She felt tired, like she always did. It was supposedly a symptom of the leukemia, this exhaustion, but Annie Goodell felt it was more than that. The enervation that weighed heavily in her bones and the lethargy that crawled across her skin was born from the world she had bore on her shoulders. A world of hair loss, purple and blue bruises that appeared from the smallest presses, infections, and the pain of existing in a hospital room for weeks on end. It was a weariness and consuming insouciance that felt like she was walking down a hallway, never getting nearer to her destination. Yet she continued to fight, not because she wanted to, but because she was expected to. Annie fought tiredly and half-heartedly against an unbeatable force whilst taunting menacing foes in hopes of it ending. When it came down to it, she just wanted it to [i]end[/i].

She thought it had.

Cool liquid rushed over her, cleansing her body with a fire ice tingle. White hotness flared against her eyes and pulsed in her bone marrow. The brunette choked on the water, gasping and grasping for the surface yet she could breathe. Every moment her eyes opened, they would slip close with a bulk that pressed against her irises and she had to pry them open again. She saw nothing but a large circular shape with a glowing blue-white aura that seeped into her soul, caressing her spirit until she felt the hum in her heart. The small pool splashed and rippled as she finally pushed to the surface, her arms flapping like a bird’s wing and her chin lifting to be above the water.

She was alive.

Annie crawled from the beautiful pool that met the moon, a serene and peaceful setting that only instilled more rage into her heart. How dare there be an afterlife? The devouring fury swirled in her stomach and pulsed through her veins, thumping like a war drum in her ears. Her jeans clung to her skin and it itched and pricked in the wrong ways. Her shirt was cold and she shivered unwillingly. Standing on aching feet, she huffed and puffed amongst the bodies of six strangers, all which continued to suffocate her with their mere presence. Anger flared in her stomach and she gritted her teeth together, momentarily fixing the brown wig that threatened to fall off her head.

“Welcome, Pure Ones.” A redheaded woman began, standing next to a regal being that certainly was not human. “You all have met fates considered untimely and crass. Such is the fate of Pure Ones; others fear the aura given off by Pure Souls even if the others do not realize it.

“This is the Goddess, Andraste; Keeper of the Moon, Pure Souls, and Healing Falls. She offers you choices; you may guard her and her Falls from humans who seek it’s purity and power, or she will allow you to pass over completely. Be warned that you will have no time in the Afterlife; Pure Souls, due to their rarity, are immediately reincarnated with lack of memory regarding previous life.”

Annie sucked in the information with an inhale of breath, seeing red at the warning tone of the woman and at her fate. It was just her luck to suffer, to be a Pure Soul or whatever. Uncomfortably, Annie dragged her nails across her skin, leaving no mark in their light wake. It was simple maneuver to pass the time and to remind herself that she was still alive, despite her wishes. Her life was Hell, filled with a yearning for an abysmal black that ate at her being, yet she was stuck with the choice to start anew with a fresh Hell, or to continue the pitiful life of Annie Goodell. The thought of being anybody other than herself sent shivers down her spine, because a reincarnation was always someone different, always changing, or that was how she was taught in those documentaries on TV.

“Do not try to scare them into it, Mena.” Said the elegant spirit, her tone flowing deftly into Annie’s ears. Mena, as she was called, seemed resigned to follow the instruction but did so anyways.

“The choice remains yours. If you choose to become a guardian of the Moon, then step up one by one and kneel before the Lady Andraste, and repeat this oath: ‘through bow or blade, through shield or fist, I vow to protect my Lady Goddess. Through blood and soul, through mind and heart, I vow to my Lady, to do my part.’

Once you complete this oath and get the blessing of immortality from the Lady Andraste, you may say your own words and then christen your weapons in the Healing Falls. Once they are coated in the water, they will never be able to take the life of man, even if you cut them through. We cannot kill. Upon doing so you will lose the purity of your soul and any blessing given by the Goddess. Begin.”

Annie moved without even thinking, her choice was not yet clear to her but that same tiredness propelled her forward. She could not live for herself, not anymore, but to become a weapon, a mindless tool, she might become numb enough to forget.

Gingerly kneeling, she repeated Mena, “Through bow or blade, through shield or fist, I vow to protect my Lady Goddess. Through blood and soul, through mind and heart, I vow to my Lady, to do my part.” Annie’s voice oozed with bitterness and reluctance, but this was the only choice for someone such as her.

Not knowing what to say, she wordlessly stooped below the Healing Falls in which she had initially appeared and dipped the emeici that were miraculously on her body. She had not practiced using her emeici since she had fallen ill at the age of sixteen; Annie wondered silently if she was still any good at it.