All of us looked up when we saw the bright white light of a spirit orb descending. We had to stop along the path when the spirit orb hovered in front of us, forming into a man. The man wore shiny, silver armor and carried a long spear. He looked like a guard.
What the hell. I thought I was done with these assholes, but apparently, they had brutes even in heaven.
The guard spoke in a sharp, brusque voice. “Ava-Marie Wahkin, the Hawkei gods request your presence immediately. There is something that must be discussed. And you must come alone.”
I looked at the faces of my family. Was this something that happened often?
By their expressions, apparently not.
“Best to go with them,” Grandpa Liwanu said. “We’ll be waiting for you when you’re done.”
“But…” I wanted to stay with them.
“No questions. Come with me.” The guard reached out to grasp my wrist. Once the guard touched me, I found myself portaled from one place to another.
I stood in some kind of amphitheater. White light shone from above so brightly, I couldn’t really see where I was. I turned on the spot, but the guard was already gone.
Voices came from all around me. The bright light faded, and my jaw dropped as I looked up. I’d been taken to some kind of court chamber, with rows upon rows of stone walls, like the inside of a carved-out mountain. On these platforms were all kinds of animals. There were bears, wolves, snakes, bison, horses, and so many more— literally thousands of them, in every species imaginable. If you asked me to name them all, there’s no way I ever could. I spotted Whale Spirit, the goddess of Toaqua, along with Eagle Spirit, the god of Yapluma, standing along the lowest platform in their human forms.
There were more gods here than were listed in the Hawkei pantheon. My people didn’t even know about them all.
One particular god was more familiar than the rest. Coyote Spirit prowled toward me on his paws, the only god who was on ground level with me.
“Coyote,” I said as he looked at me. “What’s going on?”
A special case, he said.Since your death, we gathered to discuss the fate of your prophecy, and how it would change now that you are no longer able to fulfill it. But it seems there are other factors at play, for now we are here to help you decide your fate.
I was about to ask him what he was talking about, until I felt myself being wrenched away from the Ancestral Lands.
It was a jarring experience, going from utter peace to complete devastation. Every awful emotion that I ever experienced flooded back in a singular suffocating stream. Grief, sadness, loss… it rammed into me with all the power of a tsunami, and I found myself drowning under the weight of that terrible typhoon.
No sooner did I register that I was on earth again—somehow— than an agonizing pain tore through me. It felt like I’d been turned inside out. I let out an agonized scream, then another, and another. I felt the pressure of anesthetic fail to put me under as the sensation of scalpels and gloved hands tore through me.
“We’re losing her!” I heard someone cry. Through the pain, I heard the sound of a heart monitor, slowly beeping until it went flatline.
The moment the heart monitor went flat, I found myself ripped from my body and dragged back to the spirit realm. I was once again standing in the middle of the amphitheater with the gods, and not in… whatever horrible place I had been.
I still held my stomach, although everything had ceased to hurt. There was no such thing as pain here in the Ancestral Lands, but I remembered exactly what it felt like, and the thought of experiencing that again made my spirit recoil inside and out. Pain was an earthly experience. It wasn’t something that was supposed to happen in the afterlife.
Then, I heard a blissful voice coming from somewhere far off… Charlie’s voice.I’ll be waiting for you, pidge. I’ll accept whatever you decide, because I love you that much. But if you can, please… come back to me.
His voice shook my soul to the core. I nearly dropped to my knees. What the hell was going on? How could he communicate with me across realms? It was unfathomable, even with a soul bond.
“What was that?” I asked with a shudder. I had no idea what was going on.
Coyote paused. His ear twitched, as if he was listening to something.It would seem Charlie and Oberi are doing their best to return you to your mortal life.
I went completely still. “Can they do that?”
Before Oberi left, she was given a special kind of magic— a power she could only use once. She has used that power to attempt to restore your body and bring your soul back to earth.
“They want me to come back?” I asked in a whisper.
It would seem so. Your body is in surgery right now, although your spirit is hesitant to return.Coyote shook out his fur.This is a very rare occasion, even in the magical world. It appears that your soul connection to Charlie is what’s enabling it to be possible. It’s very difficult for a soul to reside in two different planes of reality; however, it can be done.Coyote gave a little growl, like he was displeased.
“Is it going to work?” I felt my lip tremble.
That is up to you.
