Mizeiya opened her eyes for the countless time. They were the same sky blue as her wavy hair, with fell just past her shoulder blades. She looked around at her surroundings seeing the same cloud-covered ground as she always did when the cycle began again, the skies above and – through holes in the clouds – below the same creamy purple. The starting point always brought with it a mixture of relief and despair: relief that she was still herself, still sane, and still in Limbo Space, and despair that she was still trapped in Limbo Space with no end in sight, ready to begin the cycle of suffering anew.

And angel alighted on the cloud in front of her, wearing the same white silk dress as always. The angel appeared as a young woman with golden wings this time, which was comforting; the last time the angel had been an anthropomorphic dog. The angel’s gold eyes met her own blue ones.

“Why do you continue to resist, Mizeiya?” the angel asked her with a sad smile. “You’ve already been judged as worthy of entering the celestial planes; you simply need to let go of your attachments to the world of the living. Taking the time to grieve for yourself and distance yourself from what you have lost is only natural, but you have stubbornly refused to let go at all. At every turn, you have spurned the aid of those who dwell in this realm, binding yourself more tightly to the world you left behind. What keeps your heart there? You have no family, no home, no wealth, no unfinished business.”

“That’s not true at all,” Mizeiya said. “I haven’t spurned aid. All I’ve done is fought against the monsters. A memory-eater? That’s not a friendly helper; that’s a terrifying monstrosity. A being that takes your pain and suffering into itself, robbing you of the very things that make the good experiences worthwhile? An aberration. A pool that washes away rational thought and replaces it with a pleasure beyond what a mere body can possibly experience? No different than overdosing on a dangerous drug. And this place affects my mind: even as we speak, my memories of past cycles are fading and blurring together, turning into a mere dream. If that’s what awaits me in the celestial realms, you can count me out.”

“Would you prefer the hells, where demons reside and mortal souls suffer endlessly?” the angel asked curiously.

“Of course not.”

“Then do you want to remain here in Limbo Space forever?”

“…No.”

“You cannot return to life, Mizeiya. You are dead. You need to accept that. There is nothing tying you to life; you need to move on.”

Mizieya shook her head. “No. There is one thing.”

“And what is that?”

She smiled. “My boyfriend, Rai. He’s the one who showed me what it really means to love someone more deeply than simple affection. I was orphaned at a young age and apprenticed to a mercenary before I was even an adult, quickly growing in skill and experience. I learned what it meant to lose those I held attachments to early on. But I couldn’t help but not distance myself from Rai. When I met him, he was just a boy, thirteen years to my sixteen. There was something there from the start, and we quickly became friends. Whenever I passed through his hometown… we would spend time together, growing ever closer. Eventually, we realized that we had fallen in love. We had two years together of being lovers before my death. I don’t know how long I’ve been trapped in this place, but I’m sure he hasn’t forgotten me.”

“In the Limbo Space, you do not age – not physically, since you have no true body, and not mentally, either, since your time is reset with each cycle. But in the living world, time continues to flow. Rai ages, grows, and yes, forgets. Perhaps he has already found another lover. Regardless, there is no way for you to be reunited; there are no spells or rituals to bridge the living world and this afterrealm, not anymore.”

Mizeiya’s expression sharpened. “Then there once were?”

“In the age of the Ancients – that which you call the Tower Era. But with the collapse of that civilization, all such things were forever lost.”

“Then Rai will find them again. I know it. He’ll come for me. No matter how long it takes. No matter how many trials he must face. Because I know he loves me as much as I love him. All I have to do is keep myself intact and sane until then.”

“All you’re doing is making yourself suffer needlessly.”

“Then I’ll keep suffering. As long as I continue to hope.”

The angel shook its head. “No matter how many times we have this conversation, you never change.”

“Then that means I’m succeeding.”

The angel raised a hand, and the clouds vanished. Mizeiya dropped, falling at a steady pace until she landed on an orange grassy hill next to a rust-colored palm tree.

“Okay,” she said to herself. “I just need to survive as long as possible, and keep fighting against all the so-called helpers trying to destroy me. First things first: I need to find soulstone and make myself a sword.”

She set out, traveling through the alien environment that seemed to subtly change every time she blinked. Hills leveled and then became valleys, trees shrank into bushes, rocks turned into beasts and bugs became rocks, colors shifted from oranges and reds and browns to yellows and greens and blues over time. There were all manner of unusual flowers and colorful rocks and crystals scattered about, as well as dangerous and bizarre beasts, which she carefully avoided.

Eventually, she found a pearlescent lavender boulder.

Perfect, she thought. If my vague recollection of previous cycles is accurate, I just need to manipulate this soulspace and I can turn the soulstone into a sword.

