The dimension could barely support the shadowy figure, but they didn't care and kept staring at Ben Higgs.

" { Fascinating. } "

The shadow emitted enough light to extract Ben from the veil of absolute darkness.

In addition to the surrounding void erosion, Higgs' body had also decayed slightly. His limbs had thinned, and only the area around his heart and brain was close to its original size.

At Ben's back, the tree had become a partial stump, as only the part closer to touching Ben remained. It was hard to distinguish that they were separated units.

After staring at Ben for a while, changing their focus elsewhere, this entity observed the strained dimension and how it changed.

" { Unwavering. } "

Once they concluded such observations, they began absorbing from the void the imprinted will, freeing the dimension into an even more unenergetic state.

" { If I hadn't vowed to the annoying Bell, I wouldn't do this. No wonder he was so insistent. } "

The engraved memories of this dimension blended with the outsider, giving a detailed third-party recount of Ben's life and everything else.

After struggling for a while, so as not to lose themselves, the foreigner began emitting their intention again.

" { Not much, just some good old instinct. Not that daring. Overly careful. Why then? } "

Once they understood how Higgs isolated himself, the shadow figure's sense of existence began to shake.

" { Foolish. Once it's pointed out, it's obvious. But even then, if presented with such choices, most would choose to be soulful. Aha, most would, but not all. Is that it? } " The shadow's soul trembled once they began questioning the significance of people's souls.

Since they couldn't figure out what was inside Higgs' mind, they decided to wake him for a bit. After absorbing the memories, they believe it wouldn't take much since Ben's intention should be agreeable toward seeing the situation around him now.

" < Is this it? Your brother would be proud. > "

The stranger emitted their intention using the English language from Earth, the other planet they had overseen.

" < Brother? Who? What did I do? > "

And the entity was correct. Ben's instinct readily agreed to reply.

However, unfortunately, Ben's fragile consciousness couldn't remain consistent. As the few memories sealed away emerged again, and his instincts took over, they tried to form a complete sense of self, but they kept failing.

" < I met a lot of weird creatures throughout, but not one of them would give up their reincarnation to look at the void. They would try to burn someone else's stuff first but never their own. Why did you choose that? > "

Left alone in the silence for a bit, Higgs slowly sunk into slumber again. But every question echoed into his flesh would wake him up, giving him an instant of flawed lucidity.

" < Should I die instead? Did I even reincarnate? What am I? >" He replied to the question but still couldn't create too much of an idea afterward.

Right now, Higgs answered, somewhat automatically, but couldn't assemble new memories.

" < Shouldn't you have died? Moving on isn't bad. > "

" < Perhaps. But why are you still here, then? You got to move it. > "

" < Is this not dying, also? > "

" < I'm ceasing, sinking, and not sending my heavy legacy anywhere else. Well, I'm dead already, I think. But the most crucial point is that I can't die, at least not anymore. And those memories are mine, even if they're gone. > "

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

" < Quite possessive. But you can't live, either, right? > "

" < Win, win. > "

" < Was looking at the stars that good? > "

" < I feel like this is what I truly wanted, or should. So I don't feel bitter. > "

" < But don't you regret not ascending? > "

" < Just another rat's race, isn't it? Why would I want a ticket to the next town? To where? What do you want? Who are you? > "

" < Don't you want to live? > "

" < You should ask the living. I just wanted to be. > "

" < Yet, you're still here, somehow. > "

Ben tried to open his eyes but couldn't. Then, the lack of a stimulus from a question allowed his brain to become fogged again.

" < Do you want to look at the heavens? > "

" < Such shitty thing. Are you a parent or just some engineer? > " Ben snapped back once a new question reached him.

" < Who? Do you even remember? > "

" < His? Who? I don't know, but I would like to ask that. > " Lacking the full scope of his experiences, defining people's detailed journey was difficult. And as if knowing, Ben embraced his instinct, avoiding a spiral of madness. He chose to avoid fighting those vague ideas and instead embraced them.

