Soul Master

38. Amèlie

What happens after you die? What if you don't have any religious beliefs?

I was floating in darkness. In all logical sense, I was without a doubt dead. I felt my eyes open and the darkness was so consuming it made me feel like I was blind. I felt nothing, no pain, no emotions, no sense of urgency. My body stretched out as I lay in the space of nothingness. I took in a deep breath, thoughtless, careless. Voices called to me from far away, loud, happy. I didn't recognise them. I continued floating, and imagined I could be lying in a boat, letting the current of an easy flowing river carry me away, the sound of the water lapping at rocks soothing me, lulling me into a sense of blissful peace. Laughter from somewhere nearby, children, it sounded like a school playground. A flicker of me in class as a child danced across my vision, I was drawing a picture of a wolf with my crayons. Sitting by my side a girl watched intrigued. I don't remember her. Her skin dark, eyes bright and smile brighter. She spoke, the vision silent, but I watched as I nodded and smiled back at her giving her a crayon and tearing a sheet from my little pad. The more I watched, the more the little dark girl seemed familiar, though I struggled to remember just exactly how. The vision faded, leaving me in darkness once more, travelling endlessly along the abyss.

'Wake up,' someone right next to my ear whispered in an almost squeak of a voice. 'Enchanten needs you.'

I blinked, turning my head tiredly towards the voice. I tried to speak and silence filled the air around me, But the owner of the voice seemed to hear me as I asked. 'Enchanten?'

'A world between.' An older voice said mysteriously. 'You can't die, if you do, you forsake an entire world to the winged beasts.'

My mind absorbed the words like I was learning a new maths equation. 'Winged beasts?' A memory of my former self, a flicker of a memory shared to me. A fallen angel, panic began to stir in me as I remembered the pain before I got here. The invisible boat seemed to rock me uncomfortably as the sound of the river began to rise.

'I'm dead.' I replied quickly, forcing the images away. 'Go away.'

A silence then, before the voice continued. 'Not yet, you aren't.'

My eyes stung, and I blinked, still seeing darkness. 'What do you want from me?'

'Enchanten wants you to wake up. Return to us and protect us.' It replied.

I shook my head. 'What is Enchanten?'

'The realm between and the Land of Make Belief.'

'It doesn't exist.' I explained flatly. Remembering when I was a child how I used to imagine playing with different coloured fairies, speak to flowers, and play hide and seek with goblins. It was all just make belief, just as this voice had said.

'It does, you just forgot how to see it.' The voice responded. 'Magic is all around you, all you need to do is use your senses.'

I snorted a laugh. 'I'm not a child.'

'But you are a descendent of the Shygurn.' The old voice explained. The more it spoke, I realised, the more I could hear it, I could pick out its tone, the slight rattle of an old man's voice, somewhat cranky and yet full of patience. 'Born into a world of spiritual unrest, your soul is rare. In your world they call you a Soul Master, a meaningless title with no understanding of your potential in any way.'

I listened to him intently as he spoke factly, Zayne had always told me I was capable of controlling spirits, and many other fantastic sounding things with my gift, but aside from party tricks and seeing imaginary things, I really was no different to any other human, give or take the ability to communicate and make deals with spirits.