... deep... deeper... into the depths of nothingness.
A lost spirit rides the tides of the void, perhaps busy - thinking about the life that has passed, or dreaming, of a life.
Deep within the absolute silence, a resonant voice, calling from afar, calling what seems to be... your name.
The soul resonates, the more the voice calls, the more the soul resonates, perhaps this is what the soul needed - a call, a voice, that reached out to it, called it, and saved it from the loneliness of nothingness.
"I need you", the voice calls, and the soul seemed to resonate more than before. Perhaps it recalled some of its past life's lost memories? Maybe it's what the soul was waiting to hear, a call for help, or a purpose to live for, a reason to go.
"Please... I need YOU!" As the voice has gotten louder and clearer, the soul is finally awake and conscious, as it looks around in confusion in the nothingness of void, a bright light shines, and behind that light, a strange figure appears. Every second, the figure changes its form, and each form resembled something familiar - or that's what the soul believed.
The soul stared at the light for a few seconds without looking away. After all, the soul is unfamiliar with the warmth and comfort that the light has brought to the emptiness of the eternal void. The more it stared at the light, the warmer it gets, the soul felt that the warm feeling was familiar, from its past life probably? but its memory could not help prove that.
"Child of man", the figure said with a soft and soothing voice, "what purpose do you need to fulfill?" The figure asks.
The soul stares back at the figure confused. A few seconds passed before the soul made a noise while trying to speak, like a baby who haven't learned how to speak yet.
The soul stops to think for a second while still being confused... it also noticed that the voice that called for help wasn't the figure's voice.
"I- I think I heard-" the soul said before pausing for a little bit, "I think... I heard someone ask... for my help" it continued. "Did you hear it as well?" The soul added.
"So you've heard.. as they called for your name?" The figure asks. As the soul was about to nod, something odd grabbed its attention, it realised its lack for a name of its own. "my... name?" It asked in confusion, "I- I don't know my name" the soul said while showing signs of panic and realisation, it finally realised that it had no memories whatsoever, an empty mind, it felt as if the poor soul has lost a piece of itself, it doesn't know anything about itself - empty, void, nothing, no matter how hard it tried to recall, as it tried harder and harder to remember anything, any clue, "who am I", "what am I", "where am I" and "why am I here" it asks itself as it starts to break down in despair.
"Fright not, lost soul" the figure said with a comforting voice, "you will remember, only when the time is *right*" the figure said with what seemed like unnecessary emphasis on the last word.
"W- what is my name?" The soul asked with a concerned and cracked voice.
The figure stands without a word for second, then it started to get closer to the soul, and as it got closer, the soul felt more warmth, warmer, and warmer, as the figure stopped at a close distance - so close, to the point the figure's sound seemed to come from the soul's head.
"You will find out soon." It said, "your old name is gone forever, your previous life has ended".
The soul couldn't help but feel lost, "So... am I dead? How was my life? Did I do well? Am I going to heaven? or hell?" The soul asked with concern.
"Your previous life is irrelevant now" the figure said. The soul stares in confusion, it seems like it can't get any information about its past life, it thinks for a little bit and then decides to start asking the figure about itself, then asks "What exactly are you? Are you... God?" It asked.
Despite the figure's constant changing form, it seemed to smile for a little bit - or that's at least what the soul thought for a brief second. then the figure said: "Perhaps that's what some of you would call me. However, not precisely..." the figure stated before pausing for a brief second, "I am, the connection".
"The... connection?" The soul asked. "Yes, The connection" the figure stated, "unlike a God, I don't create fate, nor do I create the worlds or the souls. All I do - my job - is connect every soul to its own fate and world. And that is precisely why I'm here".
Shaken by the figure's explaination, the soul thinks for a little bit, and before it could say anything the figure continuous: "Child of man, it is my job to make you meet your own fate. And unlike most, your purpose was not fulfilled yet, you have not connected with your fate yet, you have not reached your final destination yet. Oh, Child of man, you have not met all the people you're meant to meet, you have not seen all you're meant to see, you have not tried all you're meant to try and attempt, nor have you learned all you're meant to learn and understand. Oh, Child of man, you have not faced all the hardships that you're meant to face, nor the moments of happiness, sadness, stress, anger and sorrow. Oh, Child of man, you are yet to live and see, and until you do, I'll be here to assure that you've met your own fate, before your last death."
Things started to make more sense for the soul, but some points remained unclear, what is a 'last death'? Does that mean that people can live more than one life? And what happens after 'the last death'? Is that when people are finally sent to the afterlife? Or do they get sent to this void for eternity? Too many questions and confusion resided in the soul's head. And before it could think of the next question, the figure said: "Child of man, are you ready?", The figured asked while backing away from the soul, "your next world is waiting to fulfill your destiny, the strings of fate are waiting to be attached".
The soul panicked, it didn't know whether it was ready or not. "Am I ready for the hardships that the new life will offer?" The soul thought to itself. "We shall begin, your new life awaits.", the figure said before shining brighter than before, the light seemed to make a noise - a high pitched repeatitive noise.
