Life Review Ch. 00-01

"I don't do a thing!" Cassidy barked.

"Ahuh, sure. Mind reading girly-man choir, remember?" He chuckled. "If we follow your logic, you're having an existential argument with your own preconceived notions on what I, Death personified, am like."

"Ugh. You're hurting my brain!" Cassidy moaned. She'd clutch her head if she had a physical head to clutch. How does one attempt to grasp and physically comfort a metaphysical mind? She was doing the thing again. Fuck.

"Let me put this in the most simplistic way I can," Death-Faux-Shawn said in a strained voice. "You get to live whatever new kind of life you want. Whereever, whenever. Think of it like you won the lottery."

Cassidy pursed her lips. Well, she would have if she had lips, "So, would this just be like a really wonderful dream where everything goes right?"

"What? No! I said you get a new life, not that I'd give you your own personal nirvana. It takes the Buddhists and Hindus many cycles to achieve that. No, this is more like an extension. New world. New life. Understand?" Wow, Death was becoming temperamental. Who would have thought a cosmic power could get riled up?

"Look. Do you want this or not? I can go offer this to someone else..." Death-Faux-Shawn said suggestively, an air of hopefulness apparent in his voice.

"No, no. That sounds wonderful. Fantastic, even," Cassidy assured him. "I'm sorry, my brain is...well it doesn't really ever stop. I can't help it."

The darkness seemed to take a breath, holding it for a long while before slowly exhaling, "What world did you want to experience?"

Cassidy's mind quickly cycled through all the fun and wonderful adventures she had read about over the years. One of her favorites was a Stargate spin-off someone had written online, but Sci-fi and all that futurey techy stuff made her eyes glaze over. She thought back to last book she read, still sitting on her bedside table in her room.

"I always loved stories of adventure and magic. I know saying 'swords and sorcery' is really cliché, and I don't really care for how mainstream the whole Merlin and King Arthur thing went. You can read my mind, I'm not really good at saying what I think," Cassidy's voice was tinged with embracement.

She felt a whisper of wind blow through her mind as if her thoughts were a chime hanging from porch on an autumn afternoon. She wondered if she would ever have moments like that ever again, sitting with Shawn on the porch swing and talking about nothing at all until the stars twinkled into sight. Her thoughts were interrupted when Death-Faux-Shawn spoke, "I have a good idea of where you would like to go. I know of just the world. It's called Niverra. I can't tell you much more than that."

"Aw, why not?" Cassidy pouted, she was finding she was enjoying flustering the cosmic entity.

"That would ruin the adventure, wouldn't it?" Death-Faux-Shawn remarked, pointedly ignoring her previous thought.

"Mmm, I guess. So how will this all work? Do I get, like, a jump start on magical knowledge or like, a sentient sword that guides me on a grand quest?" Ew, mainstream Merlin again.

"To be frank, your mind isn't really compatible. You come from a world born of hard science and technology, case-in-point your cheeky attitude towards higher powers like me," Death-Faux-Shawn said flatly.

Cassidy ignored the barb, "So how do we get me compatible? It's not like I can go out and buy the newest Cassidy 2.0."

The darkness felt thoughtful, "You like video games. The information you receive will be organized and filtered through a 'program' I will install in your brain. You can't understand 'Magic' because you've never experienced it. Your new body will be physically capable to do whatever you wish. Think of it like a blank template. You are level 0 at this point."

"So, this is an RPG?" Cassidy asked skeptically.

"No. The world you will be living in is a fully functioning world all on its own. It's been there before you, and it will continue to be there after you. The program I will create for you will function like the menu screens in an RPG. Make sense?" A menu popped into existence before her. She could see a 3-D model of her body spinning in the left side of the window in the anatomical position.

Cassidy blinked in astonishment at the image, or, well, she would have if she had eyes. She felt Death begin to become agitated and she did her best to focus. Returning her attention back to the image, she marveled at her naked body. In life, she had been thin and sickly. Her skin never darkened more than pale, her blue eyes were unremarkable and listless. When she had any real hair to speak of, it was a faded tawny mess. She never considered herself attractive at all, no matter how hard Shawn tried to convince her otherwise. Hell, she would have died a virgin if Shawn hadn't taken pity on her. Tip for future rendezvous: No hospital beds.

