["Throughout mankind's ceaseless construction, many dreadful concepts formed that humanity has been unable to break free from, and have since been dragging on the species. Conflict, violence, war, prejudice, oppression, taxation; as a curse for their destructive creation, they've been bound to humanity's core. Forever shackled, a divine judgment for their sin."]
In the middle of a brewing sandstorm, a single figure, bulky in human stature but weirdly shaped, stumbles aimlessly through the swirling dust storm. It doesn't know whether or not it's alone within this hectic blowing wind, all it could do was take one step at a time across the hot sand, proving ever difficult as it once again fell to the ground.
["These concepts brought to fruition by mankind's actions became the core of what binds a person's soul, their sins; immoral acts of regrettable faults."]
After picking itself up, the figure grabbed at the glowing chain around its shoulder, trying to yank it off with the ferocity of a starving beast tearing into a hard-earned kill. Since the moment this cursed iron was placed on them, nothing but searing pain has been inflicted on him and this being craved relief even for a single moment. Yet despite the tremendous strength behind their effort, it bore fruitless to even shift the chain on its body.
["No matter how minor or insignificant they are, actions will always have consequences and when acts of sin are committed, their effects on the human soul can stain like coal."]
Unable to escape from his torment with no destination in sight, the figure awash in the middle of a brewing sandstorm could only scream to their solitude.
["For centuries, humanity has attempted endless schemes in hopes of circumventing this undisputed law of the universe; mankind's greatest and most trivial ventures."]
["Because of–"]
"I'm sorry where is this going?" interrupted Kokoro, befuddled by what he was hearing.
An astounded Mary halted her speech, asking, "Excuse me?"
"What does any of this have to do with why my heart is not beating or anything that I asked."
"I was working my way up to it so you'll have the full context."
"That'll be you dripping in valuable swabs of explanations or backstory behind words, concepts, events I may not understand or know of; you were giving me some biblical-psychology manifesto that was completely unsolicited."
The angel's eyes diverted for a moment as she mumbled under her breath, "Well I thought it was an engaging opener."
"From whatever script you had prepared, just say the parts related to what I asked," Kokoro requested, he's still processing dying yesterday and wasn't in the mood to fill his mind with more ominous detail than he already has to deal with.
"This wasn't scripted, it's far from it! You took nearly everything I had that was planned with you when you jumped out the window," for a split second, the angel showed visible signs of irritation thinking back on it; even her usual soothing angelic tone cracked but she quickly calmed herself and sent her attention back to Kokoro, "So I'm doing my best to caught us up, like telling you important details so you understand the logic behind how all of this work."
"I much prefer it if we get to the point. Having all the endless time in Purgatory, you have a surplus time to fill me in on the meager details another time. Besides, we agree I'll hear out whatever you have to say after you settle my questions."
There was a short pause from the angel before she replied, "....Wait, no it wasn't, it was the opposite way around!"
"Tch, you remembered," the silver-ghoul grumbled under his breath, a night to finally digest some of the events he experienced yesterday made him realize what he entailed to himself due to the wording of the deal made and hoped no one cared or was paying attention enough to notice it as well.
Unfortunately, he severely underestimated Mary's investment in him.
Internally, Mary sighed to herself, ("From what I knew of him, I expected some stubbornness but he far surpassed my expectations of how hard it'll be to convince him. No matter, the effort you put into growing a plant will show when they sprout; I just need to make it till the end. People like him, once you get them on your side they'll be invaluable to whatever cause you're after, and that stubbornness of his will be key.")
Approaching him, the angel shined a bright smile as she said, "Maybe I've been a bit too demanding of you at once."
Her almost instant switch back to her collective and angelic tone startled Kokoro's mellow composure.
"It'll be a little difficult explaining it in a way to encompass the importance of everything, but I'll do my best," she continued, holding out her hands. The angel gestured for Kokoro's arm, the one bounded by the chain that's been attached to his body since he woke up in Purgatory.
Still faintly taken back and questioning her intentions, the silver-haired dead man raised his requested arm to her, allowing her to do as she pleased.
Gracefully, Mary accepted his arm, showing great care in cradling it because of the trust given to her. Attentively, she positioned her hands so that each finger would avoid touching any part of the chain and examined the mysterious metal. She states, "The chain that's binding you is the concentrated darkness tethered to your soul manifested, it's the reason why you're trapped here."
