Chapter Two: A Soulful Encounter
872 Words
Krok sat under the shade of a peculiar human tree—peculiar because it wasn’t aflame. The cursed artifact lay in pieces before him, its charred remains hissing with faint wisps of smoke. He poked it with a claw, his irritation mounting.
“This is not what I signed up for,” he grumbled. “Deliver the artifact, they said. A simple task, they said. Now I’m stuck here with—”
“Hey, uh, excuse me?” a voice interrupted, soft but insistent.
Krok’s glowing eyes darted around the park. “Who said that?”
“Down here,” the voice replied, exasperated.
Krok glanced down at the shattered artifact. A faint, ghostly figure hovered above the rubble—a translucent, vaguely human shape, looking utterly bewildered.
“Oh, no,” Krok groaned, leaning back against the tree. “Not this. Not you.”
“Hey, I don’t exactly want to be here either!” snapped the figure, crossing its arms. “One minute, I’m minding my own business, floating in the great cosmic void of eternity, and the next, I’m trapped in a glorified Hell Rubik’s Cube. Care to explain?”
Krok pinched the bridge of his nose—or at least where his nose would be, if he had one. “The artifact is… was… designed to trap lost souls. It’s clearly malfunctioned.”
“No kidding,” the ghost said, glaring. “Well, can you fix it?”
“I am a soldier, not an artificer,” Krok shot back. “You’ll just have to deal with it until I can figure out how to send you back to wherever you came from.”
The ghost let out a dramatic sigh. “Great. I get stuck with the demon equivalent of a mall cop.”
Krok growled. “Watch it, mortal soul. You’re fortunate I don’t incinerate you where you float.”
“You can’t incinerate me. I’m already dead.” The ghost smirked, evidently enjoying this far more than Krok was.
“I can still make your afterlife extremely unpleasant,” Krok hissed.
“Buddy, I’ve seen my bank account. You’re going to have to try harder than that.”
Krok quickly realized that the ghost wasn’t going to leave him alone. It hovered beside him as he navigated the strange human park, muttering comments about everything he did.
“So, uh, what’s the plan, Big Red?”
“Stop calling me Big Red,” Krok snapped. “The plan is to recalibrate the Rift device and return to Hell, leaving you and your annoying commentary behind.”
“Oh, yeah, solid plan. Very detailed,” the ghost quipped. “Have you considered maybe Googling it? Or is Hell more of a Bing crowd?”
“Googling?” Krok asked, frowning.
“You know, the internet? Information superhighway? Don’t tell me Hell doesn’t have Wi-Fi.”
Krok scowled. “I don’t know what any of those words mean. Stop distracting me.”
The ghost floated closer, peering over his shoulder as Krok fiddled with the Rift device. “Wow, that’s some ancient tech you’ve got there. Let me guess—does it still run on Windows 95?”
“Do you ever stop talking?”
“Nope,” the ghost said cheerfully.
As Krok struggled to recalibrate the device, his situation on Earth took an unexpected turn. A group of humans approached him, armed with glowing rectangles that emitted bright flashes of light.
“Hey, it’s the demon guy from earlier!” one of them said. “Can we get a picture?”
Krok blinked. “A picture?”
“Yeah, dude! Your costume is amazing. You’re, like, blowing up online!”
“Blowing up?” Krok frowned. He glanced at the ghost. “What does this mean?”
“It means you’re famous,” the ghost said, smirking. “Congrats, Big Red. You’re a viral sensation.”
“Viral?” Krok hissed. “Do I look diseased to you?”
“Relax, it’s a good thing,” the ghost said. “They think you’re part of some cosplay thing. You know, nerds dressing up like demons from video games or whatever.”
Krok growled. “I am not dressed up!”
“Yeah, yeah, tell them that. See how far it gets you.”
The humans eagerly posed beside him, flashing peace signs and holding up their glowing rectangles. One of them handed him a small rectangular object.
“Here, take my business card! I run a convention, and we’d love to have you as a guest.”
Krok stared at the card like it might explode. The ghost, meanwhile, was howling with laughter.
“This is gold,” the ghost wheezed. “I’m stuck with the one demon who accidentally becomes a cosplay celebrity. You can’t make this up.”
Krok glared at the humans, then at the ghost. “I will end you,” he muttered.
“Sure, sure,” the ghost said, floating lazily beside him. “But first, you should probably figure out how to use Google. You’ve got fans to manage, Big Red.”
Krok let out a long, guttural sigh. This was going to be a very, very long afterlife.
- Writer
