_Chapter Begins_
A world of pure darkness where nothing ever changed or moved, a world that was hidden from the eyes of mortals, a world that was divine in nature even though it did not look like it.
A world meant for judgment.
But, deep in this realm that was made of pure unchanging darkness, there seemed to be a disturbance.
In the middle of the darkness stood a lonesome figure that completely contradicted the never-changing aspect of the dark world.
He moved, he spoke, he had thoughts, and he felt all kinds of emotions.
In a world that was never changing, this figure was different.
He was ever-changing and always moving, which disturbed the peace that was brought by the never-changing darkness.
The peace of the darkness was not only broken by the erratic movement of the figure but also by his voice, which boomed across the vast darkness as the man... cursed his heart out.
"Get out of me, you vile thing!"
William was currently squirming around the darkness and clawing with all his might at his chest, to the point that he had managed to draw blood from the deep scratches he left on his skin.
That damned purple orb had embedded itself onto William's soul not so long ago, and now he was trying his hardest to get it out of him.
"Ugh, this is pointless!"
With a frustrated yelp, William stopped clawing at his chest and sat down on the invisible ground of darkness.
"That thing has embedded itself onto my very soul... there is nothing I can do to get it out now."
Countless bad life decisions and bad luck had gone into creating this terrible present that he was facing currently.
Where could he even start?
Well, it probably started with him betraying his family, which led to him becoming not only homeless but also a criminal.
Then next was him meeting that weird-ass girl named Elss.
Then after that was him getting hunted down by a cult.
And then the cherry on top was him meeting Death...
The entity that literally represented the concept of death itself.
William wanted to ask the heavens what he had done to deserve this, but he decided against it, since the answer was pretty clear.
From betraying his family to planning to get an innocent girl killed by a cult, William knew exactly why he was in the situation he was.
"Ok, I know I did my fair share of sins, but... doesn't this seem a little... extreme?"
No one answered, of course, he was alone here.
Well, alone was better than when he was in the presence of Death itself, so that was a bonus.
"Alright, I need to calm down and put my brain to work."
He didn't know for how much longer he would be in this realm, however what he did know was that at some point he would be teleported to literally Hell itself.
So he needed to make a plan on how to survive literally Hell itself.
"How do I even begin to make a plan for that?"
William let out a long sigh, and then immediately got to work.
He started off by going over all the information he got by talking to Adam.
According to Adam, this place of darkness is a realm that is used to judge mortals on how they lived their lives, and then send them to either Hell or Heaven.
Pretty simple so far.
Of course, it was only simple if you accepted the insane revelation that Heaven and Hell were actually real and that there was also a judgment realm that picked who was good and who was bad.
Now the other pieces of information that Adam had given to him were so vague that William's brain hurt just thinking about it.
He was favored by Fate? What the hell does that even mean?
Was he joking or being serious?
If he was joking, then William did not find it very funny, but if he was telling the truth...
Wouldn't that make William unstoppable?
William waved a hand across the darkness.
"I am thinking ahead of myself."
Adam's statement was vague and had a good chance of being a metaphor or just a cruel joke.
So no, he could not just count on fate to save him and carry him into the sunset.
"Well, that sucks."
William crossed his legs and put his open palm on his chin to lay his head.
"Well, if fate won't help me, then maybe this weird orb might do the trick."
William had theorized that the purple orb that had embedded itself in him was one of the seven sins that were created by Satan... the Devil? Whatever you want to call him.
If his theory was correct, then was the situation really that bad?
He literally has an embodiment of a sin inside him—if that couldn't help him survive Hell, then what could?
"Maybe Adam was right, I might just be favored by fate."
William smiled with resentment visible on his face and sat up.
But then William stumbled.
"What's going on?"
The darkness of the judgment realm seemed to be convulsing.
"It looks like my time here is about to end."
William let out a sigh.
"Well... I'll try my best to survive, I guess."
William remained motionless for a while as if he was thinking back about something.
Then a slightly amused expression reached his face.
"Adam had proclaimed himself as a pillar of the universe, so now that I have merged with a sin, wouldn't that make me a..."
The darkness shook.
"Pillar of Sin?"
Then William was suddenly no more, and the quiet and peaceful darkness of the judgment realm was back with no one to ruin it.
Never changing and never moving.
For eternity.
_Chapter Ends_