Fire raged through the bomb blasted school as Ginny Taig rushed to find the exit. The smoke was thick and dark as midnight as she tried to make herself heard over the cries and screams of the children she was trying to lead to safety. They had almost made it out, but Ginny feared the thick smoke would leave some of them unable to make it the last few feet.
"This way!" She shouted through the burning murk."Come this way."
The children might not have understood the words she used but they followed her voice. In a frightened mob they found her and she ushered them as fast as she could out the door. The medics outside gathered them up, saw to their burns, and made sure they were clear of the collapsing building.
Ginny was about to get clear herself when she heard a scream from inside. She knew the building was on its way down. She knew going back in was suicide. She knew a child was somewhere in that building, possibly hurt.
Running back into the smoke thick hall, she followed the cries to a room. There in the clearer air she saw a young boy. He had curled up in a corner. Tears were streaming down his face in the sunlight from the windows.
Ginny ran over to him. He was a small thing, probably about seven years old, the same age as her daughter. As she started to pick him up to carry him out a groaning crash from the floor above told her that her time had run out.
Thinking fast, she dropped the child, grabbed a desk, and slammed it into the window. The panel she knocked out was big enough for the child. As the ceiling above her started to collapse, she picked him up and threw him outside.
The groaning noise sounded again. As the falling building crushed the life out of her, she thought one last time of her daughter Sarah, who she would never see again.
###
Lieutenant John Rogers stood outside the ruined school, trying not to cry. He had seen one of his soldiers, Corporal Virginia Taig, rush back into the school's rear doors. He hadn't known why she had gone back in. The building was obviously about to fall. From where he was standing, trying to enforce some type of order on the chaos, he hadn't heard the cries of the child inside.
John's unit had been in the area 'peacekeeping' when the bomb went off. He knew the local excuse for a fire department would never arrive in time, so he had sent in his people.
He had seen the plastic window pane fly out from its heavy frame. He had seen her throw the child to safety. Then the building had collapsed into a heap of burning rubble.
He didn't know her very well. She had just arrived in this horrible place a few weeks ago. And now she was dead. The crew had found her body, crushed and burned, under the rubble of the room she had died in. All that was recognizable on the badly mutilated corpse was the tiny silver axe she had worn on a chain around her neck.
###
Ginny was lying on something softer than she had ever felt. Was this a cloud like she had seen in the cartoonist's idea of a Christian heaven when she was a child? Looking around she saw that it was not a cloud. It was a very big, very fluffy, feather bed. Her grandmother had one like this when she was little. She realized it was the same bed. She could see the v she had scratched into one of the posts as a child. Other than that the space was empty. She didn't even see any walls.
"What the hell?" she said. "Where am I?"
"Not in Hell," a voice answered from behind her. "But where you really are will take a bit of explaining."
Ginny sat up and turned to look at the source of this voice. He was a big, heavily muscled man with bright red hair. A wild full beard grew halfway down his chest. He was wearing what looked to be some sort of scale and leather armor. He was carrying a tray covered in food.
Her stomach growled loudly at the sight of all that food. The man grinned and motioned her over to a table she could swear had not been there the second before. She took a seat and tore into the food.
"My name is Eric." The man said once she had eaten. "You might as well call this place Valhalla."
"Do what?" Ginny gasped in surprise. "But that's just a myth."
"Well it's the best we could do to match your beliefs." He replied in a hurt tone. "You pagans seem to try to make your religions as eclectic and confusing as you possibly can."
Ginny burst out laughing at the testy note in his voice. He scowled at her a moment and then started laughing with her. He had a big booming laugh that fit his Viking appearance as perfectly as the almost whining voice he had just used did not.
"So why am I here?" She asked after her laughter died away. "Is this the afterlife for people who died of stupidity?"
"Not at all!" Eric answered. "This is the place heroes come after they die."
The words confused Ginny. Her a hero? There had to be some mistake. She was no hero. She had never done great deeds to be passed down in songs. Ginny had never been the type of crusading idealist that most people today thought of as a hero.
