Jaiden felt as though he was dead—but at the same time, he wasn't. The sensation was surreal, like teetering on the edge of existence. He tried to look around, but he couldn't see anything.He tried to move his limbs but his limbs didn't respond. He tried to breathe, but there was no air to inhale.
It was as if he was suspended in an endless void. And yet, he didn't freak out.
There was an odd sense of comfort in this strange, empty space. The sensation wasn't warm or inviting—it was cold, almost chilling—but strangely soothing at the same time.
Jaiden's mind raced to process the contradiction. Was he alive? Dead? Somewhere in between? The emptiness pressed in on him, yet the unsettling comfort of the void kept his fear at bay. It was creepy—deeply, profoundly creepy. But for reasons he couldn't explain, he didn't resist.
Suddenly, Jaiden felt motion—an undeniable pull, as if he were being hurled through the vast emptiness of space. He couldn't see anything at first, just darkness. But then, in the far distance, a bright ring appeared, no larger than a pinhead.
As he accelerated, the ring grew larger, and the realization struck him—it wasn't small at all. The structure was colossal, its center resembling a black hole, its edges radiating an ethereal glow. He felt himself moving faster, bending the laws of physics. Beyond light speed, the stars around him stretched into white streaks, blurring into rays of light. Entire galaxies and colorful nebulae passed him by, a breathtaking cascade of cosmic beauty, until finally, he arrived near the ring.
The scale of the structure was beyond comprehension. It was massive, dwarfing galaxies like specks of dust. It was a construct that defied everything.
At its center was an immense black mass, a singularity surrounded by a luminous accretion disk. The disk glowed fiercely, swirling with the light of countless souls being drawn into its grasp. Jaiden could see them—small, sparkling orbs, possibly other souls like his, streaking toward the singularity.
But none made it to the center. Each was caught in the raging accretion disk, merging with the swirling energy and disappearing forever. The sight was terrifying and mesmerizing—a reminder of the raw, untamed power of the structure before him.
Jaiden floated closer, staring at the impossibility of it all. The void he had been in felt insignificant compared to this. What was this place? Why was he here?
Jaiden had no time to think. In an instant, he was being pulled toward the massive black hole at an unimaginable speed. Although he was an atheist, in that moment, he found himself praying desperately to any god that would listen. He didn't want to end up like the countless souls merging helplessly with the accretion disk.
But his prayers seemed futile. The pull only grew stronger, and he was hurtling toward the accretion disk faster than ever. Panic set in as he tried everything he could to resist—thrashing, focusing, willing himself to stop—but it was as if nothing he did mattered.
Then, space itself cracked open behind him, revealing something that defied comprehension.
For the briefest moment, Jaiden caught a glimpse of it—an eldritch horror, a being so grotesque and vast that just perceiving it gave him a splitting headache. The sheer impossibility of its form threatened to drive him mad. His mind screamed at him to look away, but a primal curiosity rooted him in place for one agonizing second longer.
The creature extended an appendage—or what Jaiden could only describe as one—toward the accretion disk. It began to extract glowing masses of energy, seemingly feeding on the swirling souls.
The black hole responded as if alive, sensing the intrusion. The accretion disk suddenly froze, its violent spinning halted for just one brief moment. That was all it took.
Jaiden's soul slipped through the gap, narrowly escaping the clutches of the disk. As he passed, he caught a final, horrific sight: the eldritch horror being crushed by the gravity of the black hole, its immense form flattened into a thin, grotesque plate. The accretion disk resumed its furious spin, as if nothing had ever happened.
But Jaiden was past it now, through the event horizon, falling into the void beyond.
The emptiness was overwhelming, but it didn't last long. A blinding light engulfed him, so bright it seared his senses. At the same time, he felt pain—intense, indescribable pain. It was as if his very essence was being stretched beyond its limits, his form elongated into something unrecognizable.
Bones he no longer had seemed to snap; organs he no longer possessed felt as though they were punctured. Jaiden bit down on nonexistent teeth, bracing himself for the worst. His soul was stretched into an impossibly thin, noodle-like shape, hurtling through the endless void.
And then, suddenly—nothing,silence,darkness.Yet in that infinite void something stirred like the heartbeat of a world .