Lives were cut short, and the afterlife is spent searching for the aloof man’s stare, which can be found in the castle, by the boats, or standing on a cliff. She once saw him on the enormous boat with its lamp stand. She took the same roads and boated through the same river. Not knowing what would happen next…
“Age of death?” the guardian lady inquired. She was dressed in a pencil skirt and a silk top today.
“Eighteen,” she said.
“Reason?”
“Car crash,” she said, sad. She never lived to be eighteen entirely and never got to experience life.
The lady sighed, “this is the final time,” she looked at her, and the old Guardian approached her. “He will lead you to your boat,” she follows the Guardian only to be halted, wondering what the lady said. The last time?
They came along the river but were far away from the line of boats and close to the big one.
When did she ask the Guardian what this meant? He appeared in front of her, standing tall, scary, and demanding her attention in long robes, hood, and mask, only his blue-red eyes visible.
“My lord, this is the soul you must lead in the next life, and it is her last,” the Guardian added.
The man gives a curt nod.
“What do you mean it’s my last?”
The Guardian smiled and went away.
“What does it imply that this is my last?” She inquired of the gentleman.
“Get on the boat,” he said and sat down. Is this Natasha’s final life? She looks at him, hoping for an answer. He stirs the boat, and they separate from the bank. The scorching question she’d had since entering the underworld was now blistering her tongue.
“Who are you?”
“It doesn’t matter,” Natasha felt an uncomfortable pressure in her chest, her eyes darting around, looking for something to anchor her mounting worry. Still, she discovered decay, desiccated trees, desolate ground, and a river that didn’t flow.
“What the guardian stated, does this mean this is my last life?” He halted when she met his gaze; for a brief moment, there was light in his soulless eyes. Her heart fell as time passed, and she began to give up. She won’t get any responses.
“Yes,” He finally answered, and she couldn’t stop asking questions.
‘How could that be?’ “What happens after that?”
“You can go to the Realm of Light,”
“What exactly is it?”
“Heaven”
“Are you sure this is going to end?”
“Yes,”
“No,” she said.
“Many people want to go to Realm of Light,” he remarked, puzzled.
“Will I die young again?”
“Probably,”
“I want to live,”
“You lived numerous lifetimes,”
“Yes, but I never, ever lived it completely.” She explained, “I have always died too early; I have never experienced growing old, becoming something, or falling in love.”
He stared at her, and she waited for him to realize her predicament. She has no idea why she expects it.
“There is nothing that could be done,”
She averted her gaze, despondent, as her thoughts and recollection faded. She was born Natasha, nearly died at age twelve, lost her parents at eighteen, became a doctor, fell in love with the Lord of Death, and died in the shadow world turning into ash.
Natasha’s mortal soul was granted absolution.
~~~
Azrael
“What is she?” Azrael asked.
Sahir’s hollowness deepens.
“The children of the earth, the Elements of creation. Light, love, life. She is life, the flower of life. The manifestation of life, she has ascended,” Sahir takes him and puts something on it.
“Tell her as I promised,” Sahir walked passed Azrael.
Azrael looked down at what it was, surprised he turned but Sahir and Aris, bounded in shadows, were both gone. He was standing alone, surrounded by snow and clouds alone.
The flower of life, A balance, He brought her death, and she brought him back to life. She chooses him. No matter how much she loved life. She loved him more; whatever he had lost thousands of years ago came back a thousandfold in the way she smiled at him and held on to him even though the reasons were not apparent at that time, either to him or her. It was the spark of life. When he first met her, he saw her eyes and took her to her previous life on the boat. He wanted her to live.