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Chapter 1.1: Abbey

I sigh as I watch the newest person I'm going to try and get to the afterlife wake up screaming. They don't all wake up screaming but those who do, scream because they have experienced one of those deaths that lets them scream, until the end, when their heart stops beating and their lungs stop pumping. I know her name, I know all the names of those I'll be escorting through to the afterlife, after all, it's in my job description. I sigh for the second time as I watch her realize that the bullets are no longer coming at her, as she realizes that the cops that were in front of her house are no longer in sight. This is another one of those ones, the ones who don't know what’s happening, the ones who not long ago in their eyes were ready to accept death, but now that they are here, they discover that they aren't ready to accept it.

I wait for the human to stop screaming at the top of her lungs, much as I can't feel emotions like a human. I do still feel what humans call, annoyed, at humans when they don't stop and just keep screaming. I decided to try my best to get them to stop screaming by going over to them and nudging them with my scythe. I step back after nudging them so they can see that I don't mean any harm.

I sigh in relief as she stops screaming. I sigh in annoyance as I can probably guess what she wants to ask next.

“W-who are you?”she asks. I say nothing as I look down at her hand and look at the knife that she used to mortally wound her husband, I wince slightly as I think about the pain he must be feeling, even if he did deserve it.

“I am what you humans would call death, and I am here to guide you to the afterlife.” the words come proudly out of my chest as I look down at the women on the floor. “And you are here because you have died.” as I turn around to face the path that we will be taking to the afterlife. “It's good that you have that knife.” I say without turning around. “You'll need it where we’re going.”

“Wait! Aren’t you going to explain to me what the hell just happened!” I stop and turn to look at her as her voice is starting to rise which could prove to be bad for the two of us. “I Would be quiet if I was you, Abbey.” I say as I turn back to the path in front of me. “I will explain everything on the way, but we should move away from here, especially if you don't want to die again and go to Khaos instead of the afterlife.”

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“Wait wait wait! Just… just wait one minute, who says that i died, and on another note, how do you know my name?” I can feel her looking at me directly in the back of my head. “ I know everything about you abbey, including the fact that you wish you had listened to your mother, that you had taken her advice and never married the man that you were married to before you tried to kill him simply because of the fact that he beat you on a near daily occurrence.” I state in a matter-of-fact voice as I turn back to look at her. “Now, if you don't want to die a second time i would suggest that you get behind me now because we’re about to experience some company:”

I turn to face the left side of the path where I can hear the rustling of the leaves of the great oak trees that surround the path. The only plants to grow here are the oaks and some scraps of purple grass, which have nothing to feed on them, which might explain why whatever god created this place deemed it necessary to make it so the humans feel no hunger.

I feel rather than see Abbey get behind me, which means whatever reservations she has against me she's putting them aside for her safety. As I wait for whatever voidling has discovered Abby's presence to finish its mad rush through the trees, I ready the scythe that I'm holding, so that its blade is nearly touching the ground, I steady my breath so that its only two breaths every three seconds.

As soon as the voidling reaches the end of its path through the trees and jump at me i swing my scythe so that it should have been a killing shot straight through the three hearts of the voidling, as soon as i do i realize my mistake as the voidling spreads its wings that look more like something you'd find on a praying mantis rather then some mammal looking thing. As it spread its wings last second before I pierced all three of its hearts, instead I only pierced one of the three, which is bad for what I can only assume is obvious reasons.

“WHAT IS THAT THING!?!” I can only hear Abby basically scream out the words as I'm busy trying to finish killing the flying voidling, which for one thing is extremely rare even for one of the path to the afterlife creatures.

“It's a voidling! They're the creatures that wish to stop you humans from trying to get to the afterlife, which is why a god created me to help you humans to get there!” I half-raised my voice as I tried to explain in quick terms what a voidling is. “We should just be glad that it's one of the early ones, as they’re the easiest ones to dispatch.” I finish this sentence by piercing its last two hearts and stepping back as I watch it turn to dust.