The Angels of Death

Chapter 1

I open my eyes to a spectacular blue sky. I've never seen a sky so beautiful before. It'll never be as beautiful as me but hey, it could give me a good run for my money. The reason why I'm lying here facing the sky? I have no clue. I sit up to look around me and see a beach that seems to stretch out for miles and miles. That's strange. There are no beaches near the part of Arizona I live in, and I sure as hell don't remember travelling to one. Do I have amnesia or something?

Well, I'm not gonna get any answers by sitting here on the sand waiting for my ass to burn. It's going to be a long walk, but the sooner I start, the sooner I get to those distant buildings and get some answers. And get a drink. Boy does this heat make me thirsty.

What I'm not expecting is this cool ass thing to happen when the world warps itself or I teleport or something, cuz when I look back it looks like the beach is so far away. And right in front of me are the buildings I saw in the distance. Huh. That's convenient.

I don't question anything as I walk into the building, after all, I am the magician who'll someday be known as the famous Diablo. This could be some sick illusion. Though I can't see through how they did it.

When I go inside, I am met by a cute Asian with really blonde hair. Like the exact opposite of my super dark hair. It's almost white but not quite. She looks the quiet type.

I wave at her awkwardly, a bit confused to why she's in this building and why I'm here.

"Hi!" I give her a dazzling smile to impress her.

However, she is not impressed. "Hello, Benjamin Snyder. Welcome."

I'm a bit taken aback by this. "How do you know my name?"

"Because-" she gave a smile almost more dazzling than mine. "We've been waiting for you."

Okay, now I am a bit creeped out by this and there are about a hundred questions zooming around my head.

"Okay, where am I, who are you and what do you mean by us and-"

She just chuckles at my bombard of questions, not even letting me finish before she answers them.

"You are at the waiting place, I am Zara Torres, and we are the Angels of Death."

I blink.

"The what now?

*

After a huge rally of questions and answers back and forth between us, I am now pacing the room, trying to process all the information just given to me.

"Let me get this straight. You're saying I'm dead."

"Correct."

"And so are you"

"Correct."

"And this is the afterlife."

"Correct."

"And I've been chosen to guide the dead to what's next in store for them."

"Correct."

"Because I gave my life to save a little girl's?"

"Yes, that is what happened."

I laugh. Who does she think I am? Call me selfish, but I only care about myself. Saving someone else if it means death is not in my character. Also, wouldn't I remember if I died? I would say it a pretty important part of my life.

"Okay, this is a funny prank but I really must be going now. I'm going to a friend's house and its sushi with apple pie for dessert. I wouldn't want to miss that."

Zara tries to step in my way to stop me. If that name isn't a joke too.

"Didn't you hear me? You're dead. You can't go back. Once you're dead you're dead. You should know that of all people."

I shove past her, feeling a sudden rush of anger.

"What do you know about me? You've been watching me from up above?"

I look back at her, expecting to see the annoyance on her face from having her prank shattered, but all I can see is a visible frown gracing her face after my mockery. Oh well, not my problem. The only problem I should be worrying about is how the hell I'm supposed to get out of here.

I run back to the beach, going through the weird-ass warp hole and jump right into the water, using all my force to swim as far away as I can. I don't know why that chick could play with me so easily with such a simple sentence, but it really ticked me off.

Eventually, I swim so far that I find another island. When I get there I'm even more annoyed and angry than I was. The reason why? It's the same. Fucking. Island. Looks like the warp thing happened again and I didn't even notice this time. When I climb back onto the shore, that stupid girl is waiting for me.

What little anger left me returns when I see her.

"Are you ready to accept your death now?"

I inhale deeply.

"I'm. Not. Dead."

"But like I told you before-"

"What do you know about me? I've never met you in my life."

"Neither have I. But I can see it in your eyes."

I look at her and say coldly. "I don't know what you're talking about."

I walk away as calmly as I can, inhaling and exhaling very slowly. Its been a while since I let my anger consume me so much. Not since...

*

I sink down to my knees in a dark alleyway between two buildings. I've searched for a way out for hours, but I've found nothing. After going past the building, I found many other environments. After those main buildings, I came across a small town, a city and a huge countryside, but after that, I came to the beach again. I guess it's like a Packman map. Once you make it to the end, you come out of the other side.

Now I'm in the city again. I wanted to explore more to see what this 'waiting place' actually is but these places apart from that main building with 'Zara' are deserted. Completely isolated.

The weird thing is, despite having been running all day, I'm not hungry or thirsty in the slightest. After the beach, the thirstiness passed. If I'm not feeling all these normal human things, does that mean I don't feel pain as well?

Only one way to find out. I usually have a pocket knife with me, but I don't seem to have it. A sharp rock does well enough though. I grab it tight in my hand and turn my palm around. I close my eyes and lower the rock to my wrist. Just as the rock touches my skin...

"I wouldn't do that if I were you."