Chapter 1: The Void
Perfect silence and darkness. The most dreadful combination to any living creature. To Chuck it wasn’t that bad.
He, Chuck Reed, was a normal day to day programmer. Only at the start of his career. Who could guess that such a terrible fate would befall him?
He’s seen it on the news every day: “A suicide bomber killed n number of people”. He was aware of the danger, but not even in his wildest dreams would he think of his end at the hand of one of those maniacs.
Well, at least he tried to minimize the number of causalities by covering the fucker with his body. He wouldn’t even count it as something heroic, his body moved before he could think. In his last moments he could make out the face of a mother crying while holding her baby. If he was asked, that was the proudest moment in his life.
........
It was quiet. In this void, where he resided now, there was nothing. He didn’t even have a body so the deafening silence was even more intense. But probably due to that, insanity never overcame him.
Chuck had no idea of how much time he spent there. In his mind, at first, he remembered his last moments. There was regret sure, but remembering the woman holding a baby that was only around 10 meters away from him, the regret was lessened by quite a lot.
He replayed those moments in his head for quite some time. Maybe tens, maybe hundreds. Somehow he didn’t get tired. His mind actually became more and more focused, and he could remember even more about the incident.
Chuck, in the empty black space, kept remembering. After analyzing all there was to that specific memory he started remembering his life.
At first there here the happy moment. His first girlfriend, the first paycheck, his baby sister’s birth. Slowly he passed through all the good things in his life. He started recounting the bad. Then he replayed his life from start to finish.
He was amazed at the detail with which he could remember. If it was before, not even a picture could refresh his memories so much. Not even the early months in his life were spared. It became so vivid that the silence and void seemed to disappear and he was watching his life like a movie. He was intrigued by the reason. It may be that all souls have to pass through this phase.
Chuck didn’t care much. He was entertained so that was all that mattered to him. It was after thousands or tens of thousands of views that he had an idea.
[Can I live my life inside those memories?]
His programmer spirit told him it was possible. He just had to imagine some sort of continuation to his life and put his point of view in the “actor” him.
At first it was hard. He would lose his taught after a few seconds and would have to restart. His life continued from the mall were hi died, he didn’t encounter a suicide bomber and he continued his shopping. The problem was that not even a couple of minute passed and he would lose his concentration and the “dream” would be interrupted.
Chuck didn’t waver. He nothing but time. He didn’t know how long he stood in this place or how much he would have to stay but there was no use thinking about that. It was beyond his control.
...........................................................................................................
By now, Chuck, in his “dream”, reached old age. Just as he was talking to one of his grandsons, the “dream” was interrupted.
At first, he counted every attempt he made. With his improved mental powers, no amount of stray taught could make him lose count. For the first million attempts it was still ok. After passing the million mark he stopped.
Not because he could not count any more. In fact, his mind was growing stronger and stronger, the only problem was that he saw no point in it anymore.
Just as he was about to restart his “dream”, a white dot appeared in his vision. He was startled. This was the first time something like this happened in the void. Before he could think of the reason for this change, he was pulled in by a terrifying gravitational force.
In an instant his surroundings changed. He was in a white room. There were no windows or doors, just a bright light that seemed to float near the celling.
In the room there was a man. Dressed in a grey business suit.
“What...are you?” Said the man with a deep frown on his face.
“Excuse me?” The answer was instinctive, but it surprised both Chuck and the man.
It must be known that in the void Chuck tried to speak thousands of times but no sound was made. He figured that because he was a spirit, and had no body, he should not be able to speak.
Feeling something strange about himself he looked down. Instantly, Chuck went through a myriad of emotions. His body was back. He could see that it was a bit transparent so he was still a spirit, or soul, but having a body and being able to move was a blessing.
The man soon asked another question in a panicked tone.
“How long were you in there? How come you are still whole?” by the tone of his voice and the expression on his face it could be clearly seen that the man was disturbed by his presence.
“I...don’t know...” it was true. Chuck could not feel the time in that place, and he didn’t even understand the second question.
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
Hearing his answer, the man calmed down a bit and said.
“Very well than, will you please wait a second?”
