Motion in Darkness

"Where..." A simple voice rang out in the empty void. "Where...am..I?"

Eyes shut, a single body floating in the endless abyss of oblivion. A man in his late twenties found himself still. He wore a short, red leather coat over dark jeans, his head concealed by unkempt dark hair.

"Am I.....moving?"

carefully, the man's closed eyes opened, his stark blue eyes blurry at first, but now coming into focus. above him lay a shadowy mist, a black cloud of vapor that seemed to cover a blatant reality. He found himself pushing his body upwards into a sitting position and suddenly, the cloud of darkness around him began to disperse. He was sitting on the floor of what appeared to be a train cabin. There was a large, comfortable seat on either side of him, and upwards behind his head stood a window. The cabin was decorated in faint, dull gray wallpaper and each seat was white.

Scratching the back of his head, he groaned, getting up and standing in the center of the cabin. he found the cabin cold and lifeless with a major lack of energy present. When his eyes fell on the window, though, his expression changed to a look of shock. Pitch black darkness stood outside the window. and as he took a step closer, his jaw dropped to find the train he was boarded on currently floating in darkness, with no tracks, no countryside, just an empty void of nothingness that stretched on for miles. Yet, the train chugged on.

"Surely this isn't normal, is it?" The man thought to himself, slowly backing away from the window. he found his back against a glass door and peering outside, he found an empty hallway. Black carpet, similar gray walls as was in the cabin, and several lamplike torches strewn across the walls.

Lifting his hand, the man gripped the door handle, carefully pushing it open, he stood in the empty hallway. He could feel the train move beneath him, wondering how it was the train could remain steady when it appeared to be floating in darkness.

"Ahh, awake are we?" A voice rang out behind him, and the man's head shot in the voice's direction. He found himself face to face with two beings, and upon seeing them, his legs felt numb, causing him to once more join the floor.

The first of the two beings wore a pair of gray cotton pants, well-knit and clean. He wore a white vest covered by a maroon jacket with golden highlights and a black tie well tucked into his jacket. The most stunning thing about him was his face- that of a jackal, pitch black with golden stripes around a cobra-like mane. The man had an old bronze cane with a ruby knob on top and his eyes were a valiant gold color.

The other man wore black pants similar to those of the jackal's, leading up to a black coat covering a gray vest. And like the jackal, his head too was not that of a human. Instead, t was that of a deer's skull, every detail sharp and shaped like something you would see only in imagination. He held a scythe in his right hand, A black oak cane attacked to a good four-foot blade arced downward and laying gently on his shoulder.

The human man looked up at these two beings in shock and fear and he felt himself trembling. The jackal gave off a strong, vibrant energy, while the deer gave off the opposite, cold and lifeless.

"Do not be afraid, mortal. I am Ahni." The jackal said, tilting his head and lowering his cane. Offering a hand to the fallen human, who hesitated, but reached up and allowed the jackal to pull him to his feet.

"I am Asraeus" The skull deer said, lowering his head in a bow.

The human man brushed himself off and opened his mouth.

"There isn't a need to tell us your name, Zachary." Ahni said, helping the human brush off his clothes. "We know who you are."

At that he turned to Asraeus, and nodded. "shall we head off now? He's going to be late." To which the skull deer nodded and the two of them stepped forward, walking briskly past the human who was left in confusion.

"Come along Zachary." Asraeus said. "We haven't a lot of time."

The human hesitated for a second, having only just met them moments ago. But curiosity got the better of him and he began to walk beside the two. He found it odd that they knew his name when he even couldn't remember it, as he'd been about to tell them.

As they walked, they passed by empty train cars one by one, every cabin empty, void of passengers. and the thoughts struck Zachary as odd.

"Why are... why are there no other passengers?" Zachary said, stopping for a moment to peer into a cabin through its glass door. "Are we the only ones on board?"

Inside the cabin, Zachary found himself staring at a woman and two children. Though they were moving around the cabin, and he could tell they were, none made a noise, and each was the mere shape of form void, just as a black mist was surrounding each of their bodies, they each looked like black clay molded into the forms of a woman and children.

The man backed away and turned his head to look at Ahni and Asraeus, both of which has stopped, turning their heads to look at him. They merely shook their heads and began moving again and tearing his head away from the door, Zachary jogged a bit to catch back up with them.

