Author's POV
[Does the story end here? Is this the epilogue?]
[Evil won? Good was defeated?]
[The prophecy failed? The chosen one fell before meeting his nemesis?]
[Do you think I am kidding, and Victor survived? I can say with absolute certainty that he died in the battle for Springfield Beach.]
[If you think a man hacked into two halves can come back to life, you've been reading too many fantasy stories]
[You don't believe me? Let's read the chapter to confirm the fact.]
***
The ground was flush with freshly cut grass dappled with dew. Daylight was receding, and it was hard to tell whether the sun was rising or setting.
A teenager lay on the grass in deep slumber as a warm breeze flowed down the meadow. It was pleasant, but not for long.
The sun gradually dipped below the horizon. It could now be conclusively said it was evening. With dramatic rustling and crackling, hedges rose around the boy to form natural alleys. Larks and owls began singing their cacophony in the dark.
The teenager's eyes fluttered open. He found himself lying on the velvety grass, overlooking a darkening sky. "Where am I?" he wondered aloud. "What is this place?"
Apprehension touched the boy's mind. He had to go back. But where? The last thing he remembered was… It was… What was it? Argh! He couldn't remember!
"Am I dead? Is this hell?" the teenager wondered aloud.
"You're definitely not in hell," a feminine voice floated down the alley.
The boy sat up to see a beautiful girl in a frilly white dress approaching him. She had strawberry-blonde hair and sported an angelic smile.
"Who are you? Where is this place?"
"You can call me Eve," the beauty said, offering him a helping hand to get up. The boy accepted the gesture and struggled to his feet.
"Eve… Please, can you tell me where we are?"
The girl bit her lip, thinking hard. "Well… There's no official name for this place… But I call it the Garden of Prophecies. Sounds cool, right?"
"The garden of prophecies? In which city?" Eve responded with a blank look as if he had said something nonsensical.
"Stay here. Let me find a way out." The teenager sprinted down the path and made a few turns. He ran for ten minutes, trying to find a way out. Ultimately, he realized the hedges formed a closed maze. He stopped to catch his breath.
"Are you satisfied with your exploration?" a female voice asked.
The boy spun sharply to see Eve standing behind him. "How did you follow me so fast?" he blurted out. "I didn't see you catch up!"
The girl threw her hair back with a regal attitude. "I've lived here for a long time. So I know the… Shortcuts."
The teenager pursed his lips. "Can you stop with the cryptic language? Tell me now what place this is! It's driving me crazy!"
Eve smiled at him warmly. "Fine. Let me fill you in since it's your first time in the garden. But promise me you won't panic…"
"I won't… I promise."
The girl approached a hedge and plucked a white flower. "Since you are here, it means you are dead."
The teenager's face darkened. Even though he had figured it out, it was still startling to hear it said aloud. "Okay… So am I in heaven or hell?"
Eve pouted at him. "No, dummy! I already told you! It's the Garden of Prophecies!"
"I don't know what that means!"
"Hmm. I understand your frustration. But don't expect a manual or map from me. I know very little about its origin or purpose."
"Do all humans come here after death?"
Eve giggled. "Of course not. As the name conveys literally, it is a place for those whose names are spoken in prophecies. Since you were sent to this garden after death, it means you were part of a prophecy."
While the boy looked more confused than earlier, she handed him the plucked flower. "Take a whiff. It will help you remember."
The boy did as he was told. The white flower had a unique mixed smell, like bundled memories.
"I remember now… The prophecy… The Peerless Man With A Thousand Gifts. That's me!"
" Good!"
"Are you part of a prophecy, too?"
"Yes. I am called Eve of A Thousand Wakes."
The teenager nodded and smelled the flower again. A spate of memories flooded into his mind. He slowly knelt on the grass as realization, bundled with depression, shadowed him.
"My name is Victor Damone," he muttered defeatedly. "I died before fulfilling my prophecy. My friends, followers, everyone who depended on me… I let them down."
Eve stepped forward and hugged his face against her chest. "I'm so sorry, Victor! Please don't be sad!"
Victor looked up into the beauty's eyes. "Your name… Eve… It is biblical, isn't it?"
The girl rolled her eyes and shrugged. "Maybe it is… But I don't want to talk about it…"
"Alright. I won't dig into it further. But can you help me? Is it possible for me to come back to life in the real world?"
Eve's smile drooped. "Finally, I got a friend, but he wants to leave me immediately?! Do I have a terrible personality?"
Victor got to his feet and shook his head lightly. "Actually, you are quite pretty. If it was the real world, and we weren't teenagers, I would definitely ask you out on a date."
Eve's eyes sparkled in delight. "Really?"
"Yes. Unfortunately, I am a grownup, and people in the real world need my help. And I, in turn, need yours. So I ask you again… Will you help me, please?"
Eve rubbed her chin playfully. "Fine. But I have a condition."
"Anything." All he wanted was to get back to the battlefield.
"There's a woman in your world named Ashley Palmer. You'll meet her in the future. Your task is to impregnate her."
Victor stepped back in bewilderment. "Wait, what-"
"My condition is not negotiable," Eve cut him off, pouting.
The boy sighed. He'd do anything to escape from his teenage self in a dreary metaphysical world.
"Alright. I agree to the condition. Doesn't sound like much of a laborious task, though."
Eve's lips curled into a devilish smirk. "You have no idea…. Anyway, stand still... Let me look into your destiny."
Victor stood in attention as the girl stepped towards him. She placed a hand on his cheek and looked into his dark eyes.
"I can send you back, but you died, remember? You'll have to do something about that."
Victor furrowed his brows. "I think being dead is the problem I want you to solve. How am I supposed to fix that?"
Eve peered into the boy's eyes and smiled. "Nobody is innocent, Victor. Neither are you. Everyone assumes they are good. That their habits, thoughts, and abilities are virtuous. I hate hypocrisy."
"Is this the best time for teaching me philosophy?"
Eve shook her head. "You are a bit slow for someone called the Peerless Man."
"What do you mean?"
"You are the Peerless Man With A Thousand Gifts, yes? But are your powers and abilities really gifts? I don't think so."
"If they aren't gifts, then what are they actually?"
Eve's voice thickened a bit when she answered. "Curses. You are burdened with them until you fulfill the prophecy. Are you familiar with all of your thousand curses, Victor?"
The boy shook his head. "No. I discovered them accidentally over the years. Right now, I can use about eighty-nine of them."
"Hmm. But you have just discovered the most powerful curse... Your heaviest burden."
"Please stop being cryptic and tell me what it is…!"
Eve stepped forward and kissed him lightly on the lips. "A kiss to seal a deal. A death to give a life. Victor… Your most heinous curse is that YOU AREN'T ALLOWED TO DIE."
"I still don't understand what you're talking about, Eve!"
The ground shook violently, and a crack appeared beneath Victor's feet. With a thunderous roar, a bottomless hole of darkness opened under him, and he stumbled back into it.
"Do it, Victor!" Eve hollered down as the portal closed. "Refuse to die!"
***
AUTHOR'S NOTE:
Ashley Palmer is the main character of my other novel, Eve Of A Thousand Wakes. But you don't need to read that story to understand her upcoming role in this novel.