Russell's world ended when he died. Wow, that's kind of obvious, right? It was a severe car crash, he had been going several miles per hour over the speed limit, and had slammed his body at incredibly high speeds into the side of a mountain as he lost his control of his car in the rain.

This wasn't supposed to happen. He was on his way to see his sister, who was in the hospital awaiting him.

And now he was dead.

At least, that's what all his senses had been telling him. High speeds, then abrupt stopping, slamming his body upon the dashboard, miles of pain hitting his body as glass cut into him, rendering him incapable of any feelings as his body surrendered to the stress of impact.

The world stopped. Grass froze, the sky blazed orange, and the air came to a halt. The car froze in its trajectory, glass hanging in midair, the sound of the car breaking ceased, leaving nothing behind but the moment, hanging in the air like an apple read to fall from the tree, hanging in suspension and waiting for gravity to snap its stem.

"We need him, do we not sisters?" came a voice, rich and deep like the mountains, like soothing flames of the hearth.

"Indeed, his soul is exactly what we need in order to bring balance to the cycle." Said a calm voice, rushing over my mind like running water.

"Our own Hero still hasn't been reincarnated, and we need someone like this boy now more than ever, before our world is plunged unto darkness." Said a third voice, serene like a forest, thriving and full of life.

"Then we need to ask the soul," the first voice began again, before aiming it's question at me. "We come from another world, and it is in grave danger. We fear that if we do not have someone like you to aid it, then it shall fall to ruin. Please, will you help us?"

I had no idea what was going on. I might like to consider myself a fairly intelligent person, but I had just gotten into a car crash and now it seemed like some voices were asking if I wanted to… save? Another world? I wasn't completely sure.

If that was the case, well. I had just got in a car accident, so I wasn't likely going to stay alive longer than a few minutes anyways, even if…

For some odd reason I had awareness of the car once more, as if thinking about it allowed me sight, but it was as if I was outside my body, looking on the frozen car crash from and outside point of view. It was then that I remembered that I hadn't been the only one in the car.

My friend Zach had been with me when we had gotten the call from my sister, hearing that she was about to go into that life changing surgery. It broke my heart to think that I would be dead and she wouldn't have her older brother around to assist her in her hour of need. But my friends Zach, he looked worse off than I did. His carside didn't even have a air bag, and he had slammed his head across the glass, his body having been thrown through the windshield.

Damn rain, and lightning, causing me to swerve at the last possible moment. I looked towards the light that had come closer to me. Red, Blue, Green, the three lights came to me, expecting an answer.

"I need my friend, Zachary, if I'm going to be entering this world of yours." I calmly said to the lights. "He's going to die with me here anyways, so if you have a way of giving me a second chance then you have to bring his soul too.

The lights seemed to confer for a moment.

"Zachary, eh?" inquired the flaming red spirit. "He holds great power, it might hold promise to bring him as well."

"Still," continued the calm blue light, "He isn't the wisest of men. While intelligent, he might lead you on a road to ruin."

"Sister," Interjected the lively green voice, "He deserves to live just as much as Russell here. I believe that we should bring him as well."

The blue light conceded, and they drew closer to me once more. "We shall allow Zachary to come with you into our world, but only if he chooses to do so, as it is his soul we will be taking into our world. Both of your bodies shall remain here, and we shall create new ones in their fashion in our own world."

"Then I agree to go into your world." I told them. If I was going to help them save their world, then I should probably accept, right? That seemed like a sensible thing for me to do.

The lights seemed to nod. Is that possible? Can a ball of light nod a head if they don't have a head to nod? Am I just overthinking this? Probably.

"We shall send you ahead of him, for we need you in our world as soon as possible. Should Zachary choose to follow you, then we will send him to you."

"We shall grant you our boons," said the red light. "Such that you will be able to succeed in your journey. We shall grant you the ability to unlock powers, as the hero who should have taken this quest would have had to do. You shall know at the time what you need to do."

I smiled, or at least I think that I did, but as far as I was concerned, I was merely a floating soul. We aren't getting into that again. "Then send me off." I told the lights.

The lights enveloped me, and the next thing that I knew was that I was unconscious. Well, actually since I was aware of it I suppose I was conscious, and rather that I was in a state of nigh sleepiness, since I was aware of the world around me to a certain degree. I shook my head, trying to get my bearings.

It was dark, and looked like the sun was on the horizon. I stood up, looking around myself. I appeared to be in a forested area, dense with trees and woodland animals that scurried about to and fro. I appeared to be on some sort of path, and I could see a spring of water nearby on the side of the path.

I stretched my limbs, not sure how I actually had a body, but that kind of thinking was kind of inconsequential; the lights who had brought me unto this world were clearly some sort of Gods, or Goddesses I suppose, and it made sense that they'd be able to recreate my body for my given that train of thought.

I wandered around, towards the spring, and was astonished when I felt an aura come over me. A deep sense of calm came over me, before unease settled in. Something was wrong in the world, the spring was trying to discuss this with me, but I couldn't understand it.

I turned and left the spring, letting the aura that had come over me fall away as I hastened from that spot. A mystery to be solved later, I suppose.

As I looked around once more, I noticed that there appeared to be a bridge in one direction, and simply an open path the other way.

A light dropped from the sky and landed a few feet from where I was, and I was only mildly unsurprised to see my friend Zach lying on the ground, groaning as if he hurt in multiple places. Which I suppose could make sense, given that we were both given new bodies.

"Gods." Zach moaned, "I feel like death itself."

I gave out a laugh; I hadn't hurt nearly as much as he seemingly did. "Get up Zach, we've got a journey to embark on."

The strawberry blond haired boy rolled over slowly, allowing him to look up at his friend. "Sheesh Russell, you just had to get us killed, and then you get us sent to another universe?" He stood up slowly, swaying on the spot for a moment before regaining his balance. "I don't know how you did it, but hey, I'm not gonna complain all that much."

Something important to know is that Zach's favorite past time was to play video games. And as such, it makes sense that he wouldn't mind that even though he died on Earth, he was now granted a second life on a planet that supposedly had gods and magic, evident by the talking lights.

He looked around, taking his bearings. "Are we in a forest or something?"

"It would appear that way," I said as I gestured towards the trees around us. "Come on, there's a path here, almost wide enough to be a road. Maybe there's a town or city near us."

Zach nodded. "Let's go."

We took off down the path, passing by the spring in the process, and Zach only spared a glance at it as the passed it by, deciding that we would investigate the bridge later.

This was certainly going to be one hell of an adventure.