: Choice (Book 1 : The Nairda Series)

Chapter 11 : Kate & Ragnar

Adrian woke up to a terrible hangover in his room and from what he had learnt so far was, being dead was just as awful as being alive. He got up, took a shower and changed his clothes before heading down  for breakfast.

Kate was the first person to spot him and squealed in delight.

"Damn Ragnar,your friend really knows how to party. Where does he stay? Maybe I could pay
him a visit" she said. They had kept the party going till the sun rose, it reminded him of the good old days with the “bro squad”. He took a seat at the marble counter and Ragnar was quick to fill his plate with some french toast, eggs and sausages.

"Back off Kate, he's off limits. Apollos' orders." Ragnar replies. “Tea or some orange juice? Oh, and tell me what you want for lunch so that I can make an order on time. You wouldn't believe how long the wait list is, you can't order food after eleven without it getting here after three in the afternoon.”

“You guys order all your food?” Adrian asked taking a bite of his french toast. He had to admit it was the best toast he had ever had in his life. It had a weird exotic flavor that had a zing to it,he had opted for some juice which he was grateful for because after rapidly inhaling the contents of his plate he ended up chocking on some sausage.

"He's so cute,he reminds me of a guy I used to date back in 1494. “ Kate said while handing him a napkin. “Yeah, we basically order everything, food, clothes etc. But on the rare occasion we actually do things ourselves."

“Kate, I've never seen you do anything in my life!” Ragnar countered.

“That's because I never invite you to my house after the incident.” she replied throwing a piece of toast at him.

Ragnar chuckled and said nothing.

They finished breakfast and went to the lounge Ragnar having promised to show him some of the games available. He showed Adrian how to load the on his head-up display. A pair of hologram screens and controls popped up in-front of  them and after a debate , they decided to load a racing game. Kate chose to watch them play, occasionally making remarks, Ragnar kept winning much to Adrian's frustration. Kate stood and went to sit next to Adrian,placing her head on his lap, while the  her legs occupied the rest of the couch.

"I mean,what's the point of being trapped on this island if we can't have a little fun" she said winking at Adrian. After a couple of hours, four boxes of pizza suddenly appeared in the middle of the lounge, surprising Adrian. Ragnar walked towards them, held his hand under a drone which seemed to be holding them in place . A laser beam scanned his wrist, it beeped three times before disappearing barely giving Ragnar enough time to stop the pizza from falling to the ground. Kate went to the kitchen and brought some plates, and soon enough they found themselves, deep in conversation.

“So how does this soul retrieving thing work” Adrian asked no-one in particular.

"Think of it like a shipping company,when a soul dies,we are sent to collect it. Collecting the soul is the hard part, it's like a rescue mission against terrorists, once we collect it,the souls have to be processed, added to the system and then taken to their final destination. There are a lot of afterlife destinations,but the most recent are Maat,Valhalla,Elysium and Heaven. Maat got full when the Egyptians were the top dogs,then Valhalla,etc etc,Heaven hasn't even reached half it's occupancy rate so that's where most souls go to. Once an afterlife gets full, the gods visit mortals in different forms inspiring new religions.” Kate explained.

“Why not build just one afterlife?It would have prevented a lot of hate crimes and wars." he asked.

"It's like apartheid. When we are alive, there is always a chance of us rising against them. We did it once and we kind of won until they kicked the shit out of us and trapped us on this planet .Plus it makes it easier for the souls to transition into the after-life.'Welcome to heaven sounds better than,hey we are aliens who need your soul to open some kind of prison,you will be staying here for the time being,I hope you enjoy your stay. “ she said while grabbing a piece of pizza from the box which had no brand.