Chapter Text
The Afterlife was a strange place. Not Heaven, not Earth, not any kind of demonic realm, despite the presence of demons… It was a sort of hub where those who didn't quite fit anywhere else, or who'd died more than once, could be granted one last chance. If you were truly, purely evil with no chance of redemption, what would become of you would be black and twisted for eternity. If your soul was in such agony that it could not find rest, you'd most likely remain on Earth, wandering around. Here, people were often caught between these two states. Restless and remorseful, but capable of great harm.
It therefore made sense that the Afterlife's sky would be perpetually dark, and that it resemble a milder version of a ghost city. Houses were small, and not everybody got one; those who would only be in the Afterlife for a short time were often simply left to roam. On the other hand, those who would stay indefinitely had the chance to upgrade their home… By hand.
In order for souls to not lose a sense of routine and be able to move on, the Afterlife had its own systems in place. There were trees, ponds, and spiritual animals; there were shops and inns and marketplaces, as well as its own type of currency; and although most of this was merely an illusion, it helped make the environment more welcoming.
Giving souls something to work towards and look forward to strengthened their chances at reincarnation.
Qi Rong did not take advantage of this opportunity. What did he want to reincarnate for!? Everybody with any sort of relevance to him was either in Heaven or the Ghost Realm, and although they spent a large chunk of time down on Earth, it wasn't like he'd be able to interact with them if he was a newborn baby! Newborn babies couldn't curse!!
Not just that, but how would he be able to be with Guzi if he was reincarnated? He knew the little kid was waiting for him to return, he knew he had pieces of his soul somewhere, and he couldn't just give up on him like that. He was his son, dammit, the only family he really had! (Xie Lian did not count. Well, he counted, but… anyway! It wasn't important!) Sure, he was a trash dad, but he could get better, right!? Right!?
He didn't bother disguising how he felt about the kid now that there was no one around to care. He'd really given it all up for the little brat; his status, his power, his life! And he'd do it all over again in a heartbeat! Guzi had loved him unconditionally and stayed beside him no matter what, and it was only now that he no longer had him that Qi Rong realized how much he missed him. When he got out of this in-between, he was going to spoil that child rotten, and he didn't care what anybody had to say about it, or how he got his hands on the means to do so.
He spent his days lying down on the ground looking up at the dark sky, waiting for the day his physical soul was restored enough to pull him out of this place. He didn't need to eat or sleep, after all, and it wasn't like doing so would make time go by any faster, so he could spend as long as he wanted fantasizing about the sky opening up and sending down a beam of light for him.
Well, that and he had nobody to talk to, since he'd essentially made an enemy of the entire Afterlife shortly after arriving. If he tried to approach anyone now, they'd chase him off, often employing mediator spirits to block his path.
No matter! Who needed them anyway! Himself and the endless night sky, that was all he needed… Well, and the comet hurtling towards him, he supposed.
More refined souls had flashy entrances, with gusts of wind or petals swirling about them, to denote they'd been someone important in life even if they hadn't quite made the cut. Others just made it to this realm however they could. The one currently making its way to Qi Rong was careening from the sky and screaming.
He barely rolled out of the way in time, the space he'd been in a second prior quickly becoming a crater to host the new arrival. Qi Rong swore loudly and sat up, wondering why of all the places to land in the Afterlife, the soul had ended up here. He scooted over to the edge of the crater and peeked inside, curious to see the face of whoever had nearly crushed him.
Crawling out of the crater as best he could was a young man in white and red robes, with long, thin brown hair mostly tucked up into a guan. He looked like he could've been important when he was alive, but he also looked impossibly scared. His face sported a frog-like expression, with wide eyes and a downturned mouth frozen in a panicked grimace. Though he wasn't particularly handsome, he had a certain charm about him, accentuated by his frantic scrabbling and constant stream of quiet curses.
"And who the fuck are you supposed to be?" Qi Rong called out to him as if he were miles away, instead of just a few feet.
The young man immediately let go of the rock face he was clinging to and fell backwards with a loud yelp. He scrambled away from Qi Rong until his back was against the crater wall.
"D-d-demon!" He shrieked. "S-stay away from me, I have nothing left!!"
As he trembled and attempted to climb the rock backwards, faint lights began to dance around him like fireflies. Qi Rong squinted his eyes in order to make them out better, and was surprised to find that they were spirits of some sort. Was this guy being followed by an entourage?
He dropped down into the crater and stood proudly, holding a clawed hand to his hip as the other flipped his hair. How long had it been since he'd spoken to someone!? Never mind scared anyone!!
"Damn right I'm a demon, and not just any demon," he bragged. "Feast your wide eyes on the greatest Calamity of them all, Night-Touring Green Lantern!"
