Chapter 23

GAVIN

I feel as light as a feather, like I’m flying through a soft summer sky. Around me I sense warm air, but I also sense coldness alongside it—bonded to it almost. I pass by a scene I know all too well…at least, I think I do. Now that I think on it I’m not too sure. It’s a group of people all walking. They’re walking to what looks to be a city full of no one.

“You…are different,” a voice calls out to me.

I turn around on a pivot, next to me is a shining ball of light.

“What?”

“You are different. You are like me, but different. I woke here too, but I don’t know how long ago. I had the same thoughts you have now. A recollection of a place you can’t seem to put your tongue on.”

“Who are you?” I ask.

“I don’t know,” the ball of light answers.

I stare at the ball of light, this weird thing that says it is going through the same thing I am? Acheron. I hear a single word throughout my mind, a single word that seems to be like a key into a lock.

“I’m getting bored here, do you want to go somewhere else?” the ball of light asks.

“Somewhere else? What about that place there? I think I know those people,” I say.

The ball of light moves back and forth as if nodding it’s head no, “There is no going back there. You’re no longer welcome there.”

“What do you mean?” I ask.

“We don’t seem to be welcome in any of these bubbles—in any of these places. You can try all you want but you cannot go into them.”

I turn around and face the bubble with the running people. I reach out my arm, but I realize then it’s not a human arm but an appendage of pure yellowish light, swirling and pulsating.

I reach out to touch the bubble, to try and shove my hand through it but it is as solid as glass. I turn to work my way over to another bubble. I find that it is easier than I would believe. It’s just like floating but being able to have full control over it. I press my light-arm against the bubble and it too is completely hardened over.

“I told you, we’re no longer accepted into any of these places.”

“What do we do, then? I don’t want to stay here much longer,” I say.

The ball of light seems to think over its options. “Why don’t we make our own world? One where we let in all kinds of people and creatures,” the light says.

“Can we do that?” I ask.

“Here, let me try.” The ball of light begins shaking, but nothing happens.

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“Aw, maybe we can’t create a new world,” I say.

“Or, maybe creating a new world is your power,” the ball of light says.

“My power?”

“Try it out.”

I listen to the ball of light, I try shaking as he did, and I think of what it would be like to create a new world, a world with friends to hang out in. And the bubbles around us begin shifting away. One by one they leave us, and from nothing a single new bubble materializes from nothing.

“Yay! You did it! You created a world!” The ball of light exclaims, bouncing around.

“Yes, very good, you two. You’ve done very well,” a new voice says.

I turn to face the new voice, but cannot find the source anywhere. “You won’t find me by looking, I’m everywhere. I am dimension you reside in.”

“You….are the dimension?” The other ball of light asks.

“Indeed. I was known by the name of Friedrich Adata back when I was human, that name may mean something to you, but it also may not. I existed long before I was human, but you two are different.”

“What are you?” I ask.

“You can call me Father. I am the caretaker of Everything. You two are new. You two are the Sons. Your presence here means that you have become something more than human.”

“There…were others like us, weren’t there? I have a foggy memory,” the other ball of light says.

“Yes, you both have very foggy memories, that is an unfortunate side effect of your ascendance. You see, when a human is killed, their soul returns to me, or more specifically into The Pit.”

“What is The Pit?” I ask.

The dimension around us changes, I see a gigantic pit of what looks like black tar in front of me.

“This is The Pit. It is what started our life. The black tar that you see inside of it is the collective unconscious of every single human that has ever lived and passed on, their memories stored here forever.”

“What do they do here?” The other ball of light asks.

“The souls travel here after death. They empty all of their memories into The Pit, cleansing themselves for future use, and then they are recycled into being used to create new universes, just like the two of you did now.”

“And how are we here?”I ask.

“Your souls are tied to this dimension now since your bodies perished inside of it. They became linked after death and you now have more mobility than a normal human soul. It triggered an ascension process.”

“Okay, I understand that, I guess. What do we do now, Father?” I ask.

“Your job is now to act as my eyes and ears throughout these new universes. You shall enter them and take on an identity there within that universe. You shall play a role until that universe ends.”

“Until it ends?” The other light ball asks.

“You will find more about that when you begin doing so.”

“Okay, that sounds easy enough,” I say, nodding.

“What is my role in this new world?” The other ball of light asks.

“Your name shall be Styx, you will realize your role when you begin. “And you, your name shall be Acheron,” he says to me.

Acheron.

“Okay! I like that name!” Styx says.

“Um, excuse me, but I have a question!” I raise my appendage that would be the equivalent to a human arm.

“Yes, Acheron?”

“I was wondering if we could go back to that universe that we were just in? I think I might know the people in there.”

“No. Your life there is over, and so are your memories.”

“Come on, Acheron! That world is so boring! We have a whole new one to play around in! When can we start?” Styx asks.

“Whenever you want, Styx. You two are the gods of the world, it’s fate…is now in your hands.”