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He doesn’t even get a chance to take it all in. Not to the extent he’d want, anyway- and not really at all. Cyris’ mind hums with options, ideas of what kind of afterlife this could be, when he’s suddenly made aware of someone else.

Or, more likely, someone else had been made aware of him.

They’re a bit of an oddity- maybe it’s the haze still left in Cyris’ mind (he’s sure it is), but it feels like they’re out of sight one second and then there the next, trotting forward with an ugly grin and head held high. Their arrival brings something else with them, as well- the death of any hopes Cyris may have had that this was any sort of good afterlife.

And if any hope he had held onto still lingered, it didn’t last much longer. The stranger was close. Too close for comfort. Unconsciously, Cyris found himself taking a half-step back, trying desperately to put a bit more distance between the two of them.

Oh, Lun, what had he done to deserve this?

What? He started, smartly, at the stranger’s question. It was unlike what he’d usually say, but his confusion about this whole mess gave him some excuse, he was sure. His brain catches up with his mouth a second later.

Cyris. Meiri.