Chapter: 66
After crossing the river on the boatman’s vessel, you’ll head down the stairs to find yourself in the second layer of the afterlife.
After descending a pretty long flight of stairs, the dead arrive at a vast meadow filled with blooming flowers under the bright sunshine.
It’s hard to believe they were just in a cave, but for some reason, this serene flower-filled plain welcomes the souls with open arms.
As the dead wander through the sea of flowers, they can’t help but feel their aches and pains fading away. Man, these flowers really know how to throw a healing party!
The second layer of the afterlife is like a gentle hug: quite cozy, really.
All those injuries, fatal diseases, and even deathly wounds? Yup, they’re healed thanks to this flower garden, the Flowery Meadow. It’s like an all-inclusive spa for souls!
Even those poor souls who had their bits and pieces taken by the Ghost Mother in the previous layer can walk out of here feeling whole again. Talk about a glow-up!
That flower-filled meadow is so chill and gorgeous that anyone who pops in will definitely want to stay for ages.
But hold your horses! It wouldn’t be right for a soul to get comfy and hang out in this flower garden forever—there are places to go!
The dead are only allowed to stick around for 7 days. Yup, that’s the rule!
As that time approaches, the Grim Reaper starts getting a bit pushy, trying to drag these souls kicking and screaming to the next layer. Most souls can’t resist that kind of persuasion.
However, on rare occasions… some clever souls manage to slip away from the Reaper and stay in this layer beyond the week.
Those crafty folks who linger beyond 7 days will gradually feel their souls morphing—they’ll grow roots for feet, stems for legs and torsos, leaves for arms, and eventually turn into blooming flowers.
No kidding! They’ll become the flowers stealing the spotlight in the Flowery Meadow.
But if a dead person isn’t supposed to linger here, they’ll get stuck as a flower, completely forgetting who they were, until they lose themselves entirely.
Of course, once they forget everything about themselves, they move on through the rest of the process and get reincarnated… but hey, by then, who cares, right?
The Third Layer
The third layer of the afterlife is just as cuddly as the second layer.
Actually, calling it “gentle” doesn’t do it justice at all.
This layer is all about fulfilling the desires of souls. It’s like a wish-granting factory!
Walking down the black pebble path laid out in the lush meadow allows you to get whatever your heart desires.
Starved to death? Time to fill those stomachs!
Died of thirst? Step right up for some sweet, hydrating water!
Longed for riches while you were alive? Better grab your treasure chest because you’ll be buried in gold! Fame and glory seekers? Get ready for a crowd singing your praises!
But just like the second layer, this road, known as the Desire-Fulfilling Road, isn’t meant for long-term stays either.
What appears here are the manifestations of all the karma a soul has collected during their life.
If you hang around here for more than 7 days, you’ll burn through all your karma and start losing bits of your memory. Yikes!
Even if you forget everything about yourself, you’ll keep chasing those endless desires until there’s nothing left except a pure, empty spirit.
And what happens then? You get pushed along to the next life like a lost puppy.
The Lower Layers
Now, the lower four layers of the afterlife? They’re a whole other story.
These layers are all about strict judgment, punishing the souls for their sins. You know, classic Hell vibes.
They judge and punish the souls who’ve sinned. Talk about drama!
These four layers? They should definitely be called Hell, and they make sure those sinful souls suffer until all their sins are cleansed.
The first of these hellish layers is Inferno.
Here, the path to the next layer is a narrow, high bridge with blazing flames shooting up below it.
And who’s getting punished here? The ones who’ve committed acts of violence against others. Yup, they were found guilty during their judgment in the afterlife.
Those souls are writhing in agony, bound in chains of scorching fire until their engraved sins are burned away and turned to ash.
“Are only those who wielded violence roasting here?”
“The word ‘violence’ covers more ground than you think. Psychological torment, for example—shaking someone’s mind with harsh words. This layer punishes both physical and mental violence.”
“That’s… quite harsh.”
“But necessary!”
Gazing at that dreadful sight, the dead who are moving deeper into the afterlife for judgment starts sweating bullets at the thought of ending up like those poor souls and continues on with the Grim Reaper.
The Fifth Layer: Cocytus
Moving on, the fifth layer is Cocytus, also known as the Ice Hell layer.
A nippy cave where the ceiling is packed with icicles, both big and small, and humans are impaled on them. Ouch, right?
Those unfortunate souls, impaled by needle-sharp icicles, feel their nerves freeze and suffer from bone-chilling cold. Yikes!
Getting punished here are the souls who craved and snatched away others’ belongings. Yep, the thieves currently enjoying their free vacation after getting judged guilty of theft in the afterlife.
Stuck on those icy spikes, they freeze until all their sins fall away.
“So, theft gets punished as severely as violence?”
“Of course! The theft here isn’t just taking things that don’t belong to you; it’s about getting them through bad means. It’s a direct violation of the rules set by the divine.”
“Seems fair enough, they shouldn’t have stole!”
Gazing up at that harrowing sight, the dead fear the idea of potentially becoming just like them and press on to the next layer with the Reaper.
The Sixth Layer: Malebolge
Now for the sixth layer: Malebolge, also known as the Thorn Hell layer.
You might think a vast plain with thorn bushes looks ordinary at first, but it’s a hell of a place!
Each thorn bush has a sinner tangled up in it—yup, body parts turned thorny to make them self-entangled. Yikes!
The sinners here are those who deceived others to profit wrongly. They were found guilty of fraud in the afterlife judgment.
Having once used their silver tongues to sting others, now they’re stuck in a torturous hug with thorny bushes sprouting from their own tongues!
“In this layer, they literally get pricked by the thorns that came from their own tongues? That sounds incredibly cruel!”
“The mouth can unleash pure disaster. Lying to others and inflicting pain? Not surprising they get a taste of their own medicine.”
“And it was also written in the law to not lie, huh?”
“Absolutely! Fraud is a sneaky crime that can snowball into big issues, thus it deserves an equally thorough punishment.”
Peeking at that shocking scene, the dead dread the possibility of meeting the same fate and venture onward with the Reaper.
The Seventh Layer: Abyss
Lastly, the seventh layer is the Abyss, or the Dark Hell layer.
It’s pitch black where you can’t see a finger in front of your face. Unlike other places, you can’t even glimpse the sinners paying for their sins! Creepy, right?
You can only faintly hear the echoes of screams and tormented moans—indicating this hell is no less frightening than the others.
Punished here are the ones who’ve taken the lives of others. Yup, the big-shot murderers found guilty during judgment.
And that’s the rundown on the afterlife’s colorful layers. It’s one wild ride!
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