The Oasis - Shortly After Death
Darkness. Then awareness.
Klein's consciousness reassembled, and the panic hit him—the terror of death, the grief for his mother, the existential horror of the void. He braced for it to consume him, but it didn't. Just as it peaked, the feeling flattened. It was still there, sharp and cold, but it no longer controlled him. It was the same regulated state he'd felt for a fleeting moment as the Protocol activated. This was the Dampening in action.
What's happening to me? he thought, already analyzing the sensation with a clarity that should be impossible. He existed, but the concept of "were" seemed meaningless. There was no body, no physical form, just awareness floating in a space of soft pearl-white luminescence.
I'm dead.
The thought came with absolute certainty, accompanied by a flood of memories. The alley. The broken bottle. The kid's face. Blood pooling warm beneath him.
But thanks to the Dampening, the terror was a signal he could monitor, not a storm that drowned him. He could think.
"Excuse me, sir? Are you alright?"
Klein spun, or thought he did, toward the voice. A figure stood before him, radiating a gentle warmth that made her features clear despite the overwhelming brightness. She appeared young, perhaps early twenties, with hair that seemed to shift between silver and gold. Her eyes held an ancient kindness that contradicted her youthful appearance.
"You seem distressed," she continued softly. "That's perfectly normal. Death is profoundly disorienting, especially violent death. Please, follow me. I'll help you process this on our way to the Processing Area."
"Process," Klein's voice, or thought-voice, came out steady, unnaturally so. "Who are you? Where am I? What's happening?"
"My name is Cariel. I'm a Path guide, one of those chosen by God Himself to help souls transition after death." She began moving, and Klein found himself following automatically. "You're currently in the outer ring of the Oasis, the staging area where all human souls arrive before being sent onward."
"Sent where?" Klein felt the question emerge from a place of calm curiosity, the fear a distant hum. "Heaven? Hell? I don't, I wasn't particularly good or bad, I just."
"Breathe, Kahiramura-san," Cariel said gently. "Or rather, remember breathing. The pattern helps ground consciousness."
Klein tried it, mimicking the rhythm of breath despite having no lungs. Strangely, it worked, further solidifying his sense of self.
"How do you know my name?" he asked.
"All Path guides can perceive a soul's true name. It's part of our function." She smiled. "As for where you're being sent, you're not going to the Heaven or Hell you might have imagined. Neither exists in the way humans traditionally believed."
"What?"
Cariel gestured ahead, and Klein suddenly noticed what he'd been too focused to see before. The space around them was filling with others, hundreds, thousands, perhaps millions of souls moving in orderly streams. Each bore a strange luminescence above their heads: some glowing with divine golden light, others wreathed in crimson shadows that seemed to consume photons.
"The 'hails,'" Cariel explained, following his gaze. "Divine gifts from God or the Demon God, granted according to each soul's nature. Those who lived virtuously receive divine blessings. Those who embraced sin receive demonic power. Both are being sent to other worlds, abandoned realms where they can live again."
"Other worlds?" Klein's mind, clear and efficient, processed this. "Why not just actual Heaven or Hell?"
"Because they're full." Cariel's expression grew somber. "Humanity's population exploded beyond what the afterlife was designed to handle. God and the Demon God reached an agreement: all souls now go to the abandoned worlds, realms that exist outside our reality's normal structure. It's complicated. I'll explain more once we pass through the Gate of Oasis."
Klein looked down at himself, or where himself should be. He had a form now, translucent and ghostly, but recognizable. And above his head, nothing. No golden glow. No crimson shadow. Just empty space.
"Where's my hail?" he asked quietly.
Cariel's expression shifted to something Klein couldn't quite read. "That's an excellent question. Let's keep moving."
As they walked, or floated, or willed themselves forward through space, Klein noticed other souls giving him a wide berth. Those with golden halos looked confused when their gaze passed over him. Those with red ones actually recoiled slightly, as if encountering something unpleasant.
"They can't classify you," Cariel murmured. "Their hails are warning them about an undefined entity. Try not to worry about it."
"Try not to," Klein felt the words form, but the surge of alarm that should have followed was neatly filed away by the Dampening. "I'm some kind of glitch?"
"You're unique," Cariel corrected. "There's a difference."
They approached what Klein could only describe as the most beautiful thing he'd never imagined. Gates of crystallized virtue rose before them, so massive they seemed to touch infinity, so intricate that looking at them too long made his consciousness ache. They swung open silently, revealing.
"Welcome to the Oasis," Cariel said softly.
The city, if it could be called that, stretched before him like something from a dream. Structures of impossible geometry housed countless souls, while rivers of liquid aurora flowed between buildings that seemed to exist in multiple dimensions simultaneously. The air itself hummed with energy, and Klein could feel the weight of countless presences.
But underlying it all was a sense of strain, like a building filled beyond capacity, groaning under its own weight.
