Etherbound

On a tranquil and cloudless hot summer afternoon, the sun was shining, birds fluttered happily in the air, singing songs that filled the surroundings with a beautiful white noise. In the middle of this wonderful, almost fantastical day, Rayna was tinkering with a gadget. She smiled with her eyes closed, laying back on her chair to appreciate the sun's heat along with the sounds of animals around her. The gadget she was working on resembled that of a firearm.

"Ahhhhhh, almost done. Only one more thing and I'll be popping heads left, right, and center. I need to add a hammer, and I'll be... OH COME ON-"

Suddenly, the once peaceful weekend afternoon erupted into a blazing inferno of hot gas and fire, leaving behind nothing but smoke and ashes… That, and a very crippled Rayna.

coughs.

"Damn, that was one hell of an explosion. I'm shocked I didn't feel anything. I swear that should have killed me... anyhow, it's time to start fixing this mess before Dad gets home."

Rayna coils at the thought, knowing the whooping she'd receive from her dad would rival that of the pain she should have felt from the explosion.

Opening her eyes, she's met by an undefinable white void and collapses, realizing that she's no longer on her porch.

"W-what, where, h-how, WHY?"

She appears to be in heaven!! Or maybe somewhere in between heaven and hell. With her not being the best of souls when she was alive, the possibility of her being somewhere in between wasn't so far fetched.

Suddenly, a golden light, outshining the white void, appears above her, and slowly, a small girl hovers down to her, with hair so black it looks like the void of space and flows like water in a calm stream down a mountainside. Her skin appeared to glow, even with her dark complexion. In absolute awe at this being's appearance, Rayna blurts out.

"I must be in a dream because there's absolutely no way this can be real."

The beautiful small being replies to her with a voice that could cause even the fussiest of babies to calm.

"Don't worry, your mortal eyes aren't deceiving you; I am the goddess Rethrea. I am here to escort you-"

Rayna, still in shock, interrupts, amazed at the situation that she's found herself in.

"A goddess?, No offense ma'am you look more like a 10-year-old child than a god,"

Rethrea, taken aback by this sly remark and breaks character.

"TEN-YEAR-OLD!!! How dare you compare me to a mere CHILD? I HAVE LIVED FAR LONGER THAN YOUR PITIFUL CIVILIZATION HAS BEEN AROUND!!"

Rayna, a bit bewildered at the goddesses' loss of composer. attempts to explain herself.

 "Sorry Miss Rethrea, I didn't mean to offend you, I swear! you just look, really young for someone of your status. But if it's not out of my place, what god are you "

The goddess, now feeling that she's been recognized answers enthusiastically 

"I the Goddess Rethrea, am the God of judgment and Reincarnation, and YOU mortal, lucky i even showed myself to you. "

Rayna looks up and down to get a good look at this supposed god and comes up with an idea. With a smile, she proposes a way to prove her claim.

"If you're a quote-on-quote goddess, can ya bring me to a new world, OH with all my memories intact!"

Rethrea ponders this idea. And with her arms crossed and head held high retorts.

"Why would I? The 'Goddess of Reincarnation and Judgment', bring a 19-year-old, who to be honest, is quite a questionable person, to another world and, on top of THAT, with your memories attached?"

Rayna, silenced by this, gets a little disheartened but still eager to get her way, stands her ground.

"Well, you make a good point. I may not be the best of people, but regardless of that fact, I still deserve this chance. My life was cut short, and I'm pretty sure that the explosion wasn't natural. The chemicals I was using couldn't even get close to producing such a blast."

Feeling a bit guilty, Rethrea lowers her head.

"What are you talking about? Are you trying to accuse me, a god of judgment, to have something to do with your death?"

Rayna, still convinced that there was some type of other worldly influence with her death, simply stares back. After a few seconds of pure silence, Rethrea reluctantly drops her facade.

"Fine, I haven't been completely honest with you." She pauses, trying to swallow her pride.

Rayna squints her eyes.

"Elaborate."

Fiddling with her fingers and looking quite embarrassed, Rethrea finally admits,

"I may have been the cause of your death—dealing with my other... clients."

Rayna yells,

"I KNEW IT! BECAUSE THAT EXPLOSION WAS WAYYYYYYYY TOO BIG FOR A POCKET ROCKET!! but I guess it can't be helped, people tend to mess up when they're fresh out of the box."

Visibly embarrassed Rethrea continues, "Moving on, you can bring three things with you to the other world, so choose wisely," 

Rayna is thinking about what exactly she wants to bring, and after about five minutes, she finds the three perfect things to take with her.

She asks,

"Hey, goddess. I think I know three things that I want to bring or, to be specific, three people."

The goddess's face turns serious.

" I think you might be overstepping some boundaries. The fact that you want to bring three LIVING beings with you, purely because you don't want to be alone, is quite sick."

Rayna looks down and reflects on what the goddess said. With a smile, Rayna replies,

"Do you honestly think I'm afraid to be alone? I'm bringing these guys with me because I know they'd love this. trust me, we've talked about this possibility for hours. I'm doing them a favor by bringing them along."

Rethrea shakes her head.

"What a selfish mindset. However, I will grant your wish. but remember, your friends will leave their world forever, their hopes for the future, their relationships all taken away from them because you simply want to have fun with your best friends." "Are you still OK with that?"

