nexus_crossings | A Strange Afterlife

A Strange Afterlife

It had to be impossible. He could feel his skin. A pulse beat under his neck. He stood in front of a store window and regarded his reflection in the glass. Same black leather outfit. Same brown trench-coat. The fabric weight down on him and he rubbed his arms as he tried to figure out what was going on. A wandering spirit had doors to enter and exit when it came to the world of the living, but he'd never achieved something like this. It was alien and wrong and he had no idea where anyone was.

Mantis sighed, marveling quietly at the way his chest rose and fell with his breathing. It didn't matter. He'd keep moving and hope for the best. If this was some punishment for a misstep, he knew exactly who to take it up with.

"Sorrow!" Even his voice carried an echo. Mantis pointed himself into a new direction and began to walk. "What did I do this time, old man?"

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"I like to think I've had time to get over that a little. Outside of a vendetta that finished years ago...it's exhausting. I've lost some of the bite I used to have."

It hardly seems polite to stare into the eyes of someone who plainly looks blind, and the hawk is clearly sizing him up somehow. Mantis feels an instinct to reach out his arm to offer as a perch to the bird, but he doesn't. He pulls his mask off, just a little, to see the man and the hawk clearly. Maybe there's something to be seen that he can't with the lenses in the way.

"I'm sharpening my teeth." Belial responds flat and slightly venomous, though not at Mantis.

Belial reaches up and pets the hawk and for the first moment there's a suggestion that the winged man and the bird are 'talking'. The feathers of Belial's wings look nearly identical to those of the bird.

There's a pause and then Belial brings his attention back to Mantis. "Nychta wants to know why you wear a mask."

Truth was the bird disliked not being able to see this person's face.

"I hope the biting is worth the wait." He means that with all his heart. Sometimes people just need to destroy in order to feel whole again.

Pale grey eyes widen and Mantis slides the mask a little further away, now completely exposing his eyes and the upper part of his nose. He doesn't dare take it off further, lest the telepathy get away from him and he accidentally read either mind before him.

"Burn scars. I was a child and it...never really healed correctly. I don't like having my face exposed. It's vulnerable."

"It will be." Belial is certain that, at least for Lucifer, the vengeance will be worth any wait.

Belial watches the mask and uses his sleeve to smudge the black face paint he wears on the upper half of his face. There are burn scars around his eyes. They weren't from fire but holy smiting, close enough.

"A lot who live here bear scars from their lives elsewhere."

Mantis's eyes perk up slightly in amusement. That's the kind of confidence he can admire in a statement. It fades, however, seeing the paint getting smeared. His own lack of soft tissue truly paled in comparison to what the man had clearly lost.

Mantis sets his own mask back into place. "Scars very rarely go away. Even if I had managed to fix my face, I would remember what it had been." He nods to the hawk. "Is your bird kind of like a seeing-eye companion?"

"Ours can't be healed but I've adapted." Belial doesn't mind them any more. Some angels still carried heavy burdens from their disfigurements. "Nychta is his own being but my brother and King bound our minds. I see what he sees and we can share thoughts like we're one mind."

"Nychta. I can hear the word 'night' in his name. It suits him." Mantis shifts his attention back to the man, if just for a moment. "King sounds powerful. Minds are a difficult enough thing to read, let along meld into some state of unity."

"It's Greek to honor our heritage." The angels these days saw themselves more closely aligned with Greek and Middle Eastern paganism than the Christianity they were part of.

"My king is Lucifer Morningstar." Belial continued to scratch the bird. "We've relied on mental communication since our creation. It's more natural to us than speech when we're alone."

Greek heritage. Lucifer Morningstar. Mantis had only been raised in such stories for a short time, but he never quite forgot them. The wings had a whole new meaning to him now, but he couldn't find it in him to be afraid of the name or the implication.

"People told me stories about Lucifer. He never sounded like a bad person to me. He wanted his freedom and ran with it."

"Not all Lucifers are the same." Belial remarks if only because they are in the Nexus and who knew what being would show up. "My brother has his moments. With respect and understanding he can be a wise, understanding counselor."

