Death Before Defeat

Chapter 1

I want to thank each and every one of you for the lovely comments I got on the prologue! It made me really happy :D

Hope you guys enjoy!

Slight warning, there’ll be descriptions of a dead body in the start of this chapter, it’s only two paragraphs, but still :3

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Elias’ first instinct was to grab his sword. His hand moved towards where the hilt of his sword should be, but found nothing. He looked down, a frown on his face. His sword was gone. He didn’t have any kind of weapon to defend himself against these lunatics. Great.

He always had his sword with him, why wasn’t it on his belt? He had always felt more comfortable with a sword in his hands than with any other weapon.
His swordsmanship had helped him a great deal when they-

He stilled. All the other emotions he might have had faded, leaving only an empty space behind. He didn’t seem to remember, helped him with what? Who were they? The memory was there, but when he came too close it seemed to slip through his fingers.

He was about to question the two beings in the room with him when his eyes fell on a lump on the floor. Curious, he stepped closer, only to stop and stumble back almost immediately.

If he felt empty before, this was on a whole other level. The space had turned into a black hole, draining him of all he had left. He closed his eyes, unable to process it. After a while he dared to look again.

The lump was a body. And not any body, his body. His body was laying on its back, looking up at the ceiling with unseeing, empty eyes. His cheeks were sunken in and his skin was almost white, it didn’t look like him in the slightest.

Elias took a deep breath (unnecessary if he was what he thought he was) and looked at the body’s stomach. The stab wound was there, dried blood covering most of the injury and caking the edges of his black shirt. There didn’t seem to be any blood under the body, which probably meant that he hadn’t been stabbed in this basement.

And lo and behold, his holder was empty. His sword was nowhere to be found.

Suddenly remembering he wasn't alone, Elias turned to the two beings behind him, feeling sick. “What the hell did you do to me?” He asked in a shaky voice.

The pale man in the suit raised an eyebrow. “Nice to meet you too, I’m Veri.” The woman turned to glare at him with her creepy glowing eyes to which the man rolled his eyes and shrugged. “I turned you into a ghost-”

“I’m sorry, you did what?!” Elias exclaimed, eyes wide. “What are you, some sort of necromancer?”

“Most definitely not! Those are an absolute pain in my ass, just defying all the laws of death like that.” He scoffed. “I’m the God of the Underworld, at your service.” He paused. “Well not really, but you know what I was going for.”

“Ignore him, allow me to explain some things-” The woman – must be another ‘God’ then – started, but she got interrupted by Elias.

“Did you kill me?” He asked shakily, taking a couple of steps back.

“What? Of course not.” Veri looked at him incredulously. “I just turned you into a ghost, you were already dead when I did. Surely you remember how you died?”

Elias stared at the man in front of him and shook his head. He didn’t seem to remember most of his life. Dread filled him when he tried to.

“I don’t." He managed to say, the words feeling like ash on his tongue. "I don’t even know what I’ve been doing before all of this.” He said, gesturing around him. It was kind of terrifying, not knowing where you came from, and the fact that his body was left gutted in a basement did nothing to calm his nerves.