I woke up, same time as usual—yawn, stretch, and ugh. The daily grind calls. My eyes dragged themselves open like they’d been stuffed with cement, but I got up anyway. After a stretch that could’ve cracked the spine of an elephant, I let out a long sigh that made me feel like I was going to go back to bed.

Ah, the joys of the corporate life. Earnings report day. The day we find out if the company’s going to thrive or go belly-up. I clocked in, already mentally at work before I even set foot out of the breakroom. The morning ritual—one step, then another. Walking: the most mindless task, yet here I am, overqualified for it.

The hallways were crowded with co-workers in the same sad, over-worn uniforms—charcoal black, gray, a couple frayed edges here and there. Real fashion-forward stuff, right? Well, at least the health benefits are decent, and I’ve got life insurance in case I drop dead at my desk one of these days. That should at least make sure my lovely wife and kids are set.

Then there was Janet, hurrying along next to me as always, her slightly off scent wafting in the air. Not sure what was worse—the fact that she was in such a rush or the fact that she smelled like she’d missed the memo about hygiene today. She glanced sideways, almost like she was hoping I wouldn’t comment on it, and I figured now wasn’t the time to bring it up. We had a job to do, after all. Today was the big day, and it was all hands on deck.

“Mmmmurrrg.” Garret, the giant of a man who was clearly running on fumes and hadn’t even seen his first cup of coffee, grumbled as he ambled up next to me. He was always slow in the mornings—like a bear with a hangover trying to figure out how to use its legs again. I didn’t mind. He needed to be filled in. On my plan.

“Alright, Garret. Here’s the deets.” I started, giving him a sideways glance. His face was a mess, dark circles under his eyes like he’d been living off caffeine and regret for the last 48 hours. He turned to me slowly, blinking like he had to process my words in real time.

“The boss is gonna drop the bomb that the quarter’s tanking, and investors are gonna start checking their stocks like a paranoid conspiracy theorist. We were aiming for ten to twelve percent growth, but it’s clear we’ve hit a wall. And I’m betting Jerry’s the one holding the damn thing up.”

Jerry, our lovely supervisor, was a walking disaster. You could ask him to figure out a simple spreadsheet and he’d return with a magic trick or a fart joke. No real progress. No solutions. Just complaints. Watching him wreck our department while we all took the fall was like watching a car crash in slow motion.

Garret growled in agreement, as if the idea of Jerry failing at basic tasks was the only thing that could ignite any passion in his sleep-deprived brain. Janet gave a nod, and the three of us were locked in—one shared sentiment: Screw Jerry.

“We go in there, let the big boss give his little spiel, and then—boom—drop Jerry like a bad habit. We’ll throw him under the bus so hard, the damn muffler’s gonna catch him by the shirt and drag him straight into a pothole. We’ve been busting our asses to hold this department together, and once we get Jerry out of the picture, we’ll have some breathing room.”

Janet was practically giddy at the thought of Jerry finally getting what he deserved. She flashed a grin that was half-predatory, half-vengeful, probably from all the crap he’d put her through. I couldn’t blame her. That walking excuse for a supervisor harassed her more times than she can count, and he was finally gonna get his comeuppance.

We walked in sync, three disgruntled employees ready to take down the corporate cancer, while the rest of the departments gathered around like a horde of ants at a picnic. Weirdly, there seemed to be more of them today. Had the company been overzealous with the hiring?

Quaggy, one of the older employees and the main lobby janitor, leaned hard against one of the walls nearby. Poor guy looked like he had a little bit too much of the bottle and the hangover was taking its toll. I hope Jerry doesn’t catch him, that little sniveling rat will scurry to the VP and start commenting about how the whole floor reeks of booze and that Quaggy has been pissing in bottles again. Ugh. Honestly, if Jerry gets his way, I’m not sure who’ll be left to clean up after him.

As we marched forward, I could feel that familiar knot tightening in my gut. Was it nerves? Excitement? Honestly, it had been a while since I had a real shot at taking my supervisor down a peg, but then again… does Jerry really deserve it? We were both stuck in this sinking ship of a company, and here I was, just looking for a chance to get to the top by throwing him under the bus. Have I really sunk so low that I’m using backstabbing tactics just to fill a seat I’m not even qualified for?

I had always been the spineless one, and I hated it. I hated that Jerry got the job I wanted and now I was so desperate to take him out. Sure, what he was saying to Janet was wrong, but at least she had the guts to stand up to him. She would talk to him, even if it was just out of sheer spite. As for me? I hadn’t had a real conversation with the guy in ages. He’d just keep ignoring me, passing me over like I wasn’t even there.

Now, doubt crept in, and I began to second-guess myself as I hovered through a tree. Was this the right move? Would it all backfire on me? Jerry had the ear of half the vice presidents, but the COO was my only ally. Even if I pulled this off, would my peers just use me as a stepping stone for their own department’s gain?

Wait a second… What the hell is a tree doing in the middle of the hallway? My confusion deepened as I stopped dead in my tracks, furrowing my brows at the strange sight.

