No way in Heaven or Hell - Afterlife Series Book 1

Chapter 1 - Cethiel - part 2

So for the next few hours, they did a lot of talking. Laera told her as much as she could think of about Cethiel, insisting for example that there were loads of cute guys.

"So what do you guys do around here, exactly?"

"Well, I guess you could say not much. Everything is pretty much handed out to you. Makes people lazy, I guess, but I mean, it's supposed to be Heaven, right?"

"..."

"But I probably forgot some things, so you can always check the library if you want."

"Yeah, I think I will, thanks."

After all, if she was to be here eternally, it was best she knew where she was. So for the next few days, she spent several hours a day reading up on Cethiel, and Thendaria, which she understood as the opposite. Where in Cethiel you were in peace and luxury, Thendaria was a place of hardship and unhappiness. Well, Hell was supposed to be an eternal punishment, so it made sense. From what Eliana was able to find, Cethiel had always been ruled by a queen and Thendaria by an emperor. The current emperor was Zerelus, a descendant of Hades, if Eliana's information was correct. As for Phaedra, she was a descendant of Theseus's illustrious wife, in love with her stepson and jealous of his love for another woman. Apparently, some people had questioned her capability as queen, but she had soon proved all their doubts to be unnecessary. In some ways, Cethiel and Thendaria's histories reminded Eliana of the many myths from Ancient Greece. Thendaria's stories were of course darker than Cethiel's. Like how Zerelus had killed his father who refused to give up the throne to him. Because unlike Cethiel, rulers weren't chosen. It was a matter of affiliation. You had to be related to the first Emperor, Hades. This meant hoards of candidates were ready if ever there needed to be a replacement, because many people wanted a piece of the throne; As a result, strict examinations were done to corroborate any claims one had to the throne, and in the end, the one most closely affiliated to the last emperor took over when he passed.

One morning (or she supposed it was, she had no idea how time went here), three days after she'd first arrived, Eliana was walking along the streets (or she supposed that was what they were), not quite confident enough in her flying to move around that way, mainly because she had no idea how, and also to just look at the scenery. At one point, she heard what she thought was the sound of metal clanging. Was it a blacksmith? What would he be there for, if everything came just when you wanted it? Intrigued, she followed the sound. Turning round the corner of a large cream-colored house, and saw several people, all older than her, sparring.

"Yes, that's it, you're getting better!" said a voice.

Eliana looked and saw it belonged to another man, standing a little way away. The instructor, she supposed. But then, she looked more closely at the men sparring. One of them reminded her of someone she didn't want to think about. She felt resentment boil inside her, and marched away. After a moment, she breathed in to calm herself. She was surprised at her reaction. She'd known she'd never forgive her father, but she hadn't expected to feel that much anger just by seeing someone who looked like him... and come to think of it, everything she sensed, felt, saw, seemed a lot more forceful than when she was alive. She returned to Laera's (who insisted it was her home too), and found her reading in a hammock.

"Hey..." Eliana said as she came in.

"Hi," Laera replied without looking up.

After a second, however, something seemed to alert her, because she turned to Eliana.

"Hey, is everything okay?" she asked, seeing her friend's expression.

"Yeah... it's... Did you feel different when you first arrived?" Eliana wanted to know.