Heaven And Hell

Chapter 1 - Curiosity killed the cat

POV: Kai

I lost my touch, my sight, my hearing, my everything. All the wires connecting me to my body released their hold, and I floated away.
Aware of everything around me, and yet I had no vessel to percieve it. I simply existed calmly in the air.
Perhaps it was a phantom sensation, but it felt as though wind was brushing through my atoms like a net, grazing me softly and taking me back to a childhood when I laid in bed all morning, carefree, worried about nothing.
I felt rays of sunlight warm my now invisible body, like a touch from mother nature herself, telling me that all will be well from now on. That all my fears, all my stresses, all my burdensome thoughts could dissolve away and leave me being a content soul.
It was a sensation unlike no other. Love never felt this real, as it had in the moment of me dying.
The bliss consumed me in a way that a universe of clouds would, if I were to get tossed in it's very middle. The memories of a mortal existence blurred together until nothing could be remembered anymore, and I felt each bit of my interal sadness flush out of my breath.
I was pure. I was the essense of being.
All was me, and I was all.
And then, everything went dark.
Quickly, I regained sense in my body. My blood rushed back into my veins and I was whole again.
Scared, confused, I stood up. Before me was nothing more than an infinite, black void.
I looked down and recognized my body instantly.
["Life..."]
I thought.
["What happened..? Where.. am I?"]
A single memory cleared itself up in my mind. A memory of how I died, although the void still empty, cold, not answering any of my questions.
"Is..."
My voice echoed through the air.
"Is anyone there?"
No answer. I stood still for a few seconds, waiting.
The silence was deafening, so much so I could hear myself blink. I took a step forward, then another, another, and another. My skin brushing against itself as I moved. The more I walked forward, the more confusion began to build up in my head.
["Am I dead? Why did I end up here..?"]
Gradually I got faster, looking around myself to catch a glimpse of anything.
["What *is* here anyway? Am I in hell? Is this my eternal punishment for being a sinner? Does god really exist?"]
I was now running through the nothingness, feeling increasingly more lost.
"Help!! Can anyone hear me!? Where am I??"
The surroundings suddenly began to light up, going from black to grey, and from grey to white.
"Ah-! Hello??"
The air got warmer, real clouds began to fly onto the sky above me, I could finally see!
Relieved, I smiled and looked around myself.
The white misty shapes surrounded me, and in a glimpse I found myself standing at the gates of heaven.
Sunlight shined in between the metal decorations, which were twisted and swirled into the most beautiful patterns imaginable. Their size was overwhelming, and yet so comforting I could almost feel a magnetic pull towards them, as If I were meant to go in. I could see a rainbow shining behind it, piercing the cloud ocean right through, and in that moment I felt so small. A sense of numinosum fell over me, from which I felt breathtaking fear as well as limitless admiration. It's like I was being filled with the fear of god by the second.

"Hello Kai."

A voice from behind called.

"Welcome to heaven."

