Chapter 20: Gods

The human realms were now being ruled by a pantheon of fake god-like constructs, Their origin unkown. These gods decided the fate of the souls of deceased human bodies, and they governed the human realms. Using their powers as seeing fit.

"This is interesting." Charon said in an intrigued, mechanical, celestial voice. He was looking at the current battle happening in Na'hram pass. Charon consisted of a glowing white core in his middle, surrounded bu ebony, sharp, geometrical shapes, rotating around it.
He was the god of passage. Charon greeted human souls that have died for the first time and was obliged to give them all the same choice: Be judged at this very moment and go to either the Aether or the Hypocosmos, or start a life in a different realm with a goal of doing enough good deeds in said realm to outweigh the sins of the soul's previous life.

Charon was considered a neutral god. He simply acted as a messenger, a gateway from the astral realm, to all the different human inhabited worlds.

"Maybe we should stop sending skilled humans in this realm..." Ordis, the god of balance, was also observing the same fight, along with all the other gods. He had the form of a faceless, glowing white human split in half, and his voice was monotone, stoic, and also celestial sounding. A fancy, antique looking scale could be seen on his left arm, and a sword on the other. A radiant halo made of light radiated around his head.
"Come on! This is way more fun though!" Amarthia, the god of sin, spoke with a devious, playful, and astral voice. Her form resembled what looked like an attractive female human body. She had no face, but her mannerisms and expressions were always bright and playful.
"I agree with Ordis. We need to stop this!" Aritus spoke with a heavy, and emotional voice. He was the god of virtue. His form resembled a male human statue made of marble, dressed in white and red robes, with a crown of thorns, made of crystals, being in the place where his head should be. A strong light was being emitted from his head.

"Shut it, you three. The whole purpose of this realm is that it should be as close to hell as possible. This is where we send all the sinners." Charon said in a commanding tone, and the other three gods quickly obeyed and continued observing the fight.
"All of them are going to the Hypocosmos anyway, it doesn't matter." Ordis made this realization.
"Seeing as they are so recklessly using their unnatural abilities, I have to agree with you." All sense of devilishness was gone from Amarthias voice as well as facial expressions. She was a god after all, and she didn't forget that. She had to act like one.

According to the laws of rebirth, all humans who are placed into a different world, must not use the abnormal abilities they had gained in their previous lives. These abnormal abilities included everything that was not common among all humans, in all universes. Things like magic, transformations, spells, and such. Infringing this specific law resulted in a guaranteed lifetime in the Hypocosmos.

"They clearly don't care about the laws. Morons like them seem to be incapable of thinking long term. We'll see how much fun they'll have in the Hypocosmos." Aritus spoke scornfully, with hate.
"Charon, you have quite a few guests to greet. We should get to it." Said Ordis.

Many souls were lined up to be judged, the gods always had work to do.

"We have time. We have all the time. There is no need to rush. Watching these conflicts is the only amusement I have, so let me have it." Charon spoke lowly, with the tiniest bit of sadness in his voice.

***

"W-W-Wha-at.. Do you mean? Where am I?!"
"Calm down and make a choice before I make the choice for you. Speak. Quickly now."

Charon was dealing with another soul, a few minutes after the conflict in the wasteland between the wizards and the soldiers had finished.
"Dammit..."
"Quickly."
"Fine! I don't care! Judge me now, whatever. I know I've lived my life in virtue!" The human man in front of him sounded defeated. He was a middle aged man with medium length black hair, and a hole in his chest, where his heart should be. his brown jacket was littered with dried blood, He had just finished a messy encounter, leaving him dead. Now he was here.

A loud ringing was sounded in the man's ears, and next thing he knew, three figures stood in front of him, in this bizarre astral realm he was in. Aritus on the right, Amarthia on the left, and of course Ordis in the middle between the two of these opposing forces.
"Just get this over with already, send me to hell or heaven or whatever..." He looked down, gazing at the purple-blue amalgamation of stars and galaxies. He felt like he could almost see his home planet amongst this mess. He could imagine his wife being somewhere in there, holding his child dearly.

"Jonathan Farhan, your trial begins. Aritus, what do you have to say?"
Aritus stepped up, closer to the human. Even though Aritus had no eyes, not even a face, Jonathan felt as if he was being watched intently.
"Petty crimes aside, you have killed a man. We cannot ignore this, Ordis, Amarthia!"
"B-But I-"
"I know John, I know... You did it to save your wife and your kid. Quite a noble cause."
"Aritus does have a point. But shouldn't intent be more important in this case rather than the fact?" Ordis questioned both of them. Trying to balance two opposing forces.
"The fact is that a man lost his life because of the soul we have right here! Do you want me to start listing his other crimes as well?" Aritus shouted. He was getting riled up, like usual. He was definitely the most emotional out of these three.
"Oh, you can list any crime you want. All I see here is noble causes all around! Everything our dear John has done here is for his family. Have some sympathy, Aritus." Amarthia said in a dispassionate tone.
"Crimes are crimes. If you need to live and support a family, the only way to do that is to work hard! None should result to theft, much less murder." Aritus crossed his arms. His logic was... sound?
"Let's say that the crimes are outweighed by the nobility of his causes. If we ignore all that, are there any other notable events that will help us decide this man's fate." Ordis said calmly.
"Jonathan." Aritus lowered his voice and talked directly to the poor soul in front of him.
"What?" Jonathan was in awe. Tears were starting to form beneath his eyes, a contrast to the nostalgic smile on his face, that was reminiscing old memories.
"Why did you tell that kid in school those things. That person ended up taking their own life. Can you feel how wrong that wears upon your soul?"
"..." Jonathan had nothing to say.

And so the gods went on, deciding the fate of billions of humans every day.