Brice gave me detailed instructions on how to turn the Warden Device off, and soon enough, I was back in my fancy black suit. He smiled at me as he handed me a backpack with some supplies he had pulled from god knew where. "You're going to need this," he said.
"What is it?" I asked, and Brice just chuckled.
"It's your starter kit! Food, money, and some basic items you will need for a hunter!" He said brightly and then motioned for me to follow him. We walked down the path toward the town, talking about all the crazy things that had happened today. The further we got away from the dragon, the better I felt.
The only problem was that as soon as we got out of the forest and back to the main road, I saw another digital sign. The moment I looked at it, the digital screen flipped from a real estate ad to Brice's face. I groaned as I saw it, and Brice looked up at the sign.
"You don't like the ad? Not interested in getting a house and settling down? Or are you more of the type to want from city to city?" Brice asked, and I let out a sigh.
"I don't really know. I am still trying to wrap my head around things - ow!"
I stepped on a large rock the size of my fist and almost rolled my ankle. Thankfully, Brice grabbed my arm before I tipped over.
Now my bad luck was just being spiteful!
"Woah there, buddy. You gotta watch where you are stepping those fancy shoes of yours!" Brice laughed as I recovered, and he let go of my arm and then pointed to a crosswalk up ahead. "We take a left up there and then my place is only about four more blocks," He said and then looked at me with a grin. "So, you said you remembered why you came here. Do you mind if I ask what that is?"
I looked over at Brice as we walked up to the crosswalk that was green for us to go. "I am here to kill someone," I said as we started to walk, and Brice's eyes lit up.
"No way! So you are like an assassin? Who are you supposed to kill?! Is it an evil person? A gang leader? Maybe a politician?!" Brice asked, not paying attention as we walked. Not seeing the speeding trick that was clearly about to blow the red.
"No, not anyone crazy like that," I said, and Brice turned around, still not seeing the truck as it did just what I thought, heading in our path.
"Really? Just a normal person like me?" Brice asked, but I shook my head and placed my hand on his chest. I had become far calmer than I should be for what was to come next.
"Not just like you," I said, and Brice's eyebrow lifted up, but that was right when the horns started, and Brice finally turned to see the moving truck that was speeding at us, only an instant away. "I am here for you."
And with that, I pushed him into the path of the truck, and there was a sickening thud as the truck hit him. I felt nothing, but he was dead in an instant, and all that was left of him was a mangled corpse on the street.
My mission was complete, and I walked away from the scene feeling numb. I had done what I had come here to do, and yet I felt no sense of satisfaction. No sense of victory or accomplishment. Just emptiness and uncertainty as people started to yell at me.
Slowly, the voices faded, and so did all the light around me until not even my hands were visible. I stopped and looked around, but now I was in complete darkness.
A light flicked on five feet in front of me, and Brice was standing there, looking confused. No light shone on me when I tried to reach my hand into the light, almost like I wasn't there.
"Hello?! Where am I?!" Brice called out.
I tried to talk, but no words came out. I was starting to feel like Brice, but then another light appeared, and a beautiful woman was standing in it. She was wearing the most beautiful dress I had ever seen, and her hair was a beautiful silver.
"You are in the spirit world," she said, looking at me as though she could see. "It is a place of limbo for souls who have unfinished business. You were sent here for a reason; there is a world that needs your help."
I looked down in sadness but with a sense of accomplishment that I didn't think I deserved. It seemed like Brice's journey was just about to begin, just like Jim had said. Then Brice's voice piped up again.
"World that needs my help? All I remember is that a person I thought was a friend pushed me in front of a truck...Am I dead?" He asked slowly, clearly afraid of what might come next.
"Yes," The woman nodded, her face solemn. "But that is something you will have to carry with you into the next life; learn from your mistakes, and grow. Now come, there is still much that needs to be done before you can move on and be free of this place."
She waved her arm, and the darkness around us was blown away, but so was I.
Then I was sitting in the room with a smiling Jim sitting in front of me.
"First kill of the day! Man, that always feels good to have such a smooth send-off! You even betrayed him! And I didn't even have to tell you to do it!" Jim laughed hysterically. "Guy helps you out, and what do you do? Push him in front of a moving truck?! Priceless! Oh, man! You really are something, aren't you?"
I just stared at him, not understanding why he had sent me to do this in the first place. But then I remembered what the woman said about there being a world that needed his help that made everything click into place. This was how it was meant to be.
Jim winked at me and then clapped his hands together. "Let's go, Halberd! We have more people to kill and more worlds to save!"
"Wait, Wait, Wait!" I snapped, and Jim lifted an eyebrow. "What about my pay? And do I not get any breaks?!"