A Hero With/Out Time

Chapter 30: Our End. (Part 1)

Chapter 30: Our End.

A white room and a single shadowed figure waiting for me. As usual I was naked and looking around it really was the same.

I sighed, "So I died."

"You did," the Goddess nodded.

"Can I ask you a question?"

"Of course," she stood in front of me at full attention.

"Did we save Lara?" I had to know.

She smiled, "Yes."

A relieved breath flooded from my lungs, "Thank God."

"I had nothing to do with it, or at least mostly," she sat down, once more as if on nothing.

"It was a figure of speech," I shook my head and sat as well. Although nothing was there I felt the firm feeling of something beneath me. "So what is it this time? You're not here to give me another chance are you?"

"Unfortunately not. You are well and truly out of those."

"Understandable," I nodded. "Then what's next?"

She shrugged, "I don't know. I might be a god but not that kind of God. Once your soul passes from here it's a mystery to me."

"Then you've brought me all this way just to say goodbye?" I chuckled.

"Is that so wrong?"

"No, it's nice. Thank you," I smiled to her. I stood up and stretched my body. There was a chance that wherever I went I wouldn't have one anymore and I wanted to enjoy the feeling.

"Don't you have any regrets?" before I knew it the Goddess was in front of me. Her hand gently pressed against my cheek.

"Of course I do," my smile turned to melancholy. "There were a lot of things I never got to do or enjoy, people I wanted to say goodbye to, a girl I loved who's no longer with me.... Call me selfish if you want but if I could go back I would."

"You were loved," she let go of my cheek and floated away. "It's time for you to leave. I enjoyed watching you... Rain."

"It was a bumpy ride." I bowed my head to her, "Thank you for sending me to Lara's world back when I was Caius. If I had never experienced that life... I don't know what I would be. Though just one thing, was it you who made me look like that?"

The Goddess laughed, "I thought you looked cute."

I shook my head, "I knew it. You really are a pain of a Goddess."

"Goodbye Rain."

"Goodbye," as I waved I felt myself begin to pull away from her. The white world shifted slowly as colours and warmth swept into my senses. A grassy knoll, mountains in the distance, a rising sun and a forest that stretched around me. In the distance I could see a lake and beside it what looked like a town. For some reason I knew that whatever was there was waiting for me. Was this heaven? The way my spirit seemed to lift and the happiness that flowed into me indicated it was. Maybe dying wasn't so bad after all. It was a new adventure.

As my leg stepped towards that world something pulled me back. Pain ruptured through my chest. The world just beyond my reach began to turn away becoming white once more. Why? Hadn't I suffered enough? I forced myself to move struggling against the tightening pull.