CHAPTER 9:
"Resurrection - Part 1"

Light Yagami scowled at the supernatural Imp known as Morph.

Morph frowned, apparently unhappy at Light's reaction in seeing him.

"Oh, come now, Light Yagami," Morph said. "Is that anyway to greet your saviour? I rescued you from an eternal existence of boredom and repetitiveness in a world between worlds, not unlike purgatory. Who do you think gave Ryuk that device to allow you to live again? If you recall when you were still alive, I asked you more than once if you wish to know where humans go when they die after they use a Death Note. Now you know."

Light was not amused. In fact, he saw this supernatural being as an annoyance, even though he was the one who murdered Terrance Claw of the Yukaza Dragon Sect and saved him from death during the Yukaza affair. (**ref: my Novel: Hollow Victory)

And no, he hadn't used the pieces of the Light Note. But he knew where they were stored for safe keeping.

Morph stood to his full height on the bed. He was only four feet tall. He extended a hand out to Demetre, and stood eye-to-eye with him. Demetre shook Morph's hand, if only out of courtesy.

"Greetings, Demetre Draycott, I know so much about you," Morph said with a smile. It was a short handshake and they each let go. "Let's see: You are descended from Russian immigrates. Three quarters American, one-third Russian. You moved to Japan with your family from America at a young age, because your father's job demanded such; an investment firm. You befriended Light Yagami quickly, went to the same grade school, and have been close childhood friends for most of your lives. You even went to the same high school. You had an encounter with L when he kidnapped Misa Amane when she was first suspected of being the Second Kira. At the same time, you were in a secret battle with Light, having recently found a Death Note. Geist became your Shinigami, and still is. You wanted revenge against Kira for murdering your grandfather for a crime he was later absolved from. You're not a killer, raised with firm Christian values, and have only used the Death Note twice since you obtained it. Once on the assailant who tried to attack you in the alley where you found it, and later a second time, to save your life."

Demetre blinked shocked.

Morph continued. "You then re-engaged with an old sweetheart that disappeared five years ago for personal reasons, that both you Light have had past romantic tidings with. Then you joined her, and became members of a secret sect known as The Savant Society, because her father was a member. From there, you battled The League of Darkness and its minions, and a man named Zurn Wellington, who turned out to be a second coming of Jack The Ripper."

Demetre stood statuesque.

"When things ended, Dana Chika—"

"Stop! That's enough!" Demetre said firmly. Light could see the muscles in Demetre's jaw tightening with anger. He turned to Light. "Light? Care to explain? Who is this impertinent…child?"

"Child?" Morph retorted. "I am considerably older than my appearance makes me out to be. I can also become anything I wish, but I choose this form because it's less intimidating for most. If you knew my true form, you would most likely urinate in your trousers, which, incidentally…tsk, tsk…such sloppiness."

Morph swiped a hand across the front of Demetre's trousers, removing the tea droplet stains, then he gathered up the pieces of the broken tea cup from the floor, using his powers, and repaired the cup amass in front of him. Demetre watched as the tea cup floated in mid-air and was gently placed on the night-table next to the bed.

Light sighed annoyed. "Demmy, meet Morph—he is the progenitor to everything. I never told Ryuk this, but Morph is the reason why I was the one that picked up the Death Note. He made it happen, giving purchase to allow it to fall on the grounds of our high school. It was not a random event, as Ryuk claimed it had been."

Ryuk looked surprised. "He never told me that when we met up to discuss how to break you out of Quindecim," the Shinigami said. "This whole plan was his doing, by the way. To resurrect you. And what I told you was true. You died before I was able to write your name down in my Death Note. I have a second chance to do so. I could write your name down right now, Light. But I would prefer to be entertained. I don't want to kill you."

"I appreciate that, Ryuk," Light said back, looking at the clown-face Shinigami. He then mused for a few moments. "Ryuk, thinking back, and correct me if I am wrong, but when I had a heart attack, when you were supposed to have killed me with the Death Note, I specifically remember you showing me the page you wrote on. You wrote my full name—no mistakes. That would conclude that you killed me. I remember this because I fought you from doing so. You told me that I had lost the game against Near, and you didn't know how I was going to get out of my situation after being exposed. I died of a heart attack, I remember this. Explain to me, because I'm confused. Why didn't you collect the remainder of my lifespan at that time as you dictated would happen, as per our contract?"

