The man woke up in a daze, lying on a cold floor. He slowly stood up, putting his hands on his head. A splitting pain was coming from there, not allowing him to think clearly. When he looked around, he could see nothing at all. He found himself surrounded by an endless darkness. He couldn’t hear a thing, except for his own heartbeat. Even where he was supposed to be standing was nothing but blackness. Confused by his circunstances, he became restless.

“Is anyone there?” He cried in pain.

“Yes”

 A familiar voice answered, coming from nowhere.

The man looked around and could see nothing. What was going on? Where was he? Who just answered him?

Then, he appeared. A handsome man in his thirties just seemed to form from thin air, looking at him with no emotion whatsoever. The newcomer just silently stood there, watching him.

“What the hell?” The man was taken aback. Not because of the newcomer's  sudden appearance, but because he looked just like himself.

“Who are you? Where is this? Why do we look the same?” He asked, clearly perturbed.

“Well, I’ll have to start with the second question. This way you can accept the answer to the others more easily,”

said the doppelganger.

“This, my dear friend, is the Void. It is the space between dimensions. But, if I had to put it in other words, this is a stop before a final destination.”

“What are you talking about? What final destination? Cut the crap and let me go!” The man blurted out in anger. Someone was playing a really tasteless joke.

“Now, now. Slow down. Try to remember. What is the last thing you can recall?”

 The doppelganger tried to calm the man, still emotionless.

“I was just driving home from work, and then…” He stopped himself. Suddenly he couldn’t remember what happened. Rather, he didn’t believe the scene that started playing in his mind.

“And then you got run over by a truck. Your car was destroyed, and you died.” 

The doppelganger finished his sentence.

“I’m… I’m

dead

?” The man cried in desperation and disbelief. But then his headache got stronger, and he couldn’t suppress the memory of a blurred truck appearing out of nowhere and going in his direction from flashing through his mind.

“Is… Is this true? Am I really dead?”

“Yes.” 

There was no trace of sympathy or pity in his face. He still showed nothing at all.

“Fuck this, how can I believe you?” Screamed the man. “How can I feel the weight of my body? How can I be standing? Why my head hurts? If I was dead I would feel nothing!”

“Those feelings you have are simply the effect your mind trying to safeguard yourself from the truth. By the way, the headache is most likely from the drinking. You know, you were quite drunk when you died…”

It was true. He had been in a nasty fight with a coworker and got himself fired. On the way home he stopped by the bar and drank his remorse and anger away. Then he left, just to be killed by a truck halfway home.

“Fuck, I can't believe this!” He shouted.“No way, no fucking way.”

Completely lost on his confused thoughts, he threw a punch at the doppelganger, “FUCK OFF!”

“That’s it? I’ve seem worse. I’ll give you some time. When you calm down we can talk again.”

And then the doppelganger disappeared as abruptly as he had appeared.

The man was left alone. He wasn’t standing anymore, he felt like he was floating. His headache had disappeared and it didn’t cloud his thoughts anymore. Still, he couldn’t accept it. He screamed, thrashed about and threw punches around. He never hit anything. He cried loudly, asking for help, just to be ignored by the darkness surrounding him.

Time seemed to have stopped. It had been years since he was there, but maybe it was just seconds. He couldn’t tell anymore. He had stopped crying ages ago. He was still weakly punching the nothingness around him, but it was just in denial. Maybe he was really dead, afterall.

“Hey, are you there?”

“Yes. Have you calmed yourself?”

“I guess. Am I really, definitely, undeniably dead? ”

“Yes.”

“I’ll accept it for now, I guess,” said the man with a dispirited face.

The doppelganger showed himself in front of him.

“Good. Now I’ll answer your first question. I am what you would call God. Although I’m quite different from what you believe in.”

“I kind of expected that. Why do you look like me?”

“I tend to always assume the appearance of the people you love the most. It works well in most cases. Except when I’m dealing with someone who loves himself too much. Like yourself.”

“Can you please change your appearance? It creeps me out.”

“Hmm… I don’t feel like it.”

“…”

What a dick. Maybe he wasn’t emotionless after all, he just didn’t care anymore. It wasn’t worth to fight over it. This ‘God’ had left him alone for who knows how long, it certainly didn’t care for what he thought.

“Anything else?”

“You said you were God… but you were different than the God I believe in. How so?”

“To be more precise, I believe I am God. I have reasons to do so. But I am not as powerful as he should be. For starters, I’m not omnipotent. I didn’t create this Universe or it’s laws. I don’t judge you by what you did with your life.

What I can do is see and interact with the Mortal Plane to a certain extent

.

 If you asked me to describe myself, I would say that I am the amalgamation of all the souls of the deceased that moved on.

”

“Wait, like a collective existence?”

“Yes.”

“How… does this works?”

“You die, you make a choice, and if you chose so, you join Us.”

“So you are here to present me with a choice?”

“Yes.”

“Which one?”

“First I’ll have to explain to you what exactly the afterlife is. Let me show you.”

