The sea of blood, stained black from decay crashed against the pillars of stone in large violent waves. The Riverperson watched from atop its ship. A being of no origin, a creature with no past, no journey and no fate, but a purpose it very much had. Steering the vessel down the darkened river that seemed to stretch for millennia, the Riverperson came across sounds of distress as a human girl fell from the void above into the inky depths. It wasn’t long before she was fished out by ebony tendrils that sprung from the boat’s hull and gently placed upon the smooth wood planks of the ship’s deck.

When the human awoke, disoriented and afraid, she wanted to scream, But before she could open her mouth she took in her surroundings, she was lying atop the deck of a ship, wrapped in a soft blanket to keep her warm and a cup of warm tea at her side. She could see the hooded figure of the Riverperson at the bow of the ship looking for more lost souls. Still distraught and rather afraid, but also felt a strange sense of comfort and familiarity with where she was. Time passed and she eventually brought herself to stand up and approach the Riverperson, though, despite her quiet steps, almost as if it could feel her tread across the boards the entity turned around revealing a view she did not expect, the hood was too dark to see into somehow, darker than the darkest black. Its arms were slightly visible at the end of the end of the robe’s baggy sleeves, or they would be if it wasn’t for what looked like long black gloves.

“W-who are you” the girl asked nervously but got no response to her inquiry, the Riverperson just faced her blankly for a few moments before turning around to continue its search.

The Riverperson tensed up and as if it was magic, defying the current, the boat stopped in place. seconds passed before one of the pillars came crashing down into the river, it was only a moment before the pillar vanished into the abyss of the river, the shockwave sent waves crashing against the hull, seemingly hurting the hooded creature as it protected its cargo. As the sea calmed the Riverperson fell forward weakened from the waves; The human girl was exploring the ship’s hull as the Figure dealt with the aftermath of the chaos when she came upon a journal. Opening it she was met with strings of numbers, names, and symbols. She recognized the numbers as dates but they went back thousands of years, she flipped through the book until reaching the twenty-first century, then followed a chart down until she saw something odd: her name was inscribed in the newest filled slot along with the Egyptian symbol for death.

“it seemed her archeology degree had a use after all,” she thought, letting out a soft chuckle before the symbol’s meaning set in. She had died, her memories of that day rushing back to her as she had a vision of bright headlights quickly approaching her before silence, then being in a hospital bed with someone familiar crying, leaning on her bed and bedding her to wake up.

The Riverperson continued the vessel’s journey until it came upon the first and perhaps only diversion in the river. Turning the ship towards its destination they sailed forward into what seemed to be a small lake with a tower in the center. Docking shortly after the Riverperson sunk into the hull to collect its cargo. The girl, standing there still shocked was gently escorted back to the deck where the tendrils carefully lifted her onto an altar. She looked up at the figure one last time before weakly asking.

“Am I really dead?..” In the Riverperson’s first actual show of communication, it, seemingly regretfully nodded to her before. To her shock and dismay, the boat itself started to crumble and reshape until it was a close enough platform for the Riverperson to glide off it onto the altar below. Almost as if the boat was an illusion it retreated into the entity's cloak.

The Riverperson led her forward to the centre before reaching into its cloak, pulling out a fragment of the ship and giving it to her. Closing her hand around it before the Riverperson melted right in front of her. The black tar that was created filled the runes on the altar. Before she even got a chance to ask what was going on everything went dark.

“No! No! No! Please! I can’t lose her!” Amber cried out as the monitor on her best friend’s bedside flatlined “Please- no..” her crying loudened as a nurse entered to remove her from the room.

“Miss, I’m sorry.. But there’s nothing we can do now” the nurse began escorting the bawling girl from the room.

“I-I never got to tell her I loved her..” Amber kept crying weakly until the unthinkable happened.

“Beep beep beep…” the monitor showed the heart rate rising from zero all the way to a steady amount.

“LUCY” she screamed before shoving past the nurse and comforting the patient that seemingly returned from the dead.

“A-Amber?” she mumbled weakly as she was embraced tightly.

“I’m so happy you’re alive!” Lucy blushed softly and quietly thanked the Riverperson under her breath. Feeling something in her hand she opened it slowly to reveal the boat piece.

The End