Ryuk gestured to Morph. "Let him explain it, he did it. I did write you name." Ryuk took out his skull chain black Death Note with the leather binding and flipped through the pages to the page with Light Yagami's name written in it. Light's name was the only one on that particular page. "See? Here is it. As clear as day, and not misspelled."

Morph chuckled. "I'm a being of many attributes, Light Yagami. Let's just say, I've given you a second chance to rectify certain wrongs. But if you wish to know the details, then I'll tell you…"

Morph then explained how he went back in time, wrote Light's name in the Life Note before Ryuk could write Light's name in the Death Note, and allowed nature to take its course. Light did have a heart attack, but on his own, from the shock of being shot several times, and died, making it appear the Death Note had killed him.

Ryuk then went back to the Shinigami Realm, thinking the Death Note was finished, and was imprisoned by the Shinigami King for what he had done, and had his personal Death Note taken away.

Many years later, Ryuk spoke with Geist when he visited his cell. Ryuk was chained and was left to die, unable to write down anymore names in a Death Note. He told Geist what happened in the Human World.

After his story, this gave Geist incentive to come to the Human World to make a pact with a human, because Geist wanted to experience the same thing Ryuk did. And the human who just happened to pick up his fallen Death Note was Demetre Draycott. Geist purposely let it fall in Japan, hoping to attract another Kira-like person. Only, he didn't, and got a human with a moral compass, but who, surprisingly, entertained him.

Morph then further said that he convinced the Shinigami King under the guise of being another Shinigami, tricking him, that Ryuk had to return to the Human World because a pact was still enforced with Misa Amane, and he had to stay until that contract ended. Hence, his personal Death Note was returned. Ryuk had to remain there until he killed her or the Death Note was finished, whichever came first—which was a lie. Morph altered events, whereas Misa never relinquished ownership of the Death Note. But then reversed her ownership, when Ryuk was free.

Ryuk then partnered with Morph, and remained in the Human World—defying the Shinigami King, the events of his imprisonment altered, but Geist coming to the Human World still occurred.

"You see, changing one event alters a series of others," Morph explained. "This is known as the Butterfly Effect, in scientific circles. But I assume you already know this, Light Yagami. And Time itself can change and yet remain the same, causing a temporal vortex—whereas portions of one timeline can sometimes intersect with another. It can, also, create a few abnormalities, but I don't foresee that happening in this case. Everything is now sealed."

"We then met up, he approached me, and we devised a way to break you out of Quindecim," Ryuk finished.

After a moment of reflection, Light acknowledged the genius of it all.

To further add to the information given out, Light then went into detail about Morph, telling Demetre.

When Light first encountered Morph, the Imp said he was bored, when he altered the trajectory of Ryuk's Death Note—it was originally headed to the America's. Morph said he was the last of his kind, a member of a supernatural race called The Brigade of Life, that once fought against the Shinigami in an ancient war. The Brigade lost the fight, and the remainder of his people, in spirit form, now lived within him, as a collective.

"He's the owner of the Life Note, the opposite of a Death Note," Light explained. "And when used within seventy-two hours, it can restore a person back to life if someone dies from the Death Note. It is much like a Death Note; picturing a face, and writing down a name, correctly spelled, restores life, instead of that to kill."

Continuing, Light then revealed more details.

He said, that it was during an 'accidental infiltration' into the heart of the Yukaza that he first met Morph.

However, Morph revealed that he had had encountered Light previously. Light was only told about it, but he could not remember that encounter.

It was during a case he and L teamed-up, that dealt with the son of a child kidnapper, who wanted revenge on Light for past transgressions against his father. But that was a separate case. (**ref: The Case of Jasper Yuta).

