Please note that Tapas no longer supports Internet Explorer.
We recommend upgrading to the latest Microsoft Edge, Google Chrome, or Firefox.
Home
Comics
Novels
Community
Mature
More
Help Discord Forums Newsfeed Contact Merch Shop
Publish
Home
Comics
Novels
Community
Mature
More
Help Discord Forums Newsfeed Contact Merch Shop
__anonymous__
__anonymous__
0
  • Publish
  • Ink shop
  • Redeem code
  • Settings
  • Log out

Kingdom of Sun

Nothing Stands Still

Nothing Stands Still

Jan 12, 2022

This content is intended for mature audiences for the following reasons.

  • •  Blood/Gore
Cancel Continue

Well, no...there had to be something. Utter darkness enclosed me on all sides; an empty void lost in the reverberations of a forgotten echo. All that I could claim as myself proved no more than a faint, numbing fuzz. I couldn’t move. I couldn’t feel. Time either sped onward or ceased completely. While I tried to speak, no words came out.

“Persephone Williams.”

The sensation of contact rolled and misted through my core. What I took in was not sound, not a mouth forming noises. It was simply understanding.

“Yes?”

From my desire and will I responded in kind to whoever, whatever was there. No shapes manifested. No heavenly visage or bright light made itself known. However, in the darkness there appeared blotches. Intangible patches of undefined blackness as when one rubs their closed eyes pulsed again and again.

“You sacrificed your life for another,” the entity relayed knowingly, detached yet sympathetic, “and we have sought you out for this.”

My unseeing eyes stared. I took a deep breath though there were no lungs to fill. Had my heart not been gouged by a bullet before vanishing into this void, it’d be beating in a constant roll.

“I did die, didn’t I?” I mumbled. I’d been with Charlie, then wrapped around that little girl, and then here within the span of one blurred moment. “Did it make a difference? Charlie stepped out into the hallway after me. Is he alright?”

Color and motion flashed before me in a vision. Charlie, always gentle and sweet, lunged like a wild animal at the attacker while my still body, bleeding heavily, remained tightly covering the quivering girl. Charlie smashed the gunman into the wall where three boys from the wrestling team burst from the cafeteria to pin him on the ground far from his dropped gun.

My conceptual heart spun as a wet rag twisted when Charlie moved to me, the girl being lured apart by her pale-faced teacher, embracing us together until his face buried deep in the crook of my neck. His shoulders twitched as he cried. The vision faded.

“Your death was the only one. Some of the others who were hurt will never be the same, but they live.”

“That’s...good,” I processed slowly. In the eternal nothingness that persisted, any chance at true comprehension of this moment dissipated. Again those blotches warped. Only after another stretching moment did I vaguely comprehend what I might be talking to.

“You will not recognize us as any god known upon your world,” the entity addressed my curiosity. “We exist to ensure there is a soul to fill a body born. There is a shortage of the former and an excess of the latter.”

“How does that even work?”

“Should you choose, you may be given placement in a needing body. We cannot control the exact time or place, but we can guarantee you’ll be led to something familiar,” it ignored me.

“Y-You’re talking rebirth? Well, I suppose that shouldn’t be a surprising concept right now. Why me? Because I sacrificed myself and so I’m worthy? What would happen when this new life ends? Would my soul still be able to find my loved ones from this life? Is me being here right now proof that there’s an afterlife? What happens if I decline?”

All those questions were asked, but only one response came. Silence. Stiffening, I struggled harder yet to think. I could forever block myself from everyone I loved now if I took this offer. However, the entity claimed its task was to fill bodies with souls. Maybe once a soul was done that was it. No one could care past ensuring mortal life continued. Being reborn would give me a chance to become an adult and life a full life, letting me accept that potential wiping of consciousness with grace.

“I...I will be reborn,” I went for it before I ended up trapped forever in indecision.

“We see,” the entity accepted. “Hold tight, formerly Persephone Williams. You will find yourself chosen for birth shortly.”

Shortly, it said. Immediately was what it meant. My form jerked forward as if tossed, and only then did I gather I should have tried a few more questions about the process. Well, whatever. My consciousness as Persephone was done. Soon I’d be a little baby with none of this meaning anything. I just hoped I’d find myself with a family as loving as my last.

