Death

It is only at the moment of death that we understand just how infinitesimal we are.

Thinking back, that was the first moment she caught a glimpse of the profundity of Heaven and Earth.

Dying was painful for her, and everyone else on that flight, she would assume. A plane crash has to be one of the worst ways to go. If there is a list, it would definitely be at the top 5.

Thankfully, the process was fast.

All she remembers was the overwhelming pain that racked her entire body at the time of impact. Then the air being knocked out of her lungs, and the searing heat that followed.

Afterward, it was all cold.

The kind of cold that seems to seep into your bones and chills them from the inside. Then there was a wrenching pain that followed as if something important had just been torn from her body, which now that she knows better, was the moment her soul passed into the void.

Everyone thinks about death.

What is it?

What happens during?

What happens after?

Although she can't claim to be an expert in the subject, as an entity that experienced death, she can say that death is emptiness.

All she recalls was the loss of feeling. There was no pain, breath, sight, sound, or any other feeling whatsoever. It was eerily quiet and the dissonance was unsettling. In hindsight, perhaps this could have been seen as a peaceful moment, but she truly didn't feel any of the peace.

Despite her best efforts, she found herself constantly screaming in her mind. I mean, what would you expect from a 21-year old at that point? She kept screaming, asking for anyone or anything to answer but she never got a response.

Not knowing whether you were suspended, forgotten, moving, trapped, or anything else for that matter was disorienting. There was no concept of time or space, so she just spent the duration thinking. She thought about everything and realized how truly insignificant her entire life was.

It was also at this moment that she glimpsed the profundity of the laws of life and death; A never-ending cycle. Compared to the might of the Heavens and Earth, human life is truly insignificant.

'Will I be reincarnated?'

'Is this hell? Maybe it's heaven?'

'Greek mythology mentioned River Styx in their books!!! Fucking liars!!!'

'Huh? The Greek? What or who are those?'

If she had the chance to tell anyone of her experience, then the best piece of advice she could share is to think less. In death, or rather in the void, the more you think, the more you lose.

Unfortunately, even if you were told to think less, you wouldn't have the capability to. When there's nothing left to do except think, your mind would just keep going until there was nothing left. It's not a complicated philosophy, it's just that humans are wired to operate continuously until there's nothing left. Even as we sleep, our mind is constantly active, which how dreams come about.

She didn't notice until much later, but she had already started losing memories, emotions, and her personality. The things that have no direct relation to our sense of identity are the first to go. Sure, they might be important in life, but in death, they are an inconvenience. Should the process continue, you would lose everything, including your individuality.

Her thoughts were then interrupted by an image prompt, that would have scared the living daylights out of her if 'fear' was still an emotion she could register.

[Suitable Soul Container Found...]

[Reading Soul Memories...]

[Runic Translation Commencing...]

[Subject 458X, Currently experiencing death and soul deterioration. The System will stop the progress of deterioration on the completion of a binding contract. Do you wish to proceed?]

Agreeing to this prompt was the worst possible mistake she had ever made.

However, she was just too happy to have something to communicate with. Although the so-called System was just projecting its intent via image prompts, it was still a huge relief considering how stifling the silence was. Besides, that thing about soul deterioration sounded far worse at that point in time. And she'd never read anything negative about a System.

'Yes!!!' She screamed in her mind.

[Subject 458X, Consent Granted!]

[Binding Soul Container Commencing...]

[Binding Progress 2%...]

[Binding Progress 94%...]

[Binding Progress Stalled...]

[Binding Soul Container Refresh...]

[Binding Progress Stalled...]

[Error Identified...]

[Binding Considered Sufficient...]

[Binding Complete! Extracting Soul Container]

Following a cooling sensation and the image prompts, she was pulled out from under the claws of Death. Although she was cursing for having an incomplete 'bind', years later she would come to thank her lucky stars that she never completed the remaining 6%