Eric sat back on his chair stretching his arms into the air while letting out a long drawn out yawn, his arms flopped to his side as he looked across the many security monitors in front of him. Everything was….empty, it was always empty, he let out a sigh allowing his eyes to close as his head fell back as far as it could. Opening his eyes again he turned slowly towards a clock on the wall,

“Only 15 minutes to go” he said to no one in particular, not really expecting a response which is why he nearly fell off his chair when he got one,

”can finish now if you want to birthday boy”.

His hand held over his chest Eric caught his breath again and turned round to see a tall broad chested old man standing behind him.

“Jesus Ben, how long you been stood there?” Eric said standing up from his chair.

“Long enough to see you sleeping on the job” Ben replied smiling behind his mostly white beard while removing his baseball cap revealing a nearly bald head.

Eric rolling his eyes responded with “I knew there was something creepy about you, watching young men in their sleep”.

Ben chuckled to himself as he settled down into the seat recently vacated by Eric,

“have yourself a good day now birthday boy”, Ben said waving him away.

“Yeah, and you enjoy your day of sudoku and action packed films” Eric responded gesturing to the security monitors while opening the door and exiting the room.

Upon leaving the building Eric was greeted by the crisp cool air of early morning, the skies hue hinting at dawns upcoming embrace. Reaching into his pocket he pulled out his phone, opened up his contacts list and scrolled down to the name Sarah. A few seconds after pressing the call button he was greeted with a hushed response,

“Oh please Eric…. Don’t be calling to tell me you’ve been asked to stay late again”.

A small smile appeared on Eric's face “well hello to you too, did I wake you?”,

she out a short grumbling noise “Ok, fine, I slept in, just please don’t say the weekend has been canceled. The kids have been looking forward to this camping trip, especially Matthew, he stayed up late last night getting all his fishing tackle ready”.

“Erm….actually…” Eric responded holding the phone away from his mouth trying to stifle a smirk,

“Eriiiiccccc, nooooooo”

In his mind Eric could see her face palming while letting out the grumbled response.

“I’m kidding” Eric responded in a chuckling voice,”Just calling to let you know I will be home in a bit, Ol Ben came in early and said I could leave”, a moment of silence was followed by the response “I hate you sometimes”.

Letting out a short wistful sigh Eric responded with “Yeah I know, see you soon”,

“Alright honey, love you”,

“Love you too” Eric said hanging up the phone and placing it back into his pocket.

With a smile on his face and his hands in his pockets Eric started along the path toward home, he hadn’t gotten very far before a voice called out,

“Hey man, you got the time?”

Eric turned his head to where the voice seemed to come from and saw a young man in a black hoodie with a white silhouette of an eagle on the front. The hood was pulled up over his head and when mixed with the low light of the early morning it left most of his features hidden, save for his chin which sported a few tufts of blond white hairs, or as ol Ben liked to call it, “a baby beard”.

“Certainly” came Eric's response.

He raised his arm pulled back his sleeve to reveal a silver watch with a leather strap

“Its te…..”

A dull thudding noise rang through his ears as a sharp pain shot across the back of his head, darkness enveloped his vision as he fell to the floor and all sense of who and where he was fled as his mind faded into darkness.

As Eric's’ senses slowly returned he had the distinct feeling that he was falling, he tried to open his eyes to see what was happening but it was almost as if he didn’t have any. He couldn’t feel any part of his body yet still somehow managed to get the impression that he was falling through………nothing?. He wanted to cry out yet somehow lacked the ability to do so, there was simply nothing, save pure darkness. After some time the sensation of falling seemed to slow down, until finally it stopped, still unable to see/hear or feel much of anything Eric could do little more than wait for what seemed like an eternity which in reality spanned the space of a few seconds.

An unusual presence seemed to push itself into his mind and a strange sounding voice somehow emulating a mixture of both masculine and feminine tones echoed through his head

“Hello there, one moment please while I asses you”

Eric tried to shout a response yet was once again reminded of his apparent lack of a body, while he couldn’t exactly verbalize his dismay at the sudden presence in his head it seemed to pick up on the message he was trying to convey.

“Now now…no need to get so worked up this will only take a couple of minutes, once I am done with your assessment I will be able to create a suitable avatar for you”

A series of emotions ranging from anger, to fear and uncertainty passed through Eric as several questions formed in his mind, barely finishing one before another formed.

“ENOUGH!!!!”

The violent intensity of the voice shook Eric’s thoughts, fracturing his mind almost causing it to break, but a calming sense of warmth seeped into him holding the fragments together and repairing them.