As they walked in cold silence, they stopped to allow Zachary to peer into a cabin once in a while. Each contained more and more of the black clay shadows, but not each had the same three people. some had man-like shadows, others several children, but each he found more confusing.

"They are your memories, Zachary." Ahni said. "though concealed that they may not hurt you." He said this as they made it several feet toward the end of the car they were in.

This notion caused Zachary to once again look up at Ahni, who merely met his gaze with an ominous grin. Finally though, after walking for several minutes, they found themselves paused at a closed door. Asraeus reached forward, grasping the handle and Ahni began to walk behind Zachary. As Asraeus opened wide the door, Ahni pushed hard on the human's back, easily shoving him into the open room.

Just as Zachary regained his footing, he heard the door shut and a clicking sound resounds. Panicking, Zachary rushed to the door but found it locked.

"Hold tight, Zachary. Judgment will befall you soon." Zachary heard Ahni say. Then he heard footsteps leading away from the cabin.

Zachary pounded on the wall, wondering why they locked him in. Frustrated, he turned around to see if he could find another way out. But there only lie an empty cabin. Much like the one he awakened in, aside from a mosaic of colors plastered on the walls. Zachary only found himself looking at the window though, as there was no longer just darkness. A scrawl of golden letters danced upon the glass.

Be ye good or Nigh? Sit mortal, judgement befalls ye soon.

Zachary raised a hand to his temple, running a hand through his unkempt hair, he fell to a sitting position and found himself sinking into the cushion of the seat. As he did so, the white cushions began to turn to a gentle green, and he felt himself looking forward.

Judgment? what could that mean?

"Judgment is when the scales weigh your heart!"

Abruptly, the man jolted out of his thoughts, he hadn't seen the young boy before him appear. but there sat before him a young boy, white pants like the ones Asraeus and Ahni wore, up to a Navy jacket and light blue vest. The boy had the head of a snow-white wolf with red markings and he seemed to smile up at Zachary.

"I am Okami!" The boy said happily. "I was brought here to welcome you, Zachary and help the others lead you to your Judgment day."

"But what is my... judgment?" Zachary asked, looking over at the strange canine boy.

"Oh? You don't know? It's the scales that will determine your fate! Were you a good person or a bad person?" The boy said, seemingly interested in what Zachary had to say.

"Good person or bad...." Zachary trailed off.

"Ugh, you adults are always so dumb! you died, sir!" Okami said, jumping.

"You died, sir..."

The thought rang through his head and suddenly a white flash appeared before Zachary's eyes. He saw glimpses of himself by a roadside one stormy night, then bright lights as a truck swerved off the road.

"I...I died...so does that mean I'm in... Heaven?" Zachary asked, once again taking a look around.

"No dummy! this is just the Train of Afterlife." Okami said, now standing up and gesturing to the train with extended arms.

"It's carrying you and your memories to the final station- Death Row. Where you'll go before the scales, Virgo. And have your heart weighed against the lightest feather!"

"Hold up! WHAT?" Zachary said, now standing up and staring down at Okami with a look of pure shock.

"The..the scales will determine whether you go to Heaven... or Hell...."Okami said, tilting his head and looking away from the man that was now scaring him.

"SO you mean to tell me... I died and now I'm taking a train to a scale that will tell me whether I was a good man or not?" Zachary demanded, staring down at the young cub beneath him.

"y-yes s-sir.." And suddenly, the scared boy disappeared in a puff of black smoke.

Zachary looked at where the boy had been, every word he'd said sinking into his brain before he felt himself buckling and falling into his seat, which turned a shade of yellow.

Zachary buried his head in his hands, trying his hardest to dig through his brain. But try as he might, he couldn't remember anything besides the moment he died. Every memory was gone, locked away and sealed inside another car of this forsaken train.

But Zachary gave a huff. If this truly was what the afterlife was like..if he truly was dead, maybe he simply needed to let fate run its course. He didn't want to go to hell, he'd much rather go to heaven, but his fate would be decided when he got to the scales. There was no changing or controlling his destiny.

And so as he turned to look outside the window, He stared outside into the eternal darkness of the afterlife, now hoping for the better.

The train of the afterlife chugs on regardless of where he wants to go... it'll take him to his destiny. And hopefully, it's a good one, cause he can't remember anything that says otherwise. That's a good sign, right?