“What will happen if I should succeed in destroying the artifact?”

Eva answers, “Honestly, that is up to you. It is just one world of billions. So long as you don’t ally with our enemy or build some superweapon that can destroy the universe, the upper brass only really care that the prayer energy and souls flow from that planet. So if you want to take over the world once the artifact is gone knock yourself out.”

“The more I learn the more I worry about how carelessly the universe is managed.”

Her answer sounds indifferent, “Give it a few thousand years and you’ll learn to tune it out like everyone else here.”

Is this really the right thing to do? I'm sacrificing any chance at a proper afterlife for people I don't know and the 'gods' don't care about...

Something where my heart should be, wants to go through with this and help them, but my head has a different opinion - and wins the mental coin flip. I can already feel the incoming remorse, but it is exactly as Eva said, in a few years it'll be forgotten and not matter anymore.

“I still feel unsure about the whole thing”, I object, “I really appreciate all the extra work you two did to comply with my unreasonable conditions but it still rubs me the wrong way. Sorry, but I can't see myself doing this. I'd like to go to the regular afterlife, please.”

Eva frowns, "Are you sure?"

I sigh, "Yes, I am. Sorry, but if even the rulers of the universe only pay the minimum of attention to the death of a whole world, I don't see how it is my business."

She's visibly dejected, tries to search for a final excuse but ultimately relents, "Alright, I understand. It really isn't your responsibility."

She's visibly holding back some tears but still complies with my decision. The whole process takes a while but soon she forces me back into the capsule I rested in, and what feels like just a short moment later, I wake up in a different, pure white room.

A very reassuring sign with "Welcome to the afterlife! This is your last stop!" greets me.

I look down and see I'm now back to being a transparent, person-like form. Couldn't make out any features if I tried. I leave the capsule I arrived in, it looks the exact same as the one I rested in at Eva's place.

Next to the room's exit door is a cabinet with pamphlets explaining what we can do in the afterlife and what is expected of us. To make a long story short, nothing. We can do what we want, enjoy existence or strive for enlightenment, learn, research, whatever floats our boat. The only requirement is that we don't cause harm to others. Food and the like are obviously no longer necessary since we're already dead but we can still consume them for enjoyment.

At the end of neverending legalese, it explains what to do in case you get sick of existing. Yeah, no thanks.

Aside from that, the pamphlet points out some locations to get started with a personalized adventure.

Next to the cabinet is a display of the last arrivals. No names, just numbers and a date. Seems like I was number 2022030119022420230425210637.

I step outside and see a neverending sea of lights and various buildings in styles ranging from ancient to futuristic. One side is covered in daylight, the other in night. Seems like you can just walk around for 5 minutes to change between daytime and nighttime activities at will.

I see a few people walking by and they are as non-descript as myself. I guess this is one way to let people start over and enjoy the afterlife in peace, hopefully no baggage from recognizing a bully from your old life or something.

While standing at the entrance and looking around, only half a dozen more people arrive behind me and then no one else anymore. Should that make me worried? Or they've just clocked out for the day, that'd work, too. Well, no one here seems to have a way to check on the world of the living, there's nothing I can do to investigate this strangeness.

I spent the next couple of months settling down, getting used to the neverending parties and other forms of entertainment in this new environment.

It is getting boring.

Despite trying my best all that time, I couldn't recall any single memory from my life before death. Not even knowing a name was quite an inconvenience, so I eventually adopted the name Jim. That was Dave's idea, by the way, he chose it after the tag-line of his favorite movie: Everybody is dead, Jim! And yes, he is an idiot.

Well, I made plans with Dave and some other new friends to visit the gaming center later today. But before that, I check the new arrival center again. Have really no new people arrived in all this time?

Seems like it, the display still shows the same date as when I arrived, just a few minutes later. The number of the last arrival was 2022030119022420230425210643. Just a few more than mine...

Maybe the arrival capsule is defective? Well, I feel like I had some experience with repairs of electrical devices in my life, so how hard could it be?

I crawl behind the capsule and look at a cover plate. Seems like it can be easily removed, just need a grip here, a pull there... and off it goes!

Creak

Now, what is inside? Uh, not much. Just a bluish, cylindrical crystal connected by two cables to the rest. I've no clue what this is so this should totally be easy! Just need a crowbar, a sledgehammer and a new capsule.

"Hey, what're you doing there? Your kind shouldn't be here!", shouts a deep voice from behind.

Surprised, I jump up and respond, "Uh, nothing much? I was just a bit bored and there haven't arrived any new people recently and..."

