Afterlife Dilemma

"You can only push someone so far, my dear. Everyone has a breaking point. You can't keep me here forever"

That threat had been echoing in Oasis’ head for the past week. DC had never made a threat before, not in that manner anyway. It was unnerving to say the least, and Oasis couldn’t help but worry about it. Her foresight didn’t show her anything out of the ordinary, but this wasn’t enough to soothe her anxiety. Infinite timelines means infinite possibilities. The chance of her looking into the right one is slim, even if she’s gotten better at it over the years.

Still, while unnerving, she couldn’t let this minor incident affect her work. Keeping the afterlife up and running was a full time job, she couldn’t just stop out of fear. If she took a break from her work every time she had a panic attack or depressive episode, the realm itself would crumble. Oasis’ mental health wasn’t important to her. All that mattered to her was keeping her domain running as smoothly as possible.

Today, Oasis was back to her usual duties: Counselling souls, so they can feel comfortable enough to be reincarnated. A small beaver sat beside her, venting about his issues with the mortal realm. Oasis had gotten to know this soul quite well, as he’d been in counselling for several years. No matter what she tried, he just didn’t seem to want to return to the living world.

As usual, this session was pushing the time limit quite a bit. Whenever this happened, it was the job of the afterlife’s second in command, Sandra, to get things back on schedule. Sandra had always been strict with schedules, and now was no exception. The grey, tired looking dog sauntered into the room and addressed Oasis.

“Hate to interrupt, hun, but it’s almost 6.” She said in her usual tired and annoyed tone.

“6? No no, it can’t be 6. We’ve only just started” Oasis replied.

The soul chimed in. “Well, I wouldn’t say that. If I’m taking up too much of your time we can stop here for today”

“Yeah, better wrap this up” Sandra said, before turning to Oasis. “You can’t keep putting things off, hun…”

“Not now, Sandra. We can talk about this in private”

Sandra huffed in defeat. “Yeah, fine. Just get to it, alright? He’s been waitin’ long enough”

“Hah, y-yes. Thank you, Sandra. I’ll be off now.” Before getting up, she turned to the soul. “And I do hope we can resolve your issues one day. Take care”

With that, the three of them left the room and went off in their separate ways. Oasis, of course, returning to the room she visited every day. Off in a secluded part of the afterlife was a single jail cell. That cell being home to the god DC, an evil god who had caused Oasis nothing but trouble since day one. In order to keep his powers in check, she had to neutralize him weekly. She didn’t like causing him so much pain, but he wasn’t the kind of person who could be allowed to roam free. His magic brought nothing but death and destruction to the living world.

Oasis had been putting off her visits with DC since the previous week. Typically, she reserved time every day to council him, with the hope of one day “reforming” him. Killing him wasn’t an option, as his magic would no longer have a container, and it’d spread infinitely across the world. So, reformation was the only answer. If he was good, he wouldn’t cause any more problems. Sure, his magic would still be that of death and destruction, but if he was in a good state of mind he’d refrain from using it.

Her heart pounded as she neared his cell. His threat’s terrified her, even if they were empty. Something about his cold, lifeless tone freaked her out. Still, she pushed on. He had to be neutralized every week, or his magic would become powerful enough to break free of his manacles.

“Hello, dear. Sorry to keep you waiting. Things have been a bit, uh, hectic recently.” Oasis said, as she walked down the hall.

Silence. As usual, DC didn’t respond to her greeting. This alone wouldn’t bother her, but it’s what came next that caused her to panic. At the end of the hallway, Oasis was greeted to a terrifying scene. Something out of her worst nightmares, if she ever slept that is.

The bars of the cell had been completely melted into a thick black goo. Similar goo was splattered all over the cell, causing it to look like a bomb had gone off. Sitting in the middle of the cell was a pair of broken manacles. DC’s manacles. The deep red designs that usually covered them were now black and dull. They were also covered in this goo. DC was nowhere to be found, but he had left a single message on the wall.

"You couldn't keep me here forever"

As if a switch had been flipped, Oasis’ power of foresight immediately took over, showing her a horrific image. A future where the living world had been overtaken by red magic. Everything was dead or close to it, and the only way to keep the balance was to send countless souls down, hoping one of them would survive. But, alas, none did. The future was nothing more than an infinite cycle of creation and destruction. Life on earth could no longer be sustained, and it was all thanks to DC’s power. Yes, Oasis and Sandra still had the afterlife, but they were all alone.

No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t see a future that didn’t end up at this point. Some paths took decades, some took days. Either way, it was going to happen, unless she somehow interfeared with his plans. An absolute. A certain future. This had never happened before, and it terrified Oasis. So much so that, if it were possible in her realm, she would have fainted.

