1 Afterlife (1)

I am dead.

No, I was dead.

Rather, I returned to life shortly after my existence was wiped out.

Sen looked at the field before him, staring perplexed and blankly. He was pretty sure that he died moments ago, so how did he suddenly regained consciousness and even weirdly, standing before a bustling area similar to a reception center?

He wasn't sure. No, he couldn't tell if the life he experienced was just a dream or this was the purgatory, his soul being judged and condemned.

"Excuse me." Sen grabbed a passerby's shoulder before continuing, "Can you tell me where am I?"

Nonchalantly, as if expecting this type of question, the passerby shrugged and answered him back, saying, "Soul Agency."

Not knowing what the man meant, Sen searched his memories to recall any information relevant to the place. However, he didn't found success and immediately gave up trying. Sen then returned his focus to ask the man once more, only discovering that the man had already been freed from his grasp and was far away from him, walking alongside the crowd of mobs walking towards the same destination.

"Should I ask the receptionist?" Sen muttered. He looked at the bustling crowd before him. As in a fever rush, they were eagerly trying to stick and cut their way in just to talk to the seemingly monotone-faced receptionists before heading to several rooms nearby.

'Might be worth a try.'

Sen walked to the crowd. Having experienced this type of commotion multiple times before, Sen, as if fighting an uphill battle, begun plowing his way through the mass of mobs to talk to the receptionist. While there was little to no sight of the mobs getting thinned up soon, he didn't give up his spot and several moments later, he finally got to the receptionist.

"Name?"

The receptionist immediately asked, giving no qualms on what Sen was about to say. Sen swallowed back his original question and immediately gave out his name.

"Sen Marfield."

He uttered. The receptionist in return then summoned a card before handing it out to him. Sen looked at the card and noticed his life summarized on the card. It also featured the cause of his death, as well as the place and time he died.

Sen felt cold sweat ran on his back as he now knew that the receptionist in front of him was an omnipotent entity, knowing everything about a lifeform before they could even ask or even speak.

"You can now access the Soul Field to work. Please head to room seventy-five to start working."

Followed the receptionist before receiving another worker nearby. Sen then exited the mass of mobs before approaching a bench nearby to sit upon. He then gathered his thoughts. Just moments ago he was dead and now he's back again.

And as a worker of all things. Not a slave, nor damned soul. But rather, a blue-collared worker.

Was this the life after death?

He couldn't believe it. No, his brain rejected this reality being unfolded before him.

He felt hallucinating and puking on the spot right now. However, his body disagreed with his feelings. He was disgusted and calmed at the same time.

In the end, he sighed. After all, what's done is done. Just accept it and move on.

Sen looked at the identification card the receptionist gave him. Aside from his biography summarized, there was also foreign gibberish inscribed on it. A symbol of some sort was also engraved on the top left of the card, with another gibberish written before it.

"Sen Marfield. An augmented humanoid creature from Hyancynth who lived the vast majority of his life as a mine worker before moving on as a hired-mercenary. In his final years, he worked as an arms dealer. Aside from relatives, he had no wife, but had three children, one of which is adopted."

He read the words on the back of the card which described his life in one go. Despite the words being too small similar to an ant, he could read it perfectly as if he was reading a newspaper.

"Cause of death: Dehydration, along with succumbing to several severe untreated wounds. Time and place of death: thirteenth hour, fifty minutes, and twenty-three second, Abshah Desert."

Putting his hand on his scalp, Sen laughed. Even he, who was the one in charge of his own body, didn't even know the majority of the contents written about his life. Children? What children? The only children he knew of was the one he adopted. And how in the hell could he even care about time whatsoever if he's on the verge of death anyway? Even more so for his exact time of death.

A frown formed from his face as he stared at the card. He concluded that he was in a realm where they were being judged upon, with these omnipotent entities serving as receptionists guiding them. However, what if these entities were malevolent creatures, devious and demonic?

In one single flick, he would be gone from existence. Wiped. Deleted. All his life and experience would vanish in an instant as if god made his entire life a whole circus. While technically he is dead, he could have a chance to reincarnate as another being and enjoy life once more. However, if he gets in the crosshairs of these entities, he would be immediately destroyed, no further questions asked.

Internally, he despaired. Was this the result of his heinous actions from his past life? Or was this a test? Carefully, he observed the flocks of people leaving the receptionist section and heading to the rooms they were told to go to. These people, despite being in purgatory, were being casual and had no signs of worry whatsoever.

Instead of agonizing, they were cheerful, like people on a social club. He stared at the group of people headed to the same room, with them laughing and teasing one another like friends on a picnic. It baffled Sen. Perhaps he was delusional after all those years of paranoia that lingered on his mind and thus, negatively affected his view of the world. Or perhaps he thought purgatory would be much more... strict and painful.

He sighed. He stood up from the bench and put his ID into his battered wallet before heading towards the area where several people were headed. Silently, he surveyed the area to inspect which room he was supposed to go in.

The rooms were quite normal, with their entrances large enough for a two-metered person to go in with ease. The entrances themselves were supported by two pillars made of marble, with an arch above. High enough the arch lies the room's designated number.

