The Thieves Guild ch.10: Jim meets Death

    The Thing Named Jim paces back and forth in his little white room before the now metal door.

    “what, what, what…” he mumbles as he paces

   “what, what, what”

   “what, what, what”

   “what, what, what, ect…”

   He stops and nods his head as he crosses his arms, “Let’s see,” he says, “Adorable Death Bringer is a reaper, the door is all spooky, and a giant skeleton hand…”

   “Aha!” a light bulb appears above his head.

  “Death!” he exclaims, “That must have been death…but what is death…”

  He is genuinely stumped, in all his two million years as far as he can recal being how long he has existed he has never once pondered the true nature behind death, he has encountered reapers, Hell he had one in his employ until just now. He has seen ghosts, phantoms, zombies, and various forms of monsters and super-human warriors who use death based powers, hunt ghosts, and claim to come from some spirit world or another…but the stories vary so much..

   “So what is death?” asks Jim to nothing in particular, “Why have I never asked this before?”

   *shrugs*

   “Guess death is the last thing a super-cool invincible immortal like me would ever think about. Well one way to find out.”

   He claps his hands, “Super-cool uber library of everything, bring to me the book of death.”

   A black book materializes from a puff of black smoke and lands in his hands giving them a slight tingle. The words on the cover change to a language he can read

    *Death comes to any mortal who so much as touches a book of the Netherworld*

   “Death is tingly.” He says as he opens the book.

    He skims past an introduction, another warning, and an index to a first chapters labeled (basic understanding of death and its function).

    [Death, death is the end of a natural organism’s existence, however it is but a stage in an endless cycle for the spiritual being that inhabits all organisms, what are known as souls, ghosts, and the children of the Acoshic layer…]

    “okay…” says Jim more than a little confused, more so that there could be a difference.

   [In the natural cycle with out outside interference the cycle of death, soul stasis, and eventual reincarnation is a chaotic one in which the spiritual form leaves the decaying mass goes into a state of hibernation usually lasting anywhere from a few seconds to several centuries depending upon life density, proximity to other living worlds, dimensional stabilities between alternate worlds of life, and then retakes a new form (the specifics on when and how it may take on a new body is discussed in the chapter titled: Specifics of reincarnation)…]

    Jim nods thinking, “I don’t think I need to read that chapter.” as he continues to read.

   [With most living worlds the level of intelligence in life forms is usually very basic, the more basic the less time is spent in soul stasis. A spiritual body remembers everything from a previous existence, but due to limitations in the organic form these memories are seldom if ever known while alive, giving the spiritual form a new set of experiences each time to add to their growing memory. Even in cases where a world has more complex animals, the most that usually carries over may be the occasional anomaly that effects an animal’s dietary preferences, or causes unusual phobias based on an experience in a previous life.]

   “cool,” says Jim continuing.

   [However, the situation becomes difficult when the life forms gain sentience, especially when they can contemplate and question, and even draw their own conclusions and convictions as to the nature of death regardless of reality. This scenario causes some problems, especially when a spiritual form’s previous incarnations had all been more basic organisms, more evolved spiritual forms will be discussed in later chapters.

    The issue that arises is the ghost, until this point a ghost would be a simple thing repeating basic instinct behavior. Now it has become the memory of a conscious being, or an emotional apparition with limited memory, amongst other things (discussed in the chapter: Ghosts with out souls). It is preferable that a ghost be reunited with its soul, or be destroyed. However the greater issue arises when the ghost and soul remain together and the soul advances to the point of being aware of its self between and during life times as a sentient being.

   In the natural chaotic system such a thing would be far too common place, as these souls with out restraint may possess others whose souls or ghosts can not resist them, effect the living world, or even view themselves as gods as they gain power by manipulating spiritual, death, and necro (or ghost), energy during this state].

    *munch, munch, munch*

   Jim pulls a rice-ball out of thin air to eat while he reads.

