Maya stared at Absolute darkness around her.
She couldn't move or speak. She tried to breathe, but no air filled her lungs— just the strange sensation of going through the motion without anything entering.
She suddenly understood her situation
Am I dead?
Moments after she asked herself this, she suddenly felt an enormous pull on her body, it was pull in her soul in all possible directions, pulling her outward and inward towards her center simultaneously. The pain was excruciating, just when Maya was feeling like she would die again, the pain and external force acting on her soul suddenly halted. She found herself standing in front of Avaris right where she was when she supposedly died.
Avaris tilted his head grinning with the same infuriating nonchalance. "Well congratulations," he said cheerfully. "You are dead."
"What…," Maya blinked, dumbfounded for a second. Then her expression turned sharp and furious "Why did you kill me? I was supposed to absorb the essence of the medium grade beast before I die"
"Yes, that was originally the plan, but I happened to change my mind since you were asking too many questions." Avaris said without a hint of remorse.
Maya let out a sigh, accepting her current situation, she asks "What was that from before? Where was that place?"
"That was the power of the king of the underworld pulling you into the first underworld, it must have been quite painful. My apologies" He put on an apologetic face for a second but he quickly went back to his annoying grin. "As for the question of where you were, you didn't really go anywhere. You were here in that spot, you were completely unable to interact with this world using any of your senses, as such you were probably not seeing or feeling anything."
Does that mean he saw mw go through all that pain, but did nothing about it?
"Yes Maya, that's exactly what he means, I apologize for my fake apology earlier. At least you don't have to go through it again, I'll send you to the first underworld directly."
Maya wasn't in the mood to feel angry anymore, she just wanted to be away from this guy
"What do I have to do when I get there" She asked
Avaris waved a hand dismissively, he said "You don't have to do anything, you just have to survive for two years"
Maya's eyes widened at his words "Two years…."
Avaris nodded "Yes, two whole years, don't worry the underworld is outside the time of this world, so when I bring you back to life, no time would have passed here at all"
Maya felt relieved "Okay I'm ready."
Avaris chuckled and said "No matter what happens don't attempt to fight the gatekeepers, regardless of the circumstances."
Maya was about to ask who the gatekeepers were, When the scenery around her suddenly changed.
The sky above was blood red. Twin suns hung side by side in the sky, like the glowing eyes of a giant. There were no trees, no wind, no signs of life— only a barren dark plane stretching endlessly in every direction.
Maya found herself bound by heavy chains and shackles, wrapped around her wrists, ankles and neck— etched with strange foreign symbols that dimmed slightly with some sort of power. She tried to break apart the shackles on her wrists but they didn't even budge even after she applied all her strength. She gave up trying to break free and decided to observe her surroundings.
She stood in an impossibly long line— thousands, maybe millions or more, of souls stretched out in one line across the endless plain. Each of the shackled just as she was, little kids, women and men, old and young alike could be found in the line, even babies weren't excluded but what shocked Maya wasn't the babies, it was the variety of species. All species maya had heard of could be found on the line, giants, elves, dragons and even large variety of creatures she had never heard of. The world wasn't silent, there were sounds of chatter, crying and wailing, and even laughter— probably madness. Everyone did whatever they wanted but no one ever attempted to leave the line or stop moving, when it was time to move, everyone moved forward obediently including the ones who seemed to have gone insane due to the knowledge of the fact that they are dead.
The line seemed to be moving towards a massive structure that dwarfed even the 100-meter-tall giants in the line. Its width stretched far beyond the horizon, endlessly. It was definitely over 500 meters tall. Maya could tell it was a gate, since a gap appeared in the center every once a while.
"Uhm… excuse me?"
Maya turned around sharply
In all of Maya's nineteen years of life, she had never seen anyone this beautiful. The girl she was now looking at was around the same age as her. Not just her face, her entire body was captivating, her soft clear skin, her crystal violet eyes, her jet-black hair, the slim delicate waist and her full, well-shaped chest made a perfect combo that would definitely captivate any man instantly, in fact, behind the girl, besides the young boy directly behind her, the men were all ogling her like they weren't aware that everyone here was dead.
It only took maya a second to notice these features so it wasn't really weird, she quickly responded
"…What do you want?"
Her tone wasn't harsh, but it carried a lot of caution behind it
"Hey I'm Nina Denric", nudging the boy behind her forward, she introduced "This is my little brother, Noah,"
Noah gave a quiet nod, eyes large and red— probably from crying
Nina continued "Do you have any idea where we are?"
Maya having deemed that the two siblings were harmless, sighed and crossed her arms. After a moment's silence, she spoke "what's the last thing you remember? I'm guessing you two were together since you're here together"
Nina looked down for a second, brows furrowing "I don't know, the last thing I remember was waking Noah up from bed, I'm certain there's more past that but it's all a haze, I can't piece it together."
Hearing his sister's words, a slight frown appears on Noah's face, he raised his hand a bit, hoping that he would be allowed to speak
Nina is a bit shocked
"Noah, do you remember something"
He gave a quiet nod, then he spoke "We were in a car with mom and dad,"
Nina's eyes suddenly lit up "Yes, that's right, but then dad didn't see the traffic light and I think a truck came at us, I immediately tried to cover Noah with my body, but then I heard a loud crash and then—"
Nina's face completely drained of color as she realized what had happened, she turned to maya
"Are we...?"
Maya slowly nodded
Nina's face was pale, but she didn't let the panic linger long. She exhaled softly, steadying herself.
"I see..." she murmured
Then she turned slightly, she placed a gentle "hand on Noah's shoulder
"Noah," she said, "go stand over there, just for a bit. A few meters are fine."
The chains clinked slightly as Maya and Nina watched the 12-year-old boy with jet-black hair, obediently walk a few meters away and sit on the ground.
"Are we really dead?"
Maya glanced over at Noah, then back at Nina "Yeah. We all are"
"You said you were with your parents right, I'm guessing they survived since they aren't here"
Nina smiled bitterly "Yeah I'm happy they did, I just hope they can handle it" she immediately, calmed herself knowing that she was now responsible for two people, she asked "Where is this place? Hell?"
"This is the first underworld, basically our souls will fight against undead here and grow stronger till we die and start over. It'll continue like that for eternity"
Nina's face paled
"For all eternity? Isn't there any way out like maybe if you suffer long enough you can go to heaven"
Maya shook her head "there's no such thing"
Nina dropped to her knees, shaking, she was terrified not just for herself but especially for her brother "This is too cruel, I mean why is Noah here shouldn't he go to heaven, he hasn't done anything wrong"
At this point she was already crying, but she made sure Noah could only see her back
Maya watched Nina cry as she hid her quiet sobs from Noah, she couldn't help but feel she should help them, she knew she shouldn't do this but she quickly convinced herself by assuring herself that Avaris was at least nigh omnipotent. She took a gamble, hoping that she would be able to convince Avaris
"I know a way to be resurrected"
Nina froze
"What?"