"What are you waiting for, fool? Did your mother not teach you how to walk?

"Hey, are you deaf or just too stupid to keep up? You all are already dead and just lowly ghosts.

"Oh, you are an emperor that ruled over billions of citizens and an armory of a hundred million? That doesn't mean shit here, you are just a ghost, and I dubbed you Emperor of Ghostly Farts. You can keep all the titles and power that goes with it as you clean the stalls of the netherworld for all eternity."

Smack!

Smack!

A giant, powerful devil soldier reached out and grabbed that ghost that proclaimed his emperor status by the neck before tossing him into the abyss for holding up the path of the dead. The devil soldier's eyes scanned across the path as his hand reached for his whip that began flashing like lightning as he cracked it above the heads of the ghosts hurrying them along the way.

"I guess I have died, and that means this is the netherworld?" Augustus said as he walked along the path with countless other ghosts. He couldn't help but stare and look at his surroundings. It was when he heard the emperor in an uproar; he couldn't help but wonder to himself what kind of world needs an army of a hundred million.

"I said to move, or do you want to follow the Emperor of Farts as his lowly subject for eternity cleaning the stalls of the netherworld." The devil soldier said as his eyes fell onto Augustus with a disdainful glance.

He quickly picked up his pace as he followed the river of ghosts that formed along sinuous lines of spirits moving forward in a constant rhythm. He continued to see that at the ends of these lines, new ghosts in white would appear, some of them would be weeping in despair, others would come out screaming in a blind rage, thrashing out against the world around them, and a few would appear just sighing in regret.

The devil soldier would not allow them even a single moment to adjust as he began to whip at them sparks of lightning that crashed into their asses as he yelled, "forward you ghosts, I said, "march fucking forward or else you'll meet your newly crowned emperor."

Augustus could tell that the devil soldier was sufficiently amused at finding a new plaything in the netherworld. However, many of the ghosts who had just reached the end of their lives and crossed over were roaring in a fury at the devil soldiers beating them but quickly learned that they were dead, and all their former lives glory meant nothing here. Time quickly passed by as Augustus continued walking for a long time amongst the endless line of ghosts that formed a swaying dragon as they continued in a haze of nothingness as it continued to strip them of their memories, accomplishments, failures, and conquests.

However, after a long day of dazed walking, the sky above them began to change and saturate with dark clouds twining amidst the starry sky.

"Augustus!" a thunderous voiced echoed across the endless path of ghosts shaking the starry sky above them. Augustus looked up along with countless spirits as a lightning bolt shot out from the clouds pushing away the ghosts nearest. A massive hand covered in long black fur reached down and gripped Augustus tight, pulling him into the sky above. Tumultuous fear gripped him as he was yanked above the bleak and threateningly thunderous clouds Augustus came face to face with an enormous minotaur. This demonic god stared down at Augustus, gripped tightly between his fingers as if he were a toothpick perilously close to being snapped in two. The godly creatures' eyes began to glow blindingly bright red as the light from them wrapped around Augustus as he disappeared. The mighty minotaur promptly left as fast as he arrived, leaving the sinewy dragon formed from these sad, pale ghosts to continue marching on into eternity.

A few moments later, Augustus woke up in a small court, and a few meters away, an older man sat fishing in a small pond nestled between two blood maple trees. Augustus approached the man and noticed that though he held the fishing rod steady, he had already drifted off to sleep with his legs crossed. Augustus stared at the old man before calling out, "hello, where am I, and why was I brought here?".

He waited, but the old man didn't reply or even stir a tiny bit from his slumber, but just as he was about to reach out to wake the old man, he heard someone say, "He is much older than he looks, and it's rare for him to sleep just let him be." Slightly startled by a voice that did not belong to him nor the sleeping man, Augustus turned around and saw a beautiful woman that appeared to be in her mid-thirties.

Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.

"Who are you, and where am I?" Augustus asked.

"I am Neralia, and this is my courtyard in the Netherworld plane. It is one of the 108 courtyards surrounding the Nether World Palace.

"That doesn't explain much to me," Augustus replied; she smiled and waved her small hand in between them, and a small table with two seats emerged out of thin air, leaving Augustus stunned.

"Please have a seat, Augustus Newton. We have much to talk about and very little time to do it."

