"Ah it's you!"
Akiol frowned, "What?"
"I finally get to meet you!"
"You know me?"
"How could I not?!"
Akiol looked around, "I. . . where even am I?"
"I'm not sure? I've been here for a while."
He felt this place was oddly familiar. Like he had visited it before. Standing up he looked around, "Then who are you?"
"You don't know me? Ah that hurts."
"Well I can't even see you."
". . . Oh."
A figure fizzled into existence. As they entered Akiol's vision he found himself stunned, "You're. . ."
"You do know me! Ah that's wonderful. I would've been very hurt if you didn't you know!"
"James. . . ?"
"The only! Although aren't you also James now? You did take my body and all that."
"I thought you were dead?"
James coughed, "We uh, we don't concern ourselves with that. I'd rather not revisit such an embarrassing memory."
"That still doesn't-"
"Answer your question yes I know, your thoughts travel about in my head occasionally. After my. . . unfortunate end I found myself drifting away. It's an interesting experience to actually die you know? Anyway just as I thought I was going to face whatever there is for an afterlife I find myself being forced back into my body. I flinched pretty hard and when I opened my eyes I found myself here!"
James fell back and took up a comfortable position, he then hovered in the air, "Just as I thought this was such a terrible afterlife I found a memory enter my head. Lo and behold you had instead taken my body over! Throughout this time I found that the memories of your adventures would appear in my head, it was the only thing keeping me sane."
"So why am I here?"
"Well according to the more recent info you pretty much passed out! Upon facing the very powerful strike from the Sword Saint you despaired to the point where you fell unconscious."
"Ah. . ."
"But I'm glad you're here! Time was running out anyway there's a few things I have to say."
"Well I'm not doing anything so I can listen."
"You have no choice in this matter anyway."
"What?"
James grinned foolishly, "It's a joke! I would be heartbroken if you ignored my request anyway. Could you imagine that? Some guy takes over your body and then refuses to listen to you!"
"I think I understand where my sense of humor suddenly sprouted from."
"Be glad!", James face suddenly fell, "Now onto more serious topics. First the more important one, I'm finally begin to fade away. I felt it for a while, but my presence is slowly diminishing. I guess cheating death remains a fantasy eh?"
"I'm sorry to hear that."
"I was dead anyway, no big deal. But that does mean this is our first and last meet, which brings me to my next topic."
James turned around and pointed in a direction, "Go that way, I'll meet with you in a second."
Akiol looked in the direction but saw nothing, "Uh, alright."
As he took a few steps he found that the distance he traveled varied with each step. One would cover the distance of half an hour of walking, while the next moved him barely an inch. There was no pattern or rhythm to it all. Although it took him only fifteen seconds of walking to see James again.
"Oh that was much quicker than I thought. How long did you walk for?"
"Just a few seconds."
"Nice! It took me a week to get here the first time. Either way take a look at this."
Akiol turned his focus to see. . . nothing?
James tilted his head, "Ah wait you can't see it. Uhh let me try this."
Waving his hand about James caused the space to ripple. Like disturbing a still pool of water. Soon Akiol gained sight to a series of golden lights. Frowning he asked, "What am I looking at?"
"The efforts of the past year or so. You see while being bored out of my mind in this place I decided to wander about. Perhaps by sheer chance I came across this, although I'm not entirely certain of what it is. I do have an idea however."
"Wanna share?"
"This seems to be something that's locked. Like a little padlock on some features. I tried breaking one free but then I quickly realized why it was a bad idea."
"What happened?"
"I'll share that later. What's important is that whatever brought you here also locked some stuff away."
Akiol's expression turned serious, "And I don't have an idea of what they could be."
"Mhm, this might be a problem."
What had the Gods done to him? Despite him following their will why do they keep all this from him? This wasn't the first time they locked away something of his either. Since they also did this to his negative emotions.
James stopped hovering and landed on his feet, "Alright so. . . I'm only going to say this once. Thank you. You made my mostly boring life into something from a movie. I couldn't believe half of what you went through! I can't believe it was me who was there, although not exactly."
Looking upwards James sighed, "Also thank you for what you did with my family. That's uh. . . that's a load off my shoulders. I do hope you tell them the truth though. . . Especially since my sister seems to be suspicious."
"I know it wasn't something I could keep hidden forever."
"Yeah, I figured as much."
James focused on the strange golden lights, "I wanted a way to repay you. You pretty much made me something that would be remembered throughout time. If I was still in charge I probably wouldn't be anyone as great. Eventually forgotten. . ."
"You've done plenty, the only reason why I'm here is because of your body."
"Yeah but you've long repaid that debt."
"I don't-"
"Listen, I'm gonna repay it right now. I'm eventually going to fade away anyways, but I want it to be on my own terms. The reason why touching these are such a bad idea was because it accelerates whatever is making me fade. I probably lost a month of time just by experimenting."
Akiol suddenly was gaining an idea, "Wait, you're not planning on-"
"I am, this is my final thank you. With this I'll disappear into whatever the afterlife is. For real this time. Though it was entertaining watching you fight."
"You don't have to."
"My decision has long since been made. Since you're here finally I figured it was about time."
". . . You're sure about this?"
"Positive. Just prepare yourself okay? I have no idea what's going to happen after."
"Alright. . ."
James reached out, "Oh and also. . . maybe you should stop sacrificing yourself for others okay? Be kind, just not to the point of self sacrifice. It's not wrong to be selfish every now and then."
"I try to be."
"I meant on a more grand scale."
Sucking in a breath James mumbled, "This is gonna hurt. . . !"
Gripping one of the golden lights James began to pull with all his might. A bright light flashed and nearly blinded Akiol. He reached out to help but James shouted, "Don't! I have no idea what this will do someone living!"
Hesitantly pulling his hand back Akiol could only stand there. James began to groan with pain, "It's. . . almost. . . !"
BRIII-TWOOOM!
Akiol fell to his knees, he held his chest and began breathing heavily. Thoughts rushed to his head and provided a migraine on a level he never experienced before. James fell to the ground and grit his teeth, "Aghh, I'm never doing that again."
Standing up he noticed his arm was missing, which made him laugh for some reason, "An armless soul hahaha!"
Turning his focus to Akiol a somber expression returned, "Truly, thank you. I hope whatever it is. . . I hope it helps you. I enjoyed the time I spent here, my only wish was that I could chat more."
Raising a hand he found it fading away. Narrowing his eyes he mumbled, "Damn Gods, don't tinker with souls. I'll personally. . . complain to your manager or something."
He sighed in defeat, "In the end all I have are my quips. I shall leave you with my humor as a gift, it's far more enjoyable that way."
The rest of James faded away, a wry grin on his face. Akiol was unable to see this and couldn't say any goodbyes. For the memories flooding into his head had rendered him temporarily immobile.