Scarlett awoke.

She picked herself up while feeling a sense of brain fog. Looking around, there was only a void. A vast black emptiness, seemingly without end.

Scarlett: “Oh. Is this what the afterlife is like?” She said as her voice echoed in the vast emptiness.

It was hard for her to think, but she vaguely recalled the last few seconds before she lost consciousness. The memory of that time told her that she was dying, and the strangeness of what she was feeling now was telling her that she might already be dead.

The more she thought about it, the more she realized there were gaps forming in her memory, and she could tell those gaps were getting bigger by the second.

Scarlett: “Oh, I see. My memories will fade with my life. I guess that makes sense. That's how it goes, I guess,” she said calmly.

There was no fight left in her. She was all too willing to give into her current circumstance. Her memories would fade, but the bad memories would disappear with them too. Once those memories were gone, she would also be free of that guilt and pain that haunted her for a year and a half. She was ready to rest.

She gave her surrounding one last look before she prepared to close her eyes forever.

Scarlett: “Huh. No gate of light or burning hellscape like those religious zealots like to preach about. Good thing too. There was no way I was going to get past those holy gates,” she said as her voice echoed in the emptiness.

She could still vaguely recall some of the religious preaching she used to get from her aunt. Talking about how if you don't follow the church of light's teachings, you won’t be able to pass the gates of light and get into paradise. Instead, you’ll be banished to a nameless land of fire and torment.

She turned around expecting to see more void, but was met with the sight of a tree with white leaves. The tree kinda looked like an oak, but was gigantic, bigger than any building she could still recall. It had a mysterious glow to it that felt unnatural, especially in this place, but it was calming. Its white leaves gently rustled, despite there being no wind.

image [https://i.imgur.com/EP8XrmO.jpg]

“Yggdrasil.” That word popped into her head, but she couldn’t recall where she had heard that name.

“Is that the name of what this is?” She thought to herself, while trying to wrack her brain where she heard that name.

While she was standing there trying to recall things from her deteriorating memory, the tree rustled again vigorously. A few leaves fell from its branches and started to drift towards her. Seeing the leaves come to her, she tried to catch one of the glowing leaves, as she did, the leaf broke into thousands of little pieces and seemed to enter her body.

The brain fog she was experiencing suddenly cleared and she could now remember where she heard the name.

Scarlett: “That’s the tree John was talking about. Why is it in the afterlife?”

Her query was interrupted by a cold chill. It was a similar feeling of being watched. The source of which she believed was somewhere behind her. She slowly turned around to face whatever gave her that chill, but only saw the same black void that she woke up in. She peered deeply into that abyss to see the source of that feeling. In the furthest reaches of that void, she thought she saw something. What she saw was too blurry to make out. She concentrated on the blur and tried to bring it into focus.

For a split second, she thought she could make out what it was. Once brought into focus, she was met with a sight of a giant red eye bigger than her whole body. It was only a few feet away from her. Something that should have been impossible for her not to notice, but she had.

image [https://i.imgur.com/ijG9ULz.jpg]

It seemed like as soon as Scarlett saw the eye it appeared in front of her, but she knew that’s not what it was. It was always there, watching her, and now she could see it too. She could see that eye staring into her soul, into the deepest parts that shouldn’t be seen.

She wanted to hide, but couldn’t. She wanted to be unseen, but was seen. She didn’t want to know, but now knew and was learning more.

Every second that went by she could see more eyes in the abyss. There was not just one eye staring at her, there were thousands, maybe more, all seeing things that they shouldn’t.

Scarlett closed her eyes and tried to shield herself with her arms from the piercing eyes. Even so, she could still feel being looked upon. The stares were stripping her of all her secrets and leaving her soul bare. It was ripping her apart in the process and leaving what was left of her soul in tatters. She wanted it to stop.

As her entire being was being laid bare, a memory surfaced. It echoed in the void.

“The road can be long and difficult to walk

At times you may even have to walk alone

But at journey's end, those who went ahead

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

Will be there to help welcome you home”

Almost in response to that memory, the unbearable nature and feeling of those stares seemed to have stopped.

Scarlett opened her eyes, instead of being met with a black void or giant red eyes staring at her, she saw a man she’s never seen before with red eyes staring warmly at her in a void of white. Looking around she saw all kinds of people she had never met before. There were women, children, and elderly of all kinds of backgrounds wearing clothing that was both familiar and exotic to Scarlett. They were surrounding her, staring at her warmly with their red eyes.

Scarlett: “I-I don’t understand.”

The people surrounding her didn’t say anything, but something about the way they stared at Scarlett gave her a sense of safety and understanding. Without uttering a single world, they told her what she needed to know just with a simple glance. She understood what they were trying to say to her.

Scarlett: “I see. Those who went ahead. So, that's what he meant.”

Before she could think any deeper about everything, she heard familiar voices.

Jere: “Hey teacher, so good to see ya. Didn’t expect to see ya so soon.” He said while waving and smiling.

Chelsie: “C’mon Jere, have some tact. She just got here.”

