Merek

            “No! Nonononono! Don’t hurt her! Mom! Don’t die mom! Please, please don’t hurt her! No!” I screamed and cried miserably as the men took my mom. They were like giants, all around 190 centimeters tall, with muscles bulging out of their tattered clothes.

            A pockmarked man was holding me back, not letting me go help my mom, while she was dragged away. His dirty clothes rubbed their grime off on me, and his harsh breathing was right next to me ear. A repulsive stench wafted over as he spoke.

            “Hehe, sorry kid. You’re not getting’ your mom back. Though you might eventually meet her in the afterlife. That’s assuming her soul’s not broken tonight. Hehehe.” His rough laughter was like nails on a chalkboard, and I could no longer take it. I had to ty to help my mom.

            “Nooooooo! Mom, I’m coming! You don’t need to worry, I’ll save you!” I bit down hard on the man’s arm, meanwhile, my winter boot came up and slammed into the man’s privates. I heard a satisfying grunt, so I turned. I saw the man hunched over in pain, cradling his crotch. I smiled in both anger and hatred, and slammed my knee into his face, pushing him over.

            Now free, I ran up to my mom, who was still being dragged away by the 3 cruel men. The ringleader, a man with only slightly tattered clothes and tattoos covering his thick neck, laughed. “Haha! For you to get beaten down by a litte kid is really pitiful, John. Perhaps you should have killed him earlier, before you got your balls squished into paste!” It seems as if these men aren’t very good friends. Either that, or that’s just how it works ‘on the streets’.

            I charged into the fray, with a flurry of punches and kicks. Alas, fighting three drunk grown men as a 12 year old child is… very difficult. Very very difficult.

            Every single one of my attacks was accurate. I hit the neck, the stomach, the crotch, the temple… and none of them worked. Not only was I too weak, my body weighed too little. I was naturally scrawny, and these guys were built for fighting. Even if they just flailed their arms around, and they did, they were still going to beat me.

            I knew that too. I had no chance. I knew that from the start. But, if the tussle can cause enough noise, perhaps a cop will come along. I just need to buy my mom time.

            The good part about being scrawny is… you’re super agile and compactable. I avoided every one of their flailed attacks, whether it’s by dancing around it, dodging, putting someone else between us, anything. But eventually, I’d get tired.

            The grim picture was becoming grimmer, as I was already huffing and puffing. But that was okay, a cop would be arriving any time now. I knew this, how? Well because the sirens were ringing in my ears of course? The police were here!

            “Screw it. We don’t have time to tussle with this kid. Let’s take him out before the cops catch us.” The ringleader said to the muscle heads, and they nodded.  I felt a foreboding feeling, something that went along with the piece of black metal that came out of one of the thugs’ jacket pocket.

            I heard a bang, and felt a rush of heat. Then I was encompassed by a warm darkness, like a mother’s hug. The last time I would feel such a thing. Death’s embrace.

            I woke to a draft of cool wind. Not cold, but chill, refreshing. My eyes opened to see plains. It seemed kind of empty, just endless green plains, dotted with the occasional tree. It was bleak and dreary, without color, emotion, or life. It was barren in the very sense of the word.

            I stood up, blinking. Before I was knocked unconscious, I had been trying to save my mom… MOM! Where was she? I swirled around and around, looking but saw no one. “Mom! Where did you go?!” Wait… before I was knocked unconscious… the man had pulled out something. What was it..? What was- gun. He pulled out a gun and shot me. I was dead.

            Then would that mean that this was the afterlife? Then… because mom wasn’t here, did that mean she hadn’t died? Wait, no, because more people have died in this period of time that just me… so what was happening?

            To the left of me, an old white man popped into existence with a blissful smile on his face. I didn’t know him… but if he was here, then, where was my mom? And where was I?

            “Wait, what? Where am I? Hey kid, what’s your name?” He asked me, and I absent mindedly replied, “Merek, sir. And yours?” He smiled and nodded. “I’m Arthur. Tell me, Merek, do you have any idea how we ended up here?” He seemed nice, I thought, while my mouth was talking. “No sir, I don’t. Though I suspect that we may have died. This is very possibly the afterlife.”

