Foreward
Darkness. Black. Nothing. Silence. That’s all I know as I come around. Or…. have I been awake? My memories evade me. I can’t feel anything. There’s something…. missing, about me. All I am is a consciousness. A nothing. Surrounded by nothingness. Who knows. Maybe I am the nothingness. Time has no meaning here.
After a certain amount of time, a light flickers. I see it with my nonexistent eyes. It flickers like a flame, a pinprick of something. I cannot reach out and touch it. I can only wait as it comes gradually forward. When it is right in front of what is me, it flares bright, then dims. It touches me, and engulfs me into white nothingness.
I awake to the feel of a cool surface against my face. I blink to see whiteness. I look down and see a body. Mine. My arms are bruised. My face hurts. My whole body complains as I stand. I look again and double take. I’m completely naked. My head whips from side to side as I look for anyone. No one is here. I stand here. Alone. Again.
Then I see the white ball flicker to life in front of me. I watch it warely. It blasts apart and in its place a figure stands, neither male nor female. It resembles a human figure. It is cloaked in robes of white intricately trimmed in gold. Its head is cloaked in a white hood, whatever features it may have are hidden in shadows. Its skin is the night sky, black with little stars and galaxies flowing across it. I tense, and pull my hair over my shoulders to cover myself.
Then it speaks. The voice is deep, a bass. It rumbles, packed with power. The hair on my body stands on end and my knees weaken vastly. I refuse to fall though.
“My child,” It begins. I can feel something from under the hood stare at my face. The gase burns me, paralyzes me. It feels as if weights are pressing onto me. So this is what it feels like to talk to a god. “You have finally come to me over years and years, finally come to face your trial. You have done a great many things, child, your life full of both good and evil. Though now fate rests in your hands. Follow me.” It turns and starts walking away.
I swallow and force my legs to move. My mind is torn in two, as if two major forces are grabbing hold of it and tugging in opposite directions with humongous strength. One part of me screams for me to run away, and run fast. The other drags me toward God, with no reason or rhyme except that there’s an intangible pull. I give in to it. I follow him.
We continue on for what could be seconds, days, weeks, years, centuries. Time has no meaning. But we do arrive at a huge golden door. Soft clouds drift across the white surface. The God turns, standing aside the door like a sentinel. The door opens. He stays silent. I hesitantly walk forward, thinking about it.
On the other side is a huge council room. The white marble gleams, gold glinting everywhere. Two sit at a huge table, another, slightly smaller one sits off to the side. A huge high wall stands there, golden chairs surround it. Three Gods sit there, both just like the first.. Floating on the third chair is the white orb. Other men and women sit in seats, tens of thousands of them. They watch me.
“Welcome, Charlie Zoe Sanchez.” I flinch as the last names boom in my ears. A name I refused. A name I denounced. A name I had long-since left behind.
“You are here in accordance with the Eternal Trial. We shall decide if you will go to Heaven or Hell.” Two doors appear. One to my left, and one to my right. One is marble with gold embedded in it. The other is black marble with fiery red highlights carved in it. They flicker. The gods close their eyes and talk, their voices untangable, their mother tongue, the tongue of the gods impossible to describe. It rises and falls with power. I wait, and study them.
In time, they stop, and silence themselves, all turning to me. It could have been a minute, an hour, a day, a year. Time has no meaning here. The head god speaks. “We have decided that you can go to Hell,” the black door opens to reveal a straight black metal staircase downwards. “Or Heaven, though with a price.” That door stays closed.
I steady myself and then strongly say, “And what is this price, your lordship.” Though I say it with force, my voice is meek and quiet, nothing compared to the gods. The god looks at me.
“You must go down to Earth once more and become a servant to us, bringing us the newly deceased. You will work for Death himself, as his right-hand.” I stare.
“And how long shall I do this?”
“You must do this to the end of time if you wish to be in Heaven. Though this seems long, you will be highly rewarded in Heaven. You will have a place of Honor, a seat among the gods.” I think, try to wrap my head around this. Death. Work for Death.
“Is there anything else, Sire?” I ask.
“Yes. You must deliver Justice. You must choose at least three apprentices to follow in your footsteps, to be your right-hand.” I stiffen in shock and disbelief.
“You wish for me to sentence three other innocents to this…. life?!” The god nods. I glare at my feet. Silence.
“I admire your sense of justice, little one,” The God says, and I turn to look up at them. “But yes you will.” I contemplate.
“Deal, but no catches.” It chuckles.
“Of course.” It appears in front of me, human size. It holds out a hand. I grab it and we shake. Its touch is like fire. I black out.
