D0C2 - Beginnings (Part II)
I look around me. I was in a dull white waiting room. Large was an understatement, the place was the size of 10 football fields. Rows upon rows of comfortable blue padded chairs lay before my eye. People kept popping out of thin air, they were arriving here in droves, from all over the world.
Just off the top of my head, I could recognize at least 7 nationalities. I could see people from all ages here, from children to the elderly. The kinds of people were also varied, from soldiers in their green fatigues to supermodels dressed in the latest fashion. No matter what you thought up, if you tried hard enough you would be able to find them here.
It was truly a melting pot of humanity.
Most of them were sitting on the cushioned waiting chairs, some were crying, others had a blank look in their eyes, as if they were PTSD sufferers. There were also those who were raging mad, these were the ones who were screaming and groaning incoherently. Those who were old had a calm look in their eyes, most likely they were able to accept their death while the rest could not.
From the corner of my eye, I could see people being led away by women in office lady attire, just like the one before me, she had left me sometime ago and now she had returned. The aforementioned lady regarded me calmly as I took in my surroundings. The hustle and bustle of all the people here had started to give me a headache. I shook my head, trying to rid myself of it.
“Are you ok? This is merely the waiting room, we should get going.” She said quietly.
“Oh! I’m sorry. Right, lets be on our way then, wherever that is.” I replied. Eager to remove myself from the wailing and groaning of the literal living dead. Even if I wasn’t sure what my exact physiological state currently was.
“No need to worry, most of the time I would hurry you up, the arbiters are busy and they hate waiting, but you are an exception.” She smiled. Leaving me to wonder what an arbiter was. I didn't have an IQ of over 120 for nothing, I was relatively sure that whoever these arbiters were, they had a hand in deciding what happens next, although exactly what does happen next was a fact that I was unsure of.
“If you’ll follow me then.” My guide began walking away.
Moving quickly, I catch up walking next to her. We weave our way through the thousands rows of chair, eventually reaching a plain white double door. Pushing our way through the double doors, I see an endless corridor full of standard wooden doors, the office ladies were leading people into these doors, when they exited the doors, they were alone. This made me slightly nervous, seeing people go into these doors but not out caused my imagination to run off in all sorts of directions.
Sensing my discomfort, my guide spoke.
“They are being simply being judged, their fate will depend on their own actions.”
Hearing this did not comfort me in the least. Although I could not for the life of m, figure out why I would be scared anyways, in the end, I’m already dead, thanks to a bullet in my cranium. We walk through the endless corridor, meandering in and out of several. While we walk through the brightly lit corridors, a question nibbles away at my mind. Eventually, my curiosity gets the better of me and I open my mouth.
“What are the outcomes of being judged?” I asked.
“Normally, I would not be allowed to tell you this, but like I said, you are an exception.” Once again she flashes me a honey smile.
“There are numerous outcomes but there are three main outcomes to being judged. First is reincarnation, all of you are here in your soul form, if you are judged worthy, you will have your memories erased and be planted into a new body. Second is education, or as some of you might put it, the purgatory. Souls are given the chance to cleanse themselves, they have to endure great suffering but success allows them to reincarnate, failure leads us to the third option. Which is the void, souls that are completely corrupted are sent into the void, in which they will then fade away.” She finishes with yet another smile. “Ah, here we are.” She stops walking and I follow suit, looking at where we arrive at.
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In front of me is a wooden door, the same size as all of the other doors. However unlike the ones I saw in the beginning, this once had a wheel carved into it. In the middle of the wheel, there is a dice, although there are only three faces visible. My guide taps the dice lightly and faces of the dice become blurry, as if the dice was spinning. The references were simply too clear.
‘The wheel of fate? Dice? Am I going to meet Fortuna? … Wow, a god huh.’
As if she read my thoughts, my guide turns to me and asks.
“You are taking this rather well, most of the ones I guide are hysterical in one way or another. And even then they are only meeting with mere judges.” She giggles softly. “I would have expected you to panic at the thought of meeting a god. I am glad that I do not need to deal with hysterics for once.”
“Dealing with life or death injuries on a daily basis does that to you.” I give her a level look. “The doctor must remain calm so the patient does not aggravate their injuries. A calm demeanour gives off the impression of confidence, that impression can give the patient the willpower to believe it will all be fine. Even if the doctor is completely panicking on the inside.”
I shrug. “You would not believe how many times I have seen patients pull through by their own willpower.”
“Either way I am glad that I do not have to drag a screaming person.” She sighs. “If I were not immortal, I swear my eardrums would have bursted a hundred times over.”
“Such is the price we pay for jobs. My price is sleep. I daresay I would prefer your job to mine. At least I would get a good night of sleep.” I say cheekily.
“I suppose. But then, having doing this for 1640 years might make you reconsider. thank god we get holidays down to the mortal realms.” She says wearily.
Before I could respond, a sound interrupts us.
Phut!
The dice on the door has stopped. The door creaks open.
“Well then, I guess this is my cue to go. It has been nice meeting you. I can only hope the rest are as well behaved as you.” She shoots me another charming smile, walking off before I can say anything.
‘Sigh, I didn’t even catch her name. Oh well. Into the unknown now, I guess.’
Taking a deep breath to calm my jittery nerves, I step through the door.
Like Alice through the rabbit hole, I am instantly transported into another world. Before I can even ponder upon the physics of how space works here, a soft breeze caresses my cheek as I gazed upon the scene in front of me.
A sea of four-leaved clovers was in front of me, waving to and fro as the wind blew upon them. Bunnies hopped about carefree as if the world itself loved them. In the distance blue sky, I could see a rainbow, its vibrant colors sparkled and flashed. Entranced by the fresh air and the somewhat ridiculousness of it all, I stood there motionless.
A few meters ahead of me there was a girl dressed in a white sundress accompanied with white summer hat. She begins to walk away from me into the far off distance. Realising I made no move to follow her, she turns around and beckons me coyly before walking off once again. With nothing better to do, I follow her.