What You Believe In

Next thing I knew, I was in a gigantic building, filled with people walking with their guardian angels. The building was a clean white color, and it looked so shiny and sparkly. "What is this place?" I question in awe, as I look around. I look at the floors, the walls, and the ceilings.

"This is the afterworld lobby. All of these people are souls that have made it to the afterworld. As you can see, there are giant doors everywhere, and in those giant doors are your very own afterworld. Aka, the world you desire. It's different for everyone, which is why people are able to go through the same door, but end up in different areas." Heasa explained to me while I slowly walked up to one of the gigantic doors. It was tons taller and wider than me, and it had this warm white light illuminating from it.

"I have so many questions..like can people come to my world? And is there stuff to do here?" I question Heasa, while looking over at her. She giggles at my curiosity and cluelessness.

"Well, there's your after world, and then there's THE afterworld. Two completely different things. Right now, you're standing in the lobby of the afterworld. If you were to step outside, you'd be in the afterworld. It's similar to earth where people can interact with one another, watch movies, play games, and all that. Only difference is you can not receive or inflict harm. So even if someone were to punch you, you wouldn't be hurt by it at all. And then there's your afterworld, which is your very own world with things you desire. Yes people can come to your world, though you'd have to invite them personally." Heasa explained to me. I then walked over to this wooden door, that had 'Exit' above it. I looked at the door with curiosity.

"Alright..where is this great evil, and where is Suruyu?" I ask, before turning away from the door. Despite all the opportunities, I had a clear goal that needed to get done. Everything seemed so peaceful, and majestic, but I had earth to get back to. I had home to get back to.

"I'm right here." Suruyu suddenly blurts out from behind me, as she walks up to me with a smile. I immediately turn around and face her with a bit of a smile as well. "I was in my afterworld. There were so many cute little kitties, I almost got stuck there." Suruyu said with a slight giggle.

"I forgot you liked cats so much." I respond to her with a chuckle. "..If you didn't know, I still really like lions. I'm sure my afterworld would have a bunch of them around." I add.

"Ofcourse I do, you told me that the first time we met. That was literally our first topic of conversation. The animals we liked the most." Suruyu responded back to me with a reminiscent smile.

Suddenly, the entire building that we were in started to shake, and rumble violently. The walls around us started to distort as well, and become this black space of nothingness. Everyone around started to yell and panic. "What the hell is going on?!" I screamed as I looked around. Heasa and Heasu did as well, before their eyes widened when they landed on a man.

"I think it's him..he's the one causing all the destruction to the afterworld and Memory world." Heasa said while pointing over to a man that was walking very calmly, despite all of the rumbling. I slowly looked up, and I couldn't get that good a picture of the man, but I knew he looked familiar. He felt familiar.

"How do you know?!" Suruyu questioned. "Guardian angels and gods are able to sense the darkness in souls. Along with deep emotions like sadness, anger, and pain. That one has a lot of darkness..though for some reason he also has-" Heasu was beginning to explain, before I started walking up to the man with squinted eyes.

It was hard for me to walk up to him, as everyone was panicking and trying to leave the lobby. "Tsuki what are you doing?!" Suruyu questioned me in a panic, before falling down to her knees from all of the rumbling. It felt like an earthquake, and it pushed my equilibrium off a lot.

As I stumbled closer to the man, I finally got a good look at him, from head to toe. He wore a black suit and tie, and he had his hands in his pockets in a nonchalant way. But when I saw his face, that's what really caused a shift in my heart and soul. "Dad?" I question with widened eyes, causing Heasa, Heasu, and Suruyu to grow shocked.

"Dad?" Suruyu and Heasa said in sync, before the lobby started to rumble more. Stone from the ceiling then started to crumble and fall down on the floor, creating a bunch of cracks in the floor, with dust everywhere. "Dad, what are you doing?!" I yelled out, while occasionally coughing, and holding my hand up to my eyes to avoid all of the dust.

My dad slowly turned his head, and looked over at me. He had vicious bags under his eyes, and he looked severely stressed out. Though when he saw me, he started to smile a bit. "Taiyo?" He questioned before walking over to me, and looking down at me. I was left speechless as I looked at him.

I felt a lot of emotion with my eyes onto him. I felt sadness, but also confusion. "My guardian angel said that you're doing all this destruction..you altered the memories of the people in the memory world, and now you're destroying the afterworld. She's wrong, right?" I question, as I look up at him with serious doubt in my head. I thought there was no way that my dad was capable of such destruction. How could a man that gave me so many smiles, be responsible for this?

But then I remembered what my mom told me. About why she broke up with him. How he hit her, and how he wasn't the nicest person to her. I didn't want to believe it..but..

My dad looked down at me with saddened eyes, and even eyes of regret. "Taiyo..this is for the best." My dad responded to me. And those words right there, told me all that I needed to know. He was responsible for this. He was responsible for souls becoming lost, and responsible for scaring so many of them. "This idea of an afterlife isn't all what it's cracked up to be. Trust me, I know. It should've been destroyed a long time ago." My dad spoke to me. And I could tell that he believed every word he was saying.

