Afterlife Dilemma

The cool damp ground was the first thing Oasis felt upon waking up. She had yet to open her eyes, and she didn’t intend to. All of the running from the day prior was still taking a toll on her body; resting was the only thing on her mind. Plus, the area was mostly quiet. Nothing could be heard except a gentle breeze rustling the plants around her. At least, for the moment.

Just as she was about to slip back into unconsciousness, a new noise caught her attention. It sounded like the soft patter of feet on grass. Her ears perked up slightly, and her eyes opened a tad. No one seemed to be in the area, although Oasis had yet to get up and look around. While the noise was concerning, Oasis figured that if she stayed still whatever was in the area would leave. There was no need to draw attention to herself.

The sound began to get closer. Too close. Was it one of the cats from earlier? Or was it someone else? As badly as she wanted to sleep, she had to know who was in the area. Staying alive was her top priority right now, and this creature could be dangerous. Her legs ached, but she managed to stand herself upright and look around. Gravity was doing it’s best to pull her back to the ground, but Oasis resisted.

Well, she resisted as much as she could. It wasn’t just her legs fighting her; her whole body felt off. Everything she was feeling was very new, and Oasis didn’t exactly know what to make of it. Her head felt light, but her legs felt heavy. The combination made her dizzy, and after only a few steps she collapsed to the ground yet again.

Her fall didn’t make a loud noise, but it did make an audible thump. Something someone nearby could hear, and they did. The footsteps briefly stopped, before picking up the pace and getting even closer. Oasis did her best to get back up, but she couldn’t. She was too exhausted.

“Hello? Is someone here?” A soft male voice called out.

Oasis could see someone approaching from her left. As he got closer, she could make out his features more clearly. It was a dog; a fairly large one. His fur was black, with a slightly lighter underbelly. He, much like the lynx from the day prior, was covered in battle scars. There were three deep scratches across his face, a large bald patch on his neck and paw, more scratched along his back, and a few notches in each ear.

She hated judging people based on appearance, but this dog looked terrifying! His dark fur paired with all the scars were a sight to behold. Oasis’ fur puffed up, and her wings ruffled a bit. The dog had obviously spotted her, but she remained silent. What was there to say?

“Oh, hello there.” the dog said, now looking at Oasis. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to frighten you”.

While the dog certainly looked scary, he sounded kind and genuine. Crazy may have been suave, but her voice sounded oddly threatening looking back on it. He, however, didn’t seem to have any ill intentions, and he kept his distance.

The dog took a good look at Oasis. She looked horrible, and he seemed concerned. Her once white fur was now tangled and stained with dirt, and she had a few cuts and scrapes from the run. Several of her wing’s feathers were lying on the ground next to her as well. The dog looked worried; seeing such an old cat in such bad shape was usually something to worry about.

“Hey, you ok?” He asked. “You look, uh… You look like you’ve had a rough time.”

“Yes, um. I suppose you could say that” She responded. Her voice sounded horrible as well; an odd mix of tired and scared.

“Are you ok? Do you need help? What happened?”

“Uhh…” Oasis paused. She did need help, but she didn’t know if she could trust this dog. With everything that needed to be kept secret, she really didn’t want to risk any more information leaking out. She had already caused quite the uproar yesterday; who knows how fast the word would spread? Or, would it spread at all? Did the mortals even care, or was it just another day for them?

The dog could sense her discomfort. He cautiously walked over to Oasis and sat down beside her, still a safe distance away. It seemed like he was really trying his best not to act threatening, but his appearance was making that difficult; a fact he was well aware of. This was probably a common issue for him, given how he reacted.

“Hey, I won’t hurt you. I promise. I just want to help, if you need it anyway. My friends and I live closeby, you can come with me if you’d like.” He said

“I don’t know, dear. Last time I followed someone to their home it didn’t end well…” Her voice trailed off briefly, before she quickly added “N-not to be rude or anything! I just, uh. Oh dear...”

The dog chuckled softly. “It’s ok, I get it. You don’t know me, and you’ve had a pretty rough time. It’s fine, really.”

His comment reassured her. As intimidating as he looked, he really seemed to have good intentions; unlike the lynx. Come to think about it, this dog was quite a big bigger than the lynx. Maybe he could help her get her brooch back? Or would that be too much to ask. He seemingly wanted to help, but how far was he willing to go? She’d never know unless she asked. Time was running out.

“How close is your home?” Oasis asked quietly.