Her new body was gorgeous in her eyes. She actually had curves! Fuck you cancer! She had deep blue eyes that reminded her of the artic sea, and her hair was still tawny but looked more vibrant and alive, like a forest cat. She always wondered what it would be like to have long hair, so she was looking forward to that. Her new locks hung down to the middle of her back and framed her face and covered her ears.

"I'm not an Elf, am I? I feel like Elves are overrated," Cassidy mused.

Death laughed. A God's honest laugh that sounded just like the real Shawn's full belly laugh, "Wow, someone finally said it. Playing devil's advocate, not all elves are self-righteous, pompous assholes. Humans are just as bad, if not worse."

"Touché, DFS, Touché," Cassidy nodded sagely. Well, she would if...fuck. She was doing the thing again.

"You're learning," Death-Faux-Shawn said in an amused tone. "Good."

Grumbling to herself, Cassidy returned her attention back to the menu. She saw her name at the top right, followed by an abbreviation for E.l, she guessed with was some sort of level system. Below that was a blank space with a stylized 'R' on the farthest right of the box, without the faintest idea what it meant, she moved on. She expected to see a series of arbitrary stat numbers, but was surprised to find just a big blank box, and a series of empty tabs.

"Kinda shitty GUI, DFS, what gives? Cassidy asked to the darkness.

"As I said, this isn't a game. You are only seeing a game menu to help your mind make sense of the new changes. Your body will have ingrained knowledge of whatever vocational class you choose: an acolyte, a brawler, or a hunter. Normal people train their pubescent years to develop those skills, but we've made an exception in your case. Anything else you want to achieve you must do under your own power," The menu changed to reflect a tab organizer. The tab highlighted was 'Vocations & Job Classes', three boxes with written titles formed a triangle in the middle of the empty box, "Which of the three basic vocations would you like to start out in?"

Cassidy considered her options, "Well, I'm assuming the titles are generic ones that encompass the general idea. Acolyte is a magic, Brawler is a close quarter fighter, and hunter is a ranger fighter, right?"

"That is the general summation, yes," Death-Faux-Shawn replied. "The base vocations are only the start. As you rank up and discover new things, new vocations will be open to you. For each rank you gain, your 'R' value will change. Again, I won't go into specifics, that's for you to find out. I'm just here to instill the absolute basic knowledge about your functions to you before you are set loose."

"So they represent basic principles..." Cassidy bit her lip, "alright, let's go big or go home. Assuming I'm not locked into just one base vocation, I can pick others as I encounter or train in them? If so, I'll start acolyte."

"You're going to jump head first into this, aren't you?" Death-Faux-Shawn chuckled.

"You're damn skippy," Cassidy chirped happily, "I got royally shafted in my previous life, I want to go HAM on my new one."

"Please don't talk like that when you get there. People have a general concept of language where you are going," Death-Faux-Shawn chided.

"Sorry, Mom. I'll try not to make you look bad," She rolled her eyes...DFS got the point.

The darkness in front of her began to swirl ominously. She felt her essence being pulled towards it, but she resisted. A single thought just occurred to her. DFS had been using Shawn's voice this entire time. She suddenly realized she wouldn't be able to hear it anymore ever again.

"Mr. Death," Cassidy said in a meek voice. She tried to convey her sadness into the void and felt it received.

"Yes, Cassidy?" Death-Faux-Shawn said in an equally quiet voice. She knew he understood her pain.

"Shawn," Cassidy breathed. She struggled to find words before she swallowed hard and said, "He made a promise to me. He swore that he'd always be there for me until the end."

"And he was, Cassidy," Death-Faux-Shawn said gently. The words almost felt like a caress on her cheek.

"But I'm not dead yet, right?" Cassidy said a little stronger.

"...Right," Death-Faux-Shawn said slowly, beginning to understand her intentions.

"We even have matching halves of the same symbol, a knot that ties us together," Cassidy continued hopefully.

"You want me to bring him here, to accompany you on your journey," Death-Faux-Shawn said in understanding.

"Could you...?" Cassidy asked quietly. "I know it's selfish...but I don't want to be alone. He's all I've ever had outside my family."

Death-Faux-Shawn sighed, "I know I shouldn't do this, but you are technically right. He did swear an oath to always be with you and be there for you. You are still alive, and you do still need him."

"Please?" She couldn't help the note of pure happiness in her voice. Shawn. Her best friend. He would be able to share a whole new life with her, like they should have been able to. They would be able to experience all of the new things the right way, together.

