[WP] “Hell has Satan, Heaven has God, and Purgatory has me.” It reached out to shake your hand. “Welcome to my domain.”

I looked across the vast expanse of grey surrounding me and found it void of all life. Desolate and monotone. It was as if the earth had loss its colour, and life its vigour. There was no music in the air but the soft whisper of the wind.

Then I saw something appear before me.

It had a form that was human, yet it was unlike anyone I had ever seen. The way every feature of its face arranged themselves in such perfection was fundamentally incomprehensible to my mind; it was like trying to spot the pointed edge of a circle.

"Welcome to my domain."

Its lips remained unmoving, yet I understood ever word form its mouth as if it were speaking directly to my soul.

"You may have wondered why it is that you stand here with me and not with the maker in paradise, or with the jailer deep below in the abyss. Were that I knew, I would tell you. I do not judge the fate of mortals. But I can tell you this."

Suddenly there was a flash in the sky, and the ground beneath me trembled. The earth moved and groaned with such ferocity that I thought the sky itself was going to fall.

"Baptise yourself with toil. Wound your soul through trial and you will reach paradise. This is my promise."

In the place of the empty horizon, I now beheld a tall mountain. Its peak surpassed the sky itself and seemed to reach to the heavens. And then I heard at once the shuffling of a thousand feet, slowly moving in unison towards a single goal: The mountain.

A song slowly weaved itself into my ears, soft and distant it seemed, and yet close like a whisper. It was dissonant, yet perfectly musical and pleasant.

It reminded me of home: the taste of food, the warm embrace of a parent, the loving gaze of a spouse, the laughter of a child. It called to me, and I knew I had no choice but to follow.

I joined the crowd and made my way to the mountain.

/r/WritingPrompts Thread