"Stand to your feet, you maggot!"
A voice so deep, its bass reverberated through the area blasted into Ryujin's ears, almost deafening him and exploding his head.
His vision blurred as he felt the core of his soul shake violently; almost as if he was standing in front of the horn a cruise liner only to have it honk unexpectedly.
His eyes snapped open as a ringing noise began to assault his senses.
After a few minutes of recollecting his bearings, Ryujin's vision finally cleared enough to gaze at the source of his torment, and upon doing so, his eyes almost popped out of their sockets.
"Ahh!"
Ryujin retreated several leaps, before tripping himself and falling on his butt.
He scurried backwards in an effort to crawl away from the sight in front of him.
His tormentor however simply stood there, right in front of him; looking at him with impunity, through its purple flaming sinister eyes.
"A-a a demon???" Ryujin stuttered in disbelief.
Whimpering frightfully, Ryujin finally looked around before he was greeted by another scene straight out of horror movies.
He noticed that there were actually others around, but there seemed to be something wrong with all of them;
They all seem... spectral.
Some of them were white, some were black, some were red and so on, but they were all human sized.
'Are these souls?'
Ryujin was still trying to register his current situation when a swift gust of heat suddenly buffeted his face, and upon looking over, he saw a flaming whip magnifying from the corner of his sight.
The whip arrived in the fraction of a blink, leaving even the most nimble of beings with no window for evasion or even reaction time.
Wha-Pa!
One lash... Just one lash, and Ryujin could have sworn that the brightness of his soul dimmed by half.
"Argh!"
Ryujin shuddered like a blanket in strong wind.... His body twitching like a worm dipped in a bowl of salt.Â
Instantly, his fury billowed forth as he shot a venomous gaze towards the demon. However, the moment their eyes met, al his rage receded like a tide as he swiftly scampered to his feet.
He didn't know why, but his instincts kept telling him that the ten-meter-tall demon was going to give him another stripe if he was a second slower.
Looking ahead, Ryujin saw a long queue of souls who were being herded by other similar demons into that seemed so far that his senses grew weary trying to calculate.
Then just like stray goat sheep to its herd, Ryujin swiftly joined the line and began to follow the long queue of souls to wherever it was they were heading.
Striding in thought, Ryujin began register and try to make some sense of what had happened to him.
He would hear occasional whiplashes and some miserable shrieks, and on other occasions, some didn't even make any sound; which meant only one thing; they were dead!
Deader than dead!
Comparing the scene with the horrific experience he just had with the demon earlier, Ryujin couldn't help but think the demon had somewhat gone easy on him.
Thus, with a smile of gratitude, Ryujin quickened his steps as he began to obey every successive instructions.
Automating his steps and bearing in a straight file, Ryujin thought on.
'Is this hell?'
'Nope, that's not right...'
'If this is hell; then in addition to these demons and innumerable souls, there will be immense heat radiating from raging flames billowing in every direction?'
'Then the constant torture and wailing'
Just like that; Ryujin kept walking... Lost in thought, as days overlapped days, and weeks flowed into weeks.
Gradually however, he began to make sense of what had happened to him.
He had indeed died, but his soul had descended into a place that is neither hell, and definitely not heaven.
Months came and passed, and before long it had been a year since Ryujin had been here; a place he had finally come to realize to be; The Netherworld.
He couldn't tell how much time had really passed; a part of him was saying years, and there was also another newborn instinct that was telling him he had barely been here for a day.
Whilst he was still brooding over the difference in time zone, a deep voice suddenly boomed towards his direction
"Ryujin?"
This time, Ryujin saw a demon that was about twice the size of the demon herding his group.
"Who amongst all of you is Ryujin?"
The demon asked once again in a voice that boomed even deeper, causing countless souls to tremble and fall to the ground.
They seemed to have been on their last legs, and thus succumbed to the soul-shaking voice of the demon.
If it wasn't for the fact that Ryujin had been too deep within his thoughts that his senses were practically dulled, then he might have perhaps suffered a similar fate.
This new demon stood on a floating patch of black cloud, and when the other demons saw him, they stopped whatever it was that they were doing, and went down on one knee with a slight bow.
Stunned by the sight, Ryujin looked up at the massive demon, and surprisingly, the latter was also staring back down at him
"Ryujin?"
The massive demon asked to reassure its predetermined confirmation. Then after seeing Ryujin nod, it waved its hand and Ryujin appeared before him in the blink of an eye.
Despite having no memory of his past life other than his identity and instincts, Ryujin could tell that he had never felt so helpless in his before.
This however, only made him curious about everything and yet dumbstruck at the same time.
Ryujin had barely reeled out of his shock when the demon suddenly faced a certain direction and zoomed towards his destination with a level of speed that stretched Ryujin's vision like it was an elastic band.
The other souls kept looking on in shock, and unfortunately for them, the demons swiftly notice their lack of movement.
However, a single whip and a miserable shriek later, they all resumed their endless walk.