"Alright, but you're taking the blame for this. He is going to be royally pissed about this, and we both know it," Death-Faux-Shawn gripped.

Cassidy didn't care. She knew Shawn would get over it. She felt like she was floating on cloud nine. A lifetime with her best friend. She really had won the lottery. She still had the decency to feel guilty about taking him away from his current life, from Jenny and his family. It would only be for a few weeks in the real world, right? That's a small price to pay for this gift, wasn't it?

Cassidy grinned. She was so eager she would be bouncing off the walls if she had the form to do so. Then it occurred to her that she did, "Hey, DFS, Can I have my body now? Thought-expression is driving me nuts."

She felt the darkness tremble and then pop. Suddenly she had all of her senses back. She was still in complete darkness, or at least complete nothingness. She could see her own body though. She marveled at the sun kissed skin, silky hair, and long delicate finger nails untouched by stress biting. She traced her fingers along her full lips and heart shaped face, down her slender nose. For good measure she groped her curves, sighing in rapture when she felt the soft give of her breasts and hips, and the rigid planes of her core. She had never had so much muscle mass before.

She did a few experimental stretches and twists, trying to gauge her general limitations. Her body warmed and she felt her heart race as it pumped her strong muscles full of blood. She felt powerful.

"Calm down there, Cass," Death-Faux-Shawn cautioned, "Your body is fit and strong, but not more so than any other acolyte. You feel the way you do because you are so used to being so frail and weak. Shawn is still stronger than you by miles as he is now, even more so when his body is altered to accept a vocation of Niverra.

"Hush, you spoil sport. I know all of that. You have no idea how good it feels to be healthy! I'm so happy! Thank you so much for this opportunity!" Cassidy gushed.

"Well that sure took a solid one-eighty," Death-Faux-Shawn laughed, "Impetuous to grateful in three-point-five. The Elves could learn a thing or two from you."

"Watch it, buster," Cassidy growled.

Death chuckled to himself, the darkness around Cassidy seemed to ripple around her at the sound. When his laughter faded, she felt him begin to concentrate. It was a very strange thing in deed to feel an environment focus, it was like watching the inside of a kaleidoscope and having it watch you back. Cassidy made an effort to ignore the sensation as her mind began to balk at the sheer oddity and confusion of it.

There was another more violent 'pop' and she felt the darkness relax around her, "It's done. Now we wait."

Cassidy really did bounce in place then.

Chapter 1:

Three days in the car would wear on anyone. Shawn was not an exception. He was overjoyed and brimming with excitement now that the long awaited vacation to California had finally come. His girlfriend of five years, Guinevere 'Jenny' Terro, had supported him these last few years of Cassidy's life. The journey wasn't easy, their relationship had become strained at times and almost broke entirely at others. Still they persevered.

Shawn was an odd sort of broken. He had been prepared for years now of Cassidy's eventual death, but it was always a shadow in the corner of the room. With Cassidy in her final slumber, Shawn found himself struggling to fill all the time he had spent at his best friend's side. For days he had retreated into himself as the empty pit in his chest slow ate away at him. Jenny had understood that he needed his space. There was nothing for her to do. One of the biggest pieces of Shawn's life had suddenly vanished and the resulting void obliterated any balance he hadonce found.

In a way, this vacation with just the two of them was more about healing than adventure. Sure, they both felt the wanderlust; The caves and rocky slopes called to them like a siren song teasing all manner of things to discover and experience. More so than the adventure, it was a time for Jenny and Shawn to reconcile all of the fights and friction that his devotion to Cassidy had put between them.

For years Shawn had felt like he was being pulled in two different directions. His obligation to Cassidy and his desire for Jenny, and it wasn't until this past year after the two girls bit the bullet and made peace for his sake. The result was the best year of Shawn's life yet. Cassidy wished him well on his adventures with his girlfriend, and when he returned he always found something unique to fill the withered girl with wonder. Cassidy never knew that Jenny was the one who often found said item, but that was a secret between the two of them.

The fresh air and open blue sky of Yosemite National Park promised them a new challenge with the soaring mountain spires and rocky forested slopes. It felt good to be out in the wilderness once more, he had been on a short leash as Cassidy's health declined. His phone had become a ball and chain that would yank him back when yet another heart-stopping turn presented itself.

