"Have you read the signs on the walls?" The fine suit demon was one the highest trusted among, strongest aura that barely meant anything to me. But this were the closest they could assume of me. There was clothus language translates of the signs. There was thier demon versions. Angel, maybe. Maybe whatever claw marks that other set would be.
'I can read clothus and that's just about it. I can read your lips too. Take no insult if I misunderstood.' Hand gestured as the clothus do. The bar keeper nods slowly with understanding at least, 'I don't come from any realms you know.'
"So you assume." They took out a notebook, by hand movement. He was writing about my looks. My shaky nature of my gestures - self taught clothus. Rude. Whatever. Their writting is very neat and clean spacing on their part. Someone who writes like thier soul depends on it, no spelling mistakes. Very interesting soul. They paused writing, maybe I was staring to hard for them.
'I am not a Clothus or a demon.' They were about to write that but he shivered. He waved someone around over, a passive gesture. A undertaker... no a version of death. A scythe. I used my claws in preventing it harm. The fella backs off in fight. I lowered back in no interest. Staring in study of that soul instead now. Souls like any reaper. Honest soul. Nothing interesting about the death god that would bother mister.
"What are you then?" The demon had to write but couldn't do so as so cleanly had it was before. For this I shrug, because the laws of the world wasn't suitable for what words my tomes use.
'For as much as threat I can seem. You all give me no reasons to bother you. This realm is interesting but I wish not to be disruption. Not sure how not to be. Not easy when I don't understand your languages.' I bumble into a sort of rant. Stopping since they stopped listening, 'May I order a glass of whatever. Human safe maybe. Or equally of. You have that at least.'
The uncertainty of just then sorting the order. The glass is normal sand glass. This other world from the clothus realm has rules of logic, common sense. Just what context is this common sense around here.
"Are you a broken God?" The demon asking upon my sip of the drink offered. I pondered the flavor and if would kill me. It's as ordered, human safe. That doesn't translate as afterlife safe. I shurg at such questions of religious beliefs, I have never been one to judge them. More like a stab in a educational guess.
"The soul of whatever that thing is, does not belonged to our ways." I held my drink and sit with a normal posture I would give a higher death god. Yet it seems this was the god of death above all death gods... for this universe. Lazing about the shoulders is a long red skinned reptile, it retains some quality that I see in most god eaters. So it was intelligent to not eat things that moved. I would say pet but the death god wasn't exactly comfortable about it being on them.
"Another god of death. Yet a higher seated." A slip of my tongue to spoken as I would for my death gods.
"You speak like an elder." The reptile pondered, "Pronounce the word for soul."
"Rude... I know well that the pronoun of soul in this language is written."
"Our outsider makes a valuable point. Not all souls are spoken names. The way we say it is as close to stating your name." The reaper had no fears of flicking the nose, "Don't be so careless."
"Mmm... especially a for a death god flicking something that could eat you whole. Soul prying from stomachs is a petty job." I scratched my under chin in muttering this.
"So we share concepts. That's passable at least." Death takes a seat at this bar, the reptile coils to its own chair. It ordered for itself too. The offer for the god but that was turned down. I poked my drink with stirring it with a claw. The shell casing it upon removal. I thought lengthy about this logically reasons for this cause of world balancing. I was throw a whole spill of something across my back. A shell crusting from every surface. I peeled it off in closer looks. Ate it since it was made of me. I would then torn a section to summon my books, as it should. Yes. Nothing interesting.
"A god less entity with a duty." The reptile breaking the arguement around. I was left out of the content due to language mixing. I put the books away. It does seem to be something missing about a crowded bar of afterlife beings. There are no shadows of damned, no formation of regretting souls. Clothus are all that could to one but how one becomes it is not a shadow way. The souls (be it as they aren't like the ones at home) have grander scale goals or are decent quality of life goals to consider willing. The last time I heard souls so valued like this was before the Ender wars and before internal souls universe conflicts.
"So not a god?" The demon pondered.
"Don't be nosing to much into my soul voice. I will give you nightmares... in fact it's worse then that. I have a bad side affect on those around me." Given that they speak death realm, it were the choose of middle ground, "I am simply a wandering soul fragment. Enjoying some freedom away. A really bad idea. Yet... I have learnt some helpful things." I tap the mostly empty drink glass at thought, "I do have a purpose to find something. No clue where and what." I prevent having another drink. Standing once more, I pondered shapes and bodies... and folding myself into something passable.