-------
Ryujin stood there; quiet and slightly petrified as the black patch of cloud rose higher and higher into the skies within this dimension.
It was only when he ascended into a certain vantage point that he realized that the line of souls were truly endless; and not only that, his own line seemed to be one of another endless series of lines.
Then a few seconds later, and at an extreme vantage point, Ryujin's face suddenly brightened and upon looking at the source of the bright light, he finally caught sight of a massive yellow river in the distance.
With a quick cursory glance, he noticed the river branch out in five directions, with the three in the middle flowing into a red, yellow and green portal respectively.
In the next moment, Ryujin's attention was suddenly snapped when he felt something phase through his soul; or more precisely, he felt his soul body break past a barrier of some sort.
Then upon turning his attention back to their journey, he finally saw the first signs of a settlement; a massive golden mansion hanging majestically in the distance.
It started out with the size of an egg, but the more they approached with blistering speed, the more it expanded; and a few more minutes later, Ryujin could finally see its full glory.
It was massive, sturdy, grand and ancient, with a strong vintage, scholarly aura radiating off it.
It gave off no sense of pressure or aura of power, and its surroundings was silent, calm and peaceful.
It seemed to have been made out of a material that looked in-between ivory, steel and jade and upon the arch of its gate was a plaque that read; Palace of The First Order.
The demon then stretched its palm towards the doors as a small token in his grasp lit up, causing the gates to glow slightly before swinging open.
Grrrr!!!
Despite having seen the palace from the outside, Ryujin realized his appraisal and appreciation of the mansion's grandness was nowhere near enough.
Now that he was standing at such a close proximity, he was finally swept off his feet.
It was almost as if someone had impeccably stacked three mansions together into one super-mansion, and he could tell that, it was the building where the strongest or the most respected figure within the netherworld resided...
After updating his appraisal, they finally arrived before the mansion doubledoor.
However, upon entering, Ryujin was left stunned.
Where was the grand ballroom?
Where was the red carpet walkway?
There wasn't even a throne in sight.
Instead, all he could see were several souls doing administrative works; moving and sorting several mountainous piles of papers, scrolls, and books all over the place.
Then just like prior times, the demon didn't give him enough time to look around or make more sense out of it, as it whisked him away.
After maneuvering through several unorderly traffic of souls and rows of shelves, they once again arrived before the third doubledoor; however, this time, it was ajar.
The area beyond the entrance was just like the previous one; like an admin office with several souls moving about.
However, this time, the demon went to the door, grabbed the handles, and shut it. Then after waiting for a few breaths, the demon turned the key several times before pushing the door open once again, and once again, Ryujin saw the seventh wonder of his life.
The previous view of souls fleeting all over the place had mysteriously vanished, and in its place was a library.
This time, the demon didn't barge or whisk its way around, and instead walked relatively slowly towards the core of the library, allowing Ryujin finally wrap his head around something.
Ryujin couldn't help but marvel at the sight all around him.
There were rows of shelves that appeared to have been arranged in a messy patter; however, upon walking past them, he couldn't help but sense that their positions were totally intentional.
These shelves towered beyond his sights, and there were about a hundred of them; and to say the library housed a million books might be a severe understatement.
After maneuvering their way through the maze of bookshelves; the duo finally arrived at its core; a quiet study located right at the eye of the mazy library.
It looked more like a small circular open space, and there were only two sets of things in sight.
To his left, a reclined resting chair and a tea table setup with served tea and an open game of domain was arranged, and to his right, was study desk stacked up with books of different kinds of cover wrappings; ranging from silk to animal hide and even fur.
Reclined on the chair was a green robed, middle-aged man currently flipping through a book with the opening and closing covers colored green and grey respectively.
"Your highness!"
The demon went down on one knee and greeted with a curt bow.
"You may leave, I will take it from here."
With his face still buried in his book, the middle-aged man waved off the demon.
Daniel looked towards one of the bookshelves and saw all of them carrying the same tag;
'Office of The First Order Supreme Judge'
Instantly, it dawned on him that the person he was currently standing in the presence of, might as well be the person in charge of everything within this realm.
But then, a cogent question popped into his head;
'Why will the First Order Supreme Judge want to see me?'
Ryujin thought to himself as he sneaked a peek at the leisurely reclined middle-aged man.
After several minutes of fruitless thinking and guessing, Ryujin gave up on overthinking the situation and simply decided to ride along with whatever wave came his way.
His gaze once again swept across the entire study; it was indeed very simple and plain; the bookshelves had an ancient scent to them and nigh imperceptible carvings that glowed softly.
However, what captivated Ryujin the most was the four different colored flames dancing at the edges of the study table.
These flames weren't attached to any form of lamp or candlewick, and simply hovered just off the table surface.
Totally entranced... Ryujin subconsciously began to move closer to take a better look, and right there, within the hovering flames, were specters of four mystical beasts, moving about within the flames.
'Are those…?'