While Sen could see people heading into each room's hallways, mist combined with white rays of light midway through the tunnel covered their traces, making it hard for everyone to see what lies at the end.

Each room then was divided into each floor, with each consisting of ten rooms. While technically they could be called as a floor, it was more of a balcony made out of pure white marble to Sen's eyes.

Finally, at the opposite ends of each floor lies elevators and stairs, with the elevators surprisingly made out of much more advanced materials compared to the classical-theme of the area before him.

Seeing the seventy-fifth room, he walked towards the elevator alongside several people. He then pressed the button and waited for the lift to start and stop on his designated floor. Once this was all done, he left the lift and walked across the balcony. He then stared above once more to make sure the hallway before him was the right room.

'Here goes.'

Biting the bullet, he went inside. While walking, he immediately felt as if some force in a form of a mist was thoroughly inspecting him. Another several second passed by and soon the mist went away, leaving him silently walking the hallway alone. Sen looked at the hallway's end, with the other side becoming much clearer as he got closer.

Upon leaving the hallway, he noticed that the area differed from the office-like structure from the other side. Compared to the modern-like theme feeling earlier, this area was more themed around the ocean, with him standing on a ship's deck.

"No wonder why there's a rat standing here."

Said a voice. Sen looked at the source and found a male wearing fully-armored gear similar to middle ages' knights standing near the ship's edge, with his hands leaning on the rails.

"Aigoo~ You're also a newbie but only one step further than him," Another voice replied. It was the "rat" the fully-geared man was referring to. Sen found it amusing and weird to see a gigantic rat talking and standing on two legs as if it was a normal bipedal being.

He looked around and saw several people idling around. Some of them were patiently waiting for something, while some busied their way by looking at the ocean.

However, one noticeable feature that he could immediately tell is that majority of everyone here lived on different historical timelines given their clothing and gears.

They were also of different races, with the one looking around a horned entity while the other being a humanoid creature with tusks on its forehead and mouth.

"Excuse me, can you tell me where am I and what is this place?" Sen courageously asked. Noticing the friendly attitude of the group and the rat, he couldn't help but ask.

The rat tilted its head before saying, "You mean this place? Or this this place?"

"Both." Sen replied without hesitation.

"Oh." Its hands barely touching its chin, the rat nodded as if it understood something. It then looked straight at Sen before continuing, "Child, call it as some purgatory or some weird stuff as it may be, this place is called Soul Agency. As for this 'this' place, this is called the waiting room. Usually each waiting room changes its appearance based on the world its tunneling in so you can generally see and prepare ahead on what's to come."

Sen nodded and took the rat's words to mind. He then asked another question, saying, "What's the purpose of Soul Agency?"

The rat scratched its head before answering, "There are multiple exact answers to that child but the overall gist of things you need to know is that we give people miracles, be it harmful or beneficial."

Sen leaned his back on a nearby wooden mast and contemplated. He now had a rough understanding of what this place is. Instead of being slaves in chains, they were more of messengers or heralds according to what the rat had previously stated.

They could either bring disaster or salvation to the people in need in the worlds they are heading in.

However, as to how, he did not know and given that they were going to do it soon anyway, he did not ask the rat for more information.

While he was deeply thinking about what's to come, another person passed through the hallway and entered the waiting room. Just like him, the person before him was also a newbie, a person who recently died.

"That makes two of them." The knight said to the rat.

"Indeed." The rat nodded. It then clapped its hands before following up, stating, "Now that everyone is here, why don't we introduce ourselves first? The journey you all are going to be long and arduous so getting to know each other would surely benefit you all long term."

The knight raised his hand first as he introduced himself.

"Grensweil. I do not have any last name because the world I lived in forbade anyone not a noble have a last name." He reclaimed his hand back and leaned on the rails before saying, "I was a knight serving under a tyrant, and died on a public execution."

Sen heard the knight scoffed right after he said those words. He didn't know whether the knight was deprecating at himself or just made up a joke as a way of greeting someone. However, he found the truth as soon as the next participant introduced herself.

"Aselia, sorcerer. Same answer with Sweil. I died on a public execution, the same day as him." Said Aselia as she pointed her hand at the leaning knight.

The group took notice of the pair's introduction. Both of them had lived in the same place and died at the same time. Was this a curse for the two of them to end in that way? Or was it a blessing in disguise?

Some people pitied the two while some contemplated, pondering on what would happen if someone died with them at the same time and place.

Would they be together even after death? Would they part ways together and leave it at that? Some raged ad the idea, some regretted it, and some thought about it.

Just like the man before Sen. He was thinking about it with an eerie smile on his face.

Sen immediately knew this type of face as soon as he saw the man's behavior but kept silent as to not provoke the other party.

"Then I am probably ne—"

Before a man wearing a long cloth was going to introduce himself, the man beside Sen interrupted him as he raised his hand and smiled with a beamful.

"Brother, can I speak first?"

"—xt... H-huh? Oh yeah, sure." The man replied, reciprocating the man before Sen with a nod and smile

"My name's Jun Euri." Jun proclaimed as he scratched his head. "Ughh... As for my job..." He looked up, thinking of something.

"I murder people."

He said, his snake-like eyes and an innocent-like smile on his face unmoved by what he had just said.