The Dominant Demon (Finished)

15. Don't Fear The Reaper

I fall to the hard, cold, earth, my heart pounding out of my chest. As I shove myself up, I stumble, slightly, winded. I dust my pants off, and look around. At first, I thought I was outside, but when I look up, I see nothing but blackness. It's almost as if I'm in an upside-down, bottomless pit, with nothing but dirt and grass for a lid. The only light comes from the luminescent, neon, green, grass. 

Out of nowhere, I hear a man's voice from behind me. "You have came, again."

I swiftly turn. "Who are you?" The man is of shorter stature with tousled black hair and bright blue eyes that almost seem to glow.

He smiles. "We have met a plenty of time before, Child."

I nod. "OK, but who are you? Am I in the reaper Realm?" I pause for a moment, confused by the fact that I am not a passenger in my body. I have total control. This isn't a flashback. I have actually traveled to a different realm, alone.

I hear him chuckle, and then he nods in return. "You are in fact in the reaper realm. I am your assigned reaper."

"How is it possible that I am here? I stepped through the portal in a flashback."

"A chair is still a chair, Child."

I stare at him, for a moment processing his words and then reply. "Huh?"

I hear him chuckle again, the sound becoming very familiar. I feel like I have heard it before. "The portal that you stepped through is still a portal. You found a universal loophole."

I scoff. "Of course I did. Of course I found a way to do that. That's great. I'm not even surprised."

He raises his hand, shushing me. "Calm down, Child." He gazes past me, and speaks again. "Walk with me."

When I turn to see what he is looking at, my mouth falls open. Instead of the blank, black void that was once there, I see that a whole new world has manifested behind me. Luminescent trees, much like the grass, of all shapes and sizes lay ahead. The glowing forest is filled with large, bright mushrooms and little bugs that resemble fireflies. "W-What the hell?" I stammer. "When did that get there?"

"It has always been there," the man replies. "Just as the universe has. Your soul just hadn't remembered yet. There is more to come."

"Uhm," I say, hesitating. "OK, then." This is way too weird.

We begin to walk, and as we pass the treeline, the forest comes to life around me. The ground sways under my feet, ever so slightly, almost as if it were breathing, and a strong gust of wind rushes through the branches, pushing them to swing to and froe.

I glance around in amazement as tall, purple and yellow flowers begin to sprout up from the ground around me. "You're a very peculiar soul," says the little man.

I glance over to him, tearing my eyes away from the scene. "What do you mean?"

He shrugs. "I mean what I said."

I resist the urge to roll my eyes. Does he speak any other language besides riddle? "OK, but why do you say that?"

"Well," he says, glancing up to me. "Some souls are meant to do their work only in the realm from which their energy drew from. That is the majority. Yours, however, has a rare ability. Throughout most of your lives, you have bounced between realms- still human, but still very, very driven. You have a soul that radiates the highest frequencies, and that pushes you to go further in life."

I nod. "Oh. OK, so what does that mean?" I continue to stroll with him, and ignore the fact that I only understood half of what he said.

"It means just that. You have traveled realms all throughout your existence, and now your time is up, again."