“Okay, this is gonna be wild! It’s been ages since I’ve been able to show a rookie the ropes!” Gildebrak said as we exited the room I’d woken up in. I just nodded, my mind very full.
I was really in the afterlife. Or, uh, an afterlife adjacent space. I was a Reaper. I had met the literal Lord of the Dead. That last part would probably freak out a lot of people, but I just went with it. Rolling with the punches, as they say.
“So, how Lord of the Dead-y is your boss? Is he like a death god?” I asked in another classic Bridges-blurt.
“Ah no, not at all. Although he is descended from a god.”
“Really?”
“Oh yeah, totally, but it is a bit of a touchy subject. His father was Lugh, and apparently, he was not the god of sticking around and raising his demi-god kid.”
“Lugh is the Irish god of Oaths, Truths, and the Law,” my inner voice explained.
“Thanks,” I said, mostly for the voice, but it worked for Gildebrak too. “I’ll be honest, I’ve never really thought much of the go—”
Suddenly, Gildebrak’s finger was against my lips, and she was pressing me up against the wall. She had a surprising amount of strength for her size, leaving me blinking at her uncertainly.
“Listen, we all have our opinions about the powers-that-be question, but they are our literal bosses, and our entire existence is to make sure that their plans for the afterlife go perfectly. So maybe ixnay on the lasphemybay, and let’s get back to enjoying ourselves. Understood?”
“Understood.”
“Perfect!” She stepped away from me, her tone going back to jovial. What was clear to me was that nothing was really surface level with these Reapers. I would be wise to be a bit more cautious with, well, pretty much everything. “So, we’re in administration right now, but once we leave this wing, we will be in the main hub of the Dead Office. Oh man, I’m so excited!”
I was trying to be, and I felt like normally I would be, but I was still so caught up in everything, and my tour guide’s reaction to my disparaging comment about deities didn’t really help. It felt like I had been thrust into the middle of some grand political game in a completely different world and had just been expected to swim. Probably because I actually had been pushed into a different world that definitely seemed to have a whole lot of politics in it.
“Ah! Here we are!” Gildebrak said as she pushed open the heavy wooden doors at the end of the benign, inoffensive hall we’d come into. “I remember when this got the upgrade to the lighting. Really brings out the polish of the place!”
I followed after her, but I had nothing to say. Mostly because my jaw had fallen down to my chest as I took in a truly massive room that was somewhere between a liminal space, a train station, and some sort of futuristically decorated office.
The walls were white. The floors were white. The ceiling was white. And those lights that Gildebrak mentioned? Also, nearly blindingly white. I quite literally had to pause and let my eyes adjust, as that level of illumination just didn’t seem possible on Earth.
It definitely wasn’t what I thought of when I pictured the domain of the Lord of the Dead.
“Not half bad, right?” she asked, grinning at me toothily.
“It’s certainly something.”
But as my eyes adjusted, I began to pick up more details. Such as the dozen or so double doors scattered throughout the room, austere labels above them. I could pick out the words cafeteria, dormitories, and Armory above three of the doors, but the rest were obscured by either pillars or were just too far away for my tired eyes.
“So, like I said, this is the main hub. If there’s somewhere you want to go, you go through a door and then hop on one of the trains that will take you to your destination. There are certain intersection points where you can hop onto a different line or go the other way. It’s really straightforward, not to mention pretty darn convenient. We used to take on our metaphysical form and fly places. Sounds fun, I know, but it’s way harder to take on that form here in the lands between rather than on Earth.”
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
I nodded. “Hmm. Good to know.”
“Don’t worry about that now. You’ll learn all about it when you go on your first mission.”
“Mission?” That wasn’t the first time I’d heard that word since I’d woken up, but it felt like as good a time as any to question it.
“That’s what we’re here for, and you will learn all about it soon enough.”
“Noted.”
“One thing I do want you to notice is the singular red door on the other side of the room. They’re actually replacing the sign right now—sorry about that—but that’s the café.”
Café?
That was such a nonchalant, nonmagical sort of room that I couldn’t help but laugh slightly. “Is that code for something?”
“Code for a great place to sit down and have a cup of coffee.” Gildebrak could clearly see that I was confused, so thankfully, she continued. “The hub, being a central point and all that, is an easy place to meet up with friends or coworkers that you might not normally see in the dormitories or if you like to spend your downtime on Earth. So, there’s an actual café behind those doors. That way, if you want to spend time together or grab a quick bite to eat or even just share a nice drink, you have the ability to.”
