The Dead Man

"Have you ever wondered about your place in this life?" a male voice reverberated through the endless darkness. Adam heard that before, somewhere, sometime, seemingly too long ago.

"Or do you prefer… 'dance'?" another voice, now belonged to a woman.

A dance? He asked, without moving his mouth. He could hear it coming out from inside of him, but he couldn't feel his mouth moving.

He hadn't any mouth. He hadn't had any physical body.

"I wonder where she's going… where she's going…"

"Alright. Now, your plan…"

What plan? A name almost popped into his mind, a name he could connect to the voice. It immediately dissipated away.

He could see himself running through an endless red corridor with ornamented wooden doors repeating on its walls. On and on the corridor went, until he came upon a double door, which opened by itself and leads to the same corridor he just passed. On and on. He felt tired.

I'm tired… he said to no one. Then everything went dark.

"Now why don't you show yourself, Adam," the first voice said, "…trust me I mean no harm. You are all I needed."

Adam… is that my name?

Where am I?

And just like that, he forgot his name.

Now he was in the middle of some sort of town square, beside a well. A very old well. The buildings around him were in a various state of crumble. Nobody was there except himself. It was a ghost town, he concluded. The air was stale and cold. With a dark blue sky hanging above him, cast a bluish tint to his surroundings. He started to move forward, for what felt more like floating rather than walking.

Where am I?

Am I dead?

He suddenly felt a great burden inside of him, for if this was death, what a lonely feeling it was. He could not remember how it feels to be alive. He could not remember the life he was leaving behind if there was any life before this. It was a crushing thought, to be aware and unaware at the same time. He could feel the cold and dry air. He could hear the silence. He could not, however, recognize himself. His identity. Was he always in this state? Trapped in emptiness, floating about, and utterly alone?

"Have you ever wondered about your place in this life?"

No. I have never wondered about that, he said.

A blinding light flashed, and he heard people screaming.

"We should bring him to a doctor! Not … wherever we are going!"

"It's not safe anymore inside the city. Angkara was lost."

"He's not going to make it!"

"He will. His part in this is only just begun…"

"What do you mean?"

Yeah. What do you mean?

Can I form my own destiny? Do I have a say in what I'm going to be?

He's back to the ghost town. Still dark blue. Still cold and stale. Still with its crushing loneliness.

"Hey Adam," a voice startled him from behind. He turned around.

A man with a white shirt standing behind him, simultaneously there and not there. His countenance struggled to existed, always trying to change into a mist. His face was distorted, ever-changing, but never settled into a form.

"Must be surprising to see each other again in this condition…" the man said.

"Who are you?" Adam asked.

"What? You don't recognize me?" the man perplexed for a while, then, "well, I guess it comes to the territory. In your state, you will hardly recognize yourself, let alone other."

Adam didn't know how to reply to that. To his surprise, he said suddenly, "can I form my own destiny? Do I have a say in what I'm going to be?"

The man didn't immediately answer, as if he was as surprised as Adam was. After a moment, he finally replied, "what? Wha… what are you talking about man?"

"I…" Adam hesitated, "I don't know. I guess… we can only talk from our inner desires when we are dead?"

"Dead?" the man exclaimed, "I'm the one who is dead, not you!"

Another voice boomed, but not from either of them, "Good! I guess you already know each other really well, right? Heheh…"

Adam recognized the voice, it was the same voice with the man in front of him, "I… I know you…"

"What are you talking about! Of course you know me. I'm George!"

Adam couldn't remember that name, and it was escaping him as soon as it was finished being uttered.

"No? Doesn't ring a bell? Heheh… no pun intended" the man waited for Adam's recognition. When he didn't get any, he continued, "Man… you're really losing yourself, aren't you? In that case, you're probably right, that you're dead and I'm not… somehow…"

Adam didn't know what to think.

"…nevertheless… I don't think you're supposed to be dead. I'm supposed to help you in your struggles. Bel made me promise… and…" he stuttered, "…and I figured I need to do that, considering what I felt about you. What I did to… oh hell, this all sounds like garbage to you, doesn't it?"

Another disembodied voice boomed around them, the same screaming female voice from before, "Just… tell me where we are going!"

"We're going to see our leader. He can make this right."

"Makes what right?"

"All I can tell you is that Adam's part in this age is far from over. As if to why and how, I'm as much as informed as you are, that is… I don't know. We can only be sure when we finally see him."

A painful feeling that felt like sadness came over Adam. He then asked again, under his breath, "can I form my own destiny? Do I have a say in what I'm going to be?"

"Adam look," the man said, "I don't know what's happening to you. But I guess Goddesses work in mysterious ways… heheh. Just remember this…"

They found themselves in some sort of cave. It was part stones and part bricks. It looked like some old abandoned ancient temple, with no visible entrance from where they could get inside. Everything felt damp, with sounds of trickling water. Only one circular stone door, 3 meters in diameter, divided by five. The middle circle was built from different materials, gold, silver, copper, bronze, and iron, all heavily ornamented, with letters he could not understand. The whole cave was dark, only two sconces on either side of the round door, emanating blue fire.

"After only red… blue…" Adam found himself muttered.

"Remember this place, Adam," the man said, " I don't know why… but Bel told me to remember this door."

The Sun, The Moon, The Stars, The Heavens, The Hell

The thumb, the pointer, the middle, the ring, the little

The animals, the weather, the plants, the water, the human

The Human Man, The Human Woman, The Princess, The Army, The Father

"It is not over for you yet, Adam. Remember this door…" the man slowly vanishes, along with everything Adam was seeing.

The Sun, The Moon, The Stars, The Heavens, The Hell

The thumb, the pointer, the middle, the ring, the little

The animals, the weather, the plants, the water, the human

The Human Man, The Human Woman, The Princess, The Army, The Father

"Remember this place, Adam."

"I will always be here, Adam."

"Don't forget Adam. You promise us a dance…"