A rugged man, seasoned by adventure.

It was the strangest thing; I had never actually seen myself. Of course, I’d seen my reflection in water and in the occasional mirror, but it wasn’t a perfect picture of my appearance. But this was. I had a strong, athletic build with long black hair and a lightly bearded chin. A spattering of silver hairs betrayed that I was in the third decade of my life before I perished, as well as a few wrinkles around the eyes.

If the occasional wandering glance of the ladies had told me anything, it was that I was considered at least reasonably handsome. Whores would say as much as well, but I supposed it was their job to say things like that. It wasn’t until Sylvi, the half-elven bard I fancied from this little party, had given me similar looks that it ever started to mean anything.

Sylvi. I smiled, at least I thought I did, at the memory. If there was a woman that I would have considered ending my career and retiring for, it was her. I had half a mind to ask her to adventure with me once this job was done, at the very least. I wondered if I could follow her now, just to watch over her and see what adventures she finds.

“I am afraid not, Valke of Dawnfall,” a voice called to me. Turning to face it revealed a figure walking out of the fortress and toward me. He was strange. Clad entirely in torn black robes with the hood drawn over a masked face. A pair of ragged black wings extended from his back and wrapped around his tall frame like a cloak of raven feathers. The mask he wore was made of silver, and while it was more polished at the top, the bottom was tarnished. Behind the gaps of the eyeholes was a pair of purple lights that were difficult to focus on.

I wondered if he was ****.

“I would be known to you by that title, yes.”

So, this was it, then. I was indeed a spirit and he had come to take me.

“Correct. That is not my only role, however,” he explained in a deep but ragged voice, “though I was cast out of the Realm of Celestia, it was to serve a specific purpose. I was once an angel of the fourth choir, a judgement. It is the duty of judgements to determine the destination of a soul.

“It is imperative that the souls of the sinful do not linger in this world, so those who bear the mark of selfishness at the expense of others’ well-being, I will quickly dispatch them to Abyssia without troubling the judgements of Celestia. However, there are people like you who must appear before them.”

I wondered if I would be destined for Abyssia as well.

“It is true, your path has been paved with the bodies of many creatures and people and painted with their blood. However, their murders were not always for your personal gain, and often their deaths were deserving. In addition, the fact that you died to save the life of another, a child, may heavily outweigh the carnage along your road to me. But that is precisely why I, alone, cannot and will not judge you. I shall leave it to my kin to decide.”

I wished to know if **** knew the future.

“I can see some of the paths laid before an individual, but I cannot easily predict their destinations. You are wondering about the girl, I believe she will live a long life because of you.”

I thought briefly about Sylvi, but ultimately decided I would rather not know. I would let her life be her own adventure. I only hoped that she would write a song in my honor and that she never forget it.

“This may be the final time you have clarity of mind. It is only because you are so close to your former flesh that you can think so clearly. Should you be destined for Abyssia, you will never have perfect clarity again, though if your destiny is for Celestia, you shall have another physical form granted to you. You must be prepared.”

Taking a glance back down at my warrior’s burial, I decided I was ready.

The figure of **** nodded, and suddenly everything changed. What I experienced during that time without flesh was difficult to explain. I was aware of my surroundings but lacked the ability to make any meaning or sense out of them. Events were out of order and out of focus, sentences spoken by others were jumbled and impossible to follow, and sights and sounds came to me both all at once and infinitely distant from each other. I had no idea of how much time had passed before the feeling had finally stopped.