1. AWAKENING
Before his eyes open, he hears chains rattle and knows he is somewhere he doesn't want to be. Thick, squishy sounds like something being born encompass his hearing. A chill of fear washes over him.
Is this death?
He attempts to breathe in and feels no clean oxygen enter his lungs, but a sharp cough escapes. In his left breast cavity comes no thumping. Without oxygen or a beating heart, what can he call himself other than dead?
But he's not dead. Not in the natural sense of the word, at least. He's something else.
He pulls his eyelids open with force. A sticky substance wraps around his naked body like a blanket. It's red and moist like blood. A metallic taste enters his mouth. It is blood.
Above him sits an echoing, high ceiling with walls made out of bone and rock. Chains rattle again, and his eyes focus.
"You've awoken," says a booming voice like thunder. "Do you remember your name?"
He sits up, still disoriented. Name? I have a name? And then he finds the source of the voice. Two red eyes perch within a gaping maw. They glare down at him hungrily like some predator stalking its injured prey. A shudder runs through his body.
"Do you?" the voice echoes.
He opens his mouth but hesitates. He doesn't remember his name or the name with which he identified himself as. He shakes his head.
"Hmm…" The eyes wander down, and he follows them to a large, claw-like appendage that reaches into a hole in the ground and pulls something out. "Perhaps this will prove helpful." The claw opens the notebook and flips to a page before showing him.
Despite having no previous knowledge of written language, he understands the name perfectly.
Light Yagami.
All of a sudden, the words, the language, the images, the voices, the life he had, the world he knew comes rushing into him in a wild tornado. One moment he has no knowledge of anything, and then in the next, he knows everything. He sits up, peeling the embryotic blanket off his skin piece-by-piece. Gurgles arise in the pit of his stomach and escape his mouth in victorious laughter.
"I'm alive! I'm alive, you fuckers! You fuckers couldn't kill me!" The laughter ricochets off the walls and shakes the ground. "Fuck you, Near! Fuck you, Matsuda! Fuck you, Ryuk! I'm alive!"
"Oh, is that what you believe?"
His laughter abruptly ceases. Light looks up at the pair of glowing, red orbs. A part of him wants to tense, but he tells himself that any signs of weakness in front of a unknown enemy may be his downfall.
"Do you know who I am?" the voice asks.
Light tries to stand, but his legs shake. He stumbles like a newborn deer and falls to one knee. Given the voice, the red eyes, and the blob-like body, he has some idea of who or what rests before him. "You're a Shinigami, aren't you?"
"Yes."
He goes to stand again and this time manages to steady himself. "Not just any Shinigami. You must be the ruler." He surveys their surroundings with his deep-set eyes. "And this must be the Shinigami world."
"You're quite impressive. You've never met me or been to the Shinigami world, yet you recognized me and this place accurately." The claw-like hand closes the book. "I've watched you for a long time, Light Yagami. I pulled you out of nothingness because I was intrigued by how capable you were with the Death Note. How many lengths you went to get what you wanted. You would have succeeded too if not for your arrogance."
The word stings. Light remembers that day in the warehouse—his final day. The place smelled of metal and soot, and made his throat dry. He remembers how at one moment he felt a glorious victory so great he wanted to gloat from the tallest mountain in the world. But in the next moment, his entire world, and all that he had built, had been ripped from him. An enfant terrible called Near had destroyed his beautiful, pure, and justified paradise.
"If I'm so arrogant," Light says, "then why bring me back? You couldn't have pulled me out of nothingness just to compliment and then ridicule me, could you?" He glares back at the red orbs, challenging them.
A rumble escapes the god king's body, a chuckle. "Because it's that arrogance and selfish mind that makes for grand entertainment." He opens the book again, and Light watches as the characters in his name begin to move, as if dancing. "That is why I have chosen you as my champion, Light Yagami."
His eyes widen. "Champion?" He first imagines a gladiator in an arena, like the ones from Ancient Rome, with a sword and shield in either hand battling his way through opponents with each bloodied swing. Light had done his fair share of sports throughout high school and college and excelled in them all. But to put a sword and shield in his hands and expect him to know exactly how to fight makes him swallow hard.
