As the Celestial CEO (CCEO?) escorted us down another archaic stonework hallway, Mark asked him,
The CCEO looked uncomfortable, hunching up his shoulders and lowering his head, “Ahhhh, ah, well I did, ah… try something like that before, ummm, but, well, ah geez… it did not go well,” he finished, looking down at the floor in front of him. “Free will, ahh… yeah well, it’s not so good to mess with free will. Things,” he reached up and scratched his head, his posture still defensive, “things tend to either work out, or they, well… or they don’t. If I poke it…well,” he finally looked at us, a deep sadness obvious in his eyes, “things… ahhh… things fall apart.”
We left him alone for a while after that, silently stunned by his frighteningly honest reply. He seemed lost in thought as he lead us to a small door set at the end of the hallway, and I for one had my own thoughts to ponder. Free will, huh? That’s pretty heavy.
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Seeming to cheer up again after a few moments, our guide stopped us in front of the door, explaining that it led out of his personal space and into the Overworld itself. Not knowing what to expect, we were flabbergasted when he opened the door, revealing a scene straight out of an M. C. Escher painting if he had teamed up with Salvador Dali. Completely surreal, full of motion and activity, stretching to infinity on a straight plane with no horizon in sight. I’m sure we would have passed out or at least lost our lunch if our bodies hadn’t been CCEO-granted constructs.
Unable to speak, dazed and confused, we followed Nerdy CEO up, down, and around, until we reached an open platform with what looked to be an elegant woman in her late 50s. She had long silver hair flowing around her as she sat on a simple wooden chair next to an antique wooden table. There were dozens of archways surrounding the edges of the platform, varying in construction from marble, to silver, to naturally grown wood (leaves still attached).
At this point I had completely lost my orientation, but I was guessing we were at least 90 degrees from when we started, gravity be damned. I was doing my best not to look around too much, as it was the only way to feel like I wasn't about to fall off of a ceiling or wall if things ever started making sense again.
“Welcome, young friends,” sent the woman with a kind smile. “Pease approach, and I shall help ease your transition into your new lives,” she gestured to the table, which suddenly had two extra chairs and four small shot glasses on it. As we approached the table, she explained, “Here we make ready for rebirth,” she pointed at one of the shot glasses (it was blue), “This potion will help send your memories, all that makes you who you are, back to The Grey for safekeeping.” She smiled at us again and pointed to the next shot glass, “The next is to wipe clean your worldly skills, these things that you know, but that are not you. Begin again afresh and renewed, full of endless possibilities.”
Our CCEO was silent during this, only giving us a reassuring nod from the side when we looked back at him. I figured he was probably waiting to remove the soul thingy he did to let Mark and I communicate.
Walking towards the table, Mark looked at me and nodded. I nodded back, taking a deep breath. I guess this was it.
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And then things went to hell. Literally.
Before we even knew what had happened a massive black and red tentacle shot past us, knocking both the table and the woman next to it flying. Spinning around, we both involuntarily turned back into cloud-soul-form as we saw our Nerdy CEO suddenly grow hundreds of times bigger, his skin rippling with golden muscles, his suit transformed into rune-covered armor. He reached out and severed the tentacle, turning to face a gigantic rift that had opened a few kilometers from us.
“Protect the Souls!” he roared, launching himself at the mind-bending beasts streaming out of the rift.
I felt a tug and found myself floating after the Mark-cloud,
From there we found ourselves on another platform, but we could still feel painful vibrations and chaos going on around us, though everything was moving so quickly I couldn't really make out what was happening. I just kept following Mark.
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Next thing I knew we were hurtling through space at insane speeds, stars streaking past us. A spot of blue appeared in the distance and shot towards us at before we could understand what was happening, and as it grew larger and larger we found ourselves above an endless plane of blue, with scattered white cloud-like patterns here and there. Wait... were they actual clouds? Was that supposed to be an ocean? I had seen pictures of the earth before, and if it looked like this we should be able to see the edges of the planet... but it just went on and on forever. Things were moving too fast to really process what was happening, but I could still sense the Mark-cloud, and instinctively tried to resist when something started tugging me away from him. Hanging on, I fought the force with all my might.
And then everything went black, and the Mark-cloud vanished. I briefly wondered if I had actually died this time, or if souls even die. But then again, the last time I died everything went white, not black.
Then I felt a deep thumping vibration pass through me, followed by a period of silence, and the deep thrumming again... and that was my world, my entire existence, for so long that I almost forgot what it was like to have a body, or to be able to see. My thoughts felt dim and distant, more like faraway memories that just dimly let me recall that I still existed. Occasionally other sounds and vibrations stirred me to awareness, and over time I found I could move again, although I still couldn't see anything.
What felt like years passed by, and I must have woken up and fallen back asleep thousands of times. Eventually, I started to feel a sense of pressure, and moving my arms and legs sometimes met with some kind of external resistance, but it was pretty hard to tell in my seemingly permanent hazy, comforting fugue state.
And then came the PAIN, which was way worse than a nuclear bomb, and I squirmed and fought against it with all my might. But it wouldn’t stop, and it went on for what seemed like hours. Pressure on my skull, my eyes, and my ears, followed by an abrupt sensation of suffocation! I didn’t think I was breathing before, but I desperately needed nothing more than a blessed lungful of air now! Slowly dying while being crushed on all sides, I was still trying to scream when things suddenly got brighter around me. The pressure vanished, but I was still struggling for air when I abruptly coughed, and was finally able to inhale the sweetest breath of my life. I tried to yell for help, but all I heard was a baby crying. Wait, a baby? Why is there a baby here?
Oh...