Purgatory

Death... one word yet contains such deep and differing meanings to many.

From the poorest of beggars to the richest of liberals, from the strongest of athletes to the sickest of patients and from the youngest of newborns to the oldest of elders.

No man can escape such allure of lady Death herself. An avoidable and inevitable plague that'll hunt all of us... mortals.

Most of us, If not all, think that "death" starts at the end of life, quite Ironic is it not?

The beginning of the end.... how amusing, how poetic, how... foolish.

Some would say death starts when you lost all meaning of living. When you lost all of those who deemed important. When you surrender to the strong waves of life, crushing you with its problematic waters.

People with their continuous and never-ending fight with the tides of adversity only to be smashed and be swallowed by It whole. To them, death can never be more appealing...

In conclusion, death is our miserable end, Our destiny that was already set in stone from the very start, something we cannot hope to escape from... or so we thought.

But despite death being our inevitable end, for a black soul deep within a sea of pitch black flames, death, was just his beginning.

****

The sound of silence, the only thing that one can hear Inside a plane of whiteness. There lie towering black flames as far as the naked eye could see.

Never-ending flames, A sight to behold. With its relentless flickering, as if dancing to the music of silence, one could only marvel at its ethereal-like beauty.

Nevertheless, the more beautiful one can be, the more destructive and dangerous it is. Like a sole rose in a field of flowers, although stunning, If not careful, one might be pricked by its pointy thorns.

History has proven this fact time and time again. Once great Empires only to be crumbled to the ground. Once great people, only to be stabbed in the back by their most trusted.

All of these are caused by those that we call "beautiful flowers" only to realize at the end that they were nothing but gorgeous poison.

The same with this sea of black flames, If one only looks at its outer appearance, they would eventually be burned, No... Purified.

The flames with their never stopping blaze, as if a starving beast, eating anything that comes in its way; never satisfied.

Coupled with the eerie silence, the place can never be more terrifying than how it is currently.

Inside the sea of flames, if one were to look closely then they will notice numerous orb-like beings differing in colors and sizes, as If fishes swimming.

Gradually losing their colors and presence, they become transparent orbs or one can say, souls.

It's as if the black flames are erasing their existence and once transparent, they disappear.

Where do they go? One might ask. But only those who truly experienced it will know.

Despite being flames themselves they do not emit any kind of heat whatsoever, but an even greater horror lies within.

As all of these events come to take place, a tiny black soul lighter only in color as the pitch-black flames can be seen steady in its place deep within the said sea of flames.

"Who... Am I?"

"How long... Have I been here?"

"It's painful... I want to... rest now... But I can't... Not now... After all, I've been through!... I need to hold on... Just a little bit more!!".

Different thoughts keep on rampaging inside the little soul's mind apparently in turmoil.

Arrgghhh

Screaming internally the soul can't help but fight the black flames as it keeps on wrapping him in its flames with the intention of " purifying" him while he refuses its advances.

"Who am I?"

"I... Don't know... I can't remember..."

"How long... Have I been here?..."

"Months? Years? Centuries? A millennium?"

Still, in his inner conflict, the black soul kept on fighting the tug of war with the flames with no intention of surrendering.

Arrgghhhh

No memory of who he was before he hanged on. No idea how long he had fought, he persevered.

The fuel for his determination? Fear, the fear of not existing, the fear of losing who he was even though he no longer had any of his memories, or so he reasoned.....

But alas, no amount of determination can help him in the face of the flames of the beginning and end.

As he realized his miserable plight, a thought of surrender flashed in his mind as he saw the flames burn a part of him becoming transparent

"In the end... I still... Lost..."

****

"The... Purgatory"

Those were the words that the blue soul thought after seeing such a scene, it was terrifying, to say the least.

After getting out of his trance state, he noticed he was getting pulled towards the flames.

Terrified by the situation, he can't help but struggle against the pulling trying to escape from it.

But as if a giant hand gripping onto him quite tightly, he soon realized how hopeless he is. As he watches the black flames getting nearer he started panicking.