After that, he closed his eyes. Before Chuck could be more bewildered by his actions, a person appeared behind him.
It was a beautiful woman in a black evening dress.
“Why did you call me” the woman asked, with a bit of an annoyance in her voice.
“I wanted to test how long I could resist the void pressure because of my last breakthrough, but when I opened the rift, this soul came in. I think he was in the void.” While still a bit shaken, the man answered the woman in the most detail he could.
The woman was evidently surprised. Her eyes were wide and her mouth agape. She looked at Chuck up and down for a couple of times before asking.
“How can you still be whole?” She asked Chuck incredulously.
“Like I told him, I don’t know. I don’t even understand you question. After I died, I was in that void space and stayed there until, if I understand it correctly, this man here opened a rift.” Chuck said a bit exasperated. He had long since calmed down and was now quite annoyed by the attitude those people showed.
“YOU CAN TALK?!?!?” The woman was now beyond astonished. It seemed to Chuck that talking was something he wasn’t supposed to be able to do.
“If you taught I couldn’t talk, why would you ask me question.” By now he was frowning. He still didn’t know the situation and those people, or “entities” were not helpful.
“A soul usually talks by transmitting taught....” said the man absent minded.
“Never mind that! If you can talk it just means you have incredible soul power. While you are not the first one, it is really is incredibly rare. We need to know how long you were in the void. Usually a soul is destroyed the first moment it comes in contact with the void. If you were able to resist even an hour it means you are comparable to us deities.” The woman went in full question mode. It made Chuck take a step back, but he didn’t miss some of the important details the woman mentioned, like the fact that they were deities. He felt it was surreal, then again, he was practically a ghost.
“I don’t know. It felt like a really short time, while it was also a really long time. It didn’t feel like time mattered there.”
“I see... Then, can you tell me the exact moment of your death? It’s obvious you were an expert in your past life so you must remember when you died.” The woman seemed to compose herself, and asked another abnormal question.
What expert, taught Chuck. He was merely a junior programmer. But due to his numerous recounting of his death, the time of death was also remembered.
“I remember it was around 17:45.” It was a simple answer but both the man and the woman paled instantly.
“Can, can you by chance tell us the date? Did you die yesterday?” She asked the question with an incredulous expression. She definitely did not believe him.
“It was 17th of May, 2016th.” Chuck answered nonchalantly.
The date did not ring a bell in the beautiful woman’s head. She asked again.
“What 2016th? The year now is 39765, the Evergreen era. Are you messing with us? And what 17th of May? Is that supposed to be a day and a month? Please don’t make things up.” the woman was starting to get annoyed. She was now certain the soul in front of her wanted to gain fame for resisting the void for so many years. What a joke. Not even the council leaders could withstand that pressure for more than 3 years.
“Whatever, you’ve stayed long enough. Since you are a rare soul with the ability to speak I’ll take care personally of your reincarnation. With your strong soul a newborn body is not capable to withstand the pressure and will die at birth. You will have to be sent into the body of a near-death mortal. The youngest I can do for you is 17 years old. As you reincarnate your soul will be wiped clean of its memories. You will get the memories of the new body and live its life. I’m sorry to tell you this, but there is no way to regain your memories. I wish you a good life.”
After saying this, she touched Chuck’s head before he could comment of the situation and an irresistible force pulled him somewhere.
In a moment both the man and the woman disappeared and he was in a wormhole like place. Different colors marked the walls of the tunnel.
While being dragged by the pressure, Chuck felt a headache. He felt like he forgot something, but the next moment, he remembered. It was the memory of the first time his father thought him to drive. This scared Chuck.
He heard the woman say that his memories would be wiped but he still didn’t want to accept it. He started doing what he did in the void. Replaying his life in his head. After a couple of seconds the pain disappeared and he was still remembering everything.
He wasn’t stupid. After all that the woman said, and his own experience he realized that, because of his experience in the void, his soul was much stronger. It was true that he didn’t know how much time he spent in the void, but by the year the woman mentioned, he spent at least 37749 years. And if he taught of the years in the recounting of his life and “dreams” as real time years, than he spent millions upon millions of years. It was a scary taught even for him.