With his consciousness slowly waking from a deep sleep, he hears various noises but does not comprehend them.
His bodily functions roar to life, starting with the deep steady beating of his heart.
His veins coarse with warm blood as he becomes aware of his own breathing. Taking in a deep breath of life giving air, his lungs and chest swell in volume.
Letting out his first breath with ragged coughs, his lips painfully crack open.
His body thrums with the rhythm of life, as if to proclaim to the world that he is in fact, alive once again.
He becomes aware of himself lying crumpled on a solid surface. He feels nothing but aches, nothing but discomforting pain.
From amongst the white noise around him, he starts to make out a distinct voice, a loud and energetic one.
Raising his head off the ground, he finally starts to understand what the voice is saying.
“...all of you Fated, all of you Worthy and all of you Natural. Welcome to the beginning of a new game in the all encompassing Afterdeath Trials.”
“Those that are present have the privilege of witnessing the beginnings of a monumental event.”
“At this moment the Undeserving and the Unworthy will come forth, those that are truly the Lifeless in existence.”
As those words were spoken by the announcing voice, everything around him subtly changes. The suffocating darkness is exchanged for bright shining light.
So blinding is the transition that he is forced to close his eyes for many seconds, unaware of where he is or what is around him.
“Behold, the heaviest of the low, the greatest of the detested, the least of the dead…”
Cracking his eyes open, he becomes aware of the marbled stone beneath his trembling and weakened body.
Looking up he sees more and more of the large structure as his gaze rises higher and higher.
He realizes just how massive the strange place is around him, with a feeling of insignificance as he is so small within it.
“Gaze upon them, look and see the manner of rot that fills them. Things that they have accumulated in their tainted existences.”
“Watch as they fight and claw for every speck of dirt and every grain of sand.”
“Watch as they try, all merely for another chance. A chance that they had already been given and yet still threw away.”
The walls surround him on all sides, encapsulating him within a prison of solid stone.
So high they ascend, as if reaching for the drifting clouds far above. They give a feeling of constriction, despite the large empty space they encompass.
Beyond the high walls are rows upon rows of seating; stands that are filled with spectators here to observe the entertainment within the large colosseum.
In those seats sit people and beings of every odd description. They are strange. They are powerful. All of them here to enjoy the spectacle.
“Witness their pain, their suffering and struggles. Mock them, ridicule them and laugh at them. They are worthy of such things as their Karma would display.”
“They are so incorrigible that even the greatest efforts of the Afterlife was unable to handle them. How great their accumulated burdens must be to have ended up here…”
He could not help but shiver from the countless mystical gazes that pass over him. The many beings that fill the stands, they are here, watching and observing. Their judging eyes sweeping over him and the colosseum grounds at large.
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“It is now purely and solely up to them, to save themselves. They are without any more kindness, care or aid. As they have thrown away everything offered to them in the past.”
“They are irredeemable. Having eluded their deserved fate once already. I say this to you with complete openness. Just like us. They! Belong! Here!”
As the announcing voice’s speech rose in volume and passion, the crowd grew inflamed, making various moves from their seats, cheering at the final declaration.
The sheer amount of energy and power radiating from the audience was enough to bring him to his knees.
He could only curl up and endure the barrage of forces that rained overhead. Being nothing more than a minor ant before a far greater horde of elephants.
“It is our role to witness these Undeserving and Unworthy, these Lifeless, as they serve the rest of their bitter existences within the Afterdeath, alongside us.”
There was a pause as the Announcing voice let that statement fade and allow the audience a chance to quiet.
“However, this is not without hope. If by some chance they manage to claw their way through this harrowing game, then they will be accepted into the Afterdeath.
“Through the four profound methods, they might be able to achieve success in the trials. Or be destroyed by them.”
With the pressure fading around him, he raises his head and forces his body upright. Taking in the aura of hope that permeates the colosseum.
The audience itself echoes in unspoken agreement with what was declared. As they know well what is referenced.
“If by chance, skill or fate, a Lifeless manages to clear 100 consecutive trials they will be allowed into our societies. They will join our ranks as many other Worthy have done before.”
Many amongst the audience seem to stand out at this moment. As the words having just been spoken were addressed towards them.
They were the ones that had overcome the trials. Rising from a position of extreme low, to one that garners respect and commendation within the Afterdeath.
“We will not wish any luck upon the Lifeless. We will not be rooting for their success. It is all up to them, whether they succeed and live, or be destroyed in failure.”
“This is the beginning of a new game of the Afterdeath trials. We will be watching and waiting for the thrill of entertainment to begin.”
“Here is to a new beginning, in a timeless plane of endings.”
As the audience cheers and roars after the final spoken slogan, the announcing voice speaks again.
This time with a different demeanor and tone, as if instead of addressing the audience at large, it is talking directly to the participants of the current game of the Afterdeath Trials.
Its voice still overbearing, but now devoid of the earlier jubilance. It is oppressive and condescending, as if speaking to lesser beings.
“All of you Lifeless. Some amongst you are Undeserving, be welcomed to your new existence. Some amongst you are Unworthy, so here begins another game of your existence.”
It was only now that he becomes aware of the countless other figures in the same situation. Just like himself, they populate the grounds of the huge colosseum.
Many were panicked and frightened. With obvious fearful and scared expressions on their faces.
Yet amongst those nearest to him, he could see one individual that seemed calm. Like everything around them was to be expected.
“There will be trials, tests and tribulations with all manner of situations that will push you to your limits. Whether you work alone or with others, Live and succeed, or die and fail. It is all up to you.”
“All the rest I will say is this. You will be given two things: For those that need it, a small sense of identity. For everyone, a Boon of the first tier.”
“Do not disappoint all ye Lifeless.”
As the final reverberations of the announcing voice were heard within his mind, everything once again fades to black with all sensations suppressed. Besides an increasingly stronger pressure hugging his whole body, there is nothing.
But then like a spark within his mind, there is one thought. A sense of identity is formed. His name was Noah. He was a man, he was a human man.
He was a man named Noah from a place called Earth. He remembers the existence of his past self, the one that had died and eventually arrived here, in the Afterdeath.
Focusing deeply on these memories of his past self, there was nothing more. Nothing about him, what he had done or who he was. Noah had run into a wall, a mental block.
Other memories of his past self existed, but he could not remember them. No, it was more like they did not exist within his current mind.
Everything of his past was stripped away, leaving him with nothing but his name and some common sense of the world. Most of which was useless here, in the Afterdeath.
Noah was simply vacant. His efforts to remember having been impeded. His emotions, an empty slate. He felt nothing and remembered nothing. The only thing that existed now was this new self, in the Afterdeath.
Existing in the Afterdeath with a clean slate. This is a concept the current Noah can accept. There is nothing behind him, he only exists here in the present, in the Afterdeath.
The Afterdeath. The Trials. What those are or what his future holds, Noah does not know and doesn’t care enough to find out. With that, Noah succumbs to the suffocating void around him.