Souls of the Dead

A good while passed. It was impossible to tell but it felt like a long time.

All she did was lie there on the ground during this time.

Her hands had yet to heal.

Her hands looked like torn cloth as whisps and pieces of it floated off like peeled skin before dissipating in the air.

The pieces kept floating off by themselves but she never seemed to run out of, well... hand.

After the ape, no ghost or spirit had attacked her.

After the pain in her hands and everywhere else lessened, she sat up and looked around.

The grey figures around her still fought without end.

She stood up, menacingly if I might add, and started to make her way toward the direction with the fewest grey figures.

'Even after all the fighting that I've seen and heard, the amount of these goopy grey boys doesn't decrease in the slightest.'

For context, the grey figures are neither goopy nor all boys.

'I wonder if the flower just keeps drawing more in.'

As she walked around, she noticed how most small monsters would keep their distance.

'Thank God.'

And so she continued while the small figures of critters ran away from her direction with all of their might just as they did with any wandering creature that was more than twice their size.

A good walk later, where she had gotten used to the pain in her arms, she noticed a figure resembling a crouching child.

The figure was dark grey, nearing on black.

She started making her way toward the child.

'Is it a boy? How'd they get here?'

After coming closer, she heard the sounds of weeping. The child hid his face behind his hands while crouching down.

No critter nor animal was anywhere near the child.

She crouched down and spoke to them.

"Greetings, child. Do you know what this place is?"

The sound of weeping stopped, they seemed to move slightly but did not raise their head.

"Y-yea. A l-little."

"May you share?"

She cocked her head while asking.

"M-maybe."

Approaching the child, she moved her face closer to them.

"I do wish to know more about this location. I hope you may share your information with me."

The child turned silent.

Before she could ask again, she heard a sound, a snicker.

"Heh."

The child pounced up, aiming their fingers towards her eyes.

Reacting accordingly, she placed her hand against her own nose almost like a chop attack.

The child's fingers could not reach her eyes.

Grabbing the kid's arm with her free one, she held him up.

'Kids in my kindergarten used to do the same. Still, I wonder why the kid tried to attack.'

"I will not ask again, child. What is the goal here?"

"Arghhh! Let go, lady!"

"I refuse."

"Mmmrggh! Fine!"

Letting the kid down, they rubbed the part of the hand they were held by.

They then started running while saying some weird words.

'Huh? Where the hell is this brat running?!'

She started giving chase and a second or two later, the kid turned around and started sprinting towards her.

She noticed that as the kid ran, their nails started to grow.

Their hands were pure black and so were their 20cm long sharp nails.

The nails seemed to be covered in the same white fog as the ground.

She instinctively knew that the attack was dangerous. In response to it, she stopped in her tracks, calmly looking on as the kid kept sprinting at her.

'Hah! The dumb hag doesn't even know what to do! Now's my chance!'

As the boy finally reached her, suddenly.

*Rumble~

'Huh?'

'What now?'

The duo thought.

The sudden small earthquake that travelled through the ground threw the kid off balance.

They still tried to land their attack, using some dumb kung-fu move, they stabbed their arm forwards.

So, seeing this, she stepped to the side and punched the kid in the face.

*Thud

The kid fell to the ground, hard.

'Yeowch... I don't know what it is but seeing children fall down is just inherently funny.'

She thought as she walked over and pinned them down as she grabbed the hand with the grown nails and placed her thighs around the kid's neck.

"Petulant child. What you just tried was an act of murder. In response, I may act in self-defence and end your life just as you tried to end mine. Answer my aforementioned question and I will let you go."

"Urgh. How could I end someone's life if they're already dead?"

"Irrelevant."

"Hmph. Then I will not answer your question if you don't answer mine."

"Understood."

She sat up from her position while holding tightly on to their hand.

Her legs still kept the kid pinned.

"W-what are you doing?"

She then opened his closed fist that still had its nails grown long and deeply scratched his cheek with his own nail.

"Aargh!"

"My inquiry stays the same. Answer, what is the reason that dead individuals are forced to wander around this space, stuck in a flower?"

"I-I don't know!"

"That is a lie."

