Chapter 1: Chapter 1: After Death?
What happens after death?
Ever pondered on the question? I did many times so.
"Hey, mother what happens after death?"
A hand raised from the group of the kids sitting around a chair. Asking a question not so fitting for his age.
"Hey, that's not related to the story."
"Didn't you hear what mother said, 'Only ask potions related to the story?"
"It's 'questions' not 'potions' you idiot."
"Hey! You are the idiot, Fatty!"
"What did you say Bony?"
"Aa.. please..stop fighting."
"Both of you, stay silent! Let Alaric complete his question."
A girl ordered, silencing the kids who were going off the topic.
"The prince and princess happily died afterwards right. So what happened after that? I mean after they died, what happened to them?"
The young Alaric argued stating his fact, using the silence created by the girl. The kids were interested, they looked at the young lady sitting on the chair waiting for her answer.
Knowing that she could not avoid the question the lady fell into deep thoughts, trying to find the most fitting answer for the kids. She said...
"Well... What happens after death.."
The lady paused looking at the faces of the eager kids with a mysterious smile, trying and succeeding in building the anticipation.
"..Is a mystery.."
The lady continued in a slow and teasing manner.
All the kids, especially the one who asked the question had an anxious and exciting look.
"..You will solve when you are older."
The lady finally finished, ending the long and painful anticipation of the kids.
Before the kids turned into dissatisfied soldiers rebelling her supremacy, the lady...
"We will be having meat as dinner today."
..threw her ace or rather meat. Immediately earning the complete loyalty of her soldiers, who started hailing her as a devotee.
Though not all were brought by the meat, one of which was me. The kid who asked the question Alaric.
'Although she wasn't able to solve the greatest mystery in my mind, she did teach me a fact...'
"No... *Sob*...Someone save me.."
A middle-aged lady was laying under the rubbles of a broken building, muttering in the middle of her sobs as she looked at the child standing to her right, with an expressionless face. The lady was my mother while the child standing silently was me.
"*Sob*... It's so.. painful..*Sob*..I.."
"Damn it Fatty! Put more effort into it!"
"I am giving it my all! You put more weight at it Bony."
"Both of you stay silent! Focus on moving it."
"Mother.. hang in there!"
Some children, four children to be exact were desperately trying to move the cement roof which was twice the size of their body combined.
".. don't want..to die..*Sob*"
"Damn it Alaric! What are you doing standing there come help us!"
Fatty said. As he tried to lift the roof with all his might.
"Don't stand there like a moron, help us save Mother." Followed by Bony. He too despite being a figure of bones put all his strength on his the roof, determined to move it.
"Help us... Big brother." A girl with glasses muttered as she looked at her dying mother, with tears in her eyes. She was using her small and tender hands to move the big and rough pieces of stone from her mother.
"We need your help, Alaric! Don't just stand there!" The girl who has always supported the child screamed at him as she tried to move the lady from the rubbles.
The child however just started in the lady's dying eyes. After some time he closed his eyes, taking a deep breath he opened them again. Grabbing an iron rod near him he walked towards his mother, with determination.
"*Sob* I don't want to die! I want to live!"
Blood started flowing from the lady's mouth, as 'on her death bed she taught me something...'
'Death is a thing people fear.. very much.'
'Growing up I asked the same question to many learned people, all to get different answers.'
"Our organs stop working, a day or two later the internal organs start decomposing, 3-5 days after death — the body starts to bloat and blood-containing foam leaks from the mouth and nose... In essence.."
"It's darkness. There's nothing afterwards. There's no such thing as.."
"Afterlife that's the thing after death. People according to their Karma are sent either to hell or heaven. The cycle of death and rebirth doesn't.."
"It exists! The cycle of death and rebirth! Everyone in the world has a role to fulfil. If you fulfil the role given to you with honesty, in your next life you would be born as a.."
"King! Queen! Or a beggar on the streets. Death is equal and absolute for all. But what happens afterwards is a mystery beyond the capability of us humans to solve."
Different people, different ideologies, different answers, after a decade of confusion, in the end, I came to one conclusion.
'After death... your consciousness is lost!'
Or so did I thought.
But even after the extremely painful and hellish experience of death, here I am still thinking of my past.
'I am still conscious.'
Though not completely as I can't see, smell, or hear anything, or maybe there is nothing around me to sense.
But I can and feel my body floating around.. this.. this nothingness.
Like a small kite flying in the vast sky, moving in the direction the wind or the one with string wishes it to.
I know I have a body, I am sure of it because I can feel it. Though it is inaccessible at the moment, I know it's still there.