She placed a palm against the boulder and concentrated. The entire boulder quivered and flowed, shrinking and reshaping itself into a lightblade. She gripped its hilt, now armed against the dangers of the Limbo Space ground level. Unfortunately, he spiritual body didn’t have any of the physical boosts that she had gained through being third tier, since it had no qi core – which also meant that she couldn’t use arts. She was weak here, weaker than she had been when she was alive by a considerable amount, but she wasn’t completely helpless now that she had a sword.

However, something about being armed made the beasts that were content to ignore her before suddenly start paying more attention, and she ended up having to make a run for it when several four-legged scorpion-cats chased after her at once. Eventually, she reached a waterfall. After quickly double-checking that the pool below was just water and not some sort of trap, she jumped. Dark shapes in the water around her gave her the motivation she needed to swim to the surface and then to the shore. Shortly after she was out of the water and on the blue sandy shore, something resembling a sea serpent breached the surface of the pool.

“That could have ended badly,” she said, standing and shaking out the water, which quickly disappeared… along with the pool she was looking at, replaced with an endless desert of blue sand and ice crystals. The temperature was swelteringly hot. She approached a large ice crystal and could feel the cold radiating off of it.

A sand cloud formed and began moving toward her. She readied her sword.

The cloud dispersed when it was only a few feet away from her, revealing a handsome man sculpted from living ice.

“I offer you relief from your suffering,” he said gently. “A cool embrace, that you might give up the pain that shackles you.”

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“I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: no. I’m not giving up my pain and suffering. Without the bad, the good holds no meaning. Pain and suffering are part of life; they help make us who we are.”

“Life is behind you, and so is the pain.” He held out a hand. “Take my hand, and experience true relief.”

“Take even one step closer and I will defend myself,” Mizeiya warned.

“There is nothing to defend yourself from here.”

“Oh yes? What about the cat-scorpions, or the sea serpent in the waterfall pool?”

“The aggression you face is a direct reflection of your own aggression. Release your anger and defensiveness, and you will find that nothing will harm you. Put down the sword and take my hand.”

The ice man took a step forward.

Mizeiya lunged, stabbing him in the chest.

“Why? Why did you attack me?” The man’s face twisted into an expression of rage. “You foolish, arrogant, hateful soul! I offer you a release from suffering, and you attempt to strike me down?!” Ice began breaking off in chunks, new shards appearing, and the man’s body began to change shape, turning into a creature with the front half of a blue-white bear made of ice and the back half of a gigantic snake made of frost. She withdrew her sword and backpedaled.

It roared. “If suffering is what you desire, then I shall inflict it upon you!”

She leapt back from its lunging double claw swipe, barely evading the attack. It lunged a second time, and this time its teeth closed on her left arm which she raised to defend herself with. She gritted her teeth against the pain and slammed her sword into its neck, forcing it to let go. She pulled out her sword and turned aside, evading a claw swipe, but the other claw swipe raked across her chest, tearing soul-clothes and soul-flesh alike. She knew she couldn’t truly die here; perishing would simply take her to the beginning of another cycle. Still, she felt the pain and fear nonetheless.

She slashed the bear-snake’s face, then jumped back, dodging its attempt to bite her face off. It attacked with claws once more, but this time she stepped into the attack, ramming her weapon up under its jaw. It broke apart into fragments of ice. She panted as her body and clothing slowly mended themselves. She didn’t know why, but wounds healed quickly here, and if she waited a few minutes, she’d be in perfect condition.

No sooner was she fully healed than the environment began to change, turning into a lush jungle with strange plants and even stranger geometry that should have made her head hurt but didn’t. The sound of droning insects lent wings to her steps as she did her best to run through the overgrown area. This is the domain of the Memory-Eater, she thought. I have to escape quickly.

She broke into a clearing and frantically arrested her momentum when she saw the glimmering pool in the center. The Pool of Pleasure? But that’s not supposed to be near the Memory-Eater…

A mermaid in the pool beckoned her closer.

“Come feel pleasure beyond reason,” the mermaid coaxed.

Something crashed through the jungle behind her. She whirled around to see a bear-sized tapir, typically called a dream-eater. But this was not a dream-eater; it was the Memory-Eater. A swarm of insects came around on her left, leaving her only one path out – her right. She sprinted on the edge between the jungle and the pool, but space twisted, and she found herself completely turned around, dashing right back to where she started.

She halted, eyes wide with fear.

Is my only choice to be devoured by insects? I have to avoid the pool and the Memory-Eater at all costs!

She felt a presence behind her and slowly turned. Gone was the border between jungle and pool; instead, rolling hills stretched out to a backdrop of mountains, and a dragon with a body the size of an elephant covered in brown scales stood blocking the path.

“Why do you fight against going to the heavens?” the dragon rumbled. “Poor, lost soul. Do you despise the notion of letting go of the world that much?”

“Yes, I do,” she said, her voice quavering. She had never met this dragon before that she could recall. “I have someone I must be reunited with. If going to the heavens means losing that part of who I am, then I’d rather wait here for him to come get me than move on. Even if I would eventually see him again after his own death, if I let go of my attachment to him now, what good would that be?”

