Hill woke up screaming and coughing in uneven intervals, clutching at his face and neck in disbelief. The pain that was throbbing through his nerves was too much to bear, and the sensation of having his head and neck ripped off his shoulders was incredibly disturbing.
But strangely enough, his head and neck seemed connected to the rest of his body.
Wiping his tears, he took several shaky, deep breaths and then looked down at his body. His eyes widened in shock.
His body wasn't the subject of his surprise, but the black sand he was sitting on. He scooped up the jet-black particles with a shaky hand, observing as the grains stuck to the wetness of his tears.
The darkness was thicker than printer ink and awfully absolute. So much so that just staring at it seemed to cause sharp pangs to travel through his head. Almost as if he was struggling to comprehend how dark it really was.
Looking around, he saw that he was surrounded by a vast plane of black sand—a black desert that stretched endlessly in every direction. The sky above him was also dark, with no star, sun, or moon to offer light. Weirdly enough, the light seemed to come from the horizon itself. It was a blue light that seemed to dissipate into darkness the further up it traveled.
This light surrounded the area like a crown, making him cast no shadow and feel he was positioned at the darkest point in the desert.
He stood up and looked around, hoping to see more but finding none. There were no significant thoughts in his mind, just pure dissociation and confusion. Then, the first coherent thoughts came.
Is this the afterlife?
He wasn't sure. Assuming he was dead, he expected to see a fiery pit of lava with horned demons surrounding it, tossing sinful souls into the hot, hateful embrace of the liquid flames. But this place was utterly desolate and isolated. There was nothing here but himself and the endless expanse of black sand.
I suppose it isn't as bad as being burned alive... The thought served to reassure himself, but he felt even more shaken as a result.
This was because the memory of his family began to burn brightly within his mind. More specifically, his sister Meira.
There was no way anybody on that bridge could have escaped from the devouring cloud. After all, it had traversed an entire ocean within two weeks. What foolish hope had they clung to in those final moments?
Now, they were all probably dying or had already died. A pang of sorrow struck true in his heart, more profound than any physical pain he'd ever experienced.
How cruel. It was hopeless from the beginning. He rubbed his eyes briefly, preventing the formation of more potent tears. If only I could have said goodbye to Meira...if only I had done something like that.
Strangely enough, the death of his family, except his father, seemed to bother him more than his own demise. This was because death was something that came for everybody. It was an inevitable truth that no one could escape.
But Hill, whose life expectancy had been less than a year due to the frailty of his body, had already accepted that he would die. Be it by the apocalyptic monsters of the cloud or his failing body, it didn't really matter to him at all.
He rubbed his neck gingerly, still feeling phantom pains from whatever had killed him. I just wish it wasn't so...disturbingly painful.
Deciding to abandon useless thoughts like these, he sighed and wandered aimlessly across the black sand. He had no idea where he should go, so he just picked a random direction and began walking toward the blue horizon. He wanted to understand the purpose of this strange place. Many theories started to swim through his consciousness. Is this purgatory? If not, what is it really? What if this is some lower level of the afterlife? It would make sense...or what if...
He wasn't religious at all, so despite the reality that he was experiencing, he still found this train of thought incredibly silly and almost embarrassing.
At that moment, while his mind was preoccupied with these thoughts, strange glyphs of light seemed to materialize from the air in front of him. The sudden appearance of this phenomenon drove all thought from Hill's mind as he stared wide-eyed at the mysterious lights. They danced before him, moving in a hypnotic fashion that seemed almost alive.
"What is this?" He asked himself as he observed the glyphs begin to organize themselves before his eyes, forming neat lines before an even brighter light flashed across his vision. Then, it stopped, leaving two lines of text that he could not understand or comprehend.
A sudden flash of light burst from the letters, blinding Hill temporarily. Blinking away the white spots that lingered in his vision, Hill looked up only to freeze in shock. The letters had seemingly been translated into something he could actually understand. Despite his lack of formal education and limited reading skills, he could comprehend the shimmering text.
[An opportunity presents itself to a fallen mortal.]
Below it, another line could be clearly read.
[Do you wish to be reborn?]
Strange.
That was his first thought. His next thought was more of a question than a statement.
Who would give me such an opportunity? Hill pondered carefully. And why would they choose me?
Hill was not a righteous person, nor was he a person of great virtue or moral standing. He was simply an ordinary kid who had lived an unremarkable life plagued by a dysfunctional immune system and constant illness. He had done nothing remarkable to warrant such an opportunity, so he felt deep suspicion about the offer.
However, he didn't want to think about it too extensively. He needed to choose quickly because the light had started to fade noticeably. He feared the phenomenon would disappear entirely and never reappear, leaving him stranded in this desolate place forever.
