"The Afterlife" - Edouard Kock

Ed knocks on the door to his room. Nobody answers. "I was sure 
that Mkima was here. He is always in my room from 9 till 10." he 
mutters to himself. He slowly opens to door and peers inside. "Mkima, 
are you busy?" No answer. "Mkima, you in here?", he asks again, 
moving inside. Ed knows that Mkima asked that he never be disturbed 
between 9 and 10. He closes the door behind him. "Mkima?"
"You seek me, human?" a voice reverbs from the darkness.
"Mkima? For fuck's sake, knock it off. I don't care for the 'supernatural 
lord of the darkness setup, I just wanna talk to you." Ed scolds, 
grasping at the darkness. "Fuck, I hate being nightblind" he mutters 
to himself. "SHIT! WHOA!"
"Ed, are you allright?", Mkima asks, helping Ed up. 
"Fuck me, what the hell did I trip over?", Ed mumbles, looking around 
into the darkness. A loud "GRWRF" from the blackness informs him that 
he would rather not know the answer to that question.
"You said you wanted to talk to me, Ed?", Mkima asks.
"Yeah, but erm, could we switch on the lights? What the hell are you 
doing here in the dark anyway?"
"I was, busy with something. It is better with the lights off, trust 
me.", Mkima mutters.
"Something tells me that you might be right.", Ed stutters, feeling 
something touch his leg. "Anway... what I wanted to ask you was..."
Ed suddenly stops and looks around. "Mkima, you still there?". Silence. 
"Aww, for crying out loud.. Mkima! Where the hell are you?" 
"Mmm? Oh. Im here, Ed. Sorry. I was....", a voice whispers out of the 
darkness.

"Don't answer that, I don't wanna know. Look, if you are...busy... I 
can come back later...", Ed mutters and starts feeling for the door.
"No, wait. You sound like you really want to talk to me. Wait just for 
a moment...", Mkima says, and Ed can hear a soft exchange of whispers. 
Suddenly, a cold wind seems to flow through the room and Ed shivers. 
"What the.....?", he exclaims, but then the wind stops.
"Ed, we can talk now."
"Can I switch on the light?"
"Yes."
Fumbling for the switch, Ed feels the walls and finally, "Got it." 
Click. "Ow, fuck, Im blind.", Ed swears, rubbing his eyes. "Welcome to 
my world...", a chuckle comes from behind Ed. Slowly, Ed regains his 
vision. He wished he didn't. "Er, Mkima? What the fuck?". Ed's room 
seems to be the same as usual, posters of dragons on the walls, little 
dragon statues sitting around, stacks of comic books, computer books, 
his computer and an assortment of junk. Well, the usual stuff, and a 
large pool of blood in the center of the room. "Mkima?!?", Ed shouts, 
looking at the calm, blind dragon sitting on his bed. "Do not worry 
about it, Ed. I will have it clean before anyone sees it.", Mkima says 
in his usual calm. "Now, you wanted to talk to me?
"Yeah. Just remind me, NEVER to ask what it is you do here in my room 
on a Sunday night between 9 and 10, the time you ask us not to disturb 
you, okay?", Ed laughs and walks over to his bed, making sure not to 
step in the blood. Mkima moves over a little, and Ed sits down next to 
him on the bed. Mkima closes his eyes, as he usually does when Ed gets 
close. A long time ago, he scared Ed when Ed looked into his eyes. Ed 
said that he saw something in Mkima's eyes, something that gave him 
nightmares for months. Mkima has not, and will not, let that happen 
again.

"Comfortable?", Mkima asks, offering a pillow.
"Yeah, Im fine thanks.", Ed mutters, looking down.
"Oh dear.", Mkima sighs, knowing that look. "What is bothering you, 
Ed? It is something important, something that you do not understand 
and it is causing you to worry?"
"Damn, I gotta start talking to someone else about my damn problems. 
You know me to well...", Ed chuckles. Mkima frowns slightly. Well, 
more than he does usually. He doesn't like it when Ed laughs about 
a serious matter. Ed erfs and stops. Ed doesn't like it when Mkima 
takes things to seriously.
"Erm. Yeah. Anyway.... what was I...oh yes. Talking to you. About. 
Erm....", Ed stutters.
"Ed, get to the point.", Mkima scowls.
"Okay, okay. Geez, this isn't easy you know. I was wondering if you 
could tell me about, well, I just thought that you of all dracon 
should know, erm. Mkima?", Ed mutters.
"Yes, Ed.", Mkima answers.
"What happened to my mom when she died?", Ed asks and looks up at 
Mkima's face. Mkima was not prepared for this.
"Ed, Im nore sure that I should..."
"Mkima, I don't give a fuck if you have procedure or rules that you 
gotta work by. I want you to tell me, what happens to us when we die. 
What will happen to me when I die?"
Mkima could tell that this is a question that is really bothering Ed, 
because Ed rarely gets this upset about something.
"Okay. If it means that much to you, I will tell you what I know."
Ed relaxes a little and leans back against the wall.
"Its like this. As much as you might hate to agree to it, there is a 
natural order to things. Life, Death. The two extremes. But you cannot 
have death, without having life. And without death, there would be no 
room for life. Both exist for a reason, but both need not to be. If 
there was no life, and no death, there would be no mortal existance. But 
I guess thats a timeline we don't belong to. I may be a dem-cah, but 
that doesn't mean I know everything about what happens after death. Im 
not even sure who my employer is, to put it in human terms. But I know 
I serve someone who has a higher rank than me. And there are those below 
me. I only handle one side of the story. The other side, I never see, 
and I know nothing about. For all I know, it might not even exist. Then
again, to the other side, I might not exist. But there must be another 
side to it. Everything requires balance. Its a universal rule."

"Great. Now if you are done with your novel about war and peace, could you 
get around to answering my question?", Ed mumbles.
"I will be honest, Ed. I do not know what happened to your mother. You could 
consider it a good sign, that I do indeed not know about your mother. Or 
you could not. The only advice I can give you, Ed, is believe what you 
think.", Mkima says.
"Hmm. I get the feeling that you think Im putting to much thought into 
this, right? That I'm a little obsessed with death.", Ed mumbles.
"In a word, yes.", Mkima answers.
"You might be right. Ever since the accident, I've spent so much time 
in regret, thinking about the past, about how it drives me, how it made 
me who I am today. I've let that line of thinking become the way I act. 
I spend more time worrying about my past deeds, about what people think 
of my actions, rathe than just trusting in my own judgement.  I should 
have spent my time looking forward, trying to go on, make the most of me, 
so as not to have that regret again. So what if some people don't agree 
with my actions? Who made them the judges over me? Who made their judgement
 better than mine? Who gave them the right, to deem themselves better than me? 
Sigh. Its such easy thinking, but hard in practise."

"That is true, Ed. Its easy to think about. But being able to think about 
it, is the first step. One cannot progress, when you deny the obvious.", 
Mkima says, smiling.
"I will admit, Mkima. This may not been one of our most deep, intellectual 
discussions. We may not have touched upon metaphysical concepts, or 
stimulated rhetoric. But I do enjoy talking to you none the less.", Ed mutters,
then gets up and walks over to the door. "Will you be joining the rest of 
the gang and I for dinner?"
Mkima shakes his head. "No thank you, I had something earlier.", Mkima says. 
"Im sure you have.", Ed laughs and leaves, closing the door behind him. 
Mkima raises a claw in the air, and slowly moves it down. The light switch 
on the other side of the room goes click, and he is shrouded in darkness. 
Beneath the black, for the first time in an eternity, Mkima smiles.