A White Orb.
I am a white orb.
Confusion overtook me as I sensed the nature of my existence. Concentrating harder, I realized I could see not just the front, but also behind me. I deliberately moved my consciousness around me and discovered I could see through every part of myself.
Cautiously examining my surroundings, I realized I was in a dark void and was being pulled at insane speed by something beyond my control. Looking around me, I confirmed I wasn't the only one...
"Wha- what... is going on?"
Uncountable white orbs were being pulled alongside me at insane speeds, and obviously, we all looked like we were headed in the same direction.
"Is this the afterlife?" I asked myself.
Sensing my surroundings more, I realized it was a beautiful sight but, at the same time, an eerie and frightening one.
Suddenly, with little or no warning, the endless abyss around me rippled and gradually began to open.
'Lashes. Are... those human lashes?'
Staring at the human lashes before me, I suddenly came to a frightening realization.
The unfathomable darkness I had been observing around me and believing to be a dark void and incomprehensible abyss had all this while been a dark entity with closed eyes. Observing the entity, I watched as it gradually but surely continued to open its eyes.
Terror overtook me as I fruitlessly tried to pull myself back, but the white orb was beyond my control. I looked behind and was greeted with the sight of numerous white orbs all moving toward my direction.
At this point, I didn't need a soothsayer to tell me what all of these orbs were.
"Souls... Souls of the dead."
All of the orbs around me—including me—were the souls of dead people.
I don't know where we're all headed currently, but I'm certain I'm not prepared to go there yet.
Looking panicky beneath me, I saw the endless depth of the eyes. Turning my consciousness above me, I realized the entity's eye was also there, moments away from prying itself open.
I don't know if it's because I can sense every corner of my surroundings without the usual human sight, but the entity's single eye seemed to simultaneously exist everywhere.
"There are no multiple eyes, I'm certain."
A single eye encompassed and engulfed my every being. Its very pattern of existence was so illogical that my distorted sense of reasoning had no choice but to accept its pattern of existence.
Sensing the harrowing pressure emitting from the eye, I had to acknowledge my insignificance before this terrifying entity.
Horror dawned on me as this being completely opened its eyes.
Its pupil was adorned with colors I never knew existed. The only colors I could pick out in its colorful eyes were white and black.
As I looked into its eyes, the pressure I felt within me made me instinctively realize I had just died for the second time—and something instantaneously brought me back to life.
I swiftly turned off my consciousness while trying my very best not to sense or see anything around me.
I felt myself abruptly stop moving.
Then, hastily and violently, I began moving backwards at insane speeds, similar to when I was initially moving forward.
"I'm going back... Am I supposed to go back?"
Intuitively resisting the temptation to reactivate my consciousness and see what was happening around me, I desperately kept my consciousness sealed as I moved backwards at incomprehensible speeds.
With my consciousness still concealed, I lost my sense of time as I kept moving.
Even though I couldn't see, sense, or perceive anything around me, somehow I felt a golden warm light soothing the very essence of my existence.
A golden warm light that assured me everything was alright.
Washed by the golden light, I felt an unusual warmth within me as I opened my eyes and was greeted by whisperings and shushes around me.
With a throbbing headache and blurry eyes that grew clearer by the second, I woke up.
I saw myself in a white, empty, spotless room, lying on a pale-looking floor while surrounded by some unrecognized group of people.
"Interesting... He managed to revive."
An elderly-looking man wearing a white lab coat that blended with the atmosphere of the room said this while looking down at me.
His wrinkled skin became more obvious as he forced out a smile and said,
"People usually don't revive successfully without proper orientation before death. But you, my friend, just did!"
Adjusting the spectacles above his nose, he added,
"Isn't that interesting?"
The confusion swirling within me as I stared at the old man immediately turned into bafflement.
"I'm... I'm alive! How? What happened? Where am I?"
"Calm down, kid. One question at a time."
Turning around, he beckoned one of the attendants standing behind him.
"Get him some clothes."
"Clothes?"
I turned my attention toward my body and noticed, surprisingly, I was in nothing but my underwear.
My underwear wasn't the only thing that surprised me.
I noticed my legs, hands, and eyes—things that were obviously blown apart—were now back like nothing had happened.
I wriggled my toes, squeezed my palms into fists, rolled my shoulders, and placed my left palm against my chest.
I could still remember the immeasurable pain I felt with each breath taken. I could still remember the horrible feeling of sharp shrapnel lodged within my chest.
'They're gone... all gone.'
"I'm sure you need answers, kid," he said again, adjusting his spectacles. Then he shouted at the top of his voice,
"Sully! What's taking you so long to get clothes for the kid? His skinny bare body is getting unbearable to look at!"
'Huh? Did he just call my body unbearable?'
Rushing back into the room, breathing heavily, was a petite-looking Asian girl with her hair tied in a ponytail. She walked briskly toward us with a very tired smile.
"Here, sir. I just had the armory create something suitable for him."
The old man snatched it from her hands while grumbling with dissatisfaction.
"Going all the way to the armory when you could have just gotten a gown from your wardrobe."
Sully stared expressionlessly at him as he turned his attention back to me.
He threw the sweatpants at me.
"Put these on. You're a sight for sore eyes."