A Rude Awakening

     “Hmm. I see you're both a little confused.”

     His expression remained calm as ever as he began to help them navigate the unbelievable situation they found themselves in.

     “I suppose it's finally time for me to properly introduce myself. I was trying to be dramatic, but my plan kinda got derailed when you fell over…”

     His gaze returned to Will's face as he briefly recalled the moment just before this where the unfortunate young man fell forward from the sheer force generated from his rather explosive arrival. It seemed that he hadn't intended for that to happen, but seeing it had brought him to tears. He simply could not help but laugh.

     “But, man,” he continues. “was that hilarious! I mean, watching you tumble like that? And the look on your face?!”

     He nearly bursted into yet another laughing fit just thinking about it, but realizing that Will did not find it quite so funny himself, he managed to restrain himself that time. He cleared his throat before speaking again in an almost overly calm and professional tone. It was as if he were mimicking an office worker giving a big presentation to those above him, his words stiff and straightforward. It was a bit off-putting, to say the least.

     “Ahem. Moving on, I am Lahstus. I am what you mortals would call a God.”

     Both Charlotte and Will reeled at his unbelievable revelation, the latter of the two especially, considering he had attempted to assault him just moments before. Will's jaw dropped as he remained seated on the ground, while Charlotte took an uneasy step back, her gaze never leaving Lahstus’s face for a moment. Having failed to ease their anxiety thus far, he attempted to lighten the mood once again.

     “There's no reason to be scared,” he said, reaching out towards the two of them in the most non-threatening manner possible. “Y'know, ‘be not afraid’ and all that. I'm not gonna hurt you two.”

     “But…” Will interjected, his own words nearly failing him as his voice shook considerably. “I tried to punch you.”

     He anxiously scooted backwards to make some space between himself and Lahstus, clearly regretting his actions immensely and fearing punishment by that point as he remained seated on the ground before him.

     “I can't believe I tried to punch God…”

     Lahstus interrupted Will's train of thought before he could go any further, leaning down a bit so the two of them could be level with one another. He then placed a hand on Will's head, his touch featherlight.

     “You’ve got the right idea for the most part, but you're a little bit confused,” he said plainly, moving to correct his misunderstanding. “I’m not the God or anything. Just a God. One of many. And, just so we're clear, I wouldn't get mad over that. It's understandable for mortals like you to be confused in a situation like this. Heck, it's not exactly normal for us Gods either. I'm not sure any of us have ever brought mortals up here before.”

     He seemed to contemplate his own statement as it passed his lips, thinking for a moment before he dismissed the line of thought entirely as a waste of time. Meanwhile, Charlotte’s ears perked up at the mention of mortals being brought to the strange white void they currently found themselves in, and she stepped forward to speak with Lahstus herself. She had finally grown tired of standing to the side.

     “So, it was you that brought us here?” she asked, ensuring that she spoke as politely yet firmly as possible. She was dealing with a God after all. She was now well aware of that, terrifying though the notion was, yet there were things she simply had to know. She could not allow herself to be held back by her own unease at that moment. Lahstus replied energetically, seeming glad to be moving on with the conversation.

     “Yes, indeed! I brought the two of you here for a very important reason! Very important indeed!” His energy seemed to die down some once he had said that however. Still, he continued, “Important enough that I sorta had to bend the rules we Gods stick to in order to make this happen… I need your help.”

     His statement hung heavily in the air around the three of them, and both Charlotte and Will were taken aback entirely. Will hardly seemed to have processed the information at all, still not quite over the fact that he had attempted to punch a divine being, and rightfully so. Charlotte on the other hand, only remained quiet for about a minute as she gathered herself again, her eyes darting from left to right before focusing on Lahstus once more. She spoke again, though this time with noticeably less strength to the sound.

     “You… need our help? How could a God ever need our help?”

     “Well, you see,” he replied, visibly nervous as he briefly searched for the best way to explain his predicament without frightening them too much. “I grabbed the two of you from your own world and brought you here because… I need you to work together to save another world before it's destroyed.”

     Lahstus's shoulders visibly slumped as he made the purpose of their sudden transport known, but he tried his best to maintain a smile, anxiety-ridden though it was. He was clearly apprehensive regarding their potential reactions, yet he simply let his words lie, silently awaiting a response from the pair. Will was the first to give any indication of his thoughts on the matter, quickly scrambling to his feet at last and looking to Lahstus with either excitement or shock and abhorrence in his eyes, though he could not tell which. The look in Charlotte's eyes, however, was all too clear. She made no attempt to hide the upset his request had brought her.

