KAIN
THE BOAT SAT low in the water as it floated into the fog. Water splashed at the sides in an enthralling rhythm. Kharon pushed the boat along at a slow, steady pace until there was nothing but dark water and dense mist surrounding them.
Kain leaned back and closed his eyes. He missed Nivian… he missed life. There were things he’d never had the chance to do, and now, never would. How would his mom react? Did she know yet? His only solace there was that she had Holter in her life, so at least she wouldn’t be alone.
He opened his eyes and slammed his hands against the sides of the boat, gripping onto the frame. They were sideways. He hadn’t even felt when the boat started to list and continued to roll. They were almost completely capsized when he let go, surprised that gravity didn’t pull him down into the dark depths of the water. Kain looked to Kharon who continued as if nothing had changed. They sank, down, down, down, until the surface had disappeared.
The water never invaded their space, and the boat seemed to have it’s own gravity. Kain forced himself to calm, prying his fingers off the sides. He reached a hand out, almost touching the water before Kharon’s earlier warning came cashing to the forefront of his memory. He wasn’t about to take that risk.
Tilting his head back, he looked around. A light shone from the bottom of the riverbed, ripples danced along the pale shafts. It grew closer and closer until they surfaced, breaking through.
“What was that?” Kain asked. But Kharon ignored him, continuing on as if he hadn’t spoken.
The fog had dissipated revealing shore on either side of the wide river. A vast, cavern of red rock surrounded them in all directions. Rough landscapes of mountainous formations loomed off in the distance, menacing like rows of shark teeth.
A boat floated up alongside them with a soul sitting at the back, only he seemed unaware of his surroundings, staying silent and still with his eyes forward. Then another boat joined them, and another, and another until there were too many for Kain to count as they drifted past at a much faster speed.
All occupants were in the same trance like state. Though only Kain had… whatever Kharon was to steer his vessel.
The other boats turned and headed to the banks of the shore. Then, one by one, each soul stepped off and faded into nothing as they walked farther onto land.
“What is this place?” Kain asked, not expecting an answer.
“Welcome to purgatory,” Kharon said with a flourish of his arm.
Kain shot him an unamused glance. Surely, Purgatory didn’t deserve quite such a cheerful introduction, as if it were a theme park.
He turned back to eye the ferryman, thinking better of saying the things he wanted to say. Instead he asked, “Will I fade too when I get off this thing?”
“No,” Kharon said simply. “They are mortal, you are… something entirely different.” He eyed Kain up and down as if he couldn’t figure him out, then went back to pushing the boat through the water.
Kain slumped back where he sat. Behind them, the procession of boats continued on and on in an endless cycle. But ahead, the river came to an abrupt end. It didn’t pool into a lake, or become a waterfall, or run into the river across the thick swath of land… it just ended.
The bottom of the boat scraped against gravel as they arrived. Kain stood and jumped out onto solid ground. Nothing but the flat, barren shore stretch out to the foot of the mountains.
“So, do I just stand here and wait for someone else or do I have to guess what to do next?” he asked.
He hadn’t been dead long, but already he tired of it. He much preferred the rules governing the world of the living. At least those made sense.
Lack of gravity, impossible stone skies, and strange yet intriguing landscapes were not enough to hold his interest when he had to deal with being sent on some journey he already knew he would hate, which insisted on playing mind games and giving him riddles without answers.
He crossed his arms and waited.
Kharon stepped off the boat and closed the distance in two long strides. Kain took an involuntary step back.
“You must cross the rivers Acheron, Phlegethon, Styx, Cocytus, and Lethe.” Kharon lifted a hand and pointed a bony finger in Kain’s face in warning. “Do not deviate from your path until you reach the marsh at the end of the river Lethe.”
Kain started to turn toward the first river. It was wide but the waters were slow and calm.
“Each river requires a toll.”
Those words stopped Kain in his tracks. “More coins?”
“No. The river will decide what it will claim from you.”
Kharon’s words sent a chill slithering over Kain’s bones. What kind of rivers were these? What could be worse than being dead? “What happens if I don’t cross them all?”
