Chapter 1 - Death?

His limbs were frozen solid. He was so cold he could no longer even shiver. Only sheer willpower kept him putting one foot in front of the other as he battled through the blizzard.

He seriously regretted his decision to take the mountain route. He may have evaded the soldiers, but he'd barely made it over the bridge alive. During the night the weather had turned harsh, battering him into submission and forcing him down the mountainside.

The icy gusts cut through his orange inmate suit straight to the bone like knives. He clasped his body for warmth, his head down to the wind, his hat offering poor protection against the stinging snow.

Cold, tired, and hungry, he felt the last of his strength ebbing away.

Glancing up to get his bearings, there was nothing to see. The landscape was shrouded in a thick blanket of white, the sky swallowed up by endless grey clouds. Behind him, his lone track of footprints was already disappearing beneath a new veil of snow.

'At least I'm off the mountain,' he thought, taking in the vast featureless expanse of the Plain he was in. 'Perhaps I should rest awhile. Let the snow cover my body.'

He shook himself. He couldn't allow such self-defeating thoughts to overwhelm him. Fighting his exhaustion, he focused on the burning hope in his heart: of returning to his hometown.

Praying for shelter, he stumbled on blindly through the snowstorm. Twice he fell to the ground and got back up again. On the third time, his body simply gave in – the lack of food, sleep, and warmth finally taking its toll.

The snow quickly began to settle upon his frozen form.

As the ground consumed him, laying on the ground as he turned around, his back facing the snow, he could somewhat see the sky. He gazed through the starry snowy night beautifully. He remembered the times he would look at this scene, without the snow, and given the schedule, he was not allowed to go out nor see the sky. There he is now, looking at the scenery before him as if it was like meeting his long-lost lover for a very long time.

Blood trickled down from his nose, staining the snow red near his face. He really wanted to get up and continue running, but given his condition and the weather, he was unable to stand up. Slowly by slowly he tried not to get his eyes closed, he knew if he did that, he would eventually say goodbye to this world.

"Blurk!"

Cough of blood came out of his mouth, he was already having a hard time breathing that he couldn't endure anymore adding up the blood that was coming out of him. This new time of year, 2036, he thought this year was the day he could return, while he knew that everyone was at home spending time with their families, relaxing, sleeping, enjoying the time of their lives, and yet while everyone was doing that, Floyde Wolfe at the age of 18 was here collapsed from exhaustion. He had already forgotten why he was running on this snowy night, his mind was spreading numb, he couldn't make any more thoughts clear in his mind.

"Is this really the end? Is this what all my life is worth for?", his eyes started to gradually close, seconds passed to minutes and minutes passed to hours. He couldn't recall how long he was in the snow. 'Sorry', was the only word that came to his mind, his time has finally come, his eyes fully closed, there, Floyde Wolfe took his last breath

--

'Umm... Am I dead?'

He wasn't sure if what he thought was right, he didn't really know what it felt like to be dead. 'Mmmm...', he felt relaxed, just seconds ago he was feeling having his body frozen, now he was feeling warm and relaxed as if time has stopped for him.

He realized he could move his body, he checked his hands, legs. They could all move perfectly. He knew this wasn't a dream, he hit himself in the face and he couldn't feel anything at all but just the relaxing feeling in his body. His pupils suddenly enlarged when he saw something unbelievable, he was floating and his surroundings were pitch black but he could see stars in his surroundings, up, down, wherever he tends to look at it was stars all around that were passing by him. Little did he know that he was actually the one moving, he didn't realize this yet because he couldn't feel anything that would make him think that he was moving.

"Hmmm.... What if I-"

Suddenly he felt something sucking him at a rapid speed that all the stars he saw were becoming silhouettes. "Gughh!", he wanted to throw up, his head was so dizzy that made him want to faint but his consciousness kept him going.

''What if I really am dreaming", he murmured to himself.

--

After minutes or so of enduring the dizziness, he suddenly stopped somewhere, clearing his thoughts first to process all of these encounters in his mind. What he now saw was nothing as the same as before, it was not pitch black, rather the surroundings before him was a scenery light rays waving in the air with colors blue, red yellow. Rather than that, he could see some 'things'... floating with him.

"..."

"What is this!! Why is there cow with me", first of all, he didn't know whether he was dead or not, next he didn't know where he was currently at, third... COW!! Why is there a cow... 'At least I have something to satisfy my hunger, or not, he didn't feel hungry yet, or he wasn't getting hungry.

"ελπίδα-"

"ψυχή-"

Floyde's eyes shined but he was unsure if what he heard was correct, he was hearing voices, though it was not that loud, he could faintly hear voices. He was thinking if there were people here. If there is a cow, there might be a human.

"Hey! Hello, you there! I know someone's there!", Floyde shouted, but to no avail. "Sigh... It's only you and me now cow."

"αιώνια!"

"φιλότιμο!"

The voices he heard were getting louder and louder. It came to the point where the voices were too loud that Floyde fell unconscious.

--

Suddenly after Floyde woke up, he felt something restraining him.