Factory Reset: Divine Corruption

Chapter One Hundred and Nine

Chapter One Hundred and Nine: When Death Talks

Deep, dark, bleakness. A hideous feeling, floating in absence, floating in the darkness that resides between things. A swelling, drowning sensation in the lungs that were filled with blood. The twitch of muscles constricting against cold hard steel. The harshness of breath before the final puff is exhaled.

There was a feeling of nothingness. The cold strippig of consciousness from mortal bodies, the deeply unpleasant unlatching from neurons, the fragmenting cracking of White-Bosonic Soul from a fleshy body. Darkness filled the neurons in his brain, and in another puff, he was gone.

Death was a feeling unlike any feeling, and for good reason. A floating, yet heavy, feeling against every iota of the body. Every atom, every particle. Every querk. Ethereal, longing, stretching. Something eldritch was snatching him up, and yet Mason did not think.

Whether it was that he simply couldn't, or that he shouldn't, was unclear. There was a block. He couldn't form thoughts. It's not that his consciousness didn't exist anymore, no, it was more so he was an observer that couldn't perceive anything. If it weren't for the fact that he was dead, his brain probably wouldn't be able to process whatever was happening.

"Mason Amor. What a time to reach me." A sickly sweet voice entered his mind. Mason wanted to form thoughts, but every time he "tried" to respond, to form a thought, his mind didn't respond. He couldn't think, yet he existed. Yet he "was".

Mason felt something against his "body", and with a harsh thump light and thought returned to him. A massive pain erupted in his head, and Mason fell upon the floor. Mason felt his mind race. What floor? Where am I? Why are my thoughts so loud?

"You're in the Inbetween, Mason Amor." The voice said, and Mason gently shrifted his eyes around his surroundings. A void of white, though if he looked closely, it was countless faded colors intermingling together.

"In the Inbetween? Between what?" Mason asked, his voice coming out as a whisper despite his intent for it to be nearly yelling. Mason's ears rattled against the wind as the voice chuckled. Mason hugged himself tight, finding himself without any clothes. There was wind there. Or, the equivalent to wind where he was. He was cold.

"The mortal plane, the mortal coil, whatever you want to call it, and the afterlife." The voice explained, "I'm the God of Death. Your partner became acquainted with me before, and I have been observing your journey for a very, very long time."

Mason nodded, finding that somewhat understandable. There had to be some gods that didn't help but didn't ipede. They had really only met a handful, "I am not surprised that you are here, but as far as mortals are concerned, I am surprised by how long it took. I am doubly surprised that this is the second time I must interfere."

"What?"

"Mason Amor. While it is true that you've done everything that you have on your own power, your own talent, your own will. But there was a time I had to interfere. When Ja'Kle was going to die. I interfered there, and I will interfere here. So be it if I anger Hestian." Death answered, and with a sweet, almost honey like smell, death appeared before Mason.

Mason had expected Death to be, well, a skeleton, but that appeared to be the opposite of what actually was. Maybe in the mortal plane, whatever it was called, Death did appear as nothing more than a skeleton. And in his own realm, that of the dead, death appeared as a lively entity.

Death, to Mason, appeared as a hairless cat. Pink, somewhat sagging skin full of blood and life. Eyes brimming with empirical power, and yet burning with the will to live. Draped in a cloak of bones and black cloth, the pink and the warm bright blue eyes threw Mason off.

"I will save you, send you back, from here. I can only do this once in a while. I am the God of Death, not the God of Life. It takes a lot of power and will to send a soul back to life, and even then you will probably feel as though you've lost a little something of yourself, but that will be healed with time and patience." The God explained.

"Let it be known though. If I send you back from death, from me, you will lose all your soul. That White-Boson energy you have now. You may regain it from a source of White-Boson energy, but you don't have any right now near you, nor would you if all that is is destroyed." The God explained to him calmly.

"That means that, if you were to die, you would not cross over into any afterlife. Your consciousness would simply die along with your neurons and your body. And I'm entirely sure if your protogen, your team, or your partner would even get an afterlife, if they are erased in the explosion that Divento is going to create."

The god glanced back at him, eyeing him, "Remember that. I can keep you here, though. Let you transfer over into the afterlife that awaits you, whatever it might be. I don't know the deity of afterlife's chips in this game." Death told him. Mason gulped, knowing that the God was completely serious about what he was saying. That meant that Mason had, truely, actually, died.

"I want to save my boyfriend. I want to save my protogen. I don't care if there's a chance that we might all be erased. I still have to try." Mason responded, clenching his fist. Death nodded, holding out a hand that emitted a blinding white glow.

"Then so be it. Just know that if you stay, you would be able to see your family again, the ones that died on earth. You'd be able to see all of those that died in your team. You'd even be able to see B-" Death was interrupted by Mason grabbing the God's hand, and in a flash of an even brighter light, Mason disappeared from his domain, his White-Boson being stripped as his consciousness soured to his body.

Death pressed his hand down against his cloak, his body shaking. That took most of his energy. He clenched his fist, sighing gently as he gazed out into the infinite light and dark around him. The light bled from his hand as he started his walk, impatiently awaiting to see what happened.

Because even the God of Death adores the lives that he unfortunately has to see being taken.

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Howdy!

So, sorry, again, for how long it's been. I truly thought I'd get this out sooner, but apparently not. Shite.

Sorry all. Hopefully I'll get the next chapter out soon, goodness. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this for what it was! Thanks for reading, truely.

I'll update soon!

~ Candle

5/11/2022