Chapter 5 - Divine Hands Divine Fangs

<Just to be sure...you do not mean giving life to my body once again, am I right?>

"Obviously not, you died nearly a month ago, doctors have already confirmed the fatality and you've been burned three days ago at noon. Sending you into the living with your old body would create...severe inconveniences. Also, I do not remember your face very well and reconstructing your body would be quite annoying."

<I love how you say these things as if they were normal.>

"In fact, they are for me."

If I could stare intensely at him, I would have done it. This 'god' surely was unique.

"Is that a compliment?"

<...It depends on how you take it. By the way, can you stop peeking into my head please? Do you know what privacy means?>

"I cannot. If I were to do that, we would also not be able to communicate. I do know what privacy means, even if it's a silly concept." A soft laugh accompanied these phrases.

<Silly? You don't like to have your spaces?>

"Not with my brothers and sisters, there is no secret between us."

<Lovely utopia you live in.>

"It is not an utopia, little soul, but I understand why you think it is. Your race' society made such a thought feasible only as a utopia, but it's actually very possible. It's quite funny"

He laughed again, as if he was talking about a funny moment during a football match.

"Seriously, in order to find the so-called intelligence your race dresses herself with, one has to look for platinum needles into a sea of silver, to say it nicely."

<I agree with you, yet I still do not believe the relationship between you and your family or whatever.>

"It is fine, I am not requesting you to believe it. Anyway, back on script or someone will be mad at both of us. What is your answer to my proposal?"

I took my time. I did want to go there but...I was also afraid. I wondered what would have happened if I pushed to return to my Earth but then, something I should have not forgotten, appeared once again.

How's my father?

"The first or the second?"

<...If you know about both, then you also know the answer.>

I waited and he, too, stood still.

After a while, he tilted his head.

"Eh, he seems to like the sofa a lot given the amount of bot-"

<Don't try to joke around.>

Surprisingly, it was enough to shut him down.

He looked at me, dead in the eye. "Destroyed. Alcohol. I see a couple of people outside the house trying to speak with him.

One second.

Two.

Three.

<Can I see him?>

"No." he responded without even thinking.

<...>

In silence, I stared at him.

I wanted to be angry. I wanted to be desperate, as I should have been, but inside, that new stillness did not falter.

"Emotions and sentiments are a complicated subject. Souls, in their purest form cannot feel them." he stated, as a matter of fact.

I ignored him.

<Can I see him?>

"No." he said, again.

<Please.>

"The Living cannot see the Dead. That is a rule which I cannot transgress...without exceptions." he concluded.

<I wonder if what you did with me is linked to those exceptions.>

He did not answer, and I took it as a bingo.

I pondered for a moment, searching for a way to take advantage of that information but nothing came from it. I knew it was something I should have not known, but now it was simply useless. I had no power there.

<Can I write him something? A message? A letter?>

Again, he did not move. He said no so easily before, he could have done it again a third time. So, I took his silence as pending indulgence.

<If you let me, then I accept your proposal.>

The last and only fiche I had in my hand...and quite literally, my only hope.

<On the spot.>

...

Ultimately, he bowed. The plates tipped in my favor.

"You win, but I will deliver the message, not you." and I couldn't hear a sweeter sentence.

He raised his head towards the dawn, and looked at it for a couple of seconds

"This is unfortunate. We have less time than expected. Alright little soul, while I prepare our means of transport, you're free to ask a couple of questions about the place I'm taking you."

<...Where?>

"The planet itself has not a name yet. The main difference is that the human race, and those who possess intellect, did not develop any remarkable technology, and thanks to that you will find the place quite refreshing. Very similar to your own during his golden ages."

<And let me guess... knights and magic?>

"Yes, and many more... why are you disgusted?"

<Because I think I already know where I will end...And if I'm correct then I don't think I'll enjoy it.>

Again. That creepy smile.

"Do not worry, there is already a hero there, you will not be bound to that role."

<That's not the only one which bothers me.>

"I know, but if I were to tell you everything it would have an impact on your choices.

...

<Am I being dumped in there without any kind of basic knowledge?>

"Yes and no. I will send you there immediately but I will also accompany you in your first few days."

<Better than nothing I guess… the last question.>

The most pressing one, at the moment. But since I had no choice, the answer would matter little.

<Why are you doing this?>

"To give you another chance to shine, of course." he smiled.

<Haha...I'm not falling for it. That is definitely a lie.>

...and again, the silence came back.

If I was not speaking to him, I would have believed that the man in front of me was just a divine-made statue. Nevertheless, his eyes were still locked on me.

I started to wonder if, with that question, I crossed a line I should have not crossed. Even the creepy smile was gone.

Far, far away from there, from the core of the mass I could only perceive, a shockwave was created.

A shockwave without form nor sound. Within seconds, it passed through every being and every tree of that dimension.

Searching for a stolen soul, when it passed through me and the unknown god, I felt a cold breeze gathering under me.

Then, countless eyes turned at me, and the stillness of that place was suddenly broken. The man quickly glanced in the direction of the light, then the smirk returned.

"It's time for us to go, little soul. The hounds are coming." he said.

<You didn't answer my question.>

This time the smirk did not go away, he was not even looking at me.

Unconsciously, I started floating backwards. In the forest of trees something new entered. They were not calm beings, nor silent ones.

Scrabbles of fangs echoed, their target quite obvious. They were fast, ominous and numerous. Shadows came out of nowhere. Trees' light grew darker and darker.

A hand picked me up.

The god whispered a few words and another breeze rose both me and him in the sky.

"To put it simply, I enjoy tales, and I believe you can create an interesting one."

Then, as we flew in the dark sky, chased by those "hounds", he whispered again. Words I've never heard.

Then, one last sentence. "See you later, and be careful of the fall."

From his hand, without any kind of movement, I was shooted in the starless sky.