Prologue - 2

It only took a few moments after James closed his eyes that they suddenly seemed to spring open again, akin to a reflex out of his control.

Yet when they opened, all James could process was the infinite blackness of… something all around him. It was not quite like the darkness of night, or the stillness of his dreamless sleep, but something else.

Something ancient. Primal.

Confused by this lack of material sensation, James could only slowly prop himself up from the ground using his sluggish arms to push against the material encompassing the floor. It was not ground per se, but more of the strange blackness that felt like some sort of gelatinous ooze to the touch. The only comparable experience James could think of was like a trampoline covered in sludge.

He could only think of it as creepy.

In his efforts to push himself up and inspect his surroundings, James started to realize that his body was quite responsive to his movements, and the clear gash on his left hand, while still present, emitted no pain that he could feel. He could only assume he had either been asleep for a long enough time to heal up a bit, or maybe he hit his head too hard.

He was inclined to believe in the second option, seeing how he was surrounded by the odd darkness. Perhaps this is what it felt like to lucid dream? He had no way of knowing.

Suddenly, a booming sound seemed to come out of the blackness, and undulate the space all around James, shaking his body, spirit, and soul in equal measure. It sounded unlike anything he had ever heard in his life, a combination of color, matter, dignity, and disorder. The perfect melding of the intangible with sound waves, threatening to shake existence itself apart. Then, the sound began to further meld as it seemed to reach a state of equilibrium, and form something coherent to James.

James could only describe it as hearing the voice of God.

"Are you quite finished bumbling around? Time is not with you, and neither am I."

James could only flinch at the sound of the voice. Not only did it have its majesty and mysteriousness inherent in it, but it also carried a tone of disappointment and disinterest that seemed to hurt James to his core. He could only describe it as the tone of all his failings and transgressions laid bare.

And so, the voice continued.

"You who have caused harm upon the world, and yet bore equal harm in return, I have watched you since you were born and have found you wanting. Willing to pursue hope and yet not embrace it, wallowing in despair and yet not succumbing to it. You continue to be an anomaly, and it only increases my frustration!"

James could only be incredibly confused at this point. Was this thing judging his life now? Oh boy, people weighing his life in front of him and critiquing it, this was James's favorite!

Suddenly the void erupted again, and it was filled with righteous anger.

"Hey, don't you dare roll your eyes at me! Do you have any idea how many of your incarnations of nonsense I have, and most likely must continue to deal with?" As the being speaks, James could feel the darkness tighten around his body, threatening to crush his very existence.

"Even though many must make multiple attempts to reach enlightenment, your attempts are way too many and pathetic! I put you in a plant and you just wilt and die; I put you in a cow and you just meander around until you just fell into a ditch! You couldn't even fish right, both as a fisherman and a fish! All I ask is that you find some enlightenment so you can move on to the next plane, but no, you must just 'exist' and take up my sweet time! I have an existence to run here!"

The being then continued listing grievance after grievance against James, both what he was and is. In fact, the voice would often change in tone and pitch, swinging from somber to manic (sometimes in the same sentence), and at one point the voice even split into two separate voices that were just complaining to each other.

It was all very surreal, mystical and mind shattering, all things considered.

Still, out of all the feelings James could have thought he would feel today, incredulity was not one of them. Happiness and elation at finishing college, sure. Anger and despair at dying due to his own idiocy, that makes sense. But being chewed out by some random being for being a bad existence was not one of them. A bad person, yeah James could see that; even he would call himself incompetent most days. But this right here, this was rough.

Regardless of whatever James felt, the pressure that was still surrounding him, preventing him from speaking out and disputing (or corroborating) the grievances the being had with him ws starting to lesson, as the being was too engrossed in its tirade.

"… and then there was that one time, he just threw himself at you, and what did you do? Nothing! Ungrateful little…"

James could only inwardly sigh to himself as he cleared his throat and began to speak aloud.

"Well, um, I am sorry for all of that. My bad, I think?"

As he spoke, the darkness around him quieted down around him, and assumed what James could only assume to be a neutral "stance", writhing just outside of James's perception. Then, James could feel a sigh hit his body in waves coming from the entity.

"Your bad huh?"

James could only gulp to himself and answer the query. And he could only do what he has known for all his known life.

"I am sorry for causing you so much trouble, what can I do to make it right?"

After saying that, the darkness seemed to recede to the farthest reaches of the black, just outside of observation and discernment. For a moment, James thought he was alone again, in this abyss of unknown time and space. He was getting a bit nervous.

And then, the voice returned, like a whisper into his very being.

"And that is why I keep bringing you back every time."

James could only absorb the words the voice said, analyze them, and then tilt his head to the side in a questioning manner.

The being seemed to sigh once more.

"Every time you appear before me, you just want to seem to do the right thing; to mend yourself and the world. And yet it always leads back here, with no improvement. You are just spinning your wheels, and it can not be allowed to continue."

The ambience seems to lighten around the disembodied voice somehow.

