"What happened? Did what just happened to me all turn out to be one hell of a nightmare?" Eric groaned as he woke up.
He rolled and tossed around, not sure what he was doing. He had clenched his head while he faced up, looking at what seemed to be a milky white sky.
"Oh man, can somebody please decrease the brightness? My eyes can't really take it." He tried to use his hand to block the light, but it wasn't working; the light continued to pass through.
Eric laid there, not sure if where he was was actually a real place or just part of his coping mechanism. He felt defeated, like whatever he wanted to try nor even consider was just going to be a waste of time, which is something he assumed he didn't have.
He took a deep breath, kept his eyes locked on the brightness that doesn't seem to fade. He lowered his hand only for him to realize that the light that he believed was too bright and blinded him was not real.
"Where the hell am I?" Eric didn't bother himself to look for answers; he just lowered his guard and just looked around.
Where he was was a place that he didn't even know, recognize, nor even know that it actually existed. In cases like these, a dead person often finds themselves in a vast world of nothing but darkness that eventually at the far end of a distant tunnel there's a light shimmering faintly.
Not this time around. When it came to him, it was completely different, or to label it in simple terms, it was the complete opposite.
Just as he looked around at this vast and endless room of nothing but white, Eric couldn't help himself but realize that the so-called nightmare wasn't really a nightmare; it was his new reality.
"Fuck it, I'm really dead, aren't I?" He asked himself, defeated.
He heard faint footsteps walking around, but they weren't walking around close to him nor were they heading to his direction. These footsteps felt different and not in a way that could raise the back of his hair.
They felt safe and harmless. Since he was laying on the floor, he didn't do anything else but listen to them, and from right away, he could tell that they belonged to a lady and not just any lady, an elegant one.
After a few seconds close to a minute tops, the footsteps that belonged to a heel were now getting quiet and low. And just as he was trying to avoid moving around to give alert that he was alive—despite the fact that he knew whoever that person was, they weren't going to harm him—he still needed to remain safe.
A blow of gentle wind came, and Eric felt like something was running through his hands nicely and with a gentle touch.
"Finally, you have awoken. For a minute, I thought you were a goner." A beautiful female voice spoke. It was so gentle, calm, and kind.
Eric heard the voice and for sure he knew exactly where it came from, but he neglected by being oblivious or something.
He didn't say anything; he just pushed himself from the floor, sat up straight, and kept looking upfront, the opposite direction of where the voice came from.
"So are you really going to ignore me?" The lady asked.
"No, as much as I know that I can't, it still wouldn't hurt to assume that you are not real but in my head." Eric answered without any thought of whatsoever.
"Ah, so you know I'm real and I'm sitting right behind you, but you won't bother yourself to turn around and see who is talking to you?" The lady sounded quite intrigued.
"Ding, you guessed it." Eric raised a finger.
"Forgive me for asking, but isn't that considered... uhm, what's the word?" The lady paused. "Ah, right, I believe the correct term is rude." She remembered the word.
"From where this conversation is going, I can tell that you are the ruler of this place, so how about you be a good Goddess and reveal yourself to me?" Eric just slightly turned his head around.
"Mmm, for a mortal who has just died, you sure have courage. Since you've interested me, let me just do you this one solid." The lady agreed.
Eric felt himself slowly rotate to face the direction of the lady that he too had an interest in seeing.
"Wow, you are truly beautiful." Eric complimented her.
"Thank you." The lady smiled.
He had every reason to do so, and it just wasn't to get to her good side—though honestly, that's one of the reasons he did so—but he complimented her not according to his own free will. To him, this lady sitting in front of him appeared to be angelic, and though he'd seen so many beautiful women before, even from his work, hers stood out.
"Aren't you going to be respectful and greet me with respect or at least bow down before my presence?" The lady asked playfully, but the honest truth was she was amazed by how this guy wasn't crumbling to his feet.
"Uhm, I'm sorry, but what good is that going to do me?" Eric looked directly at her eyes.
"Pardon me?" The lady felt like she didn't quite catch that.
"I'm sorry, but I'm already dead, and by the looks of how you look, I think it's safe to say there's no need for me to go all out and try to impress you. So if you don't mind, can we get this over and done with? I really had a long day." Eric said without showing a flick of fear in him.
"How dare you talk to me like that! Do you even know who you are talking to?" The lady clenched her nails to her armbar.
"I'm sorry, I don't mean to disrespect you, but aren't you like death or something? Because forgive my misinterpretation, I thought you were supposed to be a dude, at least that's what I heard." Eric said strongly.
"How dare you think of me like that?" The lady was insulted.
"Am I wrong though?" Eric asked her.
It's not that Eric was wrong or what; actually, he was on the right track. The person that sat in front of him was none other than the Goddess of Death herself, and there were a few things that gave that away:
First, it was the fact that Eric found himself drawn not just to her beauty but to her, which is something that he never experienced. The second being that she was dressed in a wedding dress, but hers was different, more like it was a mourning dress, which was long, black, and shoulderless. Another thing which clarified and made things that obvious was that though she was wearing a dark veil, Eric still saw her.
