"Purgatory? What does you mean purgatory?"
The tension in the room wrapped itself around the crowd like a stranglehold. The statue gazed down at them with its flaming red eyes and everyone had questions, a million questions running through their minds but the immense energy emanating from the being filled them all with so much fear they dare not speak.
"Hey!" William screamed at the statue and everyone around him gasped; they feared he had doomed them all.
"Alright, where's the exit?" William said with a reckless abandon. "I've got a busy day ahead of me, and I'm not looking to get scammed,I'm even broke really….. So just point me to the exit and I'll be on my way."
"Hey kid shut up already, it's gonna kill us all."
'Kid? What do they keep calling me that?'…. "I know this trick, the wizard of Oz, you create a false presence to lure them in, while you pull the strings from behind…. It's a complexly and simple trick, just don't let him take your money."
Some couldn't deny William was speaking sense into an otherwise senseless situation, many wanted to believe that he was right and before he had finish a large portion of the crowd had grown to share his sentiments.
Then the statue raised its hand and pointed its brittle finger d at William. Everyone around him scurried away and in a matter of moments he was left standing alone.
William didn't move an inch,he stood still and didn't believe for a single moment that he was in fact in purgatory.
"What a load of horse shit!"
A bright red light emanated from the tip of the statue's finger and a bit of doubt began creeping into his mind.
"SO YOU'RE CERTAIN YOU'RE IN A DREAM?"
William defiantly stood his ground while everyone around him shuddered in fear.
"Yes!"
The statue smiled and a coupled streaks of lightning shot out of the it's finger and William could only watch as they all rained down on him.
No way this is real right? Right?...
His thoughts were cut short as the blast of energy obliterated him, sending him across the room in a splash of blood and bones. Bits of his remains washed against the crowd and those covered in his blood screamed in horror
They looked at the statue as it glared at them and they knew they shouldn't have expressed their fear. Someone had been blown to bits before their eyes and all they could do was swallow every bit of fear and tension they felt.
The statue stretched out its hand again and everyone gasped and backed away as fast as they could.
It snapped its fingers but nothing happened, it snapped it fingers again but still, nothing.
The lights in its eyes dimmed as to it this was an oddity. It's eyes narrowed on the poll of blood and the uncertain was eating away at the crowd
Whats is he doing? What is he going to do next? They wondered as the remains of William Chandler seeped into their clothes.
******
William slowly opened his eyes,
"William," someone called his name, he was dazed and confused but still he answered,
"Yes, who is it?"
"William! Look at me William."
All William couldn't see a thing, the whole room was spinning but he could feeled seated maybe around a table but he wasn't sure
"We're running out of time William."
"Time for what, William cried, ouch my head."
"You're just what we've been waiting for."
William wasn't mentally ready to know where he was, let alone what all this meant.
"My head hurts."
"It'll pass."
"Who are you?" William asked but there was no name, no face, just a spinning room.
"We have to do this before you're pulled back, give me your hand William."
"My hand? Why? I don't understand." The room spun faster and faster and William felt like his brain would be flung out of his head at any moment.
"You will."
William felt his hand reach out on its own like it was being pulled forwards by an invisible force but he felt nothing touching him.
"What's going on," he said, then he wrinkled his face from the constant pain in his head. "Why is my head pounding?"
"That's because he's trying to pull you back."
Suddenly William felt a strange presence wrap around his hand then an energy surge into a him like an insurmountable jolt of electricity.
He felt like a balloon taking in too much, like he'd explode any moment and in the sight of that the spinning didn't matter much any more.
"What are you doing to me!? William screamed.
"Don't worry." The voice said.
Soon his whole body began to shake, William could feel every little of himself vibrating at an insane rate,every atom moving to a different rhythm.
"No!" The stranger cried. "You said it wouldn't be like this!"
"I tweaked it as best as I could, could it be that he's not compatible?"
"We have to let him go."
"No, that'll kill him for sure."
"He's been dead twice already."
William felt the energy subside and his mind began to collapse, but he could still hear them as their voices grew fainter, fainter until he fell unconscious.
"Do you think that'll be enough? "
"A bomb has to be massive, I don't think he'll destroy enough but let's see. Send him back"
*******
YOU'RE ALL DEAD, YOU'VE LIVED YOUR LIVES IN WASTE AND PLEASURE, THERE'S BEEN NO MEANING TO YOUR EVERY WAKING MOMENT AND YOUR DEATHS HAS MADE NO DIFFERENCE TO THE WORLD YOU'VE LEFT BEHIND.
BUT DON'T DESPAIR, ALTHOUGH YOUR DEAD AND BURIED, IT CAN ALL BE OVERWRITTEN, I CAN GRANT YOU A SECOND CHANCE.
IF YOU COMPLETE ALL MY TRIALS YOU'LL EARN THE RIGHT TO CHOOSE BETWEEN A RICHER AND MORE WEALTHY LIFE IN THE PHYSICAL WORLD OR TO LIVE HERE FOR ALL ETERNITY!
Like a god speaking from the top of a mountain they all listened with rasped attention, without a single thought of their own.
NOW!
The walls shook as he spoke.
I WILL GIFT YOU ALL WITH A SPARK OF MYSELF…..
A spark of lightning shot out of the crystals on the jagged roof and interrupted the statue which in turn broke every one from its hypnotizing hold.
Then a bright white light shot of the crystals and a figure fell out of the light, it was a lean boy, maybe in his late teen or very early twenties.
He hit the floor, face first into the bloody remains of William chandler.
The lights in the statue's eyes dimmed as he watched the young boy get up.
"Hey it's the kid that's got blown up."
"Hey! Who are you calling a kid?" It was William and still he hadn't noticed that he had been deaged and was getting very annoyed at people who looked like his juniors calling him a kid.
William pulled himself up and saw his reflection on the poll of blood.
"What? Why I'm I so young!"
He raised his head and looked at the statue without a single shred of fear, then he got on his feet and screamed at it.
What the hell did you do to me, you big pile of rocks.
The statues chuckled and said.
YOU WERE DESTROYED AND WILL BE DESTROYED AGAIN IF YOU CARRY ON.
"What gives you the right to toy with our lives!"
YOU'RE DEATHS HAS BESTOWED ON ME THE DIVINE RIGHT TO DO AS I WILL, AND YOUR LIVES MADE SURE YOU DIED WITHOUT MEANING.
YOU HAVE NOWHERE TO GO BUT DOWN, THE DEPTHS OF DESPAIR IS WHAT YOU ALL DESERVE BUT REDEMPTION, REDEMPTION LINGERS ON FOR THOSE WHO CAN TAKE IT.
NOW HERE'S YOUR SHOT WILLIAM, WHAT WILL YOU DO!
William gritted his teeth, It's words had struck so close to home, but still he stood defiantly and cursed it through his teeth and the statue chuckled again.
YOUR SOULS HAVE BEEN PLACED IN THE EXACT REPLICA OF YOUR BODY AT IT'S PRIME CONDITION, SOME YOU ARE OLDER, YOUNGER, STRONGER BUT HOW EVER YOU HAVE IT KNOW YOUR PROWESS IS AT IT'S PEAK.
YOU MUST BE IN PRIME CONDITION FOR THE NEW WORLD!