If there was an afterlife...Hell or Heaven, they better pray that I wasn’t there. I’d be their hell more than the damn demon spawns.
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Death...people always made a big fuss about what lied on the other side. Heaven or Hell, nothing or maybe even a chance at another life...well, how ‘grateful’ am I to know life’s most damning question. There was a hell and it was more chilly rather than scorching and was a lot damper than I suspected. No demon spawn to run from, no fiery walls to leap over, it was just...quiet. Lightning strikes flashed frequently, providing a constant source of light in the darkness where there seemed to be nothing but water! The thunder rumbling so loudly afterward that it shook the ‘grounds’ beneath me.
Hell, the ground wasn’t even dirt, nothing more than water that I could stand on.
“Ouch...” I groaned as I attempted to get up, the shooting pain immediately making my back fall back onto the water before my hand raised gingerly to feel the wound where the dagger had pierced my chest.
There was an open wound alright...it wasn’t bleeding profusely but, the blood around there was wet no less. My skin was cold to the touch and each time I pressed two fingers to the side of my neck? I could feel no pulse.
I was dead.
“Hello!?” I forced myself to croak out as I tried to stand, my knees buckling underneath me constantly before I finally reached my full height.
Quickly, I covered myself with my hands before I started to look around.
There couldn’t just be my naked self, the lightning, and the water here...even if it was the monster that was supposed to lead me into the underworld.
There had to be someone else here!
“Anyone out there?!” I shouted once more before I dared to take a step forward. Suddenly, the water began to rumble, the sight of the water beginning to splash around and crackle with purple and gold lightning making me gulp before I began to see something form in the distance.
Misty sprays began to rain down from above as the water grew fiercer and fiercer, the rumbling knocking me back onto my behind as my eyes were fully trained on the form in the distance. Besides the height...the thing seemed to be bigger than four empire state buildings stacked on top of one another, the first thing I saw was four glowing red eyes followed along with the water beginning to rise and form more parts of the body.
The creature, whatever it was, had long black legs that resembled a bird’s. It carried the thing confidently and gracefully while the ends of its feet were equipped with dagger-like talons. The feathers that began to form, sticking onto the body rapidly, were the color of stone but had a purple-ish tint to them as they held a rough texture to them. The thing’s wings resembled a dragon’s almost...a contradiction that made its bird-like appearance scarier as two claws tipped the edges and allowed it to walk on all fours instead of just two. Its beak was the typical dark yellow color but had red near the end while the sides were jagged to resemble teeth. But...the most frightening part of the beast was its tail, it was long and whip-like until you reached the end where a large, glowing diamond-shaped gem laid, glistening and gleaming with electricity as it seemed to spin and spin until the water finally calmed while the area around continued to rage with lightning and thunder.
“Hm...” The creature suddenly hummed before all of its eyes took notice of me.
I immediately began to back up.
“A human? In my waters? That’s new.” It continued, its snake-like tongue flicking out of its mouth.
I had no better reason to run after seeing that!
“Hey! Where are you going?!” The creature roared as I tried to run off, the water once again beginning to splash around as it once again made me trip over my own feet like a klutz.
Time after time though, I got onto my feet and tried to keep running, desperately trying to ignore the thunderous sound of feet before I finally skidded to a stop at the sight of a giant wall of lighting-filled water blocking my path. ‘Damn it, damn it, damn it!” I screamed inside my head.
I couldn’t catch a fucking break!
Murdered with no chance of returning home and yet I was still fucked around with, even in death!
“Storm Empress...” I sighed as I dropped to my knees.
“To be killed over and over again in death...this really must be hell...” I sniffled, forcing myself to keep my tears in before the feeling of a pointed end digging into my back made me yelp a little.
“Y-You’re dead...?”
I narrowed my eyes. “Yeah, isn’t the Devil supposed to know that?”
“Devil? Who’s that? You said my sister’s title! Storm Empress!”
It was my turn to be confused, how did the Devil not know his own name?
Much less know who the Storm Empress was? Shouldn’t the Devil be knowing in all types of ‘false’ deities or idols?
Seeing as he seemed to be nothing but a faker himself.
‘King of Hell my ass...’ I thought with a sigh.
“The Devil...” I repeated slowly as I dared to turn around, the sight of the creature’s beak right in my space making me flinch a little.
“Ruler of Hell? Fallen angel? Ringing any bells? How in the world do you not know this yet you know and claim the Storm Empress is your sister?” I grumbled before I crossed my arms.
“Because she is my sister!” The creature cawed.
“Mother of Lightning? Queen of the Oceans? Empress of Fury? Muted Nightmare? Does that ring any bells to you? Mortal?”
My eyes widened to the size of two moons, all my life...Dad had told me about the Storm Empress, constantly describing her to look like a dragon but he never told me that she had a brother! However, as I looked around me once more, the sight of the lightning ringing a new bell in my head. I could see the similarities at the very least.
“It does...m-my Dad worshipped her on Earth but he never said she had a sibling...” I said hesitantly before I slowly but surely began to put space between me and his beak.
The creature raised its head, his tail flicking side to side behind him before a huff escaped its beak.
“Really? ‘The Depth’, Thunderbird of Koinai! Did she really not mention anything about me?!” I shook my head.
“Ah! My big sister always does this to me...always forgetting about her younger brother! I was the one who taught her to use lighting and channel it, you know?!” He complained, confusion only filling my head more and more while I continued to keep silent.
Finally, the creature calmed down and sat down in front of me with a heavy sigh and a shake of the waters.
Hell?
No.
Somewhere else that wasn't quite the after-life? Yes.
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