I can feel that my breathing is heavy after defeating the voidling. I can also feel Abbey's eyes on both my back and the black dark dust mixed with white specks that used to be the voidling. “If you’ve got some questions, they can wait until we're on our way because the smell of the void dust and the smell of you will attract more of them.”
Some time later
“So… are we far enough away that I can ask some questions now? Because if not I can wait a while longer, but I would like to have some of my questions answered, preferably soon.” I sigh again as I wonder when I can get a human who doesn't ask questions and instead just goes along with what I say. “Yes, we're far enough away that you can ask some of your questions so go ahead and ask them Abbey.”
“So my first question is why do we have to walk to the… afterlife as you called it? Why can't we just… I don't know… ride a boat in the river right next to us down to the afterlife?” I look at her after she asks this with the look someone would give a child who asked a stupid question. “Those Greeks sure did love their idea that I was in a boat. But no, the simple reason is that the water dissolves anything and everything that goes in it, including me.” I can see the question in her eyes and her mouth opening to ask me about that. “Don't ask, I'm not going to tell you. You can ask Addias, when you see him in the afterlife.'' I thought for a second before adding. “That's if he's still there, he likes to explore the area around the afterlife.”
All is silent for a minute or two before she asks me another question.
“So who exactly is Addias, his name sounds old… like medieval old, is he that old?” her question makes me stumble a bit before i catch myself and go back to my usually stoic self before answering her question. “Addias is indeed old but he is far older than the medieval times, in fact he might have been one of the first people i have ever taken to the afterlife.”
We continue to walk in silence for a while longer before Abbey asks me another question. “You said earlier that Addias might have been one of the first people you've taken to the afterlife, but have other people been going there without your help?”
I stop for a moment and look up at the sky. If Abbey was to look into my eyes, she would’ve seen a sort of wistful look in them. “Yes, people used to have to find their way to the afterlife, many of them would not have made the journey. The reason I was created was to help the humans actually get to the afterlife. Still, not everyone makes it, some of them are dumb and don't listen to the warnings that I give them so they don't make it, others just aren't good or strong enough to make it to the afterlife.”
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It's silent for a little while before Abbey asks me something again. “So… why exactly do I have to hold onto my knife?” My sigh is filled with such disappointment that, if she had chosen to, I'm sure she could have cut the air with her knife.
“The reason I've asked you to hold on to that kitchen knife of yours is because it's a weapon, sure not a good one, but it'll do in a pinch. Such as if multiple voidlings attack us and we get split away from each other then at least you'll have a weapon to protect yourself with.” This sentence is punctuated by a scream emanating from nearby just beyond what a normal human's eyes would be able to see. But seeing as I'm neither human nor natural, my eyesight far outweighs any humans.
“What do you see?” I turn to look at Abbey’s face, and for the first time I can see clear visible fear in her eyes, in the way that her knuckles are bone white against her knife, in the way that she's trying to keep her feet from trembling. I think for a second before answering her question. “It's a voidling being eaten by its peers.” I can see her mouth start to open out of the corner of my eyes and speak again before she gets the chance to say anything. “It happens far more often than one would think, after all they're like me in one way. The fact that we were both created by Gods is the only limiting factor that stops either of us from truly dying out.”
“So… how does that work? And you said Gods, as in more than one of them. You did mention the Greeks earlier, so are those gods real?” I smile before answering her questions, remembering better times. “In answer to your question about whether the Gods that I'm talking about are Greek… the short answer is yes and no. Yes the Gods I'm talking about, some of them are the Greek Gods and Goddess, while others are other religions Gods. For example, your main religion is Christianity right? Well the one you know as Jesus used to be mortal, like the rest of you humans, but right before he died, and yes he died the way the bible portrays it, he found something called a relic. When found and when you take them with you to the afterlife, relic’s open up a secret path that I will then guide you down, or we can go down the regular path. But when you go down the relic’s path you must complete what is now known as a trail. When you complete this trail you become a God and you can come and go as you please. This is why there are so many religions on earth, mortals become Gods, Gods go back to earth to show off their newfound powers, mortals fawn over them, bada-bing bada-boom, you've got yourself a new religion.”
“So Is that why the Egyptians buried their dead with a bunch of stuff?” I thought for a moment before answering her. “Yes, that is why they buried their dead with ‘a bunch of stuff’ as you put it, the reason being that anything, and I mean anything could be a relic. Including other humans.” I say this last part while looking up at the eternal dusk that covers the land. Abbey knows better than to question me about that last part.