“Not too far! Maybe a 25 minute walk, give or take. It’s just down the river, we can even stop and get you cleaned up on the way” He said, standing up to start leading the way.

“I’m not sure I can make it that far…”

“Oh, don’t worry. I can help you. I can even carry you if you want”

“That won’t be necessary, dear! I don’t want to burden you, I’m sure I’ll be ok”

“If you say so…” He didn’t seem convinced, but he didn’t want to argue either.

Oasis slowly raised herself to her feet. Her legs were shaky and unsteady, but the dog helped keep her upright. A few moments later and they were headed towards the dogs house. Neither of the two said much during the walk, and they could both sense the tension. Still, neither of them knew what to say. What was there to say?

The forest seemed peaceful, unlike the city. Oasis had never seen either place with her own eyes, but the forest had a calming aura to it. Not as calming as the afterlife, but calming nonetheless. It was now about noon, and the warmth of the sun was beginning to radiate throughout the area.

Eventually, the two reached the river. The river was fairly wide, but it didn’t appear to be all that deep. It was almost as if the water had nowhere else to go, so it just spread out in any divet in the ground that it could. Despite this, there were a few deep areas, and Oasis wasn’t too excited to go swimming.

Just beyond the river was an old looking one-story house. It was hard to make out all the details, but it definitely looked older than most of the buildings Oasis had seen in the city. The house was the only building in the area, making it stick out even more.

“My house is just across the river” The black dog said, pointing his paw towards the house.

Oasis’ ears drooped a bit. “You live in a human house?” She said, failing to hide her worry. She couldn’t allow herself to be spotted by humans. While she was a god, she didn’t know if she’d be able to talk to one if such a situation arose. Language was transcended in the afterlife, allowing everyone to understand each other; human or not. But this was the mortal realm, and Oasis was more or less mortal.

“Yeah, it’s pretty nice” He replied without thinking. “Oh, but there aren’t any humans! Don’t worry! Sorry, I guess it’s a bit odd for a bunch of strays to live in a human house, huh?”

“I-it’s fine, dear. I just wasn’t expecting this…” She paused for a moment. “So, uh... How do we get across?”

“The first part’s shallow enough to walk through. You can wash yourself off. Gets a bit deep towards the middle, though. Too deep for me even. I might have to carry you, if you’re ok with that. If not, uh. We’ll have to go the long way”

Oasis cautiously placed one of her paws in the water. It was cold, and she shuddered at the touch. Once the dog saw her enter, he began to trot ahead. He seemed unphased by the cold as he walked, which was a bit surprising.

The riverbank was lined with a plethora of small pebbles and rocks. Many of them were smooth, making it hard to get any footing. Smooth rocks, water, and exhaustion was a terrible combination, and Oasis tripped several times. She inevitably fell directly into the water, and yelped in surprise. Such cold water! How could anyone bear this? It was horrible!

Seeing her struggling, the dog quickly walked over and helped her get up. She was shaking from the cold, and her fur was now dripping wet. On the bright side, much of the dirt and other grime had washed off her fur, revealing the snow white colour once again. You could clearly see the difference between her white fur and tan feathers now.

Without saying anything, the dog hoisted Oasis up and draped her over his back. It was clear she was in no position to walk, let alone swim across the river. She was a bit surprised, but didn’t fight back. The dog seemed nice enough, and he was genuinely trying to help. Plus, she was exhausted. She couldn’t fight back even if she tried.

The rest of the trip was short. Oasis did get splashed with more water as the dog swam across the middle of the river, but that was short lived. Soon they were both on the other side and on their way to the lonely little house. Oasis remained on the dogs back for the rest of the brief journey.

At the house, the dog lowered Oasis back to the ground and let her hop off. She was still dripping wet and shivering from the cold. The dog was soaked as well, but he seemed unbothered. Not surprising, really. If he lived at this house, he had probably swam across that river thousands of times. It would have been a mundane task. Still, Oasis was grateful.

“Thank you, uhh...” She said, her voice slightly trembling from the cold.

Before responding, the dog lowered his head and shook himself dry. Drops of water shot off every which way, splattering on every nearby surface. Once he was done, his tail perked up in shock.

“Oh! My name’s Thunder!” He laughed awkwardly. “Sorry, I should have said that sooner.” His ears lowered a bit in shame.

