People always ask, What happens after death?
Or to be accurate, what exists beyond the afterlife?
There are lots and lots of theories for that, unable to be proven eternally. Since, no one could be reborn again obviously. Unless he/she is some kind of Messiah able to resurrect after death.
Some religion said that the King of the afterlife will judge and categorize them either in hell or heaven depending on karma. Some said, they will be reincarnated into another living form. Or, there are also extremists that say death is the end, period.
And now, the actual truth of this is a bit of mish-mash.
....Rather, there's not much difference between present earth with the current afterlife affair.
"....Just kill me."
"And then you will be reincarnated again with a full memory package. Just give up."
"...Sh*t."
"Uh-huh. I'll pretend I didn't hear that."
For your information, the two people bantering are bona fide angels with no nonsense of being half human. Well, since the almighty GOD did 'make' them with his own hands(?) personally, so there's no mistake.
Of course, they are just one of the countless creations made, but the beauties radiated by both angles are undeniable. Pure, unblemished white wings, the Halo floating each on top of their heads. The clothes complementing their unrealistic, perfect body frame, and faces ranked as the number one attractive being on entire human species (if they could be classified that way.)
But well, contrasting to their holy appearance, one of the angel's attitude is kind of... disappointing. No, wait, scratch that. Actually, it's surpassing disappointment and has already reached the realm of extreme uncouth.
"Hey, do me a favor, will you? Knock my head with a BAM! Then I will get my everlasting beauty sleep with legal reason."
"....."
Looking at her partner who speaks absolute nonsense while cackling jovially, her response is not giving any response. Although the face of pitying her, "This woman has gone crazy, doesn't she?" is enough to express her current feelings though.
(But well, it is a natural reaction for her to be this crazy.)
Contrasting the religions of worshipping God as omnipotent existence, the answer to that is a big no.
Think about it for a moment.
If God is truly omnipotent, he doesn't need a day of rest after making all of the universe and Earth, right? Not only that, why should that kind of existence need subordinates to manage souls for the afterlife affair?
Therefore, the accurate definition should be a God possessing the power to a terrifying degree but never close to omnipotence.
And now, as time passes and generation changes, more and more problems just stack up without any solution to solve it.
In the past, war frequently happened more, but the number of souls compared to the present can only be said as minimal. That's just how drastic of present humanity's exploding rate of population.
"...*Sigh*...Just what is God really thinking?"
"Lower existences like us couldn't ever comprehend its great intention."
"You know you just stop thinking right?"
"..."
Unable to refute her blunt response, she just stays quiet and continues her work as a model employee. Looking at her reaction, the former just shakes her head horizontally while sighing for hundreds of times.
(Well, there's not much we can do anyway. Let's just focus on work.)
*Pam!*
Slapping both of her cheeks quite strongly, her muddled and tired mind restores its clarity, albeit only a bit. In any case, if she could finish the quota for today, then she really will get her desire of having a night of beauty sleep.
It was then.
"...Hmm?"
One soul's profile stops her two diligent, moving hands abruptly. Not to brag about her age, but she has already lived for thousands of years already. From that long passage, she could be absolutely sure with one hundred percent that she had read all kind of souls' profile from A to Z.
Until now.
"....What the heck is with this soul?"
"Is something wrong, Sophia?"
Curious about her partner's reaction, she also stops her work and moves to her side. Although the angel has seen her partner complained daily just like some mad drunkard, she always takes serious pride and dedication on her job. Therefore, for her to react like this can only be either a super special case or a terrible inducing headache issue.
Either way, there's no change for it needs to have a extra intention.
Instead of responding to her partner's question, Sophia just gives the soul's profile to her partner, Ria silently. For this kind of case, it's better to look at it directly instead of explaining with thousands of words.
When she takes the case and reads it too, her face begun to get stiff and her eyes begun to pop out from the shock she had received.
Usually, in a soul's profile, there will be its name, time of death, the reason for it, and accumulated karma from the time when the soul is alive. Of course, there are many other details, but these four are the most important things to judge the soul's fate.
As for the soul's profile, she has on her hand right now?
"...Just to confirm, the managing department hasn't gone boycott right?"
"If they really are, all of them would be gone to the most bottom of hell as punishment for 300 years. You of all people should know that."
"....Indeed, what a foolish thing of me to say."
It was.....blank.
Like, really nothing.
No, wait. A complete blank would be the wrong description. There's the name, time of death and reason for its death in detail.
But other than that.... nothing.
"....You got to be kidding me."
"My thought exactly."
For the strict, no-nonsense Ria to have this kind of reaction, Sophia only nods her head silently without reacting much. That's how unbelievable this case is.
No matter who it is, man or woman, young or old, there will always be accumulated karma by being alive. Even a baby could have a slight amount of positive karma by bringing joy to people closely related for being born.
But this soul's profile has nothing written on it.
No karma, no reason behind it, and no activity especially needed to record for.
(If this is not a mistake by the managing department....)
Then it really is one of a kind case with tens of billions probability to happen.