I turn toward the source of the voice and see a grumpy old man carrying a box of repair tools. Weren't we all incognito here? Why does he get to retain his physical appearance!? That is totally unfair! ...to him.

He sneers, "So you were thinking of doing my job? Tough luck, buddy. This is way beyond you."

"Is that so? Well, the name's Jim. So, uh, are you the repairman?"

"Todo. Now, please step aside before you break anything else."

I step aside, "Sure thing."

While he gets to work, I watch over his shoulder.

The grumpy man sits down where I was before and starts looking at the capsule's interior.

"Say, how did you even get in here? Everyone else is just a hallow white light but you seem different."

He grunts, "Trade secret."

"Fine, and how do you get out? You don't seem like you'll be here for long", just a strange feeling I got, as if he didn't belong on this side and will somehow leave soon.

He brags, "Jim, I know this is not your name but I'll humor you, Jim, if you have been doing this job as long as I have then even the impassible door between life and death will just be a minor inconvenience, nothing to get hung up over."

He taps the crystal with a wrench, scratches his chin, then rips the crystal out.

"Is it broken? Do you have a replacement for that?"

He glares at me, "Someone is asking a lot of questions. Do you intend to become my apprentice?"

I shrug, "Dunno, can I? It looks interesting at least."

Or at least less boring than... everything else around here...

"As if", he clearly doesn't like me. Was my first impression that bad?

Todo puts the faulty crystal into his box and takes a new one out, as well as some pliers.

Weird, I didn't see either the crystal or the tool in his box before. It was as if they sprung into existence just now.

Next thing I know, he slams the new crystal where the old one was then reconnects the cable with the pliers.

"Nah, not good enough", unsatisfied he slams the capsule and it starts whirring, "Now that's what I'm talking about."

"Percussive maintenance, huh..."

He grunts at me, "Say, who let you in? You shouldn't be here, should you?"

"Well, I guess not? As I said I was bored and..."

He stares me in the eyes, "Not what I mean. Your kind shouldn't be here at all."

"Hey, no need to get rude!"

He grabs me by the arm and drags me outside, "You don't get it, do you? Look! That's what you've done to my beautiful afterlife! Care to explain yourself!?"

"Explain wha-?", I go silent mid-sentence.

The town is gone.

In its place, is now... something. I can't comprehend what I see. It looks like someone took a shoddy video of some burning war ruins, converted that to greyscale, exchanged all white shades with green and downscaled the whole thing to 144p, and on top of it underled the whole thing with otherworldly noises.

Everything is both blocky and not. Some things look like a render or clipping error, others... are better not thought about, but Chtulhu would be proud.

The incomprehensible experience makes me physically sick.

My grumpy companion scolds me, "Do you see now the truth you had your eyes closed to? This, this is what I warned my children about for eons. What to watch out for, what measures to take... They ignored me! All they cared about was their independence, their personal freedoms. I let them have it, but now I'm certain, I shouldn't have."

"What are you-"

He ignores me, "They weren't ready. Neither of us was. Can you imagine? The last time I tried to help them, they refused to talk to me, their own creator, their father, for millennia. They said the Flood went too far, but there was no alternative. Your kind had already spread too far to contain, half the universe was beyond saving. And now, now it repeats."

What is he talking about?

He sneers, "Confused, huh? I'm sure you already know Gzeph Brightborough. You should talk to him about this the next time you meet. He could tell you a lot of stories about how they formed several cults just about this one event, the pointless wars they waged over their different interpretations. Tragic that you'll never have the chance to see him, or anyone else, again."

I try to protest, but no words leave my mouth.

Todo sighs as he stares toward the ruins, "Guess, we'll have to start over. Forgive me, little ones, but Father has to break his promise once again."

At first, nothing happens, but then an ominous wind starts to blow that almost knocks me off my feet.

Then with a sigh, he snaps his fingers, and an ear-splitting cracking sound follows, the low-res ruins disappear from reality, leaving just an eerie white space and absolute silence behind as if the afterlife never existed.

Did he, did he just kill everyone? What is going on here?

While I try to understand what I just witnessed, he mutters something under his breath, "Basluth, Besl'atoth, Graham, Hryf, ... Why did you stray from the path? Didn't any of you learn anything from the past? Thanks to you, everything repeats again."

Suddenly, he turns toward me and stares into my eyes, "Are you satisfied now, little Bug? Are you? Then begone and stay out of my universe!", then he snaps his fingers again and my body crumbles to dust.

I've still not the faintest clue what is going on or what I could've done to him to earn this anger...

I hear one final thing before my consciousness disappears for good, "I'm so tired of this..."