And there it was—a massive oak tree. Its bark twisted and gnarled, roots sagging like they’d been here for ages, and yet, it was as if it had been dropped here by some cosmic joke as though it’s been swaying in this spot in the forest for a very long time… a forest?

The walls were gone. Replaced by thick, dense trees that stretched high into a sky that didn’t seem quite right—almost dreamlike. My coworkers, their faces strangely distant and silent, moved in a trance, their footsteps barely making a sound as they wandered through the now-wooded hallway. I couldn’t help but stand there, mesmerized by the unnatural serenity. It was like being trapped in a forest at twilight—calm, eerie, and vaguely unsettling, as if everything was suspended in time.

Janet gave me a nudge, her usual concern evident in the way she was trying to steer me forward. That’s right, we had a job to do. Jerry had a lot to answer for, especially after all those reports that mysteriously ended up in the shredder instead of actually being analyzed.

But then it hit me—this wasn’t Janet nudging me along. It was her twin brother, Kanet, who looked almost exactly like her, only with a more… scheming edge to him.

“Oh, uh, sorry, Kanet. Hope you’re doing alright. I didn’t mean to leave you out of today’s planning session,” I muttered, caught off guard. Kanet was Jerry’s little mole, always eager to stab his sister in the back for a chance at the position Jerry had dangled in front of him. A position that didn’t even exist, thanks to Jerry axing it for the sake of saving a few bucks for this all-important report. Ugh, what a mess.

“Blugh, bluh-bluhhhh huh huhhhh.” He gurgled, his shadowy figure bouncing too and fro like the mere effort of trying to go in a straight line was excruciatingly painful. This was clearly Jerry’s doing.

As my allies and hundreds of others packed into the meeting room, which resembled more of a cramped meadow than anything else, I immediately noticed the heated debate taking place at the front. My stomach dropped. There, next to the COO, stood Jerry, looking all smug with his reptilian grin, slithering his snake-like tongue as he whispered sweet nothings in the COO’s ear. The sneaky bastard.

As Jerry turned towards me from the other end of the crowd of wailing shades, who were pressing against each other like a mob trying to break into a store on Black Friday, I saw his devilish shit eating grin before leering at Janet. Janet wailed in dismay, or at least, she wailed in general. She does a lot of wailing nowadays.

And there it was. We had lost. The COO had given Jerry approval to marry Janet. The merger was going forward. It was official.

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“No way, not on my watch. Take this!” I roared, shoving my beleaguered co-workers to the side as I made a mad dash towards Jerry, my fists ready to rain down fury.

Jerry froze, his smug expression faltering for the first time as I closed in. I wanted him to feel every ounce of the pain he’d caused. Marrying Janet when the company’s future was in shambles? Janet didn’t like it either, I could see her discomfort as Kanet, her deceitful twin brother, patted her shoulder.

Jerry turned, eyes wide, and tried to make a run for it. He had a decent chance of escaping, especially with the crowd blocking the way, but we both knew it was a losing battle. The guards were slow, and I’d be on him long before they even thought about intervening.

Jerry found himself backed into a wall, literally and figuratively. He clawed at the glass in front of him, desperate to escape, but it was all in vain. The crowd around him, in their sheer panic, joined in, pounding against the glass as if my murderous intent had infected them all. Each of them, scrambling like rats, tried to break the barrier. It was almost comical—like a scene from a bad horror film—except I wasn’t laughing.

I finally reached Jerry, who spun around to beg for mercy, but I wasn’t in the mood. I gave him a light tap on the head—no need to make it dramatic—and sent him flying, like a pinball bouncing up into the trees. Jerry, in true cowardly fashion, quit his job in mid-air and headed straight for the upper floor of trees, where the other shades were still helplessly trying to break through the invisible barrier.

I glanced down at my hand, now barely more than a shadow of its former self, and looked over at the COO. He gave a solemn nod before collapsing to the floor in respect, defeated from his foolish ways.

“Muuuuuuuuu-reeeeee hurrrrrrrrghh…” the COO groaned, clearly impressed with my work at rooting out the company’s corruption. His voice was shaky, but there was a strange admiration in it as he muttered, “Take Janet’s hand in marriage and become CEO. You’ve saved us all.” Well, that’s what I thought he said. I may have paraphrased a little bit.

I stared, dumbfounded, at how ridiculously easy this whole interaction had been. I turned to Janet, whose face was hidden in her hands, her eyes glimmering with hope as she looked up at me. Honestly, I was just as shocked as she was.

What is going on here?

Why was I, a shade, staring at another shade that looked just like me—my own doppelgänger—and about to propose to her? The truth was, I wasn’t even sure what gender a shade was supposed to be. We were like shadowy, ephemeral figures, vaguely humanoid but barely defined.

“Ugh… this isn’t my job…” I muttered, my words trailing off into confusion. “This… black mass… trying to escape…”

I stretched a hand out toward the “window,” which seemed to shimmer and shift into a softly lit section of the woods beyond. But as I reached for it, I realized there was some kind of translucent barrier blocking my way. I’d felt this before. This was the same barrier I encountered when I visited G.G.!

