Chapter 2: Paradise lost

Everything was dark. The ground, the sky and anything in-between. It was a place where the very idea of time seemed absent. That's why Maia didn't know how long she's spent there.

Hours? Infinite

Days? Unending

In the void that she now existed in, her suffering never stopped.

She was lonely. Anyone would be.

She couldn't understand why things were this way. Religious or not, Maia, not even for a second, considered this outcome.

To just... live on. Suffer in the seemingly endless expanse of the void.

Although she would lie to herself, saying stuff like "why this" or "why that", she didn't really believe that. She wanted to deny it but couldn't, her guilt rooted deep in her consciousness. No matter what...

Thankfully for her, she wasn't completely alone.

Every once in a while, at random intervals, a bell would ring.

Not a toy that could barely be heard, but a grandiose bell. The same one that cathedrals always had.

Its purpose was unclear to her, but in the midst of her suffering, it served as a beacon of hope. One that promised better days to come.

After an unknown amount of time, something changed.

Maia herself never realized it until now, but the ringing seemed louder? No, it was simply closer to her. It was approaching.

When Maia realized that, for some reason, she felt dread. It was bizarre. Why would she fear something that gave her hope? She didn't know.

It was her instincts.

The same way people fear wild animals she herself feared the bell. Not because it seemed scary, but because it was something humans always feared, and that emotion passed down through generations.

The ringing was getting even closer now.

Maia decided to run from it.

She ran and ran and ran, but the bell was only getting closer to her each time it rang.

For some reason, ever since coming to this place, her emotions were out of order. She wanted to cry but couldn't, when her thoughts went back to her dream, she could only laugh. Not out of self depreciation, but out of genuine happiness.

She was scared but couldn't show it. She was angry but could only laugh.

Yet at that moment, when nothing but fear filled her heart, she screamed.

It was liberating and any other day, she would cry, but by now it was too late.

In an instant, light filled the empty void as a giant bell manifested above her. It's frame was made of the purest bronze, intricate details carved all around it in gold. It's crown and clapper looked to have been made from part of the sky itself.

In all words, it was beautiful. Maia couldn't think of anything more stunning in her life.

"The work of God" was the only way to describe it

Soon, the bell started moving. As it rocked its way forward, it rang.

Listening to it from this close was terrifying. She felt as if the earth would split and the sky fall.

The bell had power too. Something that Maia herself couldn't wrap her head around. It couldn't be anything other than a bell after all, no matter how big it was. That's just how things were, right?

Her body started trembling out of nowhere. It was scary. In a mere instant, the control of her body was beyond her. It felt sickening, but it soon faded.

Just as she was in control again, she collapsed and felt herself melting. She was being played with, she thought and unintentionally relaxed.

Maia's eyes fluttered and shut closed.

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By the time she woke up, everything was gone. She no longer felt disgust and her body was once again hers.

The bell had disappeared from above her and her surroundings had changed too. The room she was in wasn't a black void anymore. Instead, in its place stood a gorgeous garden, the likes of never been seen on Earth.

In the distance, animals roamed and hunted. Maia spotted many animals that looked similar to those on Earth, from wolves to slightly different elephants, no matter where she looked a new one appeared.

'Paradise' she couldn't help but say. It was the only possible explanation. Could she have gone to heaven?

Her happiness was short-lived.

'Something like that,' a voice spoke from behind her. 'Do you like it?'

Maia jumped and turned.

"Kind" was the fist thought that came to her head upon seeing him.

She couldn't describe exactly how she felt. After "that" incident, she felt uncomfortable when in the same room as the male nurses and doctors, but he was different. His very presence was calming and seemed to bring life to his surroundings.

His hair was the color of wool and his eyes like burning flames. He seemed familiar to her, more so than her own father. 'Yes, I like it here.'

'This was your home, long ago,' He seemed nostalgic. 'Now it's nothing more than a preservatory.'

'For animals?'

'The progenitors of life on your planet. Now they just wait here for the end.'

Maia was conflicted. The expression he had on his face was indescribable. She didn't want him to be sad. She had no idea why though.

'You know who I am already dont you' he started speaking again. Of course she did. As a human and a as a child of someone. The person in front of her was the father.

'God, right?'

'Such an extravagant title you've given me, I am neither omnipotent nor omniscient after all.'

'But you created humans,' What was he talking about? 'That makes you a God.'

By this point Maia was starting to get desperate.

"If he's not a God, who Is?" She knew that for a fact, but infront of him even she couldn't lie to herself.

At some point the sun started to set.

God looked at the sky,

'It's about time. Follow me, my child.' It seemed to Maia that something was about to happen.

Perhaps all this was a dream and it was time to wake up.

She didn't get her hopes up though.

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Lively.

This child-like word was the only thing that suited the situation.

Intentional or not, everything that God passed by bloomed with life. As a result, any animal that the two came across stayed with them, making the loudest noise it could in the meantime.

By the time the ground changed from grass to marble floors dusk had settled.

Sadly,(not really), it seemed the animals couldn't follow them past the grass ground.

By now, Maia could see into the horizon.

Nothing. There was nothing as far as the eye could see.

Then, there was something.

From the edge of the marble floor grew a tree.

It branched out in a cone shape, and after several dozen meters, it stopped. Then, once again bloomed, three stools emerged in a triangle.

Each of them a different color.

'Sit please, my child.' God asked calmly. Whether Maia understood was a different thing. Her body still worked, fortunately, so she did as asked.

The second both of them took their seats, a sheep emerged from the floor and went to the third stool.

After, it started gaging, and from its stomach, it spewed a golden scale.

When Maia laid eyes on that scale, the feeling of dread returned to her. She was being judged.

God remained silent. The next part seemingly out of his hands.

The sheep stared at Maia, it's gaze burning into her eyes. She fell to the ground and started puking.

"Disgusting" she kept repeating in her head, never daring to say it aloud.

The sheep wasn't normal. In front of it, she might as well had been naked. It could see everything about her. Her past and what could've been her future. It judged her sins and virtues. Her fate wasn't in God's hands but in that sheep's.

'Karma,' the father started to say. 'The sheep takes in a person's life and decides their afterlife.'

How could he just do that. Her fate? In the hands of a mere sheep?

When it finished, God stood up like. It was time for divine judgement.

He opened his mouth to speak.

'Under my jurisdiction, I'm allowed to send humans to three destinations based on the sheeps decision. Those being:

Paradise, where souls live an eternal dream of happiness.

Hell, a world where souls are purified and sent to be destroyed.

Purgatory, where the damned are forever tortured until they have repented for their sins.'

"What?",

For Maia who always thought herself to be strong and virtuous, the odds weren't in her favor.

'Maia Oddorf, for the sin of stepping on others, abandoning your family to die and for taking the life of a child,' God chanted.

The scale stood at a balanced state.

'You have been judged guilty!' God said with a mighty voice. His calming behavior nowhere to be seen.

Chains manifested and bound me. The ginormous bell once again ringing.

"What sins had I committed?

They only deserved it.

What, was I supposed to forgive them?"

'This isn't fair!' Maia bellowed. 'After everything that you put me through you can't send me to die!'

'I told you child, I'm neither omnipotent nor omniscient. The fates of men are beyond my meddling.' He said calmly, his all powerfully persona nowhere to be seen.

'Some God you are!' If she was going to hell she might as well curse him now.

'Well, don't worry too much.'

'If you are lucky, your soul might stay the way it is. Those fools over there don't put much effort for the dead.' He said as if he was any better.

Those were the final words he said before Maia disappeared.

"What an annoying grin." She couldn't help but think.

The ground opened up and swallowed her.