Death rocked back and forth in their chair in time with the beat, humming along to the song. They rather enjoyed their new headphones, as well as the little device connected to them. It was rather ingenious of humanity to invent portable music like this.258Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhcyrGFO7Qr
258Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpYyKkliohH
“Eeeeex-iiiiiiit liiiiight!” they hummed. “Eeeeeen-teeeeer niiiiight! Taaaaake my haaaaand! We’re off to never-never land!”
The door to the meeting room opened and Jane walked in holding her favorite clipboard. She had recently decorated it with a myriad of charming stickers made in the guise of creatures she called, “Pokémon,” of which the little frog creature named Bulbasaur was the best… or so she said. When asked why she had requisitioned them from RepDiv she had merely shrugged and said, “Morale.”
Her lips moved silently. Death paused the music and removed their headphones, tilting their head to the side. “Afternoon,” Jane repeated, walking to the front of the room to stand beside them. Kay remained by the door, holding it open for the souls that followed. Kumiko from Orientation, Leonardo and Pierre from the Replication Division, Haniah from Communications, Elderhart from the Reaper Corps, Shannon from Afterlife Oversight, Sa’Tidi from the newly established Judgement Hall, Nuelwe from Soul Relations, and Bob from the new Transitions team.
Death stood as they entered. “Excellent! The electronic mail was a success!”
The gathering shot a round of bemused looks at each other but said nothing—not even Sa’Tidi, who under normal circumstances had no issue in making themself heard. Jane was proud of them. The number of blank or broken emails that Death had sent out in the past 24 hours had been nothing short of staggering before Jane had intervened. She made a mental note to have Pierre work Death through how to operate a computer later, along with any other managers that needed it. Maybe they could make it a seminar.
The souls seated themselves at a semi-circular table facing the front of the room. Kay closed the door and stood to the side, ready to help if needed. Taking that as their cue, Jane strode to the center of the semi-circle with Death. “Thank you all for coming, everyone. I’m sure you all know why we’re here.”
She got some nods. Elderhart said, “It is my dear hope that Master Death’s lightning-mail was in jest, Lady Jane, and that you have called us here to say as much.”
“Afraid not, soldier.”
Elderhart grunted in disapproval. Shannon raised her hand.
“Shannon?”
“Yes, hi, follow-up question: are they out of their Goddamned minds?”
Jane tightened her mouth. “They’re very much in them, unfortunately.”
“I would think that we’re the Goddamned ones here,” Pierre said with a sniff. Leonardo chuckled lightly.
“If we’re all Goddamned then I’m whatever’s worse than that—me and my whole division. Do you know how much construction and bureaucratical crap I’ve had to deal with after their—”
“A lot, yes, we know,” Jane said, raising her hands placatingly. Shannon settled with a grumble. Jane couldn’t blame her—the gods had messed with her entire sector, vastly lengthening the time it would take to get her personal Afterlife. Everyone had suffered for it, but if anyone in the room had earned the right to complain about it, it was Shannon most of all. “We’re here to iron out the details, after which, Death has some news to deliver.”
“I do?” Death asked.
Jane shot them a look. Death jerked their head in recollection. “Ah. Yes. That. I do indeed.”
“What is it?” Sa’Tidi asked.
“Later,” Jane said. “We need to focus on the changes we need to make, starting with the Reaper Corp.”
Elderhart sat straighter, looking attentively at Jane. She liked that about him. She’d known plenty of men around tables just like this one when she was alive who noticeably lost interest whenever she spoke, but the old knight had been unfailingly respectful from the start. Jane continued. “Would you say that we’ve got a handle on ferrying new arrivals from the mortal realm?”
“Yes, but there have been… irregularities, let us say. I had meant to address them with Master Death after our council.”
Jane nodded. “And you are well-staffed?”
“Well enough.”
“Then I need you to select about a quarter of your souls for special training. They’re going to learn how to act as Guardians for the newly deceased, so choose your friendliest and most empathetic. The goal is to eventually get everyone trained.”
“Isn’t that under my jurisdiction?” Kumiko interjected.
“You and Elderhart will be working closely with each other. His Guardians will help ease new souls into Orientation and act as chaperones while your sector shifts to focus on afterlife placement and purgatory hospitality.”
Kumiko looked thoughtfully at Jane. “Is the world about to end?”
Jane balked. “What?”
“That is what I was thinking,” Pierre said.
Kumiko continued, “I can only imagine that you’re shifting my sector and the Corp’s duties in order to prepare for a large influx of souls. So is the world ending?”
“No! The world’s not ending! Right?” Jane said, turning to Death.
Death waggled their hand ambiguously.
“Death!”
“I’m not omnipotent, Jane. The worlds could end at any moment. Their fates are in a constant state of flux.”
“Worlds?” Kumiko echoed.