I couldn't help but feel like my heart was somehow being squeezed by some supernatural entity. After he died, I believed that if we were to meet up again, it would be positive. It would be happy. Not this. "Why? Why would you do this? You hit mom, and now you're doing this?" I ponder, as I face the ground. Suruyu and the others slowly begin to make their way to me.

For some reason, those words made my dad look away from me, like he was incapable of keeping his eyes on me. "I'm just doing what I must-"

"Did you hurt mom?!" I yelled, before looking up at him with tears in my eyes. When I became a lost soul, I believed everything at that age was fabricated and plastic. I came to terms with the life I lived. "I came to terms with the life I lived..but that doesn't mean I know everything. All of what you did, all that's happened while I was living..so tell me the truth!" I demanded, causing him to look down at me with saddened eyes.

It took him a minute, before he responded to me with a disappointing nod. "Everything I knew about you was a lie..the fake smiles. The fake love to my mom. And I lived my life not believing my mom about you. Guess that's just another mistake that I made. But that's okay, I've come to terms with the bs that Ive done. I know I couldn't have knew you were like this, but damn does it suck.." I respond to my dad with so much anger and sadness that couldn't be contained. I felt the tears literally start to leak from my eyes.

"I'm gonna have to stop you..so I can get back to them, and apologize for everything I've done. Apologize because they deserve it. So either stop this yourself, or I'm gonna have to." I said to my dad, before he slowly closed his eyes with sadness.

"I'm sorry son..but I can't." He responded to me in a very quiet manner, before he shoved his hands up to my chest. Somehow, this pushed me off my feet and flew me over to one of the gigantic doors. I fell down on the stone floors, and tumbled by the edge of the door.

"Tsuki!!" Suruyu and Heasa screamed, before they all rushed over towards me. From the ground, I leaned up some, and saw my dads saddened face. To bad I was too blinded by the anger and sadness that I was feeling in my heart.

Heasa, Heasu, and Suruyu then all made their way to me, while my dad was slowly walking over to me. While Suruyu looked around and looked down at me, her eyes suddenly widened. "Tsuki, I have an idea." Suruyu said to me, causing all of us to look at her. "Well these doors can lead you to your ideal world right? Hypothetically, in your ideal world, you could be an indestructible god. So why don't we just lure him into your world, and take him down?" Suruyu suggested, causing all of us to look surprised.

"That's a really good idea." I say to Suruyu, before looking over at my dad. As I watched him, I felt a bit of uneasiness, and guilt. "If we're gonna do this, we have to do it now! The afterworld is crumbling, and before long, the afterlife as we know it will be gone!" Heasa yelled out to me, while I was still a bit frozen watching my dad.

"Y-you're right let's go. You're all invited." I say before slowly standing up, and looking at my dad. "Follow me into my afterworld. You're invited too!" I yelled out to him, before rushing into the bright light that shines from the door. Everyone, including my dad followed me in there.

Somehow, we were in the middle of my neighborhood. But even my afterworld was being distorted. The people, buildings, and everything else seemed to be glitching like some type of video game. "This isn't good..listen Heasa..I know you made that deal with the gods, but maybe it's time to ask them to step in." Heasu tried to persuade Heasa, as she looked down at me with skepticism and worry.

"What deal? What is he talking about?!" I question Heasa, before my dad barges into my after world. "Listen son, I don't want to have to do this. I don't want to have to do a lot of these things, but I have to. I have to." My dad said to me.

I then turned around to face him, and began thinking about the words that Suruyu said to me. I'm an indestructible god, I thought to myself. "Same here.." I responded, before putting my guard up. Suddenly, a golden burst of energy illuminated from my body, causing Suruyu, and the guardian angels to step back in shock.

I then dashed to my father, and began throwing viscous punches at him. My speed, and strength was a lot better than it's ever been, and I couldn't believe it. My dad was forced to block all of my attacks, or evade, and I could tell that he was growing stressed. "I-I have to get back!" I yelled with clenched teeth, and clenched fists that were continuously being thrown.

"What can we do? I-it's so fast I can barely keep up!" Suruyu asked the guardian angels, while they watched the fight in shock as well. Suddenly me and my father started to levitate as we fought.

Before I knew it, my dad punched me directly in the face, and it knocked me down on the concrete street. ruble and dirt came from the ground, because of how powerful the attack was. "Wasn't he supposed to be indestructible?" Suruyu questioned while she watched me with a worried expression. I grunted in pain, as I laid on the ground with blood dripping from my forehead.

"He isn't, because he still has love for his father..it's holding him back.." Heasa said, causing Suruyu to look at me in an urgent state. She immediately rushed over to me, while my dad started to fly down infront of me. Once he did, Suruyu held her arms out to guard me.

Heasa and Heasu then tried to attack him, but my dad sent them flying into buildings almost immediately, just with some telekinetic power that he had. Suruyu and I looked around in a panicked state. "This isn't how you treat your son..why are you doing this?!" Suruyu yelled out, as I struggled to get up from the ruble and face my dad.