“I see. To have endured for your lover for seven years… you possess a strong heart and a stronger will.”

Seven years?! Mizeiya thought in alarm. It’s been seven years already?! It feels like I just died only recently… I guess I’ve been enduring more of these cycles than I thought! But seven years… maybe Rai is close to unlocking the mystery of resurrection?

“For the first time in millennia, someone has created a bridge between the mortal world and the afterrealm – specifically, to this land of Limbo Space,” the dragon said. “Several of the gods have their eye on them. Two souls, in their own bodies, have entered Limbo Space in search of someone. While Limbo Space is not hostile to the deceased—” Mizeiya snorted. “—it is quite hostile to the living. You have only faced those who wish to help and those who reflect your own hostility back at you. I know you do not desire the help offered you, but it is made without nefarious intent.”

The dragon paused. “But for the living, even breathing the air of Limbo Space is hazardous, not to mention the threats that it conjures to assault mind, body, and soul. The chances of those two surviving are low. Not all the gods agree on how they should be handled, but all of those who examined them were curious as to who they wished to resurrect.”

“…Were you sent to find out if it was me?”

“That’s right. I am a neutral party, a servant of an impartial god. It is not rare to see a soul resist letting go of life, but to endure, intact, for more than half a decade, when your destination is the heavens… That is, while not unprecedented, at the very least unusual. Lost soul… your name is Mizeiya Swiftblade.”

“Yes.” Mizeiya’s face took on a hopeful expression. Is it Rai? Is Rai here to bring me back?

“The names of the ones who have come are Isa Bloodscale… and Rai Flamme.”

“Rai’s here?! He… he really made it!” Tears sprang to Mizeiya’s eyes. “He really did it…”

The dragon stepped aside. “You will find him on—”

A bolt of lightning shot down from the purple skies, striking between them. When the glare faded from her eyes, Mizeiya saw two giant angels, each of which stood nine feet tall and had two pairs of feathery wings. One appeared male, with emerald skin and topaz-colored wings; the other appeared female, with ruby skin and sapphire-colored wings. Both were completely bald, and both had a greatsword, gleaming the same color as their wings, on their back.

“You were supposed to be impartial,” the green one said.

“You cannot give the lost soul aid,” the red one said.

“Very well,” the dragon said. “I will give no aid to the lost soul.”

The dragon spread its wings, and a rainbow bridge stretched from them into the distance. “Mizeiya Swiftblade. You cannot set foot on this bridge. It will repel you.”

“Deceit from one who is meant to be a neutral party?” the green angel said. “Is this your will, or the will of your master?”

“There is no deceit. I am not giving aid to the lost soul.”

“Instead, you give aid to those who intrude upon the afterrealm while still living,” the red angel said. “That is against the spirit of neutrality.”

“So is blocking the path of the lost soul,” a new, pleasant tenor, voice said. A floating orb of light appeared, and then a lantern around it, followed by a skeletal hand holding the lantern and then an entire skeleton, dressed in a black cloak, which appeared last. “But you aren’t here to maintain the status quo. Your master opposes resurrection of the dead. I, on the other hand… I understand that seven and a half thousand years is a blink of an eye, and that it hasn’t truly been that long since even the gods themselves approved of and facilitated resurrections. And so I shall stand here and guard this soul until the living either arrive or perish.”

“Who are you?” Mizeiya asked hesitantly. The skeleton turned toward her.

“I am a servant of the God of Death, one of the judges of souls. You were found worthy of the celestial planes, and yet here you remained. I knew that the ones known as Rai and Isa would come for you eventually; their plan to bring you back to the world of the living has been in the works for over seven thousand years, after all.”

“…What? How is that possible?”

“That is a question you shall have to ask them. I am not a servant of the God of Knowledge, after all.”

Mizeiya suddenly realized that she could no longer hear the insects. Glancing over her shoulder, she saw that the everything was gone, replaced with a featureless gray expanse. She shuddered. Did the skeleton do that?

“Yes, I did,” the skeleton said. “And yes, I can read your mind. Wait patiently. Your lover should be here soon.”

Two specks appeared on the rainbow bridge in the distance, rapidly growing larger. Once again, Mizeiya was struck by how distance and perspective didn’t function normally in this place, for it seemed that they were actually growing larger on a tapering bridge rather than growing closer on a bridge that stretched into the distance. In seconds, they had reached full size, standing directly above the wings of the dragon. One of them was a saurian in clothing, carrying a halberd seemingly made of gold and silver. The other…

“Rai!” Mizeiya shouted joyfully, tears streaming down her cheeks.

The angels drew their swords.

“Not even the servants of gods will stand in my way!” Rai cried, pointing his golden sword at them. He had definitely grown. Aged; he was older than she was now. But it was still, without a doubt, her beloved Rai.

And he was here for her at last.