"Wow, a oath shadow. We have lack anyone of those since the bridges collapsed." The reptile crawls along the counter and rears up to be at eye level, "Are you a oath maker?"
I had to take a long time to think about this answer. As his meaning by the local guide book isn't as it is for my world. Oath makers are damned under service. Oath makers tend to be any being whom comes to visit this realm. Even what I consider god followers can be oath makers.
So we do share shadows of the damned but they are gone from this realm. Less of them even.
"I have a lot of questions. But this isn't a place for such things. I must respect what laws there maybe of this land. Even if those laws dislike me." I shuffled a foot to the floor, a mark to the soil floor. None of them do that. Lies. The reptile does. His tracks. He noticed too... he hears things that the others don't.
"Are you made of books?" He asked.
"You don't want that." I muttered in a sad tone. He jolted rather spooked. Spoken in my locked language.
"You can speak like a crimson." He looks at the others and back to me, "But your not one."
"Ah, so this is where you fell. I pondered that after stealing your office of books in the clothus realm. Forgive me. I eat knowledge. I eat many things. Even souls." I posed at deeper thoughts.
"Books. Damned. That language. The ethereal air. The hurt soul." He pondered me, "May I add a entry of your kind into my completion?" He asked.
"I did more then that for you. In eating your books, your compendiums have been added along side many other books like it. Your work will be universally spread and then eventually crossed over to neighboring universes." He clawed into he counter and sort of just stuck there. Loudly purring. That happy noise that Twilight gives. He turned to death with chirping too. Dancing about very excited.
"I hope whatever you spoken of isn't a lie."
"I should then be more formal." I posed carefully, "I must first clarify a few things. I don't belong to the realms here. I have little influence of how your universe works. And I have every attention of returning the books I ate, after I have copied them and added to them. It seems fair while I borrow them that I would add to the work." They nod with understanding this must so far.
"So your a universal concept?" Death continues in the guessing games.
"With everything, there has to be nothing. Start has to end. I often break laws to bring soul peace. A concept in my universe that has issue for defining correctly. I am only a fragment."
" fragment of nothingness? What paradoxically dilemma... that both makes senses and not." James gets it, still chirpy in his own businesses, "Oh." He looks up to me, "You ate my books to recognize your universe. But you would..."
"We have concepts of life and death. We understanding of souls traveling between realms within my universe. We have foundations that settle with basic laws. Much like this realm. We have humans too." I posed at stopping myself from to much, "Your books content creatures beyond time and space that I of interest in learning. That knowledge is hard to come by and needs spreading. There are other universes with versions of me. They would want this knowledge too. We are who protect our boundaries. That mark of what is in our universe and not. Adding things would piss souls off. So it's a delicate matter."
"I get it. That's why you sound of books. Your core is mostly in books. The blank page spaces around words." Mmm... that's new one. Space and nothing. I don't know about how that works. I would have to be if my skin is the books themselves.
"So what exactly breaks a boundaries keeper to leave this far from home?" Death asking.
"Clothus." I sighed in annoyance. Death and James giving nodding agreeing, "Well not in a way you think. I am not chain to anyone. They have started buzzing my realms and it's upsetting order. Clothus had no concept before. I get all the slack for their business." I posed in containing my reflexes to break things.
"Oh... Well... you should go right up to the chess board government and eat one." James is flicked for it, "Oi, if it then gives definition to his universe. Wouldn't it help?"
"No... I ate clothus before... its the souls whom don't realize it. They let the clothus run around. Now they took things. I fetch them back. Fun stuff." James nods in getting it and death sighed in annoyance I was a bad influence of the reptile. I peer at the demon that hide instantly from me. I reach past the demon with taking a drink from the shelving. I read the label. Blood of an angel... maybe real or a fancy alcohol. Stem broken and a sip. Real blood. I continue as it is. Ate the whole bottle too.
"What of the time difference?" I shurg of this. He does make a good point. I offer my arm and on he climbs. He studied me at whatever he could. Settled around hugging my torso and head at my shoulder. His tail took things and into a storage space of shadow... damned he is. I took a demon blood bottle but carry it for now.