The walls began to feel as if they were closing in, and her heart began pounding harder than before. She had snapped out of her foresight, but her vision was still blurry and distorted. The only distinguishable sound was the sound of her heart beating and her breath. Panic. It was panic. Stronger panic than she’d ever felt in her life.

Sandra. She had to tell Sandra. Sandra was the only person who’d ever been able to snap her out of her mental breakdowns, and she desperately needed that right now. There simply wasn’t time to panic. The longer DC was out, the greater his chances of winning. Not wanting to waste any more time, Oasis teleported herself to Sandra’s current location. She had never liked teleporting, as she felt it was too show off-ish, but right now it seemed necessary.

A quick flash of magic later, and Oasis was standing right in front of Sandra. Sandra, understandably, was quite shocked at Oasis’ sudden entrance. Teleportation was highly unusual. She immediately knew something was up, but what?

“S-Sandra… “ Oasis tried to speak, but she couldn’t get anything else out. Her body began to tremble, causing Sandra even more concern.

“Hun? Everything ok there? You don’t look so good.” Sandra said, as she walked closer to Oasis.

“E-everything was gone… I-it was all gone! The living world! It was all gone! G-gone! Gone!”

Oasis was known to repeat things during her breakdowns, but her words caused Sandra to go from concerned to scared. Usually, she’d go off about herself; saying things like “it’s too much” or “I can’t do this”. She had never said anything about the living world, especially not like this. That, paired with the fact that Oasis was now shaking with fear, was very worrying.

“Oasis, hun, just breathe. I have no idea what you’re talkin’ about” Sandra said in a soothing voice. She may be worried, but showing it would only cause Oasis to spiral even more.

A couple of hours of concoling later and Oasis was finally calm enough to get a coherent sentence out. Yes, she was still extremely panicked, but being completely calmed just wasn’t viable right now.

Now that she was calmer, Oasis began to explain to Sandra what she had seen in great detail. The living world falling. DC’s takeover. The infinite emptiness of the afterlife. Even the cycle of creation and destruction. DC’s plan was in full swing now, and Oasis had no idea how much time they had left. It all sounded horrible! As much as she didn’t want to believe it, Sandra knew not to doubt Oasis’ foresight. Was it 100% accurate? No, but an absolute in the future such as this was something to worry about.

With no viable time frame to work with, the two gods knew they had to act quickly. DC could strike at any moment. There was no time to waste, so Oasis and Sandra began to formulate a plan. Oasis had been up against DC before. He had been caught before, but the first time they faced him was under vastly different circumstances. Circumstances they simply couldn’t replicate again.

You see, the first time she had faced DC he had come into Oasis’ domain. Well, he had tried to anyway. You see, DC was unaware other gods existed for centuries. While he was still free, he was under the assumption that he was the only god. Because of that, he was far more lax with his plans. What’s the rush? He had eternity ahead of him. Why not turn his takeover into a game? Relish in the suffering of others.

It wasn’t until Sandra ascended that he learned about Oasis. Sandra was the only soul to ever get into the afterlife after being infected with his magic. She was his window into this new realm, and he was determined to take it over. Yes, Sandra did get freed from his magic, something else that had never happened before, but that wasn’t a big deal to him. The sheer fact that he had never heard of other gods until that point was only proof of their incompetence. Any god worth anything would be well known, right? If this so called “god” was all that powerful, people would be worshipping them!

So, he attempted to make his way to the afterlife in the hopes of connecting it. Of course, DC’s downfall came from his playful attitude. This takeover was a game to him, and by the time he realised Oasis was serious about taking him down it was too late. She had won that time, but her victory was only due to his own incompetence. This time, he wasn’t playing around. DC knew his opponent well, and he was fully taking advantage of this.

Sandra and Oasis discussed what to do for as much time as they felt they could spare, which wasn’t much. Still, they both knew they needed some sort of plan. Any plan at all was better than nothing. Unfortunately, options were few and far between. There simply isn’t much you can do when you’re stuck in another realm, and neither Sandra nor Oasis could leave the afterlife. Or could they?

Since their ascension, neither of the two had left the afterlife, but neither of them had ever tried after their initial ascension. Both had tried to re-enter the living world the same way normal souls do, but they aren’t normal souls. Could there be another way to leave the afterlife? Surely there had to be. DC was able to leave his domain, albeit his domain ran on vastly different rules. It was worth a shot.

