The hall was impossibly grand. It was as though the laws of nature didn't apply here. It continuously morphed. One minute it was a giant dark palace, sconces lit with colours from all over the spectrum, colors the human eye couldn't see now everywhere he looked.
A giant colosseum, rivers of gold streaming out from it. A white palace with flowers cascading from an unknown source. A pyramid. A gothic cathedral. A large floating platform. It was like the hall couldn't decide what mood to set for the final judgement of a universe.
It turned again. An infinitely large structure that seemed to mix the styles of all of them. The structures from before turning into giant floating islands, all chained to the central structure. A giant floating turtle, its shell dark green with streaks of brown and gold running through it. Its head was the deepest shade of black imaginable, twin suns for eyes. Glowing red, gold, copper and blue lines marred its face like cracks on a mountain, the turtle supported the entire network of floating islands on its back, smaller versions of it. Its children. Trei guessed.
The central structure had a giant pavilion. In the centre, its roots penetrating the marble floor was a golden tree, it grew so tall that Trei couldn't see its top. The tree's numerous branches stretched out in all directions, some branches criss-crossed creating pathways and some were large enough to act as a platform. Nymphs and small animals moved among the branches. The leaves of the tree glowed, casting them in a rosy hue. But none of that drew Trei more than the many-headed snake which was wrapped around the tree, its white scales rosy pink in the light, its many pairs of red eyes studying its environment with a calculating gaze. In its central mouth it carefully held an apple of the purest shade of gold he had seen.
In all the myths Trei had ever read, there was only one snake which even sort of resembled this one. Satan? No. This was Ladon, the guardian of the garden of Hesperides. What was it doing here?
The creatures of the tree paid it no mind, a few nymphs gently polished its scales and fed grapes to it's many heads. At the same time he saw a giant brown and gold eagle swoop down from the top of the tree, in it's claws seemed to be a vial of sorts, inside was a pale milky substance. It flapped in the air vial in hand as though waiting for something.
Then, as if emerging from the light itself, he saw figures, massive beings that stood far, far above him, so high that they seemed to melt into the ceiling of this strange hall. Thrones crowning each of them, towering like cathedrals, glimmering with divine power.
Trei's mind tried to process what he was seeing, but it couldn't grasp it. The thrones, though far away, were filled with vast, incomprehensible beings, their eyes like suns. A silent weight of authority pressed down on him from all sides.
There was no sound, no noise, yet their presence thundered in his mind. Every one of them was a god, an entity that existed beyond time and space, judging his very soul.
A faint, unsettling hum pulsed through the air, and Trei felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. As he stood there next to Muru helplessly, a soft glow appeared beneath him, etching glowing symbols into the air. They seemed bureaucratic. ancient runes, endless documents, as though this entire place were an office, its purpose to catalog, weigh, and judge every soul that had ever existed.
Trei could feel the intensity of it. Every movement, every thought he had, was being carefully scrutinized by unseen eyes. The sensation was suffocating, like every moment, every detail of his life was being laid bare, dissected, and catalogued by these unseen forces.
But just as suddenly as it had begun, the light receded, and the hum stopped.
There was a brief silence then, a voice, no sound at all, but a presence that spoke directly into his mind:
"Welcome, Entities of Universe 987. You stand at the end of all things. You are neither of heaven nor earth. Here, your essence will be weighed, your deeds counted. Your soul will be examined. And you, like all who have come before you, shall find your place in the tapestry of the eternal."
Before Trei could gather his thoughts, another voice,that sounded like the crackling of ancient parchment, broke through the silence:
"All who pass through here have no bodies. They are but the residue of their choices. Prepare yourself."
Then one of the gods, it seemed to be male. He had many limbs. He raised one of his many arms up. The eagle with the vial let out a screech and soared high in the air. It then broke the vial and started to emit pure white light for q few moments before stopping.
Everything went silent. There was a hum, Trei saw a strange glowing blue translucent dome around the whole area. It wasn't there before.
Then the dome splintered and cracked, opening up to whatever was out there.
It was Dimariths, each floating next to their respective humans. Each person who belonged to this universe. They started streaming in, the looks on their faces mirrored the ones he had a few moments ago. Pure wonder.
While he stared at the mob of people and fluffy Dimariths making their way to the hall he heard Muru curse. "Oh crap we came early."
"Isn't coming early a good thing…?"
"Generally yes but the gods wanted you all to see the place in its full majesty before you all enter it, they wanted their moment. They're annoying like that.And what's the thing that stands out in this splendour? A teenage boy with horrible taste in clothes."
Trei stared down at his clothes, a large trenchcoat swallowing his frame, black boots and baggy jeans. They seemed fine to him."What's wrong with them?" He was too tired from running earlier to defend his attire. He didn't want to get fashion tips from a creature which didn't wear any clothes.