Scarlett turned her head and saw both Jere and Chelsie in their school robes. They look exactly like they did when they were alive, with the exception that they now had red eyes themselves like Scarlet.

Scarlett: “J-jere, C-chelsie, Is that really you?” she said teary eyed.

Jere: “Yeah teacher. It’s really us,” he said as they both approached her.

Before anything else could be said, Scarlett reached out and wrapped her arms around both of them and pulled them into a hug, while tears ran down her face. Her students responded by hugging her back.

Scarlett: “I-Im so sorry. It’s all my fault that you both died.”

Chelsie: “What are ya talking about? I’m the one who should be apologizing. If I told you about Rana's strange behavior, maybe—” was all she said before Jere interrupted her.

Jere: “C’mon, enough apologizing. The dead don’t need it.”

Scarlett let go of her students and stepped back.

Scarlett: “That was probably the second time you managed to say something intelligent that impressed me.”

Jere: “Ouch. Still painfully brutal as always.”

The three of them chuckle together at Jere's comment.

Scarlett: “So, now that I'm dead, now what?”

Both of her students looked at each other and smiled knowingly before turning back to Scarlett.

Jere & Chelsie: “Now we begin the next part of your journey,” they both said in unison.

They each grabbed one of Scarlett's hands and gently guided her forward. As they did that, a blinding bright light appeared behind them.

Scarlett squinted her eyes as the light grew and overwhelmed her. Her entire being was coated in that warm calming light.

♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦

There was an audible gasp as Scarlett quickly sat up from a lying position.

She looked around confused to see where she was. She was still in her hidden underground compound, on the floor where she had collapsed.

Scarlet: “Huh? I thought I was poisoned and dying. Or, was it all a dream?”

She wasn't so sure that it was a dream. It all felt too real to her. It was too vivid for it just to be a simple dream. But, she had no way of explaining what happened.

Scarlet picked herself up onto her feet. As she did, one of her bangs she had tied up came loose and covered her left eye. Her hair that came into her vision shocked her. Scarlett's hair had been white, or blond when she applied a glamor, yet the color she could see was neither. It was a dark red. Just like it had been before she was cursed.

Frantically, Scarlett quickly moved over to her bag and pulled out the mirror stored in it. She then examined her reflection. Scarlett's pure white hair now had a streak of red in one of her braids. The color of that braid went all the way down to the roots of her hair. She also noticed that some of the wrinkles on her face were also now a little less pronounced.

Scarlet: “How… Did the curse weaken somehow?”

The changes she experienced were unexplainable to her. The cause for the sudden change in her condition was unknown. The only link in Scarlet's mind was the sudden collapse she had from whatever that tea was.

Thinking about there being some link between her condition and the teapot, she walked towards the table that still had it and the dried leaves sitting on it. Except, the pot looked different.

It was just a plain white porcelain tea set when she got it, but it now sported an intricate design with black symbols that Scarlett had never seen before. She didn’t know what kind of language it was, yet she clearly knew the meaning of the alien language. Right before her eyes the symbols shifted on the porcelain surface and changed into a simplistic pictograph. The pictograph depicted, in black and white, a bunch of people surrounding and worshiping a tree.

She saw one of the pictographs of a tiny person by the base of the tree wave to her, before taking a pose and locking itself in place.

The shifting imagery didn't surprise her. She had a big smile on her face now, as she now understood what was happening.

Scarlett: “The leaves of a tree that grows beyond the boundaries of reality, and a pot that can brew eternity. Anybody that could acquire and just give these away, can’t be human.”

She would spend days and weeks slowly consuming the tea that was given to her, until eventually her appearance and power returned to what it once was.

Once her health and aether had recovered, she would then act on the wordless advice of those that came before, and she would join the great work.

♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦

-Back in current day at the Cait tea house-

Scarlett: “So, do you get what I'm saying about the immolation problem of the corpses?”

John: “Hmm?” He said as he was brought back from his day dreaming.

Scarlett: “I said—”

John: “No, that’s OK. You don’t need to repeat yourself. I don’t think I have any advice that could help you out with your problems.”

Scarlett: “But, you’ve always managed to give me such great advice before.”

Scarlett was referring to the many times that John had given her simple offhand remarks about her project. There was no great meaning to what he was saying, but strangely, she was able to advance her project extremely fast due to those misconceptions she had about John.

John: “Well, today will have to be the day I don't really have any insight for you. Why don’t you try asking if Cid has any insight to your problem.”

Scarlett: “Cid?”

John: “Yeah, he seems like a pretty smart kid. He’ll be helping you directly, so he should be able to give you better insight to that ‘reconstitution project’ you're doing.”

Scarlett: “I see…” She said, while trying to process John's words and search for greater meaning that wasn't really there.

John: “Anyways, I should get going. I have a store to run." He said while standing up.

Scarlett was about to say something, but stopped herself as soon as John stood up.

They both said their goodbyes and John paid for his meal and left the tea house, making his way back to his own store with Lunar following him from behind. As he was walking, he heard the sound of church bells ringing off in the distance.

John: “Bells? Oh, wait. There was supposed to be a big funeral today for someone important.”