The young man held his cheeks in terror. So he'd come to Hell for all he'd done! It made sense, of course, but was he going to suffer what he'd suffered in life, but eternally? He wanted to cry; his body had been restored due to just being a soul, but was this demon going to rip it to shreds again? Was he going to have to atone with more torture? Before coming here, he'd been swimming in inky blackness, suffocating in the memory of all he'd done, with thousands of cuts blooming along his body and no sign of peace or rest. Then, after what felt like endless torment, it had all stopped, and he'd felt like he was being swaddled in a warm blanket-
Only to end up here, wherever this was, with some pompous demon striking a pose in front of him. Come to think of it, he didn't seem very scary; he was actually pretty cute, and a lot less intimidating than the humans who had ended his life. Who knows, perhaps if this Night-Touring Green Lantern were looming over him with a weapon, he'd be more inclined to fear him.
As it stood, the young man almost found humor in his predicament. "What kind of name is that?"
"Huh!? It's not a name, you fucking idiot! It's a title!!" Qi Rong couldn't believe the nerve of this new arrival. He'd been here five seconds and was already giving him lip!? "Did you hit your fat head on the way down? Who the fuck thinks that's someone's name!?"
"My head isn't fat!" The young man replied with indignation. This demon was so rude! "And until you give me a proper name, I'm just going to refer to you as green guy. Actually…"
After being addressed so crassly, the young man had lost any fear he had of this demon entirely. He stood up slowly and dusted himself off, the little lights around him fading away.
"I won't address you at all. I have things to do."
Qi Rong was left momentarily speechless. Why was this guy not afraid like he had been a second ago!? Sticking his tongue out threateningly, he pointed a claw at the other.
"What the fuck would you need to do? You just got here!"
The young man looked startled at the sight of such a long tongue, but he quickly cleared his throat and looked away. "I have to find out where I am and why. This doesn't seem like Hell…"
Qi Rong felt immensely disappointed. He couldn't get this guy to be afraid of him! Curse this shitty place!
"It's about to be Hell if you don't get on your fucking knees and beg for my forgiveness, you sack of dogshit!" He warned, keeping his claw pointed at the newcomer.
This was why he had no friends down here.
The young man felt rising irritation, but still no fear. This loudmouth was nothing compared to the man who had sent him here, the man he himself had created. "Forgiveness for what? Thinking your name is stupid? Get a better one, then, green scum."
He spat rather aggressively at Qi Rong's feet and turned around to resume climbing out of the crater, and in that moment, something happened to the ghost for the first time since he'd gotten here.
His stomach growled.
"So your name's Wen Chao!"
Qi Rong had trailed behind the young man incessantly ever since he'd crawled out of the crater, and had insulted him until he'd finally caved and given him a name. Ultimately, it didn't matter much, since in Qi Rong's mind his name was 'meal', but addressing him by his name would get his attention, which was good.
It didn't work this time, though. Wen Chao just kept on walking, looking for anyone who could help him understand his situation.
Qi Rong tried again. "Ain't ever heard of no Wen family. You dress all fancy and shit, but you must not be very important."
That tickled Wen Chao slightly, even though he figured at some point there wouldn't be anyone left to remember the Wens. He walked a little faster, not looking back at the demon stalking him. " I've never heard of a Night-Touring Green Lantern. You must not be very important, either."
"BullSHIT I'm not important!! I'm a fuckin' Calamity, I told you!" Qi Rong laughed harshly. "You haven't heard of me 'cause you're new!"
"Oh, yeah? If you're so important, then what are you doing here?" Wen Chao turned around, turning his nose up to look down at the other. "This isn't Hell, but it sure as shit isn't Heaven, either, so if Mr Calamity is as great as he claims, how come he's down here with unimportant people like me? There was a time where I would've had you kneel to me, you know, and now I'm here. You either fell from grace yourself, or calamity is just stupid purgatory lingo for loser."
Qi Rong's eye twitched as, instead of producing more laughter, his body produced another hungry growl. Wen Chao looked remarkably juicy when he was talking down to him, which caused him to lick his lips and lunge forward.
Being at a safe distance from Qi Rong, Wen Chao did not register his actions as hungry, but merely as aggravated. Seeing as he was perfectly fine dishing out insults until there was retaliation, he quickly turned back around and broke out in a sprint, shouting in anxiety as he ran.
Wen Chao was devilishly fast, but Qi Rong was more accustomed to this realm. He caught up to the human in no time and threw his full weight at him, hitting him square in the back and sending him to the floor, where he proceeded to pin him down and sniff him ravenously.
