章節 2: The Judgement of the End
As she opened her eyelids, Alastair found herself enveloped by the gloomy darkness once again. The familiar cold feeling shrouded her entire as chills echoed within her spine. As she had finally awoken, Alastair began to look around as she wondered why she was back in the abyssal darkness.
At that very moment, memories echoed in her mind.
Alastair's last memory was encountering a strange stone gate with a portal. Before entering the stone gate, chains managed to grab her leg and drag her to hell. But it appears that it didn't pull her to hell but placed her back to the grim darkness of the void.
Just like before, Alastair couldn't see anything, nor could she feel anything other than the phantom cold. As she found herself lying on the floor, she stared idly with some dangerous thoughts passing through her mind. She then closed her eyelids, trying to calm herself in the darkness.
The dangerous thoughts within her mind were simple. First, Alastair wondered if she got trapped in a predestine infinite loop. If that was true, it could mean that Alastair would have no chance of getting out of this place and would probably get trapped in the darkness forever.
"Being stuck in a loop forever along with the darkness sound like hell... Which might be the case."
Alastair silently uttered as she continued lying on the jet-black floor. It was hard to see in this place, and the spotlights seemed to have faded. With the cold and isolation, one would feel forsaken when staying in this place. That might be the point of this entire dimension.
Though, while thinking about the darkness, she also realized one thing.
Hell didn't have to be a burning hell-hole of suffering and pain. Hell could be a place where one would suffer for all eternity. What would be a better place than the eternal void of darkness? With time, even those with the strongest will wouldn't be able to handle the isolation.
They would become prey to the gloomy darkness that had enveloped this place.
'If I continue with this kind of thinking. Wouldn't that mean there is no way out of this loop, and I will get stuck here for eternity? That sounds like torture which might also be the point of its existence.'
Alastair thought to herself as she still lay on the ground with a laid-back attitude. She was rather uncaring of her current situation, but it was understandable. There was no need to care about such things. She had already lost, and she was facing her punishment. Besides, this kind of situation was beyond her pay grade.
She didn't know when her mind would break apart, but before that moment, she would rather take a deep slumber in this place forever instead of thinking about the dreadful things that could happen to her. As long as nothing disturbs her, Alastair could sleep as long as possible.
That could delay the inevitable mind-break of the eternal darkness.
'Sleeping actually... might be a good idea.'
Alastair thought it was a good idea to take care of herself in this darkness. With this in mind, she closed her eyelids while still lying down. There was no use in thinking the dreadful thoughts. Alastair wanted to clear her mind before it would inevitably break.
The only thing she could do in this place was take pleasure from the peace and calm that she had never felt for a long time. Now that she had thought about it. When was the last peaceful sleep she had? Could she even sleep peacefully? Questions echoed again in her mind as Alastair closed them off and dozed off.
She couldn't notice the time passing by in the eternal darkness. While under a deep slumber, she, for the first time, heard words echoing outside her body.
*I didn't expect her to sleep for a long time.*
*There was nothing to disturb her sleep, so she practically wouldn't wake up.*
*Still, a thousand years of sleeping in the eternal darkness. When was this girl's last good sleep? Though it appears that she had gained their attention, and her fate would be under judgment.*
Due to the noise of two people talking, Alastair immediately noticed the two of them and opened her eyelids as quickly as possible. At that moment, everything had changed. She wasn't in the gloomy darkness anymore but in a more dreadful and dangerous place than before.
She found herself on a giant stone platform that seemed to be levitating. Around the massive platform were seven floating obelisks with archaic runes plastered over them. They slowly rotated around the platform she had stood on. It was as if they were the chains that would pull Alastair back if she tried to escape.
Outside the platform were gasses that she couldn't describe. She had a feeling that if any of that gasses touched any part of her body. They would probably disintegrate. Though, does she even have a body anymore? It got burned into ashen dust during her execution.
'Now, what the hell am I doing here?'
She questioned within her puny self as she noticed two figures before her. It was a man and a woman. The man wore a black suit and was utterly handsome, while the woman wore a silver dress and was incredibly gorgeous. They looked rather stunning though Alastair didn't know the two of them.
As they were strangers in a place she would consider hell, Alastair looked at them with caution as she analyzed everything around her. The man and woman then noticed the awoken Alastair and smiled at her. The moment they smiled, Alastair felt a chill within her spine.
"What am I doing here?"
She asked the gentleman and the lady before her. The two of them looked at each other before the gentleman answered with a calm voice.
"There is no need for us to explain. Besides, you must have heard our voices in your slumber."
His words sounded as Alastair looked at him and thought about it. The words she had heard during her slumber were clear. It looked like the darkness was a place of punishment. Though, it seemed that she had slept in the gloomy dark for a thousand years, which was quite shocking.
