Kael drifted in a pitch-black, empty emptiness. Like being stranded in a silent sea, it pressed down on him, heavy but light.
There were no stars or edges—just a limitless emptiness that consumed sound and light.
It felt weird, loose, like smoke in a dream, his body, whatever it was.He lifted his hand, seeing it sparkle, see-through and faintly glowing against the dark. "Where am I?" His voice trembles, echoing into the void before fading like a stone in a deep well.
He stared at his ghostly hand, fear tightening his chest. "Who… am I?"
A bitter laugh slipped out as bits of memory flashed. "Kael. I'm Kael." The name stabilize him, but then the truth hit hard.
A Kael's spectral body trembled with anger as his fists clenched. He had come so close to justice and retribution before being strangled.
He scanned the emptiness and whispered, "Is this the afterlife?" It was meaningless and endless. "Is this all that exists?"
[Negative.]
A sharp, metallic ping cut the silence, surprising him. Glowing words appeared before his eyes, floating like a sci-fi screen.
[This is not an empty place.]
[You are temporarily held here by the Master.]
Kael glare, confused by "Master." "Master?" he growled, anger rising. "Who the hell is that?"
"Ohh, that'd be me!" a voice chatter, bright and oddly cheerful.
Kael turn—or tried to, his form clumsy in the weightless void. Before him floated… something. A glowing white figure, human-shaped but faceless, except for a wide, smiling mouth that pulsed with strange warmth. It felt both real and unreal, like a flickering light in a storm.
"What the hell are you?" Kael demanded, his voice sharp with unease.
The being's smile grew, its tone full of creepy energy. "I'm a god of information, a servant of the Ultimate Being—and, well, I'm nothing that's in everything!" It lean its head—or the unclear shape of one—its glow vibrate playfully. "Confusing? You'll get the hang of it."
Kael's chest tightened, hopelessness and anger mixing inside him. Dead. He was dead, wasn't he? Stuck in some weird void, talking to a smirking… thing. He forced a breath—did he even need to breathe?—and glared at the being. "I need answers. Where am I? Am I alive? That damn bastard killed me!" His voice broke, raw with fury. "That bastard killed my family, and I was this close to stopping him. I won't let him get away!"
The being's glow faded a bit, its tone softening but still too cheerful. "Easy, Kael. Let's unpack this one step at a time." It floated closer, calm in a strange way. "First: you're in a soul void, a temporary place for souls. Look over there."
Kael looked where it pointed, his eyes cutting through the dark. Far away, a huge, glowing circle pulsed with supernatural light. Inside it, faint shapes wind—countless souls, trapped in a loop of birth and death, their motion haunting.
"Second," the being went on, its voice steady, "are you alive? Well… not exactly. You lost your body, but your soul? It's here, separated from the cycle by the Master."
Kael's mind rotate, anger turning to confusion. "Separated? Why? What's the point of this?"
The being's smile returned, sharp and mysterious. "Oh, you'll see. The Master has plans for you."
Before Kael could ask more, the system pinged again, glowing words flashing in his vision.
[Soul reincarnation process initiating.]
"What?!" Kael's shout was swallowed by a sudden pull, like the void itself grabbed him. His ghostly form shot forward, faster than thought, the darkness blurring into streaks of bright white light.
Whoosh!
The light swallowed him, and then—nothing.