• What are we besides balls of light traveling down a highway alongside others? What happens to you once you die? Does your light, tainted by your actions, go through the threads of the cycle, stripping your misdeeds from your soul? Or do you get reincarnated again with lost memories hidden in a vault in the farthest parts of your brain?

    A bright silhouette, the shape of a person, lingers on the very edge of their afterlife. Their arms are folded behind their back, and yellow eyes peer from the light, watching as the balls of light push themselves through the theoretical sheet of mesh, and black seeps from the middle of the ball, forming their own orb that can't get through the mesh. Another bodied figure like theirs; black as light, bounces across the mesh, so much evil they couldn't be reincarnated? They pick up the black orbs left behind with quick steps, quickly weaving in and out of the way of the white orbs, making sure not to let them touch.

    Its been so long, they can't remember that ones name. Hard to tell with no face. They turn away and start to walk in the opposite direction; but suddenly, a booming voice-

    "Welcome back, my son."

    Welcome back. Not the first stop, clearly not the last- just another step in the way. The figure looks up, rolls their eyes and sighs.

    "Mother." Their eyes alone show their entire displeasure. Welcome back, but not so welcome.

    "You're back too terribly soon, whats the reason?"

    "The Catalyst, ma'am." The end word stuck to their tongue, so it was said with so much force it scraped the bitter taste from it.

    "And your sword?"

    "Mother, I sent someone i could trust after it. The 'relevant' Kention."

    "You trust them to remember? They're a simple, braincell lacking- child."

    They shrug. "Doesn't matter, I didn't need it. Where to next?"
    "You failed your last personal mission, you died. You lost your grip long ago, I should've recovered you. Your new personal mission for this cycle is-" the ambient voice stops, thinking for moment. "Vatros. He will not know your new form, he will not know what you, my little flower, are capable of. Maybe then, the world will revere you again."

    "You want me to kill him?"

    "Just bring him back to me, thank you." The voice silences completely, leaving the figure with nothing besides themselves. How lame. Fine, I guess. They walk to the urge and jump.

    -

    Outside of the walls of Genious, teetering upon the very peak of a mountain, there is a waterfall that sheets of ice fall through, smashing to the grove down at the bottom. It was beautiful, how the bottom hosted life, while the top was barren and lifeless.

    Suddenly, the entire waterfall, and its waterflow freezes completely. The lake in the grove ices over, and the fish freeze in their places. There was a man sitting on the edge of the lake, his feet in the water because of the warmth, and suddenly finds himself stuck. He gasps and eyes around beligerantly looking for his escape, but finding none.

    The water vibrates, the ice on top cracks slightly around the edges. What the hell? He uneasily peers around the perimeter. The ice cracks again, like something is hitting it, and the farthest edge closest to the waterfall cracks open and falls into the water, sending rippling cracks through the entirety. Water pushes itself from the hole, and a hand fishes its way to the edge of it, followed by another.

    The man is terrified. What is that? With the hands, arms appear as the- thing.. starts to pull itself from the water. The body as it hits air, turns to permafrost. Wet hair slings itself over their dropped face as their shoulders contort to lift themselves more comfortably. They turn their neck, and their hair falls to one side of their face, revealing yellow eyes.
    They lock with the man's terrified, irrelevant color. One eye at a time blinks, leaving the figure staring at the man the entire time without a break. They don't speak, just unintelligibly growl.

    What is that..