Chapter Text
In the majority of religions there is something after death, whether it be reincarnation or a place for souls to go. Heaven, Hell (Christianity), the Underworld (Hellenism and Kemetism), Firdaus (Islam), Samsara (Buddhism), are all places souls go after death. My parents were Roman Catholic and raised me that way, but in my late teens I began practicing Witchcraft and was introduced to Neopaganism. I didn’t know for sure if there was an afterlife but I hoped there was one.
So, what the hell is this shit?
I died in the year 2020. It was the year the coronavirus decided to rear its head against humanity. The world had shut down as the death toll rose, I was one the hundreds of thousands that died to be buried in a mass grave. But forget about that crap.
My name is Serenity and I am nowhere. I can't see in the traditional sense, I don't think I have a body anymore, but there is nothing around me. I have been floating in this endless emptiness for days, months, probably years; going nowhere. I can’t tell if I'm moving, but I’m suspended not touching anything. Like in a sensory Deprivation tank but worse (I’ve been in one, it wasn’t this bad), here there is no getting out.
I’ve tried screaming, calling out, and moving but nothing happens. There have only been 2 events that ever occurred.
- 1 I showed up here, I was laying in my hospital bed then suddenly I was here. Like pop congratulations you died, nothing for you. 2 I felt a presence. It was a very long time ago, it was just a faint brush. A small twinkle of a star then back to nothing. I spent a lot of time after that brush trying to scream, call out, or contact whatever I felt. I didn’t care if it was good or bad, it was something
I fall asleep every now and then but every time I wake up I repeat the same information to make sure I don't forget who I am and what’s happening to me.
My name is Serenity.
I am 19(was? How much time has passed?)
I died.
I don't know where I am.
I had...have a family. I have a family.
I want there to be something. Being stuck in nothing with only your thoughts can drive someone insane. I’m desperate for anything, a flicker of light, another person, ANYTHING THAT WILL GIVE ME HOPE.
I can’t speak but try to cry into the abyss “HELLO? I DON’T WANT TO BE HERE ANYMORE! PLEASE! Please. I miss my mom, I miss my Dad. I want to go home. Someone take me home, please.”
AWAKEN!
What?
AWAKEN!
I feel myself being pulled towards something. Whatever has me keeps pulling and is dragging me through the dark.
Where is it taking me? Did it hear my call for help? Why now? Why didn't it hear my calls before? Fuck it. I'm going somewhere! There’s something here, someone!
HEAR MY CALL AND RISE!
Rise? What do you mean rise, you're pulling me? Where do you want me to go?
I feel a harsh yank forward and slam into a wall. I yelp in pain, what is this? The wall isn’t solid and the pulling is dragging me into a slimy subsistence until I am completely engulfed. But they keep pulling. As I move through the mushy wall it starts to get brighter, whatever it is it’s pulling me is near a light!
I look toward the new light and try to push myself forward, the slime starts collecting on me. It begins to form globs wherever it touches and starts to weigh me down as the pulling has lessened.
No! Please keep pulling, I’m almost there! Just a little more!
The light is almost blinding now. With a final tug I am ripped forward, the slime letting go but leaving stains where it touched.
RISE AND AWAKEN MY UNDEAD ARMY!
I take in a breath and after a long time open my eyes. There is a soft glow and all I can see is a wooden plank in front of my face. I turn my head and follow the lines in the wood down only to see another piece of wood at my feet. I’m in a coffin. I’m in a wooden coffin. I’m finally in a place!! And if a can look that means I have a head; I have a body! I raise my hands in front of my face expecting to see my little fingers but only to be met with dirt covered bones. I don't have any skin! With a soft grunt I lift my head up and try to look down at the rest of myself.
Nothing but dirty bones meet my eyes, there is a black rotten substance where my stomach was but it is most likely what is left of my body.
Before I can start panicking a loud voice booms out again “GET UP! IT IS TIME
TO SEE THE WORLD AGAIN MY LOVELIES!”