            “What? Nonono, that’s not possible. I was just talking with my daught-“. He paused, with a look of fear growing in his eyes. I assumed he had remembered something. “I… I… I died? Did I really die? But my grandson… my daughter… I won’t see them again?  I…” I felt sorry for the man. It seemed like he had a lot to live for. A daughter, a grandson, a son… he must have lived a good life. I just hope that my mom, if this is the afterlife, doesn’t join me. It would be such a bitter sweet thing. My mom coming back to me… but only by dying with me.

            I was silent while the man cried, just waiting. I wish I knew what I was waiting for though.

            With another pop, a woman appeared. She was unconscious like I had been, but soon she woke. When she opened her eyes, they were calculating, like everything had secrets scribbled on top of them, if you just looked close enough. The thought terrified me.

            She stood, and without a single tear, asked a single question. “Did I die?” I nodded, and she followed suit. “Car crashes. What can you do?” That made me smile, and a smirk made it to her lips as well. Kind of funny. She’s a grown woman, speaking morbid jokes about death to a 12 year old while a grandpa sobbed in the background. Maybe death was just a way to crack jokes with strangers.

            And, yet again, with a bang, another person was popped into existence. “Welcome, weary travelers. Welcome to the Desolate Plains of Darkness, where you shall spend the rest of eternity!” We welcomed the arrival of the stranger, although he felt different.  It was like an unseen pressure revolving around him, repulsing those who would draw near. Frightening.

            He looked up from his feet, and to my astonishment, his eyes glowed a miraculous shade of violet. I don’t just mean that he had violet eyes either, I mean that they glowed with a violet light. It was disturbingly inhuman.

            The man spoke. “No, mortals, I welcome you to the Plains of Judgement. Those few good people who die will be sent here, and this is where they will be tried to see what world they are reborn into. For you to be here means it is already one of the Heavenly planes, but which of the 3 is yet to be decided. Now, follow me to the Judgement Scale.” The woman and I interchanged nods, and with a shrug, followed the violet eyes man. The crying man fell behind, but eventually followed as well.

            All of the hills we walked over would have us expecting to see something special, but on we walked. It was completely unremarkable, just a hike through the plains.

            We didn’t get hungry, or tired, or thirsty, or bored. We just walked, like that was all that we really could do. And in truth… it was.

            It seemed like days passed, but with not a sun or a moon, I had no way of knowing. It was just walking. A ‘journey through the underworld’.

            At long last, we arrived at what I assumed was the Judgement Scale. Well, it was really the only thing in the entire Plains of Judgement that wasn’t plains or people, so… I assumed that it would be the Judgement Scale.

            It was like the scale you would be weighed with at the doctor’s office. It had the adjustable knobs and everything, but instead of saying a measurement for weight, like lb. or grams, it measured with ‘Sin’. Whoever God really is… maybe he should be rethinking how he measures naughty and nice. This is too… odd.

            The man who hadn’t spoke for days, turned and opened his mouth once more. “This is the Judgement Scale. I would like each of you to be weighed on it. First, Sniffles, the one who was crying the whole way over, you’ll be first.” This violet eyed man seemed to have a sense of humor, however cruel and twisted it was. Who was he, anyway?

            The old man stepped on to the scale, and the ‘Sin’ became unbalanced. The violet eyes man adjusted it to where it was perfectly balanced on 64. Apparently he had a sin of 64, whatever that meant.

            “Could you please tell me what exactly that does? And maybe who you are?” I suddenly blurted it out, though I immediately regretted it. Sometimes I failed to restrain my mouth.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

            The man chuckled good-naturedly. “For your first question, this measures how much burden you have on your conscious. Because right now, you don’t actually have physical bodies, it of course doesn’t weigh your body. It weighs your guilt over whatever sins you’ve committed. As for your second question, no.”

