Brady Tyson & The Two Little Liars

Chapter 12 - The Just God

As soon as my consciousness fades out, it starts to fade back in somewhere else. I'm not simply waking up, but rather experiencing the opposite of what it means to faint, as if it was happening in reverse. As my sense of self starts to piece itself together again I feel what may as well be my body come into being. Shortly after my senses activate again, and I find myself looking up to a golden sky. Not a sky turned yellow by the setting sun, but a sky in which every star that has ever, and will ever exist, shines through the clouds, paining the land in a warm glow.

A breeze flows gently through the air. It's not hot nor cold, but perfectly present, in such a way that allows me to comfortably ground myself even further. It slides through the silvery grass that I come to realize that I'm laying on, and I sit up to watch it wind through the massive plain.

Over a hill in the distance I can hear what sounds to be the clash of metal, but also jovial laughter that rings out across the land. I stand and start to set out towards it, but as I take a step an enthusiastic roar erupts behind me. I whirl about on my heel, but I can't see where the sound came from over the top of the hill I was resting on. Instead, a massive tree stands at the peak of it, bronze colored bark stretching high into the air, with leaves of gold swaying gently from the branches.

At the base of the tree stands a man. His skin is only slightly darker than mine, but his eyes have the exact same unusual green hue that mine do. Light, grey robes swirl downwards from his shoulders to his bare feet, and he strokes a long grey beard with his left hand. His right hand does nothing, as it does not exist. From the base of the bicep, his arm is missing, but the flesh at the stump has long since closed in a jagged, unnatural manner.

We stare at each other for a long while, but when his hand combs through his beard for the twentieth time, I figure he must be waiting for me to speak first.

"Um," I begin, and his hand pauses at his chin; "Is there anywhere around here that I can get some clothes?"

Our long silence has made me realize that I'm wearing nothing aside from the violet hat that Mr. Argyros gave me all those years ago. I asked the question not out of shame, and not because I feel that the man will gawk at my unnatural body, but because it's simply not that stylish to walk around in just a hat.

The man takes another moment of silence, then lets out a deep, kindly laugh. He removes his hand from his beard, and with a snap of his fingers robes similar to his appear in the air, settling softly around my body.

"...Thanks."

"You're welcome, Brady." His voice is deep, and it seems like it comes from all around me, reverberating throughout my mind.

"You're Týr, aren't you?" I ask the simple question.

"Yes, I am."

"And where are we?"

"Where do you think we are, my child?"

I look around the silver fields and the golden sky again. The tree the man leans on sways slightly.

"Is this the afterlife?"

"The afterlife, is it?" His hand goes back to stroking his beard. "I suppose that depends on what you believe the afterlife is."

"Can't you just give a straight answer?" I snap at him, but immediately feel bad about it.

"Be at ease, Brady. Even the most eager mind will never be able to come upon the deepest answers."

"Sorry."

"Worry not. Not many of those who hail from Midgard are able to maintain their composure upon seeing the beauty of this land for the first time." He talks in a slow, rhythmic manner. It's a cadence that has a nature of disarming the listener... I've only ever heard something similar from Mr. Argyros before. "Let us just say... this is a place in which you can forget your mortal troubles, if only for a short while."