An endless expanse of darkness stretched into the horizon, with neither beginning or end.

Pure darkness, nothing but darkness. Or at least, until now. In a place where only black had been before, a tiny wisp of light flickered into existence. It was faint and scarcely larger than a grain of sand, yet in this world where light had never reached, it was everything.

Slowly it drifted, lost within the void, gliding through the darkness. Its path or destination entirely unknown—much like the reason for its appearance.

Time passed like a stream in which no ripple could be seen; moving forward at even pace, with neither direction or change. It didn't rise or fall, simply drifting on. A calm tranquility surrounded it, yet the small light refused to stop moving, as if it were heading towards something—something that lay ahead of itself.

Years turned to decades, and decades to centuries—the meaning of time long lost within the world.

Before long, an eon had passed since the light first appeared within the world. And with it, something that was also not of the darkness became visible in the distance. Neither light nor dark, but something else entirely.

It was everything to one, yet nothing to everything else. As if destined to be one, the light and the other were pulled towards each other. An otherworldly force tugged upon them, drawing them closer, their attraction growing stronger with every shrinking of the distance.

With abrupt finality they met, and the light was swallowed whole.

For an instant, a flash illuminated the void with blinding brightness, then faded swiftly, revealing a new orb of light where the two had merged. Larger than the two before, yet somehow... still incomplete.

It? The orb pulsed with newfound thoughts it could now comprehend.

Yes, it was an it, it realized. And with that realization, the orb swelled in size, its light flickering a little brighter. But something was still missing.

What else?

We—no—I?

Yes, that felt right. It was also an I.

The orb brightened and expanded once more. But… there was still more, something vital. Seconds passed and then...

...me?

Yes... me... but not just me, or I, or it.

All of them, together.

It is I, and I am it, and it is me.

The whole world shook as the orb more than tripled in size, its light growing so bright it threatened to devour the very darkness itself.

And then, something awoke within it, as the resulting orb of light pulsed with understanding, realizing that it was not just a simple light, but a consciousness. And it had a name: Kaden.

With that final revelation, Kaden—no longer just a simple orb of light—came to awareness in this world. As if he'd always existed.

"Where am I...." Kaden wondered, no recollection of how or why he had come to be here. Everything and nothing permeated his surroundings all at once. Trying to move yielded no result; he couldn't feel a single part of his body. Was this death?

The darkness was all encompassing, like a shroud pulled over his senses. His thoughts came slowly, sluggishly, struggling to make sense of what had happened. His very soul trembled as hazy memories wormed their way to the front of his mind.

His memories were a jumbled mess, images flashing before him with no connection to one another. Focusing on them sent tremors through his soul and feelings of pain through his consciousness. He remembered the feeling of his body being ripped apart and the sensation of falling.

"What... what happened?" he asked, his voice sounding distant and weak.

And then he saw it.

His father's familiar face stared back at him, contorted in a mask of hatred. The veins on his neck bulged like crimson ropes, his lips drawn back in a savage snarl while he held a broken vase in his hands. Blood flowed freely down the vase, covering his arms and dripping onto the floor.

A warm feeling spread from his head, a red liquid oozing down his head, covering his eyes and giving everything an eerie red sheen.

Everything grew darker as his consciousness began to fade, and then everything was black.

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Kaden gave himself a moment to mull over the memory.

So he was dead, huh?

Witnessing his own death so vividly was traumatic, to say the least. The feeling as his body gave out from blood loss, his thoughts slowing to a crawl... death.

It should’ve come as a surprise, yet it didn’t. This was hardly the first time his father had gone off in a fury and beaten him within an inch of his life. This time he just went too far.

He almost wanted to laugh. At least the bastard would get what he deserved now. His only regret was that he couldn’t witness the pathetic drunk he called a father being dragged off to prison.

Finally free to purge the man from his mind, his thoughts returned to his current situation.

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So what happens now? Death had felt strangely painless. He floated aimlessly within the mysterious space, thoughts ruminating. Was this supposed to be the afterlife? Was he going to stay here for all eternity?

Before he could consider further, a hideous gravelly voice reached him from somewhere beyond the darkness.

“I see you have finally awoken, child.” It spoke directly into his mind, and hearing it filled him with dread.

He felt danger, more than he had ever felt before.

"Who are you?" Kaden thought back, fear creeping into his imagined voice. He wanted to look around and find the unknown threat, but here he was simply a wisp of nothing.

“Interesting question. Who do you think I am?” The voice snickered, malice dripping from its every word, clearly deriving some sick joy from messing with him.

“G-God?” Kaden couldn’t stop the thought from forming. He didn’t truly believe that, already certain that if God was real, he definitely didn’t sound sound like this. Yet... who else could it possibly be?

The being laughed with a roar, and Kaden felt his doubts grow stronger.

"Not quite child. Though I suppose to you, there are certain similarities between God and I. After all, like God once used to be, I am now the master of your soul."

"My soul?"

"Indeed, I paid quite a price for it."

"W-What do you want with me?" Kaden once again felt the danger emanating from the unknown being.

"You will see... now come child, there is much for us to do."

And then Kaden found himself being pulled.

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Bright, everything was so goddamn bright.

Kaden instinctively moved his arm to shield his face and shut his eyes tight. Wait... he had arms again!

In shock, his eyes flew back open. He winced as the bright light nearly blinded him, and it took several seconds to adjust before his vision cleared and he could make out the details of the cavern ceiling above, along with a collection of thin white bones that resembled a skeletal hand. His hand.