Belial didn't think the other side of the statement needed to be expressed. He stops petting Nychta and smiles faintly . "I'm High Chancellor Belial. Lucifer's advisor."

"Belial and Nychta." Mantis bows his head a bit more formally than he's used to. "I only go by Psycho Mantis these days. The name given to me at birth holds no meaning for me."

Angels. Monsters. Gods. The mere concept of more than one Bringer of Light. Mantis is starting to get used to it. "I'm assuming you are usually referred to by your name. I wouldn't want to offend an angel."

"It's a pleasure, Mantis." Belial has formality from being a diplomat but he's also very relaxed, usually.

"I do, but that is the choice of the individual angel." Nychta and the angel look out onto the rest of the area. "The Celestial and Fallen beings currently residing in the Nexus are more relaxed. We exist here in unity either serving or standing beside our king."

Belial stops there because that could be an intense topic for someone to accept; peace between Heaven and Hell, or at least their angels.

It doesn't bother Mantis at all. He's long reached the point where intentionally stirring the metaphorical pot is an exhausting prospect. The idea of peace being reached somehow among such traditional enemies almost gives him some hope.

"Anything can happen here. I might even have a good time being away from Liquid. Being dead doesn't leave much room for things outside of talking to those who are likewise on your current plane of existence, but I've got good company and plenty to watch where the living are concerned."

"Removing God from the equation has proven to be adequate to remove the historical rifts." God did cause many of the issues.

"It's my understanding that there are many dead walking here." Belial pauses and considers clarification. "Both in the manner of undead and those who are dead in their home realms but live again here."

"A well-intentioned leader is sometimes the worst." Big Boss, he's thinking of you. Man was a legend, and rightfully so, but he wrecked lives all over the world.

"I haven't felt hungry in such a long time. Food isn't something I expected to miss, but now it's all that I have on my mind." And sleeping. And smelling. He's been a bit sensory deprived on the other side of life. "This place is interesting. I might stay a while."

"I'm not convinced He is good intentioned in most universes." Belial had seen very few positive explanations of God.

"Have you thought about willing sensory possession?" Belial doesn't shy away from topics like these. Besides there were people willing to do all sorts of things. Temporary inhabiting or sharing mind with the dead seemed mild in the grand scheme of magic and possession. "I've found it interesting. There are so many cultures present."

Mantis is quiet for a couple of seconds before nodding. "He's definitely down the list."

"Tried that when I was alive on accident. I learned about interesting foods that way. A lot of people will mix spices together in a way that makes a very unique flavor. I learned about gumbo that way." He has a slight smile to his voice. Yes, there is much to try again with regards to food.

"I'm sure there are some here who would share their experience." Belial considered the the situation. "There are many here with mental abilities that could accomplish the feat."

"I think I might like to meet them. See who is a natural born and who might have been given their abilities. There weren't many chances to meet people like me back home."

"I think you'll find plenty here who weren't born but came into existence by other means." After all Belial was one of them. Angel's weren't born. They were created.

"I used to think angels were born as little stars that unfolded into people-like shapes. Your appearance is more like the space between stars." Not at all in a bad way, though. Very gothic.

"There are a lot of odd ideas about the creation of angels." Belial considers the comments with care. "We are more the energy undercurrents behind the workings of the universe."

"The force that makes all other things happen." He's not sure he entirely gets it, but he gets enough of it to make an interesting mental picture. "It reminds me of when people would speculate on how my powers come to be. I'm not even entirely sure of it myself."

"We can make things happen, but we don't have to and they will still happen." Belial pauses trying to think of a good mortal analogy but he's not coming up with one at the moment. Mostly because he doesn't know much about Mantis' living situation to make something meaningful.

"We have similar speculations about ourselves. We often wonder if the things we manifest gave us our personalities or if those personalities define what we fuel in the universe. I am not sure God even has an answer to that question."

"Like a conduit? Celestial beings live interesting lives." There's some things he can wrap his head around. Belial is odder and more out of the way as anything else Mantis has experienced, but in a good way.

He considers the lines of logic and nods quietly. "I think everyone is born with natural inclinations to do certain things. The blueprint tells us how we act and what happens because of what we do is how you define a personality."

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