His blurred senses slowly returned to him, after being assaulted by a pounding headache. He could hear all sorts of noises around him ranging from voices, screams, and even the sound of softly billowing flames in the distance. When his senses returned, all he could see was a translucent wall before him, and just outside that wall was an endless array of flames. Looking around, he spotted many others in the room as well, and all the other walls and floors were the same. People were pacing back and forth, some were banging at the walls, while others complained, only a few managed to stay calm with the current situation, including Seiren.
“I don’t have time for this! I’ve got a meeting in…” A man yells before looking at his watch. Noticing the hands-on it spinning endlessly with no end in sight.
As Seiren surveyed the area, he started walking around the space, glancing at everyone he passed by.
“Where the hell am I?” He wondered.
As if out of nowhere a sudden column of flame appeared within the space. Causing people to jump back in fear, as it suddenly dispersed, revealing the figure of a man clad in a red shirt and tie, wearing a vest over it. His black slacks hung neatly over his black dress shoes. Pouring forth from the hat on his head were green strands of hair that hung over his eyes, making it impossible to tell who or what he was looking at. A slender long tail-like appendage hung from his back lower back as he pulled out a deck of cards.
“Welcome to purgatory.” He says, breaking the silence of the room in an instant.
“Who are you?” Someone asked from the front of the crowd.
“I am… Vermillion Chance, the gatekeeper. I keep watch over this infinite Purgatory. But that’s not all, my job is to offer you all a second chance.” He said.
“A second chance?” Someone said from the crowd.
“Haven’t you all realized already? Every last one of you in this room is already dead.”
Silence filled the room as everyone’s faces began to shift from confused to stares to listless expressions. Everyone slowly remembered the last few moments of life before the cold clutches of the grim reaper snatched away what little consciousness they had left.
“The devil, you see, being the kind soul that he is has offered to let you go back to the world of the living. There is a catch, however, to go back, you must take on the devil’s challenge. Travel through all 7 layers of hell defeating his advocate’s challenges and fight the devil himself for a chance to escape or a chance at the throne.” He explains.
A chance to escape…? He thought. A chance to go back and be there for my mother. If she found out I died… I don’t even want to think about it. I… have to come back at all costs.
“I can see the willed look on some of your faces. Some of you want to escape and go dashing back into the arms of your loved ones, some of you want the overwhelming power that the role of the Devil can give you. They’re all fine choices. But before any of you will get to that, I have a test for you. You can just call this trimming the fat a bit. A culling of sorts, because those that answer this question wrong will burn in the eternal embers of hell.” He explains.
Seiren gulps, as well as many others.
“It’s a simple question. Which way is up?” He asks. He points both his index fingers up and down respectively.
Purgatory was suddenly divided in the middle by black and white. On the black side, there was an arrow pointing up in bright white, and on the white side was an arrow pointing down in jet black.
“Now choose aside, you’ve got less than a minute to decide.” Vermillion states.
People start flying into a frenzy and running back and forth within the space. Seiren looks up at the wall looking at the dark black arrow pointing down.
I don’t know if this is a trick question or not, but I’m just gonna answer the only way I know how. Seiren thought.
Seiren walked across the line and into the black side, looking at the bright arrow on the wall.
Up is simply up. He thought.
Seiren stood by as everyone rushed into place some people stood by in the middle, unsure of what to do. But soon time completely ran out.
“Times up. Stop moving.” He said, and just like that, everyone came to a complete halt, unable to lift even a finger. What caught his attention was two people standing directly in the center of the line, standing on both sides. A girl with bright blue hair stood there staring straight at Vermillion.
“What’s this? Would you care to explain why you chose to stand in the middle?” He questioned.
A visible bead of sweat formed on her forehead.
“Assuming the area outside is akin to space, that would mean that there is no up or down, simply whatever this place is, is acting a sort of false gravity keeping us to the floor, but if that's the case, then the gravity could easily be used to have us standing on the ceiling. So wouldn’t that mean both sides are correct?” She questions.
Stolen novel; please report.
“That’s not the purpose of this test.” The man behind her says. “He specifically told us the purpose was to cull the numbers. This likely means he doesn’t care which answer is right, but rather, how confident we were in our answers. If this whole system is set up around the devil wanting to fight it would make more sense if he were culling the trash to make sure only the creme of the crop makes it through.
Vermillion begins to clap.
