Chapter 0.5 “How it all started“ 1.1 The Prologue

Chapter 5 Prologue

Julian found himself in a dark space. A strange feeling of powerlessness overcame him and he thought that this was what happens after death. Wherever he looked, he couldn't see anything different. Only this dark space. Did he even look around? Could he look around? He didn't know, he only knew that this darkness was everywhere. It was omnipresent.

'Is this the afterlife?' he questioned himself 'No, although I was shot, I still feel... alive. Somehow...' What if he wasn't dead? What if he was alive, and was kidnapped somehow? Thrown into a completely dark room...

While thinking of this he tried to stand up, but he couldn't. His arms and legs were neither tranquilized nor were they cut off. It felt as if he never had any limbs. No limbs, no head and no body. It felt as if he was in a translucid state. A comprehensive state of his mind and soul.

While his body died and will slowly disolve into nutrients for the earth, his soul would live on. He didn't know it at this time, but his soul was special. Hundreds and even thousands of times stronger than a normal human soul. This was also the reason, why he could think and process information at increased speed.

'I can't feel my body... Maybe I'm in a coma and this is a dream my mind built to protect me' 

He thought that was the only answer to this strange occurance, but it was completely wrong. But he would find out where he was as time passed. And, while he didn't know at this time, he was actually in his special state, where time was slowed down drastically.

A few hours passed and a memory flew into his mind. That of his sister. 

Although he didn't have eyes, his mind could produce an image in his thoughts and recreate it, as long as his memorys were complete.

His thoughts didn't let his mind come to peace. The image appeared over and over, again and again.

After a week of real time passed.

Julian still felt a bunch of emotions being tossed around in his soul. But it was slowly fading with the passing time. 10 years passed in his mind already. Forgetting the more unimportant things in his live.

A month of real time passed

His emotions for the event on that day were slowly dwindling. Him getting calmer and calmer. Or rather he was getting colder. For him, 40 years have passed since his death. Julian was getting more and more comfortable, being in this voidlike space.

Two months of real time passed

Within this time he started to feel more and more comfortable in the Void. Instead of his mind being corrupted by the memories of his last moments, his mind became much clearer. He started to forget most of the unimportant information of his childhood. 80 years passed in his mind.

Four months of real time passed

Although he still felt the emptiness of his limbs and body, the void felt as if it was merging wtih his soul converging into his body. His memories of his family were still present, but they didn't disolve his sanity as strong as before. 160 years passed in his mind.

Eight months of real time passed

The void around him didn't bother him anymore, but rather started to feel like a blanket, firmly covering his soul covering it with warmth. His memories of his family were still there, though he couldn't remember the face of his best friend anymore. 320 years passed in his mind.

A year of real time passed

Julian started to understand the space he was in. He now knew when he was moving in it, and even if he couldn't see anything, he knew there was absolutely nothing in this space, or at least where he was. He still didn't know that his ability was activated all along. He didn't know if he was being fast or slow. He just knew that he could move. 480 years passed in his mind.

Five years of real time passed

Moving around and making sharp turns he was like a single, red, glowing orb of light, that was slowly diluted in the darkness of the Void. He now realized that his ability was turned on. And, as if his soul had an enlightenment, he could move as fast as his thoughts. Just then he realized how vast this "Void" actually was. The ability wasn't interrupting Julian anymore, so he didn't deactivate it. The Void felt like he was being softly embraced by his mother. A bond between them like noone else. 2400 years passed in his mind.

A hundred years of real time passed. 

During the end of the 90th year something happened to his soul. The light of the orb, that was previously floating around the space, was now completely fused with the Void. Julian who was previously a seperate being had turned into the void and the void turned into Julian. Everywhere where Julian was the Void was, and vice versa.

After turning into this state of being omnipresent, he could actually feel the border of this Void. After fusing with this Void, he could actually traverse to the border in the blink of an eye.

There, at the end of the Void, was a huge rupture, spreading billions and trillions of lightyears into each direction. It was like two huge powers fighting against each other, trying to subdue the other. After fusing with the void he could actually feel this rupturing wall, getting pressured by the other side.

