Have you ever been in a waiting room so utterly void of any descriptors that you could legally call waiting in it torture? That’s where I was. Boring wooden chairs stood meekly next to me with their light brown cushions sitting atop of them. Across me was a marble desk with a very bland man sitting behind it. His blonde hair was slicked back so tightly it seemed as though it was causing his hairline to recede. His manila colored suit and tie matched the wall perfectly.

He spoke with the voice of a tax lawyer who had given up on life, "she’s ready to see you know." He motioned to the door beside the desk that hadn’t been there earlier.

I stood up from my chair and walked through the door. The room it led to was godly, it went on for years. As in it would have taken years to reach the vanishing point, and even then I somehow knew it went on for longer than even that. I looked at the ceiling and saw it was also unimaginably tall. My eyes followed the equally gigantic filing cabinets that hugged the walls. I moved my eyes to see what was ahead of me. A metal desk with a lamp on it had papers tossed about on top of it.

An amorphous mass sat behind the desk. Quickly, the mass took the form of a woman. Her body was made of an unforgiving darkness, with specs of far off galaxies and stars being birthed randomly strewn across it. Beautifully vibrant clouds of cosmic dust drifting through lightyears of space created the illusion of shadows to emphasize her non-existent facial features. Long tendrils of light stretched from atop her head to create something that you could call hair. Her suite was made of cotton.

She was beautiful, like looking up at the sky during the perfect summer night. A chair appeared as she motioned in front of her. I walked a few steps and took my place.

She folded her hands together and leaned forward, "don’t panic, but to put it gently, you’re dying." She had no mouth to speak with but somehow she managed to have a soothing voice.

"I’m dead?" I asked.

"No, not dead. Dying, there’s a difference."

I had no desire to learn what the difference was, I had only one thought when I realized I was dead.

"You’re not dead," she said in reference to me as I currently recall this, not to me back then.

I asked her, "Is Mallory okay?"

Tendrils of light formed an eyebrow that she then raised, "she’s fine no need to worry about her, not yet anyway."

"What do you mean by yet?"

"I’ll tell you in a few pages,’ she leaned forward again. "But before I do that, don’t you have any questions for me?"

"Pages?" I asked.

"Not that question! Any questions pertaining to anything else?" She sat up in her chair, motioning toward the endless expanse that was the room..

"Oh, um. Where am I?"

In spite of her lack of lips I could feel her smile.

"You’re in my office!"

"Why?"

"Because you’re dying! Well, mostly because of that. Normally we wouldn’t be having a conversation here, but I needed to get a few forms for your file, so might as well talk here."

There were thousands of questions I could have asked, however Mallory still had me worried, which limited my brain’s ability to think. I managed to come up with the simplest question I could.

"Who are you?"

She smiled once again, "I go by countless names, in countless languages, many of which are beyond your current understanding. Some call-"

"I don’t care about all of this cryptic nonsense, just tell me who you are." I folded my arms as I grew more and more annoyed as the seconds went by.

The being let out a deep sigh, "I knew you were going to be a little shit, but I still decided to try."

Guilt hit my heart like a pipe to my skull. I unfolded my arms and said, "I’m sorry, it’s just not really my thing."

She ignored my statement and continued, "I am The Knowledge!"

Having only a faint memory of something called The knowledge made me ask the only question I cared to know the answer to. "Does that mean you can send me back to Mallory?"

"I could, but I won’t."

"Why not?" I grew angry. I needed to get back to Mallory, maybe I could save her.

"Your soul will return to your body regardless if I send you back myself or not."

"Please just explain," I whined.

"That ring that you put on is special. It doesn’t necessarily make you special, but it is important. It’s part of a very long and often bloody history."

"Have people fought over this?" I asked, raising my hands to show her the ring. I tried focusing on it but it seemed blurry, and almost as though it was being slightly elongated in all directions. That’s when I realized that my entire being did the same.

"Over that one? No, me no. There are countless other jewelry like this, no one would fight over this one specific ring."

"What makes it special then?" I asked.

"It’s a blacksmith weapon! Meaning you can do some pretty cool things with it."

"Like what?"

"If I tell you it won’t be as fun as you finding out for yourself." She sat back in her chair.

I stayed quiet for a moment, thinking of the perfect question to ask. Looking down I could see the floor would flicker between linoleum tile and some state of matter unknown to science.

The lack of facial features on The Knowledge didn’t prevent her from forming a curious look.

I elected to ignore the floor and ask a question anyone in my situation would ask, "so, what’s the true religion?" The moment I asked the top of my skull began to ache. I thought I had made some kind of mistake by asking that and was now being punished.

"Oh looks like you’re about to go back," she held out a few papers. "sign these too please." The knowledge handed me even more papers, "then initials here and here, and wherever there’s a dotted X."

Through the pain I penned my name onto the papers.

She continued to speak as I signed, "when you return it may be a little jarring, but it’ll pass. If I were you, I would start worrying about Mallory again as soon as I returned.."

I stopped signing, "what? Why?"

"We she’s still in danger. You could easily help her, that’s up to you, though."

I finished signing and handed her the papers.

"Before you go back. Try not to die again. I can’t guarantee that you’ll always get this aspect of me."

I couldn’t be bothered to ask because I was wondering what I had just signed, "what did I just sign?"

"Just some paperwork that I need for your file. Basically acknowledging you understand."

"Understand what?" I asked.

"Oh! That you’re immortal now!"

"What?"

She waved her hand at me, essentially brushing off my question. "I’m sure you’ll figure it out. Mallory is quite clever, you can ask her for help. Regardless, try your best not to get any fatal injuries."

The pain in my skull extended to my jaw. Suddenly I could feel something cold and metallic going through my head.

My soul rubber banded back into my body and I was alive again. In complete pain, dizzy and on the brink of vomiting, but alive. My vision returned and the first thing I saw was the Scarred Man holding Mallory yet again.

I have to stop him. She said I can, I thought to myself. With that thought I grabbed the pole with both my hands and slid my skull off it. Falling to my knees hurt my ego more than my knees themselves. I hadn’t breathed until the moment I was able to stand on my feet.

I took a step toward Phillip, allowing me to see his body expand and contrast. His breathing was labored, but it was still a form of breathing. I was no vet but I was certain he would be fine.

I took a step toward the hill, mentally preparing myself for action that I was terrified of taking, and an adventure Mallory so desperately wanted.

Next Chapter: The Scarred Man