"Welcome, soul. You are dead." As soon as those words left the mouths of one of the figure, fear gripped Runa's entire body.
She took a step back, her eyes widening as she looked at them more closely. They didn't look human. Their forms glowed softly, almost shimmering, with wings that stretched faintly behind them. She had never seen an angel in her life, but everything about these beings fit the stories she had heard.
If anything in the world could be called angels, it was them. But the thought of being dead… that was what terrified her most. Her breath hitched. Her mind struggled to accept it, to understand. This had to be a dream, some strange nightmare her exhausted mind created.
"I'm… dead?" she whispered to herself, the question trembling off her lips.
The memories returned in a sudden rush… the betrayal she walked in on, the heartbreak, the way she had stumbled into the street with tears clouding her vision, the hit and then the darkness.
Instinctively, she looked down at her body, expecting to see blood, wounds, or anything to prove the pain she remembered. She had felt the car hit her, she could still recall the brutal shock of it. But now… there was no pain at all.
"Am I in heaven? Or h-hell?" Runa asked, her voice shaking as she forced out the last word.
The two angelic figures exchanged a glance before gliding toward her. Their wings didn't flap, they simply moved, as though the air itself carried them. They stopped directly in front of her, and Runa's heart pounded so loudly she swore they could hear it. None of this felt real, none of this made sense.
"None," one of them replied calmly.
The other chuckled under his breath. "Humans… they never think."
Runa frowned. She tore her gaze away from them long enough to look around. The place was empty yet endless… white, glowing softly, with no sky and no ground, just… space. It didn't look like heaven, and it certainly didn't resemble any version of hell she'd ever imagined.
"But you said I'm dead," she murmured. "If this isn't heaven or hell… then where is this place?"
The first angel stepped forward, his robes shifting around him. "Underline," he said.
"This place is called Underline."
Runa blinked. She had never heard of such a place. Underline? It sounded like a word, not a location. Her mind spun as she tried to understand how she ended up somewhere that existed beyond everything she'd ever known.
"What's Underline?" she asked quietly.
The second angel tilted his head, studying her as though she were a puzzle he was piecing together.
"It is the space between life and death," he explained. "You are not in heaven, nor in hell. You are suspended between them. This realm is the Underline."
The words echoed in the vast, empty whiteness, but the explanation did nothing to ease her confusion. None of it made a single bit of sense to her.
Suddenly, one of the angels snapped his fingers. A loud sound echoed through the empty space, and a large table materialized before them. On it lay a massive open book, its pages glowing softly. The angels glided toward it. They leaned over the pages, reading silently.
Runa watched them, her mind racing. A book? What could they be possibly searching for in there? And how is any of this real? Her stomach tightened as fear crept up her entire body.
"Your name is in the Book of Sinners," one angel finally announced. It made her breath hitched.
"You sinned. You are a sinner. You committed a terrible act, Runa," they said together, their voices blending into one powerful echo.
She flinched at the sound, and at the fact that they knew her name. Goosebumps covered her skin. How do they know my name? What terrible act? I'm not a bad person… I'm not.
"I'm a good person," she whispered with trembling. "How did I sin?"
Both angels exchanged a look. Their wings rustled faintly, as if amused by her words.
"That's what all of you claim," one said with a sigh. Then he snapped his fingers again.
A massive screen appeared before them, glowing with light… and the next moment, her own face showed in the display.
The screen flickered, and suddenly a video began to play. Runa's breath caught as she recognized the scene instantly. It was her standing in the middle of the road, tears pouring down her face. She watched herself shaking, broken, refusing to step aside even as the car's headlights grew brighter and closer.
She felt her stomach twist painfully.
In the video, her past self didn't move. Not even when the horn blared. Not even when the driver shouted. The car hit her with brutal force, and the screen went white for a moment before replaying the moment again.
Runa squeezed her eyes shut, but she could still hear the screech, the thud, her own gasping cry. Tears streamed down her cheeks, hot and relentless. Her chest ached so intensely she wrapped her arms around herself as if trying to hold the pain in.
Watching her own death wasn't just terrifying, it was unbearable. It twisted something deep inside her soul.
"You refused to move," one angel said coldly.
"You wanted that car to hit you." The other nodded in agreement, his glowing eyes fixed on her.
"You committed self-harm. You ended your own life. That is suicide."
The word struck her, suicide was a sin? Runa blinked rapidly, confusion swirling in her mind.
"But… I didn't… I wasn't thinking… I was hurt… Everything was falling apart…" Her voice cracked as she struggled to make sense of it. She hadn't planned to die. She had just been overwhelmed, lost and broken. Was that the same thing?
The angels didn't seem to care.
"You committed a grave sin," one declared, his tone sounding like ice.
"And for that," the other added, his wings shifting as though preparing for judgment.
"You will be punished severely."