Chapter 48: About Death (4)
Putting the creepy feeling deep down.
The analysis on souls has progressed to some extent, and it seems that the dark spirits are also gathering.
What remains now is preparing the location where the afterlife will be created and deciding the system of the afterlife.
Among these two, the first thing to tackle is creating the place where the afterlife will be located.
So… what should I do? Should I create the afterlife somewhere in this world?
In Greek mythology, there’s the underworld, where the dead souls cross the River Styx. Maybe the underground is the way to go after all?
No, no. There’s that unsettling element down there.
The unsettling element called Erebus.
The only place where that child, who embodies darkness itself and eluded me even after a thorough search of the surface, could be hiding is down there. And I’m supposed to create the afterlife in that very spot?
And to have that child’s descendants, turned into dark spirits, work there?
It’s a surefire way to stir up trouble!
Hmm. The underground is a no-go. At least not until I find Erebus and give it a nice whack. It’s out of the question.
Then how about up in the sky?
Souls naturally float up to the sky, so gathering them might be quite easy…
Oh, but this won’t work either. Given the nature of dark spirits, being up in the sky is out of the question.
Dark spirits can seep into the ground, or move in dimly lit places, and even in well-lit areas, they can hide in the shadows. But in bright places or those without shadows? Forget it, they’ll be totally lost!
And up in the high sky… there’s no ground for dark spirits to slink into, and aside from some wispy clouds, there’s no place for shadows, just relentless sunshine.
Dark spirits with a bit of power might be able to function without shadows to some extent… but there aren’t many of them. Just a handful, really.
Weak dark spirits? They’ll have a hard time moving at all.
If it’s a night sky after the sun sets, they might manage to get around freely… but that means people who die during the day can’t be led to the afterlife.
Hmm. Working with dark spirits makes the sky an impossible option too.
Is it really impossible to create the afterlife somewhere in this world?
I let out a small sigh.
I didn’t want to resort to this method… but it seems I have no choice.
I invoked the very first privilege I received from the creator god: Creation.
A translucent window popped up before me. A menu for setting what to create.
A screen where I could create anything I wanted…
With that ability, I created a door.
A massive door crudely carved from black rock.
Ignoring the bizarre sight of a door standing there all alone, I flung the doors wide open.
Inside the giant door, which swung open like a set of wings, was a wall of black rock.
Although it was just a door standing on its own, inside was a strange sight packed with black rock.
It looked like it led to another world.
Hmm. Just to check, I tried it out, and it actually worked… A door leading to another world.
I tossed together a simple setting of ‘a door leading to another world’… and I never thought it would actually happen.
Not to mention, it perfectly reflected the setting where it leads to a world filled with nothing but rocks. Seriously… even though I made it myself, what is this?
This creation power. How far can it really go…? Could it actually create a whole new world? How is this not like being the creator god?
No, let’s push aside those pointless thoughts for now. Isn’t it good to have good things? I’ve just confirmed that the potential of my abilities is even more boundless than I thought. Yep.
I sighed softly, closed the door again, returned to my normal form, and clutched the surprisingly heavy door in my hands.
It’s great that I made this door… but where on earth am I going to put it? Hmm…
Since it’s going to be a door to the afterlife, it should definitely be somewhere tough to get to, right?
And it ought to be a place where the workers… the dark spirits can reach without issues.
Leading to the afterlife, it should be somewhere free of other creatures as well…
When I added all those conditions together, it turned into quite a challenging task.
But luckily, after roaming around every nook and cranny of the world, I knew of one place that fit the bill.
If it was just about being hard to access, sure, I could pick a few more spots… but there’s only one place that hits all these criteria.
I spread my wings and took off towards that location.
The destination? The northernmost tip of this world.
An expanse blanketed in pure white snow and ice.
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
A chill land loaded with snow and ice.
A barren space where other spirits hardly dare to venture because of the relentless cold.
At the northern tip, where no animals have been spotted along the way.
There lay a small island surrounded by a sea with sharp-edged ice waves.
