Y was dead.
He had to be. His consciousness felt like it was trapped inside his body, for who knows how long. He couldn’t see anything, couldn’t sense anything.
But if he was dead, then why did it hurt so much? His whole body was racked with a mind-numbingly brain-splitting pain. He ached everywhere - his joints, his ligaments, his bones.
“Hello, Y. “ a rumbling voice suddenly came from the darkness.
Y tried to look around, but couldn’t. “Who are you? Is this a dream?”
“Depends on what you define as a dream,” boomed the voice.
“Dreams are places where I find my inspiration and ideas,”
“Good. You are not like the other humans.” Y thought he detected an approving tone.
“Your attempt at becoming immortal has failed. the human technology for this level of energy transfer is still eons away from being usable.”
Y felt an intense stabbing pain in his heart, but it wasn’t because of the pain of death.
He had failed.
“For all these countless years I have laboured and toiled, and I’m not even remotely close to achieving immortality?”
“Not even close.” the voice rumbled. “But we will offer you a second chance.”
“Who are you?” asked Y. “I’ve publicly denied the existence of God when I was alive. If you’re God, then why choose to give me another chance?”
There was a thunderous crackling sound. Was it - whatever the creature was - laughing?
“Silly mortal. I am not God.” the voice resounded.
“God does exist, but not in the way you think it does.”
Y nodded, accepting this explanation. “So what is this chance you are offering?” he spoke cautiously.
“You are truly the last understanding human,” the voice said with pleasure. “Let me make it simple. My associates and I... will make you immortal.”
Y breathed an enormous sigh of relief. “What’s the catch?”
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“As CEO of Earth Robotics,” the voice continued, “you should know better than anyone - every great boon extracts a terrible price.”
“We have helped you with your dream. All we ask from you are three things. Firstly: allow no other mortal to become immortal. Secondly: spread the word that there is no God. And lastly...”
The voice paused for a second. “You must cause one million deaths within the next ten years.”
“Agreed.” Y obeyed without any resistance.
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“And that’s how Y became who he is today.”
The professor had just finished explaining to Teasel the story of Y. They were sat at the professor’s laboratory, Professor Rice on his chair and Dragon Teasel sitting on the floor.
“So, professor,” asked Teasel, “you’re saying that Hell had ordered Y to cause the Third World War?”
The professor scratched his chin. “Well yes, but no. Y never had to start the Third World War to cause millions of deaths. He merely planted the idea in people’s minds, and allowed the war to happen naturally. Oh, how willingly humans are to fight their own race!”
Professor Rice chuckled at this statement. “Anyways, Teasel, the only thing Y did was suggest to mankind to start a war, as well as provide incredibly destructive weapons from Earth Robotics to each side, enhancing the number of casualties.”
“So really he just caused all of the deaths indirectly?”
“Exactly.” the professor stood up. “If he had been more direct in killing humans, such as ordering his subordinates to do the dirty work, it would have drawn too much attention from Heaven. You know how fussy Heaven can get if they see Hell collecting souls unfairly.”
Teasel nodded solemnly, his neck joints creaking.
“Ah, right. Here’s something that will be essential to your missions in the human world.” Professor Rice walked over to Teasel and took out a small copper chip.
As he brought it closer to Teasel’s metal chest, a rectangular section slid open, allowing the chip to fit perfectly in Teasel’s chestplate. It retracted inside the plate, and the armor whirred shut.
“Huh.” Teasel looked down at his chest with his ruby red eyes. “What does this do?”
“This will enable you to produce a virtual image of your former body, Teasel. It will help you blend in a lot better on your missions.”
Teasel looked up at the professor with amazement. “Sick, dude!”
The professor frowned; he was not used to being called ‘dude’.
“Hey, professor. Can we take Teasel on a tour now?” Teasel turned and saw Mary enter the room.
“Ah Mary. Teasel, I’m sure you are bored of my room, why not go on a tour with Mary?”
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“And that tall building is called the Hellstone,” Mary pointed at a looming black tower that rose up into the reddish-brown clouds. “And see that building shooting a huge laser beam to our left? That’s the House of Energy, where I have my internship.”
Teasel felt like he was on a field trip, exploring this incredibly advanced society. He was astounded by the technological feats, but more importantly, by the diversity of creatures walking past them on the street. He saw vampires, demons, devils, slimes, bionic robots, and even a dragon closely resembling himself, soaring through the blood-red sky.
“Mary?”
“Yes, Teasel?”
“Was Hell always like this?”
Mary thought for a moment. “Yup. There hasn’t been a single conflict or war in the past two thousand years.”
“That is unbelievable,” Teasel commented, looking around at the other creatures.
“Why is that?” Mary looked at the dragon curiously.
“It’s just…” Teasel searched for the right words. “there are far more races and species in Hell than up in Earth. You, Jelly, Jessie, professor Rice, although you guys are all friends with each other, none of you can be classified as the same species. But then look at us humans. We are all the same, but we can fight for years and do horrible acts to our own people over miniscule differences. How do all of the different species in Hell coexist in harmony without fighting each other at all?”
Mary paused. She had never thought about this - to her, it seemed perfectly natural for different types of beings to live peacefully together.
“Well… I guess there are simply too many races in Hell. It’s almost like we are so diverse, that this sense of difference is not apparent to us at all. We are surrounded by creatures different from us starting from birth. So instead of viewing our differences negatively, its something that unites us as a whole.”
“It also helps that whenever someone gives birth, their child be a random species regardless of their parents.”
Teasel blinked. “What?”
“Yeah, I know it sounds kinda weird,” agreed Mary, “but if you think about it, it actually makes sense. Due to this random system, no dominant race will ever appear in Hell, and everyone will learn to respect each other.”
Teasel remained silence.
The artificial sun was setting in the distance, but to Teasel, it was way more real than the one in the human world.
“Wanna go back?” Mary broke the silence.
“Sure.”
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