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Justin followed through the city stuck in an instant. Birds hung in the air, tufts of wind stuck in a swirl behind them. A man held a paint roller to the wall of an office building, half of the graffiti covered, making no progress.
A man who was about to miss his bus hung stiffly in the air, mid-stride. He was holding out a ticket and shouting, but there was no noise.
There was no ambient sound. That was what disturbed Justin the most.
“Can’t you let time pass now?” Justin looked around nervously. “I can’t even hear my own footsteps, and it’s starting to get to me.”
“We’ll get there soon. There’s a dispatch zone just below that building.”
The two men stepped into a pulsating fluorescent circle. It was the only visible movement in the city. Random colours and specks of light began to whirlwind around the pair.
“Get ready. You’re going to meet the Cre-“
Everything stopped. Justin could no longer see or hear anything. He felt disembodied, as though the cold air was being introduced to his naked mind for the first time. From black nothingness, there was a sudden flash of white, and Justin simply floated.
His sense of direction was gone. He wasn’t sure if he was going backwards or forwards. His sense of omni-directional movement grew exponentially until there was a loud pop.
“-ator”
All of a sudden, Justin existed again. He blinked his ethereal eyes, and shuddered. His eyes adjusted to the white nothingness, and he could see that he was no longer in the city. At least, not the city he knew.
His body still glowed transparently.
“Is this… the Otherworld?”
“Yep.” Hugo grabbed Justin by the purple glowy arm and pulled him down a bright path. The ground emanated light from each place it was stepped on.
The Otherworld was a large white city. The infinite towers on all sides looked more like they had been grown there than built, with their natural curves.
They were definitely outside. Justin knew that much. There was no roof. Only a bright sky of simultaneous emptiness and infinite space.
A large gateway, easily 60 feet high, loomed to the left. A winged man was doing paperwork at a desk out the front. He smiled and nodded at Hugo. They walked past the gates, and reached a building. A large plaque above the door said ‘AlphaSoft’
Inside, there was a reception area. A man sat behind a desk inside. He looked up to see Hugo and Justin entering.
“Hugo. How’re you go-“
“Pshht.” Hugo pointed at the man, who was confused by the nonsensical sound. “This here’s Justin. Get him an appointment.”
“Has he undergone preli-”
“I said Pssht!”
The man nodded.
Justin smiled at the man in bewilderment.
“So what do I have to do?”
“I’ll leave that to be explained, Justin. Better coming from someone else. Hit you all at once.”
There was an uncomfortable silence, broken by the receptionist.
“I have arranged you an appointment in an hour.”
Hugo nodded, and smiled an exaggerated smile.
***
The waiting room had a faint hum to it, as though the entire room was a fluorescent bulb. A stark white card table sat in the middle of four miraculously comfortable chairs. Hugo, Justin, and two others filled them.
Justin picked up his card hand.
“Who am I meeting?” He rearranged his hand.
“The Creator.” Hugo leant back in his chair. “We’re hoping that he will give you a second chance at life. A metaphysical body.”
“I thought I’d go back to my old body.”
“I told you. Zombification is… not pleasant.”
One of the other players, a man in a vibrant white suit, played a card. “The only way you can return to the corporeal world is if you commandeer a new vessel. Your previous body is defunct, its usefulness equally so.” He paused to breathe. “Unfortunately, there are very few paths one can take to acquire said metaphysical body. Normally, your newly assigned post-mortem body is locked to the Otherworld, so that returning is impossible in that body. Unfortunately, you are currently left in your Ethereal form, whilst in between… ships.”
Justin nodded. He was getting tired of his ethereal form. He felt unsubstantial and waif-like. His energy levels were dropping, as though he only half-existed.
The fourth player, a long-haired man dressed in loose clothing, was nodding off gently. He was awakened by prodding, so he played a card.
“Mm,” muttered the man. He smiled kindly at Justin, and closed his eyes.
“Am I going to be brought back as an angel or something?” Justin talked to keep himself from fading.
Hugo shook his head. “The only way to become an angel is to be born an angel. They’re not even slightly human.” He leant forward and swore under his breath as the white-suited man played his card. “You’ll become a metaphysical being, like us.”
“Like…”
“The Horsemen of the Apocalypse.”
“Oh,” Justin looked back to his hand.
Hugo bowed his head, “I’m Death. This is Pestilence.” The white-suited man nodded, and tipped an imaginary hat.
“And this is Famine.”
The long-haired man nodded off. Hugo watched Justin as he processed this new information. He squirmed. He knew the question that would come next.
Justin looked up inquisitively. “What about War?”
Pestilence sighed. Hugo leant back again.
“War… Passed away tragically, years ago.”
Famine laughed quietly to himself..
“Does that mean that there’ll be no more wars?”
Hugo shook his head. “War didn’t make wars. War was the one who enforced the conditions of Just War. He kept war working. He ensured that those with a right to war had the ability to fight it.”
“Oh. And how did he die?”
Hugo frowned. “I’d rather not talk about it right now.”
Pestilence mouthed “Ask Me Later” behind Hugo’s back, and winked.
A woman in a lab coat approached Justin, and tapped him on the shoulder. As he turned, she smiled warmly. “The Creator will see you now.”
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