Welcome to Gaia! ::

“Five souls swimmin’ ’cross the river, never again to see home, and to them I sing ‘Come hither,’ and so they swim toward the dome.”
Thus he did sing. Each of the five souls swam faster than his boat moved. They sped up with every crack of his voice, heading to the far shore, where they might find solace at last. As they swam, they could feel it coming at them, moving faster than his boat, and even faster than they swam. Yet it never caught his boat, or them.
An unknown amount of time later, they climbed ashore, soaking wet, and laid on the sand. When they looked up, though it was impossible, there he stood. They averted their eyes.
“Stand,” he barked. “I command it.”
And so they stood.
“Look at me,” he said. “I command it.”
And so they looked at him. And in that instant, they beheld his frightful figure of alabaster, adorned with lapis lazuli, and draped in a cloak of the finest velvet.
“Look into my eyes,” he said. “I command it.”
And so, after a moment of hesitation, they looked into his eyes. Set into the sockets of his alabaster skull were not eyes, but a pair of perfect rubies. He held out his right hand. Rather than the alabaster of the rest of his bones, it was made of the finest turquoise.
“Break it,” he said.
“Excuse me?” one of them said.
“Break my hand! I command it.”
“But why?” a second asked.
“I command it.”
And so, two of them hand his hand in place, and splayed it to make it easier. The other three lifted their hands and, as one, swung them down, shattering the turquoise hand. All five cried out as shards of the blue material embedded themselves in their hands.
“My lord, King Death, why?” a third asked.
“To see where you go.”
“You mean…to Paradise Eternal?”
“Perhaps. Look at the shard on my hand that now rests in your hand. If it turned red, then you will go on to Hell. But if it remained the same, then your destination is Paradise Eternal.”
“Red,” the first said.
“Red,” the second said.
“Red,” the third said.
“Red,” the fourth said.
“My lord, King Death,” the fifth said. “It remained the same.”
He nodded.
“Then you may go through this gate,” he said, indicating the correct gate, “and enter Paradise Eternal.”
Immediately, the fifth ran through the gate, disappearing into his new home.
“As for you four,” he said, “you are to follow me to Hell.”
They looked to each other silently.
“s**t,” two of them ********,” one said.
“Forget that,” the last said. “We’re dead.”