Arao: Jaws of Darkness; Rd.3

The sinspawn came at me with ferocity and malice the likes of which I have never known. It overwhelmed my defenses and it's razor-sharp teeth tore my upper shoulder apart. There was only a slight moment of pain before my consciousness was begone.

They say the Afterlife was all dark and dreary. But I found myself in a vibrant landscape with a strong sun shining brightly in the yellow sky. There were lots of trees, and gently rolling meadows abound as far as the eye could see. There was a golden paved road winding towards a city of sorts in the horizon. Awed by the visuals, I trudged the path which was lined by great marble statues of dragonborn heroes.

There was Goldrak, Silvrak, Bronzrak, Brasrak, and Coprak, and other famous dragonborn personalities. The road was long but I was not exhausted a bit. This must be one of the benefits of being dead: you feel no fatigue.

I could see the spires of the pearly gates of the city up ahead. There was a large table before it, where a wizened old dragonborn in spectacles was fumbling about the large stacks of papers and shiny circular discs that reflected in the sunlight. It had not noticed my approach, so I let out a not-so-subtle cough to announce my presence.

"Ah yes, yes, sorry for the delay," the old dragonbord said thusly. "Greetings to you kindred spirit. My name is Platinrak, and I man the gates of the city where the eternal dragonborn dwell. May I know your name?"

"Arao..." I answered. "Arao Sha..." I paused in amazement as a very huge square screen, with some form of bouncing symbol of a window within it, materialized out of nowhere right in front of us. I stood there mouth agape for a few moments. This time, it was the old dragonborn's turn to let out a not-so-subtle cough.

"Ah, it's alright," Platinrak said. "Here I found your record already." He was tapping some form of pad with draconic letters on them. There was a flurry of movement on the screen as well, a large blue bar moving upwards and downwards, a white arrow dashing back and forth, and some more smaller square screens coming out, each overlapping the previous one.

"Well then," Platinrak continued, the tone of his voice turned very formal. "Arao Shadowscale, last son of Dumanak and Busilak Shadowscale, six hundred sixty-sixth scion of the Shadowscale clan, your deeds and misdeeds are known to Us. Prepare to be judged of your worthiness to Immortality!"

The large screen abruptly turned black, and a white hourglass spun in circles for quite a few moments. My heart was pounding, the suspense of judgment made me avert my eyes in nervousness. At last the hourglass stopped spinning, and replaced on the screen was...

A blue screen with a strange cryptic message. Error 404. File not found. Please hit Refresh to try again.

I blinked in confusion. Platinrak was furiously punching the pad of draconic letters with an annoyed look on his face. Every time the same message was written on the screen.

Finally, Platinrak gave up. He looked at me with inquisitive eyes this time. "Hmm, I guess we got ourselves a false positive, eh? Heh-heh, Arao Shadowscale, it seems your time in the mortal realm is not yet up. Your destiny has not yet been fulfilled, so now you have to go back... go back... go..."

The world suddenly spun dizzily, and Platinrak and the ground disappeared, and I found myself falling and falling into an abyss, and hearing...

"Come back, dragonborn, come back." It was the voice of the half-elf warlord. Furtively I opened my eyes. The warlord was madly pounding my chest rhymitically with his clenched fist. I glanced around. I saw our eladrin cleric smiling at me, relief clearly visible on his face.

"Praise be Corellon," Guy shouted in jubilation. "His Healing word reached you in time."

I remembered we were fighting foul creatures. I raised myself up, with the help of Lloyd and Guy. I hefted my axe and shield in front me, and despite the general weakness of the ordeal I just went through, prepared to confront my assailants once more.