Earth

What about normal people’s deaths?
It is only the people that Rift chooses to save that can become Plainswalkers, or they become Shadows if they don’t touch the light and Limbo swallows them into Void. Normal people who died are claimed by Death, and their souls are guided to the realm of Afterlife.

Afterlife is a collective pool of the dead souls of every realm. Any God/Manifestation/Avatar of Death has access to the realm, but their powers come from Death (The Primordial) in the same way the Riftheart’s powers come from Rift. Every soul sees Afterlife differently. For some, it could be Heaven. For others, it could be Hell. Or it could be one of many other afterlives, like Valhalla or the Underworld (Erebus).

Reincarnation is possible… if the soul believes in that. As a Plainswalker once said;

“Think of Afterlife as a retirement home for souls, some souls may not retire and continue kicking.” -Ajuran

The souls that get reincarnated have no memory of their previous life, UNLESS they get reborn in a ‘Gamer’ scenario. The souls that remain in Afterlife will eventually fade if they want to, but otherwise, they just kick back and enjoy. Reincarnation can happen a maximum of three times, after that, the soul becomes too weak to support a body, and fades.

Interestingly, it is possible for a soul to reach Plainswalker/Shadow status after their second life. The soul then is still strong enough, but it depends on whether they have the qualities that Rift is looking for. However, Plainswalkers who die cannot have their souls collected by Death, as the required changes to their soul to channel Rift energy are immense enough to ‘use up’ the energy that ‘powers’ their soul. This makes the soul fade into nothingness. Only people who become Plainswalkers in their first life can become Rifthearts, as their souls are ‘fully charged’, for lack of a better term.

Area 51:
Earth knows that something is out there. Area 51 has recovered a half-melted Plainswalker key, and detects energy surges around the world from portals being opened. They dispatch teams to investigate, but only find equipment that is broken beyond repair, or fragments of clues. The Plainswalkers are fully aware that they are tracked, and take special measures to stay ahead of their pursuers.