Chapter Two (from the perspective of Death's servant)

               “How is she?”

                I turned to the red-haired nurse who had just come into the hospital room.

                “She has a lot of stitches from injuries and surgery. She also has a broken wrist. Besides all of that, she will survive to live another day...what was your name again?”

                The young woman peered into my eyes.

                “Um…Eric. I am her brother.”

                The woman took a glance at the sleeping girl and back towards me.

                “You look the same age. About twenty, but the both of you must not be identical twins, eh?”

                I smiled.

                “No. I am two years and a few months older.”

                The nurse took another over-all look at me. Then, she checked the girl’s vitals and left the room with the closing of a heavy door.

                Master is going to kill me…I’m just glad he gave me a glamour to cover my true identity in this world...but still he is going to kill me.

                I laid my cane, next to the girl’s hospital bed, with the skull’s hollowed eyes blankly staring at me.

                I could almost imagine his angry face.

                I gave a slight heavy sigh.

                “Dad...dy…”

                The girl’s eyes flickered with a dream.

                I should go before she wakes up...

                I pulled my trench-coat’s hood over my face again.

                Why did I not just harvest her soul? You do not want another scowl do you, Faron? Despite our failure, the Master will still come to gather her soul himself…or possibly The One Above All...so what was the point? Why did you not take her soul with your scythe, Faron?!?

                I stood above the girl’s dreaming face. Her whole being…was…beautiful...shining, like an illuminating moon, peeking through a sea of olive skin and some freckles. No regular human eye could physically see the Light that flowed through her. All who honestly followed and worshipped The One Above All have this Light, of course, but some people shined brighter than others, dazzling like stars.

                Maybe that is why I did not pluck her soul…

                “Because she was ravishing? Why, you really are a fool. You are a servant of Death, Faron, no longer human.”

                I turned in dread to find my Master before me. He wore the same attire (green cloak and all) as usual, but also with a silver mask that held the power of his glamour. My cane was the medium of my glamour.

                “Greetings, Master.”

                I bowed reverently; Death waved his hand, calling forth a swirling portal of circling stars.

                “Come, we must talk, Faron.”

                I picked up my cane and stepped into the portal with Death. We were swooshed, like a fast comet, to the brim of the earthly universe. Here, we encountered an angel of God who allowed us to enter into the Realms of Eternity, which are outside of the time-stream and the earthly universe.  

The earthly universe is in the shape similar to a full sphere, filled with both darkness and Light, material and immaterial, wavelengths and the fluid lines of time. The One Above All’s city lies behind the angel of God who guards at the brim of the earthly universe. Below the city, lays a deep void of flames and darkness, where there is constant weeping and gnashing of teeth. A thin layer of glass, similar to earthly mosaic and/or stained glass, lies above the void and ends at the entrance of The One Above All’s city. On this thin layer of glass, Death and I stood.

                “Hades, do you understand that you went against my explicit orders, again?”

                “Yes.”

                How I hate that name…it is not even my name, but my servant name....but it is your name, Faron.

                A large whip of sharp thorns lashed across my face, taking off one of my stitched-on leather patches. Bright, skeletal bone gleamed beneath the patch. The glamour did not work here.

                “And all because she was simply beautiful. You, fool! ”

Death lashed me again with the whip and I growled.

He may be my Master...but...but...Faron, he is your master. You sold your soul.

“Yet I feel something deeper in you...what was the other reason?”

                I looked down at the burning void of Hell, gripping the side of my greenish-black cape (made from infinite threads of non-earthly velveteen).  

                “Her...Light…”

                “What about Him, who indwells in souls at His will and time?”

                “He…the Spirit…the Light was so-so bright in her. I just could not reap her…her soul was too pure, too precious, too radiant. I wanted to---”

                “Pure? HA! Do not let your eyes fool you, boy. She is a sinner like the rest of them and has her darkness. There is nothing pure about her. She is only ‘pure’ in the sense of being filled with His Light because of her trust in the Prince Messiah’s promise. That’s it.”

                “Still…the Light was too radiant for me.”

                “Too radiant?!? Do you not know that your soul belongs to me, Hades? I made your essence into mine. You should not feel. You should not be blinded by His Light That Indwells. Your heart is to be dead and consumed in emptiness, just like mine. You must have a seed of humanity still left in you to feel these things. I shall take it and crush it!”

                No!

                Death circled the whip across my throat, making holes in my hood and leather patches.

                “Your soul is mine and mine alone. Do you hear me, Hades? You shall be death as I am Death. You are death!”

                His hollowed eyes were a-blazed in flames, heating up my decayed yet entranced face.

                “STOP! Do not touch the boy.”

                A gigantic pillar of blazing fire split us two apart; we quickly flattened our bodies to the glassy ground.

                “Hail to the Lord on High!”

                “Do not dare to speak with that decayed viper’s tongue, Death! I and My Triune Will is absolute! I AM, the GREAT I AM! Adara Chesire’s soul is to be left alone until her planned time! I have not willed her to come home yet! Remember that, again, Death! If either of you touch her with your scythes, I will bring My wrath upon you! Do you understand?”

                “Yes, Lord on High.”

                “And do you understand My command, Faron Hades?”

                I shook violently; I dared not to look up for the full power of His Light would be too strong for me.

                That’s right, Faron...you are not His.

                “Yes, Sir of all sirs. Understood.”

                “Now, go from here! Back to your pits!”

                The pillar of fire disappeared and us, two, were left alone.

Author's Note

Sorry about any spacing issues! Pasting it from my Word document does that!