She gave me a pointed look. “Although some of us are annoying, like Jamison, it’s been proven many times over that we work best when we are a community. So, management does what they can to really encourage organic community vibes.”
“Huh, so you go there with your friends when you wanna catch up?”
“Maybe not as much as I should. It’s easy to get quite consumed by the job. Especially the longer you end up doing this line of work. But I, uh . . . I’ve got friends.”
“The way you said that made it seem very much like you do not have friends.”
I call ’em like I see ’em, and it was best that she knew that about me from the beginning.
“You know, I think I might have liked you more when you were unconscious.”
“I doubt you’re the first person to share those beliefs.” Although I kept my tone dry, I was smiling as my tour guide and I fell into a bit of banter. It felt very grounding in a world that was largely shifting sand below my feet. Like a little bit of normalcy that I could cling to. “Doesn’t mean I’m wrong.”
“Didn’t realize you were going to be so sassy,” Gildebrak retorted, rolling her eyes and acting every bit the teenager that she looked like. “In fact, there’s one of my friends there! Ky’ek’shaw! Hey, Ky’ek’shaw, I haven’t seen you in ages!”
Suddenly, we were rushing toward . . . I didn’t know what at first, actually. I was so startled that I only looked to Gildebrak as she dragged me by my hand with that surprisingly powerful grip of hers. Geez, could I end up being that strong? While that seemed impossible, it would be really cool.
Like really cool.
And not just because of the temptation to uppercut a rude dinner guest. Although that very much would be an added benefit.
But then we were jerking to a stop, and I realized there was a broad back in front of me. So broad, in fact, I’d thought it was a pillar in my peripheral vision as Gildebrak had been hauling me along. At first, all I saw was the slate gray of an incredibly crisp suit, but then the back was turning, and I found myself staring at the very last thing I expected.
A monster!
“There you are, Ky’ek’shaw! What’s going on? What have you been up to lately?”
Gildebrak was chatting away like nothing was wrong, but I could only stare up into the slit-pupiled, blazingly yellow eyes that were staring down at me.
Name: Ky’ek’shaw
Race: Orc
Class: Soul Broker
Level: 7
Gulp.
I’d seen lots of pictures of monsters, what with the internet and all, but I’d never once been so close to one. All I could do was stare at his greenish skin with the blue undertone to it, only visible on his face and hands because of the expensive-looking suit he was wearing. There was something so . . . anachronistic about him.
Ever since the gods had saved our world and revealed so many secrets of the universe, monsters had become the new boogeymen for humanity. Except they actually existed. I remembered being terrified when my mother taught me monster safety when I was just a kid and when I had nightmares, it wasn’t unusual for them to be in them. That, and being at work naked or my teeth falling out while I was talking to a customer.
“Gildebrak,” he said slowly, his voice like gravel. And maybe it was because he was so much taller than me, standing at least seven feet, but it was like his words had a physical force that drilled down into me. “I did not realize that you were interested in my ongoing work to establish a baseline value for all brokership proposals.”
“Oh yeaaah, I find that stuff super interesting! But my friend here doesn’t know anything about it, so I’m sure she’d love to hear about it!”
Gildebrak gestured to me, and I found those blazing yellow eyes staring at me for real. I knew that I was gawking, but who could blame me? He was a monster. Something I’d been taught to fear. But also . . . he had a man bun.
Yeah, his dark, long tresses were pulled back into a meticulously styled bun at the back of his head, completing his nouveau businessman look. Which was in direct contrast with the two tusks sticking up from his bottom jaw and just how sharp and spikey the rest of his more normal-sized teeth were.
Yikes on bikes.
“You’re an orc,” I blurted, once again clearly batting a thousand. But in my defense, I had only just been unconscious a few minutes earlier.
The huge orc glanced at Gildebrak. “So, she’s new here?”
“Oh yeah, so much so that she still has that new car smell! But we’ll catch up later. Wouldn’t want to make you late for . . . uh . . .”
“My negotiations with Greek pantheon representatives about their predatory offer habits.”
“Right, that! Sounds super important. See ya around, buddy!”
The orc gave a stiff nod then headed off, his long legs taking him to the closest door quite speedily. But I didn’t get to see him exit as Gildebrak was already pulling me off in a different direction.