"I'm in Purgatory because of this?" questioned Kokoro, staring at the skull attached to the chain positioned on his backhand and remembering how the night before the eye sockets were glowing red.
Nodding, Mary continued to explain, "As I said before, the actions of men will always have consequences; no matter what. It doesn't matter the size or scale, even if it was something no one saw or a secret no one knows about, even if you never directly got any ramification for it during your lifetime, even if you wholehearted refuse to acknowledge this law; what you've done will always remain imprinted on you. An unerasable reverberation on the human soul."
Her lavender eyes rose to meet the dim vacant eyes of Kokoro, a stern yet elegant look that steals the attention away from the gritty curse placed upon him, "Most actions isolated won't drastically shake up the soul; you don't notice every smudge on a mirror, do you? But consecutive instances of ill-natured actions will build up over time, and that cumulative darkness staining one's soul can evolve into infectious corruption. Like a dormant disease, you may not notice it when you're in the mortal living world but once your soul leaves your deceased body and enters the other planes of existence, they'll appear. Forming into symbols that weigh down your soul, a Soul Chain."
"But how does that trap me here? Where is this chain even preventing me from going," asked Kokoro, so far this Soul Chain she speaks of has only caused minor irritations to him but nothing major, ("It feels more of an inconvenience really, what could such a small thing do?")
Giggling for a moment, Mary pointed up to the sky stating, "To the kingdom far beyond the skies we see, heaven. Like gravity, your sins corrupt your ability to move freely. Without them, you wouldn't believe the divine heights humanity can reach."
("If only I had a thousand yen every time I hear about how humanity is kneecapping its potential,") Kokoro scoffed to himself, though his career wasn't long there were countless times in his line of work alone where he met people like that. Then like a flash, last night's dream went through his mind and his Soul Chain started constricting, causing the twisted metal to dig into his arm. Grunting at the pain, his body instinctively jerked at the sudden application of pain. Clutching his fist and speaking through gritted teeth, he tells Mary, "That's quite a premise with a large promise you're expecting me to go along with."
The tranquil aura in Mary's eye didn't falter as she replied, "It may be wishful thinking hoping someone like yourself will fully embrace what I'm saying. But, I think we both can agree that it'll be a lot more convenient if people weren't shackled with these curses."
As Mary spoke, she closed her hands around the chain and an aura emitted from her. Suddenly the discomfort being inflicted on his arm began to ease as the Soul Chain's tight grip became lax.
Spotting relief coming to his expression, Mary brightened her smile toward him in celebration.
Pulling away from her, Kokoro mumbled, "I suppose. How does one go about getting rid of our curses?"
"That's where I complete my part of the bargain."
---
{"You're too late!"}
[CRACK!]
"Is everything ok?" a soothing voice called out.
Kokoro opened his eyes to find himself sitting on the floor inside of a building and the gleaming cuissardes Mary wore were walking over to him. He gave the angel a perplexed look, both to see what she wanted and because he didn't remember what he was doing here; it felt as if he blacked out.
Calmly, Mary tells him, "You broke another one."
Looking at the palm of his hand, the silver-haired ghoul found a crystal the weight of a pencil and half the length snapped in two on top of a tiny puddle of clear liquid.
That was when it came back to him, remembering how he got here. Mary took him to a building near the one where he woke up and first met her. The angel had brought him inside a kind of dome they called a Limbo Room that had an entire forest inside, including a running waterfall and woodland creatures, and handed him this weird crystal before telling him to meditate. While the meditation obviously wasn't going well, it was nostalgic for Kokoro to be here since this forest was reminiscent of the rainforests he visited in his younger years.
("Whatever I'm doing here, at least I can look up at a blue sky again,") thought Kokoro, cleaning up his hands in the nearby river before addressing Mary, "Sorry, I put too much pressure on it."
"Don't worry about it, we got tons more. You use as many as you need," assured Mary, sliding over a bowl filled with those kinds of crystals.
Picking another one up, Kokoro started examining it before asking, "What are these? I've never encountered a gem I could break so easily."
"That's because they're the harvested sack of a Potator Bug. Think of them like mosquitoes here, rumor has it that one is created for every toxic relationship that forms in the mortal world."
