Trials and Tribulations
Chapter Two: I have returned...
Seth woke up. That in itself surprised him. He knew he should be dead, and the fact that he wasn't was bothering him. He opened his eyes and found himself staring into a floating mirror. He looked like shit. His hair was messy, his 9 o'clock shadow untrimmed, his eyes bloodshot and sunken. Seth pondered where he was and why he was where he was. Coming to no conclusions, he stood up and said, quite calmly, "Excuse me. Am I dead?"
His voice echoed, which was strange as there were no walls, pillars, or anything else he associated with being dead. He looked around some more. There was, in fact, nothing but him, the floating mirror, and the grey tiled floor he was standing on. His question had not been answered, so he grabbed the floating mirror, tucked it under an arm, and decided to search for an exit.
After walking steadily for what seemed like hours, Seth was about to give up when he saw three metal gates side by side. Behind each gate was a portal, and through each portal he could see another world. There was someone standing at a small podium waiting patiently for him to approach. The person in question was a middle aged man with a greying beard, of average height and demeanour. In fact, as Seth was looking at him, he realized that the man was the epitome of blandness. Nothing about him stuck out at all.
"Welcome, Seth," the robed man said. "It's been a long time coming for you to be here, hasn't it?"
"Depends," said Seth. "What is here, what am I doing here, and, most importantly, shouldn't I be dead?
"
The bearded man laughed. "Oh, but you are my boy. You were hit by a human trafficker driving a school bus. Little did you know, you saved the life's of everyone on that bus--including you're daughter's. As for where you are now, look around you. Does this look like heaven to you?"
"No."
"Does it look like hell to you?"
"No."
"Well, that's two out of three. You're a smart boy, you tell me where we are."
Seth put his head down in thought. "Purgatory?" he guessed.
The bearded man started a dramatic slow clap. "Well guessed," he said. "Now that introductions are made, you have a choice. You may go through the first gate, the Gate of Knowledge, where you're very soul will be forced to answer moral choices based on what you would do in the situation. Also you cannot lie or force yourself to make a choice that differs from your nature. Not for the faint of heart, get it?"
Seth said nothing.
"Everybody's a critic. Anyhoo, the second gate is the Gate of Rebirth, where you will be reborn on Earth in an attempt to live your life as dutifully and peacefully as you can, in an attempt make it into heaven."
Again, Seth said nothing.
The robed man continued unabated. "The third and final gate is the Gate of Harmony. Here, you will go with your memories intact into a new world of peace and harmony. Your goal is to recreate yourself, with the help of others, into someone you are proud of being. The choice is yours, Seth."
As the robed man finished, the three gates opened simultaneously. Seth walked up to and inspected each one. He stopped at the third one and asked, “Will anyone I know be here as well?”
The bearded man laughed. “Not anyone you knew in life, Seth.”
Seth straightened his posture and said, “With the fact that I don’t even know my own morality, nor do I have any wish to return to Earth, I choose the third gate. The Gate of Harmony.”
“So be it,” said the robed man. “You will retain your memory of everything that has transpired, with the exception of your time here. We can’t let this place become common knowledge, now can we?”
Seth nodded and braced himself for what was to come. He stepped into the portal, and was engulfed in darkness.
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Seth woke up dazed and confused. He didn’t recognize his surroundings. Seth tried to recall what happened and, with a start, remembered the bus impact. He shuddered, but the feeling of fear and anxiety was replaced with the feeling of warmth and love. He remembered that he saved his daughter’s life. He knew that if it happened again, he would lay his life down without question.
He got up shakily and decided on a course of action. He put the facts he knew in an organized fashion. He was dead, but now he wasn’t. He was in a different place, possibly a different planet, what with no geological formations being familiar to him. He was wearing his suit, which was a small comfort. He quickly checked his pants and found his smartphone along with its solar-powered battery adapter and smiled, glad he forked out the extra two-hundred for it.
He did a small pan of the area and realized he was on a well-traveled road, with deep, dark forest on either side of him. It was around noon, according to his Rolex, but for all he knew that would have no significance on the time-space of another dimension and/or planet. He quickly decided that his best option was to make contact with whatever sentient race lived here. He stopped. How do I know that? When did I find out that I’m in another dimension and that humans are not the dominant race? He shook his head, unable to remember. Oh well, he thought. I’m alive, I’m in a brand new world, and I intend to never go back to Earth.
With that, Seth merrily set his phone to play his playlist of tunes, which was a collection of dubstep, hardstyle, electric, and the like, and strolled down the path, eagerly awaiting whatever challenges faced him in this new world.