I was quickly brought back to my senses and turned to look at the person behind me. My eyes were met with an old looking man, smiling kindly at me.
"Ah... hello.."
I blurted out, unsure of what to say. The divine being spoke again.
"You must be confused, would you like an explanation Kai?"
I silently nodded in response.
"I am God. The righteous ruler of heaven."
His voice carried a tone of assertiveess, paired with the warmth of a loving grandfather. He reached his hand out to me gently.
"But, I know it might sound a little intimidating, so you can just call me Cole."
For a second I couldn't process what I just heard.
"A-are you sure...? You want to be called..."
There was awkward silence for a moment.
"cole...?"
In my mind that name was slightly, if not very ridiculous for a being with this powerful of an aura. A typical Cole usually parties in college and drinks a Bud Lightyear for dinner, it was so unusual I felt myself physically uncomofrtable at the idea of using it for God himself. He was still holding his hand out for me to shake, while I felt all the stages of grief fly over me in a moment.
"Correct, child." He smiled. "Cole is fine."
Looking at him felt incredibly peaceful, and so I finally caved and took a step forward to shake his hand.
"Nice to meet you.. Cole."
A light chuckle left his mouth, and he looked past my shoulder.
I noticed, and turned back to the huge entrance.
"These are Heaven's Gates. Every soul that passes comes here to be judged, and if they lived a life of good intention, they are to rest in heaven for an eternity."
I looked up at the glistening metal once again, and with the overwhelming feeling of power coming from it suddenly I doubted myself.
"Was I a good person?" I asked.
"Because I can't really remember what my life was like, and I don't know if I'm worthy of this..."
"Oh you were one of the kindest people out there!" He reassured.
"Really...?"
"Yes, you were an angel on earth if anything Kai! A true joy to be around. Although... do you remember how you died?"
I suddenly recalled one memory that ran back to me when everything else got erased. It was a sad one, and I couldn't remember just why this was the way I passed. Perhaps with erased memories I also lost my inner pains, hence why now I couldn't find sense in my death being suicide. Regardless, I nodded a yes to the man.
"Your life wasn't easy Kai. A lot of the times things didn't fall into place for you. People hurt you, situations hurt you, you hurt yourself... The feelings built up over time, and eventually you felt like you had nothing left anymore." He explained.
"So... I was a good person and life was just unfair..?"
He sighed with regret.
"Yes, but you are in a better place now Kai. From here on, you don't need to worry about anything anymore. It's your time to rest and put everything that's happened past you."
As I stood beside the man, I couldn't help but feel dissapointed.
"I don't understand... Then why didn't you help me if you saw my pain, knowing it was unfair?"
I looked the man in the eyes with a sad expression.
"And not even me, but all the others suffering in life, why not help them too?"
He seemed puzzled, furrowing his eyebrows just a little bit and unsure of what to say.
"I am the ruler of everything, and everything needs balance. I allowed luck to take over the fate of humans, because sometimes the best kinds of people are born from the darkest kinds of places."
"So, you make people suffer because it teaches them to be better..?"
He hesitated for a while, then nodded a yes back to me. I pondered for a moment, and asked another question.
"What is hell like?"
Immediately his demeanor changed. Now he felt agitated, tired of making himself explain the inner workings of the afterlife to a small soul. He seemed like he wanted to avoid the subject of hell entirely.
Still, he bit his tongue and gathered up a bit more patience.
"It is a place for sinners.. those who had ill intentions and no will to change."
I kept going.
"Is it the same as we're taught? You know... lake of fire, burning eternally-"
"It is of no importance what happens there Kai. You will never need to think about it, it is not the place you're going. Now, let's move along-"
But I persisted.
"What about Satan? If there's a god, there must be a Satan, right? Some form of evil to balance the good?"
A small flicker happened in the sky above us, almost as if it was darkening for a tiny moment back to the black void.
Cole seemed to notice, and rush me even more.
"Child, we should really move along. I will answer any questions you have once you cross the gate, but for now there are millions of other souls waiting for my guidance to heaven, and I want to tend to each one accordingly."
I began getting suspicious of him. For some strange reason I felt a weird urge to push him, a hunger of curiosity. The bliss of seeing God for the first time already began wearing off, and now seeing him in a human form just like me gave me confidence to defy him a little. In a way it was dumb of me to play with fire, but there could've been something interesting waiting to happen if under the right circumstances.
"Why are you in such a rush..? Is something going to happen if I we talk too long? Am I not supposed to know these things?"
He was getting visibly angry and distressed. The sky now obviously darkened and the clouds getting grey, stormy.
"Kai, please. Let us go through. It's not entirely safe out here." Seeing his sudden fear, I felt my own heartbeat speed up with uncertainty. Was I acting foolish and really ruining my chances of an eternal peace? Why were the surroundings getting darker? What was going to happen if I waited too long? Finally, I decided to give in.
"Okay, yeah, let's just-"
A hand placed itself on my shoulder.
