Farewell To A Fallen Friend: A Tribute To Krezz Karavan
It was June 21, 2022. A nutty but friendly fox found himself in a darkness he couldn't explain. Was he asleep? Was he dreaming? He couldn't be dreaming, because if he was dreaming, he would definitely be dreaming of bunny girls instead of a vast, empty void. He was confused. He tried to call out, but he could hear no sound, not at least at first. He tried to walk, but found he went nowhere. He forced himself to fly, to float, to move in any way, but all there was to see was darkness. That was until a cold, deep voice called out to him.
"Krezz Karavan," the voice called.
Krezz turned to where the voice called from. What he saw scared him at first. Before him stood an equine figure, a white horse. He was wearing a black cloak and was carrying a large scythe. Where his face would be, where his entire upper body was in fact, was just skeletal structure. Krezz instantly knew the figure and suddenly felt sadness in his heart. The figure smiled, that is if a horse skull without lips could smile.
"Come, don't feel sad. Yes, your time has come, but it is not a sad occurrence."
Krezz looked at the figure with a curious glance. How could one's passing not be sad? Surely those he loved and cared for would miss him, would they not?
"Oh they do miss you," the figure replied, almost as if he could read the fox's thoughts. "They are very sad that you have left their plane of existence. They will mourn you for days, weeks, and even longer than that. They will create tributes to you, either by drawing pictures honoring you or writing stories about your legacy. You have touched their hearts in a way that can not and will not be replaced. And that is why this is not a sad day. You should be happy that, even though you no longer get to walk among those you care about physically, you can still look upon them from the spiritual realm and see how much they still love you and always will."
Krezz felt a tear run down his cheek. He was still sad that he was being pulled from his friends and familly, but couldn't help but shed a few tears of joy at knowing how he had touched so many people and affected their lives so. He wished he could say goodbye to each and every one of them, and also to let them know how much they all meant to him.
"They already know. They know as well as you know how much you meant to them. Now come, it is time to share your eternal reward with you."
A bright light was now shining in Krezz's face. He felt like he could reach out and touch it, but it was just outside his grasp. He felt a bony hand on his back between his shoulder blades. Even though it was cold, it was soft, almost like the figure cared about Krezz's comfort. Little did the fox know that the reaper didn't want to have to pull Krezz from his loved ones, but it was a job that somebody must do. He had gotten used to the grief of pulling good people away from good lives, but that didn't mean he enjoyed doing so, and he definitely didn't enjoy reaping this fox. Slowly the two walked toward the light. As Krezz was guided closer to the blinding light, he suddenly felt a warmth on his body. No, it wasn't his body. It was a warmth on his soul. Any coldness that resided in the reaper's touch was melted away by this illumination. This continued until he was completely bathed in it, unable to see anything. This experience was the total opposite of where he was in that dark void. It took a few moments for his eyes to finally adjust to the brightness. When they finally could see again, Krezz was left alone in another empty void. The reaper was nowhere in sight. The void he was left in wasn't dark though. It was a white void that felt warm and inviting. The fox figured this must be heaven. If it was heaven, however, where was everybody? He was completely alone with nowhere to go. There was only one other item in the emptiness with him: a tablet with a pen. He walked over to the tablet and examined it. There was nothing special about it. This device looked like any other one he could've had back when he was alive. There was a message on the screen though that disappeared when he touched the device.
"Heaven is what you make of it."
