Torc opened his eyes after what felt like an eternity.
He was in a vast grassy plain, but the grass wasn't green. Nor was the sky blue, or the sun yellow. Instead, everything was dyed red, as if God had poured a red paint bucket on everything that was, is, and could ever be.
Even his skin was red, which made Torc feel like something had happened to his eyesight. He tried to remember what happened, but the memories of the previous day had already mostly faded, as if the events had actually unfolded months ago.
He tried to jog his memory by repeating what he knew.
I'm a Gold-Ranked Adventurer from Thin Creek Village. My parents are... Rey and Cherry, and my favorite food is... well I haven't had much but I guess I'd say I like beef patties.
The last thing I remember was... I was fighting? Oh... I died... somehow. But how am I here then?
Is this the land of the dead?
"Well, land of the dead is one name for it. You're in Hell." a calm voice said from behind. It sounded like Torc's father, but when he turned, the only thing behind him was a red mannequin. No face, no eyes, no mouth.
"Yes, it's me." the mannequin spoke again, though Torc couldn't tell where its voice had come from.
"I'm in Hell? Does that mean I was a bad person in my life?" Torc asked.
"Bad person? That's relative." the mannequin replied.
It hovered in the air and moved closer to Torc while its legs were still unmoving, rotating around his body as if it was inspecting him. "You had a good relationship with your father, I can see in your memories. If he killed someone, does that make him a bad person?"
"Not necessarily, he could have been protecting me." Torc replied simply. He knew his father very well, and he would never do anything without reason.
"I remember him. He was a... friend." Torc replied with a light smile, happy to hear the boy was still alive. Judging by the mannequin's evaluation of the World, it seemed that William was causing quite a deal of trouble.
"Oh." the mannequin became silent.
Torc looked over, "You seem to know a lot. Who are you, if you don't mind?"
"Ah! Finally he asks who I am!" the mannequin's attitude did a complete 180 as he spun around quickly in the air. His body floated higher and higher, changing colors from red to blue to green, purple, orange, and all other colors one could think of.
From out of nowhere, a set of streamers came in from both sides of the mannequin while confetti blasted from his shoulder blades into the air. His arms spread out from his sides as his voice spread throughout Hell, the first actual movement other than rotating his body.
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"I!" he shouted animatedly from above. "I am Hel! And this is Hell, my World! And you, for your noble death, have been offered a second chance at life! Become one of my Generals, and your future will be as bright as the star that illuminates my World!"
Torc looked at the colorful display with a blank expression. It was the first color other than red he had seen since dying, and he had to say it wasn't exactly the best experience.
Not to mention, the sun here wasn't very bright, so Hel's words weren't very inspiring...
Hel floated down from his position and touched down on the ground, "Well? What do you say? Do you want to follow me for eternity and bring new light to this World?"
Torc didn't know what else to say. He was already dead, so he didn't have much control over his current situation. Hel was clearly very powerful to control an entire World.
Maybe Hel even knew of a way back to his old World.
"Sure, why not?"