A Statue in the Hall

After an unknown time, Zack slowly opened his eyes. After staring ahead for a few seconds, he blinked his eyes a few times and then looked again.

"Although I thought I wouldn't be able to go to heaven with my occupation as a contract killer in my bio-data, however, it does not look like HELL either."

"Even if it was not sister Litlth, Uncle Lucifer probably granted him audience if it were hell"

Zack mumbled as he shifted his head to look around him. He noticed that he did not feel pain anymore. He moved his hand and legs, and both felt fine.

"Am I dead ?" thought to himself as he struck his hand hard on the floor.

*CRACK*

"Arrgghh! Damn, it hurts. Is my hand broken? I should have tried pinching myself next time."

Zack replied to himself. Then he added, "I don't know if I am dead or not, because this is the first time I have died. But I'm not dreaming. This is confirmed now."

Zack moved his head around, but all he saw was darkness; he could not even see his hands. Therefore, he touched the floor and tried to feel where he was lying. It was a solid but flat stone floor, which felt to Zack like it was some kind of historical building.

He got up from the floor and started looking around. Maybe it was because his eyes didn't adapt; that's why he didn't notice the two little lights in the distance. Although it was the source of light that was flickering. However, it looks more like some ancient beast's eyes were staring straight through Zack's soul.

After confirming that there is no more place where he can go, he walked toward the source of the light. It felt like he was walking in a big corridor because he could see walls on both sides as he came near the light source. And at the end of the corridor stood a wall with a dragon's head engraved on it. The two light sources were his eyes, where the fire torches were burning.

It was beautiful to look at; however, it gives an uncomfortable feeling as if some mighty figure was looking at him. Zack looked ahead to the door, which was shaped in the form of the open mouth of the dragon. It was almost double the size of his height. Zack pushed the door, it was a bit tightly shut as if nobody has moved it in millennia, so he opened it with both hands as he walked in.

Zack gasped at the sight before him, and he stood there at the gate stunned. It took him a couple of minutes before he came to his senses.

It was a majestic hall, but it was empty. The reason for being amazed was because in the center of the hall stood a statue.

A statue of a woman, a statue so beautiful that it can't be described in words. If she came into life, she would be capable of proving wars between nations or probably in whole words.

A beautiful face with an innocent expression, but its eyes gave off the feeling of a God looking down on mortals. It could not be created by a mere human; probably only God can create a statue that can make the saint drool. Viewed from any angle described the perfection of beauty that God was patient to make it the best work of art.

It took a while, but Zack came to his senses. Zach walked to the center and circled around it a few times as he observed the statue. He touched the back, legs, and all over the statue as he liked. When he came to the front and tried to touch the face, his hand stopped, and he felt like he just saw a strange glint in its eyes.

' Was I hallucinating?' He withdrew his hand and thought to himself, but got rid of the thought and looked back at the statue.

"Truly a God-made product, just like me but not as good as me," he said, admiring the statue as he crossed his arms on his chest.

"But why are you chained to these two pillars on both sides, and why is there a dagger stabbed in your body?" Zack asked the statue or probably talked to himself as he thought about it.

As if punishing criminals, the statue's hands were chained to pillars on both sides.

The puzzling thing was that the chains were real, and the metal used in them was black like obsidian with gold shades, as if they were some kind of treasure.

On the floor is a marking as if some kind of spellcaster cast a spell on it.

The last thing was the dagger stabbed into the statue whose blade can not be seen, which also felt real.

After warming his eyes from the astonishingly beautiful statue, Zack tried to look for any clue about this place so that he can go back,

He searched every corner and wall in the hall. Even though the light was dim, it was not hard for him to see it here.

In the whole hall, there were four walls with the dragons' images engraved on them, just as there were on the door.

But different from the door, they seem to be telling the story of a mighty dragon who stood upon the world but was caged by greedy humans for their own self-interest. Some lusted for the power of the dragon to show their status in the world, while others showed the greed of humans who sought the dragon for its invaluable materials.

There were many engravings there, but all described the flaws of humans in the world.

Zack spent hours looking around the halls as he watched and tried to understand the meaning behind the engraved images. However, he did not find any sign to leave this damn place.

He was losing his patience now. There was no door or any kind of window. And out of the only door in the hall, it was total darkness, where he could not see. So after thinking about it a little, he came to the conclusion that the only way out was outside that dark corridor.

But he didn't run out hastily; he took a long breath, calmed himself down, and thought about what he needed.

He felt hungry, so he needed something to eat.

He was safe but unarmed here; yes, his weapon, his dagger, he threw it in anger at the deputy commander.

As he thought of the dagger, he looked back at the statue. The beautiful dagger had been stabbed into the statue.

He walks back there and stands before the statue. Zack wondered how it would look if it were a real person and not a statute.

"You know Miss, after coming here I was thinking if I was dead or dreaming, but after looking at you, I am more confused now"

"I may not have seen all the wonders and mysteries of the world, but I do remember that I have never seen something like you."

Gazing at the pretty face, he started talking to the statue, probably because he wished it would be a real person, as it was too beautiful to ignore.

"However, I do know I have to find out the truth and get out of this place. But I have lost my dagger, and it is not safe to go out, even if it is a dream. Who knows what kind of devil is waiting for me outside when there is an angel-like statue here, right?"

"So Miss. Beautiful statue, this dagger would look nicer in my hand rather than stabbed in your body. What do you say?"

"I don't know what kind of crime you committed to suffer this, but I will be kind enough to remove this dagger and give you relief from the pain the dagger is causing you."

Zack holds the handle of the dagger tightly and tries pulling it out slowly.

But he could not move an inch, he put his one hand on the statue and pushed it out to pull the dagger again,

Slowly, the dagger started coming out from the statue.

Zack didn't notice as he was too focused on pulling the dagger, that as the dagger kept coming out, the statue started to transform, from the solid stone statue it was becoming softer and more alive.

As he pulled it out with all his strength, there was a flash of light too bright to see that emerged from the statue. Zack hurriedly tried to cover his eyes with a hand, but before he could, that bright light shot into his body and disappeared.

As he tried to understand the situation, some kind of code in a half-understood language started appearing before his eyes, as if computer hackers' desktops were shown in sci-fi movies. His head started aching because of the headache, his eyes became heavy, and it was hard to see as the surroundings became blurry.

If only he could see the astonishing sight around him, he would probably be more amazed by the magical view.

The four walls around him were crumbling and disintegrating into light particles as if Thanos had snapped his fingers.

[Unknown entity detected]

[Scanning Body in processing…]

[Scanning Completed]

[Transferring language data]

[Analyzing Mind power in processing…]

[Scanning Soul Power in processing…]

Zack tried to focus again, but a strong killing intent surrounded the place and made him pass out.

"Some day I am going to kill you, Old Bastard"

The last thing he remembered was the immense killing intent and the female voice shouting with anger in his mind before he lost consciousness.