The fox picked up the pen, which wasn't really a pen at all. It was a pen shaped device that was used to draw on tablets using different art programs. Krezz was an artist in his life, so this device felt quite familiar in his hand. He had years of experience drawing, both doing art for fun as well as for a pay when he was alive. Plenty of people loved his works and couldn't wait for an opportunity to pay him to draw their hearts desires. He looked at the blank slate of a tablet before him. The first thing he instantly thought of was his girl fox Edna. She was his most popular character that he ever created. She was loved by so many, and she was one of the main characters of his most popular comic series titled "School Days". He took the pen and started outlining her figure. He loved drawing her as much as everybody loved seeing new works with her in them. She was precious to him, and so drawing her took no time at all. What was time in heaven anyway? There was nothing but eternity now for the fox. He drew a simple sketch of her, choosing to not go for anything naughty despite that being what most of the artwork involving her had been. As much as people loved Edna, they loved seeing her in sexual situations, but somehow the fox felt that maybe Heaven wasn't the place for that. Not yet at least. With the basic sketch finished, the fox began to draw the outline of her figure, adjusting the size of the line for different parts of her body and the clothes she was wearing. He decided on the school girl outfit from his comic strip to be what she wore in this picture. With the outline finished, he started to color her in. As he went through the steps of drawing, he felt himself become fluid in his craft once again. Near the end of his life, the fox had felt bad for how long drawings could take and wished he could do them as fast as he once had been able to, despite the fact that all of his friends and fans told him that his quality was worth the wait and that his health, which had been affecting his art, was more important anyway . Here, he didn't have such limitations such as pain, exhaustion, or time. As he was musing over those facts, he realized he was finishing the shading of the picture, not realizing that his body, or the representation of it in his eternal paradise, had been moving on its own. All that was left was his traditional watermark, which had changed over the years. What started as "Krezz Karavan" followed by the year he completed the picture became "Krezz" followed by the year. The problem was that he didn't know what year it was anymore as time seemed to both stop as well as to accelerate where he was. He simply added a watermark saying "Krezz" to finish the picture. When he pulled his pen away, he suddenly felt lips on his cheek. He turned to find Edna was standing there, giving him a kiss.
The fox couldn't believe it. He wondered if it was this device that gave his precious girl life here in the afterlife. He had to try it again. This time he decided to draw her brother Edward. He had also gained a favoritism among Krezz's characters, as well as being a favorite among his fans and friends. It was hard not to love the shy boy who often found himself in naughty situations that he quite honestly didn't want to be in. He went through the process again with Edward, except instead of a school girl outfit of a shirt and skirt, he went with the school boy outfit of shirt, slacks, and a tie. Within moments, he was applying his watermark once again. He waited for another kiss, much like Edna had done when she was born into this paradise, but no embrace came. Instead, he felt two arms wrap around him from behind. Edward had been brought here by this device as well, and he hugged his father and creator. It was at that moment the fox knew what he wanted to do. He began drawing out all of his characters. He started with the cast of School Days, moving onto The Fifth Phase, followed by Broken, and finishing with Da' Office. His heart felt more joyous with every single one of his characters that he brought to life. Something was missing though. He had his creations, but he was starting to miss his friends and family, those that loved him and loved his art.
Krezz decided to put the pen to the tablet and draw once more. He decided this time he wanted to draw a character that didn't belong to him, but was one that he loved to draw. When he was alive and would stream, he couldn't help himself but to draw sketches of a particular blue bunny named Adrian. He loved that bunny boy and the cuteness that he brought. As he drew, he felt his melancholy started to lift off his spirit. He now had eternity to draw all that he wanted. He just wished he could share it with those that he loved. As he put the watermark on the blue bunny, suddenly he saw himself staring at the boy on the other side of his tablet. He felt joy that overfilled his heart. He was able to have his friends here in heaven too! This must have been what was meant by "Heaven is what you make it"! Whatever he wanted, he just had to draw it. He suddenly got busy drawing all of his friends and fans. Pietro. Jim. Crystal. Scotty. Elfen. The pen was moving faster than he could ever draw back when he was alive. He was inspired to draw everybody. He wanted his heaven to be filled with everybody he loved. Cats, bunnies, wolves, ferrets, tigers, foxes, lizards, skunks, and even a platypus started to fill the infinite space.
Krezz knew he couldn't stop there though. Why have all of his friends and his family here in a blank, white expanse when he had the power to go anywhere he wanted? He put the pen to the tablet one more time. He started sketching out buildings and streets, a pool, a theater, and most importantly a school. This school had a very special name, one that was synonymous with his name and his characters. The name of the educational facility was St. Lovejoy. He was drawing out his fictional city of Pouncefield, the setting of his School Days comic and the location most of his fans and friends wished they could spend their lives. They may not be here with him, but his memories of them could live in his town until their time was finally up. Krezz was so happy to have it all come together now. All that was missing was his real friends, his real fans, his real family. He drew a door on the tablet. It was a simple door with just a knob for decoration, as well as the words "Door To The Rest Of Heaven" on it. He made sure to have it put up. He wanted to go see the family that arrived before him and to be able to visit those who would come after. He wanted the chance to bring them all to his Heaven, to visit or to stay. With all of this set up, there was just one more thing Krezz wanted to do with the tablet. He picked up his pen one last time. This wasn't a drawing though. It was a simple message. He knew nobody would be able to see it, but he hoped somebody might know he wrote it.
"Good bye for now my friends. I can't wait to see you all again, here, in my Heaven."
