Arrival

Standing at the Gates of the Underworld, all Dabria could see before her was an endless sea of crimson. These scarlet flowers bore no leaves and were sentenced to an eternity of desolation, lighting up the pathway for the wandering souls.

She couldn't remember when was the last time she saw such a beautiful and naturalistic scene unfold before her very eyes. After all, for the past few years, the only signs of nature she enjoyed were from scrolling through social media posts from the comfort of her bedroom.

So this was Wang Chuan. With the dominating fields of Bi An Hua, it was the spitting image of the mythology book she secretly treasured. More than once, she had mapped the entire Underworld as a world-building exercise for her virtual reality creations during her sleepless nights.

With just her fingertips, she could trace out the entire scene. Or at least, so she thought.

But seeing the entire landscape before her, she still didn't quite know what to feel.

Without warning, the heavy iron gates creaked open.

"What? You've never seen facial recognition?" The agent in white scoffed. "Come on, time is ticking."

A line of blue glowing hoverboards stood by the other side of the gate, and with a few swipes of the U.B.I. badge, three automatically unlocked. Yeah, nevermind, this wasn't the mythological world full of swirling ancient relics Dabria had once imagined.

"Hop on." The seemingly lighthearted comment sounded more like a command.

Dabria hesitantly put one foot forth and then another, lowkey wondering if the hoverboard was going to immediately topple over. She was never the best with balance, and she never even learned how to ride a bike.

Heck, she didn't even know how to jump! And that was supposed to be a skill you were born with!

If her heart still beat, it would have been thumping by now and threatening to burst outside her chest cavity.

She daintily put one foot forth.

However, as soon as she stepped on, it was almost as if she was standing on a still platform. Much to Dabria's surprise, it was almost like second nature. The light from the hovercraft naturally blended in with her now-translucent skin in an auto-locking mechanism. Even the ride was eerily smooth, and there was practically no drag force.

As if a lightbulb suddenly lit up above her, Dabria realized with a stroke of genius that this was ghosts' signature floating mechanism. Why do ghosts drift through air? Why do they not have feet? Bingo. She felt like Sherlock Holmes. No, she was Sherlock Holmes.

All around her, souls mulled around, blending into one another. Some wore ancient outfits and others carried selfie sticks. Dabria was pretty sure she saw a sword somewhere too. Hopefully, it wouldn't be used on her, though she wasn't quite sure how she would die again either. Subconsciously, she clutched onto her own funerary good, her virtual reality headset.

As they sped down the winding yellow road, ironically, Dabria realized that the scarlet flowers she had been marveling at were, in fact, holographic projections. Each petal was perfectly captured, rustling as souls hurried by.

"Yeah, maintaining actual Bi An Hua was too costly, and the Boss opted for those instead. With the influx of more and more souls who aren't willing to pass on, the budget had to be cut short in some places, and the flowers were the first to go."

A heavy mist drifted about, painfully reminiscent of the smog that haunted the entire landscape in her past life. She could see no end to this road.

"Coming up on your left is the Stone of Three Lifetimes. If you stand there, you can peer back to the past, review the present, and preview the future." If they weren't rushing forward at full speed, this almost reminded Dabria of a leisurely tour. "Of course, your memory will be wiped once you drink the Soup of Forget, so it's not like it'll help."

"What about the lives before that?" Dabria peered to the side, catching a glimpse of gray that was blocked out by mobs of souls before seeing it fade back into the mist.

"You do VR, come on, you have to know that RAM needs to be cleared so that the system doesn't lag like hell." She was met by another sarcastic remark.

"Also, to your right is the Gazing Platform. If you're not too busy being pushed out of the way by the mob behind you, you can see what's happening in your most recent life and the events that occur after you died."

But even if they could stop, there was nothing left for Dabria to see in her past life. She would probably stare at her slowly decomposing body. One day, someone would complain about the stench, and the police would find her long dead. Yeah, it was better for her to not be curious.

"What about that?" Dabria pointed to the flickering light in the distance. A giant neon sign reading "Judgement" flickered in the horizon, barely obscured.

At the end of the road, a skyscraper loomed into view. But with the white paper lanterns hanging off the rooftops, it had a distinct oriental aesthetic. Nearing the building, the number of ghouls seemed to grow exponentially, packing into one another in a long snaking line.

"Excuse us." The two agents parted the crowd, essentially cutting the long line, and they were greeted with sideways glances of fury. If looks could kill and if Dabria wasn't already dead, she was sure that she would have a dagger stuck in her heart by now.