I don't know how long it has been but my emotions are dull and that much I am sure of, or else I would have been bored by now.
'What would happen now?'
'Will my consciousness keep floating like this?'
'Will my soul reincarnate somewhere? Will I lose my consciousness if I do, or will I keep it?'
'Maybe there's some divine court out there where I would be trailed for all my sins, with God as the judge.'
'Or maybe I would be thrown in hell for all the sins I have committed.'
Just when my mind was getting clouded by all the questions that kept popping up one after another. I heard a voice...
"How many this time?"
"Around fifty million."
Or two. The language spoken was completely foreign to me. But for some odd reason, I was able to make out what they were saying.
"That much!"
The first voice said in surprise.
"*Sigh* You know these mortals, dying left and right.."
"Up and down all around. Yah. Yah. I know."
Followed by the second voice who was interrupted by the first's fed up voice.
'Mortals, dying, this time, are they talking about the number of people who died 'this time'. Are they angels or devils maybe?'
"Hey! You two keep silent the Paier is coming."
Just then the two were interrupted by a third distinct voice. The voice sounded feminine, so I can conclude that 'these people or whatever they are may have gender? And what's 'Paier'?'
When my confusion was growing, and more questions were popping into my mind...
"Fifty million and some souls have been gathered. Our Paier will now Yallaw us with his presence. Get ready for the weeding."
A monotone voice rang throughout the space, it was distinct but at the same time sounded close. The voice created waves of vibration like a thrown rock would on the surface of a lake.
Immediately afterwards... there was silence. I who thought that the space before was silent, felt that idea of comparing it to the silence of a waste.
"How many suicides this time?"
A heavy voice asked, unlike the voice before it didn't create any phenomenon. It sounded like a voice you would hear from the old man in your neighbourhood, but just by listening to this normal voice, I knew he was the one called 'Paier'.
It was a strange feeling, indescribable by any words, Knowing identity of a stranger just by their voice.. it was scary.
"Around two million, Paier."
"Oh! that many."
The old voice said in surprise after hearing the monotone answer.
"Kick them out. We don't need cowards here."
The old voice ordered.
"It's done, Paier."
"How many with high Karma?"
"Six thousand and five hundred ten."
"That few huh! Send them up. Respectfully."
'Are they sorting the souls for reincarnation, and is the one called 'Paier' God?'
"Now only the contestants are left. Hehe.."
This time the old voice contained an extreme excitement in it. It sounded like the a kid about to open his birthday present.
"Oo... I see so many promising contestants, a few dangerous ones even. Hehe! I can already imagine those old geezers squeezing their pockets dry. The tutorial is going to be a blast this time!"
"Ahem... Paier, we are already late on our schedule, please do not delay us any longer. The countdown is going to start any moment now."
The monotone voice for the first time sounded different... it sounded..helpless! Like a guardian who was fed up with his daily schedule of scolding his late kid.
"Yes. Yes. Start the transference immediately!"
The old voice said this time authentically.
"Starting the transference!"
Many voices from all around said at the same time, and for the second time, I felt a change in the calm space around me.
As if a vacuum has been opened at full force, I felt a suction force from somewhere, though I wasn't able to feel the direction or speed of the pull I knew that I was being sucked in it.
'Looks like the souls are being transferred for reincarnation. And what does Tutorial, and Contestants mean?'
"Oh! Now, aren't you the observant one, Mister soul with consciousness?"
My train of thought was interrupted when I heard the old voice sounding next to me.
From the moment I have died all senses of my body has grown duller... or so did I thought. But the moment the voice fell in my ear...
I could feel a deadly chill on every single bone of my body, as if the muscles and skin covering it were nothing but air.
I could even feel every single hair of my body standing on the end.
My consciousness was being ovel loaded...
Just when I thought I was about to pass out, the old voice said again...
"No need to be so tensed up. Mister Alaric."
All the tension of my body relaxed instantly as if it never existed in the first place. Before I could ponder on how the old voice knew my name or could influence my body. I felt my consciousness fading little by little, as if I was being put on a sleep.
"I expect a spectacular performance from you, after all, you are the one loved by.."
The last string holding my consciousness snapped.
"..death."
Putting me in a deep sleep.
After all the souls were gone the Paier said in an amusing tone.
"Let us enjoy... The Before Of Afterlife."
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Absolute_Dominator
Absolute_Dominator Hello everyone, Absolute Dominator here.
If you like the chapter then continue the story, if you don't like the chapter then... You must continue the story.
Decided if the story's for you or not after at least 10 chapter.
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