The apocalypse had broken out, and in these moments, we were walking joyfully down Istiklal Street, completely wasted; we had inadvertently done something in the most unlikely shape against the most unlikely person, something that no one claiming to be a tough guy could do.
The man next to me, who was trying to pierce my flank with his head shining like a carriage lantern, suddenly disappeared. The short-term shock I entered turned into fear when the same event started happening all around. Luckily, this feeling didn't last very long; as soon as I felt my insides being pulled, I found myself in a place surrounded by whiteness on all four sides.
I started looking around in panic; there were no walls, but the environment consisting of whiteness as far as the eye could see created the feeling that I had been thrown into a transparent cage. When I turned around again, startled by the sound of coughing coming to my ears, I saw a being that wasn't there a moment ago but was now two spans away from my face.
"The time for reckoning has come, mortal creature!"
I knew what was happening, but a thought rejecting all this deep down wasn't absent from roaming the folds of my brain like maggots gnawing on broad-trunked poplar trees.
This was the moment I destroyed this last hope with my own eyes; a strange creation without flesh or bone and without a fixed shape was in front of me. Yes, creation crossed my mind; isn't it ironic that when a person is afraid, they first cling to the things they denied?
It was floating in the air, and even though it didn't have a mouth to speak, I could hear everything it said clearly; it was as if they were all echoing inside my brain.
"Your sins and good deeds will be listed, mortal; whichever is greater, you will go to the required place!"
Here we go, we have arrived at the place where the rubber meets the road; let's see what I have done throughout this short life of mine. What followed passed in a way exempt from time and space; I had seen the effects created by all my actions and the result processed into my account by reliving them.
When I returned, I was standing in the same place together with the formless being in front of me. It wasn't possible for me to find words to describe the shock I experienced, but I would learn a little later that I had to wait until I heard the real bombshell.
"Mortal, until the last night, your good deeds were enough to take you to the lower layers of heaven, but on the eve of the day of reckoning, you committed many sins!"
I remember my eyes going black for a moment; buzzing sounds, a hundred times greater than the sound made by a treacherous mosquito waking a person from sleep suddenly at night, were blowing in my ears. Then, in between, I heard an expression like sins and good deeds were equalized; I was almost going to die from excitement.
I know this expression has long become void, but once a person's tongue gets used to it, they can't help but use the excuse that it has no bone.
"If you hadn't drunk that last glass, after staying in Purgatory for a short time, you would have had the right to mingle with the beloved servants of the Creator, but the price of that last glass will be heavy!"
"MUHARREMMMMM ABIIIII!"
I was continuing, saying "Damn the thing you do and damn the farewell celebration too," when the image went blank for me; I had fallen into a motionless sleep as if a grandma's quilt had been covered over me.
All my hopes, the dreams I worked like crazy to realize had evaporated and flown away; and when I learned that I missed the big jackpot by a single number, my body was aching as if I had been beaten when I opened my eyes because I went crazy without looking at the place and time.
Even though I tried to move my hand, this effort was futile; I was like a fish stuck inside a block of ice right now. A voice was echoing in my mind; the three words I heard before losing consciousness were spinning around like a broken record: "The first floor of Hell."
I don't know how much time passed until I got rid of this state; as I regained control of my body, I started to sit up slowly. My surroundings were full of people wandering with confused looks, half-sat up like me, or still lying motionless on the ground.
Finally, when my energy and feelings came back completely, I jumped to my feet; everything could be seen more clearly now. As a result of my short investigation, I had roughly figured out what was going on.
The first thing I noticed was that there was a name written above everyone's head without exception. When I called out to a few of them to try, I couldn't get an answer, but I had no intention of giving up. I was going to try to talk to them; the more information I gathered about this place, the better.
"Max, look here brother, Max!"
My ambition would be interrupted by someone shouting right in my ear—if I said my ear, it was just a figure of speech, because as I turned around, a peer of mine who looked to be in his twenties, reaching only up to my shoulders, with a belly region added to him later like a ring candy, was calling out to me.
"What's 'Max' brother? You're right in my face, back off a little!"
I guess this friend had no idea about a concept called personal space; without looking at the sympathy added to him by his chubby cheeks that had turned red because I got slightly angry, I gave him a piece of my mind.
"It's written on your head, brother, I thought it was your name. I was going to ask you what is written on mine?"
Right, while strange things were written on everyone, I couldn't be exempt from this; so it says Max on my head too, but why is this strange thing there instead of my real name?
This is the moment I would experience my first enlightenment; no matter how much I thought, my name wouldn't come to my mind. In fact, while straining my memory, I realized that even what I lived before I died was fragmented.
Faces and events were mixed up; everything except the last night was blurry. Even in this uncertainty, all the details of a single person stood like a seal in my memory: Muharrem Abi.
"It says Toraman on you, brother!"
When I told the boy, who was slightly more than plump and whom I had scolded unjustly a moment ago, what was on his head, his face fell instantly. He took a deep breath; his torso, which was the size of a small car, had become thoroughly majestic with this event, causing a feeling of danger to form even inside me.
Somehow, what I expected didn't happen; the boy breathing furiously calmed down slowly after a while and sat on the ground. The boy named Toraman, whom I made so many guesses about and took precautions thinking he would attack anyone in front of him screaming wildly, was lying down calmly and falling asleep.
This strange event I experienced had stolen a bit of my time, but it also allowed me to learn a fundamental truth. From this moment on, I would know that I was being addressed when "Max" was said, because this was my name in my new world.
When I returned to my investigation, I noticed a four-colored formation covering the area within certain boundaries like a bell jar; we were all inside this structure with yellow, green, blue, and red colors. After a while, the small single-story houses located right in the center caught my attention, and I started running towards them rapidly.
I knew I had come to Hell, and what I had been taught since my childhood told me that I had started to suffer eternal torment, meaning I couldn't be in a hurry anymore, but for some reason, a feeling inside me was shouting that every second was precious.
The distance between where I stood and the buildings wasn't much; under normal conditions, I could arrive in a minute or two, but trying to slip through hundreds of people in between took a lot of my time. When I arrived at the place I wanted, I saw small structures arranged in a circular shape with stalls on one of their facades, and a stone inscription with writings on four sides in the middle of them.
Now I had caught on; the shield surrounding the area, the structures in the form of shops, and a stone inscription in the middle... There was no room for doubt, this was the classic starting village in MMORPGs.