Ch.4K: "Lost Souls" / Kell's POV

[Legendary Sidekick]

BEEP

Everything is black. Seconds pass in silence.

BEEP

That sharp beep sounds off again. It's a strange sound. You never heard anything like it.

BEEP

"Well of course your nymphs are fine! They have skin like leather! I train mine to be—"

That's Aphrodite. You remember her, right? You said a prayer a few seconds ago. Seconds? Or maybe days? How long have you bee—

BEEP

"I'm doing the best I can, honey!"

That's Heph.

"Well you need to do better than your best! She saved our marriage, and if I can't even do a simple thing like protec—

BEEP

Everything is black.

Kell floats in and out of awareness, but always there is the darkness. At times she gets a glimpse of light a far ways off, but when she tries to move toward it, it wavers like a mirage and vanishes, only to reappear sometime later. She's starting to think the lights are a dead-end because they never lead anywhere.

At other times, there is the beeping. She's unsure what to make of that sound when she hears the voices. Heph and Aphrodite are the only ones she thinks she recognizes, and something teases her mind about asking Aphrodite for something in her heart in the seconds before everything first went black.

Was I praying? Why in the world would I have prayed to Aphrodite? I've never liked her or particularly gotten along with her. Unable to make sense of that mystery, she sets it aside. Maybe it will come to her later.

And so she floats in the darkness, but something tickles the back of her mind about that, too. I was floating just before the darkness came, I think. In water. And there was a figure in the sky. A very large, very angry male figure. HE caused the darkness. She tries to remember more than that, but it is as though the memory is water slipping through her fingers - she can't hold onto it.

A thought goes through her head. Relax. The harder you try to hold onto it, the more likely you are to lose it. Just relax and let it come in its own time. She doesn't know where the thought came from, but she decides it's worth trying.

And so each time the darkness recedes for a short time, she gets a flash of an image, a tiny bit of the puzzle of her existence. A man and a woman - but not a couple...maybe friends of hers? The man has the tanned look of someone who's spent a lot of time outdoors, and there is a pink scar across his neck. I had something to do with him getting that scar...but what? And I think he and I are close. The woman carries a bow and has a quiet way about her, and is dressed in a way that suggests she might also spend a fair amount of time outdoors. Finally, there is...a blue-green unicorn? If it's a unicorn, why am I getting the image of a blue-green horned dolphin, too?There's something about the unicorn that's important, something she can use, or at least try to. She wills herself to recall what it is, but the thought eludes her.

As the darkness closes over her yet again, she repeats, A request of Aphrodite, an outdoorsman I'm close to, an outdoorswoman, and blue-green unicorn or dolphin and something I can use related to the unicorn creature. I must remember...

A male voice that sounds suave but panicky shouts:

Her soul's still in her body! She ain't breathing and I'm doing all in my power not to shit rainbows in mixed company but I'm telling you—

Aphrodite replies, "Might anyone here speak horse?"

The male voice is annoyed by this question. You can sense that.

I ain't no horse! A horse is just a dumb animal! I'm a freaking genius! Look, I attached the cart to my hind-quarters all by myself! Can a horse do that? Hell to the no!

But I can't get Kell on the cart by myself 'cause a guy can only do so much without opposable thumbs. But I can gallop her off to where she needs to be. A feat that is admittedly very horselike, as is my spoken language but…

BEEP

Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! The voice is loud, like a gong going off from just a few feet away, and it makes Kell want to cover her ears, only she has no hands or ears, only consciousness, and she can't figure out how to get the voice to soften. The volume of the voice keeps her from fully understanding the words being spoken, but she thinks she recognizes stress and panic.

Too loud, she thinks irritably in the 'loudest' mental tone she can muster. Tone it down, please!

Wait. I know this voice. Helix!

But before she can attempt a call to Helix, the light comes back and she has a sense of rising up to it against her will. No! The light doesn't lead anywhere, so I don't want to go there. She also has the sense of looking down on her body, which is hooked up to some strange contraption that she figures must be an invention of Heph's, Heph tinkering with the contraption, Aphrodite looking more worried than Kell has ever seen her, and Helix stamping his hoof, a look somewhere between irritation and panic on his equine face. Behind him stands a cart of some sort that he appears to be hitched to.

Why am I looking down on my body? I look so...strange. What's wrong with my body?

