04/03/23
It’s been about 2 days since I woke up here at this weird ass place, and nine since I died. In these past two days, I’ve been briefed on pretty much what I can expect from living here. In short, nothing good.
In long? Well, there’s a lot to talk about.
To start, they explained to me how this whole back from the dead thing works. It turns out, my original body was crushed up and turned into a paste that was brushed on a hexing doll that was then cursed by my soul. So, its less accurate to call it a genuine back from the dead situation, and more like a haunted doll situation. Apparently, though, this doll comes with the same ability to feel sensations and acts almost exactly like a human body, save for soul related details that basically mean I can interact better with the dead and the occult. Nothing like an unfortunate side effect or something. I guess the closest thing to one would be if I die again, I ain’t coming back, but I was already living like that was the case, so it’s not too different from before.
Moving on, we have the rest of the people here. I'm already pretty well acquainted with Maria, and she soon gave me an introduction to her fiancée Marissa (apparently they met each other here which, nice?) Both of them have been nothing but kind to me. I’m convinced they were born angels, but like, the good kind, heh…alright, uhm, I also have spent more time with Bea, and have found her to be tolerable. She can be mean for reasons I don't understand, but for the most part her rationality and human decency is intact. Thinking back, her hesitancy to tell me about the angel takeover probably speaks to both of those, so, yeah, not really the worst person.
Now, those two girls, Mimi and Pomni, they are…very reserved. Or they just hate me. I can’t tell which it is but every time I pass them by they give me this stare like I need to walk the other way. Fair enough if you’re concerned about me being someone new and potentially having ulterior motives, but it still stings a little. I do my best to just stay out of their way, when its possible anyways. I’m not gonna trip over myself to cater to them when we’re both just walking down the hallway…all the time. Most of the time. Uhh, moving on. Sasha is…interesting. She’s really touchy feely and it bothers me sometimes, but the interest she shows in what I like is very…earnest? I get the feeling she genuinely just wants to know everything, while also offhandedly saying some of the most out of pocket shit I think someone can say.
With that put, I can’t particularly say I have a negative aversion to anyone so far. It really seems like I’ll luck out and not have any issues with them. Whether or not I’ll end up seeing them as family…I guess time will tell on that one, hehehe. Now then, the last thing is the plan for the angels. Since none of them are leaving the US, and none are appearing outside the US, the assumption is being made that we just need to focus on wiping out the population here to start working our way back to this god guy.
By the way, when they mentioned the info they received from him, I learned what exactly that meant. He’d made an announcement to every spirit alive of his goals, and the person in charge of this place wrote it down word for word. I’d call them impressive, but…that’s all I know about them. For some reason, no-one except the woman who debriefs us has seen this person, and it’s sort of nerve wracking. I do my best not to think about it, like a lot of things. Really, that seems to be the jist of it for the time being. When I have more, I’ll be sure to write it for you.
See you later dad.
-Chris
…
What the hell have I gotten myself into? Standing as far back as possible, I watch as Bea holds Sasha hostage with tens of guns, all barrels poking through interdimensional portals. What started it? No clue, I was too busy reading. What’ll finish it? Hopefully Maria, as I desperately call out her name, waiting for her to turn up. Oh god if I witness a murder today I know I won’t be able to handle the cleanup. A part of me wonders if I should try and step in, but the sound of the guns cocking forces me even further into the wall.
“Call me a weak bitch again. Not so talkative all of a sudden, huh?” Bea mocks the girl in front of her, who shows very little in the way of being impressed.
“You’re a weak bi-”
“I WILL SHOOT!”
“-...petty bitch.” Sasha corrects. Bea’s eye twitches.
“Got it, you really do wanna die. How about I give you exactly WHAT YOU WANT THE-”
“HUP!” Bea’s head gets smacked with the handle of Maria’s summoned sword, making her squat, holding her head.
“W-why?” She whimpers out to a bemused looking Maria.
“Cause you’ll destroy the place, idiot.” Maria informs her and Bea takes it as if it’s groundbreaking information, immediately nodding and sheepishly bowing to Maria in apology before running off, presumably to lick her wounds.
“Protecting me now, are we?” Sasha giggles, pointing at Maria, who gives her a complicated look that I can’t really discern.
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“Happy coincidence.” Maria says flatly before turning to me. “Sigh…we gotta get you something to defend yourself with. It’s not safe to leave you defenseless like this.” She says, touching her chin and thinking hard. “Can you think of any kind of weapon that particularly strikes your fancy?” Now it's my turn to think. Hmm…well, in novels, all the coolest weapons are swords. Maybe learning to use a sword would be pretty neat? As I think it over, I begin to imagine myself out in the wild, slicing off angel heads and spouting cool one liners. Definitely a kind of exaggeration, but the idea still entices me. I grasp my fists tight.
“Maria, please teach me the ways of the blade.”
…
Standing outside, I look up at the forcefield. Supposedly, we’re in an entirely different dimension to the world outside, and when we start going out on missions, leaving the forcefield will be able to take us anywhere. A fact I’m quite fond of, considering how awful travel sounds in a wasteland that supposedly awaits outside. I shake my head, turning back to see Maria taking a sword from our debriefer. It seems thin and light. It would probably take a lot of effort to use something like that against an angel. She walks over and, noticing my face, chuckles.