"I have already invested too much into your singular being. I am running out of options for you."

Well, James did not like the sound of that. It almost sounded like the being was writing him off as a lost cause, which sounded like a bad thing to be thought of by some sort of divine being. Though, judging from its tone, this thing was incredibly sentimental towards James, or his soul, or something.

Wanting some much-needed clarity on the situation, James could only ask his question aloud.

"So, where does that leave us?"

The formless thing sighed, whipping up the sound around the void, imitating wind.

"All beings are destined to reach enlightenment and keep climbing to the higher planes, it is the law of the universe from beyond my own being. Yet here you are, unable to move forward. This cannot persist."

Then suddenly, the pressure surrounded James once more, suffocating him under the weight of atoms and power. It was unexpected, immediate, and absolute.

"You have two choices before you."

As it spoke, suddenly the darkness seemed to split and become brighter in James's vision, almost like two paths diverging at a fork in the road.

"Either I destroy you and rebuild you so that you may exist as a new being free of karma in the hope that you may have a new chance of finding enlightenment."

The invisible path on the left beckoned, seeming to want to suck in James's essence whole.

"Or I gift you a fraction of my power, and forcefully send you to the higher plane."

The invisible path on the right seemed to reject James, its immaterial winds seeming to push him away, sneering at him.

"Both have the potential of either eternal prosperity, or a swift end. Neither answer is correct, only the path taken."

"The time is now, think only with your soul, and choose!"

To James, even being crushed by the weight of providence and matter, the choice was obvious. Who would want to be told they were trash and then be recreated into something new? That was not James's way! He tried to change his life and move forward even though he failed, so why would he back down now?

"I want to go to the higher plane!"

And so, the pressure kept pushing down on James.

And pushing.

Compressing.

Shaping.

Until finally, it all released, and the darkness bounced back, away from James.

Unsure what was happening, James could only stand there dumbly, until eventually the voice returned, sounding quite tired.

"Very well, here is what is going to happen."

Suddenly, a burst of lights appeared before James, effectively blinding him as he raised up his arm to shield his eyes. What appeared was what seemed to be a ball of fire, and it became the only thing of color in the infinite dark. After adjusting to the light relatively quickly, James put his arm don to observe the fire.

"That is a fraction of my power, enough to help you on your journey. Devour it."

Listening to the voice and staring at the flame, James was unsure what it meant by "devour" it, but the flame seemed to answer the question by suddenly leaping from its stationary position and implanting itself in James's chest.

James could only yell out for the briefest of moments in pain, before the feeling subsided, and he was fine once more. Confused, he could only look at his stomach in confusion as the void continued.

"Well, that went better than expected, I was almost concerned it would burn you right up!"

James's complexion paled at the statement. Burning alive was a personal fear of his.

"Alright, here is the deal, I gave a fraction of my power of destruction and creation that will manifest in the new physical reality you will exist in somehow. I'm not sure how, that's up for you to discover. With me so far?"

James could only nod his head dumbly, finding newfound gravity in this conversation with this Godly being. In all honesty, he was still unsure if this was truly happening, or if these were his last thoughts as he bleeds upon the ground.

"Good. Now with my power, you have two things you need to do. Firstly, you must establish karma with the plane you will be going to somehow. And I am not talking about making friends or owing someone money, but you need to ingrain yourself into the very fabric of that plane of existence. If you don't, when you die, they will attempt to reincarnate you on their side, but then realize that you got into their plane without reaching enlightenment here, and will either destroy your existence in its entirety, or torture you for all of eternity. Still with me?"

James gave another nod, listening as intently as he possibly could. He could tell by the tone shift that this was vitally important, especially the whole torturing for all eternity stuff.

"Great! Secondly, you must sever all ties of karma to me and this plane of existence, so that you do not reincarnate here. This can probably be done immediately once you get there, and I highly suggest you do. If you do not and you die, whether you have established karma over there or not, they will be able to see that you did not reach enlightenment. Once that happens, you will either face death or worse. Questions?"

James could only think for a moment before the darkness started swirling around him, creating a typhoon surrounding his entire being. It was almost sentient in its movements, a separate being, somehow "beyond".

"Well, that was fast! It seems your integration into the new plane was successful, and they are ready to take you away."

James could barely hear the voice in the growing maelstrom, as he was slowly lifted into the black.

"Remember, connect and sever, and if you can't do it right away, become strong enough until you can! Survive, and try to thrive!"

And just then, at the end of its sentence, the vortex seemed to collapse upon James and his being, compressing him into non-existence, a black hole that kept rising upward into the darkness.

And, just like that, James was gone from the interlude between planes.

---

"Well, that's a wrap!"

The disembodied voice spoke in the darkness to itself, wallowing in the non-being of its entirety.

"I hate to trick the lad, but he will thank me when he reaches the top. And then, well…"

Suddenly, the space was filled with an aura of anger, hatred and malice as the darkness seemed to morph its gelatinous mass into a crooked smile.

"I will be free from this wretched prison."