Amalia froze as the Dullahan sunk its impossibly strong fingers into her back. Paralyzed, all she could do was suffer as the fae monstrosity grasped her spinal column and tugged. It didn’t break free, not right away, instead a series of pops traveled along her insides as connective tissue snapped like rubber bands. Another tug ripped her spine partially free from its fleshy prison. It was a jagged cable of pinkish-white bone. Small spirits spilled out from their home within the joints of her spine, tumbling to the ground in a fit of confusion. Amalia gasped, her entire body trembling as nerves were torn apart. A final wrenching tug ripped the rest of her spine free and she collapsed, her final moments spent watching the Dullahan speed off after an injured Nico.
Then? Nothing. An absence of sensation so devoid of description that it might as well not exist.
Then, she woke up. Sensations filled her body as if it was wax being poured into a mold. Her skin prickled. Her chest filled with breath and her eyes with light. Floating, thousands of feet beneath the ocean’s surface, she was suspended in an iron barred shark cage. And despite being completely submerged, breathing came easily. Amalia stood on shaky legs, the naked soles of her feet growing cold against the cage’s floor. She was naked, bare against the open and unending sea. Worst of all was the silence. The near-constant chatter of her inner spirits had vanished. Quietly she whispered for Erin, but the bird-spirit did not answer.
It was sort of peaceful. This was death. She had always assumed Davy Jones’ locker was reserved for pirates, but maybe this was the fate of every Opealonean? She closed her eyes and let herself simply float. No chittering spirits? No Darkseid? Yeah, she could get used to this. She could get used to this. What about Juno? She’d be worried sick. She was probably already worried sick. But… she’d be fine. She was a lot tougher than Amalia was, she’d move on and it’d be fine. Amalia wondered if her parents would even care that she died, hell she wasn’t even sure if they were alive anymore. Whatever, it didn’t matter, not anymore.
As she was settling back into comfortable nonexistence a screeching voice cut through the peace, “Amalia! We must leave from this terrible place!”
“Go away Erin,” Amalia said, “I’m dead.”
Erin flew through the water and landed on the cage, sending it tumbling end-over-end in the water. To Amalia’s surprise the bird-spirit had grown massive, becoming almost as large as a sloop. Amalia’s naked body slammed against the bars and she cried out in pain. Erin’s talons grabbed the cage and with a mighty flap of her wings they were propelled upwards.
Amalia steadied herself and shouted upwards, “Let me go, Erin!”
“You do not desire this fate, Amalia!” Erin screeched, drawing them higher and higher.
“How do you know what I want?” She shouted, “I don’t want my spine ripped out anymore, I don’t want my parents to try and kill me, I don’t want my home to sink, and I don’t want spirits treating my body like a fucking hostel!”
“How do I know?” Erin responded, “We’ve shared a body since you were a child, you cannot hide your lust for life from me.”
Amalia paused. It wasn’t as if she wanted to die, but, in her experience, living wasn’t all that great. It really was just jumping from one tragedy to the next. There were only brief moments of happiness, like little oases dotting a dried-out landscape of suffering. If she was meant to crawl through this blistering desert for the rest of her life, then yeah, death didn’t seem so bad. So when Erin referred to her “lust for life” she had no real clue of what the bird-spirit meant.
“Erin… really, it’s fine,” Amalia said, “Let me go, just move on and… do whatever spirits do without a host, I want to stay.”
“If this is your true wish, I will oblige, but you should look below before you make your decision.”
That sounded ominous. Amalia went to her knees and crawled to the edge of the cage, peering over the edge. From the inky depths below appeared a gigantic skeleton. It surged after them, its unfathomably large body unfurling from seeming nonexistence. It opened its mouth, rising ever closer in an attempt to swallow them whole. Amalia pulled back and muttered, “Is that…?”
“Indeed, The Gashadokuro,” Erin answered, “This realm allows us spirits to manifest freely and completely, I believe it wishes to quench its endless thirst using your blood.”
Did she even have blood anymore?
“Do you still wish to languish?” Erin asked.
Amalia didn’t think of it as languishing, more like acceptance, but neither seemed possible when a several story tall skeleton monster was trying to drink her blood. A task that it was growing ever closer to completing. It lunged upwards, and Amalia screamed in terror as the monster’s teeth scraped against the bottomside of her cage. Above them the surface of the ocean grew ever closer and just as the skeleton wound up for another lunge they burst free.
