5✦"...you shall become the very prey you made a game..."✦

"I reckon I'm truly gone. But how... when'd it happen?" Jake sat on the white ground of the void, coming to terms with the reality that he was truly dead.

Most of the people in the group were too preoccupied with looking for their wards to think about being dead or alive. A few, like him, who did not have wards, realized the truth of the matter—they were really dead, and this was the afterlife, or at least that's what they believed. But when they died, they were all unaware, their memories hazy.

As they all sat there thinking about their lives and where they would be going next, the red ball of light above them shone, its brilliance overshadowing the whiteness of the void, turning it into an eerie crimson.

"Huh?!"

"What's happening now?"

"Is it time?"

"..."

"..."

Confused murmurs filled the void as the five billion people—the largest of the three groups—all had looks of restlessness on their faces. A foreboding feeling engulfed their translucent hearts.

Jake tried to mask his restlessness with a bravado façade, yet his creased eyebrows betrayed his emotions.

"I ain't no bad fella... I ain't done nothin' wrong... I shouldn't be all worked up." he thought to himself, trying to shake off the uneasiness with some positive self-talk, something he truly believed.

Yet it seemed ineffective as the restlessness continued.

"I ain't no bad fella..."I ain't no bad fella..." He started to chant, like a monk in meditation, each statement a way to escape the uneasiness in his heart.

"The next bid will start soon, but there are a few things you need to know beforehand."

The voice of the host who had chaired the earlier auction sounded, her voice catching the attention of all five billion people as they turned their heads toward the crimson expanse, where wisps of various colors littered the sky like gems in a pool of crimson blood, giving a more eerie vibe.

"Where is my baby?" a middle-aged woman shouted at the top of her lungs, her voice amplified by her uneasiness and rage.

"Huh?!" The host, who was usually cheery, turned cold, and the woman in question caught fire right in front of everyone's eyes.

She floated above the crowd to allow others to see the torment she was in, her face contorted in pain, her eyes rolling back in her head, as her screams became inaudible as time continued.

Right in front of their eyes, she was reduced to nothingness, her soul extinguished.

"Sorry about that... Now, let's continue..."

The host switched back to her cheery tone, and a palpable fear descended on everyone present.

Unlike the first group, the being did not use her power to keep them mute, but just a show of her cruelty was enough.

The woman seemed to have experienced years of torment in those few seconds before her soul was destroyed, her weakening screams sending pangs of sympathy and fear through their hearts. Anyone who had something to say all kept mute, unwilling to speak, lest they also become a scapegoat.

The host, uncaring of their thoughts, went on to inform the other cosmic deities of the conditions.

"These people have a conscience of their own, their sense of belief fully developed. Changing them to aid your world would be difficult..." Saying this, most of the light dimmed, leaving only a few hundred.

"Okay... It's seems the rest of you still want to play..., then let's begin."

The auction started, the highest bid being five stars, while the lowest was a single star.

The auction was slow and disappointing, with less than a billion securing a world to inhabit.

Not getting what they wanted, the lights of the cosmic deities dimmed and faded away, leaving only the crimson light.

"It seems that is all the money we can make; the rest of you will have to be judged." Her cherry tone changed to a genderless, disdainful one, making the people present swallow their nonexistent saliva, wishing they had been selected.

The crimson vastness faded, replaced by dreadful darkness, one that held the secrets of everyone present. In the abyss, they saw their lives play before their eyes, each person according to their merits and demerits.

"So, I really am dead," some thought, coming to terms with their predicament.

The darkness, seemingly on cue with their acceptance, was quickly replaced by the white vastness.

"Okay, this is what is going to happen: you will each be reincarnated across the worlds of the universe, your merits determining the race and the status you will be reincarnated into... Bye."

The cosmic entity, not wishing to bother itself with the rest of the populace—who were worthless, not earning it a dime—bathed them in a bright light, the judgment complete.

