Inconclusive

"Galileo Sullivan," he greeted, jutting his spectral hand out. "Please, call me Leo, though. A pleasure to meet you. I'm assuming this is the afterlife?"

The guide didn't show emotion or wasn't quite capable of it as they disregarded the extended hand. Almost disappointedly, Galileo placed his hand down.

"It's not," the guide said. "This is the In-Between, a passageway for souls that lead to the afterlife."

"Ah, I see," Galileo uttered, taking the sights in. He practically danced around the guide, twirling around like a child in a candy store at the views. He turned to the guide. "And you are?"

"I have many names, but none are my own. I'm a mere guide for your soul to pass on to the afterlife," the cloaked figure responded monotonously. "Your name for me is determined on your beliefs, as is this place and my appearance."

"Ah well, that is an issue," he replied, gesturing towards the guide. "I believe in all and none at the same time. I'm a well; I was—I suppose—a scholar of religious and historical studies. I specialized in researching different mythos and theologies."

Peculiar, the guide thought again. This wasn't the first historical or religious scholar assignment, but one was never labeled as inconclusive. Many were agnostic, atheist, or even had a religion of their own.

The guide's appearance flickered before Galileo, shifting from close depictions of other deities like Anubis, to Charon, to Yama, to Yeomna, to Hine-nui-te-pō, and back to the cloaked figure. "I can alter my appearance to your liking. Whether ancient figures or more common ones, it's up to you."

Galileo watched in curiosity as, without fail, the guide had transformed themself into accurate and detail-oriented depictions of each deity. "Hmm, I don't mind the Grim Reaper depiction. May I call you that? Grim?"

"You are free to call me whatever you wish. I'm a mere guide-"

"That'll guide me to the afterlife," he finished with a smile. "Well, Grim, shall we start? I do have a few questions if you don't mind."

"You are free to do as you will."

"I found it strange," he trailed as they walked away from the entrance, heading down the river that appeared before them. As Galileo called them, Grim walked a few feet behind him as pieces of different belief systems appeared before them. Grim watched as Galileo gawked and admired the other places from rivers, roads, and staircases. "Many beliefs describe this stage as a journey, a passageway, as you've mentioned. Yet the differences between beliefs, between polytheistic and monotheistic systems, are inherently quite different. Some are more similar than others, but many believe in the afterlife. It's quite remarkable that for something we collectively don't exactly know what happens after death but have unknowingly agreed on similar depictions is utterly fascinating. I even wrote my thesis on it."

Grim remained silent, but their grip on their scythe tightened.

"But you probably already know that," Galileo sighed. "As morbid as it sounds, I was always fascinated by death, the idea of what comes next, what exists for us. The fact that no one really knows this mystery until you actually live it, or in this case, die and go through it. Of course, there are breakout cases of people claiming to have come back from the dead."

"It is a rare occurrence."

Galileo waved his hand in the air. "Many fabricate, I believe. Science picks them apart and believes it's a figment of their consciousness, while others believe they see their gods, never others. Albeit, I do find their testimonies fascinating."

"Yet you say you believe in all and none," Grim pointed out. "It is quite the contradiction."

Galileo laughed nervously. "Yeah, well...I was brought up religious, fell out of it, then took a college course and was fascinated at how many belief systems there were. Over the years of pursuing it, I realized that I never truly wanted to discredit any of them, but I also don't see myself in any of them. My own beliefs are different from what a collective group of people worships. I believe in the power and free will to believe, but I choose not to. I'm a theorist; therefore, I don't really believe in anything, yet believe in everything all the same."