A night sky stretched fully upon the dark, its stars shimmering endlessly like glitter around a lustrous moon. They cast their gentle light upon the expanse of flat, dry earth; at the center of which were small mounds of packed soil.
Amidst the mounds, laid a rectangular open pit churning with darkness. For a moment there was silence, and then a pair of eyes, glowing like hot amber opened, gazing captivatingly through the dark.
The eyes glowed from incandescent golden patterns blazing to life within their mud-brown depths. Intricate golden hexagonal patterns blossomed in dizzying arrays, like pieces of divine artworks, eerily beautiful; a horror artist's wetdream.
*Badum!* *Badum!*
Rainer's heart began beating, and he stirred; but ice seemed to flow in his veins as a deep numbness froze at his limbs.
He glanced around in the dark, striking eyes drawing golden streaks in the air that soon faded.
Surrounding him was caked soil and the thick, damp scent of humus. High above him, a near-rectangular view of a stunning night sky was visible.
Rainer opened his mouth to comment on it but a sudden coughing fit seized him.
He attempted to sit up, but his body felt as stiff as tree branches. Rainer couldn't help but let out an annoyed groan.
'Hells! This body has been dead for at least an hour! What was Era thinking when she sent me here?! Damn! My refusal to fight him surely made her furious!'
He tried to move again but groaned in agony.
At that moment, however, his body emitted a soft golden aura, and he felt the pain begin to dissipate. He could feel cosmic energy surging through his veins, bestowing a rejuvenating warmth as his joints grudgingly loosened.
He sighed in relief and laid back down.
'Hah~ The transmigration healing factor. A gimmick that activates every time I inhabit a recently deceased body. It restores the body to full health from whatever had caused its death... Unfortunately, Era ensured it only happened once, immediately after transmigration. Quite stingy on power, that girl.'
Rainer raised an arm and noticed that it felt significantly less rigid.
'Although this body doesn't seem too injured—given how long it has been dead, it might take a little while to recover from the effects of rigor mortis.'
He idly pondered this as the corners of his eyes tightened. Although he hadn't wanted to dwell on it too much, he felt that something was off about this place, like it wasn't meant for the living.
The aura of death was heavy here, and he didn't like it.
As a celestial entity with a cosmic soul, he was extremely sensitive to such metaphysical cues. Even though his powers were nearly nonexistent in his human form, detecting things like this had always been easy for him.
'Where am I exactly?'
He wondered, feeling the cool earth beneath his skin, and breathing in the scent of freshly dug soil.
'Ah. This feels kinda nice—'
Suddenly, a strange sense of déjà vu washed over him.
'Wait... the last time I felt this way was—oh! Yea! A few transmigrations back! When I was buried alive?! Oh shit! This is a grave!!!'
*Chik!* *Chuk!*
Suddenly, he heard the sounds of shoveling above, accompanied by muffled grunts. Soon a cascade of loose dirt fell onto his thighs, followed by another pair landing on his chest.
Rainer's eyes widened, and he cursed under his breath.
'Oi! Hold on! I just got here!'
With great effort, he rolled over and pushed himself up on all fours.
Stiffly, he crawled to the side and tried to pull himself up to his feet, but the dirt continued raining down. Suddenly, a clump of loose soil hit him in the face, causing him to fall to his knees as he blew sand out of his nostrils.
'Damn it all! If my throat didn't feel like a squeezed-out juice box, I would have given whoever was up there a grand scolding!'
Rainer felt like a grandpa babysitting nasty kids.
–––
A few moments earlier...
Two soldiers sat on the ground surrounded by mounds of packed soil symmetrically heaped across the landscape. The first was a youth in his early twenties, and the other was an older man in his thirties.
They were both garbed in the loricae hamatae; mail armor over green tunics. Their hobnailed sandals were caked with loam, and their brass gallic helmet lay at their sides.
The older man raised a piece of hard bread to his mouth and took a bite, chewing wildly; the contents of his mouth churning before the youth.
If the youth's expression hadn't been sour before, it definitely was now.
His brows furrowed.
"You shouldn't eat here, Cormac," He warned in a low, harsh tone, and his dark eyes swept intensely across the mounds of soil. "You might offend the spirits of the dead!"
At this, Cormac chuckled, throwing the last of his hard bread into his mouth.
"What is this, Kotys? Have you taken on the beliefs of Rome? How ironic! What?! Do you think the dead would break out and crawl toward us seeking vengeance?!" Cormac mocked.
However, as if sensing something, Kotys whipped his head around, inclining his ear toward the pit where they had just placed the dead slave.
"Hush! Cormac! I think I heard someone cough!"
Cormac trembled now, hardly able to contain his laughter.
He struggled to his feet.
"Haha! You never cease to amaze me, Kotys. Does your father know you're a coward?"
Kotys shot Cormac a hard glare, but he was unmoved and continued.
"The only ones here are you, me, and... him."
Cormac's expression turned uncertain as he gazed at a boy in a long white tunic walking toward them from their military camp.
He seemed to think of something, and at once, a wave of anxiety gripped him.
"Get up, Kotys! That's Lord Praefect's favorite slave! He's definitely here to spy on us since we are taking so long!"
Kotys leaped to his feet with an annoyed expression, muttering something under his breath as he moved to retrieve his shovel on the other side of the pit.
They quickly began shoveling soil down into the pit as the slave boy drew closer.
The boy's features soon became distinct.
He was a handsome—if not somewhat pretty teenager with a head of short, wavy, golden blond hair that paled under the moonlight.
His sea-blue eyes gleamed like gems, and judging by his unblemished fair skin along with the brightness of his tunic. It seemed apparent that he was well taken care of by his master.
The boy soon stopped and greeted the soldiers deferentially.
"Miles, please wait! Under permission from Domine, I have come to pay Charon's Obol."
He informed them, taking out a silver coin from his waist pouch.
Kotys had a surprised expression, and Cormac gasped, eyeing it with greed.
"A denarius!"
However, his attention was soon diverted when he felt a strong, cold grip around his ankle.
He frowned and looked over at Kotys with a perplexed expression.
On the other side of the pit stood Kotys, deathly pale as his eyes, wide with alarm, stared down toward Cormac's feet.
Cormac froze, and slowly looked down. What he saw horrified him to the core.
The dead slave they had tried to bury now clung to his ankle, using his leg as leverage to claw its way out of the unholy depths.
When it looked up at him, its eyes glowing with intricate golden patterns, captured his gaze hypnotically.
Cormac paled as his mouth widened in terror.