"Welcome to the afterlife, mortals." The strange creature greeted, his grin not wiping off from his face. His hood was now on his shoulders, making his face more visible as it revealed a skull of a bird—a crow, to be exact. In fact, his face wasn't a skull, it was a person wearing a crow's skull on his head.
"Kukuku... How amusing your faces' reactions are!" He beamed as he took a step closer to the center of the circle, where the 'cubes' are surrounding. Each and everyone gasped while some chatter away, totally unknowing of what was happening nor where they really were.
"Afterlife? What bullshit is that weirdo spewing?!"
"He must be lying!"
"There's no way we're in the afterlife!"
"Yeah!"
Voices stream down as almost all of them ignore what the strange man had said and continue jabbering complaints and mockery. The cloaked man only laughed hysterically as silence came upon the crowd once more.
"Fools, tsk tsk! You all think that I'm lying, ha?" He giggled, pacing around the center endlessly as he reached for the insides of his cloak and grabbed a large scythe out of nowhere.
"What the..?"
"Where did that came from?" The others commented, surprised at the large scythe that had come out of his cloak. It was not a particularly broad cloak, which gave it more reason to suspect where it came from. It is impossible for something that large to just come from underneath his cloak.
Huffs and chatter filled the air once again, while the cloaked man has another smirk crawling to his face. It was more smug and arrogant as he was liking the attention he was receiving from the crowd.
Shio, on the other hand, was terrified. He was anxious about what was happening because he clearly remembers what had happened to him—what had hit him. The odds of him ending up in the afterlife wasn't little to none, there is a huge chance that he'll end up here.
He looked up from his feet as he gazes at the people that were around him. Some were already gathered together, forming their own groups and cliques, as some were on their separate ways, observing sternly at the big crowd that surrounds him. Shio decided to be keen and scrutinize the others, as well.
In the distance, he noticed this young-looking female, who was staring at the other side of where the cubes are. He decided to follow where her gaze was and saw that there was a blazing light coming from the outside.
Looking closer to the structures surrounding the light, he looked at the cubes that had formed to where they were standing. Shio, then, realized that the cubes they were recently just in were forming a tunnel-like structure towards the light at the end. He looked up to the sky and to his surprise, there was nothing visible above. It was a bleak, blue sky with no forms of clouds and whatsoever.
"Hey!" The girl, whom he had laid his eyes on earlier, spoke out. She was walking up to the front of the crowd and came face to face with the strange cloaked man.
"Hmm? Kukuku." The man giggled as he hastily swayed his large scythe over to the girl's direction, purposely cutting off some of her dyed pink hair as the scythe was placed under her chin. "You were about to say?"
The pink-haired girl cleared her throat and moved the scythe away from her with her finger as she stood upright and took a step backward. "If we were in the afterlife, how did that happen? I mean—I don't recall ever dying from some sort of illness or an accident! There's no way that we are suddenly transported to here from the real world!"
She had fierce, golden eyes stabbing holes through the cloaked man's red eyes. They were staring at each other so furiously as the man was simply being amused and excited about how the girl was acting up. With enough light and clarity, Shio was able to see the girl's features more and noticed her short pinkish hair with some orange highlights at its end. Her golden eyes could also be seen, especially with her long eyelashes and plump red cheeks against her snow-like skin. She was beautiful and strong—someone who speaks up their mind whenever necessary.
"Kukuku... What's your name?" The cloaked man asked, putting aside his scythe. He began to walk closer towards the girl's direction, his face so close to her that he could hear her breathing through the crow's large skull.
"H-Hyuna. Baek Hyuna." She shakily replied. Though despite being nervous, her ground stood still, not wavering from any fear.
"Oh? What a lovely name." The man complimented as he starts going in circles around the girl, looking closely at her actions and onto the crowd of people watching them.
"Do you wanna know what will happen here in the afterlife?" He asked, his breathing trailing from every word he spat. He continued to walk in circles around Hyuna as he halted to a stop and pointed with his scythe at the gleaming light Shio had noticed earlier. "There!"
"What happens there, mister grim reaper?" One of the persons within the crowd asked, coming up to the front as well. Upon hearing those words, the cloaked man banged his scythe at the stone floor as it made the whole place shake a little.
"What did you just call me?" He asked, turning his head to the male who had come upfront. His red eyes were now apparently twitching from annoyance as he rushes towards the male and swings his scythe to its chin, in an attempt to frighten the male.
"I—uhm..."
"WHAT DID YOU JUST CALL ME?"
"Well—it's because you look like a grim reaper of the sort! You have a scythe, a boney face thingy, and you said we're in the afterlife!" The male rushes to say, finding enough reasons for the 'grim reaper' to not slay him and give mercy.
"Good heavens no. We aren't called 'grim reapers', we're called 'takers'. Being called a grim reaper is such an insult to our kind." The taker said in an irritable manner.
"Why is that?" Hyuna abruptly asked, forgetting about the important topic that the taker was about to tackle.
"Well... Just because." The taker said. Realizing that the topic was getting out of hand, he waved his hands in front of his face, motioning a 'no' gesture as he tries to point at the shining light at the end of the path. To which nobody paid attention to.
"Sigh... There! Look there! That's where you all will be passing through." He started, yelling at the ignorant crowd as they all begin to look at the direction the taker was pointing out.
"What's that?" Another person asked. Everyone was dying to know what that light is all about, and so is Shio. They have to know what that light does and what will it impact them.
"It's a gate. It is where you'll determine whether you will be granted life in heaven or in hell." The taker said in a serious tone. He was looking at the light so sternly as if there was something behind that tunnel that needs you to be wary.
"How are we supposed to do that?" Shio asked, not realizing that those words had come out of his mouth. He had blurted out what was coursing through his mind without notice.
"By simply passing through it, of course." Taker replied, grinning from ear to ear before muttering another set of words that might change the course of the others' lives here. "If you'll be able to survive to go through that tunnel."