This one is longer than ithe should be. I got excited when writing this one, so... Sorry ^^

But I hope you enjoy it

Clarity was never my best friend. Though I realised that the place I wasn't shouldn't have that much of clarity.

Opening my eyes I saw myself back at the Eternal Throne with an immense pain holding me still in the ground where I was sat. In front of me I could see Draven* and his ethereal man training and I assumed to be near the stairs leading to the room where the Lord of Bones was in.

Then the goat? Really, what that thing was?

Anyway, the goat scared me when he spoke. "Greetings"

Definitely, I didn't notice him for the first time I got there "Oh, gosh... Why does everyone likes to appear like this?" I tried to get up, but was forced to lean on the stair behind me.

"It wasn't my intention to scare you, human" He said, exhaling a cloud of smoke in my face, making me cough "And I would keep on the ground, if I were you"

"Why am I in here and not with Death...?" I wandered, mostly for myself but the goat ended up hearing.

"The rider brought you here, unconscious. You were weak, as I could well see through your soul, and he couldn't continue on his task carrying you on his back. He said it won't be long until he comes back" He exhaled again "I'm Ostegoth, by the way"

"Can't say I'm happy to see ya..." I tried to get on my feet and, with some difficulty and pain "I am Maya"

"May I ask..." He paused "What...?"

"What am I doing here? Long and painful story that I'm not willing to tell" I know he was just curious to know how a human ended up in the Kingdom of the Dead and that I shouldn't have been rude, but man, I was tired of people asking me that "To sum, Death found me, I said I could help and he said I could come with him"

"Maybe you'll get to know the story on another time, Ostegoth" I heard a voice coming from behind me, a voice that was really, really annoying. The Chancellor. That ethereal sight just like Draven. "The Lord of Bones wishes to speak to you"

"And what makes him think I want to speak with him?" I crossed my arms and far away I heard Draven laughing.

Ostegoth did the same and laughed, coughing a little for the smoke of his pipe "The girl has the guts" He sighed. "The Lord of Bone wishes, you answer. It's how it works, dear"

"Thank you for sparring my breath, Ostegoth" the Chancellor said.

"As if you have lungs to breath..."

The goat laughed again "Aren't you afraid of the consequences of your words?"

I smiled "Definitely not"

"Anyway, you should go talk to the Lord of Bone. After all, he allowed your presence here. You owe him a talk"

I thought for a while "That's a point... Fine. It won't bite to talk to him..." I walked over the stairs, losing my balance for a moment. The Chancellor was just stood there, as if I was normally walking behind him and not screwing myself up in the floor.

I don't know why, but the pain was making my legs get loose, forcing me to lean on the handrail until it reach the throne room. The Chancellor opened it up to me and awaited on the outside, making me enter it alone. "Looks like the human accepted my invite"

"How couldn't I?" Shrugging, I sighed "After all, you let me stay in here when I should be with Death..."

"I know what happens to you. The reason for the pain you feel" He looked at me in a mysterious way.

"You know the source of my pain?"

"I do" He adjusted himself on his throne "I can see inside you, after all" He sighed "But I won't tell you. I have called you in here for another reason"

"What would the Lord of Bones want with a mere human like me?"

"I can feel the torment inside you, and I know the reason" He leaned forward "Come on, tell me. I know what you wish in the deepest part of your heart, little human"

"I..." A sigh came out "I wish I could see my father... I don't remember much of him, but I remember his love for me and my love for him. But I wish I could speak to him one last time... as I wasn't able to do before he died..."

"I am not a bad Lord, human, you will see that. I won't guarantee safe passage for Death because I really need my Dead Lords and only him can bring then back"

"Why make Death waste time?" I crossed my arms.

"What do you mean?"

"Come on! If you can really see inside me you should know I can see the future... I know you will burn your Dead Lords to death when they arrive. And I can only say that Death won't happy for that"

"I said I needed my Dead Lords, I didn't say for what exactly I need them"

"Whatever. I'm not with him to warn him anyway..." I sighed "So, what did you called me here for, 'milord'" I said with irony.

"To make your wishes true" He said" I am the Lord of Bones and my domain is the Kingdom of the Dead. Not a single soul go to the Well without making me a little visit. And when I felt your energy, I..." He paused "I felt a familiar one... and then I remembered of the soul of your father passing through here"

"You know my father?"

"His soul, yes"

"Can you get me to see him?" I asked, puppy eyes.

"That is why I called you here little human" A smirk appeared on his mouth " I wondered if you would be lonely in here, so I made my ways to reach your father's soul" He extended me his left hand "He hasn't resurrected yet. Just take my hand, and I will make you reach him"

I hesitated. Was he really saying the truth or was he just trying to get rid of a human that suddenly entered hid realm? Well, the greater risk was to not try.