The sky turned pitch black. Cole looked behind me in terror, unable to speak, as if he'd seen the Devil himself. I stood in place, unable to move. I felt breathing on my neck, blood rushed to my head making me slightly dizzy, and I began regretting what I had done. Suddenly, the Being tightened it's grip on my shoulder. A low, doubled voice came from behind me.
"Nice to finally meet you, God."
Cole's eyes moved to mine, then back at the creature. He tried to compose himself just enough to mutter a word, but the stranger passed me and began walking towards him, immediately throwing him off guard.
"What... You're not Na-"
"He's dead. I'm his replacement."
When the being passed me, I saw what looked to be a tall demon with a long black coat and a hood over his head. Cole seemed in disbelief. Wasn't he a God? How could he not know something as the ruler of... well... everything?
The demon's energy threw me off guard entirely. My chest felt clogged on the inside, as if someone poured honey into my lungs. Breathing became difficult, manual. At that point I had lost all my curiosity and in my head I wished only for it to be over, so I could go back to the gates and enter them like I was supposed to.
Now it was too late.
The demon stood between us, facing Cole.
"I see you're still crossing souls, just like old times.."
"What.. happened to Nathan! Why was I not aware of there being a-"
"New God?"
The demon turned around to face me, and I froze.
Neon green eyes without pupils staring dead into me. A look expressionless, cruel, wearing a huge black scar across the entire top half of the face. Something about his demeanor made me feel sick to my stomach. He squinted his eyes and grinned carefully.
"Been a while since I've seen a newcomer.."
A scent of malevolence trailed the air, as if I was in danger. His stare activated my fight or flight response, and I didn't even think I'd still need that ability after death. Cole immediately interviened and suddenly I was teleported away from the demon, being moved right behind the God of heaven to be shielded.
"Reveal your name Devil!"
His smile stayed up and he looked past Cole, deeply at me again.
"What a waste to let you have this one, he's so tainted.. Why not let me take him?"
I could see the green glow from his irises radiating with greed. Then, his eyes shot back at Cole.
"Why not make a deal?"
I couldn't take my sight away from him. Something was forcing me to stare directly at his face. I felt my fear building up the more I heard him speak.
Then, a flash of bright golden light ran up from the ground, and in front of me was a shield made by Cole to protect me.
"You will leave and you will never return here again Devil, otherwise I'll kill you!"
The Demon grinned with anger.
"Aren't you a hypocrite.. Your actions will come back for you soon. Your days in power are numbered." Then, he looked at me again.
"Your name, soul."
Before I could even react, Cole stopped me.
"Don't speak to him at all, for your own safety."
I was lost at first, and then something began taking over my mind. I started seeing a green filter through my eyes, as I weakly blurted out:
"Kai..."
Before realizing what had happened, my mouth spilled out more words, this time intended.
"What... did you mean by tainted..." I asked.
"Kai, do not speak to him! That is an order!"
Cole was getting more angry, the demon on the other hand seemed to enjoy the chaos his presence brought in. He crossed his arms and gave me a curious look.
"You know Cole, I think I'll mess up your empire a little."
The God didn't answer, only braced himself for battle by pulling out a large amount of power from his hands, ready to aim.
"See you soon old man." The Demon said.
And with that he took a step towards me.
Before he could be stopped by Cole's projectile, he appeared behind me and tapped my shoulder twice, then dissapeared. After he blinked out of existence a flash of another projectile flew next to my face, exploding past me in the air and sending a gust of wind to break on my back.
"Damn you demon-!" Cole yelled through his teeth.
I finally felt the pressure release me and my legs instantly gave out, dropping me onto the floor.
I was breathing heavily, eyes wide open, sweat drops trailing down my forehead, all paired with the urge to vomit.
"Kai-! Kai are you alright?"
The God quickly made his way to me and tried to pick me up, but the second he touched me, a translucent green barrier about 2 centimeters above my skin appeared, burning his skin severely after contact.
"AHGGH-!!"
I jumped and instantly looked at him.
"A-are you okay?!"
I tried to put my hand out to help, but quickly pulled away and backed off, realizing what had happened.
"I swear I didn't do anything! I don't know what that was-! He touched me and I-"
"K-Kai.. it's okay..!"
Cole was kneeled down near me, hissing in pain.
I felt bad for him, but quickly realized I couldn't help even if I wanted to. He regained his composure after a few deep breaths, and said:
"I- I didn't expect him to be able to do that..."
Looking down at my hands I couldn't see the barrier, but It seemed like it was protecting me. As if the demon didn't want Cole to even touch me.
Now full of confusion and worry, I sat in front of Cole and waited for him to determine my fate.

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Kai- main character, 21 years old, slightly rebellious, acts on impulse, lets curiosity lead his actions

Cole- God, the ruler of heaven, kind but impatient, unaware of something extremely important, protective

???- a demon, unknown age, unknown species, teasing, shows himself by inducing fear onto others, takes an interest in Kai, seemingly malicious
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