Awakening

Solan always considered himself agnostic, it was clear the gods were real, it would be nearly impossible to argue against their existence. 

However, he never devoted himself to any of them, who were they to demand his admiration, what had they done for him, if they had intervened in his life, it was only to give him a bad hand. 

He was alone in this life, everything he even slightly cared about had been taken forcefully, his family, his city, and now his life. He never had any power to dictate his life, he couldn't even choose how he died. 

Every decision, every change, every chance in his life was dictated by another. 

In the end he grew distant, the only semblance of an emotion he felt was repulsion against his own weakness, he couldn't save his family, he couldn't save himself. 

'What an utter waste' he thought to himself. 

Suddenly his darkened existence was flooded, infiltrated by a bright light. 

'Maybe this is what people mean by light at the end of the tunnel' so he accepted its radiance... 

But slowly, that radiance turned to warmth, then to heat, then to utter burning, it was as if his very soul was set alight. 

He wanted to shout, to squirm, to run, jump, anything to distract him from the pain, but what could he do, the utter heat was unimaginable, yet he couldn't explain how it hurt, he didn't have skin to burn or blood to boil. 

Just pure unimaginable heat. 

His very mind was coming apart at the seams, every strand of his consciousness unwinded and ripped apart. 

Yet it kept going, 

'Perhaps this is punishment for not following a deity, maybe I don't have a heaven to go to' 

Suddenly a flash of dark, never-ending and eternal washed off the burning radiance, giving his mind a moment to process the pain. 

In the sheer darkness surrounding him stood a spec. 

One of the dark specs that had been above his head, one of the specs that had sent the slashes, one of the specs that had destroyed the city. 

One of the specs that had killed him. 

... 

"You're a fool Solan" a voice echoed across the dark void, "You should have followed-" 

Before the speck could finish talking Solan shouted in anger "What, I should have followed the gods? They aren't worthy of my following!" 

A dark laugh rumbled through the space he found himself in. 

"No Solan... You should have followed the others, to hell with the gods, to hell with the city, doesn't your survival trump all those ideals?" 

Solan thought on his words, he was always a cynical person, perhaps he would always be like that... So why didn't he run. 

"You didn't run, so now you need to suffer the consequences, your soul was burnt away with the divine flame that encased your left side, you were dead the second it hit. However, once my energy hit something changed" The speck seemed to glow slightly, pulsating at random intervals as if speaking in morse code. 

"With the flame erasing your very soul you have nothing but an ever-burning flame threatening to consume you being, however, my own power... my power of absolute destruction is keeping it at bay" 

"You have two halves now, both trying to destroy you while simultaneously keeping you alive. Most people can handle a certain amount of divine power, however you have absolutely no affinity for the divine, it's almost laughable, you are so far gone from the god's Favour, and yet that will be the only reason you live on." 

Solan clenched his teeth, teeth that he hadn't had until just now... his body was returning, slowly. 

"Remember this well Solan, there will be consequences for living without a soul, there is perhaps no action more unholy after all" 

Suddenly the dark void shook and trembled, cracking along the walls unknowingly far away in every direction, the bright radiance intruded on the darkness, neither side fully able to extinguish the other, fighting to claim his body, fighting to kill him. 

Half of his very being felt as if it was missing, he felt numb, as if he wasn't in full control. However, his other half stayed alight, painfully burning, being used as fuel to stop his inevitable demise. 

As the void shook more and more violently... 

He woke up.