As the doppelganger said that, he waved his hands and the darkness distorted. Suddenly, both of them were surrounded by dozens of people. And the sound of painful wailing and angry shouts reverberated through the Void.

The man took a step back, afraid.

“Is this Hell?”

“No, this is simply the afterlife.”

“Who are they?”

“They are not real people. It is just a projection from the Higher Plane. More precisely, it is a representation of tiniest bit of the existence I am. A representation that you can understand. ”

“Wait, are these the souls that joined you? Why are you making them suffer?”

“Those who are suffering brought this upon themselves. I have no control over this. If you look closely, you will see that not all of them are like that.”

And, sure enough, a handful of people seemed to not be in any kind of pain. Some were even lightly smiling.

“You are asking yourself the difference. Well, look closer.”

The man looked closer and saw an unbelievable number of translucent lines spreading from the bodies of every single one of them. Some of them were even connected to other people in the man’s line of sight.

“What is this?”

“Some call this Fate, but I believe the concept of Karma is a better way to explain it.”

“Those lines connecting people, are some kind of … Karma?”

“Yes.”

“In what sense?”

“In the 

‘

you reap what you sow’ sense.”

“Those lines connect you with every single person you had an impact on during your life. They make you feel whatever emotions and sensations you once made the person connected to you experience, be it painful or blissful, good or bad.”

“Wait, if I decide to join you, I will be put through this?”

“

Yes,"

'God' said, before sneering.

"Why, are you afraid?

”

“Not… not really,” he stuttered. “So, what do you mean with ‘every single person you had an impact on during your life’?”

“This means that, if you punched someone in the face, you will feel it. If you humiliated someone, you will feel exactly what that person felt. If you pleased someone, you will feel it too. Your actions can even cause indirect Karma. “

“I don’t understand.”

“If you saved someone, you will feel his gratefulness, and possibly the gratefulness of others who felt that way towards him being saved. As well as the hate of others who wanted him dead, for example.”

“This seems rather arbitrary.”

“Not at all. We are responsible for our actions and all of it’s consequences.”

The man was at a loss. He felt from the bottom of his heart that he wasn’t ready for this. He was utterly speechless.

“If I join you… will this last for eternity?”

Please say ‘no’.

“No. After a few of decades you are allowed to reincarnate if you wish so.”

It might not be this bad, after all. Maybe.

“A few decades? For everyone? No matter what they did?”

“Yes. If someone was a horrible person, they will naturally endure much more suffering in those years than others would. Everyone pays or receives what they are due, nothing more, nothing less.”

“Is this the choice you are here to propose?”

“No.”

“Then what is it?”

‘God’ waved his hand again and only two people remained with them - an old man who was crying pitifully and a beautiful woman who seemed indifferent. The man knew both of them. One was the priest responsible for the church he visited that died a few years back. He was always gentle and helped the man whenever he felt he needed God’s protection. The man liked the priest very much. Seeing him in so much pain made his heart ache.

The woman was… the man’s mother, who died young.

“First, let’s give it a try, shall we?”

“This…”

‘God’ interrupted him with another wave of the hand. One of the lines shot out from the priest and connected to the man’s chest. The man suddenly felt…nothing. Nothing at all. He found himself dumbfounded. The priest, however, toned down his cry a notch.

“Is this working?”

“Of course. See? Your gratefulness is relieving some of this priest’s pain.”

“But… I feel nothing.”

“This just means he was completely indifferent towards you.”

“Is this serious?”

“Certainly. Why would I lie?.”

“He might not have cared about me, but I think he was a good man. He helped everyone that came for his aid, and never avoided his responsibilities. What is making him suffer like this?”

“You may feel that way, but the children he met surely didn’t.”

“Do you mean…” The man started feeling sick.

“You know, one of his speeches always nagged me. The one about the colors of the sins.”

 ‘God’ interrupted him.

“The one that every sin has a color that irradiates from your soul as a light? And that the soul that bears many sins will be black?”

“Yeah, that one. You see, I always found it quite dumb. The white color being what you consider pure, while the black is impure. Actually, white is the combination of all the other colors. It should be the color of the ultimate sinner, following this logic. Black is simply the nonexistence of color. The color of the one that has never sinned.”

‘God’ seemed to be having fun talking about it.

“But it sure is interesting seeing you all use the most sinful color to wage peace. Seeing people wearing white clothes with pride, claiming to be pure. Maybe it is in the human nature. Hiding a dagger behind your back while shaking hands with someone, I mean. Fooling others. Or simply blindly following someone that is up to no good. Ignorance IS a sin, you know? Be ignorant and you will always be sowing karma without even noticing it.”

“Now, if you had to guess, what would be the kind of person that would have a black soul?”

“Where are you going with this?”

“Nowhere, just curious to see your answer.”

“I guess… Someone that sacrifices himself?”

“So… you think that trading your life for another cleanses your soul?”

“Yes.”

“Interesting. Well, let’s see what your mother has to say about that.”

‘God’ waved his hand yet again and the line with the priest was broken at the same time another one formed between the man and his mother.