Those who had done evil to animals and their fellow people were to be reincarnated as slaves or something lower, to suffer the pain they inflicted on others, while the more meritorious ones would have better statuses in the next life, even as great as a king.

Once done, the red light disappeared, leaving behind Jake, the only one not spirited away, a confused expression on his face as, unlike the others, he did not even get the chance to see his life story in the dark abyss.

"What's goin' on?"

He had been deliberately ignored as the cosmic deity went to deal with the last group.

They, having almost exhausted their soul essence, did not require reincarnation; their souls were extinguished. Those with meritorious deeds did not suffer, while the wicked felt a thousand years of torment in a second before their souls were extinguished.

Jake was still left in the white room, musing on what was happening. Why was he forgotten? Was he left for last for being the most meritorious man on Earth? His thoughts raced, all revolving around the positive, not once considering he might have been left for a grave reason.

As he was lost in thought, a voice sounded in the white void, one he could not recognize. It did not belong to the cherry woman nor the genderless voice, but was more beastly in tone.

He turned to it, the scenery changing as the white void transformed into a vast greenery—a savannah with short, kept grass.

Lying under a lone, majestic tree in the savannah was a creature Jake could only describe as an abomination. It had three heads: one with the face of a lion, another of an eagle, and the middle one a handsome man. It had the body of a lion, the feet of an eagle, and the tail of a scorpion.

Instead of hair, what covered its body was an unholy mixture of feathers and scales, a divine air around it.

"What in tarnation is that?" Jake thought, his inner voice echoing in the savannah.

This surprised him, but considering he was dead, he quickly composed himself, staring intently at the creature.

"You are the vilest of humans in my realm, and your judgment will be the cruelest..." The beast stood up, Jake noticing that it had bat-like wings on its back, folded neatly on its unholy body.

It took a step, but despite being a few meters away from Jake, arrived right in front of him.

Jake was startled, causing him to fall on his butt, a horrified expression on his face as he was just inches from the unholy creature.

His instincts screamed at him to run, but his body was held by an invisible force, gluing him to the ground.

"You killed my kind for fun, driving some to extinction just to prove a point," the beast added, its tone laced with malice and searing anger.

The scenery changed as Jake was taken down memory lane, both he and the beast visiting every memory of his hunting.

"Ahh, hold on, you're mad 'bout this?" Jake seemed to gain a bit of strength as the sheer ridiculousness of the situation overshadowed the fear he felt for the beast.

"I was just stronger," Jake added mockingly.

"Stronger?! Then you shall become the very prey you made a game of... and experience the hardships they endured."

The beast roared, the plane of memories shattering like glass as they returned to the savannah, now no longer green but dyed crimson, the crimson sky holding up a crimson moon that gave the plane its hue.

"Who're you to judge me, ya hypocrite? You done killed off and sold my kin like they were nothin' but objects, and now you got the nerve to say I was wrong for takin' out a few beasts? Can't I judge you for what you done to my folks, too?" Jake retorted, standing his ground against the cosmic deity.

He got to his feet, surprising the cosmic deity as a mere mortal could move in its presence, but clouded by anger, it did not think much of it and struck Jake with its claw.

Jake felt an inexplicable pain at the point of impact, his consciousness threatening to let go.

"I'll make ya pay for that, ya hypocritical god." he cursed, no longer able to hold on to his consciousness as his body disintegrated into stardust.

The cosmic deity unfolded its bat-like wings, flapping them majestically as it blew the fragments away into a silver portal that had just opened.

"You shall feel the pain of my brethren," the beast muttered before going back under the tree, the scenery changing back into the white void.

_______

In the same galaxy as Earth, on a world closer to a black hole, Jake opened his eyes, a headache worse than a hangover ringing in his head.

"Where am I?" he thought, slowly opening his eyes, only to find his vision was different, seemingly looking through a purple lens. He looked down at his feet, only to find hooves, hooves that he could feel just as one could feel his toes.

"What the—"