     [Furthermore as the number of sentient beings increases, and more and more souls reincarnate through multiple cycles of being sentient they are less likely to spend a healthy amount of time in soul stasis and choose to retain their memories from past lives. These and the above group are more often one and the same, they will at first try to retain their memories while alive by possessing the living while still dead, and once strong enough having gathered enough energy manipulate the minds of their next incarnation to retain these memories, gaining a form of immortality. However this is destructive to the living form as most organisms will gain sentiency long before they evolve a mental capacity able to handle such long tracks of memory, coupled with the stage at which a soul enters a body being that of a developing fetus, the amount of energy involved has a tendency of killing, making ill, causing sterility, or even simply causing madness in their new body.

    Spiritual evolution and physical evolution tends to result in a sentient species not lasting very long thanks to this upset balance between life and death. The typical result is the organisms die off, loose sentiency after only a few hundred thousand years of gaining it, or the world becomes over-run by spiritual beings. In the past the method of dealing with this is what is called the soul migration, a system often set up by older souls from the same world who had gained enough god like power and insight to realize the danger and begin to view a living world much like a nursery for souls and force the older ones to obey strict laws and force them for the most part to either help the world they reside on or leave it in peace.]

    Jim tilts his head like a confused dog, “sooo, where do reapers and a giant death hand thingy come into play?”

   *shrugs, and reads on*

   [However such events are very rare, in order to aid others the three Transdimensional Goddesses decided to answer the prayers of the older souls…]

   “Tranny whats?” asks Jim as if expecting the book to answer, “who, what are those?”

   [They created a world known as the Netherworld, which would act as a forced containment, a type of mandatory soul stasis for the souls so they could regain their balance and be reincarnated with out interfering, or at least not to a dangerous degree with their next incarnation. As the number of sentient worlds grew that they wished to aid, the goddesses created a network connected to the Netherworld, these passages which often look like tunnels or rivers became known collectively as the Land of the Dead. Many of which have spirit hubs, or cities and large world like caverns, to contain souls and act much the role as a miniature version of the Netherworld, with only the most necessary souls being sent further down the Land of the Dead into the Netherworld, or being sent to it, or souls from it, so that souls may have an easier time being born on various different worlds to gain a better diversity of experiences.]

   “Okay,” says Jim, “so the Land of the Dead, and the Netherworld are the same place, and also not the same place, and we get all sorts of different Lands of the Dead, and I guess also why we get so many different kinds of reapers and death gods on different worlds.”

   He nods, “makes perfect sense,” he tilts his head, “or maybe not.” as he reads on.

   [In the beginning The Land of the Dead was a simple system with small numbers of sentient spiritual beings put in charge, many of which older souls from the very worlds in question, and monsters such as Cerberuses and Death Dragons put in place to prevent unwanted visitors from entering should they gain the power to do so, or souls from escaping. However as time went on such a haphazard system was viewed as out-dated, especially when it was concluded that the system of death seemed to still lack one crucial element, justice. While elegant in preventing an imbalance in the natural system, the very souls placed with-in viewed it as dismal, criminal next to saint, religious believers next to…well each other.

   This system began to be viewed as cruel, and even began to cause some problems as the ghost to soul convergence needed to complete the soul stasis and be reborn was deterred by this. The Goddesses of Death, which had been placed there by their mothers the Transdimensional Goddesses, to act as the top of the death hierarchy and settle any major problems or in fighting between the various powers placed at difference worlds, asked their mothers for another solution.]

   “goddesses of death?” asks Jim, “and here’s those tran what have you’s again.”

   [The goddess of light, who rules over order created with-in her own realm of Nirvana various places to hold and lavish souls whose ghosts had lived good lives based on a combination of their own social expectations and certain conditions known to the goddess. The red goddess who rules over chaos created with-in her own realm of Hell various places to hold and punish souls whose ghosts had lived reprehensible existences. To her a soul should have enough control to steer its own body in the right direction, so should be punished by only having those Earthly memories and form while trapped in various different worlds.

