After three years working as a lawyers assistant, Amelia had finally had enough. The lawyer
The lawyer Benjamin Davis, Amelia was working for, was a narcissistic, egotistical pig. He treated her like a small, incompetent child, made her do his chores during the day, like get his clothes from the dry cleaners, and shouted and blamed her for every mistake he made. Amelia decided to look for another job and has been job hunting for a month now.
Finally, a few days ago, Amelia got what looked like a good job offer. A small technology company was looking for an office assistant with prior experience. If anyone had experience, it was Amelia. After the torture that she went through for the last three years, she was probably an expert now.
Amelia used the time for her lunch break to go to the interview at the tech company. It was only two blocks away from her job, a ten-minute walk, so Amelia decided to walk there. It was spring, it was a beautiful sunny day and it actually felt good to walk for a bit. She just hoped that the people at the tech company turned out to be normal people. Benjamin also seemed normal at first, but he was a lawyer, a lying, disgusting lawyer. This time she knew what questions she needed to ask at the interview to see if she was talking to a normal person.
Amelia’s parents died when she was nine years old and because she had no relatives she ended up in Search foster care. However, she wasn’t one of the lucky ones, nobody adopted her and she didn’t end up in a foster family. Amelia spent her years living in a group home and as soon as she finished high school and turned eighteen they kicked her out on the streets.
Those were the worst years of her life, she had no one to turn to, no one to teach her or help her with her problems. In the group home, she was surrounded with Amelia other children that nobody wanted, who constantly picked on her and stole her things. Amelia lived at a homeless shelter, for a while after they kicked her out, searching for a job. The first job offer she got was a junior office assistant for a large company. Amelia took it immediately and that job saved her from living in the streets.
With only a high school degree Amelia couldn't get better jobs than an assistant or jobs like that. This job at the tech company paid more and had more benefits than the one she had now so this interview was very important to her. As she was walking towards the tech company, she stopped at a crossroad. A car in the first lane stopped to let her pass so she started to walk, the car in the second lane didn’t stop and hit her.
Amelia didn’t feel pain, she just felt really cold. She saw people standing around her, but she couldn’t hear what they were saying, she started to feel tired so she closed her eyes to rest for a bit. For a moment she couldn’t feel anything, she wasn't cold anymore, she wasn't tired, she felt like her normal self. The odd thing was that she was surrounded by complete darkness everywhere she looked. A flash of light drew her attention, she turned her head toward the light and saw a small stone tablet with many cracks. She wondered how was it still it one piece. It had weird symbols, thousands of them, all over it, they looked more like hieroglyphs, but different and more ancient. Amelia took the tablet in her hands and the darkness disappeared, she was hovering over her dead body and after a few moments felt something pulling her upwards. She looked up and saw a big black hole in the sky. The force pulling her, pulled her right into the black hole in the sky.
The force pulling Amelia took her to a long hallway and left her standing at the end of a long line of people. The walls, floor and ceiling of the hallway were all gray. ‘So this is what happens after death. They make you wait in line, the thing that every human hates. Maybe I’m in hell already.’ Amelia thought. The line was moving quickly, there were around a hundred people in front of her and, as the line moved, more and more people came in the line behind her.
With nothing to do, except stand in line, Amelia started to look at other people’s tablets. Their tablets didn’t have thousands of symbols as here tablet, they also weren’t cracked as here was. Some of the other tablets had only a few symbols, some a few hundred but the odd thing was that on other tablets some of the symbols have been crossed while on her tablet only one was crossed. She didn’t know what that meant but it had to mean something so she decided that she’ll ask when her turn comes.
After about an hour it was Amelia’s turn.
“Give me the tablet.” A dark gray man standing in front of her said.
Amelia gave the dark gray man her tablet and saw his eyes widen. The dark gray man looked up at her with a cryptic look on his face and looked back at the tablet. He said something to a light gray man to his left, Amelia couldn't hear what, and turned back towards Amelia.
“I’m sorry. I can’t send you back with your tablet in this condition.” The dark gray man said.
“Send me back? Where?” Amelia asked.
“To Earth.” The dark gray man replayed.