            Hmm. Grouch. But the first part, weighing your sin through the burden on your mind. Odd way of measuring, but then again… I didn’t even know half of what he was talking about. Who was I to judge?

            “What were you talking about earlier, when you said which of the three Heavens we’d get into? Are there multiple? And does it correspond with the amount of burden you have on your mind?” Now is when the woman spoke out in curiosity. I admit that her questions were probably better and more thorough than mine but… I’m 12. How much can you ask for?

            The violet eyes man, still smiling, replied quickly. “There are 9 planes of the universe. Plain 1, the Demonic Plane. This is a plane reserved for the worst of the worst. Only completely evil and corrupt existences are sent to the first plane. It is a plane where even dying is impossible, where you are constantly tortured in many gruesome ways. Plane 2, the Malicious Plane. This is similar to the Demonic Plane, but less severe. For example, you can die. It just takes a lot more than for normal humans. Plane 3, the Sinful Plane. This is where you are like normal humans, but everything that can go wrong does. For example, you find a red sock in a load of whites. After the load is done. Or, your engine breaks down as soon as you start a family car trip. The first 3 planes are known as the Planes of Hell.

 Next, you have the 4th Plane, the Plain Plane. This is basically just a plane where everything is uninteresting. Bland. The 5th Plane is called the Material Plane. This is basically a middle plain. It is right in the middle, where people are very mixed. You’re good, or bad, or depressed, or anything really. This is for people who don’t really earn anything better, but don’t deserve anything worse. This is where you all come from. And the 6th Plane is the Spiritual Plane. It’s where if things can go well, they normally do. It’s basically where you’re always lucky. But other than that, it’s normal. These three planes are called the Physical Planes.

And finally, we have the three Heavenly Planes. Plane 7 is called the Magic Plane. It’s a magic plane with not much technology, but something that none of the other planes have. Magic. Other Planes might have qi building, but this is the only one with magic, as in you say a word and something dies. Other than that, it’s just like the 6th plane. The 8th Plane is called the Rustic Plane. It only has qi building, but it is the most beautiful plane of them all. The sights to see are glorious, untainted. This is also, by the way, the Plane that you get into, old guy. You only have a two-digit burden. That is worthy of the 8th plane. Nice job.” The man paused his speech to congratulate the old man on making it to the second highest plane. I smiled at the man that still only looked up hopefully while sobbing. At least he had been listening.

The violet eyed man then restarted his speech. “The 9th plane, called the Pure Plane, is a plane where everyone is rewarded a ‘super power’. It’s completely random, and until you get it, you don’t know what it’ll be. It is however dependent on your personality. Other than that, it’s like the 8th plane but a little bit less pretty. Oh, and you live really long. Although, I doubt any of you will make it to the 9th plane, it requires a single digit sin to get in. That is very difficult. Now that I have answered your questions, allow me to continue sending you off to your next life. Now, you, the woman who asked those questions, come weigh yourself.” With the speech over, the man was once more stern and strict.

The woman stepped forward and onto the scale, and was weighed a 134. So she got to go to the Magic Realm. Good, she seemed like she’d like to examine magic. Finally, it was my turn to be weighed. I stepped up to the scale, but when I stepped on… there was no change.

“Try stepping off then stepping back on.” The violet eyed man suggested, looking worried, so I did. I stepped off, then back on, and still… there was no change. I jumped up and down, but it did nothing. I, apparently, had no burden.

I turned my head, looking at the violet eyed man, and asked, “Does 0 count as a single digit number?” I was meant to be a joke, but he shook his head in shock. That kind of confused me. If 0 doesn’t count as a single digit number, then where was I going?

The violet eyed man stuttered to a start, “T...t...to t… tell you all the t… t… truth, there are actually 10 planes. But the tenth is reserved for people who have not a single bit of burden on their consciousness. The 10th Plane is known as the God Plane. It is where gods live.” That left us all gaping in shock. The plane… where gods live?