Unwilling to believe it, he tried to move his hand, and the skeletal hand moved in response, following his every command. Head bending, his gaze traveled down to find his body. To his horror, countless bones were arranged in a skeleton-like figure, spreading from his toes all the way up to his neck.

He felt like he was going crazy, like his mind had shattered under all the stress. Surely this couldn’t be real. Surely his body couldn’t be made of fucking bones!

His entire body shook and a creepy rattle rang with it, disturbing him even more.

"Fuck fuck fuck, I'm really going nuts here!" He yelled and his voice came out as a ghastly hissing noise, his jaw bones cracking.

Anxiety filled him as he breathed in and out, a strange cool feeling washing over him as air rushed past his... whatever it was. How could he even still breathe? His hands kept shaking and rattling echoed deep into the caverns.

He had to get out of here, he had to wake up from this nightmare.

With conviction, he raised his rattling hands and brought them up to his face. Taking a deep breath, he steeled himself and punched hard at his face, hoping to end this nightmare. To wake up.

It stung as he kept punching himself, loud clatters of dense bone meeting bone, but he was still not waking up. No, this nightmare was beginning to feel very real.

He punched once more, putting in even more power in his frustration. He felt his jaw bone shift under the force of the punch and bit down, groaning from the pain.

Exhausted, he lay back, arms sprawled out at his sides.

This was definitely real.

He stared up at the ceiling, the pain slowly dimming. How had this happened? And more importantly, why was he here? What had he done to deserve this?

Kaden felt a tightness in his ribs as the memory of the dark place clawed its way back to his mind. He was dead... and that... thing... had bought his soul. Had summoned him here.

It was all too much to take. Kaden closed his eyes—if he even had those—wishing he could just wake up. But he couldn’t. He had to face reality, he had to pull himself together.

With the same conviction he had used to punch himself, he took another look, hands surprisingly calm as he pushed against the rocky floor of the cavern and stood up.

The darkness around him seemed to go on forever, but he felt nothing but the hard stone beneath him as he tried to think of his next move.

Why had this happened? He had no idea… but he was alive now. He wasn't in his human body anymore, but he was undoubtedly alive.

Was there a way back? Was there a way to escape? He didn't know, and it did no good to dwell on it for now. It would just drive him mad. He knew too little of this world, too little of the strange being who had brought him here.

I should start by finding a way out of this creepy cavern. If I can get outside, maybe I can find someone to help. Maybe there are normal people here.

Kaden took a deep breath and walked in a random direction. It was dark, but for some reason he was able to see quite well, the darkness felt natural to him.

He traced his bony fingers along the walls, feeling the rocky outcroppings. His sense of touch dull, foreign. The place smelled like the deep earth, moist and cold and stale.

Kaden walked for some time, searching for a sign that he was anywhere close to the surface. He had no clue where to go, but knew he couldn't sit around waiting forever.

He kept walking as the minutes passed by, and then it was like fate had shone down upon him as he heard the sweetest sound he'd ever heard.

Voices... people.

“Is someone there?” Kaden called out, brimming with hope inside.

The cavern turned silent as the voices stopped. No response came from the darkness ahead of him.

“Hello?” he called again, desperately praying for an answer... but there was only silence.

Far ahead at a bend in the cavern, a flicker of torchlight appeared, slowly growing brighter and brighter. Someone was coming.

Three adventurers stepped around the bend warily, one of them holding a lit torch. Two men and a woman, all dressed in strange medieval-looking leather armor. The two men each carried a bladed weapon, but the woman had nothing except a torch. They whispered fervently to each other.

"Hello! Do you hear me?" Kaden said as he watched them, hesitating on whether to approach them or not. He decided to walk slowly toward them.

"Who goes there?" one of the men yelled, "Can you light a torch so we can see you?"

"My name is Kaden! I don't have a torch, sorry." Kaden replied, surprised at their suspicion, "I got lost down here, do you think you could help me get out?"

"Reveal yourself!" the same man yelled.

Kaden hesitated. Perhaps this was a bad idea? Probably… but what choice did he have? He walked forward slowly, soon stepping into the peripheral light of the torch.

“It’s a skeleton!” the woman gasped, shock evident on her face. “I knew there was something wrong with that voice.”

"You were right..." one of the men said, "Good thing we were careful. Frightening monsters they are."

Having overheard them, Kaden replied, "Yes! I really don't know what happened. I just woke up here. Do you think you could help me?"

The three turned to each other, all puzzled. "Is it trying to trick us?"

"Yes." the woman said, "They're usually more intelligent than other monsters, but this one even more so. I've never met a speaking one before, so it must be very high level."

"What should we do?"

"Wait for my spell, then charge." the woman said.

"Wait! What do you mean spell? Please, I don't mean you any harm. I just want to get out of here."

"We can't let it get past us, just think of the havoc a beast like this could cause on the surface. An entire village slaughtered! Even if it kills us, we have to stop it here!" the woman roared, her free hand moving in a strange manner before a ball of pure fire barreled at him.

With no time to react, Kaden was struck dead on and screamed as the fire caught hold of him. His voice grated with crackles as he yelled, "Wha— No! Please! Arghhh!"

He flailed around, agony flooding his senses as the flames devoured him. Bloodcurdling screams bouncing off the walls of the cavern.

Sharp swords cut against him, striking his limbs repeatedly, cleaving off his bones like butter.

And then, with a final slice his skull was cut clean off, cracking as it struck the floor and rolled, light dancing across the rocky floor as the flames burned hungrily.