Her body continues to rise toward the light, and soon she recognizes a female figure. Although she can't see the face, she'd recognize the distinct way the figure holds her arms anywhere. Niobe? What's she doing here?

The further away Kell gets from her body, the more anxious she feels. She calls to her old friend, "Niobe! I don't know what's going on, but this isn't right. I shouldn't be here, I need to be back with my body - there are things I need to do. Please, can you help me get back to the darkness and my body?"

Niobe replies, "I can't help you go back, but I'm at peace here. And if you stay, the Olympians can't hurt you. Not that all of them would. Certainly, Aphrodite is doing all she can for you--even if the only thing she really does is boss people around."

Maybe Niobe is more helpful than she realizes. While she speaks, you feel stable. You can't feel your body, but your soul isn't being forced in one direction or another.

You can see winged figures in the light, but they're too far away to distinguish. Niobe also has wings, which is not something you've heard happens when people die.

Kell realizes she's being rude, and pauses to take a deep breath, only - Right, no lungs.

Giving the older woman a hug - or at least an embrace of the spirit since she lacks arms, too - she says, "Niobe, it's wonderful to see you, truly it is, and I'm glad that you're at peace. Please pardon my rudeness, but I'm thinking that if I'm going to go back, I shouldn't be lingering here for very long. If as you say I have the choice to stay or go back, how do I exercise that choice? Is there someone in charge around here that I can speak to?"

Looking around for just a moment, she's surprised to see that this place - wherever it is - looks nothing like what she's been told about Hades. Almost in spite of herself, she asks, "Where am I, anyway? Besides the afterlife, I mean."

"Valhalla," she replies. "The lady in charge is not here right now, but her name is Brynhild. She doesn't care to be called a goddess by the way. She is the First Valkyrie, much like Aphrodite is the First Nymph.

"I didn't come here immediately when I died, but Brunhild visited me in the Underworld. She told me what you were involved in, and… I'm really not like those ladies at all."

She points to the winged figures who, now that she's mentioned it, are clearly all women. Most are young, though there are some elder ones like Niobe. You can't help but notice the hem of each outfit is proportional to the Valkyrie's age (or maybe her age at death?). Must me a nymph thing to innately analyze fashion at a glance, or the environment you were raised in despite Niobe offering you a less materialistic way of looking at beauty.

"Oh, but Brunhild said I'd have the opportunity to help you. Maybe this is my opportunity. Aphrodite's husband seems nice, doesn't he? Look at him, hooking up your body to his machine so you can live on. And Vincent is quite a catch, isn't he? I hoped you would end up with someone nice."

You are unable to look back at the machine. Your gaze is fixed on Niobe and the distant Valkyries. But Niobe's smile is as pleasant as you remembered it. She seems to be pausing to allow you to ask questions. She seems pretty sure you have some. You certainly have nothing better to do right now.

Questions rush through Kell's mind, but she begins plucking them one by one, trying to figure out which are the most important.

"Am I dead? Helix, the blue-green unicorn, said something about my heart stopping, and that paired with the sense of leaving my body I had before I saw you sort of suggests dead. But if I can make the choice to stay here or not, that sort of implies not dead. So which is it?"

"Brynhild. Valkyries are Barbierian. I know Sigrlinn is from Barbieria - is she here, too, by the way? But that's a side question. What interest do the Barbierian Valkyries have in a conflict between the Olympian deities that they would bring us - you included - here? Is Sigrlinn that important a person?"

She adds, "And yes. Vin IS special, even if a little naive about some things. But that's part of his charm." She's not sure if she can blush in this place, but she's sure that if she were in her body right now, she would be blushing.

 

[Legendary Sidekick]

"Sigrlinn delivered your body to the PlatBot mansion, dear. She's fine. And I believe you will be as well. And you will live to see Vin and I'll be watching.

"As for importance, you and Sigrlinn are both important simply because you were in the right place at the right time, and you chose to do the right thing. It's the ones who demand to be recognized as important you need to watch out for."

 

[tbgg]

Frowning, Kell asks, "So are you telling me that I'm close to dead, which is partly why I can see Valhalla, but not quite dead?" She'd forgotten Niobe tended to not answer all of her questions if she asked too many of them at once.

'One question at the time, Kell,' she tells herself.


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[Legendary Sidekick]

Niobe goes on, "Your soul is out of your body, so technically you are dead. But your little friend is doing everything she can to save you."

