1 This is an unfamiliar ceiling

In an unknown space, an individual opened their eyes. Their appearance was indistinct, but they had an inkling that they were relatively plain.

They looked around the space that they found himself to be situated in but couldn't locate any sort of entrance or exit. After a brief observation, they couldn't even find any source of light, yet everything was still slightly illuminated with a dull fluorescence making the room clearly visible but giving it an eerie feeling. The only notable trait about the room was the walls which appeared to be moving whenever they were glimpsed from the corner of the individuals eyes but, when gazed at

directly, they seemed normal.

"Well that's definitely creepy"

Looking around for a few more seconds, they then attempted to stand up in order to get a better look at the walls but, when this action was undertaken, they noticed that their limbs didn't seem to be working properly or, a better way of explaining it would be, their limbs moved but the action of standing resulted in them floating just above the ground, and during the entire process they felt no sensations from their hovering form.

"What the hell is going on? I can see myself and move my limbs but I can't feel any part of them. How does that even work? I didn't pay attention in biology but I'm fairly certain the nervous system was connected to both feeling and movement.

Wait a second, now that I look closer, WHY CAN I SEE THROUGH MYSELF?!"

After sporadically checking their body in multiple places, they found it wasn't just their mind playing tricks on them. Whenever they moved any part of the their body, it would become slightly transparent and misty before returning to normal when they stopped moving.

"What is happening to me? How did I even get here? And why do I look like some sort of ghost when I move?"

Attempting to think back to what happened prior did not bring anything to light, they were just going about their life in the same way they normally did.

"I truly can't think of anything worthy of note. Damn, I would've watched the news more if I'd known it would be this important."

Though as people say, as the individual thought people said, you shouldn't worry about what you can't change, so they decided to not think about it for now and instead started to move towards the creepy walls again; they were lacking anything better to do. Upon careful observation, the walls seemed to behave in the same manner in which they were first observed but, as they started focusing on the corner of their vision to more easily see the unnatural movement of what should be a solid surface, they noticed the wall seeming to be bending into itself and, after watching it for a few seconds, started to get a gradually growing ache in the

ethereal wavy bit that constituted their head. That and a sudden dizziness prompted them to assume that the wall was not, in fact, made of wall and that this wall imposter clearly had it out for them.

Now having exhausted all avenues of unrest, they became stumped on what to do from now on, so they resigned them-self to return to the middle of the room and sit down, or float to the ground and hover a few millimetres off it, while being careful not to let them-self be captivated by the abnormal movement of the walls.

After an unknown amount of time, the attention of the solitary individual was drawn to a specific point in space, as if it was beckoning to them and, as they watched, the space suddenly rippled, then bent slightly before expanding outwards with the light bending around it to form an oval through which nothing could be glimpsed but a fathomless void, as if reality itself had torn open.

Slightly alarmed by this development, they slowly backed away from it but, before they even had time to think about what was going on, a figure stepped through the tear and started speaking to them.

"Why hello there. I'm so glad you could make it to my tea-less tea party. Please, make yourself comfortable and tell me, what's it like being dead?" Queried the figure in such a jovial way that it didn't register to the, now very confused individual, exactly what was being said.

"Umm, I'm sorry, did you say dead?"

"Yes! Dead! D-E-A-D. I do believe you retain the capacity for auditory perception, yes?"

"I'M DEAD!?"

"...yes? I am talking in a frequency you can understand, right? It has been a long time since I interacted with carbon based lifeforms and communicated in such a primitive way but I don't believe I got it wrong... then again..."

"HOW DID I DIE!"

"Oh how indeed. Truly a mystery of the universe... death. Why, back when I was... something years old, I too wondered about the concept of death, but then forsook it! As it is concerned me then just as much as it concerns me now. But instead of thinking about the past, why don't we look to the future!"

"But I'm dead, what future do I have?"

"Well that's entirely up to you, the groundwork will be lain, but what you do next is not for me to decide, though the world as you know it will have changed by the time you return."

"...So I'll get to live again?"

"Hmm, in a way, though you won't be you, or human, or of that world technically."

"What?"

"And I think that about sums everything up."

Then with a wave of their hand, a black void, similar to the one the figure stepped out of, appeared directly beneath the shimmering feet of a now even more confused individual, immediately pulling them into it before they had any chance to react.

"Rejoice, as you have been granted a magnanimous opportunity, one that might allow you to survive the coming turmoil..."

Then, with these last echoing words, the entrance to the void looking into the strange space shut and the person was surrounded by nothing but darkness, being only able to see them-self when they looked around. However, this did not last for long as a panel of sorts appeared in their mind, reminiscent of a notification on a computer or in a game.

[System integration complete. Binding to Soul… commencing...

5%

23%

67%

81%

99%

Done.]

"What?"

[Beginning reconstruction of soul… commencing…]

Suddenly, they felt an excruciating amount of pain, as if their very essence was being ripped apart and, through the pain, they glimpsed their, still spectral, body being torn apart into multiple pieces that started spinning around them while they experineced the sensation of something merging with them.

"AARRR! I THOUGHT I COULDN'T FEEL ANYTHING!"

Then, with nothing but their screams and the never ending pain to comfort them, they lost consciousness.