86. The Gate

        ... Once again Zara found herself tied to the Lashing Post, she could see the whip coming, its spinning coil bigger than any whip she had ever seen before, wielded by the... The god of Death!!!

         "AAAAAGH!" She woke with a jolt, eyes wide open, hyperventilating, for a moment lost in transition... She glanced around the dark, damp room... Where was she?

         A bolt of pain shot through her head, she clutched her skull… It was wet… She looked at her hand, it was covered in blood! What happened?

         Mind frozen, thoughts went blank… There was no god of Death or Lashing Post in the room... Instead, there were bars… Bars everywhere she turned... Gradually she became aware of screams coming from somewhere below ground, her heart pounded in dread of knowing more, aggravating the pounding in her head. 

         She had no idea where she was, but she could see where she wasn't, this wasn't the Moha Lab. She was in a cell, surrounded by an entire room of cells. Cell after cell after cell, each with cots just like hers, for as far as she could see through the smoky atmosphere. There were bodies in black and blue robes laying on almost all the beds, they all had bandaged heads, some were moaning, most just seemed to be sleeping... What was this wretched place?

         The smoky stench that filled the room only added to the discomfort, she could smell where she was, it was somewhere really unhealthy. Awakening rapidly to her ominous reality, she grew aware of the fact that this certainly wasn't the Promised Land as promised! Suddenly a terrible thought occurred. Had she gone to Hellias? 

        The girl in her neighboring cell seemed to be the only other aribu sitting up, awake. "Where am I?" she asked, panicked.

         "Shhhhh!" The girl held her finger to her lips.
         Zara winced as a stabbing pain shot through her head once again, she noticed her cell mate had a bloody bandage on her head, too. "What happened to your head?"

         "Shhhhh!" She hissed again, louder. "You'll alert the guard!" She gestured towards the reception nervously. "My name is Sophia" she replied in a whisper. "I'm a Scribe. I mean, I was a Scribe. I'm expired now. And you?"
         "My name is Zara" she replied, looking out now for the sight of a guard. "I'm from Infrastructure... Pretty sure I'm expired too. Cow Goddess."

         "Cow Goddess?" Sophia echoed, impressed, she pressed her hands together in a silent prayer. "I owe you my Honor then!"

         She owed her? Zara glanced down at the medal, hanging from her neck... It was real. She didn't know how to feel about the Honor anymore as the unwanted memories of the ceremony began to drift back like bad dream reruns. She scanned the room nervously now, still struggling to focus, it was like she had woken up from a really bad dream into a really bad dream. Her head was spinning in circular throbs like a pendulum banging through her brain. Dizziness derailed her thoughts before she could finish them, ghastly smoke and smells intoxicated her lungs, burning her throat. She tried not to breathe the acrid air, but she had to breathe. 

         She turned to Sophia again as the worries cemented, noticing she was wearing a gold medal too... "Where am I?" she asked again, afraid there been some terrible mistake. It felt horribly like she was heading to Hellias if she wasn't there already. "Is this... Hellias?"

         Sophia shook her head, smiling reassuringly. "No, don't worry, it's only The Gate" she tried to calm Zara with a smile.

         Only the Gate. It helped. Zara let out a heavy sigh as she contemplated this new adventure. Sophia would know, she was a Scribe, that meant she had knowledge of the ancient operating systems, she knew all about the hidden cultures, myths, legends and folk lores of the past. She knew what was true and what was not.
         "We're going to the Promised Land" Sophia elaborated farther, "but we have to go through the TLS Program first. The Program will make sure that our souls are pure, think of it as an insurance. If we didn't have a chance to cleanse our souls, then most of us would end up in Hellias!"

         "Cleanse our souls?" Zara echoed, wondering now. The myths of soul cleansing weren't pretty, they involved Sin Confession, the Goddess of the Earth was one of the mythical monsters that gave her nightmares to this day. Was this all just a really bad dream? She pinched herself and felt the pain, it was real. She scanned the room again, breathed the acrid smoke, studied her bloody hand, it all appeared to be very real... Her attention drifted to the other cell mates, many of them were also wearing medals, just like hers. 

         "We're all expirees?"

         "Sssshh!" Sophia nodded.
         It didn't feel as good as Sophia suggested it ought to feel. "What's all the screaming about?" Zara whispered out loud.

         "It's nothing to be afraid of" she whispered as loud as she dared, seemingly unaffected by the horrific sounds and smells around her. "Sin Salvation is the first Lesson of Soul Supremacy. No pain, no gain."

         "No pain, no gain?" The nightmare was about to become real. "Does the pain actually hurt?" Zara was about to start panicking for real, too now.

         "It's not our screams that you hear" Sophia explained, "it's the evil demons screaming as they are released from your soul. Only after the Goddess of the Earth eats them are we are safe to continue on our journey to the Promised Land."
         "Oh..." Zara swallowed hard. Images of the Earth Goddess already imprinted in her mind since Culloom days were terrifying... They told her it was only a text book myth... Suddenly she was terrified of what she knew not, she felt like she was about to have a heart attack, her worst nightmares were literally coming true!

         Sophia could sense her fear. "You'll be fine" she assured, smiling kindly. "There's no need to fear the Goddess of the Earth, she's your friend." She tried her best to help Zara relax. "She's there to help you, all you have to do is confess your sins and she'll guarantee you a safe journey to the Promised Land. It's easy!"