"With only light, we would be blinded from the truth. With only darkness, we would be obscured by the lies; we need a balance of both." - Lira Tempus Deus
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Deepened in the waters of death, I had no thoughts in my mind, I had no regrets in my life. I might have done detrimental things and might have stated controversial opinions, but if I had the choice to change anything, I wouldn’t. I’m glad of the life I’ve had, destiny chose this for me, and I can’t get angry with it, it’s just life.
I opened my eyes and soon noticed I was underwater still able to breathe somehow. I quickly started swimming towards the very top where I saw a dimmed light. I looked down to the abyss and noticed that everything was pure darkness, it looked terrifying. I quickly emerged out of the water and the first thing I noticed was a place with very little light; I was probably inside a cave of some sort.
After getting out of the water, I looked back into it and noticed that it was now shallow. Did I really swim that much? Was I just imagining things? It didn’t take me too long to realize that it was a fountain. I want to say about ten feet in diameter. Looking into the reflection, I saw myself. Wait… who am I?
I was a woman, I want to say roughly around 5 feet tall, long crimson hair, and dual-colored eyes, the left eye being yellow and the right one red. I was completely naked, thankfully it was warm wherever I was, supporting my initial idea that I was underground, maybe some sort of ancient sanctuary. I tried to close my eyes and think of any memories that would appear, but as much as I struggled to remember, nothing came to mind. I sighed, looked around the room to see if there was anybody, but nothing. I saw a pathway which seemed to be the exit, so I followed it. I didn’t hear a thing; I couldn’t smell a thing… this place is strange. All I had left was the bitter taste of the water that I had just emerged from.
As I follow the pathway, I enter a room where the first thing I glanced at was a huge golden gate at the east, and another silver gate at the west, in between, there was a person, a woman to be exact, waiting for me. I slowly started walking up to her as she kept a smile on her face.
“Welcome to the limbo, Kasai Regiis Diaboli.” This woman had silver hair and silver eyes.
“Is… that my name?” I asked. Right now, I am completely oblivious to anything that I am, I need to get answers.
“It indeed is.” She said with a smile. She was wearing very fancy clothes and had a halo behind her head that was gracefully flowing around her. I quickly remembered that I had no clothes and said,
“I apologize for my indecency, but I have no clothes to wrap myself with.”
“Oh, don’t worry about that, dear. I am unable to see physical beings; all I see is the flow of time and past memories of every living thing that is capable of remembering.” She sounds like she is some sort of divine being. But she is blind?
“W-who are you?” I said while slowly walking closer to her as my heart was pounding faster of the nervousness. For all I know, she could kill me any time she wanted to.
“I am ‘Tempus Deus’ she who is known as ‘Lira’ from the place where you come from. I am the manager of timelines and goddess of the time gem.” What is such being doing in front of me? Was I important?
“Why are you here?”
“I am not just here, I am everywhere. In every point in time, in every event, in every death of a star and birth of others.” This is getting too complicated for me… and I don’t really care that much for her reasons, I just need to know who I am and why am I here.
“What’s going to happen to me?”
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“I will quickly scan through your past life and see if you’re worthy of going to heaven, or hell.”
“Wait, I died?”
“You sure did. Luckily you were half devil, and they are still allowed to get a second chance after they die.”
“Half devil?”
“But… you will be the last one that falls under this convenience. The past people throughout history that had this second chance, always took it for granted.”
“What do you mean?”
“Should another half devil or half angel die, they will be gone forever and sent to the void.”
“Alright… well… am I worthy of heaven?” I asked. She got closer to me, laid her hand on my head, then instantly removed it and teleported back, so fast that I didn’t even have time to react. She sighed and said,
“You have murdered… many people. You have stolen many things. And you are a sin that falls under the level of lust.”
“I-I have?!”
“On the other hand, you always had good intentions, the world was just against you since you were born, which is something that happens very frequent.” I soon started getting all my memories back. My abusive parents, the orphanage, the Aizawas, but most importantly… him… the person who helped me get out of the hell I was in.
“I… I didn’t have a choice. PEOPLE WERE TREATING ME LIKE TRASH!”
“You should have known forgiveness. Truth be told… everyone can change If they don’t have a mental illness. Those people from black tombstone weren’t ill, they were just a lot of kids with no guidance in life. And many were murdered by your hands, and all of it was caused because of your lust to this boy.”
“For Rukito? No! I did it because I wanted to stop Ochiru!”
“Kasai, you can’t lie to me, nor to yourself. You would have murdered anyone who this boy told you to murder. Ochiru was never your priority; you never cared about black tombstone, you just wanted to be with him.”
“Where’s the problem in that?! I LOVE HIM! I owe my life to him! Can you blame me for looking at him as the only little happiness I had left?!” I said while tearing up.
“I don’t blame you for anything, Kasai. The world made you what you became. I don’t fault the boy either, he saw himself in you and didn’t want you to go through the same lonely life he went through.”
“Then what’s the problem?”
“Heaven and hell were created to separate two different types of people that would not be able to live in harmony. I don’t want you to think that hell is bad while heaven is good, that’s just corruption in religion and history that has happened over millennia.”
“So either way, I’ll be fine?”
“I can’t say that you will… hell has become a systematic dystopia after the new devil queen was crowned. So, everyone by now thinks that they were made to be evil, so there is this self-placebo effect happening that makes them do evil things.”
“Ah… I see.”
“Since you were half devil, I should be sending you to hell. But… deeply inside, you’re a nice kid, Kasai. Your innocence was corrupted by selfish humans. I’ll give you the chance to go to heaven.”
“Really?” At this point, I started thinking about it. Is hell really that bad? People over there are suffering by the hands of the queen for no reason… they… they are all suffering just like I once was. “Can you… send me to hell instead?”
“Huh? Are you sure?”
“There are probably genuine people in hell that are suffering by the dictatorship of the queen for no reason… I want to help them.”
“Ah, I see… you see yourself in them.”
“If Rukito helped me because he saw himself in me… I want to do the same and spread the genuine help to others like he once did.”
“Are you really sure? There is no turning back after you cross one of those gates. If you go to heaven you have more chance of meeting Rukito again.”
“I-I do?!” No! I can’t let lust get in my way… I can come back to him after helping the people in hell. I will come back as a better person, so much better to the point that he will admire me just like he once admired Shizuka. “Well… I still don’t want to go to heaven.” She sighed, gave me a big smile and said,
“You truly are the reincarnation of Rei.”
“Can you tell me more about her?”
“Don’t worry, you will find out a lot about her in hell.”
“You can’t tell me before I go?”
“I already gave your memory back, which is something I’m not allowed to do. I can’t interfere with any human, angel, or devil affairs. These are the rules set by our god.” The gods have a god?! Wait, she must be talking about Hikari.
“Fair enough.” Clothes instantly appeared on me. They were the same as the ones that Misaki once gave me.
“Here, I’ll give you these as a parting gift.” She said while winking.
“How did you get them?!”
“I went to Greenterra in a timeline where Misaki loses this outfit. I found it and came back and gave them to you.” Wow… she did all of that in an instant? I can’t imagine how much power she has.
“Are you the strongest goddess?” I asked.
“That’s enough talking. Now go through the silver gate and save the innocent from the devil queen.”
“Right!” I said while quickly walking towards the gate. I looked back, she smiled at me one last time and suddenly disappeared. I opened the gate and instantly started warping to hell.