The god king notices. "You're concerned?"
Damn right I'm concerned. He wants to say. "Are you only saying that because you would enjoy watching me die again?"
"If I wanted you dead, I would have left you in nothingness. I would have let your soul spiral down in an eternal darkness without purpose. Observe." The king's finger reaches out and points at him. The characters in Light's name continue dancing in a mocking gesture, and then they stop.
Almost instantaneously, Light feels immense pressure on his chest, as if someone is sitting on him. He clutches his body and drops into a fetal position. The pressure grows until he feels nothing but incredible, electrifying pain sweep through him. A cry builds up in his throat but comes out as hollow gags.
"You see?" the booming voice says, and the red eyes glimmer. "There's nothing stopping me from ending you right now." The finger drops, and so does the pressure on Light's body.
He collapses. "Then what…do you want from me?"
The god king releases a hiss, sighing. "I've ruled over the Shinigami world for an inexplicable amount of time. Perhaps as long as the mortal world has been in existence. Perhaps longer. This entire time I've watched my kin spend their days playing meaningless games and extending their lives by taking the lives from others." The tone lowers, as if despondent. "Our only form of entertainment has been watching mortals. So I want to bring that entertainment here. I want my lesser Shinigami to know the benefits of godhood. I want them to enjoy their power. I want them to know what it feels like to be divine. You, Light Yagami, are going to remind them of that."
Light stands. His mouth drops, and then he composes himself. "So I am to be some plaything for you to use?"
"Precisely."
"And I have nothing to gain from this?"
The claws open the notebook again. "No, you have plenty to gain from this. If you prove your value to me and to my lesser gods, I shall grant you what no other god is capable of giving." Light is shown his name again. "Your freedom." The characters in his name start swirling in circles, coaxing him.
Light frowns. "Even if I were to accept such a request. How do I know you will grant me freedom? What does freedom mean to a Shinigami?"
The chains rustle, and the voice groans. "Freedom means you are no longer a slave to the Death Note. Freedom means your name can never be written in here again. Freedom means immortality."
The final word hits him like a bolt of lightning that energizes his entire being. Immortality. It almost rejuvenates him to the point he mistakenly feels his heart beat. Light knows he cannot trust the Shinigami king. Anyone who has the power to end someone else's life is untrustworthy. But if he rejects this offer, he'll return to nothingness like a coward. Cowards give up too easily. Cowards are weak. No, he's no coward.
Light nods. "Very well, I'll be your champion."
A rumble shakes the ground. Another laugh. "Excellent choice." With a flick of the god king's wrist, Light feels heaviness on his shoulders. He wraps the black long coat around himself and buttons it up. "Now allow me to explain the rules." The king holds the notebook up. "This Death Note will act as your phylactery. As long as it's in existence, you cannot die. However, you must not use it either. If you write in it or order someone else to write in it, you will die. If it is destroyed somehow, you will die. Think of it as a life source that is out of reach."
"If I'm unable to use it, how will I be able to erase my name?"
"Your name will dissolve the more time you spend repenting for your past life's sins."
What sins? Light scoffs. I was merely trying to create a world free of pain and suffering. Is that not what a god is meant to do?
The god king pauses. "I see arrogance in your eyes. You don't believe you've done wrong?"
Light tightens his jaw.
"Your ideals began righteously enough, but your ego took over the moment you proclaimed yourself above all others. You justified yourself as a god in order to kill. In the end, the dream you so desperately pursued died with you, and the rest of the world moved on like always."
The words sting more than the previous insult. But Light knows the past cannot be reformed. If he's to restart his life, he must allow the god king to impose any challenges, no matter how difficult. And Light in return must invoke fealty. That is his only method of survival for now.
The god king continues, "Whoever holds this notebook, you will serve. If the owner finds your services worthwhile or if the owner somehow dies, the notebook will pass to your next master, and then the next and so forth, until your name has erased entirely."
