There was nothing.
Not silence, not darkness - just nothing.
Then suddenly, something.
Awareness flooded in, the chill on skin, a buzzing sound, and a heaviness. Tired eyes slowly peeled themselves open to see…well, nothing. Everywhere was pitch black. He blinked slowly, forcing heavy eyelids open.
In the distance he saw the distinct white sparkle of a star, then a second, a third, now ten, twenty... more and more until all around him he saw a sprawling endless universe.
He looked down at himself, he was naked and floating in this endless starry sky. He opened his mouth, but no sound came out. Just a second before panic set in a dazzling white light appeared in front of him, blinding him.
Silk-like ribbons shot out from the white light, wrapping themselves around his wrists, ankles and waist. With a strong tug, he was pulled into the light. He opened his mouth again, still no sound.
Engulfed in white light, he felt his body traveling, felt the ribbons pulling him, but had no awareness of where he was going, his eyes clenched against the bright light. T
Then, the ribbons released their grip on him, and he hit a hard surface so suddenly, if it weren't for the pain, he would have thought he teleported there.
He didn't move from his sprawled-out position, his cheek still squished against the cold floor. Slowly he opened his eyes, peering around to observe that he was now in an all white room.
"Young man," a voice said, behind him.
Startled the boy jerked his head up, searching for the source of the voice.
He saw a grand white table, with an elegant looking man sat on one end, and an empty chair on the other.
"Have a seat," the man said, with a soft smile.
The boy pulled himself from the ground. Wincing as pain radiated through his body as he stood, and noticing now that he was dressed in silk white robes. He stumbled a bit as he found his footing, as if it had been a while. With small careful steps, he made his way to the man's offered seat.
He observed this man now, long silver hair, silky and completely straight, but a young face. His eyes were closed, yet it still felt as if he was looking at him, and he maintained an unmoving soft smile. He was dressed in a garment the boy couldn't name, grand white, silver and gold robes adorned with many trims and detailing, he looked ethereal.
"Hello," the man said, still smiling, eyes still closed. "I hope your journey here wasn't too rough."
The boy looked at him and tilted his head to the side.
The journey here?
It had felt like 30 seconds at most.
First there was nothing, then there was a sprawling universe, then he was here.
He became aware of his lips again, raised his hand to his lower lip, as if needing extra certainty, they were there, and opened his mouth to speak, this time, the sound came.
"Fine," he whispered, hoarse.
"It was fine," he said, a bit louder this time.
The silvered haired man didn't respond, maintaining that same eerie expression. The boy felt he was waiting on him to speak again. He took one more look around the room - white, nothing but endless white.
"Am I dead?" he asked, "Is this heaven?"
"The opposite," the man replied, calmly. "You were dead, and we're bringing you back, Jacob."
Jacob.
Hearing his name, the memories came flooding in. His life, his family, his friends…
And how he died.
That last agonizing memory of the car accident. His recollection of seeing both his sister and friend dead. He remembered everything now. His name was Jacob Munn, eighteen, a poor kid from the rough side of town, and the reason that his sister and friend were dead.
He had been driving.
"Bringing me back?" Jacob asked.
The silver haired man nodded.
"Ah..." Jacob said, looking back down at his hands, and feeling the first emotion he could recognize since he found himself in this room.
Guilt.
"No thanks. Just send me back." Jacob answered, casually.
He didn't give the man a chance to reply, standing from the desk, his white silk robes dragging along the floor. He walked towards what he assumed were white walls, only to find the closer he walked, the further out the room seemed to extend.
When he looked back, the silver haired man's eyes were open, revealing intense yellow and black eyes, his head tilted to the side and his mouth agape.
"No?" he asked, genuinely confused.
Jacob turned back and nodded sternly.
"Yes, thank you but - no thanks, so which way is the way back?"
The silver haired man shut his eyes and quickly brought his face back to its neutral smiling expression.
"Young man, perhaps I didn't explain properly -"
"No you did, thank you," Jacob interrupted, flippantly, hands on his hips, "just send me back to heaven or hell or wherever it was you pulled me from."
"Nothingness," the man replied. "You were in nothingness."
Jacob shuddered a little at that but shook it off.
"Okay, back to nothingness then."
The silver haired man stood up and walked towards Jacob. It seemed he only took two steps and was suddenly in front of him. He placed his hand on his shoulder.
"Young man, you're being offered a chance at life here, back to your home world, I want to make sure you understand that."
"I think this one is a little bit dumb," another voice said.
"Fabe - quiet." the man hissed, expression unchanged, but sounding annoyed. Above the man's left shoulder, his long silver hair parted, and white scorpion with a golden tail crawled out and on top of the man's head.
"Excuse him, he's the one who brought you here." The silver haired man said, eyes still closed and smile slightly wider now.
Jacob laughed - he thought this scene was quite ridiculous - a man who looked like a god and his scorpion ally that just crawled out of his hair. He curled over and fell into the laugh, if he was going to go back to nothingness, he was happy to be experiencing this laugh.
"Maybe not dumb, he's nuts," The scorpion, Fabe, said.
The silver haired man raised his hand and flicked the scorpion off his head, sending him flying.
Jacob wiped a single tear from his eye and stood up straight. He was about to speak when the man raised his hand presenting his flat palm. He conjured up a sphere of white light, and in the light an image began to form.
Jacob caught his breath. It was his sister.
She was floating in pitch black darkness.
"Emma?" Jacob said, he went to grab for the orb and found his hand went right through it.
"Allow me to finish my offer, Jacob," the man began, his non-changing smiling face somehow revealing a new intensity.
"Accept my proposal, and I won't just bring you back, I'll bring her back too. You've both been floating in nothingness, I have the power to bring you both back to life, back to your lives,"
Jacob's expression was serious now.
"Bring her back? So she is dead?"
The man nodded.
Jacob's shoulders slumped, so his memory had been real.
"And Kyle?" he asked.
The man nodded again.
Jacob felt the guilt come back. Now that he found himself here, he didn't feel that he deserved or wanted to go back. But he looked back at the shining orb, and the vision of his sister's comatose body, he could maybe fix something he had broken.
He looked up at the man intensely.
"Okay, but—"
Now he was falling.
The man was gone, and he was freefalling in the endless whiteness before realizing the ribbons were around him again.
He had intended to negotiate, ask if he could bring Kyle back too, ask exactly what he meant by going back to their lives.
Still falling, he turned his head in all directions, desperately trying to look around for any sense of direction.
A screen appeared.
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