What is the world like after death?
Many people find it hard to glimpse its true nature. Death is death, eventually culminating in a void. But if people do arrive at the same place following death, what would it be like in there?
Shiller had pondered over this question as well. However, a deep-seated impression had been etched in his mind. To him, death was a rapidly falling plane and life experiences flashed before his eyes before he succumbed to unconsciousness.
It was not a very painful way to die. He was unconscious almost in an instant, but at that time, time seemed to slow down, and all the places he had been to, all the things he had experienced, were played back in that short second.
This was Shiller's second experience of death. Initially, he thought that this time would be no different from his first death. Yet, he didn't know why, his life seemed to abruptly freeze during the playback.
From the first time he arrived in the Marvel World, met Strange, provided Stark with psychotherapy, and acquainted himself with Steve and Peter, the many scenes that unfolded seemed to lack something and didn't align with Shiller's memories.
Slightly perplexed for a few seconds, Shiller figured out the answer. Only his experiences from the Marvel World were shown in the slideshow while all that transpired in the other universe wasn't showcased.
But it wasn't strange; death in the Marvel World could only manage the affairs of this world. However, even the experiences of the Marvel World were only half played and then abruptly stopped.
The scene before Shiller's eyes gradually faded into darkness. This darkness lasted very long, so long that Shiller felt as if a century had passed. Then, a speck of light emerged before his eyes. As the speck of light enlarged, he discovered that he was in a garden.
It was the backyard of a gothic castle. The vegetation around was quite lush, not exuding an ounce of death.
In the center of the garden was a fountain, and under the pavilion by the fountain was a long table. Sitting opposite the table was a woman clad in a black dress. A thin black veil hung from her head, obscuring her features.
Shiller let out a breath, strolled over to the other side of the table without being courteous, pulling out a chair to sit down, draping his scarf over, picking up the knife and fork, and ready to eat.
The woman across just quietly watched him. Shiller began by slicing open a steak. As he saw the mildly raw meat inside, he reached out to get the salt shaker on the side, and then poured himself a glass of red wine.
After finishing all the food, Shiller strolled around in the garden, sometimes glancing at the hot spring, sometimes at the trees. Having covered every sight in the garden, he headed towards the castle.
Just as he reached out to knock the gate of the castle, a voice finally rang from behind him:
"How did you get in here?"
Shiller hung his head down, turned around to face death and said, "I bet you are very puzzled right now. This realm of death is entirely under your control. The moment I approach it, you should be able to kick me out at once. You've done this many times before."
"But you see, I'm still here. And, I should've arrived here even earlier, only that you made me lose consciousness for a while before I started searching hastily for loopholes."
"You searched and ended up empty-handed. Every nook and corner of this realm of death is under your control. The house is formidable with no door pried open, no window broken, yet here I am, defying death unexpectedly."
The woman across seemed to be enveloped in a thin mist, not only obscuring her face but also her form appeared blurry.
"Uninvited guest, unwelcome." Death retorted.
Shiller chuckled, "Uninvited guest? Do you remember you are Death? You should justly receive every death; however, now you scorn a dead man as an unwelcome intruder."
"It's none of your business." Death said, clearly she was referring to her refusal to accept certain deaths and then forcing others to create more deaths for her.
"Indeed, it is none of my business, madam but whether or not I die is none of your business either. Why do you interfere with my death?" Shiller took two steps forward, even closer to death, and said, "Death is inevitable. That is the root of your enormous power. You mock many people for bravely resisting death, but you should also be prepared that someone might mock you..."
"They mock you, Death, for resisting death due to some reason."
The figure across began to fluctuate violently. Apparently, Shiller had agitated Death. Numerous shrieks echoed in Shiller's ears, but he remained unfazed.
Shiller laughed again and said, "You must have many questions now. So, let us exchange answers. You answer one of my questions, I will answer one of yours. Sounds good?"
The shape of Death eased and gradually stabilized. Her chest heaved as if sighing. She asked, "What question would you like to ask?"
"Why are you resistant to inviting me into the realm of death?" asked Shiller.
"Because you cannot die." Death answered. Though the answer sounded like a load of crap, Shiller could glean some exceptional hints out of it. He asked, "Can't Die? Why so?"
Death did not reply but asked him instead, "How did you get here?"