" < He'll be fine. I'll make sure of it. But you, what did you feel back then? > "

" < Instead of a spiral of dread and nothing, I felt clarity. Quite a surprising outcome. > "

" < Clarity? What kind? > "

" < A sense of freedom and euphoria. Zen might be the world, but I would be misusing someone's else intention. > "

" < What changed? > "

" < Not much. And that's the issue. I didn't feel like I lost anything valuable. It was just slightly clearer. At the time, it was underwhelming. Later, the conclusions taken from such an experience were what shaped me. No one believed me, though, as they instead often thought I saw the abyss and liked it. > "

" < I do, and I find it fascinating. Would you do it again? > "

" < I hope so. But it was merely a fluke, I believe, so hoping is the most I can do. > "

" < Don't you want to go out? I can try to bring you to a wider horizon. > "

" < No! I won't go, Pel! > "

Once Ben replied, mixing old recollections in, his seal tried to strengthen itself. But while his intention was clear, his strength was minuscule against this foreign existence.

" < Do you think the last one smiling wins? You stand on the bones of everything. > "

" < No. I'm just the last one on this sinking ship. > "

" < No. You're becoming the ship, such an oddball. And yet, you were quite right, can't you sense it? > "

Being inquired about it, Ben expanded his sense a bit. As a result, a wave of pleasure hit him.

The conflict in the void ended, so there was no more insane pressure around. Ben's body could finally relax, which caused his refined soul to appear again on his skin as it began to drip out of his pores.

" { Fancy tears? } " The shadow's intention reverberated. Yet, Ben couldn't understand the alien language, so he didn't reply.

But, despite this loud existence in front of him, Ben could still notice the void itself going out of control, so he tried to focus on it.

It wasn't what he did but what was gone that brought him a wave of joy. Although his consciousness couldn't pinpoint or remember what, Ben's flawed mesh of intention felt a weight taken over his shoulder.

" < I've got a couple more questions. Why didn't you try to take over? Given such insight, it might've worked. Reprogramming wouldn't have been farfetched. > "

" < I took a bite, but it didn't taste good. > "

Once they started evaluating what formed themselves, the outsider's anxiety levels began to rise. Yet, they still kept poking, trying to understand Higgs' mindset. Still, they understood they were pushing their limits, so they wanted to conclude the questioning before breaking down.

However, despite their best efforts, the growing existential dread gradually became unbearable.

Once they considered reprocessing their underlying root, panic sprouted from deep within them, causing his figure to shake and blur and their existence to waver.

Meanwhile, they wanted to judge those words as cold and uncaring, but they knew better than that. Those were instead just mundane words to something that felt so incredibly taboo. The natural banality within Ben's intention was what hit this existence the most.

Ben's words carried no fear or dread, but the outsider's intention did. So, to fight back, the wavering figure stopped asking questions and focused on entrenching their conclusions about their reality.

" { Well, you fell asleep again, so carefree. } "

Gradually, the shadow relaxed, giving up pondering some lines of thought to self-preserve.

" { Do we reincarnate? Ha, rather than finding reasons not to reincarnate, you doubted the whole process. How then? Was it because you were a new soul? But Earth didn't seem special. Was it due to being some collateral of my successor transportation? But I'm not the only one doing that, so why now? Despair? Not enough. So how? Where did such sharp instinct come from? } "

They were unsuccessful in building a clear picture, but descending was too convoluted to overstay their welcome. Here, even if nature had decayed, the remaining void still didn't accept them.

" { It's time to go, I guess. } "

However, before leaving, the shadow figure came closer to Ben and pointed its finger at Ben's forehead.

They sent their intention less intrusively, so it didn't wake Higgs up.

" < First, I'm just an overseer. Second, although it's complicated, he's my son and successor. Last, Pel asked me to give you a title. In my eyes, if I'm indeed some shitty Heaven, then you must be an Oddity, a Heaven's Oddity. > "

Feeling the lack of malice, Ben accepted it. As a result, the shadow's intention dove into Higgs' sealed organs below his refined soul, imprinting the few sentences in Ben's scarce memory bank.