All my will went into that wish as a sudden, intense pressure abruptly took hold where a more muted blackness quickly gave way to movement, sound, the rush of air across bare skin, and cloth-gloved hands holding an immensely tiny body. My body.

My body wet, sticky, and smelly covered in vernix and blood that had clearly just come from...

My mouth unlatched wide to unleash a shouting cry. What was this!? It was too much for sure, for thick and splitting my head pounded. I understood the birthing process had just expelled me. I still recalled myself and my life. However, here I was held by massive hands gingerly settling me upon a soft blanket. Why hadn’t there been a memory wipe? What near eighteen-year-old would want to be stuck in the body of a newborn?

Although, I seemingly wouldn’t be stuck for long. Mere confusion wasn’t the reason for the agonizing headache. The cry I’d attempted hadn’t come out. I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t even see properly. At least I knew the fuzzy, blurry grayscale of being lost in horror movie fog was merely a staple of a newborn’s badly developed eyesight. My body was too small though. I was likely premature, and this was why my lungs rest gooped and unmoving in my chest like undercooked pancakes despite the person giving me CPR.

“Fade...fast...priest. Grace...now!” they called out, a deeper voice signifying male.

Hmm? I understood something? It wasn’t anything like the English, Greek, or Spanish I knew. It was its own thing— fluid and rolling yet not quite as soft as, say, French. Part of me wondered if the entity was taking pity on me by trying to give me some understanding of this short new life. An all too familiar cold dredge started luring me from my senses. Oh well. At least the man above me had tried his best. So did the person who rushed over and spread a silky cream upon my chest that tickled my skin with warmth. The man resumed CPR as the high-pitched shrieking scalding my skull built to a climax.

All of a sudden, the heat of the cream settled in as a cozy fire. My lungs burst open at its prompting touch where the man’s forced breath turned my abdomen into an overinflated balloon. This time my cry belted out with all its deserved intensity, and the two near me sighed in relief.

RandomKelsey
Random Kelsey

Creator

Quiz time! The titles of the first two chapters are based off a famous quote. Who is the originator of that quote?

Comments (17)

See all
Jillamy
Jillamy

Top comment

It's refreshing to see something other than a car accident, as awful as this situation is.

61

Add a comment

Recommendation for you

  • The Beginning After the End
    3Hr

    Recommendation

    The Beginning After the End

    Action Fantasy 1.9m likes

  • Debut or Die!
    3Hr

    Recommendation

    Debut or Die!

    Drama 129.9k likes

  • Skeleton King
    3Hr

    Recommendation

    Skeleton King

    Action Fantasy 584 likes

  • Villains Are Destined to Die

    Recommendation

    Villains Are Destined to Die

    Romance Fantasy 157.6k likes

  • The S-Class Healer is the Angel of Death
    3Hr

    Recommendation

    The S-Class Healer is the Angel of Death

    Action Fantasy 1.4k likes

  • The Perks of Being an S-Class Heroine
    3Hr

    Recommendation

    The Perks of Being an S-Class Heroine

    Romance Fantasy 79.5k likes

  • feeling lucky

    Feeling lucky

    Random series you may like

Kingdom of Sun
3Hr
Kingdom of Sun

208.5k views3k subscribers

Login to unlock free episodes!
The only uncommon aspect of Persephone’s high school life is her unique name. She desires nothing more than quiet stability running her family’s orchard and hopes her friends won’t go far after graduation. Yet when the chilling bursts of gunfire boom, all her wishes are left behind. To save another life, she gives up her own.

“We have sought you out for this,” an otherworldly sentience claims to her in the space between. Persephone chooses the chance of rebirth it gives. Not anticipating her memories staying, she becomes Princess Evianna Emara of Solstice, the Kingdom of Sun. Each passing year offers hardship to match comfort, and nothing of Evianna’s life is quiet when the cogs of the world’s fate find in her choice exactly the soul they need.
Subscribe

977 episodes

Nothing Stands Still

Nothing Stands Still

11.3k views 451 likes 17 comments


Style
More
Like
53
Support
List
Comment

Prev
Next

Full
Exit
451
17
Support
Prev
Next