Abyss.
The abyss pressed against me — not cold, not warm, simply absolute. A hungry darkness that devoured sensation, memory, the very idea of existence itself.
I had died.
Yet in that moment as I teetered on the precipice of two realms, I felt nothing.
Anger? No.
Sadness? No.
Happiness? No.
I had died, and that was that.
There was little that needed to be said.
Shall I weep and call myself a fool? No.
Death held no more terror for me than sleep held for the insomniac. It was simply another state of being. I cared little if I lived, and I cared less if I died.
Why? one may ask.
Simple. Because within a world that did not care about me, in a universe that was devoid of meaning, why should I bring myself to ponder worryingly over death? Minutes, hours, decades, millenniums passed, and I could not bring myself to find a reasonable answer.
And so I floated, naked and alone, surrounded by perfect nothingness.
That was, until she arrived.
The first glimpse of her felt like needles stabbing my eyes as a sudden, warm light pierced the void.
Slowly, the illuminance spread until the dawn had finally arrived, and darkness fled in the sight of light. The abyss vanished. And I stared in the face of paradise.
To call her beautiful would be to reduce an ocean to a droplet.
She was transcendence made flesh.
Perhaps, if I were a lesser man, I would have wept at the sight of her.
Perhaps, if I were a lesser man, I would have stumbled at the sight of her.
Perhaps, if I were a lesser man, I would have fallen at the sight of her.
Instead, I merely blinked.
"Osiris," she called. Her voice was honey-layered; a celestial hymn that could have shattered mountains or birthed universes.
"Yes?" I said.
She smiled, her teeth as pure as the sun's rays. "You have struggled most grievously."
"I have?"
"I have witnessed your tribulations, observed your ceaseless war against your own nature. But struggle need not be your eternal companion. I can offer you… release."
Release from what? I wanted to say, but my lips grew slack.
All I could do was stare at her alluring visage as she beckoned me.
She spread out her arms. "Come unto me, Osiris, and you shall know true deliverance."
I wanted to look away.
But my body refused me.
"Come to me, my beautiful boy," she whispered, her silky tone caressing my wayward soul like a lover's touch. "I have waited so very long for you."
My gaze dropped.
Dark blood pooled around fragments of flesh. Lacerations. Abrasions. Contusions traveling down a spine that was both mine and not mine.
What is this?
"Come to me, and you shall know paradise."
And in that moment, I saw her.
Her face was flawless, cheekbones prominent with eyes that left a residue of golden dust in the air.
But when I blinked, I saw another face.
Dark, twisted in perpetual agony. Faces of those who I once knew, faces of those who I once killed.
All of them stared back at me through her eyes.
That's when I knew.
I made my decision.
"No."
There was a ripple in the light, darkness threatening to break through.
She gazed down at me, that impossible smile never wavering. "No?" she asked, tone playful. "But why do you forsake me? Do you not needme?"
My body strained forward. But I was more than mere meat. I compelled it to stillness.
For I knew who she was, who she truly was.
She wasn't paradise, she wasn't light.
And she would not trick me.
I let a smile mar my lips. "I need you? Is that so?"
There was another palpation in the air. Fragments of light began to crack. Darkness seeped through.
"You do." She urged, and for a moment — just the lick of a second — something else colored her tone. Something dark. "Without me — without light — what would you be?"
"What would I be?" I tilted my head, as if genuinely pondering her question.
But I knew the answer, and I knew that she knew too.
The gloom sank deeper, consuming the edges of her radiant form.
"Osiris,"she pressed, "listen. Come. To. Me."
"No."
Her light fractured into razor-thin shards, each one reflecting a different nightmare.
"No?"
Her voice dropped an octave, shedding the sweet melodic coating like a snake shedding its skin.
"And why, pray tell, is that?"
I met her gaze. Unflinching. "Because I know who you are."
Her light shattered with the sound of a thousand souls screaming.
"You are just like me."
Her face, once so beautiful, transformed into an amalgamation of horror. Teeth became razors. Eyes became bottomless pits.
"You are Death."
The dam broke. Darkness bathed us anew.
Paradise faded, devoured by the abyss.
Hidden within that void of nothingness, I saw her true form.
The deity bathed with light vanished in thin air.