“No worries, really! It’s nice to meet you, Thunder. My name’s…”

She cut herself off. Like before, Oasis was unsure if she should say her name or not. On one hand, Thunder seemed far more trustworthy than Tic or Crazy. On the other hand, DC and his minions could be anywhere. He could be listening to her right now! She didn’t want him to learn about her whereabouts, but she also didn’t want to be rude. The pressure was starting to get to her. She had to say something! Anything!

“My name’s, uh. My name… My name’s Wings?” She shook her head in frustration. “No! I’m sorry, that was a lie. Goodness me, what am I thinking” Oasis seemed to be talking to herself at this point. She detested lies, and now she was telling them! What good would lying do right now? It’d only upset Thunder.

“Woah, calm down, It’s ok.” Thunder said, taken aback by her sudden panic. He hadn’t meant to upset her like this. “I don’t know what’s going on, but you don’t have to tell me your name if you don’t want to.”

“I’m sorry, dear. I shouldn’t be lying…” She paused again, thinking of the best thing to say. “Look, I don’t want to get into it, but there’s people looking for me. I’m trying to lie low…”

Thunder’s face shifted, as if he had just had a sudden realization. “Oohhh… I get it now… Well, it’s a good thing I found you, then. You’ll be safe here, I promise. Most people stay away from this place.” He paused for a moment, then smiled at Oasis. “Anyway, why don’t you dry yourself off so we can go inside? No sense in staying out in the cold like this”

Oasis stared at him briefly, before looking back at herself. Her fur was still dripping with water. She had never been wet like this before. The afterlife didn’t exactly have large bodies of water, and the little water there was there had vastly different properties. How exactly should she go about drying herself off? Surely the water would dry on it’s own, wouldn’t it?

Thunder had shaken himself dry, and while his fur was still damp, it seemed to have helped. She might as well give it a try, as silly as it looked. Doing her best to mimic Thunder, Oasis lowered her head and attempted to shake the water off her fur. It felt wrong, and her body was still far too tired to do something like this. Some water was shaken off, but it didn’t seem to have helped her as much as she thought.

Thunder’s face scrunched a bit, before letting out a short laugh. He seemed to be trying to hold himself back, but the situation was too funny. Oasis looked back to him and lowered her ears in embarrassment.

“Haha! Sorry, but I’ve never seen a cat do that before.” He said, still holding back his laughter.

“You haven’t?” Oasis asked innocently.

“Nope. Cat’s usually lick themselves dry, from what I’ve seen. But, uh. I’ve never seen a cat like you before” He gestured to Oasis’ wings, which were still dripping wet.

“Oh, I see… Sorry, I’m not too sure how things work down here”

Thunder seemed curious about that statement, but refrained from asking any more questions. Oasis got as dry as she could manage, and he led her inside the house through a small opening in the front door.

Inside the house was a mess! It had definitely been abandoned by humans for quite some time, and the animal residence didn’t seem to be taking very good care of the place. The creaky hardwood floor was scuffed with claw marks of varying sizes pretty much everywhere. There was no furniture in the main room other than an old couch, which was also torn and weathered. Some pillows and blankets lined the corners of the room, presumably making makeshift beds. On top of all that, there were little toys and trinkets strewn all across the floor.

“Well, feel free to make yourself at home. Sorry for the mess” Thunder wandered the area, seemingly looking for something. “I don’t think anyone’s home right now, but we’ll deal with that later. Can I get you anything?”

Oasis walked over to the pile of blankets and layed down. They were a lot more comfortable than the ground outside. “I don’t know.” she said.

“You don’t know? Hmm. Well, you don’t seem to be injured. How about food? When’s the last time you ate? I don’t know how long you’ve been in… Uhh… This situation”

She just stared back blankly. These thoughts hadn’t crossed her mind before she had left the afterlife, as obvious as they might have seemed. Mortals need to eat. She hadn’t eaten anything since she’d gotten here. But how often do they eat? Did she need to eat right now, or could she wait longer? Things would be so much easier if she could just tell Thunder who she was! It would be nice to have someone down here she could trust, but the living simply couldn’t know.

Not wanting to ignore his question, Oasis decided to answer it as honestly as she could.

“I’m not sure exactly. It’s been over a day, but that’s all I know”

“You can’t remember? Oh dear. Uh, I’ll get you something. Just wait here”

Thunder walked into the other room. There was a bit of rustling and shuffling around before he walked back out, holding a small bowl in his mouth. The bowl was made of some sort of silvery metal, and had a black rubber base. It looked pretty old and scuffed up, just like everything else in the area. He placed the bowl down in front of Oasis, before turning around and walking back into the other room. She didn’t even get a chance to say anything.