"Because I died, that's why I came to the realm of death." Shiller hit back with the same nonsense, then asked, "Regarding me being unable to die, do you mean you cannot accept me, or you are reluctant to accept me?"
"Both." Death answered again, then she asked once more, "How did you die exactly?"
"That would take a while to tell." Shiller pushed the castle's main gate, and then said, "You've always resisted inviting me over to your place, but I've been curious about here. So, I contacted your boss and got him to throw me in."
Death didn't say anything, but it was clear she didn't believe him. Shiller didn't elaborate either, he simply said, "I think, as a being like you, you should have the ability to peek into and alter timelines. So, why don't you try throwing me out again?"
"You are setting a trap for me." Death replied again, only this time, Shiller remained silent, and it was Death who was deep in thought.
She picked up on the suggestive tone in Shiller's voice. It seemed like he was trying to tempt her into finding out what was going on. But then again, Death was indeed curious about how Shiller got here in the first place.
Just like the Dimensional Demon God, Death had absolute control over her realm. It could be said that the relationship between the Dimensional Demon God and the dimension is not that of a lord and his territory, rather, the Dimensional Demon God is the dimension itself.
As Death had stronger power and a higher status, it was impossible for anything to enter the realm of Death without her consent.
She governed all deaths. Therefore, as long as she didn't consent, nothing could die. And whoever she refused entry into the realm of Death would continue living, like the High Lord.
The High Lord wasn't necessarily powerful, but few wished to make him an enemy. Even Odin had the same mindset, for they all knew that the High Lord couldn't die.
Even if Odin nearly killed the High Lord, the moment he reached his dying breath, he would come back to life, simply because Death did not grant the High Lord access to her realm.
There were several reasons why one might be blacklisted by Death. Some were because Death wanted them to cause more deaths. Others were due to the bad impression they left on Death after their visit to her realm. Some were simply because Death didn't like them.
Logically, if one could offend Death and get themselves blacklisted by the realm of Death, then they would, in a sense, have achieved immortality. However, this process was far from pleasant. Death itself could be avoided, but the pain of death could not.
If the High Lord was killed by Odin, the pain he suffered during this process still existed. It's just that he would be resurrected thereafter.
For the common man, death could be evaded, but aging could not. If Death refused a common man, his ultimate fate would be to hover perpetually on the brink of life and death in his dying moments. This would involve dying and being resurrected again and again due to aging, unable to escape from the endless cycle of pain.
And those who seemed to benefit from being rejected by Death were actually unique in their own rights. The High Lord belonged to the immortal species, while Deadpool had an almost infinite lifespan due to body enhancements. At the same time, they both had extraordinary self-healing abilities, enabling them to recover quickly after being killed and resurrected.
Without these two factors, one's more likely fate after being rejected by Death would be an endless cycle between the states of death and severe injury.
Being blacklisted by Death was an automatic process. When the realm of Death detected a soul it had rejected entry, it would automatically kick them out. This was how things went for Shiller previously.
However, Shiller was the first entity that managed to land in the realm of Death despite being blacklisted. In theory, this was impossible.
Death symbolised the concept of death itself. If Death didn't allow you to die, how could you possibly do so?
After thoroughly investigating every nook and cranny of her realm and confirming her own state, Death realised that the problem did not lie with her.
So, even though she knew it might be a trap, she had no choice but to investigate according to Shiller's train of thought. That is, to trace back on the timeline to find out exactly how Shiller died.
For an entity as powerful as Death, examining the timeline was not difficult. However, when she saw the scene of Shiller's death, she was stunned.
From a common man's point of view, Shiller's death was rather shocking. He was ambushed while facing off against the God of Symbiotic Body, Nal. After being defeated, he was captured by a star's gravitational pull and met his end in the boundless inferno of a sun.
But to see it from Death's perspective, this was nothing unusual. She oversaw all deaths across the universe and had seen all manner of death imaginable. Those who died in interstellar wars struck by a star were numbered too many to count.
Death scrutinised every detail revolving around this time point over and over, but she still couldn't locate any issues. This left her with no choice but to continue following the flow of time.
At the same time, her investigation wasn't limited to Shiller. She also looked into the stories of all other individuals present in this world.
Until she heard these words from Dr. Octavius Parker,
"This is a curse... A curse belonging to Spider-Man..."
"All those who helped us understand this, who have uttered these words to us ... are doomed to die without a doubt."
Death hesitated.
A curse of certain death? How did I not know about this???