Black Tie
Page 16
Chapter 10 – Found
The light was uncomfortably bright; I just wanted to sleep in for a few more minutes. I tried fidgeting to get into a more comfortable position but pain jolted through my body. Oh God I wish I was still asleep. I saw the silhouettes of two men standing over me. "Well done my friend, well done. You don't have to suffer anymore." The man kneeled and placed his hand on my head and chest. The pain evaporated. "Wow, do that again please," I asked unashamedly.
A few moments later and my wounds were fully healed, pain nonexistent. My eyes adjusted to the light and I saw Death and myself standing in front of me. "These belong to you." Death pointed to my twin, he smiled and stepped forward. "Wait," I asked, "Should I take my memories back? What if I want to go back to the other world?" "You won't. You should take them back; the past is important, just not for my job interview." Death’s tone was cheerful.
My two bodies reunited as my memories and identity flowed back into me. I felt uncannily whole, every piece of me was in the right spot. I was myself again. I turned to Death, "Now what?" He started walking, "We should turn the Obelisk on."
We headed towards the tower. "What's with the grid of identical stones?" I asked. "I like tessellations." "Do I get an initiates set of scythe and black robe now?" Death chuckled, "Only if you want, if you wear enough black the mark typically recognizes you immediately, a part of them always wants to be freed from their grip on life, even if only subconsciously."
"I feel different. I feel really different." Death stopped and looked at me. "We are the next step in evolution; I came into being starting in 215 A.D. I went through the same transformation that you just did, though mine was substantially longer because I wasn't in a place like this designed to facilitate the transformation. In 1882 I had a discussion with a dying mark who was an evolutionary scientist, after a long talk about the human species and my role he classified me as homo sentiens.
I had never thought to classify myself within taxonomy before so I liked the label; it helped me stay connected to my ancestral species. It's important you understand this immediately, you are not human anymore, we once were and our DNA is expectedly similar. We have abilities and powers that no human will ever possess. I don't fully understand the difference yet, though I am studying it."
The black pedestal that opened the interior of the Obelisk emerged from the ground where it slept. Death kneeled and picked up one of the stone discs and handed it to me, "Your first insight to your power as a reaper, rearranging matter." I looked at Death with curiosity. "Go ahead, change it." "Okay," I replied, I had no reason to doubt anything he said.
The disc melted in my hands into a stone flower. I thought it, and it happened. "Well done, we'll discuss more of that later, but now you must dispatch your first mark." With a wave of his hand the bloodied burlap man appeared before me, laying in the fetal position clutching his journal. Pity filled me, "What happened to him?"
"Marius's fate is unusual; I didn't know it could happen actually. The sisters’ only goal in life was power; they sought it by studying the essence of life. They wanted to harvest it for themselves. The internal spark that drives our cells is the same force that facilitated your evolution to homo sentiens."
Death continued, “Through that rather ingenious contraption they put on him they were able to extract some of that spark for themselves. Unfortunately they lacked the ability and humility to control such power and it twisted them into the beings you fought so bravely. His refusal to accept death is involuntary; it’s a result of the iron rods embedded in his spine and skull. You’ll need to remove them."
Marius lie whimpering curled around his journal; I kneeled putting my hand on his shoulder. Blood oozed through the burlap. "I'm sorry they did this to you Marius." As I said goodbye to the shattered man I pulled the iron snake from his back. He went limp. I looked up at Death. "That's the way it goes my friend," he said reassuringly. "I know I just felt bad for him."
Death looked at my pocket and pointed, "That's who you should feel bad for." I pulled out the statue of the weeping man, "Who was he?" "The last person to come here, he made it to the room of reflection and couldn't let go of his past life. He stayed in there for a decade before he tried to leave; the grief killed him when he stepped through the door. He wept for a month before he let go of life; that is my tribute to his effort."
"I understand." Thoughts of my own past filled me, "It's letting go of love that's the hardest." "I know, he spent ten years with the memories of his wife, in that room, he just couldn't let go." The image of my lost love filled me; she would never be mine again. "How long was I in the room of reflection?" Death replied coolly and precisely, "Just over nine months." I looked at him with bewilderment "Wow I had no idea." For the first time Death looked solemn, I could only guess what great loves he had to let go as well.
“You said there were two before me. Who was the other?” I asked. “The first person I brought here had the mind to finish but not the strength. The body and mind are not separate; both must be strong and united to evolve.” “The wells?” I guessed. “Yes, he managed to get both of the colored orbs but died panicking in the center well.”
He turned to the black pedestal, "You're strong enough to turn it the other way now." "What does it do?" The same smirk he gave me in the room of pillars returned on his lips, "You'll see." The top of the pedestal rotated easily in the opposite direction, it clicked firmly into its new position. The ground rumbled, Death stood with his hands idly in his pockets staring at the top of the Obelisk. I did the same.
The ventilating panels all erupted cascading down; they shed from the tower like leaves from a tree. Two loops of metal emerged from the ground and secured my feet to the earth. The ground began to shake as the gravity faded. Death looked at me, "You might have guessed this by now, but we are not on Earth." "That thought came to me when I first realized the sun wasn't moving in the sky. So where are we?" The pull of gravity stopped. "An asteroid I modified as your test facility." The gravity was slowly growing, pulling us upward. Wait a second.
"Are we being pulled into the sun?"
"We certainly are."
"How is that not a bad thing?"
"There might be a few cells in your body that are still human; we need to get rid of them."
The wind began to howl upward as the gravity began to build. The stone discs began drifting lazily off the ground into the air gathering speed and falling upwards towards the growing sun.
I turned to Death who still stood casually staring at the sun. "You know self-immolation wasn't high on my to-do list of things should get done as a higher being." He laughed saying, "You'll know what to do when we get there, and don’t worry about it now, just enjoy the ride." The pull was ferocious; the metal panels littered around the tower began to fly off the ground into the sky. The sun filled my view. The life giving ball of fire didn't blind me, for the first time I saw its true beauty swirling and burning brightly.
“Don't you need this place in case there are more people like me?” I had to yell over the roar from the swing in gravity. “No, it's served its purpose; you'll build the next one when the time comes,” Death shouted back.
The heat began to melt everything around us, I felt a vibration all around my body, I had full control. A few patches of my skin burnt off and were replaced instantly. The sun had nearly engulfed everything, fire and light swirled around me and my companion. The sun reduced the asteroid to nothingness, the obelisk disintegrated, Death and I floated next to each other. I could bend matter effortlessly to my will; it was the simple matter of rearranging atoms. Death made a large sphere of glass and encased us in it as we flew through the heart of the star. Death looked at me, "It's beautiful isn't it."
"Like nothing I've ever seen."
"We've got a few marks to visit, are you ready?"
"How long till we get to Earth?"
"Shade over eight minutes."
I pulled some of the sun into the glass orb, the small ball of
fire flew around us, I rearranged it into a black suit and tie. I adjusted the cuffs on my sleeves and then my tie. Looking smug with satisfaction, "Let's go." Death looked at me incredulously, "Great the first person I get to share enlightenment with and he's a prima donna." I smiled and shrugged as we headed back to Earth.
###
About the Author
How awkward is it writing your own author bio? I haven’t written anything publishable until this piece, what am I supposed to tell you? I’m currently twenty-two years old. I’m from Charleston, SC. I studied exercise physiology at the University of Florida. I like doing bro-stuff with my bros, were I a dinosaur I would be a broloceraptor. Yes, that is a real dinosaur, and yes it could easily tear your face off. Thank you so much for reading my work!
Please remember this is a work of fiction. Any likenesses to your own encounters with Death are completely unintentional and coincidental.