The booklet had a lot of information, but it was for later. It gave me the illusion that I transmigrated into a magical world. But, I have no idea where I am currently. so I hardened my resolve to ask the director the question that has been plaguing my mind since we arrived here.
Just look at all the gold... No place like this is safe on earth. Maybe a different planet? Advanced civilization?
And then I finally asked.
"Director Alastor! I wanted to ask you something that has been on my mind for a while! May I?" I asked him with as much respect as I could muster.
"Go ahead! No need to be so formal! I am not really particular about these things! Hahaha!" The directed said with a hearty laugh.
"Please refrain from inviting misconduct towards yourself! Director!" Marina interjected sternly and the director soon complied like a child being scolded by his mother.
It seems like Marina is the one truly in power!
"Well... where do I start!" The director went back to his storytelling mode. He loved being asked questions!
"We are currently on the legislative island of the middle world. So... you see... you previously lived in the Mortal realm.... now you came to the middle realm and above are the higher Realm and the Heaven and Inferno! As simple as that!"
"Wait! so all of these exist in the same universe?"
"No!no!no! They are parallel universes. stacked on the top of each other like plates. The only difference between them id their age nature, amount of natural energy and a few more things."
"Beings from the mortal realm or any other realm can only stay there until their level of lifeform is up to a certain level. If above that, the universe will try to eradicate them automatically. That's why we have special employees like the intern you saw before working there to ensure that special beings are not left out there!"
"What do you mean that universe will try to eliminate them?"
"Usually, it's just bad luck plaguing them, or maybe some severe disability, young death etc."
"Bad luck!" I paused, " The bad luck which has been following me for all my life is because of the universe?" The death of my parents, my boyfriend being stolen by other women, even dying because a bucket fell on my head! All of this and many others were because of the entire stupid universe hating me!
If the heavens want me to die, what am I supposed to do?
"That's so unfortunate!" Marina said with a rare sympathy in her voice.
"So will it plague me in the future too?" All was well if life was smooth after all.
"I presume not. But who knows. Nobody knows how luck works!" The director said with a shrug
....
....
"But I do know that as you progress in levels, luck improves for some people."
"So just need to get a little more powerful?" I tried to rejoice.
"In theory yes!" The director said casually.
Anyways, I didn't need to get very powerful. Just enough to live comfortably. Like how being too rich or too poor is not the most comfortable thing, but being middle class was. Personally, I would just not bother about these things and just go somewhere and sleep.
But it seems from the expression on both Marina's face that was not possible. I need to change the topic somehow. I thought to myself.
"By the way, you were talking about some undead academy?" I tried my best to change the depressing topic.
The director's eyes seemed to shine, "Right! I totally forgot about that...."
"Knock, knock!"
At that time, there was a knock at the door.
"Come on in!"
The directors said adjusting his position. soon the door was opened and a skinny man's face peeked in. He was what you would call the ideal image of research personnel. His bony face had high cheekbones, with thick glasses, sleek oily shiny hair parted midways and buckteeth. He was shorter than average and was wearing a lab coat.
"Director! I've brought the special equipment." The man said as he entered the room.
"Good! Take it out. We have anew arrival here today." The director said as he got up with a grunt. He walked towards the man who was doing something with the one-meter long key.
soon I was blinded by a bright light. And a huge machine appeared in the middle of the room.
Space-time manipulation was it?
There are so many things I still don't know!
I sighed in my heart. The machine had a distinct shape which looked very familiar to me. Then I soon realised where I had seen this design.
At hospitals! It looked like an X-ray machine. The huge machine had a place which looked like a bed with some kind of scanner hanging over it. beside it was a wall-like structure, Behind the walls were various control panels, buttons and glowing lights.
It simply reminded me of my previous life. The yearly physical examination I hated so much. The hated blood drawing and other tests. Sadly, I would never have to take them again. I won't feel pain and I don't have blood. I am already dead and I will remain dead, for a while at least.
I hardened my resolve and thought to myself. Even after death, I will live a fulfilling life. I will not just go with the flow like before!
After few minutes of poking hear and there the trio, The director, the thin guy and Marina looked towards me in unison startling me and pulling me out of my thought.
"We are all set. Please lie down on the slab." The thin guy said.
"Okay." I complied with some hesitation in my heart. Even though I knew this won't harm me, but I had been scared of hospitals and related equipment for the last 25 years of my life. Even though I knew I won't feel any pain, I was still a little scared.
I lied down on the slab which actually felt more as if I was hovering above the slab since I didn't have any sense of where my head was and where my feet was.
Soon another instruction came. "There will be a bright light and you won't feel a thing. So please don't worry. It might take up to an hour fo the scan to complete during which time you will have to stay still. I will spray a certain liquid on you which will liquify you. Ready?"
"Wait! Liquify me? And for one hour???" Apparently, he was not listening to me and was already operating the thing.
"Wait? What do you mean by liquify?" I screamed at the top of my lungs hoping that he might listen to me, and certainly he didn't.
"Swoshhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Some kind of liquid came out from the machine, like water from a shower. The liquid went inside my transparent body and glowed in a blue hue. Soon, instead of being an invisible energy life form, I was a blue slime.
And since I was not very familiar with this state, my body felt heavy. I basically looked like piled-up blue glowing mud on a slab.
Soon a bright neon green light followed. and it stayed on. This was probably what he meant by the scan.
The light stayed and I consciously tried to stay still.
"Please try not to move!" The thin man said.
"Sure!" I replied.
But!
But to my dismay, I was leaking. I didn't know how to control this state of my body and I started dripping down not the floor. The weird thing was, I could still feel the part of my body on the floor. It was a weird and awkward experience. As if someone cut off your finger and put it in a box, but you can still feel and move those fingers.
This experience made me finally realise, I was a human no more. I was a Ghost, more accurately an energy form. And, I would drip on the floor if I relaxed.
I braced myself for a long time, what seemed like hours and hours. I was too embarrassed to ask how much longer. since a fourth of my slime-like body was on the floor even with my best efforts.
Soon the melodious heavenly voice of the thin guy came freeing me from my predicament.
" You can get up now. The scan is over! please wait till tomorrow to get the final results. I'll give you the preliminary ones right now!"
He said as he handed over a paper to me. But...
I couldn't control my body. meaning I can't take the paper. Heck, I couldn't get up from the slab! This was a rather awkward situation.
"Umm... Can I... Can I collect it later? I can't really take it right now." I said with hesitation and embarrassment.
"OH! The man seemed to have realised. just wait a half an hour and you will go back to your normal state. This thing just makes the scan easier since it's hard to scan energy form creatures like you." The man said with an understanding smile.
"I see." I replied stoically. Thank you for letting me know so soon.
With that, the man kept the paper on the table and went back towards the machine. He pulled out the one-meter long key from his small pocket in the lab coat and again did something with it. Soon the machine disappeared leaving me plopped on the floor.
.....
Being a sparkling blue slimy mud was so hard. Just look at my life! What is happening!
Little did I know I will become Mud in the end!