            None of us really believed him, and me least of all, but… why would he lie to us. Did it really matter if we thought there were 9 planes or 10? He could just send us to random planes, there is no point in telling us this anyway. So… was he telling us the truth?

            The woman asked another good question, “Gods? As in, plural? So… which polytheists were right? What religion was true?” Hmm… I know I didn’t think of it. She seemed to be a smart person.

            “All of the religions are true. Well… originally there was a single god, known as the King. He created and ruled over all of existence. But, then different people started believing in different religions, and that split him into multiple pieces. Now, every god that people believe in exists. There are also the forgotten gods that no longer have any believers. They have weakened to the point where they are practically servants to the gods. For example, have you ever heard of the god Rallentheus?” The woman and I replied, “No.” at the same time, while the old man was still crying. I had no respect or sympathy for him anymore. He was spineless.

            The man nodded. “That’s because I was forgotten.”  Then he made a gesture to the side and 3 holes opened in the space that was open air. They looked like black holes, but they had no suction. Just empty places.

            Meanwhile, we were all thinking about his last 3 words. ‘I was forgotten’. Does that mean that he was the god Rallentheus? But there was more to it than that. If every new religion split the gods even further, then wouldn’t there eventually be too many gods and not enough power? Does that mean, that eventually the gods would actually become mortal?

            “Does that mean that eventually, gods will become mortal or die because they don’t have enough power?” The woman arrived at the same conclusion as me. But… the violet eyed man, Rallentheus, gave no response. He just addressed the old man. “This is your portal to the 8th Plane. Just walk into it, and you will be reborn.” The sobbing man finally calmed down, and stepped into the black space. And with a pop like earlier, he disappeared.

            “Next you, lady. This is a portal to the 7th Plane. Oh, and I guess I’ll tell you that you lose your memory.” The woman just nodded, and turned to me. “Kid, I think I’d like to know your name. You know, in case we meet each other in these planes again.” She smiled, and I followed her example.

            “I’m Merek. I hope to see you again, Miss…” I trailed off in question. Her smile broadened. “You can call me Rebecca.” She held out her hand and mirth gleamed in her green eyes. I took it in my own, and pressed my lips against her knuckles. My mom always encouraged me to use the manners of the 1700s. Don’t know why, but I think I like it too. More personal than the handshakes of today. “Miss Rebecca, I bid you farewell. I hope to see you again.” With the smile still on her face, she stepped into the portal and disappeared.

            “Because you got into the 10th plane, I have to grant you the benefits of that. First, your superpower. You get that just like how you’d get it in the 9th plane. You also get knowledge of a Special Skill. This is like a super power, but you have to learn it. However, when you do learn it, it will be much more powerful.” Rallentheus walked towards me, and placed his hands on my head. His left hand was on my face, with his thumb pressing against my temple. His right hand was on my head, on the front of my right side.

            I felt something, strange, special, pass through my skull, and then I knew new things. I knew that if I cultivated my special skill, I would be able to fuse the elements to make cool things. And this is more than a fire tornado, or fire-quake. This is something like fusing darkness and water to make ice. Or fire and water to make steam. It seemed kind of weak, but imagine someone hurling a ball of fire at you, and you fuse it with water to make steam. Or you could fuse it with air to make it dissipate into a cloud of ashes.

            The man removed his hands, and I looked at him. His face revealed no expression, and he gestured with a hand towards the portal. I nodded, and walked towards it. Just before I entered, however, I looked back. He had begun talking.

            “The forgotten gods have a belief, a religion, as well. We believe that there will be a person, who is the Reborn King. He will defeat all of the gods, and join their power into his own. He will connect them all, forgotten gods and unforgotten gods alike. We will be one, and the universe will be whole again. He will save us all from death.” I stayed there, thinking for a while.

            Then I spoke. “I hope your Reborn King will come in time to save you.” And I meant it. Rallentheus looked into my eyes and smiled. “I hope so too. And I hope that you’ll find your mom again.” And I think he meant it.

            This is when I turned and walked into the portal. I felt a tugging sensation, and when I looked back, I saw nothing.