Tragedy ✔️

Chapter 16

The faces of those who appear before us in a gleam of light show the same terror, fear, and anger all the recruits had when I arrived in this world. The square fills up quickly with souls as the siren keeps on crying loudly from the courthouse.

Finally, the siren shuts down and no one else appears. All the people look around and start chattering loudly, confused on what just happened. I notice that even though the square is packed, this can't be everyone from the dead world. I don't know if there are other cities or towns in this world, if cities and towns are even a thing here.

I can barely hear myself when I shout to Ms. Pudge over all the babbling, "How big is the dead world?!"

"What?" she yells, leaning her ear down to my mouth.

"HOW BIG IS THE DEAD WORLD?"

"Oh!" she screams, "No one really knows! They say the dead world stretches grand distances! Some even say the dead world is endless."

Richard steps up to us with his hands covering his ears and he yells, "If the dead world is endless, then there should be way more souls here right now!"

That's exactly what I thought earlier.

"We'll have to figure that out later!" I shout, "Right now we have to quiet them down and tell them what's going on!"

I turn around to the crowd and see people of all ages. People like my age, seniors, middle aged, and even some kids. I even spot a lady with a baby in her arms. But mostly, there are young adults.

I try to think of a way to calm everyone down. To show the we don't mean any harm. People are screaming over one another, kids crying, wandering around all alone. Did the siren rip away kids without their families? If they did have families down here. That means the siren had to select certain people. But what makes them different from anyone else?

I can feel the voices, shouts, and cries seep into my head slowly, making my ears ring and my head feel dizzy. I can't take this anymore. Without thinking, I lift both my hands toward the sky and a beam of red light shoots out of my hands straight up.

Instantly, everyone looks up, gasping and screaming as they see this occur. The beam of light explodes into a display of fireworks in the red sky. Everyone is wide- eyed staring at the sky and then their gaze falls on me. Shock fills their faces as magic is rarely seen being conjured by civilians in the dead world. Magic is meant to be used in the living world, so it makes sense if most souls here have never seen this phenomenon.

Everyone is suddenly quiet. Not a single person speaks or moves as they all just keep on staring me down, drilling holes through me.

"That boy just made fireworks from his hands!" a little girl screams.

I put my hands up in a defenseless position. Everyone gasps and moves a step back, clearly scared of me.

"I mean no harm!" I shout so everyone can hear me, "I just wanted to get your attention."

"What monster has brought us here?" shouts a man's voice.

"How did we get here?" shouts a woman.

"He's going to curse us!" shouts an old lady.

The voices start to blend together and the volume begins to increase again.

I make a megaphone appear in my hand and speak into it before the commotion starts to build up again.

"Stop!" I say into the megaphone, "My name is Colin West. I possess a great gift; magic. I worked for 6x3 and was tasked to kill the living in the real world with my magic. The king turns our gifts into weapons, but it doesn't have to be that way. I won't hurt you. But we need your help in order to save the world of the living."

The voices quiet down again.

"The king has gone to the living world," I say, "And he has a plan to kill every person on earth to bring them here."

"Why do we care?" shouts a man, "We're all dead!"

"But the people up there aren't," I say, "And most of you may have someone who still lives up there. Who misses you, and you miss them, but do you really want to see each other again down here? Do you want their lives to be cut short like many of our lives were? Their lives are in danger because of the soul who rules this world."

I step up onto a big rock so more people in the back can see me.

"The siren you heard earlier brought you all to this place. I know you are all confused and scared, far from home for some of you even, but this siren chose you for a reason we still have to figure out, but in some way, you are special. You can help defeat the king and we can change the way we spend our death. This place doesn't have to be a hell. That is just what the king wants us to think. If we build an army to defeat his wretched soul, we can rebuild this place. We could even make it a heaven."

Ms. Pudge and Richard step up onto the big rock with me. Ms. Pudge takes the megaphone from my hands and clears her throat.

"I am Margaret Pudge," she speaks into the megaphone, "I, too, worked at 6x3 for the king for many years, but once, I tried to destroy him. I failed but he spared my existence for one reason: he wanted me to see him destroy my best friend with my own eyes and keep that burden with me forever. The king is a twisted soul that needs to be stopped. That can only happen if we work together."

A little girl starts crying and she yells, "I want my mommy!"

"Oh, sweetie," says Ms. Pudge through the megaphone, "Come here my dear. You'll be okay. Come here."

The girl, wiping her tears with her hands, steps up onto the big rock with us.

Ms. Pudge grabs the little girl's hands and says, "What' your name dea-"

Suddenly, a big blast throws us all back from the rock. My body hits hard on the rough, grassy ground. It takes a minute for my vision to recover from the blurriness but it finally does. I stand up and help Richard and Ms. Pudge get up.

"Where's the girl?" I ask.

I notice everyone is staring at the rock for some reason. When I look up as well, I see the little girl is still on the rock, standing. She is looking at her hands that are now glowing with a yellow hue.

"My dear child," says Ms. Pudge with a smile on her face, "You have magic."

"Look!" shouts a voice in the distance.

Everyone turns around to a young woman whose hands have also started to glow. Just then, every single person looks at their hands, which start to shine brightly, illuminating the square like spotlights.

I turn to Richard who has a thoughtful expression on his face as if he just realized something.

"What if the siren doesn't just bring any regular soul to here," he says, "What if the siren summons all the souls who have the potential to weave magic."

I smile, "Then we hit the jackpot."