The skies had manifested into maelstroms and the IMG marched underneath it, headed by the unknown alien. The breeze had continued to soothe their skin but the haunting of the whispering voices saying the mysterious word had receded.
They felt their empty stomachs growl and Jayden looked here and there, only to find the purple soil stretch to meet the horizon. This place is weird...
"So," Lily said loudly to cover the distance, "When will we get our answers?"
The being looked back but kept his pace, the smile was still there malevolently. "Be patient, dear lady. I'll answer all your queries once we enter the Sanctum."
The words met her by surprise. "Huh? In here? People live here? It looks deserted."
The being just smiled and continued.
Sierra walked last, detached from the team. Jayden spotted her. "Hey!" He slowed so that she could catch up with him. Her frown indicated she was cross. But her eyes were set in a manner that conveyed sadness.
"I miss them," she looked at Jayden as she walked by his right side, "the robots. What happened to them?" She knew he wouldn't know the answer to that question but still she said it, in an attempt to put herself at ease.
"Sierra, I know it's been hard. It's been hard for all of us. The loss of the robots, the ship, all our belongings... I fear if I will ever be able to contact my parents again," he looked at her, " and you, yours."
But then he slapped his face. "Oh, what am I doing. I need to speak positive. We will find a way. We will definitely find a way to contact them. We just need to get off this planet."
"There isn't a way." Their escort replied, in a voice devoid of emotions. "You can get off Zyphon but not Afterlife. The doors open from only one direction."
They stopped, their body frozen in shock. "What did you say?"
The being sighed and turned around. "It seems I have to do the explaining now only. You guys are pretty irritating, I mean everybody is so, after they die, but you are more than the others. I'm Saaret, a senceptian. My planet is listed as 55XCA more commonly known to us as Lar. But that doesn't interest you, does it? You all have witnessed death. You should have figured that out by now but it seems you are a bit too dazed to realise."
He roamed around them as they looked at him in horror. His eight legs dug eight holes and he dropped on the ground, to sit. "Please," he gestured all of them to sit too.
"One of the fun facts of Afterlife is that, it is autolinguistic. What I say in my mother tongue is automatically perceived by you in yours. Trust me, Afterlife is better than Life. Everybody is still too naive to realise that."
"And why do you say so?" Sanduo spoke through gritted teeth, his height near two metres.
The senceptian smirked. His body was like that of the mythological creature centaur, just the portion of horse was of an arachnid. His human looking body was brown-black giving him a chocolaty complexion and his bug body was bright yellow, at least the underside of it. "You have all the luxuries here my friend! You don't age here, nor do you feel pain, everything is very light- you don't need to work yourselves, the climate is always like this- peaceful and all those who die, their souls come here. Afterlife is the biggest universe that's there."
"So, we are not whole? This-" Jayden pointed to his heart, "is just our soul?" He stopped. There were no heartbeats.
"Yes my friend. Contrary to traditional belief, you don't become transparent, at least not here."
"Like ghosts?" Sierra spoke horrifically.
"Yeah, I was implicitly talking about them. See, the ones who have committed sins sometimes get the judgement of becoming ghosts. They are sent to their world of origin where natives may also describe them as good or bad spirits."
They remained silent, trying to digest the breathtaking information.
"I know it's hard. To believe that you have died. That the world you knew for your entire life is now out of reach. But the amenities of Afterlife will make you forget that. Trust me."
With a disturbed face, Sanduo looked at Saaret. "Leave that. What of this voice? What does it mean and...." He looked back at Sharlotte, "coming to that, how did you put things together in the first place?"
"Yeah, tell us!" Markus added.
Sharlotte said, keeping her eyes at the ground, "I knew."
"I mean, I know you knew but still, putting everything together in such a short span-"
"Not that." She looked at them, guilt overflowing her mien. "Sorry, but this was all a part of the plan. The part I left aside. The part I didn't want to explain. There is a reason why you are here."
"At Valhalla, in Calisto, there's a portal that connects our 'verse with Afterlife. It isn't visible to you all as the matter it is made of doesn't react with yours. The chanting is symbolistic of the fact that you have travelled worlds. This lady knows much. A little too much. That's why she is here. Valal told me. The ruler of the Multiverse himself had made me the escort. I am omnipresent in a sense, here with you and with all those who come here after dying at the same time. I morph forms to keep up with beings of different sizes."
But they were too dazed to keep up. They had just heard Sharlotte confess. What does she mean? Jayden looked boldly at Sharlotte and spoke with a serious tone, "What's the meaning of this? You mean you killed us on purpose? You're saying all this had been a plan from the beginning- since you contacted us?"
"Yes, Jayden. I admit. I must," she looked at him, almost breaking into tears, "I'm sorry, but I had to," she swallowed a lump, " But I promised- your lives won't be compromised anyhow-"
"But you broke it," he said through gritted teeth.
"No." Her tone sounded confident. She eyed straight at him. "You will return to your normal lives. I will make sure you do. You have done nothing but been of help. You helped me, my people- the ones I sacrificed everything for. I won't let you get the punishment you do not deserve!"
"What do you mean! We are left here to atone for the sin of accompanying you! Surely we wouldn't have been here if it were not you who called and brought us here!" Drio shouted, unable to calm himself anymore.
"You are here for a reason- a greater mission. I couldn't have done it myself so I indirectly brought you all along. Of which I will speak more later, but I assure you- I'm NOT bluffing."
She looked at Saaret, indicating to resume their walk. He got up and everybody dusted their white garments off the violet dust. They made for the Sanctum.
__________
The Sanctum was humungous in size. It had an otherworldly aristocracy to it. Black branches grew through the walls that glowed above to offer light. Surprisingly, it was brighter than what the group had expected. Massive books were enclosed by white branches to a side and long tables were placed for them to dine.
"Is this place really heaven?" Jayden said looking above at the magnificent lighting.
Saaret gave a glance of annoyance at him. "That's the abode of the secondary Gods. Don't mix things up. This is the temporary dwelling of yours in which you would remain until your expiry time. Ah, don't question I will explain," he stopped Lily from asking the most obvious question that could've sprung up and he continued to give the answer to that, "So, expiry time? Well that's the period you'd be remaining here, after which you'll take rebirth. All the sweet memories spent by you in here would be gone. Few get the offer- like me- to cater all the newcomers in the best place in the Multiverse. Like them-" he pointed to some bulky figures at the sides who were talking. "They help to assist me in my job."
"But I can recall some occurences that suggest otherwise," Lily said, "some children do remember what their previous life was like, if not this place." Slowly, all the myths in the ancient Egyptian and Hindu religion about life after death and having multiple lives were seeming to make sense to them.
"Anomalies do occur, my dear lady, by the supreme beings too. But, we've been improving." He smiled.
He made the IMG sit on the table, and came before them, "Would you wish to have something to eat?" he asked, joining his hands in the praying fashion.
"We would certainly like to but... do the dishes of our world still exist here?" Jayden asked uneasily.
"Oh, don't worry about that! We have every dish you would like made of this 'verse's matter but they would taste like any other dish in your 'verse! Just speak your heart out. Everything here is free of charge!"
He took the orders and off he went to the kitchen.
The seated crew of the lost ship sat in silence. After a few minutes, when their food came, Sanduo began, "Care to explain now?"
Sharlotte knew it was meant for her to answer. She chewed her food and finished it. "I need to show you something before that. But we need secrecy. I need you all to keep my back, then only I can. Saaret will assist me and tell you all that you need to know but after that, we have to do everything in absolute silence." She drank her full glass and emptied it, then putting it down she asked, "You all with me?"
An unanimous answer came back straight at her, "NO!"