Chapter 38
"Uhh, that's absolutely creepy." She muttered and bowed down, picking up the piece of a broken bone, "and that looks human.", she said and shuddered before putting it back down.
"Honestly!" she screamed into the darkness, "it is not funny!"
Nothing, silence, her voice simply echoed through the silent surroundings.
"Anybody there?" she called out again and heard nothing.
"HELLO!" Now this was getting really uncomfortable.
Something rustled and cracked behind her as she turned around, and again, only darkness.
Okay.
Now it was uncomfortable and creepy, and she definitely did not like that.
"You do not belong, child.", a thundering voice said, and she shuddered.
"Maybe." She answered and received an answer consisting of laughter, booming laughter.
"Definitely half-breed, you do not belong." a pair of large crystal eyes appeared, "this place is not for the living; I am surprised you got here, although the little boy may have helped a bit."
"No, honestly, I am sure I don't belong. I have a good reason to be here, though, so I will leave when I have what I wanted or an even more important reason not to do so." She answered and felt not only scared but also very awkward. This morning, talking to a most likely gigantic, invisible big something was not on her to-do list.
"And what is your reason?" it, or he sounded like a male.
"Well, gonna kick the bucket, go six feet under, move my homestead to the netherworld." She explained.
"You die?"
"Yeah, wouldn't put it like this because it sounds depressing.", She sounded rather careless while saying, "so give me a better reason."
The darkness lightened up, slowly shifting from deep darkness into lighter gray. A monochrome landscape surrounded her, endless fields of gray. Bones, bones everywhere, were bones of humans and animals; it was so damn many they covered the entire floor.
She moved her head up and saw a giant snake lounging on the floor and looking at her with mild interest. Its scales were colored intensely green with flecks of yellow, showing its probably immense age.
"Do you still want to stay here?" It asked, and she shook her head, she did not really want to, but she wanted to live even more.
"But I want a life, a life I choose. It's something I already explained to someone else before. I want to live, and I want to live truly hardships and short life expectancy be damned, but when there is a chance to lengthen that life up a bit, I won't give up that easily." She said and did not leave or remove her gaze; doing so was a sign of doubts, and she did not want any.
"You are an entertaining girl, alright? I will help you; that brat probably took me here to you for that reason." She blinked in surprise.
"How?"
He extended his tail, a green, reddish light spreading from it. "Like this, this is my spirit ring, which carries my consciousness. I will suppress your spirit power development with it and my spirit bone." He laughed bitingly. "I am dead anyway. May as well have fun in the afterlife."
He bowed down and shimmered until a tall woman stood before her. She, apparently the snake was female, was dressed in an elegant dark green suit, and had long bong hair falling down her back til it reached her ankles.
"It will be a painful, little girl." He said and touched her temple. "Beware."
"How...?" Before she could ask, just what she considered painful, horrible pain shot through her body.