how am I speaking right now? There is only one way to find out if this is a dream or not.

I open my eyes slowly.

Light from the sun creeps into my eye, blinding me. Something feels off about this, I don't feel like I'm on my bed. In fact, I feel lighter than I ever had before.

"Good." I finally have to face the rude voice that had been talking to me.

The man I am looking at is incredibly pale like he's a vampire or never went outside until today. He has bright red hair that defies all logic and gravity. His hair is spikey in a way that it looks like five solid masses but at the same time, I can see the individual strands of hair. His shining, ethereal silver eyes tell me that he is not human or maybe he is but he has some kind of mutation going on. If that's the case then I'll apologize later.

"Who are you?" I said in a raspy voice.

Sheesh, I didn't realize that I would sound this horrible. I'm actually embarrassed right now.

"The name is Angelus of the Endless. There's no need to introduce yourself, Norah. I already know who you are."

"What are you, some sort of a stalker?"

The man who calls himself Angelus chuckles. "Not in the slightest! I'm an Avatar of Chaos and I am part of a race known as the Ancients. That basically means that I know everyone and everything. Almost."

Great! This guy is a total character! I bet he hears voices in his head telling him to burn down buildings.

"Says the literal talking head."

I raise an eyebrow. "What are you talking about?"

"Look for yourself."

Angelus snaps his fingers and the ground begins to shake violently. From the ground, a large mirror emerges like one of those retractable television stands. But it doesn't have a stand so it's floating in mid-air.

Well, I will be damned. I guess he is what he says he is. But that's not the most shocking thing about today.

WHAT IS SHOCKING IS THAT I AM TOTALLY MISSING MY BODY! I'M JUST A HEAD THAT ANGELUS IS HOLDING UP BY MY HAIR.

Seeing the sad state I am in, I completely lost it.

I began to cry and scream as loudly as possible. Why is this happening to me? All I wanted to do was to get a good job and live life as comfortably as possible? How am I still alive if I am just a head.

"Why are you doing this to me?" I asked in between sobs.

"Did you forget that I said that I am the Avatar of Chaos? It's what I do," Angelus said nonchalantly.

"If you're asking me why I brought you back to life, that's going to take longer to explain. By the way, I'm going to need you to stop crying, it's annoying."

After he said that, I immediately stopped crying.

"Just what are you? Are you a god?"

"I already told you that I am an Ancient. We Ancients are not gods, you can consider us the progenitors of the gods. Now as for your second question, I was the one you brought you back to 'life' so to speak."

Was that his attempt at a joke? Because my suffering is not something to be laughed at. If I had a hand, I would slap him so hard right now.

"Save your bravado narration for someone who cares," Angelus said.

What the hell is he talking about?

"Anyways, the reason I brought you back to life is that you are the very first mortal I've seen in eons to survive an attack from a Master. That is what that giant cross...thing that killed all of those people. The Masters acts as a planet's last line of defense against threats to the planet. And for some reason, the spirit of the Earth views humans as a threat to its very existence."

Angelus pauses in the middle of his speech and touches his chin as if he's pondering about something.

"Scratch that, I know exactly why you humans are perceived as a threat to the planet Earth."

"It's because you humans treated the planet like shit. If you want my opinion on the situation, I think this whole thing is this whole situation is completely stupid. I mean, what's the point of killing an entire race just because of something as dumb as cutting down a few trees or dumb toxic liquids in the water?

Not like I care if humans live or die, but they did make my job easier."

Is he being completely serious right now? He is speaking as if he's having a casual conversation about shit I don't understand.

"Do you really expect me to believe something that unbelievable? How can the planet even attack humans, that just doesn't make any sense? Just like you being the Avatar of chaos or whatever you said."

"What would I gain from lying to you? I mean…" I waved his hand underneath the stump of my neck.

Oh.

"You're wrong about planets being alive. Well technically they are not alive in the normal sense of the word, we Ancients call them Elysians. Elysians are the spirits of planets or should I say they are the anthropomorphized planet. They're similar to us Ancients as we are too anthropomorphized of concepts, emotions, and the elements."

"I thought you were an Avatar or whatever?"

"I am. I'm just a small part of the whole that is the True Chaos. Anyways, the Elysian of Earth is called Terrene just so you know."

"I'm glad you told me its name, but can you tell me why you brought me back to life?"

"As I said earlier, you survived an assault of a Master, which is incredibly rare. To be honest with you Norah, I was hoping you would survive this ordeal. If nothing else, your struggle for survival would've provided me with quality entertainment. For your life to be cut short by a lowly beast is nothing short of anti-climatic." Angelus said, shaking his head.

"I brought you back to 'life' so I can make you an offer. I will give you a second chance at life and I'll even give you some really cool superpowers. But, in exchange, you'll have to work for me forever. Simple right? So, what do you say?"

"You get straight to the point do ya?"

"Lady, I'm an immortal being that's been alive longer than this universe. I am too old and too important to trick mortals into being my servants. Besides, I don't really need you, I have plenty of Servants already."

Jeez, he really sounds like an asshole right now. But the thought of being a super-powered immortal does sound enticing, especially in my current condition. But on the flip side, it'll mean that I'll be stuck listening to this douchebag for God knows how long.

"What will happen if I refuse?" I asked him.

"You'll suffer the same fate as everything else in this universe."

"Meaning?"

"I'll blow it up." He said matter-of-factly.

Seeing as I am a talking head right now, I have no other choice but to believe him. And frankly, I really don't want to die twice in one day.

"Fine. I'll work for you. But you better not make my body weird or anything." I demanded.

"You are not in any position to make any demand. But altering your body will be no use to me."

With that said, his silver eyes grew brighter than the sun, enveloping my vision in silver light. For a few brief seconds, I lost consciousness again.