Of Ice, Death & Monsters

Day 3

Koschei was at work in his cavernous laboratory brewing the Belladonna upon a cauldron, muttering an ancient lullaby that Baba Yaga used to sing to him when he was small. It was soothing and yet haunting at the same time, like an old melody that has since faded from memory.

As he sang, he also wore one on his head as if he were a victor in some kind of sport.

Meanwhile, Jane, Charlie, and Samantha all began to dig their graves, with Jane digging an extra one for Koschei.

“Going into the underworld… Who do you think is in it? Like, the people?” Charlie asked as she looked at both Samantha and Jane, the former of whom rested her head against the shovel.

“I heard of the idea from other nations, but they never really talked about it much in school. I guess we’re going to see all those who passed away in this Abyss hole. Maybe the monsters too? I just hope whoever is in made free internet service.”

Jane chuckled a little. “Now wouldn't that be the dream... But I’ve never really considered what exactly an afterlife would be like. I just thought if you died, that was it.”

Maybe, she could finally see her old friends. Those that Epithet took away, and the people that she couldn’t save. For a moment, she paused in her tracks, wondering what she would say to them, and what they would say to her.

“I just hope it’s peaceful, and nothing like it was in the land of the living. It should be where people go to rest, to not worry, to simply exist in peace.” Charlie finished shoveling as she sat by a rock, staring at her own grave, rubbing her dog tags.

"Luckily... From what Koschei had told us, it's exactly like that. I just hope there's no terrible people there." Samantha answered back as she stretched her arms.

“I wish everywhere could be like that.” Jane muttered under her breath as she and Samantha finished digging their graves.

"Wait..." Samantha pointed out as she leaned against the wall. "How do you think they all live together then? Like, if everyone who died is there, then, do you think the bad people just have their own places? Like, do they get put in the spots where the sun shines really brightly all the time? Or the grass is just too hard and they feel an itch?"

"Eternal discomfort?" Jane raised her eyebrows with a scoff. "Just put me in the Abyss, rather feel nothing at all than that."

"Maybe they're judged, and if they lived a terrible life, they get forcefully reincarnated to try again." Charlie offered up as the other two girls nodded to the idea.

"Huh, yeah, I like that way better than eternal discomfort." Samantha added with a grin, placing the shovel onto a table.

"I think I heard that before..." Jane turned to Charlie. "Where did you get that idea?"

"Damachi. I think that's one of their ideas for an afterlife."

"Huh... Hopefully, that's what it would be here too."

It was around that time when Koschei finally returned, holding a small woven basket filled with four bottles full of a deep purple liquid and three Chrysanthemum laurels.

“It is time to begin the journey. Are you all ready? Do you have any more questions?”

Jane quickly asked. “So, what happens to our bodies? And also our items? Do we just appear naked in the underworld?”

“Usually when one dies, their soul flows downward to the Nawia alone, or if they have unfinished business, they remain here, tethered as ghouls or even birds. However, this Ritual shall burn you all much like on your ship, ensuring you and everything you wear shall fall into the Nawia.”

He then went to place the basket on a nearby table as the flames of the altar exploded into view, causing Charlie to instinctively back away and Samantha to jump in surprise.

“Once we find the opening to our destination, we shall simply enter and appear on the other side as if nothing ever happened to us, our bodies returning to physical form.”

“Sounds simple enough.” Jane said as she grabbed and passed the laurels to Charlie and Samantha.

“Huh, look at that. I’m a princess now.” Samantha said with a grin as she adorned herself with the laurel, twirling around and performing a faux bow.

Charlie rolled her eyes and simply wore the laurel on her head.

“Yes, we’re all princesses now~” Jane said with a big grin on her face before turning to Koschei.

“It’s poison drinking time, right?” She asked while grabbing the potions from the basket, handing them out to the other two girls as they studied the purple colored liquid that seemed almost like a dark wine of some sort.

Koschei himself grabbed the final potion bottle and nodded. “Well, first we all lie within our graves.” He demonstrated by lying down within the ditch that Jane had made as if he were about to sleep.

The rest followed, each of them used to their own version of a death mission. Jane was the most ready, making herself comfortable, and second was Charlie, who sighed, taking a deep breath to prepare herself. Samantha was the most uncomfortable, constantly shifting in her grave as she looked around as if she was in some sort of prank show, waiting for the joke that would never come.

Each of them grabbed their potions, uncorking them. They all preemptively took a sniff, finding that it smelled quite sweet and relaxing for something that was supposed to kill them.

Koschei waved his hands again, and the flames danced around the group, slowly encroaching upon their bodies as if it were a wild fire. “Now, as we planned, let us commence forth, into the great beyond!”

All at once, they drank the poison in one gulp, quickly lying in their graves as they all started to feel a little delirious.

Jane’s vision grew hazy as she felt her heart beat slowly. It felt like her body was burning up, as her brain pounded against her head. She felt her stomach churn and her skin ache, yet she couldn’t move her body in the slightest.

The flames encroached on her, and she saw the faces within them flicker in and out of her vision, moaning and gasping for air, molding their visage into familiar forms.

She saw herself burning alive on the boat; in fact, she could feel that very same pain again, like needles piercing her body. Her skin peeling, charring as smoke filled the air from her burning flesh.

No screams escaped her mouth, for her throat constricted. Pain overwhelmed her, and everything turned black as death embraced her once more, welcoming her back into its grip.

For a few moments, she felt nothing, could see nothing, could hear nothing, or taste nothing. It was simply a void that consumed all her thoughts and feelings, leaving nothing behind.

