Afterlife (Updated)

The afterlife was the neither like the pearly gates of heaven, nor the fiery pits of hell that I imagined it to be. Rather, it was a intentionally designed environment made to extract as much as possible out of you until you broke down. In that way, it was no different from what I remembered from when I was alive.

**WORK**

I the sound of metal striking rock and the crumbling of old stones reverberated through the tunnels. In the mines, that voice was the law. No one could be sure where it came from, but it was probably from a devil.

It was hard to say weather or not they were the beings of absolute evil as described in mythology but, they functioned as overseers of the Soul Continuum, in other words, the afterlife. Obviously defying them was impossible but the same couldn't be said for escaping the mines. There was one way: The Reincarnation Festival.

A self-described culling game with voluntary participation. If you managed to survive till the end as one of the top participants, you could even resurrect. But, if you were weak, your consciousness would be erased and you'd become nothing more than the crystals we collected in the mineshaft.

Of course, if you didn't participate that would also happen to you eventually. But, for those who had already experienced death, the fear of being fully erased from existence was far greater, then their desire to come back to life.

Well for most people anyway. Even if I might get erased or whatever, there's no way I'm just going to sit around working in this mine for who knows how long.

**BREAK**

I dropped my pick and sat down, leaning back against the crystal deposit I had been working on.

[Remaining time until the Reincarnation Festival: 5 Days, 17 hours, 21 minutes, 42 seconds.]

Anyone in the Soul Continuum could bring up access the menu's just by thinking about it. Similar to the voice, the power probably originated from a devil. Since the devils never came around and there wasn't anything like a sign-up sheet, if you wanted to participate in the festival, these menus were the only way to do it. That said, most of the other functionality was locked down. Maybe because we were workers.

"Only five more days ..." I mumbled to myself.

"Ugh, it's her ..."

"What's she doing here?"

A wave of hushed whispers began to break out at the other end of the tunnel. Normally spirits were high at the beginning of our break but, the mood suddenly began to tank.

The cause was the appearance of a certain snowflake. A white-haired girl with a bad attitude.

"What are you whispering about? You got a problem with me or something?" A group who was passing her by stood up straight at her confrontation.

"No! I mean ... we were just leaving!" They quickly scurried away.

That snowflake was the equivalent of a ticking time bomb. She constantly acted in a way that angered others and had no restraint herself. It didn't take a long time for people to realize that even the slightest thing would set her off. Given how strong she was, it was no surprise that mostly everyone stayed clear of her.

Aside from the consciousness that dwelled in the soul, the main difference between souls was in the amount of magic energy they could produce. Inside the Soul Continuum, in order to maintain your sense of self and avoid erasure, you had to produce a certain amount of magic energy. For us workers, we also utilized that energy in order to collect the soul crystals. Even though it would regenerate over time, it was less than the rate of expenditure. In other words, you were constantly chipping away at your own existence.

However among the workers, there were a few of souls that had far more magic energy than the rest. In terms of magic power, that snowflake was at the top of the food chain, however a close contender was ...

A rouge leg suddenly shot into the girl's path as most others were parting the way for her. The owner of course was another powerful soul. Ironically, it was a girl with dark hair.

"It's rare to see you come all the way down here princess. Finally decided to grace us commoners with your presence, huh?" The black-haired girl said sarcastically.

"I seriously wish you'd stop with the over used lines. You're so annoyingly predictable.""You bitch. Who the hell do you think you are, always looking on people?"

"This is why I didn't want to come down here." She said to herself. "Listen, are you sure you should be picking fights without your lackeys around to help you? Get out of here while I'm still being nice."

"Tsh," The black-haired girl clicked her tongue before swinging her pick over her shoulder and heading toward the exit. "You'd better take care of that pretty little neck of yours, until we meet in the festival."

With those last words she disappeared into the shadows of the corridor.

Although that girl was equally avoided by everyone, for some reason, Kuro in particular had it out for her. They were similar on the surface, but Kuro actually had a fairly large following. Most of them weren't very strong, but that snowflake wouldn't be able to easily deal with them, especially if Kuro participated. Not that it concerned me of course.

Whatever the case, now that the tunnel was clear, at least I could enjoy my break in peace.

"What? You're not going upstairs?"

Not a moment after I had closed my eyes to rest, did the snowflake call out to me. What was it? She she didn't seem like one to make casual conversation.

"If I leave now I'll just have to come back down again, right? If that's how it is, I'd rather just stay here." I explained.

"What type of dumbass argument? I bet you're one of those people who say there's no point in cleaning because it will just get dirty again."

"Are you an idiot? That's obviously different."

"What did you just call me? You have a death wish?"

"You saying that you're going to kill me?"