Though he screamed at first, Wen Chao quickly became aware of the weight of a person on top of him, something he hadn't felt in such a long time, much less in this position… He didn't understand why his soul still felt anything at all, but the more the demon tried to grasp at him and push his nose to the back of his neck, the more he felt his cheeks warm up.
"H-hey, if you wanted to do something like this, why didn't you just ask?" He tried to reprimand, yet his voice wavered slightly and ended in a whimper.
"HUH!?" Qi Rong stopped moving entirely with the tip of his tongue hanging uselessly between his sharp teeth. What did Wen Chao mean by that? Was he meant to ask before eating someone!? Or was he-
"QI RONG!"
A sharp, loud voice rang through the air, causing both men to freeze up and look towards the source; a female soul brandishing a broom, looking ready to smack the green pest on the head with it. She wasn't as elegantly dressed as either of them, but she certainly had an imposing presence, with broad shoulders and strong brows.
Wen Chao slowly turned his head to look at his assailant. "Qi Rong?"
The ghost in question jumped off of Wen Chao immediately and took in a deep breath to start cursing at the woman, but she shook her broom at him and interrupted him before he could begin.
"You're absolutely shameless, tormenting newcomers like this! At this rate you'll be sent packing to the utmost depths of Hell with no chance to return! Not even your precious cousin would be able to bring you back!"
Qi Rong took another deep breath, this time to scream in irritation at the mention of Xie Lian, when out of the corner of his eye he noticed those little lights dancing around Wen Chao again. There were hundreds of them, and he didn't seem to notice, still on the ground, propped up on his elbows and looking at the woman who he deemed a savior.
The woman did not regard Wen Chao with sympathy for much longer. When she saw the lights, she shuddered and scurried off, deciding to leave this matter in the hands of an Afterlife official.
Of course, to Wen Chao it just looked like she was running away and leaving him to his fate.
"She's gone," he finally stood up and brushed himself off, the lights disappearing one by one.
"Damn right, I scared her off. Or maybe it was you! Maybe nobody wants to hang around someone with so much extra weight," Qi Rong was reconsidering his strategy. "So it's best if you stick with me."
He knew that was most likely the case. With so many spirits clinging to Wen Chao, the other Afterlife denizens surely felt that bad luck would befall them if they hung around him. He wasn't afraid of such things, though. He could handle a few tiny lights!
Wen Chao looked confused. "Extra weight?"
He had some meat on his hips and rear, but the rest of him wasn't heavy, was it? This Qi Rong was probably just being rude again, so he brushed it off with a shrug. He'd just have to find some way to appeal to the locals; if he knew anything, it was that he was not going to go back to a life of torture if he could help it. A change in approach would do him good. But could he really be someone new?
As he was pondering this, a golden scroll materialized in his hands. He furrowed his brow and inspected it while Qi Rong ranted in the background about how much everybody was bound to look down on the two of them.
Greetings, new denizen! We hope you enjoy your stay here in the Afterlife. As your status of residence is still uncertain, we are not able to provide you with permanent housing at present. Not to worry, there are plenty of inns for you to stay in, should you feel the need for rest.
To encourage you to have a fulfilling stay, we have granted you 30,000 tokens to spend however you please. We suggest you look into one of our many job opportunities (listed at the end of this document) in order to adhere to a routine and work towards nourishing your spirit. You will also earn additional tokens at the end of each work cycle, which you can hold onto or invest in building a residence of your own.
If a job is not what you're after, you can purchase crops, livestock or goods in order to start your own venture. The marketplace is open to everyone every afternoon (time here is somewhat of an illusion, but it is not difficult to replicate). If leisure is what you seek, you are free to merely stroll around and enjoy the sights. Sleep and food are purely optional, and if you do not wish to be tired or hungry, you won't be.
For any further questions, please visit the Bureau at the center of the Lake of Stars. We have provided you with a map of the realm equipped with a pointer to denote your location. We hope your stay with us will be a pleasant one.
Wen Chao felt his hip become heavier. He looked down to find a pouch dangling from it, containing what he presumed were his tokens and map. Skimming through the job listings on his document, he smirked and folded it up for safekeeping.
"Well. It looks like I can go inn hopping if I need a place to stay, and if I run out of money, I can just start selling flowers. How hard could that be?" Surely he'd come into contact with plenty of friendly locals then! "So I won't be needing you after all."
"What!?" Qi Rong wasn't just going to let his prey walk away!! "No, those inns are shit! Worse than shit, shit is what they feed you and what they stuff the beds with! My house is miles better than any piss-boiled inn!!"
