There was something about this place, not the fact it seemed to be an island floating in an endless black sea, but something calming. Jake gazed up at endless stars while waiting calmly in line. He had died, nothing special, a rather mundane heart attack taking the life of an ordinary man in his mid thirties. 

For the first few minutes he had been panicking, but that had faded as he found himself quickly calming down. The gentle sound of waves washing onto a shore being the only thing he could hear. What he was hearing had a name, normally he would have no way of knowing that but a familiar device from his previous life revealed this to him.

Something that looked shockingly similar to a smartphone was held in Jake’s hand as he asked it any question that he wanted. 

As the term suggests anything exposed to the Void will cease to exist as anything it used to be composed of will be rendered down to it smallest form before disappearing entirely. Even being near it has an effect on sentient creatures as they easily lose their sense of self and return to being a blank soul. As the saying goes from the ether it comes and to the Void it goes.> 

“Huh, interesting” Jake comments to himself momentarily breaking the silence.

None of the beings around him react as silence once more takes hold. Countless lifeforms, some with shapes Jake would find familiar and any more he would not. They all formed a long line on the only path on the island. It snaked its way across the land all the way up to a summit where the gate of rebirth was.

Jake knew this as he had already looked it up, as he had looked up many things. Amusingly he had even looked up the device itself as he learned it existed to entertain all sentient souls as they waited for rebirth. It seemed to be working too, as Jake realized he was nearing the end of the path. 

Jake had long forgotten how long he had been waiting, in fact almost all of his memories were gone as this was the intended purpose of the isle. Which he of course knew as he had looked it up several times during his stay. The long exposure to the waters of the Void allows all souls to be cleansed of their previous life before being born anew.

This made him wonder what awaited him in his next life, so of course he looked that up too. It didn’t matter that this was technically the 27th time he was reading this, but it would be the last.

Some of these locations have simple stable laws as can be found in the reader’s previous life on earth. Other places however can have complex or even chaotic laws that allow for significantly different lifeforms, lives, and destinies. With truly everything to work with across infinite places almost anything can occur.>

Jake was so engrossed in his reading that it took him a moment to notice something had changed. After all nothing ever changed, except when the line moved forward. This, however, was not the line moving forward. It was everything moving forward.

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Looking around in confusion it took Jake a moment to realize that he was falling and there was only one thing to fall into. He stared at the quickly vanishing line of beings before turning to look at the dark inky water. Somehow he had fallen off the summit before reaching the gate.

‘Oh no’ was the last thought he had before plunging into the Void. After that it was only a series of sensations. At first they only started as odd. Being in Limbo meant that Jake no longer had a physical body, instead he was simply a soul.

A soul that felt like it was slowly being stretched out, like a ball of dough being rolled. It stretched into a line, a long thin line, a very long thread. It kept going until finally the thread could not stretch any further and with the feeling of a popping bubble it disappeared.

~~

Jake’s plummet was only noticed by two sentient beings. One being the creature next to the gate of rebirth that looked vaguely human, if a human had been composed of a galaxy. One eye that seemed to be formed of a bright star stared at the empty spot in line for a moment. It then returned to its task of examining each soul before they rebirthed.

The other one to notice was actually the person that had caused Jake to fall. He had a bright smile on his face as he stared down at the screen in his hands. It showed the last question he had asked ‘How to gain power’. He then stepped forward into the empty space as if nothing had happened. The line kept moving.

~~

Though his fall had been noticed only by two, his splash caused one other to notice. Where nothing should exist, an inhospitable location that only served one purpose, in the depths of the Void another being watched Jake.

‘Interesting’ it thought, a rather odd occurrence for Limbo. A soul being pushed into the Void, one that was allowed to fall, interesting indeed. Though like the galaxy creature above it didn’t intervene but only watched.

‘I wonder how long you will last little one.’ It watched as the soul before it was stretched, refusing to let go of existence. It kept being pulled all the way to its breaking point. And then it broke, the single thread fracturing into an endless number of particles.

‘Such a shame.’

After that the creature waited a few more moments to see if anything else would happen. However the infinite stillness once more returned so the large eyes that had been watching this process closed once more.

~~

Jake, after reading a list of things everyone should try, while alive as a human had tried acid. And then a few more times after that. It turns out it was an experience that he enjoyed. His mind floating in an endless space seemingly connected to something greater. 

This was nothing like that! 

Everything he was, his very soul, had stretched until he could no longer hold it together. While in this state he was unable to form thoughts but strangely he still had feelings. The last one being how disappointing it was that everything was going to end now, right when infinity seemed to be within his reach. 

Now, he wasn’t, or at least he shouldn’t be. Any moment now he would dissolve and not even the smallest trace of him would remain, not an atom or a fragment of an aura.

Countless amounts of time passed elsewhere as for Jake it was just a moment. Yet it was a moment that never ended, until he bumped into something?

Against all odds one of the infinitesimal particles of the once soul bumped into another particle, a rather familiar one. In an endless black sea a chance occurrence that had almost no chance of occurring, occurred.

“Huh?” a voice called out. 

As once more a pair of eyes opened and noticed this improbable occurrence. 

“I guess you are still here?” it rumbled out as if the Void itself was talking. “Hmm, I wonder?”

One piece at a time, the fragments that were still holding onto existence, were brought back together. Slowly reforming as for the second time something came out of the Void.

Jake halfway crawled and was halfway pushed out of the Void and back onto the Isle of Limbo. Once he was fully out of its waters he felt a hand pulling him up. It was the being that had been standing by the gate.

“Do you have any idea how overdue you are?” It made a clicking sound as it helped Jake to his feet. “Now then no more stalling, through the gate with you.”

Jake was too dazed to know if he had climbed up here or if they had just appeared. His mind was still trying to come to terms with once more existing. The only thing he was able to focus on was that last feeling that had helped him hold on just long enough. The desire for adventure, to explore new sights and places. 

None of this mattered though as he was pushed through the gate of rebirth.

He once more felt like he was falling, but this time it was toward an endless light. After being brought back together he was having a hard time remaining in one piece. It no longer felt natural to be just one, so while falling he could feel himself slowly splitting as what was once one became three.

~~

The next sound was the distinct wail of a newborn, well three newborns to be precise.