#93

Naturally, this all meant that Jacob was in the Land of the Dead.

That's what he initially called it, of course. He didn't know what else to call it, really, because it wasn't something like The Unscene or even Hell, much less Heaven. He always figured he'd be sent to Gehenna or the Elemental Plane of Fire (or maybe just the Plane of Water) when he died, but this was Amos' afterlife. Some cheesy-ass dark place, where the grass, air, and sky were all dark purple, with a dead tree with some random skeleton dude standing next to it on a hill. All around him were the shambling glowing shades of all those who had once been as hilariously lame as the so-called Slimechap.

Jacob had already figured out the nature of the Cosmic D8. Some of the campaigns he had had with Lex involved the use of the Rods of Wonder—in fact, they had had what were sometimes called “Rod Battles”, set in a D&D setting, using a made-up list of effects. He figured that if there was a Multiverse, presumably somewhere out there, in some universe, the Rod Battles happened in “real life”. As such, devices such as a reality warping die weren't beyond the realm of possibility. Presumably such a die's technology could be part of a tandem set with a real life Wonder Rod. And so it was that he knew of the “Swap Sibling” function. He didn't think that You and Susie were siblings, as they hadn't mentioned it; but it could be possible the die recognized spiritual siblings as well as true ones.

With this pondering in mind, Jacob was content to just sit around and wait until his brother recalled him—assuming he wanted to, of course. It was always possible that Amos would just Jacob's place in the realm of the living (or whatever the mainstream universe was technically called), but he figured that this was really the sort of place where his bro would want to spend the rest of eternity. Maybe he'd grab a camera or something and make a movie about all this. Who knew.

However, it was as he was considering his old games with Lex that someone bumped into him. It was deliberate, as the phantoms here had no true tangibility—at least, that they could conjure up without great effort.

“Marcel?”

“Hello, Jacob.”

As Jacob looked at the ghostly face of his friend, he tried not to conjure up a Dickens reference in response to the spirit's reply.

“Um. How are you?”

“Dead. Are you dead as well? Lex tells me that he didn't know whether or not you survived the attack.”

“No, I'm alive. But I've swapped places with Amos, for now.”

“Oh, okay.”

There's a pause, but the two seem—or at least try to seem—happy to see each other, even under these circumstances.

“Well, not much has happened to me since the attack. Except, well, there was one thing...I seem to have merged with another version of myself. He's dead too.”

“Really? Hm. What was he like?”

“He...led a much different life. He tells me that he was part of a...gang of sorts, of four other guys...who included Amos, or another edition of him. He didn't really die, in so much as he just faded away. My other self, that is, not the alternate version of your bro. And then, when he got here, I just sort of absorbed him...or vice versa.”

“Ah. That sounds...painful.”

Marcel didn't reply. But then, he didn't blink, either.

Suddenly, Jacob began to feel on edge, but he tried to push it off as natural, given his geographic (necrographic? Nethergraphic?) circumstances. But in reality, it was Marcel suddenly leaning in close to him.

“He has a message for you, Jacob. My alternate self, that is; my Earth-Gamma self. To pass on to Lady Asherah.” Lady Asherah? Who the hell is She?

“Tell her...tell her Tamaron is coming.”

That's when Jacob turned. He looked full on into the face of the spectre of...Jacob Berkley.

He didn't even contemplate screaming, but before he would have had the chance to do so, he was swapped back out again.