Looking at the strange scene in front of him, Dean couldn't help but be perplexed by his surroundings.
His last memory consisted of him feeling a crushing pain in his chest before everything faded to black. When he came to, he was here in this strange place.
All around him he only saw pure darkness. It was unlike the darkness you experience when you close your eyes at night or when you stare at the back of your eyelids.
This darkness was different. It was ancient and all-encompassing invoking a sense of unease and insignificance to all that experienced it.
Luckily, this darkness was interrupted by the only source of light in this place.
However, this in itself was discomforting because Dean found that he had unknowingly joined this source and the source was a line filled with various shapes.
Upon closer inspection, Dean found that these shapes were people that seemed to fall into 3 distinct types.
The first type was composed of individuals that were nearly identical to people you could find on Earth.
Of course, that was only if you ignored the fact that they were shining with a faint blue light. Now and again a few blue 'flecks' of unknown origins would drift away from their body before dissipating in the darkness that surrounded them.
Now and again Dean would see someone in this category look around and yell something to those around them.
Unfortunately, they must have been too far away or weren't yelling loud enough because not even a bit of their voice or what they were saying reached him.
After a while, they'd become docile and obediently stand in line without causing any more ruckus.
The second type was composed of individuals that were similar to those found in category 1. The only difference was that these individuals were much less corporeal than those found in category 1.
Their bodies didn't seem as 'real' as those found in category 1 and seemed to contain much less substance. Moreover, Dean found that he never saw any of these individuals move at all. They were like trained soldiers or better yet, lifeless dolls that only knew how to stand in line.
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The last and seemingly the least category was by far the strangest. Individuals in this category were more like holograms than actual people.
Their bodies were nearly hollow and emitted only the faintest of blue light.
They were like a candle in the wind that would be extinguished with the slightest breeze.
They similarly never moved and whatever expressions they made was obscured by their lack of distinguishing features. Whether they were male or female, was a complete mystery and the only way to distinguish between them was to compare their heights to one another.
Things like hairstyle, weight, and clothes couldn't be found on these people.
Surprisingly, all these individuals possessed a shining white core of some kind that gently hovered in their chest area. Every core was different some were bigger and brighter while others were smaller and only glowed with dingy light.
Looking down at his 'solid' hands, Dean couldn't help but breathe out a sigh of relief:
'I don't know what is going on, but luckily I'm not like those poor fools in categories 1 and 2, only having a body that kind of looks real. Those in category 3 are even more pitiful looking more like ghosts than people.'
'Heh, well, to be honest, we're all ghosts here.'
'However, everyone here, including myself, is strange. I hadn't paid it much attention before, but isn't it unusual that a line as long as this would be so orderly and straight.'
'Even a line filled with trained soldiers would have one or two people fidgeting a little bit.'
'Hmm, speaking of which, what's the meaning behind this line? Does this line lead to heaven, hell, or reincarnation? Whatever the case, I always thought the process would be instantaneous. I thought I'd die, come to, and find myself in the next phase of my existence.'
'Sigh, not even death can exempt me from waiting in line behind others.'
Of course, Dean's joke rang hollow in light of his circumstances. Perhaps, he was in shock but this entire situation seemed surreal.
Glancing down at his feet, Dean realized that he couldn't move. It was like his feet were superglued to the ground.
When Dean realized this, he stopped even trying to extricate himself from the line. However, while his body was restricted, his mind raced as he tried to understand what was going on here.
Dean might have been extremely average in life. but he wasn't stupid.
He intuitively knew that by giving up he was inadvertently becoming like those other figures he'd seen in category 1, but what else could he do.
Just look at the nearly infinite number of people around him. Did none of these people want to escape or move around?
Of course, they wanted to, but look where they're at now. Right in line with everyone else displaying excellent posture and patience.
'Sigh, well this is it for me. With things the way they are now, I'll probably be assimilated into this line completely eventually becoming another puppet of this place.'
'From what I can observe, these flecks of light are probably the essence of who we are which is comprised of our personality, experiences in life, and memories. The white orb floating in everyone's chest, on the other hand, is probably what one would consider the soul.'
'The longer we stay in this place, the more essence we lose until all that's left is our pure essence, our souls.'
Dean didn't know if this theory was correct, but from his vast experience in video games and light novels, he was 60% confident in this theory and since no one was there to correct him that was his working theory.
However, unlike those characters in video games or light novels, he didn't think his situation was special or unique. Dean figured this was most likely the experience everyone had when they came to this place.
That's just the kind of person Dean was. A long life of mediocrity had conditioned him to never overestimate himself.
The way he saw It, anything that could be done was already done by someone better.
'Well, I guess all I can do now is wait and see what happens.'