He was dead, or at least he should have been. Instead he floated in the endless expanse of eternal darkness. Where was he? The sound of his own inner thoughts echoed out into the distance. Oh that's right. His name was Nihlus. Nilus Kyrik. He was on a mission on Eden Prime when he ran into another spectre, with mentor Saren. He remembered, from the corner of his eye, the muzzle of pistol. That's right his old friend had killed him with gunshot through the head. Then why was it that he was still here, was this the afterlife? He wasn't one to believe in such things. He thought, more calmly than he had anticipated.

A soft blue light appeared in the distance and slowly grew in intensity then suddenly a voice spoke. The voice sounded neither masculine or feminine and it was both calming and threatening, how odd.

"Nihlus."

"Am I dead?," He asked absentmindedly.

"Yes."

A sense of dread boiled within him. He really was dead.

As if sensing his discomfort the voice continued "Not for very long, your mind has been preserved, you will be made hole once more. I have parted away with a piece of myself to return you to the living. There is much we need to do."

He was being brought back to life, how and why?

"Who are you what do you want from me."

The voice was quite for a moment.

"I have many names but they others call me Shepard. You need my help and I am here to give it. That is all. When the time comes I will tell you more but for now trust me. I am on your side" it spoke its voice was now sterner than before.

Shepard? That name sounded familiar, he had heard it before. It was a human name one of only two he recognized. Yes. Memory slowly began to return. He was the human that accompanied Anderson the only other human that made itself known to the galactic community.

The oddity of his situation dawned on him. He was neither a skeptic nor a believer to humanity's true nature. At heart he was a realist and as a spectre he had traveled to a great deal of many places. Stumbled across a great deal of very odd things whether they were animals or strange circumstance so it was easy for him to see things as they truly were and humans were unsettling. A dangerous enigma. No one knew what they were capable of and they seemed to know more than they were letting on.

Slowly the senses in his finger and toes began to return although he still could not see them.

"What is this place?"

"Home. We slipped you through the strings and…I caught you in your fall." It sounded dissatisfied with its word choice as if the very words themselves were not enough to describe what it truly wanted to say.

"This is your home-orld?"

There was nothing more than the expanse of the void. Nothing could survive here. Not even synthetics.

The light grew warmer.

"Our world has long since come and gone. We no longer live there. You are in our new home, this void is for your own protection your mind could not handle its true form and in your weakened state I would not dare put an image in your mind."

"Why do this, humans have never cared about anything, why are you helping me?"

"I believe you should be given a chance. Our purpose is to safeguard the development of your people so that perhaps one day if you took the right path you could join us. There are forces out their, which you will soon come to lear that seek to destroy you. The others do not believe we should interfere. I think otherwise, after all are we not your guardians?"

Dark forces? Was it that ship back on Eden Prime. He thought back to the Salarian husks, the geth and the betrayal of his old friend. Was he behind all of this, surely that couldn't be. Unless, there was something controlling him. Or at least he hoped so, how else would his old friend, his old mentor betray him. There had to be something more. At least now he could figure it all out but the thought of revenge didn't settle entirely well with him.

"I want to give you fighting chance, however you need guidance. Through your voice and your actions you will be a ripple of change in these still waters. Only as a united force can the galaxy survive this threat."

"Why bring me back to do all of this. If you are as old as you make yourself out to be can't you just give us weapons? Can't you fight them yourselves" he paused, "Not that I'm complaining about getting a second chance at life but, it'll be much simpler."

The voice gave a small chuckle. Guess humans underneath all the enigma had a scene of humor. He was thankful for it. It made them seem less alien.

"Indeed it would. It would end everything. Our technology would destroy the very foundation of your society and quite possible your entire civilization if misused. A chance at second life, to try again is all I can give you and your people."

"Let us hope he does not squander it," said another voice Nihlus did not recognize.

Slowly the light began to fade and slowly his senses returned. When he awoken, he found himself in a pool of his own blood on Eden Prime.

In the middle of it all far from any known space. Two humans existed in the space between spaces a realm beyond time and space. A place where only those of higher understanding could inhabit, a place where the flesh, blood, rock or stone could not exist. Here form had no meaning.

You are putting yourself in a great deal of risk if he dies he will take a piece of you with him and it'll be gone forever. – Ashley

Silence.

And he will die someday. Sooner rather than later –Ashley

Silence.

I know. –Shepard

A/N: In case anyone was wondering I deleted the previous chapter. It was a going to be apart of a specific plot line but I never got around to really completing it and frankly I sorta had a better idea on how to follow through with it. So yeah.