“Then you will fade to nothing,” Kharon said, then pushed back his hood to look Kain in the eyes. “Don’t let the idea of fading fool you. It will be slow and painful, far worse than anything you will experience here, or have when you lived.”
“What if the price is too high?”
Kharon was silent for a long moment before he replied, “It will be.”
He walked back toward the small boat but stopped to look over his shoulder one last time. “There is no going back, so do not linger more than necessary or all will be lost.” And with that, he boarded the vessel and drifted away.
Kain rubbed the back of his neck.
Everything in him told him to fight this journey across the rivers, to turn back and find his way out of these caverns that seemed to have come straight from someone’s nightmare.
But he was dead. It wasn’t as if he had a choice in the matter. He’d told Nivian to cut his life thread, and Caspian hadn’t stopped her because he knew even his Hunter’s blood couldn’t heal him from Yeva’s hit.
He needed to move on to whatever afterlife awaited him regardless of the cost. Though without Nivian, and knowing she would never be able to join him, it held little appeal.
Maybe in time he would lose interest in his life and embrace what was to come. But he just couldn’t shake the feeling of the wrongness of being here.
Kain stepped into the water with one foot, then the other. It was cool, but not unbearably so. He scoffed. Kharon had probably fed him a load of bull, he hadn’t seemed to warm up to him any and the way he’d called him something else had sounded a little bitter. Either the ferryman hated him for whatever reason, or he was messing with him out of sheer boredom.
The water clung to his clothes, weighing him down, almost more than he’d expect was possible, making his movements sluggish. Each step grew heavier and heavier.
He paused in the middle when he was waist deep and panted. He wanted to rest but Kharon’s words echoed in his mind. Do not linger.
What did it matter though if he did? He couldn’t possibly fade that quickly.
And it wasn’t as if anyone was waiting for him on the other side. Even if they could somehow be there, he doubted his parents, Nivian, or any of the people who thought they were his friends would want to be.
He dropped his chin and blinked at his undulating reflection. The smile he’d worn in life was gone, but what was there to be happy about when you were dead?
A shape caught his eye and he looked deeper into the water, past the surface.
The ripples seemed to form faces. They danced in the waters, floating in and out of the shadows. But the more he focused on them, the harder they were to make out.
Kain’s foot caught on a rock and he stumbled forward, splashing up water and soaking the last remaining dry spots of his clothes.
“Great,” he muttered, his mood souring further.
A quiet hum surrounded him, like the moaning of the wind through the trees at night. Though no wind brushed against his skin.
The sky darkened as fog crawled toward him, slowly inching atop the river.
Kain looked around. Night? Was it even possible to sense the days passing in a world within a cave?
His energy drained, curving his spine and shoulders. Sleep pulled at the edges of his mind. He didn’t want to go on. He didn’t actually want anything anymore.
The water’s edge wasn’t far off now. Maybe he would let his clothes dry a little before moving on to the next. Soaking in the water like this made him feel like crap, and only made it clear that his life hadn’t actually been much better.
The moaning grew louder, grating on his ears.
God, he’d been naive in life, assuming most people actually liked him, when they probably didn’t feel more than tolerance for him.
Kain plopped down near the shore and sighed, letting the water sway him back and forth. The echoes of moans and cries were loud but fit the surroundings. It was a haunting song, full of sorrow and longing.
He was tempted just to lie down and rest on the muddy gravel shore. He just wanted to stop. Stop moving, stop caring, stop fighting… he just wanted to stop everything.
But as he leaned back, something tugged at his mind. Something deep, deep down inside of him. The river had calmed him, lulled him. He scanned his surroundings, but he couldn’t see or feel anything; that in and of itself wasn’t right. Perhaps it was that nothing was wrong that gave him the urge to get back up and move.
He had been worthless in his life, burdening everyone he cared about with his presence.
Nivian…
Even she’d made it more than clear that she wasn’t interested in him, but he pushed and pushed until she felt guilty and gave in to spending time with him.
He cringed inwardly.
Kain couldn’t find a reason to put into words as to why he should even bother.
Still, in spite of that, he stood on tired legs and left the river behind.