The sound of creaking metal and whispering wind filled the air as the massive doors of The Pillar of Concordia began to open. Each slab of gold and marble moved with a low hum, as though powered not by gears, but by the will of something far greater.
Elias stood frozen, the breeze tugging at his hair, staring up as light spilled from within warm, radiant, and endless. The interior shone like a living sun wrapped in calm. Erenel took the first step forward, his coat fluttering slightly as he gestured for Elias to follow.
"Come," he said. "Let your second life begin."
As Elias stepped past the threshold, his breath caught in his chest. The inside was vast far larger than what the exterior promised. A sky made of swirling light stretched endlessly above, lined with thousands of floating books, each glowing softly like lanterns. Countless stairways of gold wound upward into unseen heights. Chandeliers hung suspended in midair, held by invisible strings of energy, and beams of sunlight poured from nowhere and everywhere at once.
The scent of paper and warm air filled him with peace.
Tiny, radiant butterflies fluttered between floating orbs of light, and birds of glass and color soared above the towering shelves, singing melodies that echoed softly. The marble floor beneath him shimmered with shifting symbols words of forgotten tongues that pulsed gently under each step.
Elias turned slowly, completely awestruck. "This place… it's like"
"Heaven?" Erenel smiled faintly. "Many have said the same."
"But… there's no one here," Elias said quietly, noticing how vast and still the space was.
Erenel nodded. "Even though the universe is infinite, Lawkeepers are few. Very few. For every thousand gods born, perhaps one Lawkeeper will rise. And The Pillar of Concordia…" his gaze lifted toward the glowing heights "…is vast beyond measure. You could walk for years and never meet another. Most of the time, you will be alone, studying, learning the threads that bind reality."
Elias blinked, then smiled softly. "That… actually sounds nice."
Erenel looked at him with an amused smirk. "I thought you might say that. You're someone who finds peace in silence, aren't you?"
"Yeah," Elias admitted, glancing at the golden light streaming through the upper halls. "Silence feels like home."
As they continued walking, Elias caught something out of the corner of his eye his reflection, shimmering in one of the golden pillars. He froze. His hospital clothes were gone. Instead, he now wore a sleek black suit lined with faint silver-gray symbols that pulsed like veins of light. His hands were gloved in the same black Erenel wore, and a small insignia a circle intertwined with scales rested just above his heart.
He touched the emblem gently. "What…?"
Erenel turned back to him, a quiet smile forming. "Mr. Verne, you are one of us now."
Elias looked down at himself again, feeling the faint hum beneath the fabric the strange comfort, the weight of something meaningful. "I… feel different," he murmured.
"You should," Erenel said. "The Law has accepted you."
They reached a balcony overlooking an endless golden expanse millions of bookshelves spiraling toward the horizon, illuminated by rivers of light flowing like molten gold. Erenel gestured toward it all.
"Everything you see here," he said, "contains knowledge of the living, the dead, the gods, and the laws that govern them. You may begin wherever you wish. Learn what you desire. Here, curiosity is not a sin it is sacred."
Elias exhaled slowly, his chest tightening with something that wasn't sadness or fear but awe. "I thought death was the end," he said softly, watching a group of luminous butterflies rise into the golden air. "But it feels like I've just started living."
Erenel's eyes softened. "That is the irony of it. For many, death is a wall. For a chosen few… it is a door."
Elias smiled faintly, watching the light shimmer across the pillars. For the first time, he didn't feel the fear that haunted him on Earth. There was peace here a vast, endless peace that whispered of purpose.
Erenel turned, his form glowing faintly in the golden light. "Welcome to eternity, Lawkeeper Elias Verne."
And as the towering doors closed behind him, Elias felt it not the chill of death, but the warmth of a beginning.
...
Elias wandered deeper into The Pillar of Concordia, his footsteps echoing faintly through the golden corridors. The stairs spiraled upward endlessly, curving around towering shelves that stretched into a radiant mist above. Each step shimmered with faint light, almost humming as he walked.
After a while, he stopped, resting his hands on the railing. "Will I not get tired from climbing this?" he muttered to himself, tilting his head as he looked upward. Then he remembered and chuckled softly. "Ah, right… I'm not human anymore."
The air was warm, peaceful, and strangely alive. Threads of light drifted through the air like strands of silk, brushing against his hands. Elias moved slowly, eyes tracing the endless rows of books. Every title glowed faintly, written in symbols he didn't recognize letters that shifted shape when he blinked.
He smiled faintly, curiosity bubbling in his chest. "Hmm…" he whispered. "Where should I start?"
He reached toward one of the books thick, bound in glass and gold when suddenly something popped right in front of him.
A flash of light burst into the air like a soap bubble, followed by a small puff of glittering smoke. Elias flinched back, waving his hand as the haze cleared.
Standing before him or more accurately, floating a few inches off the floor was a tiny man. Barely the height of Elias's knee, with a thick, braided beard and a glowing green suit that looked far too fancy for his size. He held a quill in one hand, a book twice his size tucked under the other arm.
Elias blinked. "…A dwarf?"
The tiny man's face turned crimson. His mustache twitched. His entire tiny body trembled like an overcharged teapot before he exploded:
"I am not a DWARF!"
The shout boomed across the hall, bouncing off the marble pillars like thunder. A few of the floating books even shook.
Elias stumbled back, startled, his hand raised in surrender. "Whoa whoa, sorry! My mistake!"
"You ignorant human!" the little man barked, puffing his chest out with all the pride his small frame could muster. "Do I look like a dwarf to you? Short, yes! Bearded, absolutely! But a dwarf?!"
Elias blinked again. "I mean… that's usually what people"
"People?" the little man interrupted, his eyes narrowing dangerously. "Do I look like someone who drinks ale in caves and swings hammers at rocks all day?!"
Elias bit the inside of his cheek to stop a laugh. "Well, when you say it like that…"
The small man gasped dramatically, clutching his chest. "Unbelievable! First day as a Lawkeeper and you already insult one of the Indexers!"
"Indexers?" Elias tilted his head, half amused, half confused.
"Yes!" the little man huffed, landing on the stair railing and adjusting his glowing green cuffs. "The Indexers! The ones who preserve every record, every law, every history within this Pillar! Without us, you'd be wandering here for eternity not knowing the difference between a divine edict and a bakery recipe!"
Elias blinked. "…You have bakery recipes here?"
The tiny man froze. His eye twitched. "Of course we do! The universe is vast knowledge has no boundaries!"
Elias laughed softly, the sound echoing lightly through the quiet halls. "You're… quite something, mister Indexer."
"Mister?" The little man's eyes blazed again. "Do I look like a mister to you? My name is"
But before he could finish, a sudden tremor ran through the golden floor. The lights flickered faintly, and the floating books rippled as if the air itself had shifted.
The little man turned sharply toward the higher halls, his expression suddenly serious. His glowing green eyes reflected the pulsing light that began to radiate from above.
Elias blinked. "Uh… what's happening?"
The tiny man floated up slightly, his beard swaying with the faint wind that had started to form. "You… might want to hold that thought, rookie."
"What? Why"
The air around them cracked softly, like glass under pressure.
And before Elias could finish his sentence the golden lights around the Pillar began to change.