Systems Of Valor - Chapter 2 A Wish Or Two

It was at this moment I realized something, I hadn’t been thinking for the last couple of minutes but didn’t know why. I had to stand there and wait for like seem like hours, inching forward bit by bit until I was second to the door. As I stood there, I watched the exchange in front of me so I knew what to do when it was my turn. A gruff looking man in his mid-twenties walked up to a humanoid-looking man with small little horns curling up the sides of his head, a demon. It was actually as frighting as you think it would, he looked primarily human, plus or minus two to three distinct features. The demon looked up at the man then paused.

“Name?” The man trembled a little at the sight of the demon but steadily responded.

“Ray Kadra.”

“Ok, let’s see. Nope… nope.. ah.. there you are. Ray Kadra born in Orlando, Flordia. Sins to be punished for; three counts of murder, armed robbery, assault, and public indecency.” The man in question smiled almost proudly as if he was remembering fond memories. “Time of sentence, three hundred and eighteen years, four months, three days. The form of punishment, burning.” The man’s smile disappeared with the wind and looked at the demon with disbelief before he could protest, two more demons, from out of nowhere, swiftly grabbed the man and threw him through the doorway, before quickly vanishing into thin air. “Next.” Well crap, I’m so doomed. Gathering my bravery on par with facing a horde of dragons, I walked forward toward him. “Name?”

“Sam Tomson.” My voice sounded like a child who just got caught lying to is parents, shaky and full of fear. The demon looked down and read through the list of names for a couple of moments before frowning and flipping through several pages, he then looked back up with a confused expression. “Guards call the Demon Lord up here, tell him we have a situation and that I think it a suicide victim.” The guards first pulled me to the side of the bridge and sat me down, I assumed I was to wait for… well, I don’t know. Death? Maybe. Maybe suicide victims we treated differently here.

For the next few minutes, I sat there twiddling my thumbs, under the gazes of over a hundred people, ranging from envy to curiosity. A dinging sound drew my eyes to the doorway as they parted to reveal a large nine-foot tall man with horns longer and more appealing to the eye appeared. He then looked over in my direction with an annoyed expression, he lumbered toward me, his footsteps shaking the bridge as he thundered in my direction.

“What is your name boy?” The Devil’s voice was low and rough sounding as if he had tried to swallow glass. I must have spent to much time looking at him because he then yelled. “SPEAK BOY!” Almost like a man in the military, I quickly stood up straight and fired back.

“Sam Tomson!” The Devil looked surprised at my ferocity but then quickly resumed his previous expression.

“Well Sam, as you might have already guessed, you will not be let into Hell. The reason is that your guy’s punishment is inefficient, and a waste of resources. Now that you been denied by both God and me, you shall be reborn and have two wishes granted. The first one should entail what type of world you prefer and the second… I guess can be anything you want.

I didn’t know what to think, he wasn’t being punished? What does he mean a waste of resources? I just couldn’t understand, it’s not like I didn’t like the idea, but I don’t feel like I deserve it, so couldn’t help but ask.

“Um… Devil sir.”

“Just call me Satan, no need to be so formal.”

“I was just wondering, why am I not allowed in?” The Devil looked at me for a moment before breaking out into demonic laughter, after a couple awkward moments of everyone giving us surprised and weird glances, Satan settled down and looked back at me.

“Never in my years has a human asked why he couldn’t be let into Hell. You have my respect boy, but time is short, make your decision about your wishes and I shall make it so.” I was a bit taken aback but I took a moment to think about my options, I don’t want to go to a fantasy based world even though it would be really cool, I kind of thinking of a space-based world. Now for my second decision, I order to make it in this new world and get familiar with it, I’m going to need help. Maybe I could get a system, like those cheesy Chinese novels?

I guess that could work, but there are so many unknowns, Where would I even be when I came out? What if its a war-zone and I die within the first few seconds of life, In order to assure my self I asked Satan.

“I can control where you will come out, but as to if it will be safe or not is not guaranteed. However, I’m not as evil as everyone says I am, this just my job. So know that I’m not going to put you in the middle of a war-zone or any other dangerous location.”

That makes me feel a little better I suppose, but… “Decide boy, unlike you I have things to do.” I nodded at him and thought a little more and made my decision. I looked him in the eye and told him what I had decided. Satan nodded, snapped his fingers, and all went black.