Chapter 3

After hours have passed doing the walk of despair, Jacqueline could spot the light at the end. Souls of the dead pushed their tired bodies forward craving the taste of change. Spending perhaps over half a day in the blood river caused people to go numb to the discomfort and disgust. The finish line was just up ahead after all.

The end took the shape of an enormous magic circle that repealed the red river from it's lines. It flickered and glowed a constant shade of gold. Every time a new person stepped onto the intricate inscriptions, they would disappear with a flash of light. Whether this exit was a sign of escape or total oblivion was unknown to any lost soul in this damned tunnel. However, regardless of the result, they would welcome it with open arms.

The hollowed expression on Jacqueline's face lit up for a bit. She would have sprinted out of this hell hole, if not for the blockade of naked bodies obscuring her path to glory. However, bit by bit, she would slip through any cracks of the crowd. Anything to get closer to freedom.

Finally, when she pushed and grazed passed everything, she jumped to the end. Once her feet landed on the dry floor, it disappeared. A booming voice had echoed through her mind, one she couldn't tell the gender of.

"Neutral!"

Suddenly, she was falling for the second time today. At least, her skin wasn't being coated in liquids meant to be kept inside the body. The scene changed to a seemingly infinite number of tiny squares; locked into perfect rows and columns. The squares were very quickly zooming into focus. Her eyes sewn shut to brace for impact.

She crashed into a worn out office chair. Pain shot from her backside up to her spine, but otherwise she came out unharmed. Despite the previous heart attack, it seems as though the Underworld had not planned to kill her twice.

Only when the initial shock had subsided had she realized something was different. Looking down, she was fully dressed in a white t-shirt, white pants and white sneakers. The blood, which seemingly engraved onto her skin like a full-body tattoo, had been completely wiped clean. Nothing felt nasty anymore.

Jacqueline inspected her body to see if there were any other changes. Under her chin, she barely noticed an inscription written on her skin.

[Neutral]

It seemed as though it was like stamping paperwork or products for approval. Although she didn't know whether her label was considered a good or bad thing, she decided to think of it later. Looking inside her shirt, she noticed white underwear and wondered if in that split-second she fell through the circle did they somehow manage to take all her measurements and spawned fitted clothes.

Embarrassment was not something she could feel anymore after becoming desensitized to standing too close with other naked bodies of all genders. She wouldn't account for the agreement from fellow dead ones.

The adrenaline had mostly subsided and Jacqueline took in her surroundings. She was in a small, grey walled cubicle; seated behind an ancient boxed computer screen. Judging by the brief bird's eye view she was unwillingly privy to, it seems as though all the tiny squares from before were also cubicles. And therefore, intended for another soul to drop in from the void of space. Another soul to follow her fate.

Behind the glass, there was a form already opened in a window; Spawn Point Questionnaire: Your Ideal Beginning. Her name was already printed in the text. Before she read the form, Jacqueline had scanned the rest of the space.

Besides the computer and chair, there was a wooden desk with a faded surface covered in soft scratches on the edges. Above her was complete darkness warded off only by an LED light bulb, which lit up the corners of the room. Behind her was a dimly lit hallway lined with a dirty blue carpet.

Jacqueline had gotten up from the squeaking chair and tried to walk out. Her face knocked on an invisible barrier, almost as though there was glass blocking the way out.

"Please fill out the questionnaire before leaving the cubicle."

She spun around to look for the source of the voice. Her eyes focused on the computer screen which now had a speaking icon for a voice chat she hadn't opened. As she went to take a seat, she stared at the monitor.

"Um, excuse me ma'am. What is this place?"

A muffled sigh passed through the speakers.

"This is Phase 2: Preparation for Underworld Afterlife. To proceed you must complete the form and then you will be allowed access to the next phase: New Beginnings where you will start your new life."

Jacqueline took a closer look at the screen. There was text on the top left of the voice chat window. 'Render' was written beside a logo with the letter 'R'.