When I held his hand, my eyes closed instantly and seemed that my soul left my body. But I was able to see thing I didn't see before, as the ethereal world. When you are human, you can only see the material world, or physic world. Only some of humans that were known by their necromancer skills could reach that world. But I was with the Lord of Bones. As Death, he could do that – but Death was still the best Necromancer I've ever met.

Everything around me had a greenish and bluish colour. I was greenish myself and I realised I could simply trespass some obstacles, since they were still material and I was a spirit. The Lord of Bones let me free to search, saying that it was my wish, not his, so I should find my father by myself.

The place didn't have much things to remember, since it seemed to be just a simple platform with ramifications that leaded to little podiums from where you were able to see lots of souls sat there, most if them weeping waiting for the moment when they would left to the Well, so they could resurrect. Find my father in probation thousands of souls would be difficult.

When I did, though, was nostalgia. If I wasn't a spirit, I would've cried out as a child and ran to hug him. What showed itself impossible, since that was a soul from someone already dead and I was there with my spirit and still alive.

But just seeing his face was... My heart accelerated and I lost the track of the words. "Daddy!" I smiled and again tried to hug him "I can't believe it's you. It's... it's really you"

He smiled tenderly and my heart ached. I missed him so much that I only realised by seeing him again. He was just as I remembered. Nothing a bit different. "Oh, my girl... How big you've grown..."

My knees reached the floor and I closed my eyes "I missed you so much, daddy... So much happened to us that could've been so easier with you..."

Not even waiting for him to say a word, I started telling him what happened with my brothers and I after he died. What mom has done to us and the life we had to live in order to survive. Dad assumed a sad face when it came to mom and got sadder when I told him what we've been through in the life of crime.

Then I started to tell him about what happened to me after what we thought that would never happen. His eyes widened when I told I was held captive by a fallen angel for my ability to predict the future and asked a lot of questions about it, and answering them made me link it to my travel with Death and how the hell I was talking to him in that moment.

"So... Everything I used to read in Genesis is actually happening?"

I sighed "It already has, dad... it's been a century since the angels and demons fought on Earth and since then the demons took hold of it. Now, I am the only human left. All the seven billion inhabitants are dead, waiting to go to the Well just like you"

"Oh, God... I never thought it was so close from happening"

"It wasn't, dad. This Apocalypse was false. The human race wasn't even close to be ready to endure a fight like that. It was plotted by an angel to tear the demons down, but it went wrong since War heard when it all started and thought it was the last seal. Maybe, if it was the right time, we could've had a chance"

"Changing the subject... Why did your brothers choose the worst way to live for you three? That wasn't what I taught them"

"It can't tell with confidence, because I was only four. But for what they have told me several times, that was the only way..."

It was dark and cold on the house they were on. They tried to find something they could make and effort to afford for the sake of their little sister, and so they've found a house with only a bedroom, a small bathroom and a living room that was divided by a granite counter that leaded to the kitchen. All in all, a small house that could barely keep them three.

Alex had just arrived from his work, it was past midnight and Jason and the little Maya were already sleeping. Hungry, he realised that the cabinets were practically empty and they would run out of food. Inside, Alex wanted to cry. It was just too hard for him to raise his little sister and his brother alone. He had to conciliate school with job and no one would hire him without completing college, so the money he had was short for three. He could even curse the day their mother decided to abandon them.

"Jason" Alex poked his brother that was sleeping in the couch. He didn't wake up, so Alex raised his tone of voice "Jason, wake up!"

Jason jumped from the couch as he scared himself "What? What happened? Is something about Maya?"

"Stay low, brother" Alex asked "This is about the three of us and our future" Sighing, Alex held his face on his hands "I don't know what else I can do, Jason... My payment barely sustains us, the cabinets are almost empty and we have a five year old child to raise. We all have school classes to attend to, and the time of school and job is getting me more and more tired everyday..." He looked deeply in his brother's eyes "I don't have another choice..."

"Please tell me you're not considering accepting that offer"

"I am"

"Alex!" Jason slammed his hand on his own knees and stood up, raising his voice "We can't do that! You know where that will lead us. Do you really want to risk our lives? Maya's life?"

"Stay low!" Alex angered himself "What do you want me to do? We are on top of our luck to have uncle Jaime helping us with Maya when we need something to her, hospital and medicines, but what go you think will happen when the teachers sees that she's doing bad on school? They will send the tutelage council to see what's happening and then they will see she has no mother or a stable home, and will send the three of us to foster cares and we will be separated. Is that what you want?"

"Why are you two fighting?" A soft voice came from the bedroom door "Is time to sleep, why you don't go sleep?"

Alex and Jason ran to their sister and kneeled to be at the same height "Is everything fine, dear? Can't sleep?"

"You are fighting loud. Can't sleep" She brushed her eyes and yawned "I wish I can help..."

"You don't need do help, darling" Jason said.

"But... I hear Alex say we don't have money..."

