Time seems to be in a state of stagnation when you die, as if the entire concept of time itself is irrelevant. Even if I'm currently moving forward on the white light road, the dark and empty void would pull me backwards.
But at some point, I reach a rather peculiar spot, a guard post of some sort with large pearly golden gates besides it. Inside the guard post there is a figure of a winged man wearing a white robe with a golden halo above his head. He looks at me while holding a book and asks me a simple question "Name?".
Is this the gatekeeper of heaven? I thought to myself, the way he carries himself while talking with a soft and an angelic voice, he must be an angel.
"I'm Eric Doberman" I reponse, he then quickly open his book, flipping through countless pages and repeatedly murmuring "Eric Doberman..." Until he shouts "Ah... I've found you, Eric Doberman, passed away at the age of 36 due to overworking and depression. Even though your life ended early, you had never once given up, whether it was the divorce of your parents, losing your job multiple times to overworking yourself at a new company, being cheated on by your girlfriend with your best friend,... Blah blah blah..." Wow, this guy, even though I already had my 'life flashes before my eyes' moment, did he need to retell my entire life story again?
After he finishes his whole talk about my life, he ends it with "Eric Doberman, through your trials and tribulations, you had indeed reached the end of your life but that doesn't mean it is all over for you! Now please step through this gate!" The golden pearly gates open after he finishes, as if it is natural I nod and go through the gate. After walking for a good distance, I hear a *clank* noise, as I turn my head backwards to see the golden gates closing and the word "Next" from the gatekeeper as the both of them started to fade away.
After what had happened, I continued on my journey into the afterlife. Although time is a loose concept, I couldn't help thinking, thinking and thinking that an eternity had already passed. I thought that maybe after going through that gate, I would get to see my parents again or even my pet dog George! But NO! ALL I HAVE EVER SEEN WAS THIS GODDAMN DARK AND EMPTY VOID OF NOTHINGNESS! EVEN IF THERE IS A ROAD OF LIGHT AHEAD OF ME, NO MATTER WHERE I LOOK THERE'S NOTHING HERE! I must have gone pass my calm and rational thinking to the point where I'm completely insane! I don't even know how much time has passed! The only person that I have seen so far was the gatekeeper! And ghostly illusions of my parents! Is this really the afterlife that everyone has been looking for? Walking in a straight line for all eternity? I feel so lonely all of the sudden as these thoughts keep popping up in my mind, the thoughts of probably never seeing another soul here... was what I thought until I reached a fork in the road.
"What the..." slip out of my... mouth? Mind? Whatever! I thought "Finally!" as I manage to reach somewhere and not nowhere! Phew, I can feel as if a heavy weight was lift of my mind. The path ahead of me was split into three, the left path has a staircase leading downwards, the right path also has a staircase but they are leading upwards and the middle path is still the same straight path.
When I go closer, I was... stopped? Or rather felt like it. As I look up, three orbs of light, red, yellow and white, appeared in their own perspective paths in front of me. I suddenly heard a voice or rather multiple voices inside my head "Welcome to the afterlife!" Are these orbs of light really talking to me? Or have I gone insane after going in a straight line for god knows how long? As if hearing my-
"We heard you, you know? You don't need to keep monologuing to yourself on and on like that! You've not gone insane just yet, okay?" The red orb of light on the left says that- er wait really?
"Yeah! Of course! Did you really think no one can hear your thoughts when they are out loud like that? I mean, same here! I would go insane if I work with these two bastards hahaha!"
"Language..."
"So I'm the yellow orb?"
Um wait! I'm so confused! Can you explain to me what is happening?
The white orb speaks in a rather a different tone than I expected to the reb orb "My condolences, Eric, my lost lamb-" he speaks like an old man.
"Pfffffts! Hey! Hear that? He called you an old man!"
"You demon fu-!"
"Hahahaha! Language!"
Whoops! I forgot you guys can read my mind! Sorry! I didn't mean that okay?
"Oh just forget the two of them! Hi!"
You're-
"Yes! I'm the yellow orb! Hi hi! Also don't mind those two knuckleheads! They're always arguing and fighting like an old married couple!"
Um you're more cheerful than I expected!
"Hm? Of course! After all, dying isn't the end! What comes after is! The three of us will be deciding where you go!"
Huh? Really?
"Yep! I mean, you can probably guess just by looking at the paths right? That left one is HELL! And the right one is HEAVEN!"
Well figures I guess... It was a bit too on the nose even for me! But wait, what about the middle path?
"Hehe! It's reincarnation!"
Wait reincarnation?
"Yep! Jeez do I really have to say it out loud? RE-IN-CAR-NATION! Basically giving you a second chance!"
I heard you the first time but I was just...
"Confused? You really think that after dying there would only be two ways to go? Doing bad things will send you to hell and doing good things will get you to heaven?"
Well... That's what most people thought right?
"Ha! You're not wrong kid! It's pretty much our whole shtick here! Like for centuries! Heheh, I'm the gatekeeper of hell!"
"*Ahem* Well I am the gatekeeper of heaven!"
"And I am the gatekeeper of reincarnation!"