I floated hopelessly suspended in an infinite black void.
Where am I?
I desperately racked my brain trying to remember anything at all but everything is fleeting. It was like I was reaching my hand out to grab something within reach but it would slip away right before I could grab it. Wait. That's right, last I remembered I was eating dinner with my family.
So why am I here?
I can't tell if I have a body. I seem to be able to look around like normal but as far as I can tell I don't have arms or legs or anything.
Am I dead?
This is definitely not what I expected in the afterlife. As far as I can see there's just nothing. I'm nothing. Just hopelessly floating. Waiting. Waiting for something, anything to happen. Someone or something to give me answers and explain what's going on. All of a sudden panic starts to rise within me.
How long will I be here? Am I stuck like this for eternity? Will there be no end?
No. This is not the way to go about this. Panic never helped anyone. I just need to calm down and assess the situation.
Okay, where was I last?
That's right, eating with the family. Wait, who was my family again? I know I had a father and a mother. One brother and one sister but I just can't remember their names. For that matter, I can't even remember their faces. As I reach deeper in my memories, I realize everything is just hazy. I can remember general ideas and relations but never the specifics. I remember where I lived—people always complained about how hot it was but I can't remember where or who did the complaining.
How long have I been here?
It's impossible to keep track of time when there's nothing but the void. For all I know I've been here for several hours. No way, it couldn't be that long, right? Yeah, it's probably just been a few minutes or something. Then again, there's no way to verify that. The panic starts to return.
THERE IS NOTHING TO SEE! THERE IS NOTHING AT ALL! WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO?
Then all of a sudden light strikes through the darkness. Beautiful and vibrant colors slowly start to unfurl around me. Green pastures and blue skies appear out of nowhere. Beautiful flowers sprout and bring life to the land. I watch trees grow, and all of a sudden seconds for me seem like years to the landscape. Things grow and wither and grow again. I see summer and winter. Fall and spring. In all my life I have never seen something so beautiful. Then it all stops. Like someone was fast forwarding a show and then clicked play. I am back to the beautiful summer and green pastures.
What is this place?
My eyes fixate on a dead tree in the middle of the beautiful field. It was so out of place among the green scenery. Broken and twisted, it lays on the ground with some broken branches littering the ground around it. Even the ground around the tree was darkened.
I guess no matter where you look, there is death.
With the sight of the tree so depressing I start to look around the beautiful scenery again. Everything in its place. I can hear the bees buzzing and feel the warmth of summer. I can smell the pollen in the air as a nice breeze blows by. Then I see one of the bees land on a beautiful white flower. Then out of nowhere, it is snatched away by a frog and then swallowed alive.
Well, everyone has their place in the world. Some are meant to hunt while others are hunted, but I refuse to be the one that's hunted.
Then in the blink of an eye, the scenery changes again. The warmth of summer turns into blistering heat as I can see the massive orange glow from a great fire. Here on these once beautiful plains, two armies clashed. The smoke was suffocating as I could hear the screams of men and the scraping of iron. The once pleasant smell was overwhelmed by burning flesh. I could only wait and watch this horrible act play out in front of me.
This is just the law of nature. Men's hearts are filled with evil and will eventually lash out against those they once held as brothers. Best to always be prepared as yesterday's friend could be today's enemy.
Then it all just disappears and I am returned to the black void.
How strange.
Then bright light shines in the distance. Like someone just opened a window and all the light from outside spills into the house.
Is that the end? Is that how I get out?
And as if spurred by my thoughts the light begins to get brighter. No, not brighter, just closer. As I rapidly approach the light, my vision begins to swim and my head feels heavy.
Is this how I die? Is this it?
Then the light completely overtakes me.
***
I wake up with a buzzing in my ear and a massive migraine. The pain is so intense I have to shut my eyes to try to keep the light out. My back is in pain as I lie on hard ground and then I'm hit with a massive feeling of vertigo.
"Ohhh, this hurts." I groan in pain.
Slowly, far too slowly, the pain starts to subside and I open my eyes to see my surroundings. I'm staring straight into a ceiling light. This is so absurd it is almost funny. Almost. Then I begin to see blurs shooting past my vision in rapid order. As my eyes slowly get used to the light I identify the blurs as people running.
"What's this?"
Then my hearing begins to come back and I hear it. The sound of people screaming.