Darkness.

It stretched out in every direction, swallowing all light, sound, and time itself. An endless, suffocating void surrounded him, vast and cold, like a black ocean with no surface or depth. He felt himself floating, weightless, suspended in a space that seemed to exist between worlds. No body. No form. Just his consciousness adrift in this formless expanse, detached from the physical, reduced to pure existence. There was no pain, no sensation—just the quiet hum of the void itself, a vibration so deep it barely registered in his awareness.

Time held no meaning here. He could have been there for mere moments or for an eternity. The stillness was maddening, yet in its own way, it carried a strange, numbing peace. Without a body to anchor his awareness, without thoughts to grasp onto, he was simply... there. Existing in the void.

But slowly, that quiet numbness gave way to thoughts—small, disjointed fragments at first, barely flickers in the vast emptiness. They drifted in and out, like echoes from a life long forgotten. Then, bit by bit, memories began to rise to the surface of his mind. They were fleeting, hazy, like smoke twisting and dissipating in the air. He couldn’t grasp them fully, but he felt their significance—remnants of his life.

He saw flashes. Waking up early for work, the bitter taste of coffee on his tongue, the way the morning sun filtered through his kitchen window. Simple things. Then came the faces of the animals. He remembered them most clearly—the dogs he had walked, their eager eyes and wagging tails; the stray cats, timid yet trusting as they came closer to eat; the birds perched in trees, their movements quick and deliberate. These creatures had been a part of his daily life, grounding him in the present. He smiled softly in the emptiness, but with it came a sharp, bittersweet pang.

Those memories—those lives—they were gone now. He was no longer part of that world.

He had died.

He could remember that now, the moment it all ended. The details were murky, lost in the shadows of his thoughts, but the realization was undeniable. He had crossed some invisible threshold and now drifted in this place beyond life, beyond the world he had once known. But if he had died, then... where was this?

Was this the afterlife? He had always imagined something more—something with light, warmth, or even a peaceful rest. But this was something entirely different. This was an empty void, indifferent to his existence, as though the universe itself had forgotten him. No voices. No guiding light. Only the endless, cold dark.

His mind grasped for answers, questions swirling in the quiet corners of his consciousness. What was the purpose of this void? Was there a reason for it? Was there a grand cosmic plan? He had never been a deeply spiritual or religious man, but now, adrift in this strange limbo, he couldn’t help but wonder. Was this it? Was this all there was after death—an endless, formless void?

As his thoughts spiraled, he felt his sense of self slipping away, unraveling like threads pulled from the fabric of his soul. Time blurred, losing all meaning. He had no way of knowing how long he had been here, how long he had floated through this nothingness. It was as though he was being dissolved by the void itself.

Then, something changed.

A flicker of light appeared in the distance, faint at first, barely visible against the crushing black. It shimmered like a distant star, a beacon of hope amidst the sea of darkness. He stared at it, drawn to its soft glow. Slowly, as his awareness sharpened, he became aware that he was not alone. Around him, other souls drifted, countless in number. Some barely flickered with light, others dim and barely visible, but all moved in the same direction—toward the light. They floated like dust in a sunbeam, an endless procession of disembodied souls, silent and eternal.

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Compelled by a force he couldn’t name, he joined the flow, his consciousness pulled along with the tide of souls. The light grew larger as they approached, swallowing the darkness, until it became a blinding, all-consuming brilliance. It was too intense, too bright for him to comprehend, and before he could understand what was happening, it enveloped him completely.

And then—nothing.

When he became aware again, the light had receded, replaced by a vast, ethereal landscape that stretched beyond anything his mind could grasp. Before him stood a figure—immense, incomprehensible, a being of pure cosmic power. Its form was obscured, cloaked in swirling mists of energy that shimmered and shifted like the light of distant galaxies. It had no face, no discernible features, yet its presence was overwhelming, filling him with a mixture of awe and dread.

This being was not of any world he had known. It was an entity beyond the realms of life and death, a cosmic force that existed outside of time and space. And it was watching him.

Around him, the stream of souls continued to flow, passing through the entity’s grasp. Each soul was touched briefly, examined, and then sent onward to some unknown destination. There was no fanfare, no judgment, just a cold, mechanical sorting of souls. Each one was stripped of its memories, its identity, and sent into the next stage of existence.

Then the entity paused. Its attention shifted to him.

He felt its gaze, though it had no eyes. It reached out, and as its touch brushed against his essence, he felt an immense power probing his very soul, sifting through his memories, his life. Everything he had been, everything he had done, was laid bare before this being. It lingered, searching, as though it had found something out of place. There was a faint tension, a recognition that something was wrong.

His death had not been part of the grand design.

Without warning, the entity released him. His soul was cast into the void once more, hurtling through light and darkness, spinning uncontrollably. He had no sense of direction, no idea where he was being sent, only the overwhelming sensation of falling.

Then, warmth.

It surrounded him, wrapping him in a soft, comforting embrace. But unlike the previous void, this warmth felt... alive. His awareness stirred, groggy and unfocused. His body felt sluggish, unresponsive. He couldn’t think clearly; his thoughts were murky, like he was trying to grasp something through a thick fog. Everything was muffled—his senses dulled, his mind sluggish. He felt confined, as though his limbs were being held in place by something soft and liquid. Time drifted once again, and he floated in a strange limbo, his consciousness unable to form any coherent thoughts.

Then, a light—a different kind of light—appeared, and with it, a sense of motion. Something was changing. He couldn’t comprehend it fully, but he felt a pull, something drawing him forward, toward this new light. The warmth around him began to contract, squeezing his small, unformed body. He tried to move, to push against it, but his limbs felt tiny and weak. His mind, still foggy and unfocused, barely registered what was happening as the pressure built.

Suddenly, the warmth was gone, replaced by a sharp, biting cold.

Blinding light assaulted his vision. He tried to blink, but his eyelids were sluggish and uncoordinated. The air hit his skin like ice, and he gasped instinctively, his tiny lungs burning as they filled with breath. His entire body felt strange—small, fragile, weak. He couldn’t see clearly; everything was a blur of shapes and colors, distorted by the haze of his newborn vision. His mind was a swirling mess of sensations and confusion. He couldn’t understand what was happening, but instinctively, he let out a cry—a sharp, high-pitched sound that seemed foreign to his ears.

Where... where am I?

Blurry figures loomed above him, massive and indistinct. Voices filled the air, their tones urgent but unclear, speaking in a language he couldn’t fully comprehend. Yet, some of the sounds seemed... familiar. His foggy mind grasped at the words, trying to make sense of them, but they slipped through his awareness like water through his fingers. Was this... Earth?

The voices continued, but he couldn’t understand them. He blinked again, trying to focus, but his vision remained unfocused, his thoughts too disoriented to grasp any clarity. One of the figures moved closer, its shape looming large in his vision. Then, something strange happened. The figure waved a hand over him, and a warm, tingling sensation washed over his tiny body. In an instant, the fluids and mess that had covered him vanished. He was clean, and then, with a gentle touch, he was wrapped in a soft cloth.

Wait... what?

That wasn’t normal. He had just been cleaned—without anyone touching him. It was as though something... magical had happened. His mind, still reeling from the shock of birth, slowly began to piece together what had just occurred.

This wasn’t Earth.

The words, the strange gesture that had cleaned him.