Chapter 2: A guide to the Afterlife
[It does seem indeed that you are awake. Hello, you can call me Reaper and you just reached the afterlife. Welcome to the 'Auction House' lost soul!]
The silence was broken and the air corrupted by an oppressing aura coming from behind, propagating slowly but certainly, making its way towards me. I can feel the hair stand on my hands and a cold shiver runs down my spine.
Against all instincts yelling not to look, I turn around wanting to search for the source of this intimidating feeling. When I do, the darkness in the room gets flooded by light coming from an open door and amidst it all, the silhouette of a person takes shape.
Holding the right hand in front of my face, in a rather pathetic attempt to block the incoming light, I let my eyes wonder on the floor while getting accustomed with its white marble-like tiles. A moment later, the sound of approaching footsteps walking in my direction makes my body twitch.
A pair of brown leather shoes enters my visual range and shines resplendently each time it is lifted from the floor and gets bathed in the light.
Looking upwards as the distance between us shrinks, I see a pair of grey trousers revealing white socks upon each step that seems to echo in the quiet room. Another second passes and in order to prevent what I just dreamed about happen again, I force myself to climb down from the bed and let my right foot touch the cold floor, without any socks or shoes of my own, instantly making my whole body shiver from the cold response.
A hand seems to move slowly, distracting me from the coldness of the marble tile underneath my feet and forcing me to stare at the silhouette in front, that seems strangely closer than before. With short but precise movements, a manly hand undoes a button of his jacket allowing it to open and reveal what's under it.
It seems to be a tuxedo jacket of the same color as the trousers, donning under it a grey vest and a white shirt. On the left pocket of the vest, a silver chain can be seen connecting it to - seemingly - the very fabric of the clothes. The same hand, reaches to that pocket and lightly tugging on the chain, brings out a watch of the same color as the chain.
'He' moves it closer to 'his' face, almost like double checking just to make sure it is correct. For the first time, I can see his face.
A pair of charcoal black eyes soon moved their sight from the hands of the watch to myself. Unconsciously, I pull back up in the bed the leg I let on the floor and grab tightly onto the pillow with my left hand, while also swallowing loudly. Meeting his gaze seems to have intensified this oppressing pressure in the air and the extra details about his face, makes it more confusing.
A black iris, similar to a night sky voided of any light, but clouded by even darker shadows encircling a ruby red star that his pupil seemed to be, glistening violently, almost like opposing and rebelling against the void.
Such a pair of eyes was looking at me, 'his' gaze filled with curiosity. A smile protrudes on his face, slightly arching his lips upwards.
Carefully placing the watch back in the pocket, 'he' then lets his fingers rustle through the golden locks of hair that fell down his forehead, gently pushing them backwards.
Placing his left hand under the chest horizontally and the right elbow resting on top of it vertically, 'he' presses with the index finger against his temple, seemingly having problems deciding.
[Now then...what should I do with you?]
Apparently he reached a conclusion only a second later and all of a sudden he lets his body fall backwards towards the floor, making my eyes visibly widen. At the same time, with a snap of his fingers, I find myself sitting on a sofa with 'him' standing in front of me on a lavish armchair and between us a coffee table made out of massive wood was still materializing.
'His' right hand reaches out across the newly 'created' table and in my direction, making my blood freeze inside my veins and then, just like before, he grabs a cup of coffee out of nowhere. He sips carelessly from it and looks completely relaxed, while myself on the other hand feel like I'm staying on a thousand needles... Even if this sofa is absolutely comfortable.
[How rude of me! Please, help yourself as well. I think coffee is still fine, as I don't have many mundane visitors these days.]
Surprised by the sudden request, I unconsciously nod my head slightly confused by the whole situation and all other things that happened, most of them boarding the realm of insanity.
But even then, I have so...
[You must have so many questions since you woke up here and not to mention why you woke up here...]
I do, but my throat is dry and I can't find any words to utter. It seems as my brain is still trying to piece together everything that happened so far, but it lacks critical information in order to do so.
Seeing that, a smile shows on his face, however much kinder than before and then gestures to me towards a cup of coffee that, again, materialized out of thin air.
Resigning myself to the situation and deciding to just go with the flow, I sip from the coffee cup, thinking that it would be rather pointless to poison some drink, if you can pull magic tricks like that. Sipping from it I realize that is...
"Delicious!"
[Oh! So it speaks!? Thank you, I grow it myself...sort of.]
"About this place..."
[Oh yes. After you've been killed, you came straight here, right?]
"So that really happened?"
A strange realization dawns upon me as I remember the alley and the scene that took place under the moonlight. At the end I closed my eyes, but the pain that made me wake up so violently was probably from a stab wound. I really died...
[Yup. I realize now that I skipped some introductions. Once again I am a resident of this place and you can call me 'Reaper'. This is the afterlife that also doubles as an auction house...well somewhere in the future anyway. This reminds me, you've died on your birthday...'not-so-happy birthday!' might suit this occasion.]
"Thank you...I think. You say 'Reaper', but shouldn't I have seen you prior to me dying and not after?"