     “Are you kidding?” she asked, her eyes narrowing with anger and hostility as she raised her voice. “You took us from our world against our will, and you want us to ‘save’ an entire world? That has to be divine kidnapping or something! Who do you think we are anyway?!”

     Lahstus just sighed, scratching the back of his head for a brief moment as he let her words sink in. However, contrary to what might have been expected of him in a situation like this, he did not seem at all remorseful.

     “Look,” he began, taking a step forward. “I understand what you're saying, but I promise I'm not just sending the two of you to a foreign world unprepared! I'm-”

     “I don't wanna hear it!” Charlotte snapped, the emotion behind her words emphasized by a sharp stamp of her foot on the ground. “You will not sweet talk your way out of this! We can't save a world from destruction! We’re not heroes out of a fairy tale!”

     Lahstus simply remained planted where he stood, allowing Charlotte to chew him out until she was satisfied, at least for the moment.

     “This is ridiculous,” she scoffed, stepping closer and poking a finger against his chest to emphasize her point. “We're done here. Send us back to our world. You'll have to find two other idiots to go off to their deaths for you.”

     Lahstus's expression shifted once she was done talking, his lips pursed as he considered how he should admit the truth to her. His entire demeanor seemed shifty. He remained silent for a moment, irritating Charlotte to a degree.

     “Well?” she insisted, dead set on having him return her and Will to their world.

     “Well…” Lahstus began, tilting his head to one side and averting her gaze slightly.

     His voice seemed to almost creak under strain as he spoke, prolonging his words.

     “About that… That actually won't be possible. I can't send the two of you back.”

     “What do you mean it's not possible?” Charlotte barked, her irritation getting the better of her in the moment. “Just send us back the same way you brought us-”

     Lahstus cut her off with a slow shake of his head, his expression calmer now. He had listened to her every word and accepted every bit of hostility she had thrown his way. It was only fair, only natural that she felt the way that she did in a situation that must have been quite confusing, and terrifying to no end. However, now that she had gotten most of her aggression out of her system, just as Will had before, it was time to move on. At last, it was time for him to tell them the truth, no matter how difficult it would be to hear. The true reason that he could not return them to the world they came from. Not now, and not ever. He spoke in a straight, even tone, seemingly taking the moment to be truly transparent with them to the best of his ability.

     “I can't send you two home because your lives have already come to an end.”

     His words struck the pair like a knife to the core, their faces going pale as their blood ran cold for a brief instant. Their thoughts were plainly displayed on their faces as they processed the bombshell of information that had just been dropped on their heads with seemingly no warning. Both of them broke into a cold sweat, and neither could manage a complete sentence in the moment, building off each other instead.

     “We…” Will murmured, practically tripping over his own tongue. “You’re saying we…”

     “We died…?” Charlotte questioned, finishing where Will had left off with distress written all over her features.

     “Not exactly,” Lahstus replied, his tone maintaining its even quality as he began to speak more casually again. “The two of you didn't die in the normal sense. I summoned the two of you here just as your lives were about to end.”

     He regarded both of them in order briefly as he continued.

     “You, when you were nearly hit by a car while crossing the street,” he explained, watching as a look of recollection spread over Will's features before shifting his gaze to Charlotte. “And you, just before you hit the ground after slipping from your balcony.”

     Will and Charlotte then shared a moment in which they vividly recalled the ends of their lives, as if Lahstus's words had been the key to releasing the memories from the recesses of their minds where they had been locked away. Neither understood how they could have possibly forgotten something so very important. How could they not remember that they had nearly died before arriving in the white void? With that new information, he finally had their full attention. He went on to say,

     “You couldn't remember because your memories were suppressed. Near death experiences are terrifying after all. But, now that you both know the truth, it should be obvious why I can't send you back at least. Keeping it short, when a person's life ends, their soul gets recycled, sent from one world to the next where they become someone new. But, because this is an emergency, I had no choice but to bend the rules a bit to bring the two of you here before you died. That way, your old lives are technically over, but you keep your bodies.”

     Lahstus paused briefly before going on, seeming none too proud of his actions.

     “It was the only way I could think of. This other world is on the brink of collapse, and not because of anything natural. There are Gods other than me, corrupt ones at that. They're all playing with this world like it's some kind of toy! They don't care what happens to it, or any of the mortals that live there, so I need the two of you to stop their plan and save the world!”

     Charlotte and Will swallowed hard, almost in unison as they took in all the new information. Corrupt Gods? A dying world? It all sounded far too grandiose and important for two average humans plucked from their home world.

     “Okay…” Charlotte mumbled, her mind still racing with questions, but she decided to focus on what seemed like the most important one first. “I get why you brought us here now, but how are we supposed to save an entire world…?”

