A bright light shone into Callie's closed eyes, slipping beneath the cracks of her eyelids. It made her groan in annoyance, before finally opening her eyes with a few, quick blinks to adjust them to the sudden glare.
Staring overhead, Callie blinked some more, frowning at the large white marble ceiling that towered above her. This didn't look like a hospital room...
"That's because it isn't a hospital room." A breathtaking voice said, startling Callie from her thoughts.
Callie instinctively jerked upright and stared at the figure in front of her. Her gaze changed from fearful shock to a form of shocked awe as she got a good look at the woman casually standing before the dais Callie lay on.
This woman was, simply put, gorgeous. She put movie actresses, supermodels, even the Aphrodite statues to utter shame. Callie had never seen a more beautiful, breathtaking creature in all of her life. Her beautiful blue eyes stared knowingly into Callie's own, making Callie blush as she realized how ridiculous she must look, staring at her like a psycho.
Finally shaking her head to forget the strange beauty before her, Callie began to look around her, frowning at the odd room without windows or doors, feeling an odd sense of deja vu. Though Callie knew she'd never been in this room before in her life, it still gave off this strange aura of familiarity. With that said, nothing looked at all like Callie expected when she looked around a room. Everything was all in white and emitting a slight radiance that created that annoying glare that first woke her.
The glare was quite painful, actually, making Callie squint as she glanced around, but the pain reminded her of something...
Remembering what had happened, Callie turned back to the stunning woman, "My students! Are they alright?"
The woman smiled softly, looking kind, "Oh, yes. Every, single student you had managed to survive, thanks to your sacrifice." Callie sighed in relief, before choking as the woman went on, "Only you and Clark died."
Callie stared at the woman, certain she misunderstood, "D...died?"
The woman smiled again, this time with sympathy, "Oh, yes, couldn't you tell, dear? You died. That last shot was more than your body could take. Although, you probably would have died from blood loss from the first shot regardless." The lady shrugged, and Callie almost screamed at her nonchalance, "Still, it was a noble sacrifice on your part."
Callie only stared at the beautiful woman in shock, her body frozen on the dais as she tried to process her words. Slowly, she began shaking her head back and forth in denial.
"Dead? I can't be dead!" Callie gestured wildly at the strange room around her, "If I'm dead, what is all of this?"
The beautiful woman laughed lightly. "Why, this is my home, of course." She curtsied slightly to Callie, making Callie cringe for some reason. She only smiled reassuringly as she continued, "Welcome to the Temple of Sacrifice, where all those who sacrifice their lives for others come to be reincarnated." She shrugged lightly. "I'm surprised you don't recognize it, honestly. You've awoken here every time you've died thus far."
Callie's jaw literally dropped in shock as she stared at the beauty. "Every time I've died thus far...which means it's happened more than once?"
Another laugh echoed in the strange room. Callie bit her tongue. Something about this woman told her it would be a mistake to mouth off right now...
"Oh, indeed, Callie!" The beauty said. Callie jerked her eyes up, meeting the beauty's knowing blue eyes with shock and a little fear as she continued, "You've lead four lives thus far on your journey. You're a very young soul, I'm afraid."
Callie looked up at her once more, her body shaking as she met this lady's slightly cruel gaze. "A young soul?" She said shakily.
The beauty laughed even harder. "Oh my, yes! I, myself, lived over five hundred lives before I finally attained godhood."
Callie felt a headache building behind her eyes. "Godhood?" Callie shook her head once more, unable to comprehend this strange encounter. "Who are you?"
A benevolent smile graced the beauty's face, but Callie wasn't sure she trusted it. "I am the Goddess of Sacrifice, Elesvir. Your patron goddess it seems, as often as you've appeared on my dais." She paused for a second to let Callie's stressed mind process before continuing, "I believe you've earned a reward for your loyalty."
Callie didn't even bother to answer. Her mind was completely overwhelmed by this conversation, unable to comprehend everything that had been said in this strange room.
It's got to be a dream...
"As reward for your many sacrifices, I will offer you a choice of any of the worlds and lives you could wish to be reincarnated into." Elesvir smiled gently, "Though I'm sure your choice is going to be one of the Fae worlds, no doubt."
Callie's eyes jerked to meet the goddess' own. Now she was sure this could only be a dream. No way was reincarnation this simple and easy, and it was one of Callie's dearest fantasies to be fae. She'd dreamed of that happening since she'd been a little girl, listening to all the fairy tales.
No doubt Callie was laying in a hospital bed somewhere in some kind of medically induced coma or something.
This was just her brain's way of coping. Callie immediately calmed as she accepted this idea. It was just a dream.
Dreams couldn't hurt her.
Callie boldly glanced up at the waiting goddess. "What about Clark?"
The Goddess of Sacrifice raised an eyebrow in surprise. "What about him?"
Callie ignored the warning in her tone, "Where's Clark? You said he died too, so what's happening to him right now?"
Elesvir regarded her with a strange expression, slight annoyance creasing her brow. "I'm sure he's being reincarnated into a life that will teach him whatever lesson he didn't manage to learn in this last life. He's the God of Cruelty's problem right now."
Callie gasped. "God of Cruelty? But..."
"But what? He killed you and would have killed many more teachers and students if you hadn't stopped him when you did." The Goddess of Sacrifice turned and walked away, obviously done with this topic. "You can browse through the different lives available for you to take over here on this console." She said, casually gesturing towards a white console that Callie hadn't seen until she moved.
But Callie wasn't done with the topic.
"But Clark was just a boy. My student..." For a second, Callie forgot this was a dream and looked up at the goddess pleadingly, "Could I have stopped him from doing this? If I had just punished him instead of walking to my classroom, would all of this have ended differently?"
Elesvir turned towards her once more, her expression pensive. A long silence filled the room, as Callie began to get more and more uncomfortable.
"Yes." Callie's eyes widened and then dropped to her lap as Elesvir continued, "Yes, you could have stopped him if you'd chosen slightly differently, however, it was still ultimately his choice..."
Callie cut the goddess off, not wanting to hear it. "So, then, why does he deserve punishment and I deserve a reward?"
Elesvir narrowed her eyes at Callie in warning, "Because he chose to be cruel and you chose to sacrifice yourself for others." She shook her head at Callie's seeming naivety. "It doesn't matter if you could or couldn't change his mind, he still made his decision and you made yours. Ultimately, you both showed your true characters."
Callie was already shaking her head. "No. I can't accept that." She continued shaking her head at the goddess' shocked expression. "If I could have saved him during his life, and didn't, then I'll save him now."
Callie pushed herself off the dais and strode determinedly towards Elesvir, "Give me his punishment and let him lead a better life this go around. That's the reward I want."