Until that was, she saw a fire in the distance. A fire that warmed her, a fire that grew, and a fire that blossomed through the darkness, enveloping the void in its flickering glow before dissipating.

In its place were rolling plains, a meadow-like paradise filled with small gardens that littered the area. In the center was a forest that seemed to call out to her, whispering and tempting her to get closer.

Then, her vision began to clear, and she rubbed her eyes as she saw the air shimmering. Suddenly, more structures began to take shape in her view, like a video game rendering.

She saw massive roots from the sky connected to the ground; they seemed to concentrate more around the forested part in the middle.

Jane then began to sober up a bit more, rubbing her face as she looked to see where exactly she was to get such a bird’s eye view.

“What… Where- huh?” She then faced the ground and to her sides, finding that she was essentially on a mountain range that completely encapsulated the paradise within it, akin to how a bowl contained soup.

Beyond it, the land was simply more rocky, embedded with the roots from the sky that extended beyond her vision.

“Welcome to the domain of the dead. Welcome to Nawia.” Koschei’s voice snapped Jane out of her stupor. She turned around and found him beside one of those giant roots alongside Charlie and Samantha, who were looking around, gobsmacked like Jane was.

“It’s… Beautiful.” Jane finally said aloud as she smiled, looking at the majesty of the place.

“Especially when compared to what it’s like upstairs.” Samantha remarked as she walked near one of the edges, looking beyond.

“Where are all the people? I suspected there would be more, but it looks like there’s just us.” Charlie narrowed her eyes as she scoured her surroundings as if a ranger trying to find their target.

“They are by the rolling hills below, beyond the river Smorodina.”

“By the river what?” Jane asked as she walked towards Samantha’s side to check out what Koschei meant.

It didn’t take long for her to find what he might have been talking about, for down below, all around the edges of paradise was a fiery red river that encircled and enclosed the Nawia. It flickered like flames and swirled like a typhoon.

“How are we going to get past that? Grow wings and fly?” Samantha asked, half sarcastically as she peered over the chasm.

“No, you wouldn’t be able to fly above it, the river isn’t just the flow of souls, you see below. The river is the storm of spirits that swirls all around Nawia. I will explain more as we descend. Come.”

He began to take a winding path down the mountain range as the rest of the girls followed him in suit. Charlie was constantly vigilant, checking their sides and their back, as if wary that someone would spring from nowhere.

Jane, meanwhile, started to notice the air begin to get a little damp, as if someone had started to set off the sprinkler system, spraying them with fine mists of water. “Does anyone else feel that? Is it raining?”

Samantha held out her hand as she saw fine droplets of fiery red water appear and disappear on her palm. “Yeah, kinda? It’s… drizzling almost.”

“Is this the whole storm of spirits thing? This rain? It doesn’t seem much of a storm…” Charlie said as she watched the raindrops disappear.

Koschei merely smiled as they began to get closer to the river. “Every drop of rain here is another being who has died in Galfania. They flow down to the Smorodina. Anyone who tries to fly over will inevitably be swept away by the storm and plunge into the river.”

“What happens if you enter it? And if each drop is another life, then how do they live in paradise?” Charlie asked with extreme concern in her voice as she frowned at the sight ahead of her.

“Do not fret, for their souls would coalesce into forms like ours, and they would be given the chance to cross the river properly using the Kalamov Bridge. The only known safe passageway through the river.”

He gestured ahead towards the bridge that seemingly manifested itself into their view. It seemed to be made of regular stone and was wide enough that, honestly, it could fit in a large farm.

There, they found hundreds of people slowly walking across the bridge as if they were in a parade.

“Wait a minute…” Jane muttered as she ran down the mountain, trying to get a better look at the situation before making out a few familiar faces throughout the crowd.

“They’re… They’re the survivors?! Well, not really surviving anymore, but they’re the ones who joined the expedition. It looks like there are hundreds of them.”

Her heart sank as she gripped her hands in determination and gritted her teeth in disgust. She remembered the ghoul’s faces; their haunting visages were a reminder of how many lives were lost. In fact, when she stared closer at the river, she could feel as if those faces were staring back at her again.

How many died before she could find and save them? How many were lost to the monsters in the darkness or the unforgiving cold? How many more shall never see the light of day again? How many will never see their family again?

Anger boiled over the surface as the remaining party began to notice the air start to visibly shake, and the fiery waters of the river began to churn.

“What’s happening? Is something coming out of the water?” Charlie called out as she backed away from the edge where Jane was close to.

“Hmm? What’s coming out of the water?” Jane leaned ahead, yet she didn’t see much as the churning slowly died down.

“That…” Sammy narrowed her eyes at that as she crouched down by the water. “What was that…”

Yet, before she could investigate further, a loud roar echoed through the Nawia, shaking the air as the group quickly stepped backwards and looked upwards, where they heard the noise.

That‘s when their eyes widened as Samantha nearly fell on her butt while Charlie froze in fear. Koschei, meanwhile, merely smiled as he looked upon the gigantic pitch black figure that landed in the middle of the bridge.

It was as big as a hill, with bat-like wings on its back so big they acted as shade for the people below. Its three elongated heads scoured the area as if looking for something, or rather, someone, as it approached the group. Their claws scraped against the bridge, like swords upon stone as it got closer.

Jane fell to her knees, accompanied by Koschei, Samantha, and Charlie, as they felt some kind of pressure exerted onto their bodies and minds from the sheer presence of the legendary beast in front of them:

A three-headed dragon.