Part 2

"Now," Daniel continued, "let's get inside before another one comes down to check on us."

Daniel started walking towards the wall before I could muster any kind of response to his words. If the angels were guards...

What the hell were they guarding?

***

The alabaster white wall was just about in front of us. Daniel showed no signs of stopping as he continued walking towards what looked like a solid marble pillar six feet across.

"How are we supposed to get past--" My question was interrupted as the base of the unimaginably large pillar silently lifted itself up just enough for the both of us to pass under it. Daniel didn't stop and walked through the newly created space like he had done it a thousand times.

"That pillar has to weigh as much as a skyscraper. How did it lift up with no sound?" I asked my guide.

"It's a bit pointless to ask how anything is done here. The only thing you'll get is speculations from the other people here or 'Because it is willed' from the winged peanut gallery. Now try not to look too amazed." He said as an answer.

"I don't know--" My sentence was cut off for the second time in as many minutes as we stepped from under the raised pillar onto a shining Silver City.

I'm not prone to exaggerations so I hope you take this with all of the accurateness I can muster. It was an entire city made of silver. Tall pointed spires that gleamed brighter than any Las Vegas light show stretched out of sight and into the infinite heavens that were somehow clear of any obstruction and impossible to see.

There were a number of smaller buildings as well. Single story square buildings that sat in the shadows of the impossibly tall spires but still shone with the everpresent light that permeated every part of this place. Two and three story perfectly round buildings were placed in the open spaces between the spires. These round buildings glowed with a blue hue that seemed to be the only color in this place besides Daniel's dark purple hair. Seeing a color outside of the pure light made me think of something.

"Daniel, where is everyone?"

He pointed towards the base of one of the tall spires, "If you're unlucky enough to be stuck in the first Heaven then one of the shiny ones take you into a spire."

I took another look at the spire and saw a small opening at the bottom. I wouldn't have been able to see it if Daniel hadn't literally pointed at it. The opening was seamless, showing no signs of machining or molding for it at all. It was almost like the entire spire had been melted into a single mold and cast as one solid piece.

Daniel continued, "You're one of the lucky ones though and get good old me instead. Welcome to the Silver City."

He held out his hands in a mock greeting. Whatever else I had to say about Daniel he seemed to be able to exude sarcasm without uttering a single word.

"You didn't answer my question."

"That's because I was avoiding it."

I stared at him. He could probably see my annoyance because he sighed and continued, "Despite how this place looks it's pretty much empty. Anyone still around is either in the Second or Third Heaven."

"Still around?"

Daniel looked up toward one of the spires in silence for a long moment before saying, "You'll see."

I was getting really tired of this cryptic shit. I've been dead for what felt like an eternity and we've barely gone ten feet into the Silver City. There was no one else here and nothing to look at besides buildings that defied definition. I was getting ready to start yelling again, maybe try to get one of the angel's attention, before I noticed something come off of one of the round three story buildings.

A ball of blue light split off from the surface of the building, followed by a second, then a third.

"They took their sweet time." Daniel said as the blue lights approached. Unlike the massive glowing monstrosity that greeted us at the wall these things were about the size of paper weights.

"What are they?" I asked as the three balls orbited around my head. The glow had dimmed down to a soft fuzz that didn't hurt my eyes.

"Cherubs."

I stared at the tiny blue orbs. They didn't have any defining features I could pick out, "Cherubs? The tiny flying babies from all those Renaissance paintings?"

Daniel laughed quietly, "Another thing everyone gets wrong about this place," He pointed at one of the Cherubs as it passed my vision and around the side of my head, "Cherub's are the lowest of the angels. They don't do much besides sit in those round buildings, hang around people, and cast Judgement."

"These things are judging me? Right now?" I looked at another blue orb suspiciously as it floated into my vision from the left.

"Judgement. Capital 'J'. Don't worry about it too much. It's mostly a formality at this point. If there was anything you needed to worry about it was the Seraphim that cast Judgement upon you at the gate."

It clicked in my head. The flashes of random images when that thing bored into my soul. I was receiving Judgement. Would they find me worthy? Would I go into one of the spires despite Daniel's reassurances?

One of the little blue balls stopped directly in front of me. After a second where I felt like pissing my pants in fear the little cherub bobbed up and down in the air. The other two stopped their orbit around my head and appeared next to the first one. The first one bobbed, followed by the other two copying the first then flying off towards the building they had come from. The one that stopped it's orbit first took a position at the top right of my vision and remained there.

"That's a good sign." Daniel said as he watched the other two reunite with the shining blue building they had come from.

"Daniel?"

"Yeah?"

"You said before that they were guards. What exactly are they guarding?"

Daniel turned his head to look at the wall behind us, "Not here. I'll tell you once we get past the second gate."

Without any indication he started walking, heading in a direction towards some unseen destination between one of the spires and a glowing Cherub den. After passing the glowing round building I could finally see where our destination seemed to be. Just past one of the immense spires there was another wall.

Just like the one that surrounded the Silver City it appeared to be made of sheer white marble. Unlike the hulking thing a thousand feet behind us it appeared to only be about a hundred feet tall. When I was alive I would never describe anything like that as small, but apparently death does some strange things to your perceptions.

The unfortunate thing about this wall, however, was the presence of what Daniel had called 'Seraphim' sitting on top of the pillars that was the only breaks in the sheer whiteness. Just like the one that had appeared to us at the gate these ones shined with a white light that was blinding to look upon. Daniel's words earlier did not go unheeded and I made sure not to look directly at the thing, less my mind break and my soul be torn asunder. Or whatever the hell had happened at the front gates.

The Cherub that had been at my side just a minute ago flew towards the nearest of the pillars to the bright maddening light of a Seraphim. When the white of the Seraphim subsumed the blue of the Cherub Daniel turned his head with a worried look on his face.

"Be careful what you say from now on. That little blue bastard is listening and watching everything you say and do--"

I interrupted him, "What what shouldn't I--"

"Stop!" Daniel shouted, then flinched as he looked up at the top of the wall before continuing, "You need to listen to me. That thing is not your friend. Think of it as a listening device. If you say something wrong, do something wrong, it will fly it's little blue ass to the nearest Seraphim..."

I looked up and caught sight of a blue light detaching itself from the much brighter white.

"And you do not want to catch their attention." Daniel said in a quiet voice just before the blue light took its place to the side of my head.

The Seraphim the Cherub had gone to grew in size, a bright light stretching forever into the horizon. Before I could speak, before I could even think about what was happening, a voice boomed from the pillar in a voice that would've shaken a mountain.

"Judgement has been cast and you have been deemed worthy to enter the Second Heaven." The infinite light said before it grew brighter and brighter.

In another moment, everything went white.