     “Yeah,” Will chimes in, looking just as overwhelmed and concerned as Charlotte. “I mean, it sucks for sure, but we're just regular people. We don't have powers or anything like that...”

     Lahstus's expression immediately brightened at their partial and begrudging acceptance of their situation, his original energetic smile gracing his features once again.

     “That's the easy part!” he chirped energetically, perhaps a bit too energetically.     At least, that's what the two of them thought to themselves, even if they did not say as much.

     “Even though you two were pretty powerless in your world, that won't be the case in this new one! You see, there's this thing called aurum. Aurum is power that accumulates inside of souls when people train their bodies and minds well in life. The people you two used to be, your past lives, were amazing people in life, so your souls have quite a lot of aurum gathered within them. Normally, souls with large amounts of accumulated aurum are sent to worlds where they can live more relaxed, sedentary lives, allowing all that built-up aurum to be released and the soul's capacity to shrink again. This is done to keep souls from growing unstable from too much accumulated aurum, since a soul can never be restored if it's ever destroyed. But, since I grabbed you guys up before you actually died, your souls won't be recycled just yet. You can harness the power of aurum to do incredible things in this other world, and that's how you two are gonna save it!”

     Neither Will nor Charlotte could keep their heads from spinning while getting bombarded with so much information. It seemed neverending as he blabbed on and on, and the pair could not hope to keep track of it all no matter how hard they tried. Lahstus, on the other hand, only seemed to grow more excited by the second.

     “Uhm, Lahstus…” Charlotte interjected, hoping to get him to slow down so they might make better sense of it all. “This is really a lot of information… Maybe you could start over and then we–”

     “Oh, don't worry about it!” he interrupted, sounding positively elated by this point as, to their confusion, he began to wave goodbye. “I'm sure you'll both be just fine if you just look inside yourselves! Go ahead and have a blast in a world of magic! Make sure you stop it from being destroyed though!”

     He spoke quickly, and suddenly, he pointed an index finger at the two of them. A dazzling light flashed around them, blinding them entirely for a moment. As the light obscured their vision, they both heard his voice again, this time sounding more distant, almost ethereal.

     “Good luck out there, you two! Oh, and by the way, what you can do with aurum depends on who you are as a person! Everyone's different, but that means your personal blockages will become your aurum’s blockages too! Anyway, you guys have fun out there! I sure will.”

     His last sentence was said almost under his breath, too quietly for either of them to hear properly. Both Will and Charlotte thought they may have heard him, but neither were certain.

     “What did you say?” they yelled out in unison, just seconds away from being ushered toward their destiny.

     “Oh, nothing!” Lahstus replied gleefully, giggling to himself as the blinding light engulfed them completely. That was the last thing the pair heard before vanishing from the white void, leaving him to murmur to himself now that he had returned to his divine solitude once again.

     “Something tells me they'll be the most exciting thing I've watched in eons!’

     As the light faded from their vision at last, Will and Charlotte both sat up with an exasperated groan. Will was the first to speak, rubbing his eyes to ease the ache he felt behind them, deep in their sockets.

     “Ugh, finally. I thought I was gonna go blind. Where the hell are we?”

     “Mmn, no idea,” Charlotte replied in a daze, holding a hand to her forehead as she attempted to stand up. “Wait… a clearing?”

     Charlotte glanced about the general vicinity and found that they were indeed in a forest clearing, no longer in the endless white void where Lahstus resides. The scene was tranquil and green, with sounds of a nearby river and chirping birds in the distance. It was not unlike forests she had seen back home.

     “We're in some kind of forest!” she exclaimed, turning to Will, who had not risen to his feet just yet. “Lahstus must have sent us off! That moron! Is he really even a God? I swear-”

     Charlotte’s rant was soon cut short when she heard rustling in the bushes nearby, followed by a deep, intimidating growl. Her eyes widened, and she firmly gripped Will's shoulder.

     “Get up,” she said curtly, squeezing his shoulder to emphasize the urgency of her demand while her gaze remained glued to the direction of the sound.

     “What?” Will replied, confused and failing to catch on to the intent behind her words. “Ugh, just let me sit for-”

     “Get up!” she shouted, cutting him off and subsequently yanking him to his feet. She pointed him in the direction she had been facing, where something large was clearly approaching from within the foliage.

     At last, he understood the alarming position they found themselves in, his expression quickly contorting into one of fear and unease. In that moment, they no longer had time to ask questions or speculate over what it was they had to do, for their immediate goal now stood right before them. In seconds, they would be tested, and it was merely the first of many tests to come. The sound of Charlotte's voice broke the gut-wrenching silence hanging between them just as things were about to kick off.

     “Here it comes…”