In the heart of this tiny island, where waves crash unceasingly against the icy sea, I firmly set down the door I brought.
No other life in sight, way far from human territory, not underground, and not too bothersome for the dark spirits to operate… Hmm, will those kiddos manage to swim through the sea? They should, right?
Nah, they’ll be fine. I’ll just build a bridge connecting this little island to the mainland.
And I’ll use the black rocks stuffed inside the door as materials for that bridge.
After morphing into human form, I swung the door wide open, revealing it stuffed to the brim with black rocks.
Alright, first things first—let’s throw some magic on the door so it doesn’t break. Of course, the black rocks inside are the exception. They’re destined to be shattered!
Once I confirmed the door wouldn’t break with a light knock, I glanced at the sealed wall, clenched my fist lightly, then punched forward with all my magical might.
KABOOM!!!
With a tremendous roar, black rocks exploded into pieces and spilled out of the door.
Just one punch. Sure, I used magic, but it’s hard to believe that this tiny fist wielded such sheer destructiveness.
With that single hit, a massive hole appeared inside the door.
Hmm… Good. I gathered the shattered pieces with my magic and poured them into the sea facing the island and the continent.
Of course, this alone won’t connect the island to the mainland.
I clenched my fist again. Let the mining begin!
Hmm. This oddly reminds me of an old game. The one where you smash square blocks to mine ores.
Now, here I am, smashing everything with my bare hands and tossing the bits into the sea!
Let’s see… since the inside of this door is another world, Erebus shouldn’t be able to sneak in from somewhere else, right? If it comes through the door, I can just cast a spell later to snag Erebus if it shows up.
I started to chip away at the world of black rocks inside the door while pouring all the bits into the sea.
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
The hero who inherited the blood of a god. Rychlen, who accomplished numerous feats, killed a friend while drunk and made up his mind to venture into the afterlife to retrieve his dead friend’s soul.
However, this journey was no easy feat, even for Rychlen, a hero among heroes.
Upon hearing from a sage in the deep woods about how to head to the afterlife, Rychlen set out towards the northern end of the world, where the entrance to the afterlife is said to be.
Rychlen, heading towards the world’s end. Sometimes helped by giants, at other times under attack by beasts and monsters, he made his way up north towards the fabled entrance of the afterlife.
After crossing the black bridge surrounded by a sea of sharp ice waves, which, once crossed, would never allow return, Rychlen reached the daunting door to the afterlife.
“Abandon all hope, ye who enter here.” The fear-inducing inscription on the ominous black door to the afterlife was fastened to a black rock, a terrifying object that seemed to cling onto one’s soul with pain just by being seen.
Ordinary folks wouldn’t even make it this far, and even a considerable hero would flee just at the sight of this door, but Rychlen, a hero among heroes, stood firm. Without a word, he rolled up his sleeves and started to push against the two doors.
The door to the afterlife was so heavy that even with strength capable of moving mountains, it took quite a bit of effort to merely budge it. Rychlen took half a day just to open it wide enough for one person to squeeze through, at last entering the afterlife.
The experiences Rychlen faced afterward… were nothing short of a departure from any adventure he had previously encountered.
Descending into a black cave leading underground, each step filled him with a creeping sense of fear.
Neither his mountain-moving strength nor his steel-like skin could shield him from the terrors of the afterlife.
…
In the hell where countless souls suffered, confronting unending crises and enduring fear, Rychlen came face-to-face with the three officials governing the afterlife.
The commander who gathers the souls of the dead from the darkness, leading the reapers of death.
The inspector who locates the deceased souls in the registry, ensuring they met a just end.
The judge who balances the souls on a scale, measuring their sins to issue a verdict.
These three officials of the afterlife were beings that even the greatest heroes could never hope to oppose while alive.
For they were the very entities capable of turning Rychlen, celebrated as a hero among heroes in the realm of the living, into yet another soul in oblivion with a mere flick of their finger.
– The Adventure of Hero Rychlen.
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