"You are a hero," He went on, as if he had read her thoughts. "You died saving the life of that boy. You ran back into what you knew was probably death to do it."
"I am no warrior," She said. "I have no love of battle. I hate war. I just joined up because it was the only way I could find to pay for my college. I didn't even believe in what we were doing."
"You truly are a hero, or heroine if you prefer." Eric replied meeting and holding her eyes with his. "Being a hero is not about politics Virginia. It is not about soldiers, or wars. Heroism is the courage to put yourself on the line against the forces of destruction. Heroism is the willingness to give everything you have if it will save the lives, homes, or ideals that you hold dear. Death is the easy part. It is having the courage to make that stand. To say to the world 'I will give all I am and all I have for this one thing'. That is why you are a hero Virginia. That is why you are here."
Ginny took a swallow from a mug that had appeared while she was distracted. She had never liked alcohol but this stuff, it must be mead, was just what she needed. It calmed her nerves enough to let her think.
After a long time in silent thought she finally asked. "So what is this place really? What do I do here? Am I going to have to go out and fight all day every day? Will I spend the evenings in mead halls attended by willing wenches? Not that I would mind that last so much." She finished with a grin.
"If that is what you want." Eric replied with a grin of his own. "Mostly this place is about rest. It is a place to come to heal from the hurts of the world. A place to enjoy whatever pleasures you desire until you are ready to take a chance at life again." Seeing he had surprised her, he went on. "What? Did you think no one in the after life would ever think of recycling?"
###
Ginny spent many days in this strange place. She met other heroes that were resting there. Some of them even became friends. It seemed that some few did fight all day, then drink and wench all night. She even tried it herself a few times but decided that killing, even if it did not last, was just not her thing.
She learned more about what it meant to rest and go back. She could, apparently, stay here as long as she wanted. They had no requirements about going back or going on. They had never had to it seemed. Sitting around forever getting anything they wanted just did not suit the people that ended here.
It seemed that going back was quite simple. A big rainbow painted door stood, unsupported, by itself in the middle of a field. Walk through that door and you went back to the land of the living.
There was another option. Near the rainbow door was another door. This door was patterned with stars and galaxies. No one knew where this door led, but when she asked Eric about it he told her, "that is the way up."
"Think of the universe as a giant pyramid," he had said. "At the bottom are worlds like your earth, worlds where people have very little understanding of what the universe is really like. Worlds where faith, compassion, love, and such are the only real things people have to lead them to do right."
"This is the next level?" she had asked.
"No, this is a kind of place between the levels," he answered. "Think of that pyramid again. Now around the sides of the pyramid are many different paths. All of them lead to the top. Some of them lead straight up, others wander around, but all of them eventually get there. This place is a kind of way station on one of those paths."
"So," Ginny had asked, a bit confused. "What is the next level?"
"Ah," Eric replied with a grin. "That is something you must see for yourself."
She had considered this conversation for days. In the end she had decided just to let it alone. One day she would know the answers, until then she would have to do without.
She could have almost anything she wanted. Just think about what she wanted, walk a short distance, and it was there. Even people, almost people at least. They were just animated bodies, willing to do whatever she asked.
Sitting at home one day, as her bath servants attended her, Eric came to visit. It had turned out that Eric was not a hero. Eric was not even human. He described himself as a 'representative' of the powers that run this place. She was sitting in the steaming hot water, lost to the world, when he just appeared.
"Virginia," he greeted her. "How are you doing this fine morning?"
"Glurp!" she responded as her startled jerk sent her under the water.
Her bath servants, twins who looked amazingly like the prom queen from Ginny's old high school, reached in and pulled her back to the surface.
"Just stopping by to say farewell," Eric said. "And wish you luck in this next life."
"You are leaving?" Ginny asked. "I thought you were here forever."