'Maybe behind this border, there is a world with living beings' Julian thought with a whisp of excitement lingering in his soul. Trying to make a hole to the other side a strong pain started puncturing his soul.

He immediately stopped trying to get to the other side. But the pain continued, when suddenly words started appearing before him. They were beautifully written in a language he didn't know or read, but confusingly he could comprehend their content.

'???' Seeing and reading these words, Julian was hugely confused. 'What are they?' 'Who made them?'

Although Julian was baffled, he could understand what he had to do. He just didn't know how to do it.

'Create a vessel? How am I supposed to do that?'

The words remained there until his consciousness moved away, but if he moved closer they reappeared again. Never changing nor explaining.

It was like a worldborder in a videogame, telling him to return or else he will be reset. But the contents of the sentence weren't "Reset", but "Eradicate". Making him quite imposed with the feeling of fear of death.

Until the 99th year he tried to create a body. He didn't know how so he just tried all the methods he could muster himself to do.

Days passed and Julian was nearing the 48000th year in his mind. Although his mind was this old, it hadn't evolved much from a 15-year old teenager.

The thing that improved the most was his soul. A soul that was 48000 years old. 

'A vessel... It should be no different from a body, right?' After what felt like years, trying to create a "Vessel", he could finally create a body. 

Thinking of the human body that he was the most familiar with, he could recreate a vessel. Making it as detailed as possible. A 1.75m tall body was slowly being created out of his soul. 

Although he could create this body because of his experience in art and 3D modelling, he couldn't do so without something to build it with. So without another thought he used fragments of his soul as a foundation.

Starting from the feet the body was slowly created with parts of Julian's soul. Light muscles could be seen on the arms and chest. The head was also starting to form. A handsome face and short black hair. Before finishing, Julian gave his new body some clothes. Black, ripped trousers, a bloodred T-shirt and a black sporty vest. For his feet he gave himself a pair of black winter boots. His socks were the same colour as his shirt. Opening his eyes, two brown eyes started looking at their surroundings.

The image he created the body from was the body he had before he died. Although some aspects were missing, like the scar he had on his back, it was a very attractive young body.

After creating his body and fusing it with his soul, he floated, once again, to the wall made of disruptions in space. After reaching the border without having that "Message" appear agian, he knew he had succeded.

Carefully moving closer to the "Border" he could feel a strong suction made from pure force, slowly pulling him to the other side. As he got forced closer, this particular force would also strengthen. Soon his body couldn't resist the suction and got flung to the other side. There, Julian was baffled by the paralizing sight.

In tens of thousands of years he could finally see 'something' again. And something beautiful too.

Millions and billions of stars shining bright in every direction. As he was observing, the sight grabbed his attention, so he didn't notice that he couldn't breathe. He also didn't notice that his ability came to an end after exiting from the Void.

In the Void he was only a soul, not needing to breathe, eat or sleep. But, him now being a soul in a living being, he needed to breathe again. Although the body was made from his soul, the "Vessel", he needed to create, had to be alive. And a living entity naturally had to breathe.

But, as one could guess, he started to notice the lack of oxygen very quickly. Struggling to breathe, he slowly lost consciousness.

His last thoughts being 'Is this how I die after all that time in that hell?'

Even if his soul was almagated with the Void, he himself didn't want to stay there. Not being able to use his senses was like torture.

As he was unconcious a whisp of light collected his floating body, covering it with light. Then the ball of light started moving, quickly reaching the speed of light.

Strangely Julian's body could also move at the speed of light. There was no explanation at this point of time as to why he could go this fast.

Julian's body was in a hibernating state. Not requiring any air or sustenance. 

A year passed and the beam of light finally came to a stop. In this time it passed hundreds of planets and dozens of solarsystems.

The light locked onto a planet and headed, together with Julian, for a mountain. But instead of stopping, it penetrated the earth. Soon it was deep underground and laid Julian down. Disappearing instantly after.

The place where the light had passed through the mountain didn't have a hole. It was as if the earth had swallowed Julian and the light.

He awoke from his hibernating state after a few more minutes passed.

Looking around he couldn't see any sunlight. Some light seemed to linger in this place though and he could see where he was.

'A cave?'

Chapter 5 END Prologue