There was a long paused. Truthfully, there was no reason for me to talk back to her. It'd seriously suck if I got erased before even getting a chance to participate in the festival, and it wasn't that I particularly felt the need to stand up to this girl but, just rolling over to all her provocations would be too lame.

"What the hell's wrong with you? You weirdo."

"I don't want to hear that from someone who threated to kill me over a meaningless comment."

"I wasn't being serious. I was just testing you."

"Really? If I passed then could you hurry up and leave me alone?" I asked.

"Why are you trying to shoo me away?"

"Why are you trying to talk to me?"

"I asked first." She said, beginning to look slightly irritated.

"This is stupid, I'm leaving." I announced as I stood up.

"Wait!" She called out in an usually high pitched voice.

I stopped turning around to face her. I was a little interested in what she was trying to do, but more than that I was tired of her trying to play dumb games with me.

"Why do I have to be the one to do this?" She mumbled under her breath before letting out a deep sigh. "I want to make a deal with you."

"What kind of deal?" I inquired. For some reason she seemed to get more frustrated, and ... embarrassed?

"Your participating in the Reincarnation Festival right? A wimp like you will never make it. If you team up with me, I'll carry you to the finals and make sure you resurrect."

"Ok, but what's in it for you?"

"Don't think about it too much, you're just there for moral support." She said.

"In that case, I decline."

"What?! Why?"

"Do you think I'm an idiot or something? You just want me to cheer you on from the sidelines while you do all the work? That's obviously a fishy request. "What's stopping you from throwing me to the sidelines whenever you get bored?"

"Ugh, you're so annoying! Nitpicking at every little thing. Fine!" She threw her hands up in frustration. "I want to be friends! I want to be friends with you, ok!?" She yelled.

"What?" I couldn't contain my surprise. What the heck was she talking about?

"Don't get any cringey ideas!" She clarified. "Honestly, I could care less about anyone but myself! It doesn't matter to me what those fucking idiots think either! But, every time I go somewhere everyone is like 'Ugh, it's her' and looks at me like I'm a fucking psychopath! It's infuriating!" She slammed her fist into the side of the tunnel causing a small crack to emerge in the stone wall.

When I think about how strong she was, I really shouldn't have found the situation to be very amusing but, for some reason I found myself holding back laughter. She stomped towards me and grabbed me by the collar.

"What the hell's so funny?" She asked nearly pressing her forehead into mine.

"No, I just thought you probably aren't the accusations by going on a rampage in an underground tunnel. You sure you're actually not just a psychopath-"

"You think I give a damn if I am one?!" She yelled.

Her sudden outburst was too funny for me to contain myself. I burst out laughing uncontrollably. Seeing this made her grip my collar even tighter.

"I get it so shut the fuck up already!" She began swinging me around by my collar like a ragdoll. Before finally giving up and dropping me to the ground.

"I'll stop yelling, so stop already! Stop Laughing!" She yelled while stopping her foot on the floor.

Hearing her yell about how she was going to stop yelling only made me laugh even harder. I couldn't tell you what was so funny in the first place, but for some reason the situation was too hilarious for me to take.

"Awww fuck," She exclaimed in an exhausted tone while falling onto her butt. "Come on, stop." She pleaded, covering her face.

My laughter finally began to die down. I breathed heavily as I stood up from rolling on the floor trying to take control of myself.

"What, you crying now?" I asked still smiling.

I couldn't see it clearly, but she was wiping her eyes while covering her face with her hands.

"What? Are psychos not allowed to cry now?" She joked. "Damn it, I look so stupid."

She finished wiping her face and looked at me with dry eyes.

"I already told you my spiel. Can you hurry up and answer already?"

"Oh, yeah ..." I had forgotten because the situation was too hilarious, but she had originally proposed a deal. "I still have a question."

"What is it?" I couldn't tell if she was annoyed or tired.

"Why me specifically?"

"You're really asking me that? You think people who avoid me like the plague would want to be friends with me? It's pointless if we're not compatible."

"Then what you think we're compatible?" I asked.

"You really don't let anything go, huh?" She sighed. "When I was alive, I think I might have meet someone like you. That's why."

From when she was alive? Was that even possible? I barely remembered anything at all, but it seemed too outlandish to be a lie, plus there'd be no point to it.

"Fine," I agreed. It's not like I loved my odds of surviving on my own anyway. If she was willing to help me revive just for standing next to her, there was no reason for me to refuse. "Let's be friends."

I reached out my hand, offering to help her up off the ground. In response she dusted herself off and slapped my hand away before standing up on her own.

"I told you not to get any cringey ideas. Don't start acting all buddy buddy on me all of a sudden. You're just here to cut down my stress levels." She explained while taking her leave.

What did this person think a friend was supposed to be anyway?