"I don't want to do this as I said. But the afterworld is a terrible place..you see, I've lived many lives. I've lived since the 1700s, and each time, my life has gone to crap. Each time I could never believe that I lived a meaningful life, so I kept being reincarnated over and over again. But with each reincarnation, and each terrible life, my soul became tainted with darkness. Darkness that I couldn't get rid of. I became unexplainably angry at times. And in my last life, my life as your father, things weren't easier. Me and your mom struggled financially, though we tried our best to make sure you didn't notice. One day, I got so mad over some argument, that I hit her. I felt so much regret, but then I did it again.." My dad explained to me, and all of us as I slowly and difficultly got up while looking directly at him. "After so many arguments, your mom cheated on me with another man..I don't blame her, considering I treated her awful. She ended up leaving me, and then your brother would be born. I struggled after that. I struggled with addiction and depression, before I killed myself when you were 13." My dad confessed to me, and my eyes widened drastically.

"But you see, in the life I had before that, I died, and I went to the underworld. My soul was so tainted with darkness, that I ended up there. And you see, every life I tried to live the best life that I could. I went through with optimism, hoping that this would be it. Because with each life, I felt in my soul that I failed, and that I could do better. But so much failure, and so much misfortune ruined me. This afterlife ruined me. Forcing me to continue living lives, where I would continue being treated badly. I grew to hate it. So when I died in the previous life before I was your dad, I was granted powers by some demons. Powers that I didn't discover, until I died as your father. Though somehow this time, I ended up in the afterlife, rather than the underworld. Despite my tainted soul. I'm not sure how, but it was perfect. Once I discovered them, I came to the decision that I would destroy this world. The world responsible for putting me and others through so much pain. Enough is enough son.." The more my dad explained to me, the more I started to see his point. It was sad, but it was also a very difficult situation, that I didn't have the best answer to.

I slowly moved Suruyu out the way, and faced my dad Completely. He looked down at me with eyes of sorrow. "What If I could make a deal with the gods? A way where they could put souls to rest? So no souls become so tainted that they end up in the underworld?" I asked my dad, causing his eyes, and the guardian angels eyes to widen. "It's obvious that it's not your fault that you ended up this way. You suffered a lot, but it's not too late to change..trust me I know. After you died, I struggled with drugs, and I treated mom and my little brother like shit. I even abandoned my best friend, because I was afraid. But I'm changing, and so can you..it's not to late to put an end to this. So many souls are becoming lost because of this. And although it's possible for souls to become tainted with evil after living so many lives, that's why I can make a deal with the gods. Guardian angels can see when souls possess darkness in them, so they'll know, and they can put you to rest. Your soul didn't just become dark. I think that it experienced a lot of pain, for it to come so dark. Guardian angels can sense deep pain like that in souls. So if we put them to rest before they become dark, that means no more souls in the underworld, and no more torture. " I explain to my father, while he continues to look down at me. The more I said to him, the more I could see his eyes water.

"That's all I ever wanted.." He said before looking up at the distorted sky. "Rest.." He says while looking up at the sky. Suddenly, everything started to rumble again. My afterworld started to become consumed with more and more darkness, and it felt like a disastrous earthquake was hitting us.

Everyone started to yell, and Heasu looked at Heasa with some disappointment and worry. "I-I don't have a solution to all the problems..I just know that I'm trying to do the right thing. I don't know if the gods will even agree, but it's worth a shot!" I yell out to my dad, as he slowly lowered his head to look at me.

"Having your soul be put to rest..what if that soul is so deeply hurt, yet still wants to keep going? Leading to it becoming dark? What then?" My father questions.

I think for a second, before responding. "How about mandatory breaks for deeply saddened and hurt souls?? I'm sure I could make that a deal after stopping this. Doing this will already bring me back to myself which is like, intense..so what do you say?" I say to my dad in a worried way, as we continue looking at eachother.

"We can do that!" Heasa and Heasu both yell out from the sides.

My dad turns to look at them, before looking at me, and around at all of the distortion. "What I did, can not be reversed.." My dad says to me, before looking down at me. I felt my heart sink. "Unless I kill myself..in a way, I'm putting my soul to rest..I don't have much time, so please son, keep doing good for yourself. And tell your mom, that I'm sorry.." My dad said to me, before turning around, and looking down at the ground.

I felt so much in this moment. I was going to have to lose my dad again. And although it was sad, I knew it was necessary. "Wait, dad!" I called out to him, causing him to turn around and look at me. "I love you.." I say to him, genuinely.

My dad smiles a bit. "I love you too." He says, before turning back around, and closing his eyes. We all watch as he proceeds to do a bunch of hand signs. He then stops and turns around to face me. "Goodbye." He smiles in a bittersweet way, before vanishing out of then air.

We all watch the area that he vanished from, with eyes of shock. I took a deep breath as well, as everything was completed. Although my dad was gone, I wasn't as sad as I was this time. I was actually kind of happy. Maybe now, he can really be at peace like he wanted.

Suruyu immediately rushed, and hugged me from behind in a comforting way. "It's okay." She said comfortingly, as she held me.

While she did, my afterworld started to be restored, along with the general afterworld. Even the people that had altered memories, started seeing memories that they remembered again. And most of all, the darkness was gone.