“I’ve been… trying to escape… but from what, and how long?” I sighed, my voice sounding more like a hollow groan.

“Ugnnnhnnngh?” one of the shades nearby responded, a hollow sound—more of a reflex than an actual answer.

There it was—the sensation that moving beyond this barrier was the key to moving on, to escaping. Heaven or whatever was supposed to lie just beyond the veil. These shades were trapped souls, just like me, yearning to find peace. Their struggle felt palpable, like they were lost in a personal hell, unable to escape.

I, in my eternal cycle of slumbering stupidity, couldn’t fathom any reason why I had felt this urge to move on. Seeing how until a few moments ago I was dreaming of myself working a crappy desk job at a failing company, I didn’t blame them. They too were probably trapped in their own hellish nightmare while trying to rationalize their existence here. I feel like I finally can pull the wool off my eyes.

I looked at the COO- or rather, the shade that had dropped to try to pass the barrier from underneath and had absolutely no idea who or what I was, and gave a full ninety degree bow. Every movement felt heavy and draining.

“I’m sorry this is sudden, but... I can’t accept your promotion, COO. Nor marry Janet... I quit... effective immediately,” I muttered, each word weighing me down like a stone around my neck.

“Awoooooogh…” the shade groaned, as though my rejection had struck it deep. Well, guess your company’s going under now.

No offense, I thought. But your business was shady as hell.

I turned away from the mass of shades, leaving them to their eternal torment. Their soft, hollow murmurs filled the air, a chorus of lost souls still hanging on to whatever threads of life they had left. As I floated away from the barrier, I tried to ignore the creeping feelings of despair. I wasn’t sure how long I’d been stuck in this weird dream, but every moment here felt like an eternity.

My body was more than light, it was weightless; as though I was thin black sheets that could fly away to a gust of wind, the cloth wrapped around what remained of my body, which isn’t much at all. My fingers were translucent and cracked with old age, like I had become centuries old overnight. My face, what little I could feel of it, was wrinkly and warped as though the skin was wrapped around a skull as an afterthought.

At least it's still attached to my body, I consoled myself. Having lost so much already, we take small wins in situations like these.

As for legs? I don’t think I had those. If I did, I decided it was better to not scar my fragile ego even further by hoisting up my robe and taking a peek at whatever little surprises would await me underneath. I can explore what happened to “little Adrian” on a different day.

The path ahead felt clear, and I let myself drift higher, passing through trees and branches as if I was weightless. But as I neared the treetops, a flash of searing pain shot through me. I was blinded by a light so intense it felt like I was being burned alive. In a panic, I dove for cover behind a rock, hoping to regroup and recover from the assault.

Sunlight. Of course, I couldn’t get too close to it. I was a shade, and daylight was poison.

I felt my mind warp momentarily as I berated my lack of awareness, and had to take a pause to gather myself. The pain from the sunlight had temporarily instilled a bestial instinct to flee, and during that brief time I had almost lost my mental faculties. I could slip back into the ‘Employee of the Month’ mentality quickly if I let myself steep too far into danger as I was.

Alright, I began as I meditated. My name is Adrian, I was a paladin in my former life, and a reincarnated human from Earth that was given a second chance to redeem myself for a better third reincarnation in some sort of well endowed Nirvana. Despite that, I’ve died and remained dead, and now I’m fighting for my lack of life to set myself back on track.

I have no idea on how to do that.

Playing my boney excuse of a hand on my chest, I began to grunt the words to the resurrection spell I had learned as a paladin. After several minutes of getting the words out, I realized that not even the slightest shred of holy light gathered in my hands. I sighed, having figured this was the result. I mean, if I could use my holy power, what good would it do on a sorry excuse of an undead like me? Speaking of, it made sense a shade couldn’t use holy power anyhow, and the resurrection spell isn’t exactly meant to be casted on myself. I chuckled with a wheeze, the irony of it.

I regret all of this. The demon invasion? It’s a hard pill to swallow, but I did what I could. That’s just it though. Could I have trained harder, gotten even more powerful to protect my friends and the kingdom? I had the damn legendary sword, was that not even enough?

The kingdom is probably conquered, and the king and queen are either slaves or dead now. Even the crowned prince looked like he was a goner, judging by how that commander had rounded back onto me with that smug ass face.

The princess… ugh. I loved that princess. She made protecting the kingdom worth every sweat and tear I shed trying to work my way up to that fancy hero status, and now she’s probably some piece of meat hanging on a rope, or that stupid commander’s plaything…

It filled me with a crushing despair, knowing that I really screwed up dying at that critical moment. My clenched jaw of rotted teeth probably would have drawn blood if there were any to be spare.

Before I could howl my displeasure into this empty patch of desolate but otherwise peaceful woods, however, something else beat me to the punch with a bloodcurdling scream.

“Cool, I can’t even be the one to do all the howling.” I muttered as I went floating ahead to see what monster was giving its high pitched death throes. Maybe a banshee, or one of those weird jungle birds.

Instead, I ran into someone who clearly had it worse than I did.