The bowl was halfway filled with some sort of orange, red, and brown kibble. She had never seen anything like it before. It seemed to have a faint indistinguishable smell. Not that Oasis knew what most things smelled like. Thunder had said he was getting food, but this didn’t really look like food. Still, she trusted his judgement. A mortal such as himself would definitely know what food was.

Now Oasis was unsure what to do next. She knew what eating was, but she hadn’t done it in years. On paper it was simple: You put the food in your mouth and swallow it. It couldn’t be that hard. Even children can do it, so obviously a god would have no trouble! Reluctantly, she picked some of the kibble up in her mouth. 

There was a lot more of it in the bowl than she originally thought, and a lot of it rubbed against her face, leaving crumbs all over her. Then, she swallowed the mouthful of kibble. Or at least, she tried to. The bits of kibble were too large and dry to swallow, immediately causing her to start choking! Luckily, her mortal instincts were still intact after all these years, and she coughed up the remainder of the food.

Thunder returned shortly after her coughing fit with another metal bowl in his mouth. This one was filled with water, and some of it spilled out as he made his way over. He set the bowl down right next to the other one and looked over at Oasis, who was still coughing.

“Hey, are you ok? What’s wrong?” He asked, concerned

“I’m fine, I think. I don’t know.” She said through coughs.

He nudged the bowl a bit closer. “Here, drink something. It’ll help”

She dipped her face in the water and took a long sip. Drinking seemed to be much easier than eating. It did get her face all wet, but at least she wasn’t choking anymore. Thunder gave her an odd look as she drank, which made Oasis think she was doing something wrong. Once she was done drinking, she lifted her head from the bowl and shook herself dry again. Water splattered on the ground below her.

Some time passed. Oasis attempted to eat more food, only to choke again briefly. The problem was immediately clear, at least to Thunder. She wasn’t chewing anything, just swallowing. He made sure to comment on this, and she quickly rectified the situation.

All of Oasis’ behaviours seemed off to Thunder. He’d never seen a cat do anything the way she had, and he lived with several other cats. Hell, he hadn’t seen any animal do some of the things she’d done in the short time she’d been here. Most folk would lap up water with their tongues, not suck up the water. Not even humans drank like that, and their way of drinking was unique to them. It was all very odd, but he didn’t want to say anything if it’d just make her feel bad.

Eventually Oasis finished eating. She’d managed to finish all of it, even though it seemed like a lot. Her stomach hurt, but Oasis figured it was just because she hadn’t eaten in a long time. Or maybe that was supposed to happen? Thunder seemed a bit impressed. Once she was done, he took the bowls back into the other room to put them away.

“So, Wings. Are you feeling better?” Thunder asked, as he walked back into the room. Hearing that name startled Oasis, until she realised that’s the name she had given Thunder.

“Ah, you don’t have to call me that! I really don’t know why I said it in the first place…”

“It’s ok. You were just trying to protect yourself, right?” He walked over to her and laid down beside her. “It’s not like you were being malicious or anything”

“I suppose… Still, I don’t like lies.” Her ears lowered. “Plus that name isn’t safe either. That’s what those thieves called me. If they hear that name…” Oasis shuddered at the thought. She didn’t know if they’d bother looking for her, but she didn’t want to risk it.

“Thieves? Oh! Right, you said something about lying low. Mind telling me what happened? I promise I won’t tell anyone you don’t want me to.”

Now Oasis was left with another dilemma. How much should she tell him? Thunder wouldn’t be able to help anymore without knowing what was going on, but how much did he need to know? Another thing that was bothering her was the subject of lying. Would leaving parts of the story be deceitful? It was a lot to think about.

Still, at the end of the day Oasis had one goal. That goal was to recapture DC and return to the afterlife safely. Sure, she didn’t want to do any lasting damage to the living world, but that was almost unavoidable. Interacting with the living at all was causing damage, as they’d remember that in the afterlife. How she treated them and how they reacted to her would follow them for the rest of eternity.

She had to weigh her options. Thunder wanted to help, and he seemed trustworthy. If she let him know what was going on, she may have a valuable ally. Someone who knows how this world works firsthand, and can help her navigate it. As much as she didn’t want to upset the balance of things, she knew telling him would be her best option. Time was running out, and she didn’t have time to re-learn the ways of the living on her own on top of hunting DC.