Disgust filled Kokoro's face as he questioned, ".....Why did you give me a bowl filled with bug sacks?"
"To help bring out your Anima; the inner energy of the soul."
"And you're sure I have this Anima you speak of?"
"Yes I'm sure, everyone has Anima!" the angel chuckled, quite amused with how questioning this mortal was being that he didn't even realize what he implied, "It's a type of energy humans generate with their soul, so unless you're suggesting you don't have one, anyone with a soul have Anima."
With a single breath, an aura emitted throughout Mary's entire body. Translucent in nature, Kokoro saw firsthand how the grass at her feet began diverging away from her and felt the slight change of wind pattern around. Despite being so close to energy with enough power to affect the environment around the angel, he felt no resistance being in its presence, only calm warmth that traveled across his skin.
After her demonstration, the angel tells him, "Hope that'll be helpful, try to aim for a feeling similar to that."
"Then why do I need this parasite to bring that out if we already know I have it? Why am I doing most of this?" queried Kokoro, gesturing to the forest environment and his meditation pose.
("He's curious! I hope this means he's interested, the more intrigued one is, the more likely one is going to invest in it,") Mary thought with glee, maintaining her elegant composure she explained, "A Potator Bug can suck away at your Anima, which then goes into the crystal. What the crystal does afterward depends on the person they sucked blood on."
"How does that work?"
"Human souls are each unique, they all have their own personality and traits that influence who they are as people, thus the Anima they can generate are as well. Anima isn't a concept too new to humanity. Within the realm you previously lived in there were methods of bringing out a person's anima in different forms, they were under many names; mana, chakra, and a lot of spiritual teachings were derivatives of ways to channel the energy a soul creates. Of course, such methods were often heavily deluded making their way over to the mortal realm because of human corruption, human interpretations, and the limits of your living bodies."
The angel squatted down to be on eye level with Kokoro, "While everyone has Anima, fewer can generate enough of that kind of soul energy to effectively use or express. Being so fresh from the living world your soul is dulled in expressing its soul energy in the form you're currently in. Depending on the person, sometimes it'll take them months to years, even decades here to reach that state."
"You expect me to be doing this for years!?" immediately exclaimed Kokoro, his face contorted into one of repulse and even worse for the angel, disinterest.
"No, no, no, not that at all," Mary quickly corrected, trying to steer his mindset away from where it was, "That's what the crystal and meditation are for, they help make the whole process easier. Everyone needs to look into themself to best generate their Anima, with the crystal helping us tell what kind of Anima you generate and some self-reflection, I think someone like yourself would be able to find your way rather quickly."
Kokoro raised an eyebrow at her, "How quickly?"
"That depends on you," she responded rather swiftly.
From Kokoro's observations, he deduced no lie or trick in what Mary was saying but by the way the angel was now smiling, he could tell there was something she wasn't saying. Not deceitfully but with more concern. The stone-faced man was more surprised that an angel would show such emotions. He never read much into them but Kokoro always imagined if they existed they'd be like meeting the ultimate Phone Operator.
Rocky start aside, there was a choice to be made.
With a sigh, Kokoro states, "Alright, let's see."
Maybe it was curiosity, maybe it was trust, or maybe Kokoro was just bored because he realized he theoretically had an eternity of time on his hands. Whatever it was, it was enough for him to continue going along with what Mary was roping him into; for now.
And thus, the next two days of Kokoro were sucked up.
They weren't too eventful, only ever being filled with Mary lecturing him on ways and trying out methods to become 'spiritually connected' and other such stuff that's supposed to help him bring out his Anima. All he felt made little progress. If it weren't for the promise that he'll be able to do a similar trick that Seodra performed and he had little idea how to do it on his own, he would've been a lot harder to keep in one place than he was.
Kokoro had tried to get Seodra to tell him how instead but the two women must've struck a deal as she would slyly avoid answering. The best he was about to extract from her was a single statement involving Anima.
"Don't think of Anima as a supernatural object you obtain like an item at a store, your Anima is you! Think about bringing out your Anima as you looking inside yourself to explore what you are, why you are, what you can do, and discover yourself. When that happens, it'll be the start of the road."