[That's a common misconception. Also, the kind of reaper that you think of right now, it doesn't exist. I don't actually go around the planet killing people or bringing them to heaven. Also not to Valhalla, as I am not Valkyrie material...]
"So this is not heaven!? Hell then?"
[I doubt they would have such a good reception if that would've been the case, don't you think so too?]
"I guess... Then..."
[Then what's this place? Well, you could call it 'Heaven', 'Valhalla', 'The Great Plains', 'Nirvana', etc, etc,etc. It is all of that and none of it. We call it the 'Void Chamber'.]
Since there were literally no dots for me to connect, I tried to looked as confused as possible at him. The sheer amount of information my brain asked for previously, might've been too much and now it was surely 'buffering'.
[I think a visual demonstration might help you understand. Take a look behind you!]
I follow his advice and turn around, facing the white marble wall. A few seconds pass and nothing happens, while I am waiting and still starring at the wall.
Then, a sudden tremor shakes the room, making me turn around and look at 'Reaper'. He nods in confirmation that it is a part of the said 'visual demonstration' he mentioned and gestures again for me to turn around.
The undaunted marble wall begins to crumble into nothingness similar to a paper being burned, but leaving nothing, not even ashes behind. In a matter of seconds, a part larger than five square meters of wall disappeared and gave way to a different room, fully dyed in black. Suddenly the air grew thin and the darkness of the room seemed suffocating to the point where it made me feel nauseated, when again, the sound of snapping fingers could be heard.
The following sight, left me breathless. For as long as the eye could see, spreading to infinite for all I could tell, layers upon layers of people were floating suspended into air, almost like they were sleeping.
[Quite the dreary sight isn't it? And they were even more in the past... Well anyway, this is as close to 'Heaven' as you can get. Every soul of every human that ever died on Earth entered the 'Void Chamber'. Like the name implies, there's no air, light or life for that matter in there. Just an endless dreamless sleep... Between the two of us, if hell would be real, I'd take that over this one any day. Anyway, as you can see, all type of souls reach this place: from young to old, male and female, white or otherwise, death doesn't discriminate.]
An answer...but an answer that brought up at least ten other questions. Does that mean he is the 'God' of our world? What happens to me that woke up? And ...
[Yes, yes! I can see that you have questions, so let's take it one at a time. Shoot!]
"Then, what will happen to me now that I'm awake? Will I be put back in there?"
[Oh right, I shouldn't leave that open too long. There we go!]
A slight movement of his left hand that looked like erasing a blackboard and the marble wall reappeared like everything has been a lie. If this is a dream, I hope I will wake up soon.
[Now then. Regarding you... It won't work putting you in there, as you'd need to sleep for that and you ...]
"Then..."
[We'll get to that part soon. Any other questions?]
"Will I be sent back on Earth?"
[Right. Let me make one thing crystal clear: you died! And according to the rules, you can't be sent back to Earth or reincarnated no matter how much you cry or beg. Therefore, it would be best to give up on that.]
"I see. Then, one more question. Who was the woman that killed me?"
[No idea...]
"Excuse me?"
[You heard me. I have no clue. She somehow managed to elude my 'system' and she doesn't even seem to be on Earth anymore. Therefore, I have no clue.]
"If she's not on Earth, then where else could she have went?"
[Well, once the 'game' started and we began reassigning souls, there are quite the number of options.]
"Reassigning souls?"
[Right. In one of the new one thousand worlds.]
"Reassign them?"
[Yes. In different worlds.]
To be honest, is not like I didn't understand what he was trying to say. Is just that the previous sight before my eyes was frightening to a whole other level. For as far as the eye could see, there were people in something akin to a comatose state, from babies to old people of different races and different skin colors.
[You don't need to worry. At the time of their death if they awaken they will be presented the situation, prior to the reincarnation of course, while I'll sit with them just like this and explain things properly to calm them down.]
"I am ready to listen as well. Please explain."
[Very well.]
With a snap of his fingers and a smile on his face, the room itself transformed into an art gallery of sorts, with many paintings and sculptures adorned upon the walls.
Then he continued with large, almost theatrical gestures, while preparing to explain. It seems like he is enjoying this a great deal.
[Let me start by telling you that Earth, is a planet without a God.]
"..."
[No worries, I'll explain it properly, but I want you to remember that. Now let's see...where should I start from? Yes! Do you know what a God is?]
"A being of supreme power. A master of creation and a ruler over life and death?"
[Close, but shallow. Indeed they are powerful beings but, there is one thing that differentiate between them and the power they have. It should be obvious especially since you lived on Earth for 25 years. Can you guess?]
"Hmm...well throughout history there have been a huge number of Gods, some having the same characteristics and powers but belonging to different civiliz..."
[Exactly! The difference comes from the number of believers existent. The number of people that give prayer to a specific God. Now, remember that I told you that there are no Gods ruling over Earth, right?]
"Yes..."
[All the Gods from your history books are real and at some point came into being on Earth and even offered their blessing to the people who prayed for them.]
"Then..."
[Then why is Earth without a God, when it should have thousands of them? The answer is quite simple really: because they were bored!]
