"Life Comes After Death" | Kashi, Archerd

Written by little song

All I heard was silence.
Darkness
And there was warmth.
Like comforting holly warmth.
I felt sticky though...
Strange.
Could I open my eyes?
Still darkness. Of course I was used to that. The cloth was still on my face. And a gag in my mouth. But. I didn’t feel chains
I tested moving my fingers. Soft... like silk...
And then I realized I was horizontal. There was no wooden stake beneath me. It was feathers. A luxurious bed?
Slowly I reached up and removed the blindfold and gag. The brightness that greeted me made me squint and blink yet I sat up to investigate.
Walls almost white but with a hint of blue, curtains around me of thin silk, possibly the largest bed I had ever seen laid with a quilt of navy blue pattern, a giant arched window letting in the daylight and also the sights of a grassy hill and a clear blue sky, a sitting area beside it with a clay tea set, paintings on the wall of bamboo and Sakura, and a weapon rack of katana deto and bow staffs? such were my new surroundings.
Heaven perhaps?
Though in all likelihood I wouldn’t have gone there.
What had even happened. I had died right? I looked down blushing and pulling the shirt together from the bloody gash at the chest. The skin beneath felt whole though.
In fact I felt completely well. My wrists which should have had rough bruises on them from the chains were smooth. I felt no soreness or pain. My clothes were dirty though. Ripped and stained from traveling and... being stabbed I guess. And drenched in stick, lard? I thought as I sniffed the sleeve.
They were preparing to burn me. And that-
“Aisuru, Gomenasai.”
And then white hot pain!
My breath caught.
That voice had been my brother’s. I get water well up in my eyes as my heart understood before my brain.
“Ni-San, Aisuru.”
I stated to the air
The words barely echoed back to me from the high ceilings. Where even is this?. I thought, glancing around again finding my eyes drawn to the weapon rack.
That would be what my brother would have. That the tea set and the painting was familiar everything else foreign.
A child like laugh burbled up from outside. Perhaps not alone then, I wondered and got up to look. Beneath sprawled out a beautiful garden lined by a ornate high brick wall. Two children played beneath running a little bow running after a laughing girl as a lady sat nearby reading from a book, a delicate smile playing on her shapely face.
Her clothing struck me as strange the top a soft green and covered in lace but tight as could be while her shirts flared out like a bell. It wasn’t uncomely I suppose. In fact she was very beautiful.
I could go and ask her where I was.. I thought still clutching the front of my shirt closed, the state of myself in comparison to her almost shameful. I tuned to the other wall two doors there and began to explore
The right did indeed lead into a hallway long with decorative carpet and beautiful paintings upon the walls these landscapes of exceptional skill.
The left lead to another smaller room a large basin with clawed feet that thought different style than I remembered could only be one thing. A bath tub!
My heart seemed to leap as I saw it. I couldn’t remember the last time I had been able to use one... almost three months maybe? I smiled going up to caress an edge but then froze when I saw the garments upon the wall.
Completely clean well kept was a Hwarang armor set. Beside it hung a Hanbok the collar and sash the familiar print of my families silk and one more set of blue. Just like my brother wore when I met him.
This was his room.
His room in Tir Cendel. But how? And why?
“Sukoshi?”
I shrieked in surprise jumping at the sound to find a tall elven person in the doorway.
He squinted emerald eyes at me cocking his head.
“You’re not him.”
“No.” I hesitated biting my lip. “Um...”
“How did you get here?”
“I don’t really know.”
He blinked seeming to size me up in a second and continued, “you’re his twin I take it? You look bloodied are you hurt?”
“Ah... no.”
“Teleport heal then. We received a letter about you a few days ago. He programmed yours for here.”
“Well...” I trailed off tears again welling up. This had to be Archerd, his sensei. The whole circumstances of everything, I should be telling it all but I found myself almost frozen and numb.
“It’s alright. Your first time?”
I nodded.
“It’s jarring the first time. You don’t have to talk about it. We’ve prepared the room across this one for you if you came. Would you like to go there?”
I nodded.
“Would you like some tea or something to eat?”
“Yes please.” My eyes widened tears falling. I had been so hungry I no longer felt it.
He smiled somehow conveying a wave of peace and hope through it. “It’s okay child. We got you now. Nothings going to harm you here.”