4 Death

Michael:

When I come to, the first thing I notice is an omnipresent heat surrounding me. I open my eyes to find what can only be described as hell before me. The ground is rust red and stretches on for what seems like forever in every direction. Every few seconds, fiery geysers erupt from the ground, burning everything in range. The sky is more black than anything that I have ever seen. It is filled with strange flying creatures. The air smells of rotten eggs--sulfur most likely. I can hear screaming, everywhere. Screams so loud that they fill every waking moment.

I hear a muffled groan and I notice a woman standing nearby. I look in her eyes, only to see a crazed look on her face. She lunges at me, I stumble backwards with a yelp. I move to get away, but her flesh begins to blacken and bubble. It burns, sizzling and crackling until she is just a charred skeleton. I stare at the corpse, my heart hammering in my chest as I breathe raggedly. I hear a slight scuffle, and I look up to see muscles and skin beginning to reappear on her bones. I decide to leave the area immediately. I run for what seems like a long time, but was probably fairly short, and notice something appearing in the distance. As of now it only looks like a dark smudge, but it looks more promising than the infinite miles of hellish wasteland surrounding me. I start walking toward it cautiously, wary of any dangers that could attack me.

A few hours later, I am much closer to the smudge. I don't know I was expecting, but it certainly wasn't this. I look upwards in awe at the immense black palace. It is such a dark shade that it sucks in all of the light around it. It seems to be made mainly of obsidian and adorned with charred skulls. I feel a knot of tension tightening as I approach the imposing palace. When I reach the gates, they open. I panic a little as I notice that there is no one around to open them. I enter the palace nervously. There is only one path that is visible. I apprehensively follow it in a strange curving pattern until I reach the end, where I find an ornate, blood-red throne. The throne gives off a malevolent aura that makes me shiver as I notice that the throne is occupied.

"Nice to finally meet you Michael," the being almost purrs. You would mistake him as a handsome man if not for the pointed ears, fangs, and horns.

I momentarily wonder how he know my name, but dismiss it for awhile as I get to more pressing issues. "Not to be rude, but what is this place? Why am I here? And what are you?" I lose what little cool I still have and burst into tears. I know, as a guy I should be embarrassed that I'm crying, but it's been a hard day. Not only the weirdness with my friend, but I up and DIE or whatever is going on. Then I go to hell of all places and see people burn to their bones then regenerate. See if YOU don't cry after something like that. Though I think I'm still in denial that I might be dead.

The man/demon gives me a minute to get a hold of myself before he responds. "My name is Natas, and I am the Lord of the Afterlife, what you humans might call Hell," he clears his throat before continuing, "You died, and were sent here, like the rest of humanity, before reincarnating. The souls of the dead are tortured depending on their demeanor: good or evil. The good people find this place to be a freezing wasteland where they spend their days in a state of constant hypothermia until they 'die' and regenerate. The evil people find this place to be a fiery pit of doom and thus burn. Does that answer your questions?"

I am stupefied by his answer, and take a moment to gather my thoughts before speaking. "Does that mean that everyone goes to hell, regardless of their morality? And why am I not experiencing that endless torture cycle?"

He's surprisingly polite for, you know, the Devil, "Everyone comes here, but it's more of a pit stop than a destination. The torture essentially wipes the memories and morality out of them until they are completely neutral. then they are reincarnated in either a better or worse world, depending on their deeds in their past life. Which brings me to you," he stares meaningfully at me with a wicked grin on his face, "You, my dear boy, are already mostly neutral. Though apparently a hair on the evil side as you are sweating and not shivering, but never mind that. The torture, therefore, has no effect on you, so your memories cannot be erased and you cannot be reincarnated. And so, I'd like to offer you a deal."

I'm trying to process the info dump when I hear the last few parts of that. First thought: "I can't be tortured, yay!" Second thought: "Wait, I can't be reincarnated, no!" Third thought: "A deal? Wait, what?"

"Can you describe the details of the deal before I agree or not?" I try to think carefully before answering, he IS the Devil after all.

"Sure, why not. I will graciously allow you to return to your previous life, with a few perks, I might add. However," he puts a heavy emphasis on the last part, "you will work for me. You will answer to me and only me. You will collect souls for me from those too evil or too good to continue living, as they will tilt the balance of the world to far to one side. By doing so, you would become my subordinate, my reaper. Taking your age into account, it would be like a part-time job, for now at least. Certain, what you might call, "abilities" will be afforded to you so that you are able to complete your duties. What do you say?"

I hesitate before asking, "What are the other options?" Don't get me wrong, I want to return to life as much as the next person. But this is the Devil I'm dealing with, so if it sounds to good to be true, it often is.

His gaze hardens and Natas suddenly becomes much more sinister. "Of course you can stay here, eternally, in this hell, until you go insane. Or I could allow you to become one of my demons to help torture the souls that reside here."

I realize that while there are most likely many things that he is not telling me, if I don't take this offer I will regret it for the rest of my life. Well, death. I resolve myself, look him directly in the eye, and say "I accept."

His face changes to a large smile with a look that I can't quite decipher in his eyes. "Excellent," he says and snaps his fingers. I subsequently lose consciousness. Everything fades to black.