"...?"
[Yes! Hahahhhaha! Yes, that face! That's the proper reaction to have! Why would they abandon Earth and their believers? And how could they continue existing without their believers? The answer is quite childish honestly. They didn't abandon it per-say... They started playing a game!]
I consider myself quite smart to be honest, even if it might seem arrogant. But this conversation keeps turning every notion of 'knowledge' I had on its head and then kicks it to the curve of the Earth. I can barely follow it and it feels that, I should only keep quiet and wait for the explanation he has to offer in order to make any sense of it.
[It started rather recently, although in human years it might have been a very long time ago. You see, every religion has some approach on what happens after death and its God tries to accommodate that belief. However, most of them - actually all of them - make use of the space you've seen previously and keep the essence of their believers, or their souls in that atemporal place. A place void of time or life, where the soul can spend eternity while shrouded in darkness, dreaming a dreamless dream, while not breathing or living. What changed though, was the fact that the initial place was starting to get crowded. Therefore the Gods gathered here to seek council from each other.]
"Let me set some things straight please. So, first of all, how many Gods exist?"
[Well the answer is difficult you see. After all, a God is envisioned by each human differently. So you could say that there are as many Gods as humans which existed since the beginning of Earth. So if I was to give you an answer based on people that believed in their own deities the number until the present, keeping in mind the group mentality, should be around 28 millions.]
"Is that even possible?"
[It is of course. But that doesn't mean that's the number of deities.]
"Meaning?"
[You said it yourself didn't you? 'A huge number of Gods, some having the same characteristics and powers'. Meaning, that even if in the mind of the people they were praying to a specific God, in reality it could've been the same one as the one receiving a prayer halfway across the globe, while envisioned as a different existence. So, to put it simply, at the moment one thousand Gods exist.]
"That feels oversimplified actually..." - I thought
"I was expecting a smaller number. If you said that I was right regarding having the same traits and being the same God."
[That's why I said close, but not quite. To explain a bit more in detail, the Gods are split into two categories first: male and females. I know right? How unexpected... Yet, coming from the imagination of humans, the Gods started existing by borrowing their appearance from them. But that doesn't mean it's split evenly...you know, patriarchy and all that. The next way you could tell Gods apart, is by their region of belief. Do you know what that entails?]
"What the prayer is offer for."
[Correct again! You're quite smart aren't you? There are Supreme gods, gods of Sky and gods of Light, gods of Sun and gods of the Moon. There are gods of Dawn and gods of Dusk, there are gods of Weather, just like there are gods of the Underworld. There exist gods of Earth and everything it holds and gods of Wisdom that teach humans how to conquer it and develop it. There are gods of Fate and gods of Justice if you fail to follow the right path. There are gods of Love, Oath, War and Death and lastly there are gods of the Animals. However, there are two more categories included. One is by far the most powerful and insightful God when it comes to spreading his influence: the Trickster god.]
"You mean Loki?"
[Yes, indeed, Norse culture. However he is also known as Veles in the Slavic culture, Anansi for the West African culture, Caribbean and Haitian, Kitsune or Tanuki for the Japanese, Puck for the Celtics and so many other names for just as many other cultures. The difference comes from the fact that he was mostly blamed for different accidents, instead of being worshiped. Even in that case though, the power of a God comes from the power of the people's belief on Earth, thinking about him, praying to him, yelling at him, or simply put, acknowledging his existence. Therefore, he holds great influence in both the Council of the Gods and godly power over Earth.]
"And his real name?"
['The helper of humanity', 'The one that leads through the Desert', 'The bringer of Fire', 'The gifter of civilization'... Prometheus.]
"The one that stole the fire from the Olympian gods and gave it to the humans... And the last category?"
[Just like Prometheus, for the last category there is only one existence it was created for. But unlike the others, this one didn't come into existence by the power of people's thoughts naturally. Instead, it was forced into existence by manipulation of facts and by whispered rumors on Earth. It was done so, in order to create a single religion and all prayers to go to this one single being. The last category is the Administrator God.]
"Can that be done? What is the name of this God?"
[I told you early when I introduced myself didn't I? The names I have are many, in order to draw power directly from the people's belief. Be it in their fear of death, or reverence of life. Be it in their believe of the beginning or curiosity of the end. I was brought into existence as an overseer of Earth and an game master of the war begun between the other Gods.]
"Meaning?"
[I am an artificial God brought into existence for the sole purpose of guiding the souls from Earth to the other worlds the remaining Gods reside in. For that purpose, the Great Hall in which the gods used to meet in order to take important decisions, is now used as an Auction House.]
"I don't follow..."
[The people that die on Earth are relocated to other worlds. But how does that happen? In order for it to be fair, a system had to be put in place to avoid the same overcrowding as previously mentioned.]
"So, at the council you mentioned, the solution the Gods came to, was to simply have Earth's huge number of people used as a resource to populate the other worlds the Gods now rule over in order for them to enjoy a game with you as administrator?"
[The gods? No! This idea came from one God. The one with the most influence...Prometheus.]
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