Arghh!
Crying in agony, Ash grabbed his head and tried massaging it to soothe the throbbing.
'Did it have to strike me in the head…' Thinking this, he opened his eyes to find that the headache was the least of his problems.
He was floating in a complete void that stretched beyond all measure, a sea of endless darkness with nothing in it but stars. The stars felt like lonely sparks, each glowing softly against the silence.
At times, a few stars would draw together, weaving delicate bridges of light between themselves. Then, without warning, one would explode in a violent bloom of fire, scattering across the endless void.
From the fading dust, new stars would be born, and so the cycle continued on and on.
'What is this place… did I die?'
Remembering how a literal lightning had rained down upon him, Ash came to the obvious conclusion.
Realizing that he might have gone for good, instead of panicking, he felt at peace. There was nothing left for him on Earth, nothing left to achieve.
The moment Ash killed the man, the last thread binding him to the world had snapped away. After that, death did not seem so out of place; in fact, it was comforting.
'So am I to remain here and watch the universe? Well, it's not bad actually.'
His lips curled up in a smile as Ash got lost in the beauty of the void. As if hypnotized by it, he forgot everything and continued staring in a single direction.
A few more minutes, and Ash would be lost forever. Fortunately, a voice reached out to him, waking him from the trance.
"You like the view?"
"Huh!!.."
Surprised by the sudden addition of someone, Ash turned his head to find a little being floating beside him, looking at him curiously.
It was a small creature, barely the size of his head. Long, curved horns adorned its head while bright purple eyes gleamed with mischief. A long, thin tail flicked behind it, ending in a spaded tip.
Seeing a creature from myth, Ash thought he had gone mad. Extending his hand, he tried to see whether it was really there, but the moment his hand was about to touch the little creature, it moved.
Flying away, the creature snarled, "Didn't your mama teach you it's wrong to touch someone without their permission?"
"No…"
Ash replied, shaking his head. From as far as he could remember, there was no one of that relation to him. Sometimes he wondered whether he had just spawned in the world instead of being born.
"What—"
The creature was confused for a moment before understanding everything. Bowing, he wholeheartedly expressed his apologies.
"Ohh! My apologies, sir, then..."
"Don't mind it…"
Shaking his head, Ash soon got uninterested in the creature and moved his head to observe the void once again.
"Huh!!"
Seeing this nonchalant behavior from the man, the creature moved around, appearing in front of his vision. But every time it did, Ash would turn away.
Soon, a game of cat and mouse ensued; the creature would appear, and Ash would turn his head.
"It's not advised to look into the Reckoning for long with a feeble mind…"
Hearing this, Ash scratched his head and asked, "You know that I didn't understand a single word of yours, right?"
"My mistake… tsk! There is not much time left anyway. Let's start…" Muttering, the creature snapped his fingers.
Suddenly, the void where Ash had been floating alone just a moment ago began filling up with people all around.
Ash moved his gaze from one to another and soon found a familiar face in the mix.
'Kite…'
Thinking there might be more, he observed them and soon realized that some of them were the people he had seen in the prison, leading him to believe that all of them were from that same facility or the area around it.
What was interesting was that there was a similar small creature floating around all of them. They seemed to be talking, but the sound wasn't audible.
"The place where you are is called Reckoning. This is the place a soul stays before moving forward."
"So… I'm dead," Ash said, taking a deep sigh.
Shaking his head, the creature replied, "No. Not exactly. At this moment, you are in Limbo. It is a state… scratch that; you will know when the time comes. What you do have to know is what is about to come next."
"Do you remember the voice or the panel that appeared suddenly?"
Hearing this, Ash thought for a few seconds; he remembered something like that, but the content wasn't clear. It had felt blurry.
"Not exactly… what was that?" Remembering something hazy, he asked.
"Happens to the best of you… It was The Declaration. Now let's come to the point. We are in the middle of your awakening, and soon you will sleep and dream of The Beyond; there you will face a trial, and when you pass the trial, you will become awakened. Someone who can wield the soul essence."
"What kind of power?"
"No one knows."
"How will I clear the trial when I'm this weak?"
"Hmm! After entering the trial, you will awaken your Nexus and its Defiance."
"That's make it little bearable." Hearing this, Ash nodded his head and looked forward to this supposed trial.
"Ohh! Yes, there is something else. Name me…"
"What!?" Ash blurted out, confused as to where this request was coming from.
"Name me. Give me a name. This will be the activation word for summoning a miniature version of me… through it, you will see the physical manifestation of your soul. Also called a Nexor by some."
"Ahhh!"
Nodding, Ash thought for a moment. A devious smile appeared over his face, and he replied with a short, abrupt word.
"Imp."
"What? Can't you think of a better name?"
"No… this will do. Do I have to remember something else?"
Shaking his head, Imp flailed his hands and said goodbye to him.
Soon, the world in front of his eyes began to recede back into the darkness. He had almost lost consciousness when Imp's voice reached him.
"Oops! I forgot two things. Your Nexus won't awaken immediately, so make sure to survive until it does. And if you die there, you will be gone… for good this time."
"Wh–" Before he could say anything, Ash was gone.
The sensation in his body returned as Ash felt a weird, cold dampness against his body. Before he could open his eyes, a sound reached his ears.
"O, the deity of space, the one overseer of time,"
"We honor your birth, the light that will shine."
"Let us bathe in glory, for the day has arrived…"
"We will witness the one–"
'What is this weird singing…'
Frowning, Ash opened his eyes, expecting drama or something, but what appeared in front of him was far worse.
He was in a room, carved from black stone, its walls covered with strange sigils and runes. Their surfaces were littered with dark crimson stains.
Thick pillars rose into the darkness above. Melted candles dripped wax across a cracked altar. Rusted chains and whips hung from the ceiling.
On the high ground, three men were wearing black robes, dancing with incense in their hands. In the middle of the platform, a man was kneeling against his will, his head forced against a lunette-shaped block.
Above the kneeling person was a giant man holding a saber.
Ash himself was standing right below the high platform in the first row. With multiple people around him, he noticed that except for priests and the giant rest of them were shrouded in hooded robes, only their eyes visible through the slits.
"—We vow your return."
"Accept our prayer; let us be beside you."
Before he could understand the meaning behind these words, the prayer ended, and the giant slammed his saber on the man's neck.
Plop!
With a swoosh, the head detached from the body, and the severed head rolled across the ground, leaving trails of blood behind. It stopped right at Ash's feet. Its dead eyes stared up at his.