"Before my encounter with the Yukaza and the events that followed, I was assigned surveillance duties outside the Kira Task Force by the then chief of the NPA, who needed my expertise to help out in a raid they were planning against the criminal organization, when one of his people was suddenly struck down with a heart attack, not Kira related. I decided to accept, because, let's just say, I was bored, and needed something new to bite my teeth on. The Kira case had run cold, and there was a reason for that. But things when horribly wrong…"

He went on. He said he was attacked, kidnapped, and taken deep underground to a hidden complex under Japan, where he came face-to-face with its benefactor and leader to a branch of the Yukaza called the Dragon Sect. Within the facility, there housed a torture den, and Light had his first taste of pure agony at the hands of its Mistress.

Terrance Claw, the master of the facility, designed the complex, and used it to hide his people from Kira. Everyone who resided within used an alias to disguise their real names, which made it extremely difficult for Kira to kill them.

Morph had attached himself to Claw, but then murdered the man, because he was considered too weak of an anchored-host, hoping Light would agree to be his new host.

"But I declined at the time, and for good reason," Light finished.

"You met some wonderful people there, didn't you, Light Yagami?" Morph said with a chuckle.

Light looked reflective. He mentally nodded.

He wished two people he met down there had survived the aftermath. They deserved better than dying at the hands of Terrance Claw's enforcer Nazareth. He had started to develop feelings for Tigressa, the Mistress of the Torture Den, who lived within the underground complex. Her real was Asumi Satou.

They say Stockholm Syndrome is a mental illness, but he believed there was much more to it. She was smart, beautiful, caring, and stimulated him in ways he never before dreamed—unlike Misa Amane. And despite the situation, he and Asumi had sexual relations while he was there. At first, it was to gather information, to get the names of all the Yukaza that lied within to kill them all, but then it turned into something unexpected.

Then, there was Riki, her Prime Assistant. He called himself an Evaluator. He helped Tigressa in her torture duties. He prepared her victims, softening them up, before they were brought to her for interrogation.

Light learned later how the boy was plucked from the streets and forced into the trade. Riki, or Hiro—which was his real name—deserved a lot better than what life had dealt him. But it was thanks to Riki, who gave him a list of all the Yukaza that resided within the underground facility, downloading the database onto a USB stick, that helped the NPA destroy the Dragon Sect completely.

Light insisted on giving them both proper funerals after he was rescued. He thought that was the least he could do.

If they had survived, he would want them to join him now. They deserved a second chance like him.

"Basically, Morph leaches off human souls to obtain their soul energy to feed himself, or rather his brethren inside him," Light said condescendingly. "And if you ask me, he fits the profile of a leech perfectly."

Morph stepped off the bed. "You sound annoyed, Light Yagami," he said disappointed. "I could send you back to Quindecim—to suffer for all eternity in the Void? I can make it happen."

Light didn't answer him.

Demetre held his new ring up to the ceiling illumination, like it was some sort of godly item a treasure hunter just found in a cave. He had placed it around the third finger of his left hand, as if it was a wedding band—the perfect cover if it was to remain discreet. "This ring…" Demetre began. "Did you make this, Morph?"

Light mentally thanked Demetre for the sudden change in subject matter. The exchange between himself and Morph was getting a little heated. But then he said, albeit jokingly: "One ring to rule them all, one ring to find them, one ring to bring them all, and in the darkness bind them," reciting the verse from a popular fantasy novel.

Demetre laughed. "Yeah, I was thinking the same thing," he said.

Morph frowned, said: "How quaint. And I thought I was being original. You humans have an untold reach when it comes to your imagination." He then turned to Light. "I have something very special for you, Light Yagami. It's forged from the pages of your/Ryuk's fallen Death Note, which I took from you while you were sleeping. And might I add, you sleep like a baby, all curled up like an infant—how cute." He grinned with a smirk.

Light narrowed his gaze, grit his teeth, and whipped the covers off him. He got to his feet. He wore a pair of jockey's, and nothing else. Despite back amongst the living, the scars of his demise were still present in the form of several wounds: most notably one on his upper chest, and another on his left arm—where Matsuda shot him. He remembered the shot to his arm caused complete paralyses to it, his arm dangling at his side when he was trying to flee Near, the SPK, and the Kira Task Force, in an attempt to give them the slip in the warehouse district.

But he had beaten them. He was alive again!

"Don't mock me, Morph! I am in no mood for games!"

To be continued...