“Don't worry, this is just for practice.” She explains. “We gotta get you some familiarity with the movements you’ll be performing and build up your strength before we give you something with more weight.” With that, she backs up a few steps. “Alright, show me your stance.” She asks. In accordance with her instructions, I get into my best idea of a starting pose. She seems to be doing her best to hold in a belly laugh. “Okay okay, hold on. We don’t need you to accidentally hurt yourself.” She walks over and takes hold of my torso, lifting me back so I’m perfectly straight. “Alright, next, we need to fix these feet.” She says, before using her own feet to help guide mine into the proper positioning.
“Okay, good. Do you know why this stance is better?” She asks me and I, wearily, shake my head. “The reason is all about control of movement. If you’re hunched over and going one handed, you’re not gonna have the control of yourself necessary to respond to what’s thrown at you. Like this, your body is perfectly balanced and ready to respond accordingly. Alright, next-” she takes my left hand and places it on the sword’s hilt along with my right. “It’s also important you use both hands for now, considering you won’t be used to the weight of the real deal when you first get it, even after we build up your strength.” I feel sweat starting to form on my forehead already. Maria seems to notice, and puts a hand on my shoulder.
“You got this.” She assures me before backing up. “Alright, I’m gonna have you come forward and we’re gonna practice some simple swings, ok? It’s not too difficult, I promise.” With a gulp, I gently creep forward as Maria summons a wooden sword. Once I’m close, Maria makes a sign, and I see her ready a swing. “LEFT!” She yells. I listen, swinging left and blocking her strike, perhaps swinging a bit too hard and knocking myself on my back. I groan, when Maria appears above me with a patient smile. “Come on, up we go.” She helps lift me off the ground, and get me back into position.
“Alright, so, not every strike requires you to go all out. How much strength you use is gonna be something you determine through experience. Let’s try again.” She prepares another strike. “LEFT!” She yells, and I swing left, this time with a more appropriate amount of strength. The two swords connect, and Maria’s is knocked away. She chuckles. “Nice one. Let’s see you do it again.” I nod vigorously, before the exercise continues. Left and right, a few from above to teach me how to properly defend when there isn’t enough time to roll. It’s admittedly a fair bit for me to try and grasp, but slowly I start to get the hang of it. Pretty soon, I’m falling into a rhythm, and I can almost make it into a song if I try hard enough.
Pretty soon, though, the sun begins to set, and we both sit down, exhausted. I let the blade fall from my grasp as Maria hands me a bottle of water to suck down like a greedy goblin. Once we’re both hydrated, we turn our attention to the sunset. I ask what exact time zone we’re in, or how we’re even seeing the sky anyway. Maria shrugs her shoulders.
“Most likely an illusion to help with being stuck in a bubble most of the time. Talk about charity, huh?” The two of us chuckle some when I notice Sasha approaching. I wave and she enthusiastically waves back.
“I see the sword friends are on break. Sooo, tell me, how did it go?”
“Fine.” Maria answers before I can. Sasha clicks her tongue at that before focusing squarely on me.
“Feeling like the sword is your thing?” Sasha asks. I nod. “Good. Having you be able to keep yourself safe is important.” Sasha says before yawning, sitting between me and Maria. “Ahh, what a beautiful night to feel so satisfied.” She says, laying down on the grass. I follow her lead, feeling surprisingly comfy. Looking up at the sky, I can see the orange starting to fade into the darkness of night. “Mmm…I’m bored. Chrissss, let’s go reeeead.” Sasha tugs on my sleeve.
“I-I don’t see why you wanna read with me all the time, you know the url to the site.”
‘
“It’s not as fun.” She says with an adorable face. How the hell do I say no to that. I look over at Maria and see her looking exasperated before standing up.
“Well, you two do that then. I’ll be expecting to see you tomorrow morning though Chris. We gotta work hard to get you strong enough for when missions start.” Maria explains. Sasha makes an o face.
“You think he can be ready in three days?” Sasha asks.
“...no, why?” Maria asks.
“The briefer let us know our first mission is three days from now. I forgot to let you two know cause you guys were so into training at the time, hehe.” Sasha aloofly scratches the back of her head. Meanwhile, both me and Maria share looks of terror.
…
“We’re not ready!” Maria yells at the briefer, who seems entirely unsympathetic to her words. “We’re going to go out there and be slaughtered, do you and your boss get that?!” The briefer shrugs her shoulders.
“You know how to kill one right? So just kill it.” The briefer couldn’t help but smile as she said that. I watched as Marissa did her absolute best to hold Maria back from breaking at least two of her appendages. It was clear we were gonna get nowhere with her, so the three of us walked our way up to the hall of sleeping quarters. Maria and Marissa both seemed frustrated, but I just…was entirely confused. What reason did they have to send us out this early? I grit my teeth to keep from adding to the two’s stress.
“I’m…sorry Christopher. I can’t get you ready for this mission in time.” Maria sounded completely defeated.
“It’s fine. I’ll figure something out.” My words must not have sounded convincing, cause the last thing I saw before the two entered Maria’s room was a look of fear and worry. I gulp.
I understand the feeling.
What the fuck do I do?