I was floating through a sea of endless darkness.

I couldn’t see, hear, or feel anything.

Not at first anyway.

Time slipped away from me. I couldn’t tell when my eyes were open or closed. Whether I was awake or dreaming. Whether I was alive or dead. My body felt weird, like it was losing substance, like I was fading away.

Eons passed as I floated and still nothing.

Then I heard the screaming. Quickly followed by an explosion of light to rival that of the supernova.

The light coalesced into what looked like stars, each twinkling away in the void of the nothingness.

The screams didn’t relent.

They filled every aspect of the nothingness. It was a terror inducing, mind numbing, guttural screaming that ripped at my soul.

For a long time, I begged for death, begged for it all to end, anything to silence the screams.

That never happened.

But, at some point, I began to tone them out like background noise in a big city. It’s funny what a person can get used to, given enough time.

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I was just coming to terms with the fact that I was in hell, and this was all I would know for eternity when I felt something for the first time in ages.

Something grabbed my right forearm and yanked so hard I could swear my arm was going to pop off.

I opened my mouth to scream in pain, but it just blended into the noise around me. My body started to slow and reverse direction.

The screams which I had become accustomed to suddenly vanished and the silence was almost as loud. A voice boomed all around me.

“He is mine! There are rules that must be followed! You cannot have him!” It was deep as the ocean and commanded your attention. It was a voice that never knew opposition.

Another voice followed, this one as opposite as you could get. It was light and airy, calm and reassuring. The voice was melodic and inviting. “Too late, you old fogey. I cannot resist one asking for my help. Besides, once the process starts it cannot be stopped.”

“I will see his soul destroyed before I let you take another one from me. I don’t know who you are or how you keep doing this, but it stops now! No one cheats death. No one cheats me!”

The woman, for the voice was female, laughed. “Blow it out your ass, well, err, that is if you had one and weren’t all bones. Now, let… go… of… my…” It sounded like she was straining, like she was trying to roll a boulder uphill in the snow with the gravity increased a million percent.

I felt a massive burst of energy that nearly made me pass out.

The backward momentum stopped, and I started moving forward.

I heard a roar that sent shivers down my body.

“Never!” The first voice screamed.

I felt multiple forces assaulting my body as the two fought an invisible war. I wanted to scream out to get them to stop but the air was no longer in my lungs.

Both voices roared and the sound wave hit me.

I did the only thing I could in that situation.

I blacked out.