Chapters (66)
- PREFACE
- Full Page Image
- ONE
- TWO
- One week ago
- THREE
- Present day
- FOUR
- FIVE
- SIX
- SEVEN
- EIGHT
- NINE
- TEN
- ELEVEN
- TWELVE
- THIRTEEN
- FOURTEEN
- FIFTEEN
- SIXTEEN
- SEVENTEEN
- EIGHTEEN
- NINETEEN
- TWENTY
- TWENTY-ONE
- TWENTY-TWO
- TWENTY-THREE
- TWENTY-FOUR
- TWENTY-FIVE
- TWENTY-SIX
- TWENTY-SEVEN
- TWENTY-EIGHT
- TWENTY-NINE
- THIRTY
- THIRTY-ONE
- THIRTY-TWO
- THIRTY-THREE
- THIRTY-FOUR
- THIRTY-FIVE
- THIRTY-SIX
- THIRTY-SEVEN
- THIRTY-EIGHT
- THIRTY-NINE
- FORTY
- FORTY-ONE
- FORTY-TWO
- FORTY-THREE
- FORTY-FOUR
- FORTY-FIVE
- FORTY-SIX
- FORTY-SEVEN
- FORTY-EIGHT
- FORTY-NINE
- FIFTY
- FIFTY-ONE
- FIFTY-TWO
- FIFTY-THREE
- FIFTY-FOUR
- FIFTY-FIVE
- FIFTY-SIX
- FIFTY-SEVEN
- FIFTY-EIGHT
- FIFTY-NINE
- SIXTY
- SIXTY-ONE
- SIXTY-TWO
"Yes. There is no differentiation until they reach the Apex." He points toward a vague dark spot on the horizon. "Each soul relives their past life during the Road of all Woes, the good and the bad. It is the last time they are able to remember their previous selves. The virtuous have nothing to fear, for they have led a noble life and they will be rewarded as such in the afterlife. The sinful become wracked by guilt and fear as they remember every bad deed they have committed," he explains.
A shiver goes down my back the more I stare at that bleak and somber road. I suppose the name of the road is an apt representation for the visual—it's truly woeful.
"Come." Ze takes my hand, pulling me into his arms as he levitates above the ground. We move speedily across the flat desert, and in just a few seconds, we reach the Apex he was talking about. The landscape changes from a flat surface to an uneven, hilly one. As we reach a tall dune, Ze descends to the ground. He releases me, placing me by his side.
"This is where everything changes," he notes.
There's a black patch of land where a masked figure garbed in a combination of red and dark yellow awaits each soul. As they step from the road and onto the black strip, the soul begins to glow. But not all souls are the same. Some are a light color, others a dark, muted one. But as they step off the black strip of land to continue forward, the glow doesn't change.
"That is the Apex where the souls are judged," Ze says. "That is Omorion. He is a Death deity from the House of Psyche. His task is to weigh each soul to determine where they are to go. The souls that have a light shimmer are virtuous. The darker the glow, the more sinful they are. Let us go to the next phase."
Taking my hand once more, he flashes us to the next stop. There's a huge well with intricate designs along the edges. It's so large, it covers the visible horizon, making it so there's nothing left north of it. A woman in a hood that obscures her face sits on the ledge of the well, holding a cup in her delicate hands that she fills from the well and gives to each soul to consume.
"This is Letharion—the well of oblivion. And that is Lethe, the Goddess of Oblivion. After a soul drinks from the well, all memories of their past life are erased until they become a blank canvas. But the souls never lose their glow, which indicates which part of the afterlife they will head to."
As Ze speaks, I note that there are two possible roads from the well. One on the right, which only the brighter souls take, and one on the left, which is reserved for the dark souls.