The Casket around me began violently shaking, the wood splintered and earth began to fall in. The quaking got worse and the coffin split open allowing the earth to fall in. I begin to desperately crawl out and push the dirt out of my way. The shaking only loosens more dirt and it pelts my face, falling into my sockets. With a final grunt I pull myself onto stable ground and try to breath. Shaking my head, I feel dirt falling out of my skull, it is a very unusual feeling.
I'm nothing but a skeleton, why do I need to breathe? And how can I feel inside of my skull???
“ARISE!”
I flinch at the loud tone and look at the being whose voice I heard, about 30 feet to my left is a hooded figure holding a staff in his hand. But before I could call out to the person there’s another rumbling and the dirt below me began to cave. Rolling to the side I watch as another skeleton crawls its way out of our grave, and beneath it dozens more begin clawing their way out.
I glance back up to the yelling hooded figure and see a bright green glow erupting from their staff, tendrils of the light shoot into the ground and the earth begins to shake again. I watch as headstones fall into large cracks that open up. Not seconds later move dead are erupting from the ground, but some of these are not completely decomposed. They still have skin and organs attached to them. Some have only patches of skin showing the rotting organs and muscles.
Holy crap that guy's arm is hanging off! I stare at the corpses that continue to rise up and are walking toward the hooded figure.
A deep bellowing laugh echoes through as the figure looks around at the army of undead they have summoned. The figure tilts their head back and laughs hysterically. The hood slips off their head and I get to take a good look at the man that brought me back from death.
My jaw dropped with a click and I stared at the young man before me. I was expecting an old man with a beard like a wizard depicted in movies but he was anything but that. The man has dirty blond hair and his face is speckled with freckles. He has a soft round face and looks almost feminine. On the man’s upper lip is a scar reaching from a nostril to the bottom of his upper lip, evidence of a corrective surgery for cleft lip.
The man continued to survey the masses of dead around him, they continued to collect into a crowd surrounding him. I look around and see that I am the only one not in the crowd and hide behind a headstone that survived the opening of the Earth. The dead don’t seem to be doing anything, standing in a circle and are just staring at the necromancer in the middle. The man walks around and pushes some only for the dead to straighten up and watch him again.
I watch as he does this over and over, to only have the same outcome. None of them seem to have a conscience of their own. Am I the only one that didn’t turn into a mindless zombie? Why am I different from the rest?
I jerk out of thought as a clap resonates from the center of the crowd. “Perfect! My own personal army. No one can kill an army that is already dead, you can’t feel pain, you won’t get hungry, and will obey my every command without objection!”
I hunch behind the stone and try to stop from gasping. He is using dead people to push his own will. What sick bastard wakes the dead to fight for them?
Taking a deep breath, I peak around the stone to see a bright green glow burst to life from the end of the man's staff. It swirls in a circle spinning at a frightening speed until it is translucent and an image can be seen through it. A forest can be seen, the leaves on the tree are vibrant yellows, oranges, and reds. They litter the forest floor and are a clear indicator that winter is around the corner.
A portal, he just created a freaking portal! He raises dozens of dead bodies and now has decided to ignore physics breaking time and space. What’s next??
“Alright everyone through the portal!” he barks.
Slowly the corpses begin to shuffle into the swirling vortex disappearing and popping up on the other side. As each one passes through the portal emits a gentle swoosh like the blowing of a breeze. The man herds them into the portal redirecting any stragglers who miss their mark and walk past the exit. When the final being passes through the portal the man turns and looks around the area.
I quickly duck behind the Headstone again, praying he didn’t see me hide. I sit and listen for the sound of footsteps, only to hear the hooded man sigh and the swish of someone going through the portal. Tuning around I peak over the stone and see the swirling mass shrink and disappear.
I sink to the ground and lean against the stone letting out the breath I had been holding. Only to freeze as a familiar whoop of a police siren shoot through the air. The area lights up with a flashing red and blue light and I hear the screeching of tires.
So, I’m guessing resurrecting the dead in the middle of the night for your personal army isn’t legal….