Fortunately for him, the choice was relatively easy to make. If he had to choose between living a second life, regardless of the circumstances, and remaining dead in this empty wasteland, he'd pick life every single time. It was only logical. Thus, he nodded his head firmly.
"Yes."
Instantly, the words faded completely, and a new message took place. Hill's eyes widened as he saw what was written there.
[Your will has been recognized.]
Suddenly, a blinding light burst from the letters and engulfed him, surrounding his entire body. He yelped in surprise, rushing to cover his eyes but finding it useless. The blinding sensation disappeared as quickly as it had arrived. And when he moved his arms away from his face, he was shocked by the sight before him.
He was now standing atop a mysterious black marble platform. It was incredibly wide, around two hundred feet in diameter, and seemed to float approximately a hundred feet above the black desert below.
Around the platform, Hill could see nine marble pillars that stood adjacent to the platform but not physically connected to it. Each one floated independently in the air and stretched toward the sky, but Hill found the shimmering carvings etched into the pillars more interesting. They shimmered rhythmically in overlapping layers, sparking his curiosity instantly.
A crystal ball glowed dimly atop each pillar with an inner light. In fact, Hill couldn't tell if the light was coming from the crystal itself or was being reflected by the strange blue light of the surrounding horizon.
But before he could do any more detailed analysis of his surroundings, he saw a rift appear above him, positioned at the same elevation as the crystal balls.
At first, the sound of glass cracking filled his ears ominously. Then, the air seemed to distort and ripple like the ocean's waters, shimmering as the distortion grew in intensity and scope. Then, it cracked open like someone tearing a piece of paper.
The tear expanded at an incredible speed, forming a brilliant circular rift that stretched from crystal to crystal in a perfect ring.
Through this tear in reality, Hill could see a heavenly skyscape filled with towering white clouds and a brilliant blue sky. The sight immediately caused happy feelings to rise within himself for no apparent reason.
The contrast between the sky he was currently under and the one that he was staring at was so stark that he felt like he had been physically slapped in the face. His jaw hung open in awe as he stared at the beautiful scene.
And this sense of awe was further extended, for a figure began to descend slowly from the rift. At first, it was nothing but a dark shadow due to the brilliant light of the heavenly sky behind it. But as the figure moved down from the rift and into Hill's reality, the features of this mysterious being became more apparent, and great confusion bloomed within his mind.
It isn't...human.
It had the general shape of a human; that much was definitely true. It had two arms, two legs, and a torso similar in shape and proportion to humans, but other differences were quite striking.
For starters, its entire body was wrapped in smoky black bandages, including its face completely. Two holes were cut out for its eyes, but that was all that was visible of its features.
The only other visible parts were its hands, which were pressed together as if in a gesture of worship or prayer.
The other significant difference was its four wings protruding from its back. A set of two large, black feathered wings spread wide and a set of two smaller ones that were folded tightly against its back. Each of the wings had a metallic shine, almost as if they were made of blackened gold or bronze.
The creature seemed to float effortlessly in the air, its feet never touching the ground or any surface. It didn't even seem to be actively flying. Instead, it hovered in place, its wings beating slowly and ceremoniously.
Hill stared at the creature in complete awe, his mouth remaining agape. It was beautiful and terrifying at the same time, inspiring both reverence and fear.
This must be an angel, he thought, drawing a connection to his mother's bedtime stories from long ago. Angels were supposed to be mystical winged creatures that represented the divine realm. At least, that was what his mother had always said.
"Are you an angel?" he asked, his voice shaking with nervousness.
The creature didn't respond to his question. Instead, it remained in place momentarily, looking upward as the rift slowly disappeared. Once the rift was fully closed and sealed, something extraordinary happened.
A sudden divide occurred, cutting from horizon to horizon within an instant. A new rift appeared, this time high up in the sky, cutting the platform in half and the rest of the desert. Hill stumbled backward, falling on one-half of the platform. The second this happened, the opposing side of the platform, along with the rest of the desert and the skies above it, folded in on itself like paper being crumpled.
A black nothingness completely engulfed one half of the realm, leaving only the platform Hill was on and the other half of the desert exposed to view. Then, a brilliant flash of light and a thunderous boom shook the platform violently.
The light faded gradually, and Hill found himself staring at an overcast realm juxtaposed with the dark one. This new realm was filled with grey skies, a temperate forest, and snow-covered mountains stretching for miles.
It was as if the entire realm had been split into two distinct halves, with the dark desert on one side and the overcast forest on the other.
And on the other side of the platform, a grey-haired man cloaked in grey robes was staring him down, his cold black eyes glistening with obvious annoyance.
Hill's blood ran cold as ice.
What was his father doing here?