The sky above was black as night and devoid of stars, but below the ocean glittered with thousands of shimmering lights. It appeared as a swirling mass of cosmic bodies drifting along. Quasars and nebulas zoomed past as Erin stopped going upwards and instead soared alongside the astral sea.
“Its… beautiful,” Amalia whispered.
Then? Nothing. An absence of sensation so devoid of description that it might as well not exist.
Then, she woke up. Sensations filled her body as if it was wax being poured into a mold. Her skin prickled. Her chest filled with breath and her eyes with light. Floating, thousands of feet beneath the ocean’s surface, she was suspended in an iron barred shark cage. And despite being completely submerged, breathing came easily. Amalia stood on shaky legs, the naked soles of her feet growing cold against the cage’s floor. She was naked, bare against the open and unending sea. Worst of all was the silence. The near-constant chatter of her inner spirits had vanished. Quietly she whispered for Erin, but the bird-spirit did not answer.
It was sort of peaceful. This was death. She had always assumed Davy Jones’ locker was reserved for pirates, but maybe this was the fate of every Opealonean? She closed her eyes and let herself simply float. No chittering spirits? No Darkseid? Yeah, she could get used to this. She could get used to this. What about Juno? She’d be worried sick. She was probably already worried sick. But… she’d be fine. She was a lot tougher than Amalia was, she’d move on and it’d be fine. Amalia wondered if her parents would even care that she died, hell she wasn’t even sure if they were alive anymore. Whatever, it didn’t matter, not anymore.
As she was settling back into comfortable nonexistence a screeching voice cut through the peace, “Amalia! We must leave from this terrible place!”
“Go away Erin,” Amalia said, “I’m dead.”
Erin flew through the water and landed on the cage, sending it tumbling end-over-end in the water. To Amalia’s surprise the bird-spirit had grown massive, becoming almost as large as a sloop. Amalia’s naked body slammed against the bars and she cried out in pain. Erin’s talons grabbed the cage and with a mighty flap of her wings they were propelled upwards.
Amalia steadied herself and shouted upwards, “Let me go, Erin!”
“You do not desire this fate, Amalia!” Erin screeched, drawing them higher and higher.
“How do you know what I want?” She shouted, “I don’t want my spine ripped out anymore, I don’t want my parents to try and kill me, I don’t want my home to sink, and I don’t want spirits treating my body like a fucking hostel!”
“How do I know?” Erin responded, “We’ve shared a body since you were a child, you cannot hide your lust for life from me.”
Amalia paused. It wasn’t as if she wanted to die, but, in her experience, living wasn’t all that great. It really was just jumping from one tragedy to the next. There were only brief moments of happiness, like little oases dotting a dried-out landscape of suffering. If she was meant to crawl through this blistering desert for the rest of her life, then yeah, death didn’t seem so bad. So when Erin referred to her “lust for life” she had no real clue of what the bird-spirit meant.
“Erin… really, it’s fine,” Amalia said, “Let me go, just move on and… do whatever spirits do without a host, I want to stay.”
“If this is your true wish, I will oblige, but you should look below before you make your decision.”
That sounded ominous. Amalia went to her knees and crawled to the edge of the cage, peering over the edge. From the inky depths below appeared a gigantic skeleton. It surged after them, its unfathomably large body unfurling from seeming nonexistence. It opened its mouth, rising ever closer in an attempt to swallow them whole. Amalia pulled back and muttered, “Is that…?”
“Indeed, The Gashadokuro,” Erin answered, “This realm allows us spirits to manifest freely and completely, I believe it wishes to quench its endless thirst using your blood.”
Did she even have blood anymore?
“Do you still wish to languish?” Erin asked.
Amalia didn’t think of it as languishing, more like acceptance, but neither seemed possible when a several story tall skeleton monster was trying to drink her blood. A task that it was growing ever closer to completing. It lunged upwards, and Amalia screamed in terror as the monster’s teeth scraped against the bottomside of her cage. Above them the surface of the ocean grew ever closer and just as the skeleton wound up for another lunge they burst free.
The sky above was black as night and devoid of stars, but below the ocean glittered with thousands of shimmering lights. It appeared as a swirling mass of cosmic bodies drifting along. Quasars and nebulas zoomed past as Erin stopped going upwards and instead soared alongside the astral sea.
“Its… beautiful,” Amalia whispered.