Prologue 2: Hades Hotel
The subtle hum of a speeding train.
The sensation of inertia pulling him back.
The gentle sway of the handrails and the light at the end of the tunnel.
After his death, Mikael felt a powerful tug at his spirit.
His consciousness was sucked into oblivion and the next thing he knew, he was standing in this dark speeding train with ghostly apparitions.
'whoa! So that thing about tunnels and death was true?!'
He looked around him in search of anyone familiar but found none.
In fact, he couldn't even make out the spirits' features.
He thought ghosts were supposed to look creepy and bloody like his own dead body had been, but surprisingly, they looked pretty clean. So clean that he couldn't distinguish any of their faces.
Mikael felt dizzy the longer he concentrated on their features so, he turned his gaze out the window.
They were traveling on top of a roaring black river.
Ting!
The speakers blared and a husky voice announced; "Attention passengers: This is conductor Charon. We are now approaching our final station, the Hades Hotel. The west door will open shortly. Please disembark in a single line and follow your designated hotel guides. Thank you for riding the underworld bullet train. A good judgment day to all!"
'Huh? How do we know which hotel guide to follow?' Mikael grew worried that he alone had not been informed of what to do. 'What if I get lost in this depressing place for eternity?'
The ghosts floated hazily toward the west door.
As soon as they got off the train, it disappeared in a puff of smoke.
Mikael looked around and noticed that they were on the edge of the river bank.
Beneath his feet, or rather where his feet should have been if not for the wisps of fog covering his body, were black glassy shards instead of sand and above him were blood-red clouds that cackled with purple lightning.
Eerie moans and quiet murmurings echoed all around.
The howl of the wind was enough to send shivers down one's spine.
'wow… so much for a hotel location… this place is spooky.'
Thousands of voices softly whispered in Mikael's ears.
The voices overrode his mind and controlled his spiritual body.
The next thing he knew, he was drifting off to who-knows-where.
What seemed like minutes passed by before his body stopped in front of a skeleton wearing a station uniform.
Mikael somehow felt the skeleton looking at him so he looked back.
The skeleton momentarily flickered. His image changed to a ghoul before flickering back to his bony visage then solidifying into a fine young man.
All of a sudden, he showed the most horrifying smile Mikael had ever seen.
His mouth stretched unnaturally wide, and his pure black eyes turned into crescents. His high-pitched voice rang inside Mikael's head before he turned toward the hotel.
"Kukuku! you've got guts human. Follow me. Your judgment day has come."
Mikael and his skeleton guide glided toward a skyscraper hotel that glistened in black obsidian.
Soon, they entered the hotel grounds and passed by a beautiful garden, but instead of flowers, precious stones and metals decorated the landscape.
Diamonds, rubies, emeralds, and other crystals grew like flowers and shone in a mysterious light. Bright red butterflies danced in the air and a 10 feet tall golden statue of a goddess stood at the center.
"Whoa! This garden is so sick! Who grows diamonds instead of flowers? If I had just one of these, I wouldn't have lived so miserably" Mikael gasped in admiration.
"Kukuku! You humans really don't change. That's lady Persephone's Garden. Take one and I assure you Lord Hades will send you to Tartarus, no questions asked."
'Tartarus? Is that like hell?' Mikael thought as he shook his head "No! why would I steal from a god? I have no use for riches anyway. I'm already dead remember?"
The skeleton eyed him suspiciously before replying "So you say, but I don't trust humans. I've lost count of all the souls sent to the deepest pit of the underworld for stealing from this garden… well, I guess even if they didn't, they'll end up there anyway. Human greed knows no bounds. Those who steal in death stole more in life."
"Heh! They sure didn't know what hit them. Even if they managed to steal it, these plants are cursed. Any mortal who owns a piece is going to suffer terrible luck. So, you better think twice if you do have thoughts of stealing" the skeleton chuckled in amusement.
As they glided through the garden, out of curiosity, Mikael asked his guide "aren't Persephone and Hades Greek gods? Does that mean the Greeks were right about the truth of the world?"