“Moving on,” Jane said hurriedly. “Sa’Tidi, Bob, you have both been briefed, but for everyone else, you need to know that the gods have charged us with handling the judgement of souls, their trials, their damnation and redemption, and their off-boarding to reincarnation. Sa’Tidi will be in charge of Judgement, and will work together with Bob in sending them off. Bob will also be our emissary to the Celestial Council—the face of the Underworld, so to speak.”
Sa’Tidi nodded their head in acknowledgement. Bob broke into a broad grin and waved happily at everyone, saying, “Nice to meet you all! I look forward to working with you.”
“Our system will work thusly. The Guardians ferry the soul to the Underworld when they are ready to depart. Orientation holds them in Purgatory and takes them on a first-come basis and sorts them based on their mortal beliefs, after which they are sent to be judged by Sa’Tidi. If they were naughty in life then they get a sack of coal. If they were nice, they get a toaster.”
Bob chuckled. Everyone else gave her blank looks. Jane’s smile faded and she cleared her throat. “If they were evil in life then they will be given trials to undergo meant to ‘cleanse’ them. Should they succeed, they get to go to their afterlife.”
“Some will be working for many lifetimes,” Sa’Tidi said grimly. “I do not like that human newcomer with the moustache.”
Shannon looked askance at Sa’Tidi. “Human? What?”
Jane sucked in a breath. “This is where we get to Death’s news.” She turned to face Haniah and Nuelwe. “Sorry in advance, ladies.”
Death stepped forward. “Many of you are from separate worlds.”
Silence fell, and was only broken when Shannon barked out a laugh. “You’re joking!”
“They aren’t,” Jane said somberly. “Death?”
“The Underworld is the land which all worlds funnel into,” Death continued. “Think of it as the roots of a great tree, though acting in reverse—the leaves collect nutrients for the roots. In its branches are four realms, each orbiting around a central fifth realm.”
As they spoke, Death summoned a projection before them to demonstrate. Four orbs rested at the top surrounding a bigger central orb, and at the bottom of the projection was a dark expanse. “In the middle we have the Maker Plane—the originator realm that spawned the four above it. Jane is from that one. Next, we have the Realm of Possibility, which is where all that could have been resides. Besides that, we have the Realm of Thought, where ideas and dreams are given shape. Next is the Realm of Hope, containing all the idealizations and emotions that govern life. And finally, we have the Realm of Beginning, where all that is to be has yet to manifest.”
Death waved their hand and sent the orbs spinning around each other. “When a possibility becomes truly impossible. When a dream dies, and memory fades. When hope is lost. When something ends before it begins. I am there, each and every time.”
“And up until this point we have only been managing the big one,” Jane said, tapping the central orb.
More silence—heavier this time. The managers looked across the table at each other. Elderhart broke the silence first. “This explains the irregularities. I retract my query.”
The other managers stared at him—most with incredulity. Elderhart shrugged. “I was wondering why I only ferried the human dead. Karassia could not have changed that much since I met my end. To think that I have been guiding souls from another world entirely, though…” He shook his head. “It does not change the mission.”
“I would say it changes a great deal,” Nuelwe said for the first time, leaning forward to gaze at the floating orbs intently. She flicked her pointed ears. “How does one relate with a soul from another world? With an emotion given shape? With an idea?”
Haniah nodded her head sagely, but said nothing.
“And here I thought you all were larping nerds,” Shannon muttered, staring around the room at the most non-human-looking souls with unconcealed surprised.
“How interconnected are these realms?” Nuelwe continued.
“Very,” Death said. “The realms are not entirely separate; they all draw from each other. The Maker Realm is merely the originator. Each of you are souls who possessed your own lives—have no fear about that.”
“So… wait,” Shannon said, voice rising. “You’re telling me that I need to make an afterlife for something that never even existed?”
“From the Realm of Beginning! Precisely!” Death said, nodding.
Shannon stared at Death. Then she threw back her head and cackled. She continued laughing as she stood up from the desk, marched to the door, and threw it open with a slam. She was still laughing as she disappeared down the hall.
“We’ll talk with her later,” Jane said to Kay. Then to everyone else, “Let’s end the meeting here. I’m sure you have a lot to think about. Go record your questions and we’ll meet again tomorrow.”
Jane, Death, and Kay stood beside each other while everyone filed out the door, murmuring to themselves. Death turned to the other two. “That went rather well. Shannon seemed particularly thrilled.”
Jane and Kay traded flat looks with each other.
“Shall we return to the administration building?” Death continued.
Jane clicked her tongue. “Kay and I are going to stop by the break room. We’ll meet you there.”
“Very good.” Death put their headphones back on, humming the bars to ‘Sad But True’ as they walked away.
Kay turned to Jane once they had left. “Did everyone look as aghast as I thought they did?”
“Yep.”
Silence.
“This is going to be pretty dreadful, isn’t it?” Kay said.
“Yep.”
Silence again.
“Want to ask Leo if RepDiv made any whiskey?” Kay asked.
Jane sighed. “Ooooh, yes.”
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