Life After Death

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Though to many, it seemed a lifetime since the reapers had first appeared. Only a decade had actually passed. A decade since the dark tower known as The Spectral Tower had first appeared. The Tower that housed the souls of the recent dead and the reapers that collected them. Transfixed as it was somewhere between this world and the next. Completely changing the concept of life and death on Earth.

  The Spectral Tower had neither descended from the heavens nor emerged from the crust of the Earth but rather simply happened into existence all at once. Its appearance in the heart of one of the greatest cities of men. Its appearance destroyed thousands of homes, shops, and schools. Killing hundreds of thousands more as it displaced several square miles.

The tower extended far into the sky. Though it was not the tallest building that many had seen, It was still a sight to behold. All who observed it knew it was anything but ordinary and far more than just another landmark in the skyline. It radiated ominously in the reflection of the moon and was hardly visible under the light of the sun. Guttural and jagged, its stone walls of grey lay bare as even birds avoided coming close. The adjacent ground was cracked and fallow the base of the tower extending up from within a scar of disturbed earth and broken rock.

For miles around The Spectral Tower, a shimmer in the air could be seen a faint hinting that something was there just beyond the ability of the eye to perceive, something fixated that gravitated towards the tower. The answer became clear the closer to the tower one ventured as the incorporeal forms of lingering spirits became more and more apparent until near the entrance they appeared as flesh and blood.

From anywhere within the city, the tower could be seen as nervous passerby drove onwards over lifted roads. Anxious families closed the blinds of their apartments and lofts to avoid seeing the otherworldly structure. It was something they all learned to live with. The Spectral Tower would always be part of their lives. The knowledge of its purpose seemingly ingrained without cause into their minds and supported by the risen dead who had climbed its floors to live again. Everyone knew in short order what the tower was. A chance at a second life. Proof that something exists after death.

Fel, short for Felicity couldn't remember how long she had been waiting in line for her turn to enter the oversized and shimmering doorway into the Tower. The door that called to her even now across time and space beckoning her to come. A call she could not resist, nor did she want to. The world of the living called to her and Fel knew the tower would lead her back.

Thinking for a moment, Fel ouldn't actually remember why she wanted to be alive. Struggling to recall much of anything as memories seemed to swirl around the edges of her mind, just outside of reach.

She actually couldn't remember much of anything about anything from before joining the long procession of the dead; only a vague sensation of a life lived well that ended abruptly and prematurely. But there was little else she could remember, not of her mother, her father, her friends and colleagues. None. She wasn't even sure of her name; at least wouldn't have been if not for the bracelet around her wrist. Not that it mattered. But it did help to give hee some sense of self.

The little metallic bracelet that read "Fel, (Felcity), Female, 17, #2A786306." Even now, as she looked at it, the bracelet gave her no indicators of memories. No faint stirrings to remind her of who she was or used to be.

All the other spirits near her in the line had the same dazed and confused look on their face that she did. Overhead the Reapers floated about, ensuring that all the spirits complained. Their long flowing robes obscuring their features. Fel was ok with that. She didn't need to know what they looked like under the gowns; the way they moved about already implied they weren't living things. Just like her, they existed in some sort of state that was only an imitation of life.

The closer to the tower she got, the more the Reapers would shout out commands. Working constantly to keep the lines neat and orderly. Working to keep everyone moving every forward.

Occasionally, Fel could see the Reapers stop and take spirits away who asked to be removed, no longer wanting a chance at a second life. She didn't see any of them again, but for whatever reason, Fel didn't think anything untoward happened to them, only that they missed out on something they would never get the chance to have again.

The passage of time meant nothing to any of them. Fel guessed the total amount of time she had waited didn't measure in hours but by days and weeks, if not more. The only measurable change was that her consciousness lingered in a perpetually dazed state, like all the other spirits, perfectly docile. That is, until they reached the front and gradually become more aware.

Once Fel found herself in the shadow of the tower, she knew the wait wouldn't be much longer. An oversized billboard above the entrance to the tower gave some indicator of how much longer she would be waiting. The sign rapidly changing as the messages updated.

"Now Serving #2A761302 through #2A779032." Zane knew it was going to be his turn soon, his number quickly coming up.

With the gradual return to awareness, so too did her senses return as Fel began to hear the Reapers around her speaking in their odd otherwordly voices. The voices giving an endless briefing. Addressing the aimless souls like herself, whose only goal was to reach the doorway and beyond.

The nearest Reaper to Fel stopped floating for a moment and addressed her, sensing that Fel and the others around her had all were become aware and ready to recieve instruction. Their numbers fast approaching.

"Greetings Honored Dead," The Reaper said through the cloth facemask it wore.

"My brothers and I have guarded over your souls as you've made your way to the Path of Rebirth, what you humans call the Spectral Tower. Inside the tower, you will gain the chance to live again. A chance to feel the sun on your face and the warm touch of another person. But it is not without risk, and it is not without danger. For those who wish to quit, you may do so now without harm done to you and proceed to whatever heaven or hell awaits you. Just raise a hand and ask to be done, and one of my brothers will collect you shortly."

"But for those of you who wish to live again, you must traverse through the tower, facing its dangers and its monsters. On the top floor, you will find the waters of life, drink deep and fully and you will be reborn, or take a feather from the phoenix that drinks from those waters if you wish to go back to the life you once had, but be warned, the greater the reward, the greater the danger."

"As you approach the doorway, many of you will be taken at once. I cannot tell you how the journey will start or what your initial experience will be. It is never the same. I can only warn you that it will be difficult, listen to the instructions you received carefully. Attention to detail will help you progress forward."

"Remember this warning always, should you fall within the tower, there will be no rebirth, and no afterlife, only oblivion. You have been warned. You have my best wishes, honored souls. Welcome to the to the path."

Above head, a loud alert clicked as the numbers on the board changed. "Now Serving #2A779033 through #2A787705"

She acknowledged the warning but had no intention of accepting it. The chance to live again was too alluring. She didn't want to be dead.

Fel, along with thousands of other people, stepped forward into the opening of the tower and pressed their bodies into each other as they crowded the glimmering portal and disappeared.