"No no no no, Damn it!"

As the flames start touching him he can't help but scream internally.

Arrrghhhhhh!!!

The black flames didn't give out a burning sensation, No, It was madness.

The black flame obliterates everything that was once called you, it erases one's presence while "purifying" you and only leaving only an empty shell.

It was scooping the soul from inside out, It's as If it has a mind of its own, only burning the dirt as it cannot stand anything pure besides its own.

Only when it's "pure" again then it automatically gets kicked out of the dimension.

"N-no... I-I...d-don't... Want to... B-be erased..."

Hopeless... That was he was. After getting out of the orphanage he found a job under two old couples diner as a waiter and was treated as a family only to be struck by lightning.

Thinking about it now, he can't help but ridicule his pitiful self as the flames already burned half of him.

"Pathetic... I am pathetic."

He didn't know why but he had a feeling the black flames were playing with him as if it deliberately weakens the flames at the level of pain he could take.

Feeling a sort of connection, he got out of his stupor while still feeling the extreme pain that can make anyone mad.

Gazing at the half-transparent golden orb in front of him, a sudden strange feeling took over him. As if a starving man seeing a piece of meat for the very first time. He felt hunger...The urge to eat, to devour.

Still having second thoughts, he suddenly heard a gentle whisper only for it to disappear at a moment's notice as if it wasn't there in the first place.

"Eat..."

Something inside of him broke, he suddenly stormed at the orb to devour it or more precisely absorb it.

Absorbing the orb, the transparent part of him slowly regenerated but now with a hue of gold, and the once golden orb has now become transparent.

Finally getting out of his chaotic state, he can't help but be shocked at what he did. He ate a soul, No... The soul's accumulated energy, The thing that was giving its color and presence. He knew it, after absorbing it, Information about it suddenly engraved itself towards his soul.

As he was getting lost in his thoughts, The black flame suddenly increased in intensity kicking him out of his stupor.

Arrrgghhh!!!

Feeling the pain of him getting purified as regenerated parts of him going transparent again, he immediately looked for more souls to absorb their "soul energy" with no remorse thinking they'll get purified by the flames anyway.

The cycle of absorbing and getting burned has now taken place.

*****

"In the end... I still... Lost..."

Thinking about it now, He can't help but give a mental chuckle.

The flames... They were toying with him ever since he came here. After absorbing soul energy for the umpteenth time, he realized it. The effects of the flames were weakened and it increased every time he absorbed a new one.

This was also one of the reasons why he gradually lost his memories and only pieces of them remain, the pain was just that maddening. With how long he had been inside the flames, even his soul started turning black.

As his soul started getting stronger due to absorbing too many souls, his needs were also increasing. Absorbing ordinary souls were no longer an option and even absorbing the strong ones had lost its purpose.

In short, he had become the strongest inside only second to the black flames itself.

Tired of absorbing souls that can even barely help his plight. He decided to dive deeper in the flames, to settle the score once and for all.

"At first... I thought fear was the thing driving me to persevere... but now I know what..."

Finally decided to resign in defeat, he let the pitch-black flames purify his soul accepting the pain and loss with open arms.

As his black soul slowly become transparent, Just as it was about to Purify him totally, It stopped.

"Hmm?"

Noticing the pain stop, he can't help but be dumbfounded as he saw the once transparent part of his recover, but this time instead of black, now it's pitched black like the black flames themselves.

As he saw this transcribe, the flames that were continuously moving abruptly stopped.

In front of him, a humanoid being wrapped with black flames stared at him with a curious gaze.

"Finally decided to show yours-"

Knowing someone was toying with him from the start, although surprised at first he immediately calmed down.

Intending to say a few words but before he could even finish his sentence he was kicked out of the purgatory as a crack suddenly appeared below him and drag him below.

As the humanoid figure watch him getting dragged out, it can't help but give him a soft yet playful smile.

"I will be waiting...."

Saying those words, the flames wrapping the figure got back to its previous blazing with the figure seemingly disappeared.