She scratched their cheek again.

"Ow! At this rate, you'll be killing a little boy!"

"Then I ask you, how can you kill what is already dead? You are arguing against your own facts."

"F-Fine! I'll talk! I'll talk!"

'Thank God. This kid was so annoying.'

"From what I heard from some other people that I found here, that the purpose of this place is to be the last survivor. E-Every time you k-kill something here, you get a portion of their strength and s-sometimes memories. The monsters and people here are also classified as different shades of grey to signify how nice they were before d-dying. Besides that, I don't know a lot. The others died before they could talk much more."

"Nothing else?"

"Ah! Wait! There was this thing that one of them called a crazy thaory."

'Does the kid mean theory?'

"Spill."

"T-they said that the last person alive here would p-probably be set free b-because this was a trial of the Gods."

"Is this true?"

"I-I don't know! The man who said that was really q-quiet when he spoke so I couldn't hear well!"

'This kid. He's suspicious.'

She narrowed her eyes.

'It might be nothing. But... Eh. This place is basically hell anyway. I'll make my decision after seeing his reaction.'

"Then, one more thing. You stated, during the talk that you were told all of this from people you found here."

"Y-Yeah."

The kid twitched.

"...So you are lying."

"W-what?"

"You are contradicting yourself. You never stated that you were told. You stated in every account that you heard it. Also, you previously said that you found the group here, how did you find a group of adults while wandering around this place filled with monsters alone. You are but a child, correct?"

The child avoided eye contact.

"I, umm. I-I l-learned some martial arts... f-from my uncle!"

After giving their excuse, they took a glance at her face.

The face was void of any emotion.

"Well if you say so. But one more thing then, I hold pride in myself for my body movement. Then, how could someone trained in martial arts, not even know how to throw a punch. You just thrust your hand at me hoping I would be slow enough to not evade on time. Correct?"

The child's brain started to work as fast as it could since they knew that nothing good would come out of getting found out now.

" T-then how would you explain how I grew these nails so long."

"You claimed that you can gain strength from the ones you kill here, is that not a valid explanation? There is also the fact that your figure is on the dark grey side of the spectrum."

"T-That's."

The kid threw his gaze elsewhere yet again.

"I reckon, that you have been in here for a long, long time. I do not believe that the dead continue to age. Based on this hypothesis, I think you have been staying here for long enough to see multiple parties of dead people who you listened in on for any knowledge you could get before slaying them."

"N-no."

They denied, fruitlessly.

"You are much older than you let on, but your demeanour is still of a child's."

"..."

'So I am right... I think. But he isn't barking back so it must be true. Thank god for sensei Columbo. Wouldn't have cracked the case otherwise... but seriously, if it is true that only one can leave... this place is hell for anyone here. The best thing I can do is take on this kid's burden myself.'

Silence ensued for a while before it was broken.

"I do not think that after surviving here for as long as you have, you can change your ways anytime in the future. And so, I have taken it upon myself to end you this instant. You should be grateful."

'It's better than founding a close relationship in hope that more than one can return. If truly only one can, then it will be just that much more difficult to kill each other in the end.'

She tightened her grip around the child's neck.

"What?! No! Stop! Don't do it! Please! ARGHG!"

*SNAP

The boy turned to black particles and dissipated away.

'Well, I was unnaturally ruthless, that I know. I could have brought the kid with me but I don't think travelling with someone that has that dark of a soul is safe. I don't even know if they were actually a child.'

Looking at the last few dissipating particles, she thought.

'I know that Gods are real. One sent me here after all, but is this really a test by them...? Nevermind. If there is a place after actual death, I hope the kid goes somewhere nice. Mostly because they just looked like one.'

'...'

'Did I even age during my time around the flower? I don't think an 18-year-old could have made the decision to kill someone that looked like a kid. How old even am I?'

A part of the boy flew into her body but it went unnoticed yet again.

And as she was deep in thought, ruminating over if her decision was a good one, she fully ignored the small noise of a chime in her ear.

Some time later, she let out a loud sigh and sat up.

'Why do I always end up lying on the ground after I finish something? Anyway, where did that quake come from?'