As I walk towards the light I suddenly remember what happened. I remember that my friends need me. The family I have, Izzy. I can't leave, not like this. I stop walking and look around.
"Where am I?" I ask myself out loud as I look around. I'm in a dark densely wooded area.
"The in-between." I hear a voice answer.
"In-Between?" I ask.
"The place between the living and the other side. Limbo." The voice says.
"Limbo? I can't be." I say confused.
"I'm sorry but, you are." The voice says. I say nothing as I try to process.
"You need to go into the light, you can't stay here." The voice says.
"Where does it go?" I ask.
"Where ever you want it to. Your own personal paradise." The voice says.
"If my friends or family are not there, it isn't paradise to me." I say.
"They could be there, all you have to do is think it. It will be. That is how your paradise works." The voice says.
"Who are you?" I ask. The person steps out of the shadows.
"Dad?" I ask then I run up and hug him.
"You can't stay here. If it knows you're here then you won't be able to move on." Richard says as he hugs me and slightly pushes me back so he can see my face.
"Why haven't you moved on?" I ask.
"I can't. I have to hold it back." Richard says.
"Hold what back?" I ask.
"You need to go, Gemma. It's gonna sense you and if it does, it will be here in a matter of minutes." Richard says then he backs up into the dark and disappears.
"Dad?!" I shout. Silence. I look around for a moment. It's so dark here I can barely see in front of my face. Far off to my right and left I see glimpses of my friends, my family as if a movie of their lives were playing, between these moving living pictures there is a wall of blurriness between them and I.
"So.. I-I'm really dead?" I ask myself out loud.
"Your physical body is dead. Yes." A voice says.
"Hello? Who are you?" I ask as I look around. I see no one.
"The gatekeeper. I am merely a psychopomp." He says. I stay silent for a moment.
"Do you have a name?" I ask.
"I have many names. Anubis, Hermes, Charon, Xolotl, Azreal, Mercury, Thanatos, or as you may know me.. the grim reaper." The voice says.
"Follow the path." The reaper says.
"What happens to me if I don't?" I ask.
"Follow the path or stay here, in darkness, but I must warn you, you'll be consumed if you stay here. You could go back to the human world.. but no one will ever see or hear you. You'd just suffer. Going into the light is the best option." The reaper says.
"But you can send people back, right? I mean how else would people have near death experiences?" I ask.
"I take souls, I guide the spirits. I cannot send anyone back." The reaper says.
"That doesn't help me." I say.
"I'm not here to help you. I'm here to direct where your soul goes." The reaper says.
"I want to go back. I have to. I'm not finished with something that needs to be done." I say.
"No one ever is finished." The reaper says.
YOU ARE READING
Path Of Shadows: The Awakening
FantasyThis is a part 2 to Path Of Shadows. If you haven't read that yet, please go back and read from the beginning so you can catch up, even if you read it there was some edits so the story had a few changes. I apologize about that but it's a work in pro...