The skeleton glared at him "watch your tongue, Human. Show some respect! It's 'LORD Hades' and 'LADY Persephone' and yes, the Greeks were right… so are other cultures. It just depends on your perception."
"What does that mean?"
"It means, how you see the underworld depends on your perception. If you are Chinese, you will see lord Hades as Yanluo Wang. if you are Egyptian, you will perceive him as Lord Osiris. If you're Roman, you'll see him as Pluto. Get the point? The universe is surrounded by a veil called the 'mist' which hides the true form of godly beings and shows humans what their puny little minds can process. Otherwise, you will lose your sanity from gruesome reality. Now, enough of your questions."
He opened the glass doors and they entered the hotel lobby.
"Proceed to the courtroom to your right when your name is called, human. Happy judgment day!"
Mikael sat on a couch located by the door of the courtroom.
Potted pomegranate plants decorated the room and a large TV screen attached to the wall showed the court schedule. Music from different ages sounded from the speakers; from classical orchestral music to metal to K-pop.
Currently playing was BTS' song 'life goes on' and Mikael thought the underworld was rather trendy despite its gloomy façade.
'Court… Judgment… I wonder where I'll end up? If I had to judge myself, I think I was a good person. I never got into fights, I never stole money despite my situation, I even did some volunteer work during high school so maybe I'll end up in heaven? Anyway, it's no use worrying about it now since what's done is done. I'm sure I won't end up in hell at least.'
Mikael patiently waited for his turn.
What seemed like an eternity passed, but he didn't feel tired nor hungry.
'I guess being dead also has its perks.' Mikael found it amusing that his old go-with-the-flow personality returned to him now that he was debt-free.
He felt liberated from his worries.
To alleviate his boredom, he counted the spirits entering the hotel and found it amazing that so many people died each day.
'hmm… just how big is this place anyway? I have counted 987,231 spirits enter but not one has left'
He looked at the screen to see if his turn has come but his name wasn't on the list.
"Looks like the last one's taking a while… I'll look around for a bit then." Mikael got up from the couch and glided toward the elevator.
However, he noticed that it only goes to three floors: one heading to Elysium on the upper floor, one down to Tartarus, and the floor Mikael was currently at; the fields of Asphodel.
The elevator required a ticket to move across floors so Mikael figured he wouldn't be able to use it before he is judged so he just mindlessly drifted along the corridor.
'This is kinda boring… isn't there anything exciting in the afterlife?' he thought as he aimlessly wandered the hotel.
Then, two heavily armed skeletons guarding a large wooden double door took his attention.
They were standing by the doors so stiffly as if announcing that whatever lay ahead was something no one should be allowed to enter.
'Hmm… Now that I think about it, I haven't seen any field that could be the fields of asphodel when we made our way to the hotel…' Mikael smoothly glided towards the guards.
He was hoping to see what the fields looked like but before he got close, the two guards pointed their weapons at him.
The one on the left, who wore a Japanese WW2 soldier uniform, nudged him with a bayonet while the other one wore a US army camouflage uniform and held an M240L 7.62 medium machine gun, its muzzle aimed at Mikael's forehead.
"Turn around, Human. This place is off-limits." The US Army skeleton barked.
'It's not like I can die twice… what's the use of pointing a gun at me?' Mikael inwardly grumbled.
The guard seemingly read his mind as he laughed mockingly "Yes. you can't die twice but you can still suffer from the unbearable pain of getting a celestial gold bullet right between your eyebrows. I promise you the experience will make you wish you can still die."
Mikael shuddered at the thought.
"No thanks! My first death had been excruciating enough and I'm not a masochist."
Only when he decided to give up did the skeletons put down their weapons.
However, their empty eye sockets still felt threatening.
As he turned around, his gaze landed on the plate beside the door. It said <Middle Worlds' Hall>
Even after turning the corner and making his way back to the lobby, the plate's image remained embedded in his mind.
It doesn't take a genius to know that beyond that door was a way back to earth
However, Mikael tilted his head in confusion.
'I saw that correctly, right? It definitely said <worlds'> not <world's>… Right?'
--Chapter end--
