"Your afterlife process... will begin now!" The God of Death raised both hands and opened his palms, shouting boldly into the crowd of billions.
Everyone observed that there was a name written in either blue or red on each of the ten fingers.
Millions of hair strands appeared out of nowhere from the being's seemingly endless supply of hairs, dispersed evenly above the mass of souls, then changed into copies of the original Death God.
Millions of names were soon being uttered every second.
Thankfully, however, it seemed that you only heard the names of those around you, or else it would be far too complicated to understand.
It was quite an overwhelming process full of many emotions for Lance, but he did not mind.
Currently, his mind only pondered on which river he would enter.
As the divine figures spoke different names, thousands and clouds began gracefully floating into the different rivers, the red river seeming to be an obvious favorite.
"Jwiul Opiu, Underworld! Stage... two! Kuzimu."
A frightening wail could be heard in the distance as soon as this sounded, the shock and utter fear of the person behind the scream terrifying.
"Rein Ko, Underworld! Stage five: ... Purgatory!"
The reaction to this one was pure silence...
Eventually, the sound of his name finally rang in Lance's ears.
"Lance Julius Smith"
As the figure began to speak, Lance immediately stood up from his seated position in anticipation.
"Underworld"
As soon as Lance felt the loss of all strength in his limbs, he subconsciously gasped, choking on his breath and falling to his knees.
His thoughts were mercilessly assaulted by an almost indescribably terrible feeling of impending doom and desolation.
What he had just heard shocked him.
In a matter of seconds, several questions popped into his head.
Had he really sinned in this way during his lifetime?
The most challenging level in hell?
Did he merit such treatment?
Even the notion of entering Naraka, the worst underworld, had not occurred to him.
Why would it?
Was it not reserved for the worst of criminals and scum? Rapists, mass murderers, and the like?
As his mind raced on these questions, his nimbus entered the red sea and began cruising through it.
For a few more minutes, silence...
And then, a sudden thought appeared in his head!
He remembered a quote from the Death God: "Once you enter this river, you will have a chance to be chosen by a god to reincarnate into another world!"
'That's right! I still have a chance!' Slight confidence entered Lance's soul once again as he stopped drooping his shoulders and stood up before fully surveying his new surroundings.
The red river wasn't a thick substance, nor was it transparent.
Lance couldn't detect a single thing that separated it from normal water, apart from the fact that it was blood red of course.
The current of the river was quick and ferocious, but the nimbus Lance sat on seemed to have perfect balance and was not affected by the harsh waves.
Up close, Lance noted that the river only continued for a few hundred meters before suddenly disappearing.
This must have been the waterfall that led to the different underworlds.
According to how fast he was moving, he would have about 1 minute 30 seconds before falling it, so he knew he would have to be chosen by a god before then if he wanted to reincarnate.
Just then, Lance noticed a sudden white light enveloping the guy about 20 meters in front of him.
As the light surrounded him, he looked around and at his hands and body before suddenly disappearing along with the light and nimbus.
Lance almost couldn't believe it at first, it seemed like magic!
But as soon as he came to grips with reality, he began thinking that the guy in front of him must have been chosen by a god.
Before long, several others disappeared after being enveloped by the white light.
For a hundred meters or so, Lance was the only one left now.
He hadn't thought about it before - only blindly hoping to be reincarnated - but now that he did, why would a god choose someone who is going to the 9th Stage of hell to reincarnate?
'That's right... those who are chosen are probably just small sinner's going to the first or second stages of the underworld...' He thought to himself as it made the most sense.
Still, his mind refused to give up hope, for he knew that if he did, he would fall into horrible despair.
There were only 10 seconds left before his nimbus would reach the edge.
But now the current seemed even faster, most likely due to the waterfall being so close.
Lance clenched his teeth and curled his toes in hope and anticipation as his nimbus reached the end of the river.
There were only 5 more seconds until his fall.
4.
3...
2...
1...
"AHHH!" Lance screamed like a child as his nimbus flew over the edge.
It felt as though all time had slowed down for a few seconds as he looked down below him.
His eyes widened into two planets as he saw the scale of the world beneath him.
It was... infinite!
Well, at least from Lance's point of view.
He seemed to be thousands of miles in the air above an actual land.
It looked like a planet of sorts, full of vast terrains of hellish landscapes.
Fire and black earth were all he could see from his vantage point but also noticed that the red waterfall went down below this land.
Immediately, he came to the conclusion that this must have been the first stage of hell, and the waterfall led to an even further stage down below.
As time resumed its normal pace and Lance's mind ceased to blur, a hot wind blew against his face, burning all the small hair's off his skin.
The heat wasn't hot enough to cause real pain, but Lance felt like he was in the hottest desert on Earth.
As Lance quickly began to fall, realizing there was no hope left for him, a sudden sound appeared out of nowhere.
*Ding*
He couldn't tell where it was coming from, or if it was from his own head, but it threw off his train of hopeless thought as soon as he heard it.
[Congratulations! You have been chosen by the Realm Domination System]
[System initiating...]