The green candle

Nuis liked being in the underworld more than the world of the living. There was nothing but peace and joy for the souls that roamed the caverns, inside the darkness. But, he could not lie that living humans are very interesting. He could stare at a single candle of a soul from it's birth to it's death and not be bored. All their lives, their dreams and hopes...they burnt so brightly and he felt it all.

That is the same reason he felt it when all the soul candles got blown by a strange green wind. It seemed to just blow across every soul and for a moment, the poor millennial old boy thought they would snuff out. To say that would be bad was an understatement, it would be a universal disaster. Every soul would plummet to the underworld, such a strain would split the plane apart and the then they would be lost in the void.

Luckily they didn't, the green wind blew throughout the cave but did not snuff out a single candle. It did something else entirely. Nuis was linked to all the candles in the underworld, every new one to spark, and every one that was snuffed out, none went unnoticed by him.

So he felt it when the wind lit up a candle. Although wind lighting a candle was strange, being in the underworld made such a thing subpar on the oddity meter. What made it really strange was that it was on a very particular candle.

Nuis got up from the floor and ran towards the candle. As he ran, his body began to disperse and turn into little balls of fire. They all flew across the dark cave, illuminating nothing because the darkness was unpenetrable. In that state, he moved quickly and was by the particular candle in an instant.

Each candle had a chosen place to burn, one picked by the underworld itself and not by Death. It wasn't that Death could not do it herself but over a billion souls perish across existence and she had an important matter to deal with. So she made it so that the underworld organized new souls and old souls in places that were most suitable for their flames. A soul needed to be placed in the correct spot or their decent when they died would be... uncomfortable. It's like sitting in a car when going on a journey, one needs to sit facing forward and with a seat belt, otherwise when the car stops they fall forward because of gravity. Or in this case, they plummet to the void before being scrapped into the cave like a smashed egg.

One other rule of candles is that they must not be moved from their places. This rule was placed by Death herself and Nuis understood why. A soul being moved in the underworld, is a soul being moved in the living world. The motion could shove the soul out of the body, killing the being and ruining the order of existence. So every candle had its place and no candle was supposed to move.

So it was with a frown that Nuis looked on at the candle in the air.

It floated in the air, as if a mystical hand was holding it up. The candle, strange already in it's floating, was also odd for another reason and that was it's color. Most candles are white and a rare few are golden white if they are blessed. The candle infront of him was neither. It was malachite green with dark swirls around it's base. That made it the most strangest candle that he had ever seen.

It's fire was also weird as well. Usual souls burnt with a golden flame that matched Nuis's eyes. The green candle had a golden flame, which was normal, but inside was a green fire burning along with it, which was not normal. The flame was bright and Nuis looked around to see, he was shocked, that it penetrated the darkness and gave light.

That was utter madness, no light could penetrate the darkness of the underworld, none except the One who created all could do that.The darkness was a manifestation of Death and the void, a link between an end and The end. So the light from the candle could not pass through the darkness, he thought, Mother told me that. What is this?

He looked at the candle and decided he would do what any child would do; he would follow it.

The candle had been moving towards a specific direction this whole time and he was curious about where it was going. It moved at a really low pace and it took a unmeasurable time to get there, but it finally reached its destination; a wall. The child would have been heavily disappointed but it wasn't just any wall.

It was the wall next to the cave entrance.

Next to the wall was the entrance to the underworld and next to that, was the void. Nuis looked out into the nothingness, his bright orange eyes a beacon in the eternal abyss. But then he turned back to the candle, it was moving straight towards the wall.

Right when he thought it would hit the rocky wall, it passed through as if encountering no resistance. He gasped but then he put his hand on the wall too, unfortunately or otherwise, his hand also fazed through. He smiled excitedly as he moved and passed through the wall like the candle.

Nuis opened his eyes to find himself in a large room made of stone and like the cave. The candle was inside the chamber and was moving faster towards something. Nuis watched it with keen interest as it moved. Finally the candle reached its destination, a giant rock, far above Nuis.

When it landed on the black rock, a spark seemed to ignite in the chamber. Smaller green flames appeared around the room and the whole chamber was illuminated. But Nuis immediately wished it wasn't.

" Mother! " He cried out in terror.