"It's beautiful," Klein whispered.
"It's breaking," Cariel replied sadly. "Look closer."
Klein focused, and saw what she meant. Hairline fractures in the crystalline structures. Spaces where souls were packed too tightly, their luminescence bleeding together in uncomfortable ways. The rivers of aurora flowing sluggishly, overburdened.
"This is why we're sending souls away," Cariel continued. "God's infrastructure was designed for thousands, not billions. Every soul adds weight to Paradise, and corresponding weight to Hell. The Three Pillars that hold reality together are fracturing under the load."
"The Three Pillars?"
"The cosmic architecture. Earth, Paradise, and Hell exist in perfect triangulation, three points forming reality itself. Expand one, and you unbalance all. Let them fracture, and everything collapses into the Void."
Klein absorbed this, his regulated emotions allowing him to process what should have been overwhelming. "So the abandoned worlds, they're outside this triangle?"
"Yes. They exist in parallel, separate from our reality's weight. Souls sent there don't burden the Pillars." Cariel stopped walking, turning to face him fully. "Now then. I promised you answers, and I'll give them. But first, I need to know, do you feel it?"
"Feel what?"
"The calm. The emotional filter. You should be terrified, Kahiramura-san. You died violently less than an hour ago. You're in an impossible place being told impossible things. But you're processing it all with unnatural calm."
Klein didn't need to pause. "Yes. I feel it. It started the moment I died. It's like a regulator on my emotions."
"It means."
"Cariel-chan! Welcome back!"
The voice seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere simultaneously. Klein spun around, searching.
"I've been monitoring your progress," the voice continued, warm and amused. "Oh? You've brought an interesting one this time."
"Lord Illumi," Cariel bowed deeply. "Kahiramura-san, allow me to introduce the Embodiment of Light itself, the Right Hand of God." She paused, then added with a slight grin, "Or should I say, the Light Hand of God?"
"That pun was terrible the first thousand times, Cariel-chan, and it hasn't improved with age," the voice replied with good-natured exasperation.
"Where are you?" Klein demanded, the Dampening allowing directness where fear might have silenced him. "Why can't I see you?"
"Because I am light itself, Kahiramura-san," Illumi's voice resonated with patience. "The electromagnetic radiation your consciousness interprets as vision cannot perceive its own medium. Only those who truly understand the nature of light can see light embodied."
"That's." Klein struggled for words. "That's actually kind of profound."
"Thank you. I've had considerable time to work on the explanation." There was a pause, and Klein felt something shift in the space around him, a sensation of being examined. "How curious. Cariel-chan, have you informed him of his status?"
"I was about to, my Lord. But perhaps you could."
"No. This is. unprecedented." Illumi's presence seemed to intensify. "Kahiramura Klein. Your soul rests in perfect balance, neither saved nor damned. I can perceive that much. But the source of your stability. it is not of our making. It is as if the framework of reality itself is sustaining you."
Klein felt that information settle into his consciousness with the weight of absolute truth. "That's. that's why I don't have a hail."
"Incorrect," a new voice interjected.
The space around them shifted. Colors he'd never seen before began bleeding through the white luminescence. A presence emerged, not quite light, not quite shadow, but something that existed in the spectrum between.
The figure appeared deliberately unremarkable: middle-aged, wearing what looked like a gray business suit, with spectacles perched on a nose that seemed borrowed from a thousand forgettable faces. But despite the mundane appearance, Klein felt reality itself hold its breath at this being's presence.
"Lord Godfather!" Cariel gasped, dropping into a deeper bow. "I didn't realize you were."
"Observing? I always observe. It's my function." The Godfather adjusted his spectacles, which served no purpose except to make him seem more ordinary. "Hello, Kahiramura Klein. I've been waiting for you."
He turned his gaze toward the space where Illumi's voice emanated. "You are correct, Embodiment of Light. He does have a hail. It simply comes from me."
Illumi's silence was palpable.
"You're the Godfather," Klein said. "You gave me my hail."
"Technically, I didn't give you anything. I simply activated when you met the conditions I was designed to respond to." The Godfather smiled, an expression that seemed practiced rather than natural. "I am not a god, Klein-san. I am a protocol. A cosmic IF-THEN statement written into existence itself. IF a soul achieves perfect balance, THEN activate the Neutral Protocol."
"A protocol," Klein repeated slowly. "Like computer code?"
"Precisely! Though I prefer to think of myself as more elegant than mere code. I'm a contingency, the universe's way of handling exceptions to the binary system." The Godfather began to pace, his movements somehow both casual and profoundly significant. "God and the Demon God rule over light and dark, good and evil, salvation and damnation. But existence is not binary. It never was. Modern humans especially, you lie to protect truth, steal to feed others, kill to save lives. The old system was always going to encounter someone it couldn't categorize."
"So, you've been waiting for someone like me?"