The man immediately felt his heart warming up. This was love. A lot of it. There was happiness too. And pride. At the same time, however, he felt regret, unwillingness, sadness and pain.

It was too much to bear. The man laughed, then screamed, then cried of happiness and sadness. His emotions were a mess.

His mother had died giving birth to him. She loved him very much, and yet she couldn’t help but blame him in the moment of her death. His heart broke.

“PLEASE STOP IT.”

‘God’ snapped his fingers and the line broke.

“

There is no such thing as a ‘black’ soul. We are always sinning. But this isn’t an excuse to not do good.

”

He went on.

“Even if you are a good person, you will still cause negative feelings towards you, but the positive ones will overthrow them. You will still feel all of them, but it will be bearable. Maybe even pleasurable if you were good enough. If you, however, caused a lot of pain and suffering to others, the negative feelings will eat at your soul until you reincarnate.”

“Why are you doing this to me? What gives you the right to do this?”

“I am doing this because you have to make a choice, a difficult one.”

“Which one?”

“First, answer me this. How have you been living your life?”

“I…” The man couldn’t answer.

“Hmm… Let’s try something different. Choose someone you know and that is still alive to see how you Karma is doing with them.”

“I choose my wife.” The man answered without hesitation. His wife loved him very much. And he loved her dearly too. It would certainly be good Karma.

‘God’, that was looking at him started laughing.

“Very well.”

With a snap of his fingers, a line projected from the Void and connected to the man’s chest.

He felt pleasure. Tenderness. Happiness.

See? Good Karma.

When he was thinking this, he suddenly started feeling rage, anger, sadness and humiliation. An unfathomable amount of humiliation. A searing pain struck his heart, and the man fell to his knees, crying.

“Not so good, eh?”

‘God’ looked at him wearing his expressionless face again.

“What foolishness. You really thought she would never find out?”

“I.. don’t… know.. what you ate talking about.” The man struggled to say.

“You can’t hide anything from me. And I already said, I don’t judge. There are worse people than you in me.”

“You…”

“Why did you die?”

“I got fired… I got drunk… and crashed my car because of it.”

“Why were you fired?”

“I got… in a fight… with a coworker.”

“Why?”

“…”

“I won’t do a thing until you answer.”

“WHY… ARE… YOU… DOING… THIS?”

“You must be aware of what you are going to face if you choose to join me. Accept it and it should be easier to handle.”

The man tried to catch his breath, to no avail. He finally surrendered.

“My coworker… he discovered that I had cheated my wife with his.”

“And this is what you are feeling from her now. For you to know, your coworker wrote her an e-mail explaining the situation. Ah, by the way, in the Mortal Plane you died about 5 minutes ago. She isn’t aware of that yet. She is waiting for you to get home so you can talk, but she doesn’t know what to say. She is seriously contemplating suicide now.”

“Please stop her!” The man felt regret bubbling inside him. He didn’t know if it was his or hers.

“I can’t. It is beyond my powers. She is free to do what she wants. And this is Karma she will be sowing. And you, too.”

“Please, do anything! I’ll do anything! She is the person I love the most.”

“Now, now. We both know it is not true. You are just afraid of the Karma you will get from this. And if you really loved her that much, I would have her appearance, not yours.”

“Ugh…” The man was desperate. Utterly lost.

“Now, it is time to make a choice.”

The man looked up, despair showing in his face.

“You can join me, and face all the Karma you sowed for a few decades and then have the chance to reincarnate, hopefully to sow better Karma…”

“Or you can choose the Void.”

“What?”

“The Void. This nothingness. You will be destroyed. Sent to the Nothing itself. You won’t suffer. You won’t feel bliss. You won’t even know you are there. You will feel, think and do nothing.”

“This…” The man didn’t know what to think. “Why are you giving me this choice?”

“Those are the rules. The Original most likely made them.”

“Who?”

“

If you join me you will understand.

”

The man didn’t feel like understanding it.

“Everyone gets this choice?”

“Yes.”

“How many have joined you?”

“More than you could count, or have a grasp of.”

“How many chose the Void?”

“Many more.” 

‘God’ seemed quite disappointed saying so.

The man was in deep thought. He stood there looking and the darkness surrounding him for seconds. Then minutes. Then hours. Then days. Then months. Then years.

Then, he suddenly looked at ‘God’ again.

“I will… choose the Void.”

“Will you really throw your chance of a better afterlife after reincarnation to run away from the things you’ve done?”

“… Yes.”

‘God’ took a deep breath, showing unwillingness.

“

Very well, Jonathan Verdmont Smith. Henceforth your soul will be destroyed, all your future lives will be severed, and Karma shall never affect you again. You are therefore banished to the Void.

”

‘God’ waved his hand and the man shattered into a million pieces, that then disappeared into the Void.

“

With this, we are way past half…

” Lamented ‘God’, in deep thought.

‘God’ sighted. His appearance changed, from the man’s to a human silhouette, with no eyes, no nose, no mouth and no face. A form of pure white color. He then snapped his fingers and disappeared from the Void.