“Sorry about that, it is clear you have no training or experience with telepathic links, your thoughts are too chaotic and steeped in emotion for effective mind to mind communication. For the sake of your sanity and my own, I would suggest that you refrain from thinking too much for the time being.”

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

After a short pause he then continued “Try imagining yourself on a beach or something, anything that relaxes you, just concentrate on that until I am done”

Following the voices suggestion Eric pulled up a memory of his son making his first catch, a 5.94lb carp, he remembered how happy he had been as he held the fish in his hands. He continued to watched as the fish turned its head to face him and spoke

“Thats better now try to hold this image for just a while longer”

A momentary feeling of shock jolted through him before another warm calming sensation flooded into his mind, alongside what seemed like a faint chuckling. His mind returned to the lake, he was sat in a deck chair, rod in hand, his son sat nearby with his own chair and rod. A light breeze blew across his face as he watched his float bob in the lightly rippling water. He stayed there, enjoying the silent companionship of his son while engaging in their favorite hobby. Minutes seemed to pass in mere moments, as they often did in such times. Before he knew it there was a light coughing, and the voice returned again.

“I am done with my assessment of you, if you are ready I can create your avatar, then we will have some time to talk about where you are…………and what happens next.”

Eric looked back towards the lake, then turned to face his son, after a few more minutes of watching he closed the memory off and returned to the darkness ready for whatever came next.

He felt what could best be described as a wall materializing around himself, it seemed to grow smaller and smaller, boxing him in, a feeling of claustrophobia started to set in when the wall set itself in place and somehow, became a part of him. A tingling sensation came from the base of the wall and started to move away from him as he felt what he now recognized as a new head forming below. The sensation continued down wards until it branched off forming two new areas around the side of the base. Arms he thought to himself. New branches at the end of his arms formed fingers before the middle area started moving down again eventually breaking into two halves to form what he began to recognize as a new pair of legs. Once his feet had finished forming he heard the voice again, only this time it wasn’t speaking inside his head, he could actually hear it.

“There one new avatar, give me a moment while I finish wiring it to your new brain so you can start to move”

Another series of tingling sensations formed in his head and started moving through the entirety of his body, it continued for several minutes slowly increasing in intensity before suddenly stopping. His new mouth opened and he gasped as his lungs pulled air in for the first time since their creation, his heart started to pulse quickly forcing blood and oxygen through his circulatory system. All at once he felt dizzy and nauseated as his legs buckled and he fell to his knees. He wretched and coughed until a thick bitter tasting liquid exploded out from his lungs, he continued like this for several seconds, then came the vomiting as his stomach also emptied itself, leaving him with an intense feeling of hunger. After spitting out the last of the bitter bile the voice came again.

“Yeuch…..well, now that that parts done let me put the finishing touch on your eyes”.

A strong bony hand grabbed hold of his chin, keeping his head in place while what felt like the sharp edge of a blade cut quickly across his eyelids, there was no pain yet he instinctively recoiled pulling his head back and covering his eyes with is hand.

“Oh stop being so dramatic, now try opening them”

He did so and found himself staring down at a blurry hand, he watched his fingers move as his vision cleared, looking down he saw that he was completely naked. Instinctively placing his hand over his genitals he began to take in his surroundings, he was in a fairly large room, made up of stone walls with wooden torch sconces lighting the room. The floor was solid concrete with a series of strange red coloured symbols painted on it, and in the middle of the room was a puddle of thick black liquid Eric scrunched his nose as he looked at it, no doubt that was the fluid he had coughed up.

He looked around again while stepping backwards searching the room for any sign of what had grabbed him,

“H…..h..hel…hello?” he stammered the word out, his voice shaky his breathing in short sharp gasps.

In a bid to regain control of himself he closed his eyes breathing in through his nose and out through his mouth, all the while continuing to take steps backward.

Feeling a little calmer he was about to call out again when his back touched against something cold and wet. He leapt forward with a start taking in a quick breath and turning himself round in one fluid movement ready to face the threat. He found himself staring at a wall, a bead of sweat trickled down from his forehead before falling off the end of his nose and splashing on the floor. His posture started to relax as he let out a nervous chuckle slightly embarrassed by his foolishness. He turned again to face the center of the room and was greeted by what could only be described as the visage of death. A skeleton wearing a black hooded cloak holding an overly large scythe that radiated a strange dark energy. His legs started to buckle as he stepped back. Leaning against the wall he pressed one hand against the stones to try and steady himself, the other he held out in front of him as a shield.