Death's Salvation
Chapter 1
Disclaimer: I do not own Darksiders or Darksiders ll. I do own Willow as she is an extension of my own mind. Happy reading.
Death had fulfilled his journey and had finally reached a destination. He remembered jumping into the Well of Souls before being blinded by a brilliant white light. He seemed to float out into nothingness for long moments before he realized his back was pressed flush to a hard surface. He sat up, feeling naked without the mask that he had worn since he was named Kinslayer.
His surroundings were a generic white nothingness, including the surface he was now standing on. He dared not move despite his need to do just that because he could not tell where the edge may end, sending him drifting once more into the void. "What is this place?" He asked to himself out loud but immediately placed his hands upon the scythes at his waist when he was given an answer, something he had not expected. He glanced over his shoulder at the tall regal woman standing behind him.
Studying her carefully he relaxed after she posed no threat to him. As if reading his thoughts she held her open hands out to him to show she meant no harm before giving him a serene smile. "Your brother stands alone now Pale Rider. What choice will you make?" He growled low in his throat. "Mind your tongue woman. Just who are you and what do you think you know?"
"Who I am is of little consequence Pale Rider. What is, however, is the choice you must now make." She said motioning toward the brightly glowing shards of the shattered amulet containing the souls of his slain brethren that resided in his chest now. He gingerly touched the pulsing shards before snatching his hand away to gaze at her steadily.
"What say you Pale Rider? Will you leave your brother to face his fate alone and do as your mother asks? Will you resurrect one species and damn the other?" She watched him with a knowing look. He had been asked that question more than once on his journey and the answer ever remained the same. He would not waver now. "I will save my brother above all."
She nodded, "Then it will require a sacrifice, a great one but one that you may be thankful for and yet regret all the same." He grimly looked down at the amulet once more before speaking again. "What must I do?"
"You must sacrifice the souls trapped within the amulet in order to breathe life back into souls of the humans." He looked at her in puzzlement. "You mean they will be reincarnated back into existence as humans?"
She laughed ruefully, "No Pale Rider, they will perish. They will cease to exist in any form. Their life force, their energy will be used to revive the humans; one Nephilim soul for one human soul." The shock clearly showed on his face before he squared his shoulders and made his decision, not that there was any question in his mind of what he would choose. "Yes, this is acceptable. Will the voices stop?"
"You mean their cries for revenge against you? That question I cannot answer for you Pale Rider." With that she disappeared into the steadily growing white light. Soon Death was overwhelmed and try as he might he could not blot out the pain. Finally he succumbed to it and blacked out.
On Earth, at that very moment his brother had broken the final seal. He spoke to an angel as he glanced out at the three comets hurtling to Earth. He would need to make his way to his brother's and sister.
Elsewhere on Earth a pale dusty arm broke through a pile of ashes. Soon a body followed it out of the pile, a thickly built human woman lay shivering as wind picked up in gusts through the alley created by the steep bluffs.