"No, you are the one who is leaving," he replied. "I see, I must have somehow chosen the wrong day. Ah well, I suppose I will be back in a few days then," and he abruptly disappeared.
"Well, that was strange," she said to herself.
She was leaving in a few days? She had been thinking about it a lot recently, but she had not decided anything certain. From what they had told her going back involved losing all memories other than a vague feeling of who you had been. She wasn't sure she was ready to not be Ginny anymore. You got it all back of course, but not until you died again.
Several people she had met had been here several times. It was interesting to find out that some of history's greatest heroes had actually been the same person, and others had never even made it to this place. Martial prowess and willingness to die were not enough it seemed.
She had met one man who had been through the wheel several times. He joked that he had been a week's worth of knights, two saints, and the origin of the legend of King Arthur. Checking around she found that although he said it as a joke it was probably true. He was committed on the deepest level to doing what was good for humanity. That was why he was still here.
This place was pleasant, but the lack of challenges and risks were starting to bore her. One morning she decided to go for it. She saw Eric waiting for her outside her house. He had a knowing grin, daring her to ask the question.
"So," she asked, giving in. "How did you know?"
"I have been doing this for a very long time," he replied. "As long as there have been humans in fact. In that many years you get a kind of feel for it."
"Oh," Ginny said. "I had thought it must be some sort of time travel."
"What?" Eric answered looking shocked. "No, time travel is simply not done. The universe is designed to go one way. Going backwards would cause many problems."
They walked to the rainbow door and found it standing open. Flashing swirling lights in all the colors of the rainbow shimmered through the opening, a dazzling display that gave the impression of life and living. She could feel the warm vibrant colors reaching out to her, as if to welcome her back to life.
"No," she said, suddenly certain. "I am not going back."
"What?" Eric asked, obviously surprised. "You aren't ready to go through the door?"
"I am ready to go," Ginny answered. "But not through this door."
"But don't you wish to go back and help all the others who are suffering on earth?" he said, looking hurt. "Don't you want to help?"
"They don't need my help," she replied. "They do ok by themselves. Heroes and legends are good things. But they can find their own path without me."
"The starry door is one way," Eric told her earnestly. "Once you step through you will never return to this place again."
"Yes, on up the path I go," Ginny said. "But as you said the universe is designed to go one way, and all paths lead to the top of the pyramid. Going back would do no good, not for me, not for them. We are all bound for the same place, and they are better off if I leave them alone to get on with it."
"You are certain of this?" Eric asked, when he saw her resolution he smiled. "You are the first person I have seen figure out so much on the first try. Yes, if you feel that you are ready to go on then it would serve no purpose for you to return. It is not to help others that this place exists. Many heroes come here angry with humanity. Convinced they have to return to help the world become a better place. Most of them never think that earth is exactly what it is supposed to be. Earth is a testing ground. It is a place for the spirits to find the beginning of whatever path they will follow."
"Then they can never make it better?" Ginny asked. "Earth can never have peace and prosperity for all?"
"What do you think is on the other side of the starry door? It is another earth, one where all the people who have made it past this first hurdle have gone. It is not the end of the path, just a step past the beginning. Can you imagine the difference in an earth where everyone knows and remembers an afterlife? Can you imagine a world where everyone knows beyond doubt that helping others and doing good is really rewarded? You see, the starry door takes you to a new earth, but it takes you to that earth without removing your memories."
"But then if there is no struggle," she asked. "What is the point?"
"I never said there was no struggle," he replied. "They struggle to learn and understand. The universe is a very large and complicated place. The struggle you will soon be joining is that struggle to understand."
"Then let us go," she said. "If I am starting a new adventure, I may as well get moving."
Eric walked with her over to the starry door. It was waiting open for her as well. Beyond the threshold she could see the universe wheel and spin. Stars aged, died, and new stars were born.
Looking out across the cosmos, Virginia Taig stepped through the door.
Art Davis lives in Texas. He has been reading Scifi/Fantasy since he was six and decided to give writing it a try.
© Art Davis
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