The soul started to get a weird feeling, it's as if it's falling from the sky. And a few seconds later it started to feel like its essence is being digested and disintegrated. The warmth of the light grows greater and greater, while the noise grew louder and louder. The soul realised that its new life is about to start, and in a panic, it looked towards the figure and said in a rush: "W- Wait! What is your name?".
The figure paused for a second, "An entity like me doesn't need a name" it replied, "And with that being said" the figure added, "your new name... is-" and before the soul could hear anything, a bright flash emerged, followed by a loud noise.
Before the soul could react, it opened its eyes, and for the first time in eternity, it started to see new colors that were not seen in the void before. It saw the blue sky, white clouds, red horizon, green trees and brown houses. It could feel the wind touch its skin. It could smell the fresh air. It could hear the sounds of the chirping birds, soughing trees and the sound of a bunch of kids repeatedly calling: "Darin! Darin!"
As the kids calling finally got his attention, he looked towards them, in the distance he saw 4 young children ranging in ages: one looked about 4 or 5 years old 2 of the kids - a boy and a girl - looked about the same age as eachother while the 4th kid - a boy - looked the oldest - 15 years old or around that. As they were calling for 'Darin', the oldest and the middle-boy were waving towards the protagonist while the youngest child was running towards him in tiny steps with the girl carefully running after him to make sure that he won't lose his balance and fall.
The protagonist looked in confusion as the kids were looking towards him while calling for 'Darin', "Who is Darin?" He thought to himself, he thought for a second then realised that the kids are calling for him; he is 'Darin', and that's his new name.
"Darin! Darin! Aunt Mirel just gave birth!" The kids said, "Let's go see the baby! Hurry up!" They said with excitement.
The protagonist - Darin - looked around, he found himself in a very small village with wooden houses scattered around the area with large gaps between each one, he looked on one side and saw an area with large fields, some of them were fields of wheat and the others contained different types of fruits and vegetables. on the other side he saw a huge tree, his curiousity grew, he wanted to look more at his surroundings. After all, and for the first time in a long time, he finally feels alive again.
As he was busy looking around in excitement, feeding his curiousity, the kids group finally caught up with him, and in a heartbeat, the middle-boy grabbed his arm and pulled him as he started to run at a certain direction, "Come on! We gotta be the first to see the baby!".
As the kid pulled Darin in a rush he almost lost his balance and fell, in a moment he recovered and started to run alongwith the middle-boy to keep up with his pace, then Darin looked at the boy from behind while trying his best to keep up, he was almost the same height as Darin, he was blond and thin, he was wearing old and worn clothes made of cloth - the texture of his old blue shirt and worn leather shoes made it clear that the kid is from a poor village. Darin ran alongside him until they've reached a certain house, "Let's go in" the kid said as he pushed the wooden door open.
As the door opens, Darin and the boy got in a medium-sized room, the room had a bunch of adults, some of them sitting on wooden chairs, and some of them are standing as they are having a talk, in total there were 4 adults in that room - 3 men and a woman, there was also a curtain that
The woman was sitting next while holding a 2-year-old baby, she sat next to another man who seemed to be her husband, the couple were talking to eachother in a low voice, while the other 2 men were having a chat that was considerably louder which was also mixed with laughter and joy.
As Darin and the boy forced their way in, they got the adults' attention, "Ah, if it wasn't Darin and Kael, the troublesome two!" said one of the men who were having a chat as the rest of the attendants chuckled. Darin looked towards the man, he was a tall, buff guy with short brown hair, small eyes and a wide smile on his face, "what are you two up to?" Continued the man. "We wanted to see the baby" said the boy - who apparently is called 'Kael', "can we see the baby now?" As Kael said this, the other man tried to interrupt Kael and said in an instructous tone: "Kael, what do we say first?", this other man was blond and thin, he also had blue eyes and held a cup with his hand. "Uhh..." said Kael, as he seemed like he was trying to remember something "Congratulations on the baby Mr. Gobblesmith" he added, "can we see the baby now?". The buff man 'Mr. Gobblesmith' - let out a booming laugh, suited to his giant body, then he looked back at the blond man and said while keeping the smile on his face: "This is DEFINITELY your son, Derek" after that he looked back at Kael and said: "sure, they're just cleaning the newborn inside the room" as he pointed towards the curtain hanged on the entrance to the other room.
"Okay" said Kael innocently, then looked at the couple and asked "who are those?", as Kael said this, his father tried to interrupt him again: "Kael, be respectful". "What! I'm just asking! I haven't seen them in the village before" Kael replied, as Kael's father seemed like he was about to lecture him again, the couple smiled and said: "we've moved to the village only recently", then the husband added in a friendly tone: "you must be Kael, you look just like your father!", then he added "I've heard a lot about you from your father".
"They probably haven't heard good stuff about me from dad..." Kael whispered in a sad tone. After a moment of silence, the couple's focus was diverted to the protagonist, Darin started to feel uncomfortable with the couple gazing at him, "And you..." the man said before starting to think, the protagonist stood in shock, he isn't sure about his capability of handling this small-talk, "you must be... Darin, right?" The man added. The protagonist stood in silence for a few more seconds before gulping and letting out a noise: "y- yes" he said quietly, the couple didn't seem to hear what he said, so he added in a clearer and louder voice: "Y- Yes, Darin, my name's Darin".