I sat down at the spot where I was standing and began to meditate.

… more like pray

After time had passed and I had recovered more than 80 percent of my energy, I began trekking toward an altar in the distance.

Woah is that an… altar, seemingly floating in the sky, I thought as I was walking through the barren wasteland.

Is it all… the same?

I thought for several moments as I saw that the scenery surrounding me stayed consistent. The surroundings were just a blur. But it looked like I was walking in a loop, like an air ominous staircase, or a palace with several hundred rooms.

I continued walking through the colorless palette of space until I saw that the altar in question looked like it was closer than a few moments ago.

Am I actually… getting closer to an exit or an explanation?

After several minutes I was within 100 meters of the mysterious altar in the sky.

I can see it… it’s close… just a few more steps…

Several thoughts flooded my mind as I was sprinting towards the inhuman altar.

Is this an exit from hell… or purgatory?

In a few seconds, I was ascending the seemingly endless conjunction of staircases, leading to the top of my ‘fate’.

“These stairs just don’t end,” I said aloud

I ascended the stairs, one by one, one fateful step at one singular time. I felt at ease, while I was ascending these never-ending stairs, hoping to reach the top before I black out from over-exertion.

After I had reached at least halfway up the triumphing stairs before me, I saw the stairs begin to shine with bright, astral-like colors.

These colors began to flood the very stairs that I was standing on, and the ones below us.

There were several varieties of colors, spread across the stairs.

If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

Red, blue, green, yellow, orange… several others had rushed through the staircases, all of which were surrounding me.

As I was about to comment on the surprise of color in a colorless hell, someone else had spoken.

“Attention, Attention human!” The being talked with a condescending attitude towards me. Like the false gods did.

“I am the entity known as Iro, and I am the ruler of this domain of despair.” She spoke electronically as if she was just an ai.

“What is the reason for me being here?” I said to the electronic entity before me.

“You are a shameless… truly shameless human, one deserving of abandonment. One as useless as a summer ant.” She paused, then began again with more emotion in her anti-soothing voice…

“Truly one who bestows ‘Death’.”

I stood there, stunned by the words that left her mouth. I truly had no idea how to respond to such a presumptuous statement that exuded from the female ai’s robotic mouth.

“What the hell are you talking about? Are you… crazy!”

I felt like I was being challenged by this computer-operated system that stood before me.

One who bestows Death… I muttered gasping in and out as my heart started to beat at an unnatural rate.

“What does it mean exactly, to bestow Death?”

“It means that you are factually a part of Death. In other words, you bear the strings of Death; a negative fate. But you most definitely also possess the innate ability to control life; a positive fate. Pick your poison boy.”

“So you're saying that I can control my fate? Does that also mean I can control others' fate at will; as well.”

“You learn quite fast for a useless mortal. But yes you are correct, you also possess the innate ability to control others’ fate, through life or Death respectively, but there is a catch. Oh such a mighty catch indeed… the catch is that you will lose control if you don’t complete a certain agenda related to these innate abilities.” The ai-generated voice stated with such a mundane and sleep-inducing voice; calm enough to not scare a fly, but boring enough to make you fall asleep into a nightmarish coma.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean that you’ll have to listen to your already familiar other whole. You’ll have to make a deal, or a sacrifice, either one is fine. You just have to satisfy the greedy needs of a sleeping god; that’s all.” She said such dangerous things in a very likable way. She was a very persuasive woman.

“That sounds a lot more dangerous than you suggest, but I digress.”

“Good, now that all of that nonsense has been talked about, and that bridge has been crossed, let’s get to the more interesting topics.”

“Like what…

“Like this,” she then pulled out an electronic button from her back pocket. The button was a shade of dark red and had rounded edges. The button kind of looked like the big red button that sits in front of the president, but that’s not quite the most important aspect of all of this.

Once the red button was in her metallic hands, she called out a specific command.

“Show us the room of glory, oh great red empress,” she recalled as she held the big red button on top of her left palm.

After an instant of confusion from the sudden request, the surroundings changed.

The pale complexion of colorless fields, and the bold colors that were displayed upon arrival of the long staircase… converted into a deep mass that n front of us.

“Is this a…

Wormhole”

I thought as the seemingly endless rows of staircases compressed into a big ball of mass.

“That’s also correct, you're quite a bright fellow; aren’t you?” She said, piqued with eternal interest.

“Well I was quite the nerd at my academy, back in my normal days as a law abiding citizen. But I guess now I’m just a monster, fueled with this intense malice. It’s quite frightening actually.”

After a short conversation with the woman, the huge wormhole made a noise.

We had arrived at the unique location that this woman recalled.

We had arrived at the Sanctuary of Greed.

Or maybe for others; less fortunate, this could be considered the journey of no return. A life of total emptiness.

The life of a monster.