Light lets these rules sink into him as if becoming a part of him. How the game has changed. He chuckles. In his first life, he was the chess player, and in this life he is now the pawn. His arms cross over his chest. "All right. Who will be my first master?"
"That will be decided at random. Once the Death Note has been picked up, you must search for your master. You have a limited amount of time."
All of a sudden, the walls and ground begin to shake. It feels like an earthquake. Light stumbles but holds his footing as the rocks before him spilt apart to reveal a gaping hole. Upon closer inspection, he notices a city of stone pillars and bones. The king returns Light's attention onto him and drops the Death Note into the city. It falls so far that Light loses track of its landing point.
"What you see before you is the City of Gods. The place where all Shinigami dwell when they are not watching mortals. This will be your playing ground."
Playing ground. He likes the tone of it. Light feels a smirk crawl up his face but hides it from view. If he's to act the part, he must look the part—submissive and slightly worrisome. He tenses his body.
"Are you ready to begin?"
Light steps to the edge of the cliff, prepared to leap.
"Not so fast, Light Yagami." The god king snaps two claws together, and the gaping hole closes up. "You will find your own way to the City of Gods, and your own way to the Death Note and its current owner."
Light frowns and then composes himself. Without technology or Intel, he may have trouble finding this place within the entire Shinigami world. "How do you suggest I search for it?"
The god king pauses, perhaps in deep thought. His red pupils grow as if he's come upon a grand idea. "You will not be alone on your journey. I will have someone help you on the way to your Death Note."
Light's first thought is Ryuk, the one who took his life and wrote his name down in the Death Note like he had always promised. His hands curl into fists, not sure if he's willing to cooperate with the one who condemned him to death. Though a part of him is curious to see Ryuk now that the Shinigami no longer has the power to determine his fate.
The god king's eyes shrink and extend in quick motion as if blinking rapidly. A piercing pain hits Light's stomach, and he feels an overwhelming desire to vomit. He hunches forward and pukes a pool of blood. He gags, drops to his hands and knees, and pukes more and more until he's swimming in his own bodily fluids. What the hell is going on? Is this some form of punishment? What has he done wrong?
When it seems as if he'll drown, Light spits out the last of his blood and wipes his mouth with the heel of his hand. Something stirs inside the pool. Light inches forward to see a wiggling mass of meaty flesh about the size of his hand. A pair of red eyes open and stare at him. A scream escapes the wiggling mass that Light can only compare to a piglet being gutted alive.
"What…the hell?"
The screaming mass quiets down and shivers, seemingly cold. Light isn't sure if he should pick it up or leave it be. He notices the pool of blood being absorbed into the shivering mass of eyeballs and flesh. When he reaches a hand to touch it, the thing snaps at him with razor-sharp fangs it has attained from feasting on his blood. Its body stretches out in four directions, arms and legs.
Light stands and takes several steps back as the fleshy mass crawls along the ground like a baby. "What is this thing?"
"That is a manifestation between all the evil and bitterness within your heart and the memories you have of the one you deemed your equal," the god king answers very matter-of-factly. "That is what you must work beside during your retribution, Light Yagami."
Light watches in a mixture of horror and disbelief as the mass of flesh stands to his level, almost to his height, and the pair of eyes moves into place on top of the head. Pasty skin that has never seen the light of day covers every inch of meaty flesh. Thick, raven hair grows long so the red eyes peek through. A dark cloak that moves like a living being wraps around the pale body. A mouth, eyebrows and a nose form into a scowl. The red eyes deepen to black.
Once the transformation has finished, Light cannot fathom who he's looking at. His mouth parts, and the name hangs on the tip of his tongue. Finally, he finds the courage to speak.
"Ryuzaki?"
Before the name even leaves his lips, the pale body flies across the room and cuts Light's abdomen like a knife to bread.
A/N: So, what did you guys think of that "birth" scene? I had a beta reader let me know it's probably one of the most weirdest yet grossly satisfying resurrection scenes she's ever read, and I'm oddly proud of it. Anyway, let me know your thoughts and stay tuned for more next weekend!