「'Is this a dream?」 He tried to ask himself

But no sound left his lips. He couldn't even twitch his mouth.

A bluish glow emanated from his form as he floated in a vast, endless void of blackness, utterly without anchor.

He had only just come to his senses, but when he opened his eyes, all he saw was darkness. It wasn’t the kind of darkness where light was merely absent—this was an oppressive, consuming nothingness. Though the space was somehow bright, there was nothing to illuminate: no land, no sky, no air, no sound. Just an endless, empty expanse.

Anyone trapped here long enough would surely lose their mind. But he felt no fear. Not just fear—he felt no amazement, surprise, confusion, or anything at all. His emotions were absent, as if they'd never existed. Was it because he was...

「Am I... dead?」 he wondered, a flicker of something close to confusion surfacing in his mind."

"...?!"

『"Who the f*ck are you, b**ch?!" he snapped, his voice echoing in the void as he questioned the strange presence in his mind, the one that seemed to be speaking his every thought. Annoyed, he began cursing, rage building inside him.』

『"Oi, do you want to die?!" he shouted, his anger flaring. In a desperate burst of fury, he tried to swing his fists, to leap at the unseen voice, to do anything to silence it.』

『But he couldn’t.』

『"Why?!" he demanded, confused. He had meant to punch, to move, to lash out, but somehow the voice had known he would—and had stopped him.』

『The reason was painfully clear. He had no fists. No arms. Not even shoulders to connect them to. No chest, no body. Nothing.』

『Because he was...』

『DEAD.』

『"WTF?!" he shouted, his voice trembling in the silence.』

『But he didn’t feel too surprised. Somehow, he’d already sensed it. Besides, emotions seemed dulled, as if drained from him entirely, making this realization almost... easy to accept.』

『"So I’m dead, huh?" he said to himself, almost amuse faint, existent smile tugged at his nonexistent face. For a moment, he felt a strange relief.』

"So I really am dead..." he repeated, this time feeling a pang of something close to sorrow. The urge to cry surged up, heavy and relentless, but no tears came. The weight pressed on his chest—or where his chest should have been—an unbearable, invisible burden.

"Oi, aren't you making it a bit overdramatic?" he shot back at the voice, the irritation flaring up again. "I didn’t felt that much." He said.』

He felt a surge of frustration but quickly let it subside. There was no point in arguing with this voice—it was a waste of time. He realized that he couldn’t even muster the energy to keep resisting.

Fine, he thought. If this voice wanted to narrate his every move, he’d just let it be. He’d consider it a part of himself, a surrogate for his own thoughts, since he couldn’t quite think or speak the way he used to.

With a resigned sigh—or at least the feeling of one—he sank deeper into the emptiness, letting the voice continue.

"So, since I have no idea where I'm going or what comes next... might as well give myself a quick flashback," he thought, almost amused by the irony of recounting his life after it had ended.

"Hi. My name was Deva Ram Dharma. I was a highly decorated and dedicated soldier, one of the best in my country’s ranks. And yeah... currently, I am...

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DEAD."

His mind drifted back to his childhood, a memory that felt both familiar and distant. "I grew up like any other kid on the streets, in a middle-class family. I was the second child, with an older brother and a younger sister. And, of course..."

"Mom..."

A faint, fleeting emotion surfaced, flickering on his non-existent face, an ache he hadn't expected.

"I never knew my father. I never actually saw him. But Mom used to tell me stories about him. She said he was tall, strong, always smiling—the kind of man who could make people feel safe just by being there. That's why she fell in love with him. But he was a soldier, too. The day my sister was born, he got his orders to go to war... and he never came back."

"Yeah, sounds like one of those cliche, tragic stories, right? But that’s how it was. Mom raised us alone, and I could tell she loved him deeply, even though he was gone."

He paused, as if remembering.

"Maybe that’s why she wanted me to join the military. Or maybe it was just something I was destined for."

"I took to the battlefield like it was in my blood. I gave everything to the job—fought and fought, killed and killed. I got shot, stabbed, slashed, bombed, and one idiot even tried to throw me out of a plane. But somehow, I survived it all."

"That’s how I became a veteran. A survivor of countless battles." He felt a sense of pride over his achivement .

"And then... a new assignment came, a notice that would be my last, the one that would end my life."

"A piece of paper which was supposed to be my letter of summon has later turned out to be my warrent of Death."

Floating in that inky abyss,

I found myself drifting through memories, bound to my past as if it was haunting me.

That hollow, pseudo-feeling of loss and regret echoed through me—a pain that wasn’t real but still seared.