“Oh…. So, the Buddhists were right. People do reincarnate. ” Amelia said.
“Yes and no. It’s not that simple. About your tablet. My assistant will guide you to the blacksmith who can fix your tablet. The important thing is that you don’t stay here for too long or you’ll remember your real name. You must not remember your true name. Remember that and just go to the blacksmith and come here as soon as he fixes your tablet.” The dark gray man said, but Amelia could hear that he was worried. She didn’t know why but the tone of his voice made her concerned.
The dark gray man's assistant started walking and signaled Amelia to follow him. He stopped in front of a door, took out a bundle of keys, unlocked the door and entered. Amelia followed him, as she stepped into the room, the door closed behind her and locked itself. This room just had a staircase, Amelia looked over the railings and saw that it was the longest staircase she ever saw in her life. There had to be thousands of stairs leading down. The light gray man was already going down so Amelia followed him. She didn’t know how long it took them to climb down the stairs, because there was no way to tell the time in here, but she felt like it took them an eternity.
The light gray man took out his bundle of keys again, unlocked the door at the bottom of the staircase and opened the door. They walked out into a big cave that looked like a cave inside a volcano. Lava was flowing in the middle of the cave like a river, there was a huge house-like structure carved in stone at one side of the river and a massive stone door on the other side of it. The doorframe was covered with carvings of screaming people, a demon killing and eating people, gruesome scenes of torturing people and the same demon tearing flesh from their bodies.
Something about the door was oddly familiar to Amelia. She couldn’t take her eyes off of it, it felt like the door was calling her, but she didn’t know why. The light gray man stood in front of her and signaled to her to follow him. They headed towards the house-like structure and entered it. Inside was a giant man hammering something on an anvil that was taller than Amelia was. The light gray man signaled Amelia to stay at the door and wait. He took Amelia’s tablet and walked over to the giant man. It looked like the light gray man and the giant were talking, the giant man looked at Amelia wide eyed and immediately put aside what he was doing.
The giant man took a stone bowl from inside one of his chests and a glass jar from a shelf. He poured some of the contents from the jar into the stone bowl and put the bowl into the furnace. As soon as the contents from the jar liquefied and started to boil, he took Amelia’s tablet and put it into the stone bowl. After a few moments the tablet absorbed the liquid inside the bowl, the blacksmith took the tablet and put it into the water tank. As soon as he did that, the water started to boil and evaporated.
The blacksmith took the tablet out of the water tank, half of it was still covered in cracks and he gave it to the light gray man and said. “This is the best I can do. It’s just too old. I don’t think that I’ll be able to do anything next time.”
The light gray man thanked the blacksmith and signaled Amelia to follow him. They left the blacksmith’s house and headed towards the door they came from.
“Wait a minute! I need answers!” Amelia shouted at the light gray man.
The light gray man turned towards her and said. “We don’t have the time for that.”
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“Oh, so you can speak! Then tell me what that tablet you are holding is.” Amelia said.
“You don’t need to know. We have to hurry.” The light gray man said.
“Maybe I don’t need to know but I want to know. Now tell me what that tablet is and why is my different from the others. If you don’t tell me I’m not going anywhere with you.” Amelia said firmly.
“Stop that. We are running out of time. We need to hurry.” The light gray man said with panic in his voice.
“The faster you tell me the faster will be back in the gray hallway.” Amelia said.
“All right. The tablet is your soul and it’s different because your soul is old, older than others you’ve seen. Are we done? Can we go now?” The light gray man said.
“But why is my soul so cracked?” Amelia asked.
“As I said, you are an old soul, the more lives a soul lives, the weaker it gets.” The light gray man lied to stop Amelia from asking any more questions. They were running out of time, they needed to get back before Amelia remembers her true name.
“OK. Let’s go.” Amelia said and followed the light gray man back to the room with the staircase.
As they were climbing the stairs, Amelia asked the light gray man. “The blacksmith said that the next time my tablet gets damaged as it did now he won’t be able to fix it. What happens with a soul when the tablet breaks?”
“I don’t know. Only a chosen few know.” The light gray man said. “Who knows, maybe I was once a soul but I don’t remember it.”