“I never expected that someone would discern the meaning of the test. I must say there are a few gems in this batch. But yes, it is as you said, the criteria for passing the test is the confidence one had in their decision. We don’t need a bunch of weak-willed humans to waste our time on. Make a decision, and live with the consequences, no matter what they may be.” Vermillion snaps his fingers causing over 30 people in the room to be engulfed in sudden pillars of flames. The girl standing in the middle recoiled watching as people around her suddenly burned and then disappeared from purgatory.
Around roughly 70 people remained in the room afterward. Seiren let out a breath of relief after realizing he had been spared from the flames and watched the girl in the center of the room.
”At least there are fewer weeds to deal with..” She says to herself.
“So, what’s next?” The guy standing behind her said, before walking to Vermillion.
“A gift for all of you,” Vermillion says as flowers begin to appear within the space.
“These are hell flowers. They grow exclusively in hell, but when humans pick them, they awaken to special abilities.”
“Awaken, how?” The man asks.
“When picked, they take root in the soul, slowly altering its composition until they mature. Which is of course when you will reach the height of your power. As you accomplish more and more, you’ll be building your experience as your abilities mature.”
Special abilities? This is sounding more and more unreal by the minute, yet it's hard not to believe it. Seiren thinks.
“All you have to do is pick one,” Vermillion says.
“Pick one?! We’re going against the devil and you want me to pick one?!” A man shouts, “Screw that!”
The man starts picking as many hell flowers as he can get his hands on. A few moments later, a bouquet’s worth of flowers starts blooming from his chest.
“I can feel it!” He shouts before breaking out into a coughing fit. Spurts of blood begin to pour from his mouth. Black veins begin traveling from his chest throughout his whole body, as he begins to shrivel up like a raisin.
“This is the fate of one who tries to overwhelm their body with such power,” Vermillion explains.
Others can only look on in horror, while some just began to pick their hell flower. Seiren kneeled to the ground, finding one flower away from the group. Each flower had its separate appearance. Seiren reaches down, placing his fingers around the stem, and examines the flower more. The petals were a dark blue, with some sort of energy dancing at the center of each petal. After finishing he gently tugs at the flower causing the stem reaching to the floor to fade from sight. Although maintaining the image of a plant the bottom of the stem was crystalline as Seiren raised the flower through the air.
The flower vanishes in a sudden veil of darkness and soon envelopes Seiren. However, seconds later, it disappears and he’s left with nothing.
I don’t feel any different. Seiren thinks.
“I’ll offer some advice. Humans are stronger in numbers, so why not consider working together." Vermillion says.
Team up…? Who can I even join? He thinks.
Seiren walks past a few people in the room. Some are already chatting it up, while others simply keep to themselves. Seiren notices the girl from earlier, who is at the center of attention.
“Let's partner up! With your brains and my brawn, we’ll be unstoppable.” A man says to the blue-haired girl. He starts flexing his muscles before her.
“I don’t need an idiot for a teammate.” She says while shooing him away with her hand.
As she walks away, the same man grabs her wrist.
“You ought to learn some respect.” He says.
“And you should take a shower you mongrel. The smell of your stupidity might rub off on me.” She remarks.
“I'm not afraid to hit a woman.” He says.
“Then let's see you try.” She says, shooting him a glare. The man feels a hand grab his own, as he looks up to see Seiren standing there glaring at him.
The two stare each other down for a few seconds before the man breaks away from Seiren’s grasp. About to raise his fist at Seiren, Vermillion intervenes.
“Do keep your petty human squabbles for when you’re not on my time, alright?”
Feeling the immense pressure from Vermillion, beads of sweat began racing down their faces. Sucking his teeth, the man walks off, giving them both the middle finger.
“I’d thank you, but that would imply I’d asked for your help.” She says as she leaves him standing there.
Wow, she’s something else. Well, I’d better try and find a partner. He thinks.
As Seiren looked around, he began to realize people were already paired up. He ran through the space attempting to find others like himself with no partner, but it was to no avail.
“Alright, time’s up.” Vermillion states.
Already?! Seiren thinks.
“Now it’s showtime!” Vermillion says with a snap of his fingers.
The floor transforms into a pit of flames as flaming skeletons emerge from the floor, reaching out to each person and grabbing them by their legs to drag them down. Seiren can feel his body sinking deeper and deeper into the flames. Although taken by surprise at first, he tries to remain calm.
This must be part of the process… right? He thinks.
Soon his lower body was completely engulfed in the flames, yet strangely they had no heat whatsoever. Soon his upper body became engulfed and his head was all that remained above the flames. With a last look, he could only see the smile on Vermillions before his vision faded to darkness once again.