While it didn't spark any eureka moment in Kokoro, it was an insight he feels he can maul over more compared to what the angel speaks of.
He took it with him the next time he was made to meditate in the Limbo Room.
"Explore myself."
As Kokoro mumbled those words to himself, he was baffled by the cognitive dead end he hit. An utterly bizarre reaction the young man never expected from himself, this was supposed to be a mental road that was once so clear he could slide across blindfolded, now it was so densely fogged he couldn't see the two hands he had in front of him.
Realizing it's been a long time since he last evaluated this place, maybe it was time for a refresher.
("What you are?")
{"I'm not some dump tank for idle gossip! This is not what I worked to be!"}
("Why you are?")
{"It's my aspiration towards heroes that's telling me to invest my time better if heroes inspire me so much."}
("What can you do?")
{"You're too late!"}
("Discover yourself.")
…
("Discover yourself.")
…
("Discover yourself.")
{"…What the fuck am I doing with my life?"}
[CRACK!]
"Troubled thoughts?" the voice of Mary once again broke through his internal domain.
There was no answer but Mary could see past Kokoro's stone face that something was off and it was boiling inside.
"Do you know what might help a clouded mind," asked the angel, bending over as she held out a platter of cookies to him, "Sometimes, all you need are some happy thoughts."
A desire to reject it was there but a tidal wave of a craving for sweets drowned it out, he hadn't had anything that sweet since he died. Begrudgingly he took one of the pastries offered, giving a quiet, "Thanks."
Instantly he noticed how warm the cookies were and wondered, ("Did she just make these? How would an angel's homebaked cookie taste like?")
With a single bite, he could give a clear answer; heavenly made.
("The hell- or heaven did she put in these?") questioned Kokoro, these easily among some of the best cookies he ever tasted.
The texture, the taste, composition, the ratio between hard and soft; he wouldn't call himself a food connoisseur but from his startlingly vast knowledge of sweets, this cookie had those aspects ranked in first grade.
But through it all, there was one thing Kokoro had to openly say about Mary's cookie.
"Blah, I don't like oatmeal."
…
"HUH!?" exclaimed the angel, from the centuries of her existence, never had she heard a human say that about her cooking; especially her renowned confectionary skills.
"The oatmeal, I don't like it," repeated the silver-haired young man in his usual nonchalant tone, "These cookies are some of the closest I've seen to perfection, but the oatmeal completely ruins it for me."
Working through the stun of what was said to her, the angel replied, "I-it's supposed to be a healthy snack. Soul food can be very good and nourishes at the same time."
"If I wanted a healthy snack to eat I would've eaten a salad or an apple."
Generous as ever, Mary tries to reason with him, "Maybe this can be an opportunity to be more opened minded about–"
"Keep your health guru shit out of my pastries!" he states, for a man who seems disinterested in almost everything life has this was oddly a subject he was deeply passionate about, "And gross, you added raisins; that instantly lowers it to a 'begrudgingly if it's the only kind in the house' score for me."
Suddenly the crunching of metal echoed throughout the room. A wide-eyed Kokoro cracked from his stone-face expression seeing Mary's fingers bend the metal of the platter from the amount of pressure being exerted on it merely being held.
"Kokoro Shikata," the angel slowly calls out.
Taken aback by the universal sign of something being wrong, Kokoro stammered, "Hey are you—"
"Let's take a walk," she interrupted. While she kept her smile, it looked more hung up like a curtain. With the way her eyes were closed, the vein bulging on her forehead, and her hands shaking, it was miraculous she managed to speak in a calm voice, "Healthy and relaxing physical activity can also help with wiping away intense negative thoughts before one acts on them."
"..."
"What do you say?"
"Yeah, sure, let's go!"
It was one of the few times Kokoro so quickly accepted a request to go out with someone.
---
Thankfully fresh air under the mellow light-colored skies of a Purgatory Morning was enough to ease Mary's threatening aura lowest where Kokoro felt comfortable enough to talk.
Not that there was much to speak about, the walk was uneventful. He couldn't even shake the feeling of being watched. It consisted only of him following Mary around as she walked around town and greeted people. Despite the very different kinds of people they met who seemed to come from different eras of the earth, they all seemed quite joyed to see Mary, though I guess it's expected that the angel is widely liked.