*Fuuuhhh...*
After taking a deep breath for suppressing her shock by no means a small amount, Ria faces her partner to ask her advice.
This, is something out of her hand just only with her decision.
"What should we do?"
"....Hmmm."
While folding her thin hands, her fingers tap her wrist rhythmically. It's her habit when she is deep in thought, which rarely happens in the first place. Knowing her partner fully, Ria stays silent to not disturb her line of thoughts.
For this kind of case, Sophia is much, much better to handle as she is used to unexpected ones while she herself is better on efficiency.
(The managing department never makes a mistake.)
One of the famous line to define the so-called managing department is, "The front line of the afterlife."
Since their role to assess, record, and sent the soul's profile to appropriate judge is very vital on the process, all of the workers are bona fide elite after passing a hellish examination.
So for that department to send this kind of soul on to their table, that only means they judged these two could assess the soul fairly and appropriately.
After thinking for a brief moment, Sophia nods her head and speak to break the silence.
And the words that are gonna be spoken....
"Yup, let's lodge a complaint right at this moment. I can't take this sh*t anymore."
....is to make the problem into a bigger problem.
"Hold on, hold on. I completely sympathize with you, but you are just making things worse."
Grabbing and holding her raising shoulder, Ria stops Sophia to prevent her from raising her body and cause another rampage.
Responding to that, the captive flails her hands wildly while wailing without holding back.
"Argh, release me! Release me, you stiff woman! I can't take this anymore! What the hell does the managing department think we are!? Am I an all-solver detective!? I have the rights to complain, you know!"
"Please, ease your anger and focus on the tasks in front of you."
"And the reason I don't do so because I fuc*ing can't! What is this sh*t!? Blank!? No Karma!? Is it a ghost then!?"
"....Haaahh... This is going to take a while..."
If the angel resource department hears this woman's cursing parade, then she will be in jail while still doing the same amount of work for 25 years. The only difference is, she won't be able to have access to any kind of entertainment in that kind of small room. Not to forget, angel IS categorized as a holy race.
That is why Ria, who have the complete opposite personality is partnered up with her to handle this kind of issue.
(...*Sigh*....fu*k this sh*t....)
Of course, she also has accumulated stress too though.
No matter where it is, work is always accompanied by stress and trouble.
*******
-15 minutes later.-
"*Sigh*...I want to die...."
"And then you will--"
"I know! I know what will happen so can you please shut up for a moment!?"
"Roger that."
"Geez.... why my life is like this...."
After a short moment, Sophia is able to keep her sanity intact albeit barely. Although, she is still muttering profanity under her breath while scratching her head roughly.
Ria won't stop her unladylike actions as she completely understands her trouble. After all, if any judge makes a error or does careless mistake in judging a soul, then their life will be turned to complete torture for a near infinity of time.
Then, when she stops her cursing to whoever it was and stop moving her hands, this time she raises her tired body but with focused eyes and unwavering determination expressed on her beautiful face.
Looking at her, Ria notices she has reached to something that could solve this anomaly.
"What are you going to do?"
"Meet the person directly."
"...Excuse me?"
For a moment, Ria didn't understand what she just said.
Meet? Meet with the soul itself!?
"Have you gone crazy!? No wait, you are already crazy but not to this point! I repeat, have you gone crazy, you insane buffoon!?"
Ria, who is just the picture of a perfect lady begun to panic grandly. But even without getting surprised by her antics, Sophia just shut both of her ears with her hands.
"Argh, I'm perfectly sane, thank you very much. And also, please stop saying crazy, crazy. I know myself perfectly clear my mind is not normal."
Meeting with the soul.
That is the most dangerous and near taboo action to do as a judge. It's not illegal to do so, but without proper and justifiable reason to do so, she could be incarcerated as punishment.
After all, meeting the soul with afterlife resident could bring tremendous influence to the soul itself, either in its fate or the world the soul will be sent to.
It could bring positive changes, but the percentage of it is just like finding a needle on a wide desert.
"There's no other solution anymore. If I don't have any kind of background material to judge, then how am I supposed to do so?"
"Ugh."
If she said it like that, then Ria won't be able to have any kind of retort. It's not like they can just randomly decide it and report, "Everything is A-fine. No problemo!" right?
(But I'm going to handle the aftermath if anything goes wrong, you know....)
...Indeed, there's always a problem and stress plagued in any kind of work. No matter Sophia success or fail on this, the mountain of paperwork assigned would bring a chill on her spine.
But it's also true there's no other choice anyway. So what she could do, is hold back her salty water almost pouring out of her eyes and shout the ale of encouragement to her partner.
"...Go do your worst."
It comes out wrong on the end though.
"Yeah, I will. Wait for the good news, alright?"
*Fwissh*
Uncaring of her lifelong friend' worst ale, she just waves her hand plainly and disappears on sight.
After seeing the bas--oops, her dear partner off, Ria only look at the beautiful artificial night sky blankly.
"...Just kill me."
And spew out the same nonsense her friend just did 30 minutes ago.
Sadly, this time there's no one retorting her.