{ prologue }
Welcome to Sheol, stranger…
Surrounded by an atmosphere so lacking in oxygen that it must be encased by a synthetic dome, the city of Sheol experiences little environmental clues of the passage of time, save for the circadian rhythm of its inhabitants. Of course, these citizens remain unaware of their isolation—in fact, there are a great many things neither the rich Wisterians nor the poor Rozens are aware of.
The first is their origin. As humans age, early memories become hazy, and are often lost to time. For this reason, the majority of Sheol’s denizens never question why it is that they cannot recall where they were born or who their parents were. They remain ignorant of the truth—that they are, in fact, dead. Capable of rational (and irrational) thought and emotion processes; physical senses of light, heat, touch, scent, and taste; the restorative processes of sleep and eating; and the detrimental experiences of pain, sickness, and even death once more, this concept does not generally occur to the humans. Not all who die arrive in Sheol, but those who do return to the healthiest moment in their lives, rendering many near unrecognizable to their loved ones who might have crossed over. Upon arrival, they are thrust by design of fate or luck, into one of the two castes and there remain, manacled by the bitterness of class warfare.
Now, of that conflict, they are well conscious. There is, however, more still that they do not know of. Nestled in the shadows of the city are two organizations, their employees and facilities subtly integrated with daily life in Sheol. Swept up in the vortex of civil strife, their doings are gone unnoticed. The first of the two institutions is known as Hell INC., and is presumably the most visibly involved. They are, in this world, also the most invisible where shadows are the norm; an extra spot of darkness goes by unnoticed. Known as Deimos, Hell INC. sponsors and employs a particular class of demons settled in Sheol. To outsiders, they appear as nothing more than humans—that reason being that at one point, these were humans, who gave their souls willingly to Hell INC.’s executives in exchange for some promise or gain; a deal with the Darkness. To Deimos, these humans are both salary and food, for demons, as you know, happen to find human souls particularly decadent. Tastes vary, of course, as to how good a soul must have been before corruption, or how bad it must be before consumption, but there is one thing which remains the same—before a soul may be taken, there is a minimum amount of negative karma that must accumulate on their soul. Death sets a soul’s karma to zero; in some circumstances, a soul may be fated with either positive or negative karma to begin with, however. Negative karma accumulates through the act of sins and other negative acts, the severity of which determines the magnitude, and positive karma accumulates through positive acts, which magnitude is also determined by the extent of the “goodness” pertaining to each act. As a result, Deimos make a living by enticing humans into sins of all sorts and sizes; once the soul of a particular human reaches the required amount of negative karma, it is capable of being consumed by a Deimon contractor (once, as described before, said contractor has ‘seasoned’ the soul to his or her liking).
It’s not as if the poor, ignorant humans here are doomed, though. For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. In the same way that a soul can accumulate negative karma, as described before, it can also gather for itself a collection of positive karma. Based on the simple mathematics of positive and negative numbers, the sum of positive and negative karma will cancel out in some respects—that is, a person can reverse the effects of negative works and “bad karma” with positive works and “good karma.” This, then, is where the second organization, Sanct INC., comes into play. Facilitated by a race of angels known as the Malakihm, Sanct INC. is, in every aspect, Hell INC.’s competitor. Rather than attempting to lower the karma of Sheol’s inhabitants, the Malakihm that walk among them, just as inconspicuous as their demonic counterparts, attempt to prompt humans into performing deeds that will earn them positive karma—as subtle as possible, of course. Unlike the Deimos, Malakihm are not commonly found in this organization for money, nor food, but rather for the good of the person—though, perhaps a little as an indirect attack at Hell INC.
Whatever their reasons, one thing is certain…
Surrounded by an atmosphere so lacking in oxygen that it must be encased by a synthetic dome, the city of Sheol experiences little environmental clues of the passage of time, save for the circadian rhythm of its inhabitants. Of course, these citizens remain unaware of their isolation—in fact, there are a great many things neither the rich Wisterians nor the poor Rozens are aware of.
The first is their origin. As humans age, early memories become hazy, and are often lost to time. For this reason, the majority of Sheol’s denizens never question why it is that they cannot recall where they were born or who their parents were. They remain ignorant of the truth—that they are, in fact, dead. Capable of rational (and irrational) thought and emotion processes; physical senses of light, heat, touch, scent, and taste; the restorative processes of sleep and eating; and the detrimental experiences of pain, sickness, and even death once more, this concept does not generally occur to the humans. Not all who die arrive in Sheol, but those who do return to the healthiest moment in their lives, rendering many near unrecognizable to their loved ones who might have crossed over. Upon arrival, they are thrust by design of fate or luck, into one of the two castes and there remain, manacled by the bitterness of class warfare.
Now, of that conflict, they are well conscious. There is, however, more still that they do not know of. Nestled in the shadows of the city are two organizations, their employees and facilities subtly integrated with daily life in Sheol. Swept up in the vortex of civil strife, their doings are gone unnoticed. The first of the two institutions is known as Hell INC., and is presumably the most visibly involved. They are, in this world, also the most invisible where shadows are the norm; an extra spot of darkness goes by unnoticed. Known as Deimos, Hell INC. sponsors and employs a particular class of demons settled in Sheol. To outsiders, they appear as nothing more than humans—that reason being that at one point, these were humans, who gave their souls willingly to Hell INC.’s executives in exchange for some promise or gain; a deal with the Darkness. To Deimos, these humans are both salary and food, for demons, as you know, happen to find human souls particularly decadent. Tastes vary, of course, as to how good a soul must have been before corruption, or how bad it must be before consumption, but there is one thing which remains the same—before a soul may be taken, there is a minimum amount of negative karma that must accumulate on their soul. Death sets a soul’s karma to zero; in some circumstances, a soul may be fated with either positive or negative karma to begin with, however. Negative karma accumulates through the act of sins and other negative acts, the severity of which determines the magnitude, and positive karma accumulates through positive acts, which magnitude is also determined by the extent of the “goodness” pertaining to each act. As a result, Deimos make a living by enticing humans into sins of all sorts and sizes; once the soul of a particular human reaches the required amount of negative karma, it is capable of being consumed by a Deimon contractor (once, as described before, said contractor has ‘seasoned’ the soul to his or her liking).
It’s not as if the poor, ignorant humans here are doomed, though. For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. In the same way that a soul can accumulate negative karma, as described before, it can also gather for itself a collection of positive karma. Based on the simple mathematics of positive and negative numbers, the sum of positive and negative karma will cancel out in some respects—that is, a person can reverse the effects of negative works and “bad karma” with positive works and “good karma.” This, then, is where the second organization, Sanct INC., comes into play. Facilitated by a race of angels known as the Malakihm, Sanct INC. is, in every aspect, Hell INC.’s competitor. Rather than attempting to lower the karma of Sheol’s inhabitants, the Malakihm that walk among them, just as inconspicuous as their demonic counterparts, attempt to prompt humans into performing deeds that will earn them positive karma—as subtle as possible, of course. Unlike the Deimos, Malakihm are not commonly found in this organization for money, nor food, but rather for the good of the person—though, perhaps a little as an indirect attack at Hell INC.
There’s more than just class warfare going on in this place.
There’s an entire war for people’s souls ensuing.
There’s an entire war for people’s souls ensuing.