#theconstruct

Daily Writing Challenge 2021 Day 1 - Afterlife

The Construct’s designer wingtip boots clacked against the hard stone of Oribos’s Ring of Transference as he paced in circles. By this point in his journey, he had explored the available Afterlives, including The Maw, and while they all were fascinating in their own ways, he found himself...restless? Was that what this feeling was? Wanting more, but not being able to attain it? It was a feeling he experienced often, as if the world could not keep up with his curiosity. Now, not even the Shadowlands could.

Like a wild beast trapped in a cage.

The Brokers were of little help in answering his questions regarding other realms. Their knowledge came with a price, and The Construct was not adept at unintentionally swaying energy beings...yet. As with everything, it was a constant work in progress and harming or destroying them wouldn’t secure him their extensive knowledge, but instead probably gain him many enemies. That was not the objective of this particular expedition. 

The Brokers were able to move freely among the Afterlives, and previous conversations led him to believe that they were able to roam much more than what Azeroth’s occupants were allowed. But The Construct was unlike Azeroth’s typical occupants, wasn’t he? He didn’t need to follow the same rules, nor the same laws of the natural world; that much he had learned in his previous bouts of restlessness. Why couldn’t he navigate through the In-Between to explore new realms just as they did? He only had to believe he could do it, that seemed to be how things worked for him thus far.

He had been told of infinite Afterlives, a concept he couldn’t even fathom at the time; but the more he speculated, the more it made sense. This was not a place just for the inhabitants of his current timeline on Azeroth, this was meant for those from all corners of the universe within the infinite planes of existence. Life and death was so beautifully, but terribly vast.

He held onto those thoughts as icy eyes fluttered shut, pondering what the other realms may look like, what types of creatures, beings, and souls they may hold. Wondering if they too were in peril, and why they were not a part of this collective effort to stop something that must be affecting them as well. He thought of sandy beaches and deserts, cascading mountains and choppy seas, and never-ending fields of…

Eyes flew open as a sudden breeze kissed his cheeks, “...wildflowers.” His dulcet whisper was carried off into the wind as he turned in place, arms outstretched to graze his palms overtop of the brightly-colored, foreign flowers that spread out in every direction as far as the eye could see. Delicate footsteps carried him through the unfamiliar flora as his gaze drifted towards the sky, or what he assumed to be a sky. White wisps swirled around in irregular patterns set against the luminous light of whatever was up there. The longer The Construct observed, the more the frame of a massive flower became prevalent, constantly shifting its structure as if it were a living being. 

He was fully enraptured by the celestial phenomena, but a sudden jolt within his mind brought him back to where he previously had been wandering in Oribos. A nearby Broker watched him, clearly hesitant about approaching before eventually deciding to swiftly rejoin their Cartel. The Construct smiled to himself, and in tandem to his Master Gaebral, knowing fully well that he was the one to have retrieved his creation before any harm could befall him. 

Even the prettiest of flowers could carry the deadliest of poisons.

Had he done it? Had he just experienced another Afterlife? That was the assumption; whether or not he could duplicate the experience was another story. For now, his curiosity was sated and he had questions, or at least some information to trade.