What It Takes To Be Reincarnated: The Devils Worker

Hell Bound

Chapter Three: Hell Bound

And then they were gone.

The light faded rapidly as the two women entered it. Leaving my guide and myself to ourselves. It seemed a bit darker now that that… Assumed heavenly light was gone.  I rubbed the back of my hand against my eyes to fix any dilation. Wait, do ghostly eyes dilate? Anyways. I glance over to my left to see the demon crouching down and reading that tiny book again. 

"So, uh, do you always go around shirtless?" I asked not sure what else to say to the man. 

He snapped his head up and grinned at me. Then he stood and offered me a hand. 

"Yeah pretty much. I workout, I like to see what I'm working for." He said with an honest air. 

"Right… So I guess it's time to get going, huh?"

I took the offered hand and hesitated a bit at the long black digits he had there. They certainly looked like demon claws. He didn't answer but instead lifted his right hand and using a sharp nail sliced the open air in front of him. There was a ripping noise and then a foul smell. 

"The in-between is a bit smelly. The rotted spirits accumulate here and it makes a foul smell, it exists between all the dimensions." He explained as he pulled the seams of the rip open, it exposed an inky black pit of nothingness. 

"Stay with me. Your spirit is still weak because a residual amount of your soul is still in the flesh bag. You can fall in and become that rotten smell right now. Eventually you'd be able to walk around in here safely, just not yet." 

He then tugged me forward and I landed on what felt like a trampolines stretchy base. I sunk below him and his hand gripped mine harder. I strained a bit to keep hold of him. I felt like I was sinking. 

"See? Don't let go! I've got four other people to go get today! I don't have time to go fishing you out." He warned. I shot him a glare. Like I'd let go on purpose. 

"How come that other guide has a tunnel of light to walk through?" I asked an edge to my voice despite myself. 

"That's a complex question there! But it's still a good walk so I'll explain while you hang on." He laughed down at me. 

"The celestial dimensions abandon those that fall off the path of light in life. So they made this literal in the in-between. They carved a path, just the one, that every soul they take walks on. It gets crowded sometimes. You can't fall off but you can be left behind. Once you cross it that path is closed to you forever. You can't go back. So while there is an in-between only the angels go through it and they don't allow the souls they keep to see it. That place is full of rules. The less questions you ask the better there. Not that it's a bad place it's just very different. It's more like your human retirement life with parties, fun, and working on projects you enjoy, as well as bonding with like minded individuals." He paused to stiffen his arm as I sunk lower. 

"While… on our end we are based on knowledge. We want you to see this. To understand that you can come here if you wish to become non-existent. We also want you to know you can go there and try to fish people out if you're into that. A lot of suicides accidentally get lost in there. You have to have a faith to get a guide, and limbo is fully connected to the between. Those that commit suicide are normally those that lost faith in the world and themselves. They want to stop existing and are confused when they are left alone in limbo. They back into corners and fall into the real darkness. If you can find them you can pull them out. Our dimension again is knowledge based so they can be brought there to learn and either begin transmigration or they can move on through the process of reincarnation."

As he spoke my arm started to ache, I was practically dangling there. I glanced down and saw many black blobs moving around like maggots on the floor only a few feet below me. I then noticed what looked like a teen girl laying on the ground, the black blobs moving all around her. The inky black substance of this world was rubbing off of them and onto the girl making her look waxy almost. It made my stomach knot. I felt an urge to try and help her, but also an almost instinctual desire to not be touched by the liquid. Suddenly the ground started to stiffen slowly and I was walking on a slop back up to the demon. 

"Are we almost there!?" I asked, a bit panicked. The smell, the sights, it was all a bit much. 

"Yup! In fact we are." He pointed ahead and there indeed was a hole plain as day and wide open before me. It led to a city bathed in reddish orange light, almost like a bonfire or the sunset. 

I excitedly jumped up onto the ledge and was happy when my feet felt solid ground. Standing straight I looked out to see, The Red City. It was as if the whole place was made of rubies, amethyst, obsidian, and amber. Though there were other colors mixed in, the main mass of it was the sparkling colors or a red and purple sea. The smell of the rotting souls vanished and my relief was great. 

"Why don't the souls that aren't rotten just climb up here… It's a huge opening and the light is very noticeable." I asked my companion who was again looking in his little book. I could see my name, Rose Lofing. But the rest of the words were written in an unknown language. 

"Hmm? Oh! Because they can't see it. The faithless get covered in that black sludge and it slowly leaves them blind and deaf. They are completely unable to escape without a guide. Granted in a day or two you could go in there and fish out some crawlers. Those who have spent time in their spirits domain are immune to the effects of it. So while you'll need a good soak you won't get lost yourself. Unless you literally get lost."

