All Hail The Queen Of Hell

33) To the heavens

******MELANIE******

I knew. Deep down, I could feel that something was about to happen.
I had, after all, offended one of the deities. They would come for me sooner or later.

But before they did, I had to bid farewell to my best friends.

"What do you mean you're leaving?" Phil squeaked frowning.

Aggie remained quiet, but her moist eyes betrayed her feelings. Maybe in their next life, we'd meet, and I could explain things clearly. Even if I narrated the entire story, I'd sound crazy.
It was better not getting them involved. From what I had heard from Axle, the Supreme god had the power to kill a mortal's soul...destroying any chance of it ever being reborn.

There was a painful scorching in my chest as I gazed at the two sitting on the other side of the table.

Goodbyes were really hard.
But I couldn't afford to lose this chance to say it to them. They deserved it for being there for me for years.
But now, my path had changed. My existence was no longer insignificant as before.

I looked around at the empty cafe filled with only sunlight and smiled internally. Did heaven have such places?

Would I even get the chance to explore?

As Castor had explained, my sin was deep. And the cabinet would need to sit down and decide on the kind of punishment I'd be given.

"Don't worry guys, we'll meet...soon."
It was a lie, one I wanted to believe. A beautiful lie.

Aggie dashed from their side of the booth and slipped onto mine. With a pained smile, she took my hands. "As long as you'll keep in touch, we'll be fine."

How was I to keep in touch when in prison?

"Of course." Another lie.
This one was to protect their feelings.

Staring at each other through teary eyes, another hand joined ours from the other side. Phil was standing, leaning on the table to share in this small farewell.

"I'll miss you so much." I cried, tears escaping their cages.

As they fell on the table, they froze in midair.
I felt the energy surging in the atmosphere, stopping time itself. It felt different from my brothers, which only meant that...time was up.

Such terrific timing I must say.

The double glass exploded to a beam of golden light that gushed in, but the shards remained floating in the air.
Dramatic entrance.

From the light, a foot stepped out of it, followed by the rest of the body.

He came into my vision, dressed in a traditional black and white hanfu while holding a white floral fan in his left hand. His long white hair was tied back in a ponytail, leaving a few strands to fall on the left side of his face. He looked damn beautiful for a male.

The amount of power radiating from him was overwhelming. Really impressive.
He had to be stronger than all the deities I had met so far.

A sad smile plastered itself on my face as I tore my hands from the girls. "Take care of yourselves." Whispered getting up.

"You must be, Melanie?" The male spoke gesturing at me with his right hand.

"Depends on who's asking."

"Hmph! Such arrogance. Come on, I have things to do. Can't believe they had me fetch you." He muttered the last sentence.

My eyes fell on Aggie who was blocking my way. I had no idea how to get out of the damned booth. So much for making myself look knowledgeable and powerful.

"If you're as powerful as they say, how come you don't even know how to teleport?"

My eyes hardened on him.
He was clearly making fun of me.

"Never mind," he sighed and waved his fan towards us gently and elegantly. His wave of energy struck me before I had the chance to evade it. And in the blink of an eye, I was standing in front of him.

The deity flapped shut his fan swiftly like he had done it a million times to appear so effortless.
"Come on, everyone is waiting for you." He said and turned around to the golden pathway.

"What's your name?" I enquired while following him.

The male chuckled. Sounding like the most calm and peaceful sound I had ever heard.
"I'm Xia Chen, but they call me, the Enforcer, or the nature deity."

The pride leaking from him had to be the size of a mountain. His arrogance surpassed mine in all aspects, he just didn't know it yet.

"Follow me."

My eyes popped glaring at his back. What was I doing if not following him?

"And don't try anything before the cabinet. I'll be the first to capture you." Chen cautioned as we both walked in the bright light.

For five seconds, my world was a beam of golden light, so bright that I couldn't even see myself. When it faded, I saw myself standing before a mighty throne, and surrounded by other smaller thrones.

There was a strange fog spread on the floor, beautiful, yet terrifying at the same time.

The air flowing into my lungs felt different. It felt purer and thrilling. My own body also felt different, like I was half my body weight and could float away any second.

From the strange sightings around me, and the being seated on the throne, I deduced my location. This is...heaven!?

The pillars, the thrones, the gigantic building. None of that could exist on Earth.

"Supreme god," Chen called bowing towards the grand throne. "Mission accomplished."

The male then turned around and opened his face in one majestic move. He fanned himself, blowing back the hair hanging down his left side. "Good luck little deity." With that, he floated up and flew at the empty throne next to the grand one.

My eyes bounced on all the thrones, studying the new faces. The one thing we now had in common, was the long white hair.
Of course, deities had to look different from the mortals.

My brothers were also present.
This gave me a sense of comfort. At least, familiar faces.

"Melanie!" A deep male voice boomed from the main throne, yearning for my attention. It sounded familiar. But where had I heard it?
"Welcome to the heavens. We would have held a banquet to welcome you, but as the situation dictates, you're here on trial."

Our eyes met, and immediately, an unexplained mixture of emotions invaded me; angst, anger, loathe.

From a human perspective, he looked like a twenty-seven-year-old male, but in reality, he was as old as time itself.
And damn was he good-looking. It had to be a deity trait, being extremely attractive.



Character; Xia Chen