Wen Chao was flattered that this demon wanted him so badly, but he didn't really like Qi Rong's constant belittling of anything and everything except for himself. It reminded him of how he used to be, but worse.
"Thanks, but I want to be around normal people," Wen Chao insisted. "At least for a while."
He didn't even know that Qi Rong barely spent any time in his house as it was. If this place had dust, it was probably full of it.
"Fine," Qi Rong turned his face away with a loud scoff. "Let trash hang out with trash. You'll come crawling back to me soon enough, you'll see! Once everyone turns you away like you're nothing but a cockroach!"
Rolling his eyes, Wen Chao flicked his sleeves and began to walk away. Was this what he'd sounded like when he was alive? Good grief, no wonder things had ended the way they had. Now that he was no longer in blinding pain, he had a lot of reflecting to do. But would he, or would he keep running from himself?
Qi Rong watched him go, but had absolutely no intention of letting him slip away for good. Even if eating a soul was a hollow act, his mouth demanded it. Maybe Wen Chao would be the final push he needed for his spirit to recover.
After walking around the realm and deciding to shelf a visit to the Bureau for when he truly needed it, Wen Chao had managed to get himself a room at one of the many inns. He was surprised at how many souls ended up here; it felt like every inch of the place was bustling in some capacity, though this might also be due to his proximity to a market strip.
The room had only cost him 25 tokens, courtesy of him being a new arrival, and the innkeeper had been friendlier than he'd expected. A horned spirit with a wide smile, Wen Chao suspected they were from wherever that loudmouthed Qi Rong had come from. Curious as he was, he'd wanted to put the encounter behind him, so he'd not pursued conversation and had instead headed to his room.
He was happy to be able to feel soft, clean blankets against his skin again! Even if things weren't technically real, they sure felt it, and Wen Chao was now happily swaddled and enjoying the warm smell of incense. If his afterlife was going to be like this every day, he considered himself to be supremely lucky! Oh, but he'd need to consider some way to make money if he wanted to stay in inns forever… Or maybe he could get himself a house? This place was great, there was so much he could do without having to worry about being hurt!
Right as he was about to debate ordering tea just for the familiarity of it, a knock came at his door.
"Young sir?" It was the innkeeper. "Someone here to see you."
Wen Chao frowned. Who could possibly want to see him here of all places? He'd just gotten here! Unless…
Before he could tell the innkeeper not to let anybody in, the door swung open, revealing none other than the nuisance from earlier. A cute nuisance, sure, but his attitude just ruined it all! Wen Chao just wanted to enjoy himself, and he was sure he wouldn't be able to do so with Qi Rong around.
"Please escort him off the premises," he addressed the innkeeper in deadpan.
The spirit's wide smile faded as they squinted their eyes at Qi Rong, who was already making a move to step into the room. "I thought you said you were best friends."
Best friends!? Wen Chao was starting to wonder if the demon had a crush on him. It would explain tackling him to the ground…
"We are! C'mon, Wen Chao, it's time to go!" Qi Rong made his way into the room. "I have a bed made for you and everything, so you can leave this shithole without worry."
Wen Chao could not believe the audacity with which Qi Rong addressed him, acting like he was doing him a favor! He saw the innkeeper's eyes glow an angry red, and he hoped they would unleash some fury on the intruder.
"No," he declined, burrowing further into his blanket. "How did you find me?"
"I sniffed you out, obviously. The fuck do you think, that I just went around asking after you?" Qi Rong laughed. "I can smell you from miles away."
Wen Chao frowned and pulled the blanket up over his nose to smell himself. He couldn't smell anything! Qi Rong was just being a creep.
Oh well, he thought. It's probably karma…
This afterlife wouldn't be as idyllic as he thought if it kept forcing self reflection on him.
By this point the innkeeper had realized the two were not, in fact, best friends, and they couldn't in good faith allow this menace to terrorize a customer. Grabbing Qi Rong by the back of his robes, they pulled him out of the room as he began to swear.
"Get your filthy fucking hand off me, you inbred mutt! I'll turn your uncle into a stuffed animal! I'LL TURN YOU INTO A FLUTE BY POKING HOLES IN YOUR SPINE, YOU SHIT!"
The innkeeper wore that wide smile as they dragged Qi Rong away, and Wen Chao was left to laugh at the spectacle.
"I'LL BE BACK FOR YOU, WEN CHAO!"
Those words made him jump. That calamity really did have a crush on him! Of all the people to stroke Wen Chao's ego by being attracted to him, it had to be this guy!? He wasn't sure he was mentally prepared for that.
Deciding he'd forgo the tea for now, he climbed into bed and curled up in his little cocoon. Sleep was optional, but he felt like he needed it desperately.