The shattered soul

Cold, loneliness, oblivion, all that was what I felt when I died, life in this world is nothing more than a defective game, I've known that for many years.

My name is... to tell the truth I don't remember what my name is, my life was short and fleeting, before I knew it I had become this.

I had good and bad times in life, however, my memories are hazy, sometimes I am a lonely young boy, other times a party girl, I remember being a married man with children, and I also remember being an old billionaire.

Anyway, none of that matters now... or maybe it does? I don't know, my situation is... complex.

To tell the truth, I don't remember how I died, I don't remember much about myself, about who I am, it's a miracle that I know I died.

The truth is that I am quite disappointed, I do not believe in life after death, so I used to think that when I died I would not know that everything was over, rather I thought that after death there was nothing and that therefore I would not keep my awareness. But I got a big surprise in very bad taste, right now my consciousness is floating in the void, I know I died and that doesn't make me happy.

Right now I don't know what's next, this silence is a bit... overwhelming.

...

...

...

After an indefinite time, I feel a pull in my right arm, then a pull in my left arm followed by two more pulls in each of my legs.

When a last tug pulled my head a sudden light blinded me, I was forced to close my (fake) eyes, after which a fresh smell assaulted my (fake) nose while I felt a soft breeze caress my (fake) skin.

When I opened my eyes, I was no longer in the dark, I was in the middle of a meadow, my body was nothing more than a black mist without any recognizable features.

In front of me was a girl, about 1.50 meters tall, she had waist-length white hair and her silver eyes seemed to pierce my soul, she was beautiful, the most beautiful girl I have ever seen in my life, of that I’m sure.

"It's... nice to meet you shattered soul." She salutes me.

I looked at my body in confusion for a few moments before shrugging.

"The pleasure is all mine."

The girl smiled beautifully, and my heart jumped at the cuteness in front of me, suddenly a blurry memory of a little sister flashed into my mind, and before I knew it she had reached out a hand and was stroking the girl's head, her eyes widened in surprise, but she enjoyed the feeling before sighing and removing my shapeless hand from her head.

She looked directly at me and I stared back at her not knowing what to say or do.

"You have beautiful red eyes." She told me.

I blinked a couple of times and placed a hand on my chin trying to remember if at some point I had red eyes, at that moment I realized, the girl in front of me, with her white hair and her red eyes, reminded me of someone... However, before I could isolate why his face seemed...so familiar. She spoke again.

"Ruby, your name is now Ruby, I’m calling you that."

I looked at the girl, I was completely stunned.

Name? Why do I need a new one? Why does this girl think she has the right to name me? My name... A headache that made me feel as if all parts of my being were being ripped off reminded me that I didn't have a name, I looked up at the girl's playful face and asked her.

"Who are you?"

Suddenly the smile on her face clouded a bit as she raised her gaze to the sky, I followed her gaze and saw a completely clear blue sky with nothing interesting to see but a deep blue, a small shiver ran down my spine and I looked around me, there was nothing around me, just patches of green grass that stretched evenly to the horizon in all directions. However, in this empty landscape there was a lonely small tree behind the girl, at the foot of the tree I noticed that various kinds of different mushrooms were growing irregularly, and a few meters ahead was a small lake; However, that lake was so small and unfortunate that perhaps it would be more correct to call it a small puddle that seemed like it could evaporate at any moment, but there was something in that lake that caught my attention, the water in the said puddle was full of stars.

"I… My name" Before I knew it I came out of a kind of trance and looked up, the sun had hidden leaving only the light of a lonely moon in the sky to illuminate us while the girl spoke.

"My sister told me that she called me Morbus Rubrum, in the Samael Empire they call me the red death, but you can call me what my father used to call me. Ruby, you can call me Mor."

"Mor..." I repeated under my breath. "I like your name, it feels close."

Mor looked into my eyes for a few moments before turning around and kneeling in front of the pond, after a few seconds she stopped again, this time with something in her hand, curious, I leaned forward slightly, Mor reached her hand closer so I could see what was in it. Suddenly my point of view changed, she was no longer leaning towards what was in her hand, and instead now she was looking down at me; it took me a while to understand... Well, how could I accept that suddenly I was that little object in Mor's hands?

I tried to move, but my limbs felt trapped, I tried to breathe, but there was nothing to breathe where I was, I tried to close my eyes, but I had no eyes, and when I tried to scream a small laugh escaped from my being.

Mor grinned so full of...happiness...

"My little shattered soul, Ruby."

Mor's hands caressed me so gently.

"I don't expect you to stay put forever... But my little toy, do your best."

The darkness enveloped me, and in the darkness, I was left... with nothing to hear, see or do... Time passed, Years? Centuries? Seconds? In that darkness that threatened to drive me crazy, I was unable to say which the correct option was. And so time passed... until what... A dripping sound woke me up.