   Both would enlist the aid of the beings native to their own realms in this task. The Netherworld and Lands of the Dead remain with their two goddesses as a kind of in-between and waiting area for souls for judgment. In many cases a soul doesn’t meet the criteria for either Nirvana or Hell so simply waits either in the Land of the Dead or the Netherworld. As this system still works perfectly well for these cases.

   Those reading may ask themselves, what of the third Transdimensional Goddess, she felt for her part she had done enough, to create the Netherworld she had pinched her own realm into two and placed a great sphere as a stopper between like some cosmic hourglass. She placed two of her daughters in charge of the Netherworld, while she remains on the throne of the living universe of light above it. Although the Netherworld much to the surprise of many a denizen of the various Lands of the Dead will find is that like her own realm, the Netherworld as well has its own natural living creatures and sentient beings, all of surprising power.]

   *sigh*

   “Okay, okay, okay,” says The Thing Named Jim, “history lesson over, still doesn’t tell me who took my minion….or maybe it does.”

   He looks back [Goddesses of Death]…[placed two of her daughters]

   “So,” he says stroking a beard that doesn’t exist, “That means there are two goddesses who I can punish for daring to cross the Thing Named Jim, no one puts a hole in my roof and takes my toys. Haaa haaaaa haaaa haaaa!”

   He flips through the index…. “let’s see, here we are, goddess of death, see Namia Queen of the Land of the Dead or Necra The Essence of Death.”

   “hmm, Essence of Death, huh?”



   *slams the book shut and lets it float away, the tingling feeling going away from his hands as the book vanishes in a puff of black smoke*

   “Okay, miss Necra The Essence of Death you and I have a little talking to do, either because you took my ADB or one of those many bastards you can be held accountable for did and…”

   He looks back and forth, “Maybe I should save this speech for when I am actually talking to this bony bitch huh?”

   He walks out a white door in the wall and immediately appears in a retro computer room with giant screens and flashing buttons.

   “computer of the omni-verse, great finder of all treasures, find me the entity known as Necra the Essence of Death.”

   “Are…you…sure…sir.” It says in a monotone mechanical voice.

   “Yes, damnit,” he says, “Just do it.”

   “As…you…command…sir…beep…bloop…bleep.”

   “Soon,” says Jim, “Soon I will finally meet Death. Huh wander what I should wear?”

    ******

    A wooden door with a brass knob appears in the air atop a landscape of black jagged rocks that look to all the world to have been melted and polished. The Thing Named Jim steps out, the door vanishing behind him, a small remote control like device in hand.

   “Okay, so where is the bony bitch?” asks Jim.

   “Master…she…is….down….below.” says the machine, which is clearly the same voice as Jim’s computer with the stupid name.

   At the bottom of the hill Jim sees a desolate land, the bodies of…

   “Skeletons?” says Jim

   Yes the remains of an army of skeletons clad in armor and carrying weapons, a fallen army of the undead demon hordes that dared to face the figure in the middle. A woman, or at least what looks like a woman, wearing a carapace like black armor that in places looks somehow form fitting to her athletic frame and yet highly defensive at the same time. Her hands are as claws, black conical tipped fingers, gloves obliviously, yet looking sharp enough to rip through even the thickest of armor. A quick survey of the landscape shows several nearby remains with four slash marks going right through their helmets. Her face is behind what could be described as a ninja’s mask, her hair flows as though by an unfelt wind, long and as black as the deepest shadows, and yet, no sign of her head. Her mask and hair seem to melt as one. Her eyes, he eyes…

   “Does she even have eyes,” says Jim seeing that she is either wearing a visor or…no it must be a visor of some sort; metal panels with a ridged brow ridge armor above, yet blacker than the eye guards of a welder.

    Around her body from off her shoulders, elbows, knees, waist, and other places Jim sees what look to be rags or ribbons made of shadow appearing and disappearing, as though she were wearing a different outfit in another dimension.