The big brothers looked at each other with concern. She listened to everything, and she wasn't naive to the point of not understanding. "Don't you worry, OK? Our lives are about to change and soon we'll be able to give you everything you want. All the candies that you always want. We can go to playgrounds and live in big house, like you say to us"

She hugged her both brothers with her tiny arms and Alex looked at Jason with a sad face. After they put Maya on bed again, Alex sighed "It's set"

Daddy stood quiet while I told what Alex once told me. He was sad, of course, with the path we lead our lives "But, hey, we achieved our goals with that. Our lives became so much easier and, not that I'm proud of it, we were the bests. Everyone respected us"

"That's a funny way to masquerade your criminal action with an attorney firm. Ironic, not to say tragic"

"We wouldn't have done that if mom didn't abandon us"

"I can't understand..." He sighed "Why? She was so good at being a mother... Why would she abandon innocent kids?"

"Well, I don't know. But I know for sure that if what's Death is planning on doing works and if I get to see her again, I wouldn't forgive her"

"Bit she's your mother"

"Not anymore, dad. I was four years old and she abandoned me. A little kid! I never had a mother when I needed. My brothers were my only family and I had only them to count on. So... No. Even if some day I decide to forgive her, it would take really long to happen"

We kept talking for much longer and I think we spent more than three hours speaking. Though my happiness was cut off when the Lord of Bones appeared and said that was time for me to go.

I wanted to hug my dad. I wanted so much, but my hand just trespassed his own. Saying goodbye and I love you, I saw myself back at the throne room of the Eternal Throne. The Lord of Bones was sat again, and had a smirk on his face. "You won't want anything back from what you did for me, will you?"

"I did that from my free will" He calmly said 'I don't expect anything back, once you wouldn't be able to finish anything I ask you"

The door suddenly opened and Death walked in. From the circle on the floor, the three Dead Lords appeared as Death walked over it "My king..." One of them said "What would you have us do?" They kneeled in front of the throne.

"Suffer!" the King angrily said and the Lords started to burn to death. "Too long, you have slumbered. Too long, you have forsaken your duty! I have no more use for you!"

The Lords died, resumed in a pile of ashes that soon flew with the wind. Death, as I already knew, didn't like it "What is this?" he pointed to where the Lords were once kneeled. "I don't like being toyed with" He leaned towards the Lord of Bones.

"They've failed me. But you earned my gratitude. I will send you to one in my Kingdom that knows the way to the Well of Souls" he leaned over "But first, there are demons you must face"

Death stepped in the stairs "I've already faced, and killed, many"

He leaned forward "Not like these" Well, it seemed the Lord of Bone couldn't find a comfortable place on his own throne "There's great power bound in that amulet. But your shame stays its unlocking"

"I regret nothing!" Death raised his tone.

"Oh, I can see beyond your flesh, to where the true battle rages"

He stood up, standing his hand in front of his face and suddenly Death started to feel something as he started to groan with his hands on his head, as if the Lord of Bones was scavenging inside his mind – and he actually was.

That didn't scare me, though, as I knew that was about to happen. Death disappeared and the Chancellor entered second after. "Do you have need of me, my king?"

"The Rider is in the entrance to the City of the Dead. Go there and take his human along"

"I'm not his property, just for the record. I'm just helping him" I said, even if what the Lord said made me feel... good "By the way, thank you for leading me to my father"

"I see great things from you, human, and you shall discover it soon enough. When that time comes, I hope to not be the one to stand against you. And you needed it. Consider that a gift"

That couldn't be a simple gift. I could imagine that someday he would ask me to retrieve the favor. I took, then, the Chancellor's hand and we disappeared in a green vapour and in matter of seconds I saw Death once again standing in front of me. "Fast travelling sound nice when you get used to it" I said...

Death only glanced at me as the Chancellor started to speak "Horseman. What did you learn from the Lord of Bones?"

"I suppose your king lives up to his name, if not for his bargains"

"The Dead King has granted you passage to the City of the Dead" the Chancellor said, as in an attempt to forget the former sentence.

"What will I find there? Besides more corpses" Irony. If you're talking to Death and he is not being ironic in any moment, something's wrong.

"Something far more precious than sinew and bone." He made a dramatic pause "Souls, Rider. From every kingdom under a dying sun. In the City, their past life is cleansed, that they may past through the Well and be reborn. Many souls do not survive this purification. Some are driven mad and a few even manage to scape their bonds

A bit of silence followed, but I cleaned my throat so anyone would start talking "Who must I seek there?"

"You should worry more about the one who seeks you"

"Answer my question, scarecrow!" Death said angrily.

The Chancellor laughed "There's no fun in simply telling you.

I glanced at Death with a look like 'I'm going to tell you that later, don't worry' "Then speak no more!"

"I'd keep a watch on my own neck, if I were you..."

The Chancellor disappeared in a hole on the ground and Death looked down to me. I yawned and sighed "City of the Dead, here we go"