Augustus quickly sat down as Neralia sat across from him, softly smiling before a sigh escaped her lips as her eyes filled with sadness.

"I am one of the 108 guardians for the myriad worlds that your soul is a part of, and unfortunately, you have passed before your time." As she spoke, a black book appeared in the air and floated before Augustus as his eyes glittered with intrigue. He touched the book with his hands, and images from his last day on Earth began to play around them as if they were there watching it from a front-row seat.

It showed his fight with his boss, quitting his suffocating job, and his first day off in almost two years. Every morning, he would stop by at this little café in the northern part of the city to pick up a set of bagels, pastries, and coffee. He had always hated going there at the behest of his bosses. However, today this small shop felt quaint, full of charm, and welcoming to Augustus. The world had changed for him; he grabbed his warm bagel from the cute girl at the counter and spent a moment to smile at her and admire tiny freckles that dotted her round face and emerald eyes.

He wondered for a moment why he had never asked this redheaded beauty out before. The worse that could happen was a refusal. He would continue with his day, slightly disappointed but undeterred from enjoying the day that indeed held the beginning of a bright new future for him. Augustus stepped forward, his lips parting gingerly to give voice to the words only known to him but noticed she had already hurried off to help another customer and decided that he could ask her tomorrow instead. He played off this missed opportunity with a yawn.

He took his warm bagel and began nibbling on it as he walked outside the shop. He noted that the surrounding part of town was much more interesting to him today. He noticed the French colonial influence spread beneath the modern architecture of skyscrapers rising into the skyline. Yet, as he walked on the bricked sidewalks, he saw that now and then, there would be a small building etched with Germanic influence nestled amongst the other buildings. It was the first time since he moved to the city that he noticed different cultures mingling everywhere.

Augustus had slowly chewed his way through half of his bagel as he came to the crosswalk. He was watching the half-broken red hand flashing haphazardly at him from across the street. This broken sign used to infuriate him every day as it sparked halfheartedly, giving him the broken red finger in his struggle to work but today, he just chuckled at it, considering it a reminder of his former discarded life. After a few minutes, the signal swapped over to his former patron saint of busy workers, the luminous white man that guided him on his journey across the busy street.

Augustus was munching on the last part of his bagel as he stepped off the sidewalk and into the street, his eyes watching the luminous guardian as he made his way over. He heard a woman screech and began to turn around as searing pain spread across his whole back. At the same time, he watched from high above as people shrieked, and panic radiated throughout their faces. Yet, the pain had receded, and he was miraculously flying towards the small pond nestled amongst a patch of maple trees. He could hear a truck screeching like a wounded beast and was made conscious of the pungent smell of trash overpowering the air just before he fell into the pond. The last thing Augustus saw was a small family of ducks and his reflection in the cold water as he passed out, his broken body slowly sinking to the bottom of the pond dyeing its waters crimson with his blood.

    Augustus wore a broken smile as the last moments of his life faded away before the scene around him returned to its previous form of the courtyard with the sleeping older man.

"I am sorry, Augustus; you were supposed to live another fifty-two years as ordained by fate, but your life was cut short due to a mistake," Neralia whispered from across the table.

She gazed deeply at Augustus before saying, "However due to your fate being incomplete, the heavens have willed it to grant you cosmic merit. Though somebody may change their fate with choices, it should never be cut short, and so you will be reborn into a higher realm, and given great luck, the rest will be up to you."

"What is a higher realm?"

She smiled before replying, "The realms of life and death are separated into six-paths of reincarnation based on cosmic merit recorded in the books of life and death. These paths were created for each of the greater and minor realms of this universe. These paths are known as Devas, Asuras, Humans, Beasts, Ghosts, and Hell Spawns. There are nine grand planes, twenty-seven great planes, 108 major planes, and countless minor planes. You were born in a minor plane underneath the thirtieth major plane known as Pure Starfire Major plane. You will be reborn in this major world as a human in a major clan as compensation for your unfortunate fate. It seems our time is up."

Neralia stood up slowly before waving her hand to retrieve the table and seats while Augustus disappeared in bright light.

A whisper echoed in his ears as he was transported away, "I have gifted you a technique that will help you excel upon your rebirth; consider it a token of our meeting and a gift for robbing you of a life full of love."