「I didn’t want to accept the truth that I was dead. I couldn’t bear knowing I’d lost everything, that I would never again see those I loved, never again walk the familiar streets where I’d spent my life. I regret it—that there was so much more I could have done, so much more I could have made...」

Caught up in these thoughts, I lost all sense of time....... Then again, there was no time here—

「No day, no night.」

I couldn’t tell how long I’d been drifting, but finally, I reached a place that felt solid, like land. It was the only part of this void that appeared vivid, perfectly illuminated, as though it was my final destination. As I floated closer, I sensed a sense of attraction, so I braced myself, using what was left of my form, and landed on my feet.

The moment my feet touched the ground, the vast blackness around me contracted, shrinking to the size of a cave's entrance, while a new world unfolded before me—a world both beautiful and terrifying.

I stood on the shore of a sea—a sea of blood and bones. Its surface rippled with a red, warm glow, disturbingly beautiful, like any sea I’d seen in life. The sky overhead was turbulent, with clouds that looked like flames, casting a ghostly light on everything below. The sand underfoot was pale as chalk, and the stones scattered along the shore were unmistakably bones.

The air was thick with the stench of decay and rotting flesh, yet, in this unsettling place, everything felt strangely captivating.

After taking in the dark beauty of this landscape, I felt my awareness sharpening, my thoughts coming back into focus. My senses, dulled before, returned in full force, and my form, once sluggish and distant, felt under my control again. It was as though my soul had finally reconnected with my body.

At that very moment, a horrific chorus filled the air—a symphony of crying and pleading so fierce it was like thousands of thunderclaps or the sky itself tearing apart.

But in the midst of my confusion and curiosity, I found a flicker of hope.

Maybe there are others like me here, others who can answer my questions, maybe even help me. Maybe...

Without hesitation, I began to run, following the direction of the cries. I sprinted toward the shore, where the sea loomed ominously, its ghastly waves lapping close. As I neared the edge, a form appeared on the shore, faintly resembling my own.

「There are people here... dozens of them? But no—hundreds… thousands… no, billions?!」

The closer I got, the higher the count rose. The sight unfolding before me drained every ounce of strength from my legs, bringing my sprint to an abrupt halt.

I was frozen, paralyzed by the indescribable horror in front of me, witnessing a scene that no words could ever capture—a vision of hell, displayed before my very eyes.

I the fearless soldier, the seasoned warrior who had stood unbroken through decades of war, who had cut down enemies without hesitation, who had once been called the very embodiment of death on the battlefield—this was who I was. I had survived where countless others had fallen, faced horrors that would have shattered lesser men. I was the one they feared, the one they called upon to end battles, the relentless, unyielding force that knew no weakness.

「I am... scared...」

The only sound that escaped me was the hollow whisper of a broken soul.

Before me stretched a horrific procession: billions of souls plunging into the crimson sea, moving forward as if compelled, striving toward a distant shore, barely visible through a thick veil of fog.

The sight stirred something deep within me, bringing to mind stories from my childhood.

A desolate land, bordered by a river filled with torments, leading to a realm that seemed like heaven itself.

「This... this is just like the Vaitarni River」, I murmured.

The river of legend—a place where souls waded through suffering, shedding their sins, to emerge cleansed and prepared to enter the endless cycle of reincarnation.

Note:

“In Hindu mythology, the Vaitarani River is the river of blood and pus that souls cross after death on their way to Yama's court or the River of stix in greek mythology ”

…………

「I should get going too」, I whispered to myself.

For a long moment, I stood frozen at the shore, watching as endless souls disappeared into the blood-red river. Fear clawed at me, urging me to turn back, to avoid the unknown beyond.

But a quiet certainty pulled me forward. This was where I belonged.

With a deep breath, I took a hesitant step, then another, feeling the river’s cold, biting touch as it drew me in. The cries of the souls echoed all around, but I moved forward, surrendering to the pull of the current.

With each step, my memories, my regrets, even my fear began to drift away, dissolving into the river. Stripped of everything, I was left with a quiet, empty stillness.

At the far shore, the fog parted, and I came face to face with a presence that drew every part of my being toward it. It was as if I had found the source of all creation, the origin and the end of everything. From this presence, everything seemed to flow into existence, only to return there in the end.

A radiant light filled the space, a peace vast and all-encompassing, beyond words, beyond form, yet achingly familiar—as though I had always known it. In silent understanding, our gazes met, and every question, every longing, dissolved in that single, timeless moment. I reached out, and as my essence touched him, I felt myself unravel, merging into the boundless whole. I was no longer just Deva Ram Dharma; I was part of something infinite, woven into the eternal cycle, embraced at last by the sacred unity of all things.

「Goodbye , me 」,

he whispered, a final farewell to himself.

And in that instant, Deva was gone. No sound, no trace—just a sudden, profound stillness where he had stood. His essence dissolved into the light, as if he’d never existed, leaving only the faintest ripple in the boundless expanse, absorbed into the source and end of all things.