I lay beneath the white sheets probed up by pillows and watched the sun set behind the synagogue through the slightly unclear class of the window panes.

A pang of nostalgia wormed its way into my heart and my hand, now wrinkled and pained with age, rose to grip the old worn silver necklace at my neck. A star of david, it had been hers once upon a time, and she had granted it to me before I left that fateful evening. Now it was all I had left of her.

The memory of her tender kisses, set my now aged heart to beating. She had been so beautiful. With warm brown eyes and raven hair that curled slightly when damp.

The shadows of dusk cut my thought short. There was a chill in the air tonight, a chill I had felt many times before. My frail voice sounded in the now frigid air.

“I can feel your presence old friend. I guess the time has come for you to reap me as I have made you reap so many others.”

I could feel drowsiness set upon my once clear thoughts, luring me into the eternal embrace. I felt no need to fight it, I might not have lived the life she had wished for me, but at least I had made them pay.

With my hand still clutching her necklace I welcomed oblivion.

*******

The moment the nurse discovered him the hospital called it in, and within five minutes four hard bitten men, lean and dangerous stood watch over his body.

The mans body was washed and clothed in pure white yet simple burial shrouds and placed within the earth inside two hours. A sign of respect for the dead, the only witnesses to the burial being seven people. A rabbi, two old men, and the four dangerous ones.

With sorrow in their eyes the two old men, each withdrew a simple iron bayonet from their sleeves and placed them on the grave.

As they rose one of them spoke: “You were one of us, even if you never felt worthy.”

The other nodded, solemnly but then couldn’t help but crack a smile. “Well he certainly did a lot of our work for us. Never asking for anything in return, well except more weapons now and again. “

With that an old man passed from the living into memory, to be forgotten by all but two people. Earth no longer had a need for him.

*******

To my surprise I found myself neither in oblivion nor down below where I thought it most likely I would end up in the case of an afterlife.

I was very clear on the consequences of my actions in the case of something beyond the mortal coil, I had after all been killing mass murderers for more than seventy years.

The expected heat of fire or darkness of oblivion was nowhere to be found though. Instead i found myself sitting in an ivory chair facing a black man in a top hat.

Despite the chill in the room I was comfortable and I couldn’t feel all the old aches and pains that are part and parcel with growing old.

The scene in front of me was a tad bit ridiculous though. Not only was the thin obsidian black man in front of me wearing a top hat, he even wore an old style of suit and had a silver topped walking stick.  

“Please don’t tell me that it was the haitians that got it right.” I said with a small smile.

The man, who I am gonna call Top Hat now, skull like face cracked a smile.

“Well none of you have gotten close, I just like this representation the most.”

I couldn’t help but nod at that, yeah I would feel  the same where I him. It is not nice to always be feared.

Top Hat smiled again.

“I knew you of all people would get it.”

Wait a minute, can he read my thoughts?

The smirk under the hat was all the answer I needed. Well I guess it makes sense, all things considered.

“Why am I here instead of on the way downstairs?”

I watched him like a hawk, trying to spot any hint of deception as I asked this question.

Top hat smiled in a way clearly intended to be friendly and calming.

“You are here because I intend to reward you for work well done.”

The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

What work? I have done nothing but take revenge since I lost her.

Top hats dark eyes shone with barely hidden mirth. Who would have thought that he off all things would be so damn cheery.

“Well unintentional as it was, it still helped me a great deal. Enough that I can grant you the circle as a reward.”

He must have sensed my puzzlement for he immediately started explaining.

“Me and my many relatives have all agreed that since so many of you do great things for us we should be able to reward you.

The reward we could all agree to as being the most fair, as well as most fun for us, turned out to be reincarnation.  

Now forever reincarnating souls would be a problem on other worlds so we created one to house those with the circle as well as other powerful species and souls. This world is called Ortus and is a place of eternal strife and conflict. I still find it to be beautiful though.

The circle itself is a simple marking placed at the back of your neck symbolizing your ability to reincarnate.

The core symbol that all have is a simple serpent eating its own tail, also known as the Ouroboros.

As you life your lives and achieve great things markings will start to grow around it indicating your many lives and achievements. These marking will only grow and evolve after each death, staying the same through your life.

Now there are two rules you need to keep if you want to remain eternal.

One, you must never take your own life.

Two, you must fight to survive.”

As he said that I started thinking, did this mean you had to stay safe at all times? Never taking any risks. What would give life flavor then?

“Now now, I know what you are thinking and don’t worry, all it means is that you must be defeated fairly no taking a dive. The fights you fight are for you to decide.

Now in return for an oath from you I will even give you an additional reward. “

I can not help but wonder why is he being so charitable, the circle as he calls it already seems like a great gift.

A small mischievous smile appeared on the tin lips beneath the top hat.

“Well it is not a charity, in fact you getting those gifts will benefit me as much as you.

The oath is a simple one with two parts.

The first is that you will never keep a soul from my embrace that wants to move on.

The second is that if you discover someone doing so you stop them.”

I couldn’t help but speak. Interrupting Top Hat. “ You know I would do that anyway, so why bother?”

“As I said because I will also benefit, but in order to grant you those boons I have to get something in return.  It is simply how things work.

Now I will not tell what two gifts I will grants you, only that there will be two since the oath is twofold. ”

For minutes I was silent, immersed in the task of trying to figure out the pros and cons. In the end I concluded that getting something for the promise of doing things I would anyway couldn’t be such a bad deal. Besides, the entity smiling his pearly smile in front me had a rumor for being fair to the point of harshness. If he said I would benefit, I did not doubt it.

“I swear to never keep a soul from your embrace, and to try to the best of my abilities to stop those that do.”

The tipping of the top hat was the last thing I saw before darkness took me.

----------------------------------------

So this is my new story, an attempt at a darker more cunning Mc as well as an outlet for my creative juices when I tire of my other story.

As always I welcome any criticism and hope you enjoyed my story.

PreviousNext