Chapter 62

Those words reverberated through my ears, and rang into my soul.

"I-I'm dead?"

The figure nodded, at least something told me he did.

"But you're not in the ethereal plane or in hell yet, you're in a realm between them."

My eyes widened, and I felt a rush of sudden adrenaline and heat rush through my veins.

"Which one will I be visiting?"

Just then a pair of sharp teeth protruded through the darkness, smiling within the tall figure's cloak. 

"You won't be dead for long."

Suddenly they reached their hand out, and all the corpses around me started to float.

"Why aren't they alive like me?"

I asked, looking back at the floating bodies which were slowly floating upwards through this realm.

"Because I wanted them dead."

Suddenly all of the symbols on their forehead began to glow, and strange, blue and purple cosmic energy began to drain from their bodies, before entering the palm of the figure.

"What are you doing?"

The figure didn't respond for a while, but after all the energy within the air entered his palm, they turned to look at me.

"I stole their differential properties."

They replied calmly.

"Their what's?"

I asked them, they paused again as if listening for something before raising their hand, causing the entire realm to shake, before a cluster of crimson flames descended from above, frying the bodies of the Nightshades before my eyes.

"It's what makes a Routeway different from others, in the realm between life and death, I'm in charge of taking the properties of their Routeways to prevent a possible problem in either plane after death."

"I would've stolen your properties if you even had a Routeway to begin with, but since your energy is so small at the moment it's not important or potent at the moment."

"But we're not here to talk about the properties of a Routeway, we're here to discuss what you're here for to begin with."

My eyes widened, as I walked a little closer to the figure.

"Why am I here, why aren't I anywhere else?"

The figure nodded their head slowly before speaking up.

"Well, have you ever felt like you had a purpose?"

I was dumbfounded by the question, but I felt like nodding.

"I've always felt like I had a purpose, to live like a human should."

They nodded after hearing my answer, before speaking.

"That purpose you said you have is mundane, repetitive and overall nonsensical, that makes your overall purpose seem like you're trying to find purpose to begin with."

Those words hit me like bricks, but they also seemed kind of true for a reason, so I continued to listen to what this entity had to say.

"Your purpose here, it's quite complicated and I'm completely aware of how you'd react."

He then reached out his palm, before slimmers of light condensed into it, before forming into a potion, which the liquid inside had a bright red aura.

"This is the potion for the next Order in the Routeway that you chose."

My eyes widened, I just drank the first potion a week ago, and I'm not sure if the control serum that I've been drinking will be able to accommodate these changes for long.

"What Routeway did I even choose to begin with?"

The figure then paused again, as if to purposefully densen the atmosphere and create a sense of dread, and strangely it worked, as I felt a rush of fear take hold of my body.

"The Apocalypse Routeway."

I felt my heart drop, but it also went to my throat at the same time, the old man who gave me the potion, I'm not sure he knew what he was doing if he gave me a potion with such a profound feeling and name to it.

"Apocalypse?"

The figure nodded, before turning around. Suddenly all the area around us began to move and shift, before the fog in the area began to condense in a particular spot, almost forming into a projection.

"This potion, it's the only one in existence."

Their tone was ethereal and louder than last time, as if they were speaking through a megaphone. I looked at the cluster of fog, and some sections of it started to change colors and morph into shapes and images.

"And the reason no one else drank it was because no one else was aware of its existence, not even the previous epoch scolors."

I watched as the images in the fog condensed and morphed into the shape of a giant figure, they had large black wings on their back and black horns on their head, along with crimson red hair that flared up.

"Is that..."

The figure nodded, before taking a hold of my shoulder, which sent a large shiver through my body, and an overwhelming sense of dread filled my mind as my thoughts and consciousness began to drift to another plane of reality and consciousness.

When I reopened my eyes, I saw myself inside an ancient looking temple, with illusory, red torches glowing brightly on either side of the temple, and within the temple were stories and images carved into the walls, reflecting ancient battles and rituals conditioned eons ago.

"What is this place?"

I turned around to face the figure, but they were nowhere to be seen, I was completely alone in this strange place.

I started to slowly walk through the temple, running my hands along the edges of the walls, feeling the engravings on the walls and shrines. I eventually came across a room, a large circular room with something, or someone in the center of the room.

Upon closer inspection, the "object" was actually a figure, lying down. They had numerous spears in their back, all their tips golden brown with rust, and blood coating the tips as well.

The figure was a man, with long black hair, and a pair of white wings on their back, and behind their closed eyelids they had golden eyes.

"Who's that?"

I walked closer to the figure and rolled them over, making the spears lodged in their back roll onto the stone floor with a large clank.

"He was the last person who tried to accommodate the properties of the Apocalypse Routeway, but unfortunately he wasn't the entity right for the accommodation."

I turned around and heard the voice of the figure, who stood in the doorway, watching me explore this place.

"What is this place, and who is that?"

I asked, pointing to the dead winged man in the center of the room, the figure looked towards the figure and smiled, at least something told me he did.

"He was an angel, right now you are in the previous epoch."

My eyes widened as I looked at my attire, but my face was quickly washed with blush as I realized I was naked.

"Did I time travel or something?"

The figure shook his head, before reaching his hand out and conjuring a strange artifact, it looked similar to the artifact that Aaron used to speak with Ransom's conjoined flesh body.

"How do you have that?"

I asked, walking over to the object before taking it from his hands gently.

"In history, one can summon anything they desire, but first you need to acquire that level of power." 

I nodded slowly, taking that into my understanding.

"Do you want me to talk with him or something?"

The figure nodded.

"Indeed, I won't be there to guide you along the divine path. You'll need all the information you can get from this angel, after all they are an Order 1 of this very Routeway, tipping towards godhood at the end of the scale."

I turned towards the dead angel in the center of the room, slowly walking towards him and kneeling down next to him, before taking out the artifact and tapping him on the head similar to Aaron's ritual.

Suddenly the room around me started to morph and change, before I re-entered the throne room with the angel, who opened his eyes and groaned in pain.

"Who are you?"

He asked, his golden eyes locked in my direction, before he stood up calmly and approached me.

"Answer my question."

His tone was calm and collected, but also rang with a cold and distant voice. I backed up a little bit, intimidated by the towering figure, but I had to speak or else it might do something awful to me.

"My name is Isaac, and I have to speak with you...if you're fine with it."