Amelia hoped that she wouldn’t become one of the gray men. She didn’t know why but she didn’t trust them.
“Can I hold my tablet for a while?” She asked the light gray man.
“Sure, here you go.” The light gray man gave her the tablet.
Amelia looked at the writing on the tablet and the cracks. All the cracks started at one point from the bottom of the tablet, from one symbol at the bottom. The symbol looked like a black figure and it was the only symbol at the bottom of the tablet, all the other symbols started a row after that. It was also the only symbol on the tablet that was crossed. Something seemed oddly familiar about that symbol. Looking at the symbol Amelia felt the same way as she felt looking at the stone door, it felt like the symbol was calling her.
Looking at the tablet Amelia lost her footing and missed a stair, she fell down the stairs, holding her tablet close to her chest so it doesn't get damaged during the fall. As she finally stopped falling, she opened her eyes and saw that a bright light, surrounding her, was holding her in the air, she saw that the light was coming out of the tablet.
The light gray man appeared in front of her with a petrified look on his face.
“Don’t be so dramatic. I’m ok and the tablet is still in one piece.” Amelia said. “How do I get down now?” She asked the light gray man.
“Just… Just think about getting down, the tablet will do the rest.” The light gray man said. The petrified look was now gone from his face.
Amelia did what the light gray man said and it worked, she was standing on the stairs, the bright light was now gone. “Whoa! That was weird.” Amelia said.
“Yeah… Weird. Come on we really have to hurry,” The light gray man said with what looked like a failed attempt to smile.
They continued to climb the stairs. At the top of the staircase, the light gray man unlocked and opened the door to the gray hallway. They headed towards the dark gray man to give him the repaired tablet.
“We are done. The blacksmith couldn’t repair all the damage he did what he could. Here is the tablet.” The light gray man took the tablet away from Amelia and gave it to the dark gray man.
“I’ll be with you in just a second, let me just finish this. So sir, you were an honest man and fisherman. Did you like being a fisherman?” The dark gray man asked the man in front of him.
“Not really. I didn’t like being wet all the time.” The man answered.
“Ok. Let’s see what lives you had so far. You had many honest lives. I see a few dishonest ones. Hmmmm...” The dark man said looking at the man’s tablet. “Ah! I have a perfect one for you.” He said and took out a stamp out of his pocket. He chanted some words in a language Amelia didn’t understand and stamped the tablet. The tablet started to glow and the man in front of him disappeared. The dark grey man handed over the tablet to the light gray man on his right, the light gray man put the tablet on the shelf next to him and the tablet disappeared.
The dark gray man turned around and took Amelia’s tablet from the light gray man. “It still has a lot of cracks. Is this the best that the blacksmith could do?” The dark gray man asked.
“Yes. He also said that if it gets damaged again, like that, he won’t be able to repair it anymore.“ The light green man answered.
“That’s not good news. Now let’s see the lives lived.” The dark gray man said. “There are so many I’m running out of lives.”
“What do you mean by ‘That’s not good news’? What will happen if my tablet breaks?” Amelia asked the dark gray man.
“It’s none of your concern.” The dark gray man said.
“Yes, it is! It’s my soul! What will happen if my soul breaks?!” Amelia yelled. She had enough of the gray man and them dodging her questions.
“Every time it’s the same with you. Every time you ask the same questions. Why is my tablet different? Why is my tablet cracked? What will happen if it breaks? Every time we tell you it’s none of your concern but you protest, you want answers. I have had enough of you acting the same way every time! Just shut up and let me do my job!” The dark gray man shouted at Amelia with anger in his voice.
So every time they dogged her questions and lied to her, no wonder she had the feeling not to trust them as soon as she saw them. Enraged, Amelia pushed the light gray man out of her way and grabbed her tablet from the dark grey man’s hands. “I’m not giving you my tablet until I get some answers.” Amelia said with a murderous look on her face.
“You fool. Give me the tablet back! You have to go back to Earth!” The dark gray man shouted at her.
“Then answer my questions. Why is my tablet so cracked and what will happen to me if it breaks?” Amelia said in a sharp voice.
