A White Reincarnation

Chapter 1: Afterlife?

I gaze around the swirling black and purple mist I found myself in.

"Guess I finally died..." I mutter as I recall the mechanical noise that signaled the halt of my heartbeat.

'I hope everyone gets through my death.' I think as I finish processing my unfair demise. It's funny that the process of dying was the scariest thing I've ever experienced, but death itself wasn't all that mentally stressful. Sure I was sad, but it's not like I can do anything about it. At least I'm in street clothes instead of a hospital gown.

"Now, where the bloody Nine Hells am I? No way am I getting into Heaven, with all the porn on my computer. And if I did, the angels might kick me out for my lame jokes..." I mused as I began walking through this black eternity.

I walk.

And I walk.

And then I walk some more.

'I'm going to feel really stupid if it turns out I'm going in circles. I swear I just passed that.' I think as I stroll by an oddly familiar patch of purple.

Clink, Clatter,

I spin around at the first noise I've heard in a long time. I see a tan albino man with a scar across his face before me. He's wrapped in chains, and tattered red clothes that might have once been an open chest vest or cloak. He's sleeping, and I move around him to examine the chains.

There is this purple thing latched onto his back. It looks like some mutated mass of flesh from some overly graphic horror movie. Eyes and mouths pocking between the folds of its demented skin. It convulses and pulses under my gaze and I notice that it has claw like appendages digging into the chains to keep on the man.

'Let's get you off then.' I think as I grip it, and prepare to pull the thing from under the chains and off the imprisoned man.

"Just what do you think you're doing, mortal?" A hoarse voice wheezed out.

I would love to say I only jumped at the man's sudden voice.

"Aaaaagghhhh!!!"

But that would be a lie, cause I screamed like a lil bi*ch.

I jumped back, and saw that the man was awake, and glaring at me, like he wanted nothing more than to kill me, again.

"Don't make me ask you again, mortal. What the hell do you think you're doing to me?" The albino man spat at me with a surprising amount of venom laced into his weak voice.

I blink. "I'm getting rid of the creepy abomination off your back." I say nonchalantly.

His expression changes into a 'what-the-fuck-are-you-talking-about' face. Trust me when I say I've see it enough times to recognize it.

"You know. The pulsing mound of flesh that's with you under the chains."

"What?" He sneered.

"Here, let me show it to you." I say as I move behind him again.

"What are you-" I start pulling at the fleshy flesh ball. "Aaaaaauuuuuuugggggghhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!"

I ignore the man's screams of agony as I focus on my task. I pull, twist, and jerk at the apparent parasite, using what traction I could get on the misty floor.

After a few minutes of a screaming albino, getting the parasite to remove its claws, and some stray thoughts of aliens, the parasite skwelches off. Not that there was any way to tell time here.

"Huh huuuuh *pants* W-what........in.....hell....did.....you ...stab ..me with?" He asked between deep pants, as beads of sweat fell down his face.

"This, I guess." I said as I return to his range of view as I hold up the withering thing for his inspection.

The man looks at it with blatant disgust on his features. "What the fuck is that?" He asks.

"Hell if I know. Only things I've heard like it are Lovecraftian horrors, but seeing as neither of us are ranting about the absolute truth and worshiping it, I don't think it's very powerful."

His eyes betray some interest in the subject as his eyes gleam in the darkness, but he dismisses the train of thought as he turns to the parasite. "You said it was on my back?"

"Yup, peeking out of the chains. You have any idea of what it is?" I ask as I threw it to the side.

His red eyes narrow as he thinks. "I don't know of anything it could've been." He says as he turns his attention to his chains.

"Come on. It was definitely something at least mentally or spiritually significant if it manifested here." I pestered him.

He returns his focus to me. "Why would you think that? It's probably some beast that lives in this foul place. You know where we are?"

I snort. "Kinda hard to not realize, don't you think?"

He blinks. "Mind sharing?" He snaps as he goes back to getting out of his bindings.

'He doesn't know.' I realize.

I swallow and try to think of how to break it to him. 'Then again, it might just be better to just be blunt about it.'

I think and way my options. On one hand, this dude's in chains in the afterlife, which might not be the best sign for trusting him. On the other hand, he's the only living organism I've seen in quite a while.

'And it's not like he can kill me again. Right? Right? Please tell me I'm right.

And he's weak so regardless of his skills in fighting, I should be able to take him. Unless he's some kind of material arts master...'

"Well?" He drawled as he manages to wiggle an arm from the chains.

"What's the last thing you remember before waking up?" I ask.

He pauses for a moment to think about it, "I was... what does it matter!?"

"We're dead."

The man reals back and stares at me.

"I was killed in the streets and slept for two weeks before I found myself here. This is some form of afterlife, possible a plane of punishment or neutral containment. Either way, we're stuck with one another until we break out of here or something comes looking for us." I continued as he began processing this information.

"I don't feel dead. And I don't remember having my heart fed to Amit." He said stubbornly.

"How do you know what dead feels like? And Amit..? That's from the Ancient Egyptian afterlife, right? Has anyone ever come back from the dead to tell you what's on the other side? Humans don't know what's on the other side of their own demise and made stories about it to make them feel better. For all we know, we're asleep and dreaming this whole thing. But I'm not nearly creative to make this place. Makes you wonder how the laws of physics work here..." I ramble on as I gestured to the void around us.

A long pause of silence rings between us.

"I lent my body to a god for revenge."

"What?"

"That's the last thing I remember before coming here."

A beat.

"I've read legends of gods and supernatural beings from around the world. If they do truly exist, they never treat mortals with respect or value. Your god either got you killed or you couldn't handle his powers."

"No! We had a deal! My service for revenge against the pharaoh!" He denied.

"Why would he abide by that deal? He could've just used you till he could get to the physical realm. Or still followed the deal if it didn't address your demise or if he couldn't get your revenge. Thing about supernatural deals are they never goes well for the stupidly emotional."

"What makes me emotional?!" He shouted at me.

"The fact that you made a deal for pointless revenge."

"The revenge of my village was not pointless!" He shouted.

"Did it make you feel better? Did it bring them back? Did it help you move on? Did you bring their killer to justice? All revenge is just another pointless act of anger." I coldly rebuffed.

He froze and lay limp there as he contemplated my words. I sighed.

"I'm sorry. I don't know what you went through in life and that wasn't fair. Name's Len. What's yours?" I said.

"Bakura." He said absently.

Something about that name clicked in my mind. I examined my new friend and realized a very important detail.

'I'm in Yu-Gi-Oh. Where the fate of the world is decided by a child card game. My only companion is a dead thief with a very unhealthy obsession with shiny gold trinkets. We could very well be in the Shadow Realm, if that's a thing in this world. My best assets are my mind, strategic skill, and ability to bullshit through everything.'

My face transformed into a devilish smirk as I came to another realization.

'This world won't stand a chance! Muahahahahahahahahaha!'