Rayna thinks about this, debating if this is something that she should actually do. but a flash of memories of her and the gang talking about their potential fun in a fantastical world solidifies her choice and she nods,

Rethrea sighs, "Alright, then who are the souls that you're dragging with you?"

Sparkly-eyed Rayna replies, "Logan, Hailey, and Rein! Those are the three people I want to bring!"

Shaking her head, Rethrea reluctantly draws her summoning circle. It almost resembles something out of an anime to Rayna's excitement . Glowing a golden light, the summoning circle multiplies into the air.

meanwhile

Logan,the chubby tall black guy, was currently on a date with Makaia. They already played Smash and a while later Logan asked her to go out. During this date, he was planning to lean in for a kiss. He'd been trying to find the perfect scenario in his head for the past few hours.

"Alright, this is the day," Logan thrusts in the air in his head, "this is the day that I kiss Makaia!!"

He had been trying to get with her for years and the fact he finally mustered up the courage to ask her out on this date made him hella happy. After the basically perfect date, Logan had one thing and one thing only left to do, and that was to kiss her. He waited for the day to hit the perfect romantic hour in the perfect setting. A mountain view point that captured the sun and the surrounding hilltops perfectly. Staring into the now-setting sun, he turns towards Makaia and she does the same. Logan brushes the hair covering her face and tucks it gently behind her ear. Makaia looks down, unable to make eye contact. Logan brings her closer, his hands now around her waist, their bodies pressed against each other so close he could feel her heartbeat pounding against his chest, Logan lifts her chin, brings their eyes together again, At that moment, he falls even deeper in love with the stunning woman standing in front of him. Her eyes seemed to sparkle like stars on a summer night. Her smooth hair glistened as if it were made out of obsidian.

Los, lost in her beauty, slips out "Makaia… You look absolutely stunning."

He softly placed his hand on her cheek. Their eyes locked with each other,

"I love you, Makaia."

"I love you, too, Lo."

The two close their eyes and lean into each other, and like that, they kiss. overwhelmed by the feeling of love and connection his heart rate spikes, he falls clutching his chest. Makaia tries catching him before he hits the ground

Panicked, she yells out, "OMG, LOGAN WHATS WRONG!"

Struggling to talk back Logan grabs her hand, trying to put on a smile to give her some type of comfort, and very faintly say's, "it'll be okay, it's just a bit of heartburn I swear" a sharp pain shoots through his chest, Logan clenches his teeth trying hard not to show face.

 Makaia, not falling for his facade, pulls out her phone to call the police. Logan's hearing slowly fades no longer being able to hear even the faintest sounds 

Back in the light dimension

Logan is met with Rayna with a smile on her face. The emotions leave Logan's face, leaving him with a blank expression.

"Logan, you finally kissed her, Goodjob"

Ignoring the remark, Logan just stares at her. Not a word came out of his mouth. He looks around the new environment, sees the goddess and looks back at Rayna. He takes a deep breath and, in a frustrated tone, says, "Imma say this as calmly as possible. Where am I, Rayna?"

Afterwards, Hailey is spending time with her family. Hailey's mom gets up from the dinner table with a wine glass in hand.

"Family, I have an announcement! So as we all know, in the past Hailey has been a bit of a… slacker per se. But these two years she's really made up for himself, she took life seriously for once. She did what it took to make it through high school with a decent GPA. She spent hours on end studying and reviewing just so she could get all A's in her classes. I'm proud to say that. My daughter Hailey has gotten a full-ride scholarship to Georgia Tech!!!

Everyone jumps out of their chairs and raises their cups. The father comes up and pats Hailey on the back.

"That's my girl! I knew you would get somewhere."

Hailey smiles at this statement. Giving a nervous chuckle.

The night goes by swimmingly; everyone is stuffed and happy. Hailey is lying in bed basking in her efforts. She finally believes that her life has a purpose, an actual future. Imagining what was up to come, she thinks that it would be a nice time to reward herself. Getting out of bed, she heads to her mini-fridge to grab a soda. pops it open and takes a sip, but suddenly she feels dizzy and falls to the ground foaming from the mouth. Her brother walks into the room and finds Hailey laid back in her chair, foaming out of her mouth; instead of helping, he says with disgust, "lol that's a skill issue, MOM HAILEY'S FOAMING OUT THE MOUTH!!"leaving Hailey on the floor dead.

Opening her eyes, Hailey is blinded by the white void.

"Why is it so bright. hey bro mind turning it off for me, I'm trying to sle-" With her eyes finally adjusting to the light, she is faced with not his brother but her best friends Rayna and Logan, and with a shocked stare, she looks at her surroundings, confused on where she is, but before she has time to speak, Rein appears in front of them.

Rein, an average skinny black guy, is taking a late evening stroll walking down a beach when suddenly, a bunch of girls in bikinis jump all over his face. You would think that the impact of having 16 girls jump on him at the same time would be the cause of his death, but weirdly enough, no, it wasn't. The cause of his death, for some illogical and unknown reason, he started having the biggest erection ever, sucking up all of the blood in his body. Of course, since there wasn't any blood going to his brain, heart, lungs, or any body parts, he passed out. After suffering such gruesome deaths, the three of them woke up in this heavenly void where all you could see was just white, and with Rayna facing the three of them, and with excitement in her voice, Rayna announces, "Welcome to the New World, Dumbasses."