The only significant interaction Kokoro himself had was when he saw a little girl drop a toy she was playing with. When he had picked it up and tried to return it to her, at first the girl seemed ever thankful for the complete stranger but then a single look at his face and the child went from cheerful to bawling in fear.
Suffice to say, Mary was the one who worked everything out with the girl while Kokoro faced away, silently sulking against a wall.
At least he got to see all the different ways people were living. It gave him a sense of what Seodra was talking about with Anima.
"I think I figured it," he states while the pair were making their way back to the Limbo Room.
Intrigued with a flash of excitement in her eyes, Mary asked him, "What have you discovered?"
"The trick Seodra did. She used Anima to do it."
"That is on the path to being correct."
"It's not just her using Anima, she's using her Anima to perform a specific action, like the function of a machine; or in our case, a soul. Because souls are all unique, everyone can use their Anima to express distinctive abilities because they are created from what makes someone an individual. Thus it requires some understanding or connection of one's self," he explains.
Applauding him, Mary confirmed, "Congrats, you've grasped [a] understanding of Anima. That's a great hurdle to cross so early after arriving in the afterlife."
Despite being told he did a great job, Kokoro seemed unmoved as he lifted his chained arm, saying, "And I'm guessing the same logic goes into how these Soul Chains form on our bodies and [how] they [affect] us?"
"You catch on quickly. What finally made it all click."
"The Anima part was easy to get when you think about all the wacky stuff I've seen people here do. At first I thought it was all a trick but then thinking back to the market I visited with Seodra, though all of it happening at once was a bit bizarre to take in at once, I noticed there were a few attention-drawing acts that were different from the others. They involved the performer doing a lot more personal actions through themselves than any item or gimmick. But I never felt that sense of anima expressed being used like you showed me. You said before that few people can generate enough Anima to effectively use or express, but they still have it in them. It's like a person's athletic ability, everyone has it but few can bring it out to the same degree as a pro-athlete can."
"These little miracle events can be performed as they come from within the soul. It's not rare to see someone be able to do one even though their Anima usage is weak, it's just more fruitful."
"From there I figured if our personality is what gives us certain abilities, why won't our sins that are also attached to our souls affect the way we are as well. That's my assumption on why my heart stopped."
"It could have an effect but you can never be too sure. You've obviously noticed many differences you have no compared to your body when you were alive. Hopefully you don't assume all of those changes are because of your Soul Chains as well."
"No, if I did enough bad things to look like this then I would probably be in Hell. Not to mention I can't imagine what wrong a elder guy could do to curse them with pink hair they have to walk around with. A force is certainly messing with our bodies."
"It's not a force but your soul itself. The body you have right now is just your soul constructing itself into a form you're familiar with, it's reflective of you and the condition of your soul."
"Which brings me to my next question. Why did you choose me?"
"What do you mean?"
"Of all the souls you, an angel following some grand authority, could've chosen you decided on me?"
"What's wrong with you?" Mary calmly asked him, unmoved by his questioning.
"Not sure if you noticed the screaming child or anything but I don't exactly look like someone who could do a lot for people."
"It's not all about what's on the outside."
"Well inside I seem to be a bit of a mess as well. Who knows if it's just my heart that's not ticking," the silver-haired man said, tapping at his heart to check that indeed, his heart still wasn't beating.
"Kokoro, there are many challenges in life that leave humans in less than favorable positions. What makes a person is how they persevere through them and I know through your life you've persevered through a lot; it's how you gained the skills you used to help people when you were alive."
"Is that why you chose me? Because of my work being a social worker? What could an angel do with a social worker?"
"It should be evident by now, we talked about this before," Mary tells him, pointing to his chained arm, "Wouldn't it be more convenient if humans weren't bound by those Soul Chains. I want to free more people from the chains that weigh down on their souls."
"And you need my help to do it?"
Mary nods, "To break from one's Soul Chain, one must be willing to do a lot of self-reflecting and work to be virtuous. It's one step of many depending on the person. The issue comes that many don't get past the front door, or should I say, they don't want to."
"What's stopping them?" Kokoro asked, curious as to what could be causing such an issue that an angel needs to get a social worker for.
"Have you noticed that people act weird when you point out their Soul Chains?"