How she managed to sleep that long without waking up was a question plaguing her mind. Anyhow, after a short while of thinking. Alastair then sighed and nodded to herself. Her calm self was now back in action. Now that she had thought about this situation. It wasn't that shocking anymore.
She then stood up from the stone ground and started stretching her body. It was so stiff that it might rival a concrete. As she straightened her limbs, Alastair couldn't help but relax her body. It was good moving after a long time, though it was almost an instant for Alastair.
"So, I am here for judgment."
She said calmly with an emotionless face as the gentleman replied while still having that creepy smile plastered on his face.
"Correct."
As the gentleman's words echoed, a vast storm emerged outside the platform. The gasses around the platform slowly were devoured and became one with the giant stormcloud. From the appearance of the storm, it appears that it was a portal, and something was emerging from it.
Hecate looked at it seriously as her heart was beating steadily. The thing emerging from that storm would be something beyond Hecate's imagination. She needed to get ready and not pass out from whatever monstrosity came out from the boundless storm of gasses.
*Bang!!!* *Bang!!!* *Bang!!!*
Thunders sounded one after another as their bright light lit up the entire stormcloud. Their thunderous sound echoed as the beings beyond the storm had finally emerged from it. And they were something Hecate didn't even try to imagine.
Previously, she had thought of them as monsters with octopus tentacles or deformed body structures. But it appears that she was wrong.
Three creatures emerged from the storm of eternity and infinity.
The first one was a giant eyeball with bat-like wings full of eyes behind it. It looked rather dreadful as it gazed upon the three people standing on the platform. A single massive eyeball would be enough to make a man collapse. Though unfortunately, it didn't end with a single one.
The second one was another giant eyeball, though it differed from the first one. It was surrounded by seven wheels, entirely enveloped by eyes. The seven wheels kept spinning from different directions while their eyes continued staring at those within the platform.
The third one was a formless giant. It didn't have any form, and Alastair couldn't perceive it as clearly as the first two. It looked mysterious and seemed to be dangerous. Alastair would rather not deal with the unknown, especially a god-like being from it.
'What the hell is with the eyes?'
Alastair thought to herself while gazing at the three beings of judgment. She didn't know how to react upon meeting the judges of the court. They were a million times scarier than the one that executed her. Upon releasing her thoughts, every eye from the three beings turned toward her.
'Ah, sh*t... Don't tell me they can hear my thoughts?'
*We can hear you clearly, Alastair Hecate.*
Words then sounded from the first judge, who was the eyeball with the bat wings. Alastair felt a chill on her spine upon hearing such words as cold sweat dripped from her forehead. She relied on her thoughts to release her feelings. She might look calm and relaxed on the outside, but gears were running at their full speed on the inside.
So something like mind-reading wasn't something she appreciated.
*I see... We will try not to think much of the thoughts in your mind.*
The second judge uttered as Alastair couldn't help but lower her head. They were rather blunt and didn't seem to care that much. Well, that was to be expected as they were beings that might have met with people beyond the world's current population.
*Of all the people we met, most of them fear us. You, on the other hand, are not only horrified towards us but have the bravery to mock the eyes.*
The first judge said with its distorted voice as all of the eyes of the second judge looked at the first judge. The first judge then realized what it had said and decided not to speak. The third judge looked at the two judges and seemed to have sighed.
*We will continue with our business.*
*Alastair Hecate, you have been trialed against the crimes you have done, which would typically get you thrown into the Inferno. But we doubt that torture would work against you, so we gave you isolation instead. We are not the ones who usually decide such things, though we plan to do certain things.*
*Anyhow, you manage to sleep a thousand years, rendering the isolation useless. You only woke up because the servants talked to each other before you. If not for them, you might have lasted long, making the isolation more useless.*
*Your soul can get decimated, but that would not be appropriate.*
*We have further detailed your crimes and how you had done it. We have your perception in mind, while we also have the perception of others. The results ended with a 50/50. Meaning that most accusations against you were baseless.*
*So now, we may ask, what are you here for, Alastair?*
The second judge asked after explaining everything. Alastair was frozen as she looked at the three judges with a calm expression. She didn't know what to say after hearing their words. But she said the only thing that came to her mind.
"I am here to be judged."
Alastair answered as the third judge shook its head. She wondered if she had said anything wrong to the judges before her. The first judge then spoke with a distorted voice once again.
*You only say things most would want you to say. You only do such things towards those you respect. But even then, we aren't here for the judgment of your fate. We are here to change it.*
Alastair found herself confused upon hearing the distorted words of the first judge. If she wasn't here to get judged, then what the hell was she doing in this place? For her answer, the second judge spoke towards Alastair with all of its eyes pointed towards her.
*Alastair Hecate, the Warmonger of an Empire, do you wish to be the first applicant to become a Krieger?*
At that very moment, Alastair's fate was about to get changed. For every wheel and string in her destiny, a metamorphosis will begin. Resulting in the formation of a new character, a second chance.
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