“It’s none of your concern.” The dark gray man said with a pretentious voice and ordered his two assistants to get the tablet out of her hands and bring it to him.
The two light gray men attacked Amelia and tried to take the tablet. Amelia fought back, she hit one of the light gray men in the face and he flew across half of the hallway. Everyone in the hallway, including Amelia, stood silently for a few moments. The light grey man standing next to Amelia looked at her with a petrified look on his face as he saw a bright light surround Amelia.
Amelia stood up straight, her head bent down slightly, and started breathing heavily still holding her tablet. She raised her head, her eyes were now read and her smile was smug. She walked over to the dark gray man.
“Hello, Vihaan! Long time no see.” Amelia said.
“Oh no. You remembered your name Hadeon.” The dark gray man said.
“I remembered more than my name and the next time you tell me to shut up I’ll break your neck Vihaan.” Hadeon said calmly.
“This is what we were trying to avoid. Now that you remember, do you know what happened the last time you remembered who you are?” Vihaan asked.
“Yes, I do. I tried to kill Teagan and I failed.” Hadeon said squeezing his fists tightly. An angry look on his face appeared.
“Don’t be stupid and try it again. You know you can’t kill him, he’ll just prolong your punishment as he did before.” Vihaan said.
“I know. Last time he doubled my punishment. That sadistic bastard! I swear on my soul that I will find a way to kill him even if it takes me an eternity!” Hadeon yelled hoping that Teagan heard him.
Everything around Hadeon became completely dark. ‘So he did hear me.’ Hadeon thought and Teagan walked out of the darkness right in front of him.
“Hadeon, you serve your punishment not because of me but because of your actions. Do not blame me for what you have done.” Teagan said.
“My actions were justified and you know that! I just corrected what was wrong and unfair. It wasn’t my fault that that was you Teagan. You and your unjust rules over the conduct of souls. Some guardian and a judge of the mortal world you are, you give the souls in the mortal world nothing and expect them to behave the way you see fit!” Hadeon said with contempt in his voice.
Hadeon waited to see if Teagan would say anything to defend himself but he just stood there with a pretentious look on his face. Hadeon continued. “You make the soul live hundreds of lives on Earth, you judge every life the soul lived by your stupid and unjust standards and when their tablets are full you give them to my kind. You task my kind to count the honest and dishonest lives of the soul lived and decide if the soul gets a thousand years of peace and a new clean tablet, a good first life or a thousand years of punishment and torture, to teach it a lesson, and then a new tablet with a first awful life.”
“Yes, those are the rules. You just had to follow them. You didn’t have to destroy three thousand tablets and be punished with three thousand lives on Earth. You also didn’t have to try and kill me.” Teagan said.
“Follow them?! I did follow them for thousands of years until I got a tablet of a soul that for the last few hundreds of times was constantly born in Africa and in each life recruited as a soldier while it was still a child. Each of those lives was crossed meaning it was a dishonest life. The soul by your standards would be sent to a thousand years of torture. What kind of judgment was that? Tell me!!! You did that on purpose. Of course I had to kill you! You were going mad, I had to stop you!” Hadeon shouted angrily at Teagan.
“The rules apply to everyone equally. You know that Hadeon.” Teagan said.
“Screw you and your unjust rules! You have really gone mad. I don’t care how many lives you make me live in the mortal world while you keep my body locked up dow there. One day I will kill you and stop you! ” Hadeon said now full of rage.
“It’s time we continue your punishment.” Teagan said, waved his hand and both of them were in the gray hallway again. Teagan turned towards Vihaan and said. “Give me the read stamp.”
“But it’s not the time for the red stamp yet, my lord. It could break his tablet.” Vihaan said.
“I don’t care, just give it to me.” Teagan said, Vihaan obeyed and put the red stamp into Teagan’s hand. Teagan grabbed Hadeon by the neck, as if he just grabbed a puppet, took the tablet out of Hadeon’s hand and threw Hadeon on the floor. Teagan pressed the red stamp on the tablet and Hadeon felt a sharp pain in his chest.
After a few moments, he felt the force pulling him again. He saw a smug smile on Teagan’s face as the force pulled him down towards Earth.