Immediately the first person that came to mind was Seodra and how her frantic reactions whenever he even asked about her wrist chain and how she got them. It wasn't just her, among the other civilians he had seen, he noticed how a lot of them would try to use their clothing, hair, or even body posture to draw attention away from their Soul Chains.
Kokoro answered with a nod.
Mary continued, "Unfortunately, the people stuck here in Purgatory are often unwilling to even acknowledge the literal chain weighing on them. Some would even go to extreme lengths to hide that they have one even though every single person who's here has one. Despite escaping a terrible fate, they end up keeping themself bound here instead of moving on to a greater place."
("Isn't that a song or dance I've heard over a thousand times,") Kokoro internally groaned to himself.
"I wished I could do more myself, but there's a limit to what I can do as an angel. Which is why I'm turning to a human to help other humans? You've dedicated your life with many sacrifices to help others you saw in need. You can connect with other humans in a way and hopefully get them to open up so they can start on their path to becoming unbound."
("Helping others…") the thought rang through Kokoro's mind. An opportunity was presented to him that many won't so easily come across for someone who took the path he did.
Yet, all that was playing over and over through his mind was his career and the many people he tried to help but it felt like all his efforts fell on death's ears. Then there were all the people he wanted to help but couldn't due to obligations or the people just being too distant for him to do anything to them.
Even worst, he remembered a time someone specifically came to him to comment on their life and then when he did the job that this person came to him to do, because he said some very mild criticism, extremely mild considering Kokoro can be quite coarse with his wording, about their life decisions the reaction was quite hyper.
{"Man, fuck you!" Kokoro's client shouted at him, dumping the entire contents of their water bottle on him before throwing the bottle as well and walking out, "I'm out!"}
Surprisingly, that was one of the more lenient times a client of Kokoro tried assaulting him.
After it happened, Kokoro's first thoughts were, ("At least the bottle was plastic this time…. And it was water thrown at me.")
Now he might need to help people trapped in Purgatory for possibly eternity.
As Mary led into the dome leading to the Limbo Room, she continued to explain, "Course I don't expect you to be hitting the ground running, helping every single soul in sight. I want you to be comfortable with being here and knowing a lot of what you can do before sending you off to do a bunch of things. I want you to properly learn about this place and the people who are here so you get a better understanding of how it all works. I'm quite excited to be working with you and I hope our acquaintance will be- OH NOT AGAIN!"
As the Angel looked behind her, she found no one there.
Once again, she has been ditched.
Hanging her head low, she had to concede that she may not be the best at convincing people. She needed more than herself to reach out to a person like Kokoro.
Tapping the golden halo around her neck, when it began to glow Mary began to speak, "Dear Ike, sorry to message you right now when you're still resting but I need your help. I'm having trouble bringing over that person I've told you about, I may be missing something as to why he's so disinterested. Can you please assist me?"
Once she was done speaking, she released her halo and popping out of it was a pixie-size version of Mary that looked more like a doll toy compared to the original.
This toy-like version was holding a letter, looking at Mary with glee. Waving it goodbye, Mary told it, "Safe travels."
The mini-Mary zoomed away out of the doom only to return a few minutes later with a response.
["Oh Mary, you're an ever graceful being. But you angels can only understand so much about humans. You can't be lackluster with human beings, our souls were meant to be revved up. It's always an honor helping you out so leave it to me, I'll get his heart pumping in excitement in no time."]
"I hope this works," prayed Mary.
---
Not far outside the Dome of Limbo, a figure dressed in red and black were discretely surveying the area from a distance. The Wanderer was watching the angel and her companion. When she spotted them going inside the Dome of Limbo, she drew closer to the building. But The Wanderer didn't head for the front door, instead, she circled around, aiming for the side of the building.
Upon arriving, she scaled up the building to look through the window and was surprised to spot the angel standing there alone and seemingly gloomy.
Tilting her head in confusion, wonder spread throughout her expression about where the people the angel was with had gone.
That was when suddenly she felt someone grab her from her red cape and yank her away from the window. In a moment, she found herself facing the stern face of Kokoro.
Both pairs of eyes instantly recognize the other from their prior meeting.
Not wasting time Kokoro immediately began interrogating The Wanderer.
"Why have you been stalking me?"