Every story starts with an apocalypse.
Not the fire and brimstone variety, of course, but then, that wasn’t always what the word evoked. In times gone by, it was used to describe the destruction of a world in general, and it wasn’t always literal.
A sudden betrayal; an unexpected opportunity; a goal found insufficient or misguided.
A thing is assumed, and that assumption is proven incorrect. That is how every story begins.
With a revelation.
Lucas had expected death to come with more revelation. He wasn’t dead now, obviously, but he knew he’d died; he could remember it fine. Maybe he didn’t get much out of it because it was so quick? He hadn’t even heard the sound, just a glimpse of muzzle flash and then… this.
A darkness that extended in all directions that he could see. And he could see; he had a body, and all seemed normal. No gaping holes in his head, and all his parts seemed to be working fine. He could do with a piss, but he’d been holding that before he died, too.
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Suddenly, from the darkness emerged a… something. Vaguely blob-shaped and mildly translucent, it hovered – to whatever extent there was anything to hover above – at about the height of Lucas’s head. With it, a voice came from nowhere in particular that Lucas could discern. It was without inflection or accent, directionless and yet somehow perfectly audible.
“You… are dead,” the voice said.
“Suppose that depends on what you mean by ‘dead’,” Lucas replied.
“It is true, you- what?”
“I mean, obviously I died, I remember that. Or the moments before, anyway; can’t maintain awareness of being dead, or you wouldn’t really be dead, would you? But, I’m also obviously not dead now, since I’m here, talking to you. Think therefore I am, and all that. So, if you want to say I’m dead, you probably can, but you’ll need to tweak the definition a bit.”
Lucas grinned at the whatever-it-was. It had no mouth, no eyes, no face at all that he could see, so he just sort of stared at center mass and waited.
A couple moments of silence. The voice sighed.
“So you’re one of those. Great.”