3☆ The white Void ☆

" What in tarnation kind of dream is this?" Jake exclaimed in puzzlement, his bright blue eyes scanning the billions of people around him.

The white void stretched endlessly, with billions of people visible in every direction, as far as the eye could see.

He was not the only one in shock, as murmurs filled the white void.

"Where am I?"

"Mark, what are you doing here naked?"

"I knew the *loud* was dope, but where am I?"

"..."

"..."

"..."

People voiced their concerns and questioned whether this was a dream or reality.

...

"Martha, pinch me," an elderly man with a bald head and wrinkled face asked his wife, an equally elderly woman.

The woman, also confused, moved to pinch her husband. That's when her eyes fell on his shriveled *junk*.

"Hey, why are you naked...?" she wondered, then paused as she realized she was also naked.

Her eyes darted around, catching glimpses of the private parts people had hidden their whole lives, now in full view.

Before she could process what was going on, she heard a scared and agitated voice.

"Huh, I can't feel my legs... I... I... I can't feel anything."

This was followed by screams as others also discovered they could not feel anything. The discovery of their nudity completely overshadowed by the surreal sensation of numbness and loss.

Panic rose in their hearts, the atmosphere tinged with the wails of people as some hurt themselves or asked others to hurt them, hoping to feel at least some pain, which otherwise they would have hated.

But all was in vain, only increasing their unease.

It felt like a dream, but an unsettling sense of reality told them otherwise.

They wished it were a dream but could tell it wasn't, yet they dared not think about what it was, trying to cling to the delusion that this would end soon.

They had not yet noticed, but their bodies were slightly translucent, and their sense of shame was gone. If it were present, they would have long covered themselves instead of wondering what was happening first.

"Am I dead or what?" Jake wondered, noticing the translucency of his body. His mind raced, trying to grasp what was going on, but for some reason, he remained as calm as a cucumber.

Though he was normally calm, the situation unsettled him, as even he should not be calm in this situation, filling him with fear.

A nervous smile graced his lips as he looked around carefully, shifting his gaze from the confused crowd to the vast whiteness above. That was when he noticed a floating red ball of light, more like a wisp of light.

"What's that there?" he thought, narrowing his eyes to get a better view.

The wisp, seemingly aware of his gaze, enlarged abruptly, startling him.

The now giant wisp of red light caught the attention of the billions of people in the white void. Despite their numbers, they could all see it, indicating its immense size and distance.

"HUMANS," a genderless, disdainful voice emanated from the giant wisp, triggering memories as they all recalled hearing the voice when they entered the white void.

Some wanted to retort, others wanted to inquire, while most wanted to beg, as they could sense that whatever the situation was, it spelled doom.

Yet, none could make a sound, not even a murmur. Although they wished to speak, they couldn't muster the energy, not out of fear but because the entity above willed it.

"The day of reckoning is now..." the voice said, its tone full of mockery.

The billions of people present could only look on, their tongues literally held as they could only express their fear through their eyes, most displaying looks of indignation, Jake among them.

"Who the heck do they think they are?" he thought, glaring at the wisp of red light.

A few others had similar thoughts, while the majority were consumed by fear, their minds racing with one thought: judgment.

"I have had enough of your existence, and it's time for you to leave..." the voice added, its disdainful tone making them feel like pests in its presence.

After these words, the wisp grew in size. It underwent a mitotic separation, dividing into two, with each new wisp also increasing in size before splitting again.

Three giant red wisps now hovered above them.

"AHHH!" screams filled the white void as the being released their tongues, wanting to hear the melody of their screams.

A mass-induced hallucination, or perhaps an illusion, began as the three red wisps of light seemed to take on various forms, with individuals seeing different shapes based on their beliefs.

Some saw the angel of death, a black-winged creature adorned in a shadowy hood, holding a long scythe that exuded dread.

Others saw a dark monstrous figure riding atop a buffalo, its nostrils flaring with the screams of the damned. In the hand of the figure was a noose, intended to capture the souls of the damned.

Each person of belief saw their God or God of death hovering above them, while those without belief saw a cosmic entity, its form radiating the coldness of space and the darkness of the abyss.

It didn't matter whether they had beliefs or not; the entity before their eyes conveyed the feeling of death and judgment.

Jake, a man of belief, saw the dark figure holding the dreaded long scythe—the god of death.

His teeth unconsciously chattered as he stared at the massive being above him, a sense of dread washing over him.

He felt exposed, as if every secret was laid bare. Yet, reflecting on his life, he felt he had no reason to fear. After all, he had barely any enemies, aside from the government that had placed a bounty on him.

"Those varmints don't count," he thought, dismissing the government from his mind.

He believed he had done nothing wrong, and thus his nerves calmed as he stared at the god of death calmly. The figure transformed into a beautiful angel, who graced him with a smile.

"That's it," he smiled back, his fear disappeared now feeling a sense of peace.

"Your screams and wallowing mean nothing. It's time for you to face the consequences of your life," the being said ominously.

Following these words, billions of people began to disappear from the white void, leaving Jake among the five billion people who remained—people between the ages of fifteen and sixty.

"Let the judgment begin."