"Never mind, I'm pretty sure some people died in worse clothes or they were taking a shower or whatever when the universe ended." Muru drifted towards the crowd tugging Trei along with him. " Hurry up, we need to make it look like we came with the others before Hjel finds out and demotes me."
After they stood near the front of a large group. a seraphim appeared right in front of them, Trei heard some of the other Dimariths around him mutter something about them all being show offs.
The angel was rather large, 12 feet tall and 7 feet high. Its golden rings made whirring noises as it rotated, and the blue eyes on the rings looked at them excitedly. "Hello my dears! It is so good to see you all gathered here together." The person on Trei's right, a man in his early twenties stumbled back, in fear he moved closer to his pink Dimarith as though it might protect him from it.
The angel noticed his reaction and it seemed disappointed. "Oh…I apologise I didn't know this form of mine would frighten you." it said. The angel's form changed and now stood a blond woman in white robes with gold trim. She had blue eyes yet the wheels from before surrounded her face and continued spinning, 6 pairs of white feathered wings sprouted from her back. On a belt made of diamonds she wore a sheathed sword. She held an apple in one hand. Trei felt Muru shift behind him uncomfortably.
She clasped her hands together "I hope that this one is better.?"
The pink Dimarith the man was holding onto spoke up. "You're fine darling, it's their fault from getting scared of the very entities they say they love and look up to very much." The Dimarith rolled its eyes. "You'd think that after briefing them after what's going to happen they'd be more calm. What's the point of briefing them if they're going to scream anyway?"
The angel smiled at the living pink cushion and went back to addressing the now dead human population.
"So as you all know, your universe has ended. But don't-"
She was cut off by a person at the back. "Why?" Trei and Muru looked back along with many others to see which person had decided to interrupt the angel.
A boy in his late teens pushed past the crowd, his blue Dimarith trailing behind him aghast. Muttering under his breath. 'oh this is not good. For the love of the gods…I will be in so much trouble…'
His face was sharp and angular, with pale grey almond shaped eyes, dark hair and olive skin. He unceremoniously shoved a few people out of the way and reached the front close to where Trei and Muru stood. His eyes narrowed as he looked at the angel. "Why did the universe end?"
The angel merely smiled. "Because the gods said it was time." Her eyes became milky, cataracts were forming, the black mass jiggled and hissed. "And I suggest you mind your tone young man, it might impact the decision of the gods on where you should end up."
"But aren't most of the gods supposed to be omnibenevolent? Don't they have never ending compassion for humanity? Ending the universe where your creations live doesn't seem rather compassionate."
People around them started muttering, many seeming to agree with his statements.
"The gods did what they wanted. And they are always right." The angel said, her face remained calm but she clutched her sword harder.
"So the gods are deceivers, liars. The gods are frauds." the boy said. He took a step closer to her, he tilted his head up to look at her. "God is a virus."
It all happened in an instant. The angel unsheathed her sword. Shing. the sword sang as it was unsheathed. Before she could strike it the boy grabbed her wrist and pried the sword from her hand. Eliciting gasps from everyone.He pointed it at her throat. His Dimarith looked like it was about to faint.
The grey eyed boy pressed the tip of the sword against her throat. Trei took a closer look at the angel, for the first time he noticed what seemed to be scales near the base of her neck, her pupils turned to slits. He remembered how once he had come upon a theory that Gabriel shared many of the new attributes his brother Satan gained after he fell from heaven. Something about you God wanting them to retain some connection to the other.
"That's a bad idea-striking her I mean…" The words left Trei's mouth before he even realised.
"You think?!" The blue Dimarith shrieked.
The boy looked at Trei. Raising a brow "and why may that be?"
Trei shuffled awkwardly "Um I think that's Gabriel-" no that sounded stupid. Why did he have to open his mouth? Everyone would think he's crazy.
He looked at the faces of the people around him, looking uneasy. Scratch that they already think I am.
"Gabriel?"
"What new age bullshit is this…"
"I think this kid watched too many conspiracy theories."
People around him said. Trei ignored this and turned back to the boy. "Trust me you do not want to kill that ange-"
He was cut off by cheers and thunderous roars of approval and screams of anger from the people around him as the boy struck the angel. The Dimariths surprisingly looked more annoyed apart from the blue Dimarith of the angel stabbed. He looked like he had a heart attack, his dark blue fur turning white.
The angel clutched its throat as it started to die out. The angel started to glow and disintegrated. Then as though sensing the angels death. One of the deities from earlier teleported and stood in front of them. It's skin charcoal black and suns for eyes. It was 10 times Trei's height.
Everyone went quiet. The Dimariths twitched.
"We're fucked-"