Blaring horns, the screeching of rubber and lights shining with the intensity of the sun.

that was the last thing he saw.

Darren woke up dazed as he sat up, where am I? , he thought. He scanned the room he was in. An intricate carpet covered the hardwood floor, the faint fragrance of burning wood filled the room.

A chandelier lit up the room in a warm orange light, in front of him was a hardwood desk with a glass top with different folders and documents stacked neatly on top and the desk was flanked by two massive bookshelves.

He heard fast footsteps outside the door to his right.

The door opened.

A head with black hair and a thick streak of grey running through it, a figure with an impeccable black suit peeked in.

"oh finally the right room, Hello Mr. Reed" the man said as he walked in.

Darren's eyes widened as he that the gentleman had a pair of angel wings both of a different color, one wing was white as freshly fallen snow and one was black as night.

"Terribly sorry for the delay Mr.Reed, purgatory is a big place after all" he said "one does tend to lose their way once in a while" he chuckled

Noticing Darren's wide eyed expression the being coughed

"Mr. Reed allow me to introduce myself and acquaint you with your situation"

Darren realized he was gawking so he closed his mouth and gave an awkward half-smile.

"My name is Tygrus, as you can see I am a Nephilim, offspring of an angel and a Fallen one, and you Mr.Reed are dead." he let the last word hang in the air for a moment.

A chill ran down Darren's spine, his mind started racing.

"No, fuck that, this is just a dream right?" his tone betrayed his disbelief. What does he mean dead? Ehhh, that's probably not true I was just talking to my business partners about the release of our newest game. He replayed the conversation in his head then remembered.

The car horn, the screeching of rubber on the pavement, the lights.

Darren clawed at his hair. Take a deep breath Darren, his shrewd business sense kicked in. He wasn't always the top publisher. Once upon a time he was only the marketing agent of a small game development company, at the start of his career when he sensed that a publisher would start leaning towards a "NO" he would start to panic then he would always do the same thing.

Take a deep breath, assess the situation, and make the most out of it.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

Darren collected himself.

"So, what happens now?" he said calmly.

Tygrus looked Darren in the eye for a moment to see if he was indeed ready to listen to his proposition. A faint smile played on his lips.

"Well Mr.Reed you have two choices" he started

"option one is to go to heaven, but I must warn you Mr.Reed heaven is thousands of years overdue for an update. Many modern comforts you humans grew to love simply are not there, Internet, meat, money and of course,sex" he said the last word with a tinge of mock disappointment

Darren knew he was being sales-talked but he played along "whats option number two?" he asked

The Nephilim's face lit up.

"Well now that you ask, option number 2 is you get sent to another world not so different from the world your programmers and design teams have been crafting for years" he said with enthusiasm.

"there you will fight the King of Horrors, if you succeed you get one wish, no rules and no holds barred. we will also provide 1 item of your choosing magical or otherwise" Tygrus reached into his drawer and pulled out a stack of folders "suggestions for the ite-"

"Hold up! I haven't made a decision yet" Darren interrupted.

he weighed his options If i manage to defeat the Horror king or whatever, I can wish for anything like an absolute shit ton of money then that would be even better than Heaven, Darren thought excitedly

"If I die do I go back here? or do I respawn like in games?" he asked a smile forming on his lips. I died in my world and I got sent here does this mean i'm gonna have unlimited chances? he thought with glee.

"No, barring exorbitantly expensive and rare Lifestones, dying in the other world either brings you to the great beyond where no one really knows what awaits, or if your body is not consecrated, after 7 days your soul will be anchored to your body and be bound to the King of Horrors to serve him in eternal torture" Tygrus said nonchalantly

The smile on Darren's lips disappeared

"wait this place or the heaven you described earlier isn't the afterlife?"

"Well it is kind of, you see this is the afterlife for lower beings like you. Higher beings like gods, angels, and to a lower extent, us nephilim, have influence over this realm. why do you think humans have always worshipped us?" he explained

"you still didn't explain the great beyond you were talking about"

"Oops pardon me" he chuckled "the great beyond is where higher being like us go when they die, we do not know if that place is a never ending void or just a realm for even higher beings than us, no one has actually came back from there so we may probably never know" he said calmly.

The little businessman in Darren's head weighed his options. The reward compared to the risk was just too good though. I can always play safe until I become strong enough ,and then ,not to mention the MONEY...

"Ah fuck it gimme those folders"

Darren looked through the folders, a knife that could capture souls, a collar that could force almost any creature to bow down and obey him, an enchanted sword with the power to break mountains. These were just some of the things in the folders

But Darren was suspicious, what if the items' descriptions were all just hyperbole. Tygrus is half demon after all, could he be trying to trick him? He resolved it was better to make his own just in case.

"I want a book with information about everything, oh and it flips through pages by itself & floats" Darren didn't see any reason why he should potentially be frantically flipping pages in front of an enemy

Tygrus nodded "It will be done, Please step inside the circle Mr. Reed" the moment he said that a blue pentagram appeared in front of Darren. Darren carefully stepped inside the circle

Darren felt a sudden strong gust of wind, he felt like he was sticking his head out the window of a car running 100 mph, the smell of fresh summer air blowing over an open plain filled his nose and he started rising of the ground

"Hey Tygrus" he shouted over the noise

The nephilim looked at him and raised an eyebrow

"At least tell me the name of the place im going to!" he shouted

with a slight smile on his lips he spoke

"Lacraea"

at that moment Darren disappeared.