Prologue V2: An End

Death had…

Not turned out as I had expected it to. No choirs of angels or flaming spiked pits. No reincarnation or endless dark expanses either.

Neither was there a sudden crack of sound and splitting light, as the simulator pod opened up and expelled me into the "real" world.

No.

None of those things occurred.

Rather, it would seem that death was a hallway. One with tall, burnished golden walls, and a clear glass-like floor; with no end in sight.

The only other things visible were motes of crimson something flowing all around me, with an especially dense concentration located underneath me. On the other side of the "glass". A chaotic flurry bound by a common direction, ever forward, and accentuated by the soft pulsing drone emanating from no discernible source.

I simply stood there for a time. Took in the sights around me as I attempted to remember what exactly had brought me here.

Eventually, I gave it up for naught.

All I could dredge up from the foggy depths of my mind were vague feelings of pain, disappointment, and a hint of betrayal. Details beyond that were lost to me. Swallowed up by the fuzz enveloping my brain, making it difficult to remember anything.

To even think at all.

Slowly, I reached up a hand, intending to touch my face, and paused.

There was nothing but a vague, glowing wisp of light and fog. Turning my eyes down, I examined the rest of my body and found the same. No legs, and only a hint of a torso. Just a blue glowing mist in a pattern vaguely resembling a human.

How strange.

Although I suppose not too much so.

Was it my Soul or something?

Hmm.

Feeling that fog in my mind slowly worsening as time went on, I decided I had to move. To gain some sense of forward motion.

That had always helped me think when I was alive, so perhaps it would now as well. Given the lack of other places to go, I willed myself forward. Followed the flow of red particles in the "air" surrounding me.

It was strange at first.

I wasn't really walking. More like floating, or swimming, but not even that.

There was a sense of purpose, of direction, but no actual need to move the individual portions of my new "body". It was almost like controlling an avatar in a game, but more direct. A simple application of thought.

Time passed without distinction as I steadily floated along; the hallway blurring together into an expanse of red, gold, and white as my vision gradually dimmed and the pressure on my mind increased.

I could feel myself slipping.

Old memories growing hazy and dim as my thoughts turned increasingly sluggish.

Somehow, I knew.

If I stopped moving, or if I failed to reach whatever my destination may have been, I would cease to be. Perhaps become part of that particulate rush swirling around me. So, I pushed myself harder. Eked out every bit of speed my ethereal body could produce, even as the air seemed to grow thick and heavy around me.

It was hard.

After what felt like days, but may have been mere hours, I almost lost hope.

Almost gave in, and simply allowed myself to be subsumed.

However, I saw a light.

A change in the atmosphere ahead; tinging the deep crimson and lustrous gold with a soft blue glow.

As I came closer and closer to it, I could feel myself stabilizing. The flow of red particles slowed and concentrated, separating out and ceasing to assault my form. The light, when it touched me, cleared my mind with increasing potency as more of it was cast upon me.

Then, a new sound pierced the all-encompassing drone which I had become accustomed to.

Music.

Moments later, it was joined by a voice like rumbling thunder; exuding authority and strength, but not unkindly so.

As I came to a halt in a large circular chamber, I gazed up at the source of the light. A ball of blazing fire in the sky, obscuring all details as its words echoed through my mind with a quality like ringing bells.

"Son of Man."

"You have been chosen for a most cruel fate."

"A world hangs in the balance, battered by forces that seek its destruction; even as it crumbles around them."

"You shall be sent there, and given the strength to topple that balance. To restore its Power."

"Your hardship and struggles will be great."

"However, this is not a punishment. All good things must come from hardship."

"You may choose as you wish, but your consequences are your own."

"Whether your future is dominated by Light or Darkness shall be determined by the sum of your actions."

"And understand. What comes next is not done by malice, but because it is necessary."

With a final shaking reverberation, the light pulsed and grew into a raging inferno; swallowing all before me. It blinded me as I felt a whirling vortex of energy surround my form.

As it reached its crescendo, one final parting line was granted to me.

"Learn, Observe, Judge, and Locate the Reason present within yourself."

When my vision finally returned, I was somewhere new. A dark void, with no discernible bounds or floor.

My body was still composed of mist and light, but slightly more solid than it had been. I no longer felt as though I was at risk of simply disappearing in a puff of nothing at any moment.

After a time, suddenly there was someone else. Standing before me. Appearing between one moment and another, with no fanfare or sign of approach.

An old woman in black with a veiled face; holding the hand of a young boy in a tailored suit, with blonde hair and wide blue eyes.

"Ah, it would seem that He finally located an acceptable candidate. What do you think my Little Master?" The old woman spoke in a fragile voice, looking down to the boy at her side.

He stared at me for a long moment, tilting his head to one side. Then, he nodded slightly and turned to speak in the old woman's ear, with a concealing hand held before his face.

She then looked to me as well, a gentle smile growing beneath her covered eyes as she spoke once more.

"Well, you're in luck. It would seem that my Little Master finds you acceptable as well. Finally, we can take the next step."

In an eye-blink, or what would have been one had I been capable of doing so with my current body, they were beside me. They flanked me, as the old woman gripped my "arm" and somehow held my ethereal form in place with unyielding strength.

She leaned in to my face with an apologetic smile, "Try not to struggle. The pain shall only last for an instant. You should be happy. My Little Master has a gift for you, and you'll only be the second human he's ever given something like it. Not quite the same as before, but just as special."

She paused briefly at that, as though considering her next words, then finished in a more somber tone.

"You won't remember yourself at first, but you will be able to change that. Follow the voice, and your own curiosity. Like humans always do. Then, it shall all return to you."

With that, the little boy reached out to me with a slender arm, firmly pushing into the fog that composed my body with his hand.

It passed through me like, well, like going through vapor. Penetrating deep into the core of what once might have been my stomach, or perhaps my heart. It was difficult to tell.

Once fully inside, his hand began to glow with a crimson light, and it burned.

I could feel my mind begin to fray at the edges as something was forced inside of me through the flames. Gouging through me and displacing or erasing whatever got in its way.

What remained of my memories after my trip through the hallway, were stripped from me one portion at a time. A careful blade, worrying away at the shattered carcass one piece at a time. Severed up into neat little slices, and placed within the newness inside of me.

Finally, after what felt like eons, the process finished and I was left as barely a husk of my former self; barely capable of processing the information around me.

A mere framework of a person.

My fading being slipped away then, entering a place of light and chaos, accompanied by the soft laughter of an old man as his wrinkled face flashed across my mind.

It was the last thing I would register before fading into the nothing.