I simply kept quiet letting the knowledge of all this wash over me. I felt deeply bothered. I was already worried about my kids. Would David let them rough house again? I could just imagine it now Jack climbing up on the dining room table and jumping off to tackle Alex missing and breaking a tooth. Then David trying to call me for his medical card. 

… 

If they called I wouldn't be able to answer. Would my stuff find its way back to them? What happens to your body when you die? My ID card has the wrong address on it! How are they going to know that I'm dead! Will they think I just abandoned them? 

"C-can I please see my family?" I asked, feeling my heart breaking. Why couldn't I just let us be late? Why did I make us catch that bus!? 

The demon laughed lightly at my request. "Yeah that's what almost everybody wants to do when they die. We actually have a pool that spirits can sit at and look into the water to see whoever that please. Be careful though. It can become an obsession. You're dead now, it's time to start a new life." He heartless reminded me with a stupid coy smile on his face. 

"Yeah, OK. I just want to see them." I said a bit bitterly. I just died! I was allowed to want to mourn them. 

He walked along the rock path that dwindled down to the city below and I followed him lostly. My mind was a million miles away. Sitting across purgatory with my 'flesh bag' as he put it. We wandered past some weeping willow trees that were dotted along the mountain side. Before breaking into the actual city. These seemed to just be a single district though. It was filled with human souls. 

"Welcome to the Spirit district. This is where most resting souls stay. Happy to just relax after death and live a peaceful existence. In the center just behind the school is a large water oasis with rocks and people sitting at the edges. That is the viewing waters. You can see anyone in the human world there. But you do have a house here. If you'd like to see it first." He asked but didn't mean,'If I wanted to.' He grasped hold of my hand and forcefully dragged me to a building. The streets had an easy grid like pattern to them in this area but I could see that some scattered additions had been made on the outskirts. 

He took me to a beautiful building made of cyan blues and onyx blacks. My two favorite colors. The building had stairs that went up ten floors. An eleventh stairway lead to a garden on the roof. My room was on the tenth floor.  I did always love high-rise views. Inside was a blue colored room with nothing in it but a black soft looking chair, a red wood table, and a potted plant with blue orchids in it. 

"You can decorate however you want and there are three rooms attached. Through those doors. This is just the minor stuff we prestock. A chair to lemeant in and a table with your favorite flowers. The rest is up to you, love. Now I gotta go. Good luck to you! Happy death day!" He then buzzed off, the sound of wings flapping loudly announced that he was literally flying away. 

I wanted to like the room. I wanted to be more appreciative of the demon and I really wanted to be happy that my faith was at least from what I could tell justified. I wasn't burning in hellfire. And I wasn't flopped over in that black ooze. So doing pretty good in all honesty. Yet I felt like I was lost in the inky black stuff inside me. I needed to see my kids. 

I ran out the door to my apartment and down the many stairs. I paused for a moment in shock. That didn't even wind me a little. I stopped to look down at myself properly. I was the way I always imagined myself. Exactly what I looked like in my dreams. Still myself a ginger haired girl with too many freckles but my body was lean and strong. My hair was as long as I had always wanted it to be, to my lower back. And I was wearing a… Japanese school uniform? My favorite style too. The plaid pleated skirt and the white top with short sleeves and a matching bow to the skirt. My legs had long black thigh high leggings on and a pair of nice black dress shoes. 

I know for a fact I hadn't been wearing that a moment ago. I had been in leggings and an oversized T-shirt. With an oversized damp hoodie. With old dirty sneakers. 

This was a little weird. 

No, no, now was not the time. I had to check on everyone. I continued to run ignoring my strange sudden wardrobe change and followed the grid path to the center. I came upon a large gothic looking school with a few spirits lagging around outside. Everyone seemed very happy and it was bizarre. It was almost like the real world only with everything a different hue. I walked past this area keeping my head down, I didn't want to talk to anyone and hoped people would just let me pass by. I felt a few people looking at me but I kept walking blaming the looks on my odd outfit. No one stopped me and I was very quickly walking through a field of spongy green grass. This grass lead me to a deep and very large crater in the ground, it was surrounded by rocks and had at least half a dozen people crouched down over it staring into the water that didn't reflect their faces. It was kind of creepy looking but I didn't judge. 

I took a seat in an area where only one other woman was at. I didn't pay her much mind. Looking down into the water I saw blue skies on a sunny day… 

Slowly I lifted my hand and whispered the name of my husband… the water started to shift and I waved my hand away to see his face.