Praxis opened his eyes and found himself staring into a clear blue sky.
His body felt light as he got up. Both of his hands were present and so were his feet. He no longer felt the pain of all the trauma he remembered just incurring. There is no injury in sight.
"Was it all a dream?" he whispered to himself.
He stood up and looked around to see where he was.
He found himself in an open grassy field. He felt the kiss of a soft breeze swirling around him. In every direction he looked at, he only saw an endless field of green grass. There were no trees nor could he spot any mountains or hills. It was an open field of grass in every direction from the point where he stood to the line of the horizon.
Praxis looked up at the sky. It was also empty. It was a light blue color and littered with small puffy cumulus clouds all throughout. Nothing else, just an endless blue sky and a few clouds.
It was daylight, but he could not spot the sun anywhere. Neither were there any faint moons in the sky or any other stars at all. He looked at the ground to see his shadow to find the direction the light was coming from, but there was nothing there.
Praxis found himself in an endless void of green grass and blue sky with nothing else.
"Demon, is this your doing," he screamed into the void. "Or maybe this was the afterlife and the demon could not save him," he thought.
He never imagined Osiris' realm would be so barren and quiet. He grew up hearing stories of the Ancient Gods. All the myths about how the worlds came to be and how they fall apart.
All the 6 Ancients were kind and caring looking after their children of flesh and blood. Praxis was told the stories of Osiris, the father of the dead, and how his realm was full of joy. Once your life in the mortal realm ended, his death reapers would come and take you to him. His realm is filled with joy and an eternal laughter, but there was no such thing where Praxis found himself.
"Did I really die or am I currently dreaming? Is this the working of the demon? How could I have been so foolish as to trust such a grotesque creature."
Suddenly, there was a powerful gust of wind that hit him from the back. He quickly jumped forward and turned around. There was nothing there.
"Behind you," a voice said
Praxis turned back and before stood a eight-foot tall figure covered in an old partially ripped black robe. It was hovering over the ground and its face was covered by a hood, but as it flapped with the wind, Praxis saw the pale white skull.
The creature before Praxis was none other than a servant of Osiris, an agent of death, the paragon of the end for all living creatures in the 6 realms, a death reaper.
Praxis was petrified, not out of fear. He was frozen in shock and amazement at the cathartic sight of such a poignant creature. It was not certain whether this reaper or any reaper acted in way of malice, but for all living creatures, seeing the creature at the end of your road, at the end of every road, is a truly horrific event.
"State your name," the reaper commanded.
The gale of wind immediately stopped. It all became quiet again. Praxis did not even register that the reaper was speaking to him. He heard every word and he understood its meaning, but this brain had already overflown.
"Are you mute, human? I said to state your name."
"I am Praxis E Aarexi the third. Prince of Aarexian Empire.," Praxis spurred out.
"I see then I was correct. I am in the presence of the correct human."
"You are a death reaper."
In a slow, almost hypnotic monotone voice, the reaper spoke, "Yes, that is the name you humans have given us. I am what you would know to be a death reaper. Tell me what is your concern."
"I am dead," Praxis said. "Aren't I?"
"You were supposed to be, but now the lines between life and death are unclear."
What could that possibly mean? What lines between life and death?
"I am afraid I do not understand, what do you mean by the lines are unclear."
The death reaper stopped and thought about how it was going to explain such things to a human.
"I am sure you are fully aware of the sequence of events you call life for your kind. You are born, you live, and you die. Once you die your physical body is gone, however the fragment of Him inside of you presides. That is the reason why we come to collect these fragments or as you call them souls."
The reaper stopped talking for a moment.
It continued, "When it comes to you it no longer fits our presupposed nature of reality. We know of someone's death before they do because for us the flow of time is not sequential. When we see the moment of death for a creature we go to that moment to retrieve their fragment. At that moment in the forest, you were supposed to die and I was there waiting to retrieve your fragment. However, after you seemingly died, your fragment disappeared. Since then I've been searching throughout the realms seeking to find you, until I ended up in this location. And now as you stand before me with both a physical form and soul, I am in great shock. You should be dead and in Osiris' realm, but you are here in the Empty."
Praxis began laughing, "You are saying that I am neither dead nor alive. It must have had something to do with the demon."
"Yes, the demon. I felt that creature being there and I heard you two form a human-demon contract, but evidence remain of it happening. Even so, with such a contract, there cannot be a fracture in the nature of the laws governing the universe. A human-demon contract is not capable of such things, unless it was a truly powerful demon or an Ancient."
"That is impossible, even I know that."
"Yes, but that demon, tell me," the reaper paused for a second. "What was its name?"
"It's name was… I don't recall its name," Praxis said slowly.
"It never gave you its name before making a contract. That is quite…"
Praxis loudly interjected the reaper, "Wait! The demon of chains. I think it called itself the demon of chains."
"The only demon of chains I am aware of is Velrik, however Velrik is long dead. Turned to dust by the hands of Primal Demons. Which Primal was it, I do not recall."
A large gust of wind flew through again.
"It is time for me to go now," the reaper said.
"Wait, what about me?"
"There is nothing I can do for you. I am nothing more than an agent of Osiris. I collect fragments of the living who've died. The creatures who no longer possess a physical form. You have both a fragment and a form. There is nothing for me here."
"One more question, where am I."
"I already told you that I found you in the Empty."
"I never heard of this realm before."
"Yes, my apologies different beings have different names for the same thing. This place is sort of a barrier between this realm and the other realm. It is neither finite nor infinite. It exists to be a barrier to stop those who desire to enter the world of the demons. This is the first circle of Tartarus, I believe humans call it Limbo."