In her place, stood a contraindication of who she once was. A being of corruption, the one who thrived in the poisoned hearts of the damned.
Her name was Death.
And here she stood in all her forbidden splendor.
"Osirisss," she drawled with a Cheshire grin, "this is why you've always been my favorite."
"Your favorite?"
"Is that so strange? Even Lady Death must have her little indulgences."
She laughed, pleased by her own joke.
"Though I must admit, I'm disappointed you didn't accept my first offer. I would have gifted you everything."
"What could you offer a dead man?"
"The gift of life."
And why would I want that?
The abyss is empty, if not peaceful.
As if able to read my thoughts, her sinister smile grew longer. Darker.
"Oh, that's not my only gift. Tell me, Osiris, what do you desire? Sloth? Lust? Gluttony? Or—"
I raised an eyebrow.
"—this?"
The moment the word escaped her lips, something erupted inside my brain.
Images flooded my mind.
I saw a man walking through a world festering with blood.
I saw through his eyes as he clutched his daughter's hand, running from demons that wore human flesh.
I felt his desperation as he traded everything he owned for a crust of bread, watched him weep as his child's ribs grew more prominent with each passing day.
I experienced his rage as he killed another man for a taste of spoiled meat, felt the thrill of survival warring with his disgust.
Then came the final moment.
The knife slid between his ribs, his daughter's half-eaten corpse beside him. His last thought was a prayer that death would come quickly. A mercy he knew he didn't deserve.
The memories were more than images.
They were emotions.
A lifetime of experiences compressed into a searing instant.
And they are now mine…
My body convulsed with pleasure so intense it bordered on agony.
Hormones flooded my system — serotonin, dopamine, epinephrine, anandamide — until I could barely remember my own name.
For the first time in my existence, I felt gloriously, terrifyingly, human.
But just as quickly as it arrived, the sensation vanished, leaving me hollow and yearning.
"What... was that?"
My fist clenched.
I glanced up, meeting her gaze — a mistake, perhaps, but one I found myself unable to resist.
Her smile was tender now, almost maternal.
"That, my dear Osiris, was your first taste of a human soul. Beautiful, isn't it? All that suffering, all that hope, all that delicious humanity distilled into pure sensation."
She traced a finger down my cheek.
"Some find it quite... addictive."
"How?" The word escaped before I could stop it. "How do I feel it again?"
"A bargain," her damning grin widened, "accept my gift of life, and you can feast on as many souls as you desire, my sweet boy."
I understood the consequences of agreeing to such a proposition.
But yet, at the same time, I did not care.
You may call me foolish, but everyone is a fool to the man who watches in the comfort behind a lens.
"Where would I go?" I asked.
"To my world."
For a moment, a violet glint took a hold of Lady Death's eyes.
"The hell where sinners congregate. Rapists. Murderers. Thieves and liars. A place where the meek are crushed like insects and the mighty rise, consuming everything in their path. A world… you will conquer."
"You believe I'll conquer this world of yours?"
"Oh, I don't believe."
She pouted playfully.
"I know. You see, I've grown so terribly bored watching the same tired souls play their little games. But you... you'll give me such wonderful entertainment, won't you, my dear Osiris?"
I said nothing. Sometimes silence spoke louder than words ever could.
"Well, now that you know, my dear… do you accept?"
I almost found it poetic.
My entire existence was spent manipulating those around me. And now, here I was — the one being manipulated. Seduced not by flesh, but by possibility.
Despite that, I could not let the choice go.
I did not care about life.
Nor did I care about any preternatural gift.
But that feeling. . .
That sensation of consuming a soul burned and pulsed in my consciousness.
It gave me purpose.
So I did what I needed to do.
"I accept."
She leaned closer to me.
"Good boy…"
Her form shimmered, taking on the voluptuousness of a desirable woman — one devoid of light, of purity, and corrupted by sin.
"After all..."
Her lips trailed my ear, and goosebumps ran across my spine.
"I knew you would," she breathed against my mouth.
Lady Death kissed me.
My vision blurred. I blinked, but my eyes did not respond. The last thing I saw before the abyss reclaimed me were her eyes — two violet stars burning with malevolent glee.
Then the void swallowed everything, and I began to fall.