"Back the way you came." James suggested. I peer in thinking and shadow sank us through my own influence of door... retracing my left shadow marks. He clawed into me in fear, hissing once on the other side. Getting off me. Stamps about the office in the clothus realm. While it was in my mind. I snatched death through too. The soild human form landing at the floor. He also had a panic attack.
"I am told that travel with my doors allows you to reflect on your fears and be accepting of your fate in my hands. So they tell me." I look at the shelving of where I am up to in progress, "I am sure that was a lie to be nice to me."
"Do not ever do that again." Death standing up and then sits on a chair. Rather dazed from the whole experience.
James was frozen as he was... literally in stone. I picked him up and made him more comfortable. His soul seems to yarn to look around more, so I carry him in my free hand. Showing him around as he asked. Sitting him to his desk. He morns at the window pane. As the pane itself is a corpse of a crimson before him. Death peers about this office, finding strength to lean at a shelving to peer about a returned book from my borrowing. He flicked through the new pages that were sewn in and is very quick to shelve it back.
"Why!" The shouting of pointing at me, "Why are you here!" I tilt in pondered if this was a soul moment. If he met me or a version of me. Death shivered for some moments and then stopped with a moment. The outburst wasn't his own. So I listened around... seeking tracing. The dead crimson soul. It's protecting James.
"Forgive my rude intrusive nature. I lack reasons. I also lack any reason to do harm either." I spoke openly with the whole room and how the souls here look to each other, "I have no wishes to impose my ways. I am instead inspired to learn about yours. Why break something I am learning? These books have importance... I am wishing to honour that respect. Being here just sort of happened upon stumbling about the clothus domain."
That appeased the souls around here at least. They all have James in a protective grasp and not at all the death god. Very interesting. I sat on shadow and open a book I have yet to read. Thier universe of hell collections of soul and soulless. It's a interesting concept. The internal system isn't the same for mine back at home. How it's ran and so on. It isn't so lonely reading in here as it was before.
The books just finished was thier death realms court systems and categories of creatures. It makes sense that there is no highest death. They are all of the same influence of abilities, same miracles and all of one task. They are all the god. God is all, that must be thier common sense. It does explain why James was more valued in protecting.
"Corpse puppeteers. Those used to be in my world when someone prevented my influence from my job. The sorrow of souls was so great that I was returned... erasing such existence of creatures."
"Those aren't in hell." Pointed to the book I was reading.
"Its the book in copy at the moment." I turned page of the current reading, "I am multitasking." James made a note appear at his front.
'the clothus have stolen a large part of my earlier collections.' I peer in considering it.
"Yup. I am going to need them." I stand, "I will be back to this office." The statue was at my shoulder suddenly, "We will then." The door closed and I am sure death just started shouting at the air in there. I follow the reptile pointing. Into a whole building that must have been stolen from the world his more living within. I ate the place, torturing all whom were in it. Spat the place back to the foundation it sat. The books finished copied. I go back to death screaming at air. James has claws through me totally... must be fear.
I take seat once more picking up where I left off with the hell book. I pondered how it mirrors the god realms at home. How ranking of demons had mirror the god title world. It was interesting.
"I feel well informed." Finished book to the side. Posed with putting my internal notes together. I titled with contemplation, "I should add this universe into mine or something agreeable for us both. Then we can figure out the fleas called clothus."
"How does one simply add to a universe with another?" I torn a book from my core and twirled the entry's of other Enders I am protecting. I pondered taking one out and asking them if they like this idea. More things... more universe. More. I like it and don't.
"That book!" James almost took it... but I was quicker in being protective of it.
"Damage that one and I will be murdered by the other Enders." He posed away for a moment. I sigh in not meaning any harm, "Forgive my tone. I am a tired one. I had plenty of fools try me. My own homelands fear me. You could say I am Unwelcomed where I should have been. I fought wars to protect my lands, I have not been repaired or given kindness for such protection." He pats my hand.
"War was what happened here. War torn souls. They all were tired too." I sigh in not being alone at least. He disappeared to appear at the window pane once again. He was in prayer with the corpse.