"I see"

She went back to the form she chose to ignore earlier:

"Question 1. What is your favourite food?

Chocolate Ice-cream

Cheese Pizza

Garlic Bread

Fruit salad"

Jacqueline scrunched her eyebrows in confusion.

"How exactly does this quiz influence my 'spawn point'?"

She clicked on option C, and continued to scroll down.

"The questionnaire is used to determine the characteristics of each soul to better accommodate their future living conditions."

Glancing down at the bottom-right hand corner of the monitor was a Wi-Fi icon and the current time and date. It was 1:05 am on March 2nd. Jacqueline did a double take. Had that much time really passed while she was in Satan's digestive system? Her eyes shook.

"I thought the walk through the blood river was long, but I didn't realize it took 6 months."

"You have the wrong idea. Time runs twice the speed as it does in the world of the living. Therefore, you have only spent 16 hours in the river Styx, 8 if we were on the mortal plane"

"Oh"

In dry silence, she clicked the submit button and a confetti sound effect triggered.

"Congratulations! Your destination is set to Greed. Enjoy your afterlife."

She wondered how answering a few disjointed questions would paint her as a greedy person. However, it wasn't a question that she would think the unknown speaker on the other side of the voice call would care to read into it.

"Now that you have completed the questionnaire, please proceed down either side of the hallway and step onto the teleportation circle. You will be transported to your set spawn point. As written in my job description, do you have any remaining questions?"

"Yes, actually"

Another deep sigh echoed through the tiny cubicle.

"What is your name?"

"You want to know my name? What use is there in knowing?"

"I want to know is all"

The voice on the other side paused for a moment.

"It is Janus"

"Like the Roman deity?"

"Humans like to revere anyone with power as a deity or a God"

Jacqueline sneered and looked up at the void.

"Yeah, you're not wrong. It's a bit annoying actually."

"I presume that is all, please proceed to the hallway. It was nice to meet you and have a good afterlife."

The voice chat deleted itself and the computer had shut off. Following instructions, she went through the previously blocked off exit and the light bulb inside the cubicle turned off. She walked past multiple empty cubicles, all covered in darkness. Perhaps they had far more office chairs than river space as she had not seen or heard a single person since entering this area.

At the crossroads of cubicles, there was a much smaller teleportation circle than in the previous Phase. A green flash emitted and Jacqueline left the dark hallways.

This time her feet had landed immediately on a solid road, instead of hanging from several feet off the ground. It was sad to say it was the only good thing to have happened all day. Her eyes adjusted to the lamps and lanterns lined along the streets in front of her.

Beneath her feet was a much larger version of the previous magic circle; though some of the inscriptions have seemed to change. Though she was dimly aware of it in the poorly illuminated streets. The sky had its own moon and stars, clouds drifting slowly along the nighttime wind. Were the celestial objects above imitations or entities of their own right?

Music and laughter were muffled behind closed doors; mostly from the bars and casinos that were packed side by side. There were drunk people going in and out through each building, wearing lavish clothes and smelling of alcohol. Some of them were definitely teenagers. Nothing here was completely unfamiliar.

She quietly observed the night owls who decided to blow off all their money on plastic chips and drinks. A woman had strut out of the open door of a smaller casino, fanning herself with a spread of paper money. Her friends had followed suit. As Jacqueline walked by, she noticed a visible gun holster on her thigh. In fact, most people who were outside had guns or knives strapped on them. She walked passed briskly.

The night wind picked up a bit and Jacqueline shivered. She stuck her hands in her pockets and noticed they weren't empty like before. She took out a small folded stack of cash held together by a rubber band. She quickly shoved the money back into her pocket, as she was the only unarmed person walking around the streets in the dead of night. However, the girl in white clothes failed to notice the eyes of a shadowy figure hidden in the unlit corners of the streets.

What was she supposed to do now?