They unloaded Jenny's well-traveled Jeep and donned their climbing gear. Jenny took the lead with a spring in her step as she led their hike up a trail that led to a step plateau climbing series that had the first camp ground. Shawn's body burned with effort and the dry heat of the summer afternoon did its best to sap him of his energy. The endorphin rush of the exertion elated his mood and pushed him forward.

There were two benefits to letting Jenny lead. The first was that he didn't have to set lines, the second was he had an uninterrupted view of her toned ass painted in leggings and cotton climbing shorts. Shawn was happy to turn off his brain and let the lizard part of his lower functions take over. It was a simple routine for a while. Lift, pull, ogle. He barely registered Jenny's sudden warning.

"Watch out!" Jenny cried, she had found a loose handhold and a fist sized chunk of stone broke off and plummeted below, narrowly missing Shawn's head. Helmet or no, that would have been quite the headache.

"Yeesh, Jen," Shawn called, he followed the rock's decent down to the forest base of the rock face.

"Sorry!" She glanced down and smiled sheepishly.

The rest of their trip up was thankfully uneventful. They had a mile hike to the camp grounds that was mostly flat, so it was an easy hike. He used this cool-down time to really take in the sights. The tall mixed pine, cedar, and fir trees jutted out of the rocky soil. There was a sense of scale that always amazed him. When he glanced back at Jenny never couldn't help but admire her. She was always striking with dark brown hair cut to a manageable shoulder length that was usually kept tied back, her hazel eyes that spoke of hidden intensity. She was a pale Midwestern girl that grew up Michigan, her lips were always pursed outwards to either side as if always deep in thought. He had asked about the habit and she had just shrugged and looked embarrassed.

Shawn had been on the taller side ever since puberty, Cassidy only came up to the middle of his chest, but Jenny was just the right height to rest his head on top her hers when they embraced. Their climbing and hiking hobbies kept them both fit, but she always had stubborn thin layer of padding about her that refused to go away. It was one of Jenny's biggest insecurities that Shawn always found most pleasing as it gave her a very soft and pliable feeling when he touched her.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw a flash of movement. When he looked, there was nothing. No sign of anything amiss. He shook his head and jogged up to walk with Jenny. She smiled when their hands intertwined.

"We have about a quarter mile left. How are you feeling?" She asked.

Shawn took a deep breath and smiled, "Better than I have in a while. Something about being outside like this puts things into perspective, if that makes sense."

Jenny beamed, "Totally. Don't get me wrong, I like being a couch potato as much as the next girl," She stretched her arms over her head which exposed her toned stomach, "But being out here reminds me that there is so much more in the world. Especially when I'm here with you."

Shawn hummed contentedly. He stopped and pulled her into his arms and kissed her, "I know exactly what you mean."

Jenny swooned happily, "Save it for later, Raine."

Shawn pinched her rear making her yelp and skip away. He winked and held up his hand, crab clawing his fingers together, "Couldn't help it."

Jenny rolled her eyes.

By the time they arrived at the camping ground, Shawn had seen that flash of movement again out in the trees. It seemed bigger this time, his head had jerked around trying to catch it. His heart raced in his chest as he felt an overwhelming sense of danger, then nothing. The forest was serene and quiet as it had been a second before. Jenny arched an eyebrow at him and he mumbled something about fatigue setting in, making him jumpy.

Shawn and Jenny cuddled together that night after setting up camp. The day had been hot and muggy, insects buzzing around in search of an easy meal. As the sun set, the temperature began to plummet. The close proximity brought their passion to the forefront. Their lips sought each other hungrily, bodies intertwined so closely the minor barrier of clothing seemed to matter little. Their tongues dueled together as Jenny struggled out of her top, tossing the sweat-dampened garment to the ground. They worked to free her of her sports bra and Shawn of his shirt.

Jenny's soft hills of flesh crushed against the solid contours of his chest, her legs wrapped tightly around his waist. Shawn was glad the tent had tightly woven netting that was nearly opaque, the air in the tent was becoming warm. Their pants and underwear soon found themselves heaped together and Jenny rose above Shawn, taking charge as she lowered her body down onto his. After a she set a marathon pace, Shawn felt her teeth bite deep into his neck to stifle a groan as she found her release first. Shawn followed behind in a close second, he crushed her sweat slick body against him and drove himself hard into her.