That left them with one big, glaring issue. Oasis had to be the one to leave. Only her magic could defeat DC. Green magic, while powerful in large quantities, just isn’t enough. Sandra was the weakest of the three gods, and she knew that. The problem is, Oasis’ magic is the only thing keeping the afterlife up and running. If she left, she’d take her magic with her, and the entire realm would cease to exist. For obvious reasons, that’s bad. Anything and everything residing in the afterlife would be lost permanently. Souls that had been reincarnated for centuries would be irrecoverable. While DC was at large, this wasn’t a sacrifice either of the gods were willing to make. They had to find a way to circumvent this.

So, it was back to Oasis’ foresight. She and Sandra would go through some ideas, and Oasis would use her power to see what ones had any merit. The only “rule” being that Oasis couldn’t see what happened to herself upon reaching the living world. If she saw what she was going to do, she’d be too focused on making it happen to actually accomplish it. Looking past her exit would only cause her to sabotage herself, and there wasn’t time to allow that.

Eventually, the two came to the best conclusion they could with such a strict time limit. Oasis would have to find an object in the afterlife to tether her magic too. While in the living world, she’d have to channel almost all of her power into this object, so her magic could stay in her realm and keep it running. The obvious downside to this would be that her useable magic would be severely limited. She’d be unable to access the majority of her powers. If she ever found herself in an unpleasant situation, she’d be on her own to get out of it. It wasn’t the most desirable outcome, but they knew it had to be done. There simply wasn’t time to come up with anything else. So, with a plan in place, Oasis and Sandra began setting everything up.

There they were. In a large open room, far from any of the afterlife’s settlements. Sandra had been trying her best to keep composure, but the stress was really starting to get to her. This only caused Oasis to be more nervous about everything. Still, they both knew it was the only option. DC had to be stopped. There was no other way.

Alone in the middle of the room was a single sprout. With blue magic being that of life, Oasis thought it was only natural to channel her power into a plant. Plants, with no moral compass, were the only thing other than herself that could store blue magic for any meaningful amount of time. It was time now.

“Well, Sandra, I do hope you’ll be ok on your own for a bit… I know you’re overworked as it is, but-”

Sandra cut her off. “Hun, it’s ok. Really. I’ll be… I’ll be fine… I promise.” Her eyes began to well up with tears. “Y-you’d better promise me the same… Please. We all need you up here...”

“My dear, I can’t promise anything. You and I both know that…” Oasis responded, trying to be soothing despite her obvious anxiety. Her voice trembled ever so slightly as she spoke.

“I-I know that… But…” She couldn’t hold it in any longer. Sandra burst into tears, something she’d never done before. “Please! Please keep yourself safe! Don’t do anything stupid down there! I-I don’t know what I’d do with myself if you….” She couldn’t bring herself to finish that sentence, but Oasis already knew what she was going to say. Legs trembling, she walked over to her dear friend and gave her a firm hug.

“It’s for the sake of the world, Sandra. I promise, I’ll do everything in my power to return safely. But… If I don’t”

“N-no! Don’t say it! I don’t wanna hear you sayin’ things like this, hun!”

“If I don’t return, the tree will channel my power to you. Please, take good care of my domain if that happens…”

Still sobbing, the two said their final goodbyes. Sandra walked to the far corner of the room, as Oasis walked towards the small plant sprout. Clutching her small gold brooch for luck, she sat down in front of the plant and began to channel her power.

The ground shook, as the once small sprout grew into a mighty tree. It’s leaves had a slight blue tinge, that turned into a blinding blue glow as more power entered it. The glow got brighter and brighter, until nothing could be seen but blue, and nothing could be heard except the shaking of the ground. Then, a loud scream followed by an even louder shockwave of magical energy, that knocked Sandra against the wall. The blast radiated throughout the entirety of the realm, causing everything to tremble briefly.

The shaking subsided, and the light faded. Sandra found herself all alone in the once massive room. Now, the majority of the room was overtaken by a massive tree. A tree that was so large, the top couldn’t be seen. It’s leaves were a brilliant blue, and it’s bark was almost pure white. The tree’s roots seemed to stretch out for miles, twisting and turning every which way. It was a sight to behold.

Still disoriented from the blast, Sandra lifted herself to her feet and shakily walked over to the tree. Oasis was gone now. She was all alone. All alone to look after Oasis’ domain. The reality of the situation set in, but Sandra had no more tears to shed. She had to be strong now, but she needed time to compose herself. Once at the base of the tree, she sat down and stared at it blankly. It was all that was left of her dear friend.

“Good luck, hun…” She mumbled to herself, still gazing into the soft white tree trunk. “Please... Stay safe…”