They say that everyone's heaven is tailored to them. Minty's heaven looked an awful like the end of the Dark Crystal. Who knew she had been such a fan? Nestled at the center of the sunlight landscape was the crystal palace. Gleaming like it staffed a thousand and one window washers.
It was here that Minty was, sitting at a desk doing data entry. Reams of paper were stacked around her and she was carefully typing them into an Excel document on a computer, her little angel wings fluttering every once in awhile as she came across a bit of impossible to read hand writing. Probably not that surprising with her organizational skills she'd become a heavenly secretary, still not the usual thing people imagine souls doing for all eternity.
There was one in particular that was not satisfied with Minty's tale coming to an end, one who happened to owe Minty a favor.
She was the king of dragons, and years ago she had left evidence of the favor Minty had done on the girl's face. A long scar that ran over Minty's right eye from brow to cheek.Never one to leave a favor undone, particularly to a mortal, the king did not take the news of Minty's death very well. It is hard to return a favor to those in the grave after all. The king was not about to let a silly little thing like death stop her.
In fact, it was a good way to return such a favor that she owed Minty. A life for a life, so to speak.
The king had lived a long time, legend had it her egg hatched before the sun first shined over the land. In that time she had collected much knowledge, mundane, scientific and arcane. It was the arcane, and a little bit of the knowledge of Minty that was relevant now.
You see, the dragon king knew a spell. A spell that would restore life back to the dead. Proper life. None of the zombie nonsense or lich-dom. It used vast amounts of magic, which was no problem for a dragon, but also required the target of the spell to give up something precious to them.
Minty was concentrating on a particularly tricky piece of vellum, written by a monk who seemed to have determined that the only time to act as a scribe was when he was drunk with the hiccups. Her tongue peeked out of the corner of her mouth as she tried to decide if a particular word made more sense as "don't" or "damn". She barely noticed the yelling and thudding footsteps coming down the hall until the fuzzy dragon head was directly in her office.
"Minty Andee, who gave you permission to die." The king of dragons growled.
Minty yelped and dropped the scroll she had been working on.
"Your majesty." Minty gave a hurried and somewhat ungraceful curtsy. Her new wings knocking over stacks of paper.
"I have chosen this moment to fulfill my debt to you. You will return to the land of the living with me." The king growled. Several other angelic secretaries hurried by, suddenly interested in getting their work done. Perhaps in the combative branch of heaven there would have been protest to the dragon king's presence, but not here.
"But I..." Minty didn't get a chance to finish her sentence, the king released a plume of fire from her mouth. Most of the papers in the office burned to a crisp and Minty smoked a bit (being an angel had certain advantages against dragon fire, even if you were only a secretary), "...am totally available right now. Yes."
❦
It was late on Gaia. The landscape looked golden in the light of the setting sun. The kinksters were gathered in the guild hall for the reception that followed Minty's funeral. Food was laid out on the tables, including a large pile of broccoli. It was generally quieter than a normal guild gathering.
The peaceful mourning was interrupted by a bright, blinding flash of light. Excess magic hung in the air, causing it to sparkle. If this were a Disney movie, the music would swell to indicate something important was happening.
There, standing in the center of the hall stood Minty. Slightly better for the wear. Her scar was gone and her koi tattoo was replaced by a single red rose on her upper arm, a new reminder from the one who had plucked her out of heaven. In her hands she held the Rose Throne she had commonly been seen with through out her life, it shined like destiny.
"Does anyone know where Prince is?" Minty asked, nervously clearing her throat, "I...um...I..."
There was a rumbling dragon growl that shook the guild hall.
"IHaveSomethingToTellHim." Minty finished quickly.