Niobe doesn't have time to say more. Something forces you back...





BEEP

You can't see or feel anything now. You don't even feel yourself breathing. In fact, you are quite certain that you're not. You feel like you are laid on your back. Your eyes are shut. You can't open them.

The only part of you that seems to function your ears, though at the moment, all you hear is

BEEP

 

[tbgg]

Kell finds herself back in the darkness, conscious, though unable to move her body, open her eyes, or speak. Even mental efforts in the darkness feel like moving through tar, every inch of progress requiring a Herculean effort.

Back with the light, there was Niobe and Valhalla. Before that, there were things she was trying to remember...but the only one that is coming to mind now is the outdoorsman with the pink scar across his neck who she was close to. What was his name? Finn? Vinaman? Venzen? And there was something important, too. Something I can try to use right where I am. What was that?

Since her memory is not co-operating, she decides to focus on the sounds around her. Is there any background noise she can try to make sense of?

 

[Legendary Sidekick]

You recognize a voice.

KELL-PI: It is good to see you again, Kelleia. Not that seeing you in your current condition is good. It made me sad to see you arrive here like this. But you are here, nonetheless. I predict your body will function again. There is a 0.077% chance it will function today, but my recommended approach increases your chance of survival to 58.33%.

Hephæstus has permitted me to apply my recommended method. I believe you would agree this passes as 'good.'

 

[tbgg]

That depends on what the solution involves, Kell finds herself thinking before she realizes she's understood the voice. I'm not sure I'd agree if you're planning to, say, remove a limb.

Once she realizes she's understood the voice, she focuses on it. Kell-Pi. I know I know that name, and she obviously knows me, but from where? After thinking about this for a while, she gets vague memories of PlamBot Mansion. Niobe said that Sigrlinn brought my body to PlamBot Mansion, so that must be right.

I wish I could communicate, even it's just tapping a finger once for yes and twice for no.

Communication. That thing I might be able to use right now has to do with communication. But to whom? I remember Niobe and she talked about being in the Underworld and Valhalla, which must mean she's dead. Then there's the neck-scarred outdoorsman I think I'm close to, there's Sigrlinn who....I think must be a friend, maybe. She's from Barbieria, at any rate. There's Kell-Pi whose voice I think I recognize from PlamBot Mansion, and...oh!! Niobe mentioned two other people...Heph the guy with the contraption that's keeping me alive, and his gorgeous wife - what was her name? Oh, yes! Aphrodite. For some reason I have the sense I haven't always gotten along with her. But I think there's at least one more...who was it?

Go back to PlamBot Mansion. What do I remember about that? After a few minutes of thinking, she has vague memories of a wedding. That's right. I think I talked to Kell-Pi for a bit before the wedding. And I think it was about something important. Who got married, though? Try as she might, she can't remember who got married, but what comes to mind is a chocolate layer volcano cake complete with dead frosting demon, orange jelly for lava, and an orange phoenix peeking from around the non-lava'd side of the cake's middle layer. My friend Desma made that cake! I remember thinking it was pure genius, though I'm not sure now why - it seems an odd choice for a wedding. Wait. I remember a group called the Orange Phoenixes. Maybe one of them got married.

Uggh. But none of this helps me do more than lie here helplessly in the here and now. And I don't remember who I can try to communicate with.

Experimentally, she tries saying, "Hey", but that doesn't seem to work. She's not even sure she made a soft moan. She also tries to wiggle a finger or toe. No luck there, either.

I guess I'm stuck here until Kell-Pi tries her recommended method and we find out if it works or not, or until I remember who I might be able to communicate with.

 

[Legendary Sidekick]

There is no answer. Just

BEEP

BEEP

BEEP

BEEP

BUZZZZZZZZZZZZ!

You suddenly feel yourself sitting up in a bed. There is a strange machine. It's hooked up to the body of a nymph—no! Not a nymph! You!

Your own skin seems to be made out of metal.

Pheobe is sitting on the pillow next to your head. Maybe she can tell you what's happening…

 

[tbgg]

"Phoebe?" Kell asks, not at all recognizing the sound of her voice, and not at all sure how she knows that the fairy on the pillow next to her head is named Phoebe. But it's what her instincts are telling her, so she goes with it. "I think something weird just happened to me. This is Kell."