I opened my eyes with a groan. What had happened? I completely forgot. My hand went to my head and I blinked to clear my mind. Sitting up, I looked around.

The grey plain stretched out as far as I could see, rolling hills and valleys dotting the landscape. A light grey mist dropped from the ceiling like liquid stagalites, and rose from the ground the same way. It truly felt surreal. Across the plain, an uncountable number of medicinal beds lay, each with their own person. Some of the people, however, looked incredibly alien, with four arms, two heads, a tail, or some other strange limb or feature. I saw one thing or being that looked like a giant crab, and another that was just a mass of inky black tentacles and eyes.

“Ah, the curstanci and the horrors. Yeah, many find them strange.” A voice reached my ears and I turned around. An avian creature appeared before me, mostly humanoid except for the avian head and wings. I thought I also saw claws and talons on its hands and feet, but I couldn’t be sure. The feathers were all black, giving it the appearance of a raven.

“Who are you?” I asked, inching away from it before I remembered what was behind me. “Where am I? What is happening?” I seemed way too calm for what the situation around me was.

“All in due time,” he said, and grabbed me under the armpits. “Up we go!” His wings beat and I found my screaming self being lifted off the ground. I looked around in the air and saw thousands of others being taken too, each with their own avian creature. Even one of the horrors was being dragged by its tentacles, though it seemed like the bird thing was having a bit of trouble carrying it.

We quickly passed the ceiling like sky, and I gasped as I felt like something just went through me. I looked back down at the ceiling and saw that it had become a floor. I guess we… what? Flew? I had no clue, but the avian being started setting us down.

I was quickly dropped and landed in a heap of groans and screams, before the being gracefully touched ground in front of me. I sat up and looked at it. “Where’d you take me? What’s happening? Please, I just want some answers.”

The being sighed. “They all do. I can’t answer you. Just follow me.” He glanced down at what looked like a clipboard. “A neutral. Unsurprising. But seriously close to bright, so a bit of a shame.” He started walking past me, and I turned around. The sight in front of me was jaw dropping.

Five double doors stood before me, forming a semi-circle around a staging area, an open piece of grey-white concrete. Each of the doors were huge, twenty meters tall, and intricately designed. Each one also had a uniqueness to it. On the far right, there was a burnt wooden set of doors covered in black flames, each dancing high into the sky. On the far left there were blinding white doors made of feathers, forming what looked like shields from their wings. In between, there lay a set of metal doors decorated with skulls, a pair of grey, indistinguishable doors that looked like tinted glass, and a light glowing set of doors decorated with beautiful nature. It’s easy to guess that the list was from right to left.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

I felt an unknown force dragging me forward, towards the doors covered in nature. However, the raven being led me to the grey glass doors. I quickly spoke up.

“Hey, I think we’re going the wrong way. The lighter door should be the one I go to, right? Right, Mr. Avian guy?” I started to panic as he dragged me towards the grey doors, but when I said that, he turned back assessing me, then looked down.

“No. You’re scheduled for the neutral door, but lying to me is a serious offence. To lie to an Arch is to send yourself straight to Grim. I’m sorry, kid, but you’re right, this isn’t your door.” He turned, and started dragging me towards the doors covered in black fire. As I got dragged away from the doors that I felt I was supposed to go towards, I started kicking and struggling, trying to reach them, but he just kept dragging me towards the darkest door there!

I lost control of my body as I felt the door sucking me in like it had its own gravity. I saw the raven back up, looking towards me with sorrowful eyes. “You should’ve just accepted your fate. Now you’ll be suffering. I’m so sorry, but this is really your own fault.”

The doors dragged me through them, kicking and screaming, and I felt myself lose consciousness once more. The last thing I heard before I only saw black flames was another being flying forwards, screaming, “Wait!”

*****

After the man had vanished through the Grim doors, Abethos turned around to look at the new voice. A messenger was flying towards him, holding a small package. He glanced at her. A smaller angel, she was obviously a minor being of power. He quickly saw the small winged sandals of Mercury on her feet.

“Hello. What do you need, young one?” He asked. The girl took a minute to catch her breath and looked up at him. “Major, the one you just delivered was not yet fully cycled. We hadn’t yet managed to update everyone with his death.”

Abethos’s face paled. If that meant what he thought it meant…

“Major, that man saved a child with his final breath. He also had just received significant bad karma from his boss, in the form of being told he might not have a job. The combination of a minus three bad karma and plus thirty good karma made him a Bright, not a Grey.” The angel looked at him seriously. “If you thought he was lying and that’s why you sent him to the Grim, you know what that means.”

Abethos couldn’t believe what had just happened. The gods had made a mistake? The boy wasn’t lying? How could this happen to him? An archen shouldn’t face these troubles! His mind moved faster and faster until his eyes rolled up in his head and he saw no more.