"I should punish you for your insolence!" The Goddess said.
"Oh my word, can we just skip the back and forth conversation between us? I believe we wasted enough time already, and if this was a chapter from a book, I'm certain that as much as the reader is enjoying this, somehow they want to roll their eyes. So for their sake, can we skip to the good part?" Eric clapped his hands.
The goddess was left speechless, like the words she had at the tip of her tongue were now mistakenly swallowed back down.
"You imbecile and fool, I should pass your judgement now!" She was now getting agitated.
"Sweet, that would be perfect. Now, where am I going, heaven or hell?" Eric measured his hands.
Every word that came from him was like an activation code to the Goddess. As much as she was feeling agitated each time Eric spoke a word that felt like an insult to her, she wasn't just the only person changing, but also the whole place was changing.
It felt like it was having this decomposed presentation about it. From where she was seated, very smelly and inhuman-smelling molds from fungi to many were coming out of her throne, and not just her chair but also the walls.
The Goddess kept her eyes closed as she kept twitching, and her nails were digging deeper into her armbars; it was just a matter of time before they got bloodied.
Then suddenly, out of nowhere, everything went back to how it was before, back to normal.
"You know what? Before I give you the judgement that you deserve, I have a proposition." The goddess said calmly.
"And that is?" Eric showed interest.
"How about we play a game of wits? And if you win, I grant you a chance to choose where you want to go between the two realms. But if I win, I send you to whatever world I choose and you become my puppet, and before I forget, I will also erase your mind so you will have no recollection of this encounter." The goddess proposed.
Eric wanted to answer right away, but he stopped himself. As much as this was a good deal and it worked in his favor cause he was going to choose heaven obviously, he couldn't help but feel like he was being cheated.
"Alright, so what's the game?" He accepted.
"We'll play what you mortals call riddles. We'll do three out of three, and whoever gets the most correct wins." The goddess said.
"That sounds about fair, but wait, how are we going to know if one's correct and one isn't?" Eric raised a good question.
"Don't worry, we'll know." The Goddess assured him.
"Great, let's do this." Eric was excited.
Just as he was about to sit down, the goddess stopped him.
"Now hold your horses, let's set an arena first." She told him.
The goddess raised her hand and opened her palm. She blew in it, and the whole place began to shift and change.
What was once a pure white milky space was now blossoming with different flowers, and not just any flowers from: lilies, orchids, black roses, and many more which were actually death flowers.
And around them, a big unfinished building erupted from nowhere, and it was the same construction site that Eric died at.
Then the goddess's throne rumbled and went down to the floor. A brown small rectangular table appeared before them. It was one of those Japanese tea brown tables, and cushions appeared and they sat down.
"You ready?" The goddess asked Eric.
"Yes, and you may begin as you are a lady." Eric allowed her to go first.
"I'm impressed that deep within that shallow disrespect, you are a true gentleman." The goddess was surprised.
Honestly, Eric may have sounded cocky and confident, but the dark truth was that he was sweating like crazy, and he was freaking out cause he didn't know any riddles. Matter of fact, he sucked at puzzles.
Just as he was waiting, a piece of paper rolled in a form of a scroll appeared before the goddess.
"What is that?" Eric watched in disbelief.
"Oh, this. These are the riddles we are going to use so we can have a fair game." The goddess showed him the scroll.
"Okay, then you may begin." Though he didn't want to admit it, he was actually kind of relieved.
The goddess proceeded to unroll the scroll and read it.
"What has to be broken before you can use it?" She asked.
"An egg." Eric answered without even having to carefully think about it.
The scroll burnt into white flame.
"Correct, now it's your turn." The goddess passed the game to Eric.
A scroll appeared before him, and he grabbed it and unrolled it.
"What has many keys but can't open any lock?" Eric asked.
The goddess thought about for a second.
Then she answered.
"A piano."
The scroll floated from Eric's hand and it burnt into white flame.
"Which means you are correct." Eric informed the goddess.
Now it was the goddess's turn.
"What goes up but never comes down?"
"Wait a second, I know this." Eric told himself. "Oh wait, is it a person's age?" He answered but asked at the same time.
"Congratulations, you were correct again." The goddess was impressed.
The scroll appeared again before him and he took it.
"What has a head and a tail but doesn't have a body?" Eric read the scroll.
"A coin." The goddess answered.
The scroll went up in flames.
"You are right," said Eric.
They kept playing the game, and each time they got every riddle right without trouble nor breaking a sweat.
"Now we are tied at ten both sides. Now this better be a harder one you can give me." The goddess said to Eric,
who was now actually defeated and drained, and his brain and head was screaming with abnormal pain.
A scroll appeared once again before Eric.
And he read it: "What has one eye but can't see?"