Final Stars

Chapter 1. The Stars That Guide

"Do you hear a noise? A noise that can be so soft, but still pierces your ears with its high pitch ringing. That is what signifies the process of moving on. The soul gradually leaves the body at alarming speeds. The process isn't painful. Far from it actually, this process is a transition to a better life. A life that feels like a dream, but it is very real."
A voice echoed as I opened my eyes. Darkness surrounds everything, and a light stabs through the sheet of shadows, blinding my eyes. Reacting like I just watched a scene from a horror movie, I cover my eyes. I slowly look up to see if I can notice anything in the light, though I saw nothing.
I squint and slowly walk up towards the light, my footsteps echoing as I get closer and closer to the source. After what felt like minutes, the hallway felt endless. That is until a silhouette appeared in front of the light. Stopping in my tracks I tried to adjust my eyes to get a closer look at the shadow. They looked to be in the shape of a woman.
There was a ring floating above their head and what looked like bird wings on the back of them that spread open, blocking the rays of light. I continue slowly making my way closer to the mysterious women. Finally reaching the end I can see what was producing the light, two big red doors. These doors were tall, looming over me and each door had half of an image on them. Both halves made up an image of a star with angelic wings and a halo.
The woman then showed herself, and I noticed that she was slightly taller than me. Her outfit was interesting. a small dress like suit, tall boots, gloves, and a bowtie. Every piece of her outfit reminded me of the colors of a sunset. Her face had some make-up applied and her hair was a lovely shade of pink. Her cheeks even had a little symbol in the shape of a star with a heart inside of it.
"Are you just gonna stare at me all day or something?" she said giggling as I turn away in embarrassment. Her voice was cheerful and had a very slight English accent near the end of every word she said.
"I'm sorry you just look very-."
"Beautiful?" the woman said, finishing my sentence while smiling.
"Yeah. How did you know I was gonna say that?" I asked her.
"Well everyone that comes here says that, and I am very flattered." She said putting her hands on her waist standing tall. I realized that the ring above her head was a bright yellow halo.
I looked at her confused, "May I ask, where am I and what your name is?"
"Why you're in the Hall of Destination darling, this place is the crossroads of Heaven and Hell. " I stared at her with a confused gaze.
"Heaven, Hell? So you're telling me I'm dead?"
"Jesus, why do new people that always end up here ask endless questions? Yes, you are dead, end of the story.Your story that is." She said in a more serious tone, then pulled out a book.
"Your name is Ace, height five six, fuchsia eyes, very dark purple hair, light brown skin, and born... Huh, strange... There is not a birth date. However your cause of death was burning in a fire on June 18th 20XX and sadly you weren't saved in time by the hospital it seems."
She said looking down into the book, "It says here you have sinned quite a bit in your lifetime but these sins were done in the name of good. Sins like these get canceled out in our eyes."
"So is that a good thing Ms.-?"
"Oh right, my name. My name is Skeye Settingsol, I am an angel and the gatekeeper to Heaven and Hell." She said with a smile, "you are a strange case alright, very strange. I don't know what to make you." She puts her finger up to her bottom lip and thinks.
She looks back into the book. Curiosity takes the better of me and I attempt to lean over to read what is in the book. She slammed it shut and put her finger on the tip of my nose.
"Hey! this book is not for human eyes to see into."
"But logically I'm dead aren't I?"
She hits the book over my head, "Don't be a smartass against Angel Authority young one! Hmph, I know what I am doing." Skeye said, lifting her hand up.
Her hand started to glow a dark shade of pink as she slowly maneuvers it towards my head. She slowly slides her hand through my hair and lifts it when she reaches the back of my head. All of a sudden the back of my head gets heavier as her hand moves away from my head. My hands swung back as I tried to feel for what was causing the weight.
They were coned shaped that slowly narrowed down into a point. It wasn't a straight cone either, it had a bend that made it point upwards. I finally pieced together what it was. I had horns, demon horns.
"Wait! I am a demon? What does that mean for me?" I asked in a panicked manner.
"Well how can I put this lightly? Oh yeah! You're going straight to the deepest parts of hell! Such a shame that someone like yourself ends up in such a horrible place." Skeye said with a mischievous grin.
She slammed the book shut and her wings began to open once again. The light that illuminated this wasteland of darkness has now faded. The darkness has now taken over the space around us. The ground started to shake as Skeye lifted up off the floor.
I turned to look at the door and realized what was causing the ground to shake. The ground started to split in half under the door frame. One step back turned into a mad dash running away from the cracks that were starting to form.
The ground kept splitting behind me creating a ravine, barely missing me with every step I took. The only light now was bright orange as I heard the crackles of flames behind me. My back felt like it was getting hotter as the flames barely missed swallowing me whole. I heard laughter and screams coming from within the cavern as I ran away from it.
No matter how far I kept running, the ground kept splitting behind me. Heat was all I could feel against my body as the air was filled with smoke and ash. My clothing started to heat up inside.
I stopped running and turned to face the flames. I shut my eyes to then hear a small cry coming from the flames, a child's cry. I looked down the cavern of Hell, oranges slowly turned red the farther I looked down the entrance of Lucifer's domain.
Down below, there was a child dressed in white, angelic wings and a golden halo. Wings can be heard flapping above as I see Skeye looming over me.
"So tell me Ace, do you accept your demise?"Skeye said as she soared over me.
I gave her a glare as she glided overhead. I took a deep breath of the carbonated air and jumped down into the flames. The hot air pressed hard against my chest as I was falling.
The landing was far from soft as I scraped my arm on the jagged floor and getting up was harder than I thought. I held my arm as I tried looking around for the child to see it was on a cliff above where I landed. Blood ran through my fingers as I tore a piece of cloth from my shirt. I held my breath as I wrapped the cloth around my arm to cover the wound.
Slowly scaling the cliff I could feel the heat from the rocks burning the palms of my hand as I climbed. I look to each side of me to see these goat-like creatures sleeping, covered in shadow. However their slumber was cut short as the rock crumbled beneath my feet. A thud was all I heard when it reached the bottom. Their eyes opened as they turned to look at me but then upwards to listen to the cries of the child. Red eyes stared me down as a humanoid smile came from the goats. They jumped up the cliff and I finally pieced together what was going on. They were going after the angel.