The Soul Collector

Prologue

I look at the girl, laid on the floor. Her purple hair glimmers as the sunlight filters through the window. Her body rests on cushions in the corner, her corner, her special place. Her lips are slightly parted from the last sigh to leave them. The eyes are glazed over; tear stains still on her cheeks. Her legs are sprawled. One leg had been previously propped up, but had fallen now. One arm rested gently across her stomach palm up, the other resting next to her face, fingertips pointed. The blade that made the cuts embedded in her writs, still held between her bloodied fingers. The blood had dried on her wrists, yet had poured out to form a sticky crimson halo around her body. Yet there was no place in heaven for this angel, and her sins purged from the evil lost in her sacrifice made her unwelcome in hell. The last spark had left her, her sorrows gone. Yet as I looked at this shadow of myself, I wondered: Why am I still here?

Chapter 1

80 YEARS LATER

I bent my head in respect of the memory in front of me. I'd been here often since i'd died. My body had been taken away, the floor cleaned, but as with all suicides the echo lingered on, visible only to the dead or those who wished to see. I'd follwed my body to the graveyard, watched myself be buried andheard the words of those who'd cared. Hurt by how few of my friends had attended my funeral, i was moved by the emotion of those who had. You canot imagine how strange it is to hear people talkabout your death. It was painful hearing the words of those i'd loved through their tears and heartache. I didn't stay long. I hadn't the chance. Moving suddenl from my spot at the foot of my grave, i had appeared in a place i'dnever seen before.
I stood in a room both cold and dark, painted red as the blood i had spilt. Containing only a chair in one corner, the place emanated evil. In the lone chair sat a man both pale and dark-eyed. He rose, his long black robes rustling as he walked. Extending an arm to me, he smiled and i glimpsed a star tattoo on the inside of his wrist, surrounded by five smaller stars. He spoke.
"Hello Kya, my name is Matthius; soul deliverer, dealer and destroyer. I am to be your employer."
I shook his icy cold hand and looked warily into his hardened face, my eyes following the scar that led from his mouth to his severe gaze.
"What the hell are you talking about?" I demanded.
"You, my dear," he replied quietly, "committed suicide, which is a sin. Sin in life, and your soul belongs to me."
He paced around me, like a lion surveying its prey, his hands together, fingertips touching his lips. He grinned.
"Any other sin would have been forgiven by God, but you took the most precious thing he ever gave you and destroyed it."
He indicated for me to sit in a chair that appeared silently beside me.
"I'll stand thanks." I growled.
Shrugging, he continued.
"You have the chance to regain your soul and enter the pearly gates of heaven, but as punishment for the life you took you must serve me for 100 years, collecting the souls of the newly dead and delivering them to their final destination; heaven or hell."
I smirked. Who was he to tell me what to do? I didn't know, nor did i care. I turned to leave, having had enough of being lorded over.
"DO NOT TURN FROM ME!" He screamed, pointing at me. I felt a pain forming in my head. I could not undertand how i could feel pain, being dead, but i could, and with every step it intensified until i was on my knees screaming in agony."
"Stop!" I gasped. It stopped instantly. "Why must i do this?" I cried "I don't want to spend the next 100 years here obeying your orders. I wanted to be free, for the pain to end." I sobbed.
"It will," He assured me as i got to my feet. "Eventually. But you made a sacrifice that wasn't yours to make, and it cost you more than you thought it would. You do have the ability to interact with humans and the living, yet i would not advise doing so. It can be painful."
"How can this be?" I whispered to myself. "I'm dead."
"Yes you are." He agreed, appearing by my side.
"How did you do that?" I gasped, jumping aside.
"I'm a warlock." He said simply, looking nonchalont. "I have certain powers, as do you. You may come and go in this world as you please, appear in on place, then another, heal the injured or quite the opposite, but you must serve me. You have no choice. It is the rules. Here is a place you can stay until i have need for you. Go rest" He said handing me a card. And he was gone.
I was left in the room alone. I left as fast as i could, and emerged into the bitter cold air of the night. It was strange. I could still feel, smell, sense things, yet it shouldn't have been so. It was difficult to comprehend. Sighing, i looked at the card i still had clasped in my hand, noticing it was only a few streets away from where my friend, Akana, lived.
I wondered if he would be able to see me, talk to me or if he would be horrified. I knew he'd spoken to the dead before, as i had, but we'd never imagined this. Hesitating for only a second, i shook my head and wandered in the direction of his home, praying that he would accept me, rather than run and hide from the person who had once been his closest frind and lover.