“Alright. Just, please hear me out before saying anything. The situation is a bit, uh, unbelievable"

Thunder nodded, and Oasis began telling him everything. It just seemed to spill out of her. The existence of the gods, DC's plan, how she was going to stop him, and everything she'd done since his escape. She told him pretty much everything that had happened to her up until meeting him. It was a lot to take in, and Oasis could tell that Thunder had questions.

"So, this DC guy… He uh… he can't really be that powerful, can he? I mean, he can't be more powerful than a human, right?" Thunder asked. He seemed to believe Oasis' claims, at least enough to be worried about them.

"His power may be beyond your comprehension. It's hard to imagine if you've never seen it. He used to rule over humans in his youth, back when he first ascended."

"Uh… there is one thing that's bothering me about all this"

"Oh? And what's that?"

"How come DC can leave his, uh… world? Without any issues, but if you leave your world you risk the entire thing disappearing forever." Thunder asked. "I mean, it seems like you had to risk everything just to get here, but he gets a free pass?"

"My magic creates souls. It's the magic of life. My job is to look over them and make sure enough souls are going out in order to sustain life on Earth." Oasis sighed. "Unfortunately, if I'm not there to allow a soul back in, the magic holding it together will disperse upon death; effectively killing the poor thing permanently. Same goes for the realm itself. If I'm not there to power it, it'll disappear."

"That doesn't explain why DC is allowed to roam free" Thunder grumbled

"As I said, his domain was created after the fact. Red magic seems to have a stronger tie to this world too. It wants to be bound to something. Infect. Destroy. It doesn't want to create. So, his magic decided to keep him on Earth, where he could infect people to his heart's content…"

Thunder’s ears pinned back, and his expression turned more and more distressed. Whether he wanted to or not, he believed Oasis. Sure, it was implausible at best, but stranger things had happened. Thunder lived with a cat that could breathe fire and a rabbit with super speed; who’s to say a god can’t exist? Plus, everything she said lined up. If it were all just a lie, it was a very well thought out and elaborate one.

They both sat in silence for awhile as Thunder tried to process all this. His whole view on the world had just been turned on its head! All the problems and worries he’d had just became miniscule compared to all this. Who cares about roommate or work quarrels when the entire world could end at any minute!

“This is a lot to drop on a person, you know…” He said quietly

“I know, dear. I really didn’t intend to burden you, but I didn’t have much of a choice.” Oasis said, a bit sorrowful. “But I promise, you won’t have to get involved with DC directly… If you’re still up for this anyway. I’d understand if-”

“I’m up for it!” Thunder said, cutting her off. “Really. I want to help. I’d feel awful if anything preventable happened because of me. But, uh, I do think we need a better plan. I get that it’s time sensitive and everything, but you’re setting yourself up for failure.”

“Thank you, Thunder. Really.” Oasis said

Thunder glanced at the clock hanging crookedly on the wall, then over to the front entrance. He stared at the door for a moment, before shaking his head and sighing. Oasis looked over the clock as well, but she wasn’t able to read it. The symbols on it were forign to her.

“It’s getting late. I think you should get some sleep.” Thunder said. “I was hoping everyone would be back by now… Anyway, we can start working on a plan tomorrow.”

“Sleep… Right.” Oasis replied, a bit unsure of herself.

“Don’t worry, nothing’s gonna happen. Everything’ll be fine. If you need anything feel free to wake me up, ok?”

Oasis nodded, and Thunder smiled in return. He walked over to the other side of the room and flopped down onto a large pillow. A bit of stuffing puffed out of a tear on the side of the pillow as he did so. A few minutes later he was fast asleep. Or at least, he seemed to be. Oasis had no way of knowing for sure.

Instead of going directly to bed, Oasis spent a few minutes staring out the window. The sun had just fallen out of sight, and the orange light of the sunset had almost faded completely. Everything looked so different from down here. Her realm, her home, seemed so far away. For a moment, she wondered if she’d even be able to get back once this was all over, but that thought was quickly shaken from her head.

Oasis rested her head on her paws and began to drift off. Unlike the day prior, sleep didn’t come easily. She was tired, but her mind was racing. There was so much work to do, and she had yet to start any of it! It’d been two days, and she’d done nothing! Again, she tried to shake these thoughts. Sandra would never allow her to ponder things like this for so long. Eventually Oasis fell asleep, still thinking of her dear friend. Hopefully she was doing ok on her own, but only time will tell.