"Not someone like you. You, specifically. Though I confess, the timeline was uncertain. Could have been tomorrow, could have been a million years from now." The Godfather stopped pacing, fixing Klein with eyes that seemed to contain infinite patience. "You deleted that number. Miguel's number. In that moment, despite desperate need, despite your dying mother, you chose integrity over expedience. That was the culminating expression of your nature. That's what confirmed the perfect balance."
Klein felt something twist in his chest, guilt, pride, grief, all filtered through the Dampening. "My mother. She's going to."
"She'll be fine," the Godfather interrupted gently. "Your aunt will sell her house to cover the treatment. Your mother will live another eight years and die peacefully in her sleep, surrounded by family. You don't need to carry that guilt."
"How do you."
"I'm a protocol, remember? I can see probability branches. It's part of my function." The Godfather smiled again. "Now then. You're probably wondering about your hail. The Neutral System, I've called it. Would you like to know what it does?"
"Yes," Klein said immediately.
"No," Illumi's voice interjected firmly, having found its footing. "Respectfully, Lord Godfather, souls are meant to discover their abilities through experience. To simply explain."
"Would rob him of growth, yes yes." The Godfather waved dismissively. "But Klein-san isn't going to a world designed for divine or demonic hails. He's going somewhere unique. The Neutral Zone, a realm whose blueprint has existed in a state of potential since the dawn of causality, maintained by my protocol."
"A new realm?" Cariel's voice carried shock. "But the Three Pillars, activating a fourth realm would unbalance."
"Would stabilize, actually," the Godfather corrected. "Think about it. A triangle with increasing weight on one or two points becomes unstable. Add a fourth point of equal weight, and you have a square, much more stable. The Neutral Zone exists as a latent support structure outside the triangle. My initiation of it is rather elegant, if I say so myself."
"The Void Hunters," Illumi said quietly. "Won't a new realm attract their attention?"
"They can't perceive it. The Neutral Zone exists in balance between all states, neither fully material nor fully spiritual, neither light nor dark. To the Void Hunters, it's invisible. They hunt extremes. Balance is meaningless to them." The Godfather turned back to Klein. "You'll be safe there. Alone, but safe."
"Alone?" Klein felt a pang of something, not quite loneliness yet, but anticipation of it.
"For now. But modern humanity produces more balanced souls than the ancient world ever did. You'll have company eventually. Might take years, might take decades, but they'll come." The Godfather's expression softened. "Until then, you'll have the Neutral System to keep you company."
The Godfather began to fade, his form dissolving like morning mist. "One last thing, Klein-san. Your Neutral trait, the emotional dampening you're experiencing, it doesn't remove your emotions. It regulates them. You still FEEL everything, but you can think clearly despite feeling it. Don't mistake functional for emotionless. The difference matters."
Klein nodded slowly, understanding. He could feel his fear, his grief, his confusion, all of it remained. But it no longer paralyzed him.
"Now then," the Godfather's voice echoed as he vanished completely, "the Neutral System will handle your transportation and initial orientation. Good luck, Klein-san. Try not to die immediately. It would be embarrassing for both of us."
And he was gone.
Cariel stepped forward, her expression a mixture of awe and concern. "Kahiramura-san, I apologize that we couldn't give you a proper briefing. This is unprecedented. But know that the Pathguides are here if you ever need guidance. Somehow, I suspect the Neutral System will allow you to contact us if necessary."
"Thank you," Klein said, meaning it. "For everything."
"One more thing," Illumi's voice interjected. "The Neutral Zone may be invisible to the Void Hunters, but the abandoned worlds are not. Be cautious. The prototype creatures God left there have evolved in unexpected ways over millions of years. Some are beautiful. Some are horrifying. All are dangerous to unprepared souls."
"Understood."
[NEUTRAL SYSTEM: Initialization Complete]
The text appeared directly in Klein's consciousness, stark and clear.
[NEUTRAL SYSTEM: Interface established. Hello, Klein-san. I am your operational guide.]
Klein noted the functional, almost sterile tone. It was a relief after the cosmic strangeness.
Status check, he thought.
[NEUTRAL SYSTEM: Displaying Status Screen.]
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
STATUS SCREEN
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
User: Kahiramura Klein (The Neutral)
Title: The Evaluator
Race: Human (Pending Reconfiguration)
Status: Neutral Protocol Active
HP: 100/100
MP: 100/100
SP: 0
TRAITS: Emotional Dampening (Passive), Evaluator (Passive)
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
What now? Klein asked.
[NEUTRAL SYSTEM: Transportation to the Neutral Zone is ready. The process will disassemble your current spiritual form for reconstruction in the new realm. It is disruptive.]
Wait, I still have questions.
[NEUTRAL SYSTEM: Acknowledged. Query queue noted for the Character Creation phase. Initiating transportation sequence in 3. 2. 1.]
The world dissolved.