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"Hey Karl, I don't think the machine is supposed to do this." I was getting a bit scared as I watched the machine my friend and I were making for our science project.
"What do you mean—wait, you're right, th... this machine is not supposed to make that kind of noise. Did you check if any of the motors we installed had any problems?"
"Dude, those motors were barely second-hand, and they were all rusty and broken. And remind me who said to me that 'it doesn't matter as long as it looks like it will work'?" We were making a mechanical arm that works by using small motors. At first, I wanted to go with hydraulics, but it was a bit complicated for us, so we went with this. But just as I was going to stop the whole thing, I saw the soda Karl was sipping right near the motors. That was dangerous.
"Buddy, I think you should remove your drink from those motors. They look like they are about to bust."
At my words, Karl tried to, but then tragedy struck as he fell forwards, stepping on some metal parts on the ground. I jumped forward to help him, but just at that moment, the motors made a very stressed-out sound and exploded.
"Shit, this is bad." I immediately pulled Karl and was about to make a run for it, but then one of the metal fingers of the machine shot like a bullet towards us and hit me directly in the head.
"Thud"
"Ow! Bro, what the heck? I know I messed up, but seriously dropping me twice, that's just dirty. Huh! Arax... Bro, oh no. MOM!! Call an ambulance!"
I watched Karl scramble in panic, and soon his mother also came. They gently touched the area near my brain. I could see their faces becoming grimmer.
I could also feel my head was losing a lot of blood, and I was having trouble concentrating. I tried to speak to Karl with great difficulty.
"Karl, I wan... I need you to kill my phone and delete my browsing history." It was tough saying that. It took a lot of effort, but at least I managed. I would be able to go to the afterlife easier now.
"No, please, Arax, stay with me, bro. Don't f**king DIE on me, bro!!" Karl said while crying. Although a bit goofy sometimes, he genuinely is my best friend, and overall, our bond is even closer than that of brothers.
"Lis-listen, Karl. ugh-blergh I don't have much time. Tell my ma I love her with all my heart and my father that I will forever be grateful for everything. Also, don't waste your life, man. Be better, and remember, nobody is promised tomorrow, so make sure to live fully." I was somehow able to say all of that in a full, coherent sentence, but it took all my power to do it, and I could feel my thoughts floating... my time is up.
All in all, I've only lived for 19 years. It wasn't a bad life. In fact, it was better than most, and I am grateful for it. I hope I find peace. I saw Karl still crying, his mother also the same, while on the phone.
"F**k, don't go like this, brother! You think you look cool saying all that and dying? In fact, you look ugly as hell. Come back to us, bro. Our life ain't over. Arax... ARAX!"
My eyes finally closed after being open for 19 years. Now closing, never to open again. A single tear slid down my eyes. After all, no matter how much one makes peace with their death, it's inevitable that it will feel terrible. So, with these last few thoughts of mine, I, Arax Augur, was finally dead.
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An unknown place and an unknown amount of time later.
I felt as if I was dreaming... dreaming of things that never existed, or maybe they did. In the end, I felt myself again. It felt weird as I was neither corporeal nor incorporeal. My current state of being was very unique; it felt different and very alien, almost as if it wasn't supposed to be like this.
After pondering for a while, I finally recollected all my memories of the time when I was alive. Now, I don't know where I am. Everywhere I can see, I don't even know if I am actually seeing. It's darkness and the occasional flickering blood-red lights.
Time passed like this. I would wake up and again fall unconscious. This happened so many times that I stopped questioning my existence and simply accepted it as it is, after all, I have no control over anything that's happening.
I woke up again, and this time I sensed something weird, something foreign enter my sphere of influence. In my world of darkness and scarlet gas, something else appeared for the first time ever. It felt cool, like a winter breeze, even though I don't even know if I can feel anything. But it just felt like that. It kept coming, like this, every time I woke up. From then on, it would just keep coming, every time a bit more than before. I could feel it molding me into something different, something powerful, and something unique.
I could feel its aura, and I knew it wasn't trying to hurt me; it was only adding something to me. Time passed, and slowly all of this strange blue mist formed into a small cluster of gas. It slowly turned into drops of blue glowing liquid, and eventually, from the center part of the rotating sphere of liquid, it started to harden as ice hardens over water. With time, it kept becoming stronger. Soon, a small core formed. It was extremely bright blue near the center, its middle and outer rims white. The sphere, or the core, as I liked to call it, didn't stop. It started moving randomly in my space, and after that, finally found a place to settle. The blue mist no longer just went everywhere. From then on, it just concentrated near the core. Slowly, the core became larger, and so did my connection to it. I felt it clearly; it was an intimate part of me, something absolutely indispensable to me, just like the human heart.
The core soon stopped growing at one point. It was very large now, and I could feel the blue mist no longer being absorbed. Again, it started to go everywhere, no longer concentrated. During this time, I tried willing the mist to my bidding. It didn't work at first. However, after my core was done, it started moving to my commands much more. As I got bored, now that I no longer kept falling asleep, I spent my time copying the procedure of how the core formed and tried to make another one. It was hard, but I had nothing to do, and human curiosity, alongside boredom, is a strong weapon. Soon, after spending a lot less time than how my first core was made, I was able to create another core. This one looked and behaved the same and was the same size, most likely due to the fact that I can't make it any larger and that's the max size. Anyways, it didn't automatically go anywhere like the first one. So, I randomly kept it in the same space near the first one.
After I made my second core, I got bored again, and nothing new was happening to me. Since I felt these things were important to me in ways I didn't know how, I kept making more.
It was kind of relaxing, like a farming simulation. It just felt nice, and I felt productive. Soon, there were five cores shimmering together, and despite that, it still felt like there was a lot of space. So, I did the only thing I naturally could—I kept making more and decided to see the limits of this space. I made another five, then another, and again, soon there were more than 200 cores.
Each of these stood like stars in the starry void, a beautiful scenery. Sadly, I alone was able to see it.
I stopped counting after the thousandth core I made, and the space was still as large as ever. After making so many, I thought I should arrange them a bit. With such numbers, I arranged them like a spiraling galaxy. Even though they weren't moving, I had a vivid imagination. Thus, I kept making more of these until it just became a habit.
Time passed, and on a particular day when I was surrounded by cores, the space quaked, and for the first time ever, I could feel familiar sensations. Something was pushing me. This continued until the space broke, and I was greeted by bright light and screams as well as whispers of what felt like multiple people. It seems my life wasn't about to be as dull as I had thought it would be.
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