   “So this is her?” says Jim not expecting anyone to answer, “Necra the Essence of Death, AKA the Dark Lady Necra, AKA The Empress of the Empire of Eternal Darkness, AKA yadda, yadda, yadda…a lot of dark and what ever. Huh, not as skeletal as I thought, or maybe she’s really a skeleton under all that get-up and scare yuh she has on.”

    He stares down at her just standing there like a statue, “Huh wonder why she’s just…”

    As he talks she extends her left arm towards him with out looking at him and makes a come here gesture with her finger. With out any warning, unless he had been looking at her, Jim finds himself rolling down the mountain, his little computer pal flying off and smashing on the jagged melted rocks.

   “Who are you?” she says in a dark yet somehow seductive voice.

   Standing and brushing himself off Jim proclaims loud enough for all to hear, “I am the Thing Named Jim, the Alpha Que, the Destroyer of Worlds, the…*hack..cough..*”

   Jim huddles over, black smoke bellowing from his mouth as he holds his throat. Her right hand is held out as though choking him with out touching him. A pain ripples through his body. He has lived for two million years, a length of time while calculate able by mortals can never truly be understood. For an immortal times moves no faster than it does for a mortal, they may have less appreciation for it, but time still moves no faster. In this impossible to really imagine length of time Jim has felt little pain, a pin prick here, a stubbed toe feeling there, the most powerful attack he ever felt left a burning sensation and what could be thought as the equivalent of a sunburn and that was from a weapon that destroys planets.

   No this is something far more intense, something in the back of his mind tells him he knows this pain, from before two million years ago, something long forgotten by the ceaseless onslaught of time and hidden away by his ever growing confidence and ego at his own ever increasing power. Yet it’s more so, something tells him this sinking feeling, this body shaking pain is more than he remembers, something too horrific, his soul screams out “Death”.

    Yes its death, the grip of death. He now knows why he never sought out this being before in two million years, an immortal would never seek out death. His instincts from ancient ages ago kept this stupid idea in check, death is death.

   “So,” he manages to cough out, “you…stole my…*hack*…min…min…*bloach*…per…*cough*…to…lure…me…*hack*….here…and…kill…kill….kill me!”

   “I,” she says, “Have nothing to do with a lowly creature like you, I am the Empress, I am as you seem to somehow know, Necra the Essence of Death. No one who knows this form and knows that name has lived to tell anyone. Why my enemies thought a reality twister would do any better against me I do not…”



   A flash streaks through her mind. A thought, a spoken emotion, a command in fact so intense that even death must take notice.

   She releases her death grip, literally, and says, “It seems you have no connection with my enemies or those of my empire; and now that I think about it you do have an aura about you, a small trace perhaps, of my sister.”

    “Sister?” thinks Jim, “damn, wrong one anyway.”

   “You have been given a reprieve, a power far greater than myself, a power that easily dwarfs yours and mine combined in fact has just this instant told me to let you live. However she gives a warning, and I too feel this way, stop your foolishness or else. My sister would kill you just as soon as look at you, regardless of whether or not she mistakes you for a lackey of her enemies.”

   She waves her hand, “now be gone reality twister.”

   No waves, no rippling, no lights, no blue cyclone of energy, just there and now here again. Jim finds himself sitting on the floor of his little white room. The door however, the one to Aesperia, is now completely gone, in its place is a note.

   [Even the immortal can die when faced with death its self. My daughter has called her minion back to her, in a way you are lucky you went after her sister instead of trying to force open the door that was here or went after her directly. My dear sweet Namia would not have hesitated to simply open her eyes at you…oh and by the way if you had tried to force open that black door it would have killed you too. She really doesn’t like reality twisters, so be a good boy and keep your nose out of the affairs of multi-dimensional deities.

   Signed:
   Ro-Ko-Naka]

  “Okay seriously,” says Jim, “What the hell?”