Shadow could feel nothing. He wasn't sure why he could, but he knew he wasn't dead.
Not really. He also knew he wasn't alive.
It was a weird sensation. Neither dead nor alive but conscious enough to know this. He flickered his eyes open and saw nothing.
Well, this wasn't surprising to him. It's what he has always imagined death to be. A null endless void that would slowly eat at his soul, he would perish in loneliness for all eternity until his ran mad and slowly faded into nothingness.
So much for Heaven and Hell, he thought.
But he felt like doing something, he wasn't sure that he could, but floating around doing nothing didn't suit his persona.
He righted himself up and stood. To his surprise, he was standing. He was still blind enough to not see anything.
He blocked his eyes furiously and rubbed at them, but nothing. There was no reflective surface or light to bounce off rays of light into his eyes, Thus his blindness.
He took another step forward and was amazed at how firm the ground was. He stepped hard on it, it felt stronger than concrete. More solid than the earth itself.
Regardless, he began walking around aimlessly. Better than floating around like a ball of turd in a toilet.
WELCOME DEAR MORTAL.
"What? Who was that?" Shadow turned around in a hurry. He still couldn't see anything, but more than ever he felt cautious. As though he were about to be attacked.
His years of experience and instincts kicked in, he crouched to the ground and reached to his shoe to pull out his dagger he always kept there for a good keeping.
It was then, and only then did Shadow realize he was completely naked.
Impossible.
This seemed like something the organization would do just to mess with his head. Could I really be alive, or is this all a hallucination?
OHH THIS IS REAL ALRIGHT.
Huh? I never said anything with my mouth. He thought to himself.
YOU DON'T NEED TO. I'LL JUST READ YOUR MIND FROM HERE ON OUT.
Why?
BECAUSE I DON'T TRUST ANYTHING THAT COMES OUT FROM YOUR DAMNED LIPS, SHADOW.
Busted. He chuckled a bit. He was surely going to lie just for the sake of lying and whatever was speaking to him certainly knew it.
So, am I dead?
VERY MUCH SO.
Can I see you then? I think I'll feel much more comfortable if I can see who I'm talking to.
Shadow waited for a brief moment.
IT WAS MY UNDERSTANDING THAT HUMANS WERE VERY CONCERNED ABOUT THEIR NAKEDNESS. BUT AS YOU WISH.
Shit.
The lights came on. It blinded Shadow almost instantly, but not in a painful way. His eyes adjusted quickly by no power of his.
WHAT A LITTLE WIENER…
Shadow unconsciously covered himself up. 'Do you mind?' he cursed at himself.
Shadow cleared his thoughts and looked around. He tried to understand where he was, but he… couldn't.
The place he stood certainly felt solid, but was also transparent. Completely see through and worse than that. So was everything else.
It was maddening. The more he tried to understand, the more he felt his mind being stretched endlessly. He knew it in the depths of his thoughts.
There was no end to this place. No beginning either. It just went on and on eternally. How could such a place exist?
THINK TO MUCH AND YOU'LL BREAK YOUR MIND. FOOL.
Shadow immediately turned to his right, there he was a woman of petite stature. Her hair was dark and purple. It flowed out in waves with every movement she took.
Although there were no winds here. But Shadow had come to the conclusion that nothing here made sense. Absolutely nothing.
She was shrouded in a mass of shadows, covering her from the shoulder down to her thighs. Her feet, half way standing, half way dangling. He didn't even bother.
But her face….
She was beautiful. Probably the most beautiful face he had ever come across in his entire life. Her eyes were a deep violet. Skin as supple as a baby's bum.
Her lips. Damnation her lips. He had never seen such perfect lips in all his life.
The way the shadows gently wrapped themselves around her. In a way, it revealed parts of her body, yet covering them.
GET YOUR MIND OUT OF THE GUTTER. GODS, YOU'RE SUCH A MESS. CAN YOU EVEN SURVIVE WHERE YOU'LL BE GOING.
Where I'll be going?
YES. YOUR SOUL HAS BEEN CHOSEN FOR ANOTHER CHANCE AT LIVING. REINCARNATION.
What? Shadow took a step. He was really dead. The reality of it weighed down on him. He had hoped he could survive. Love long enough to kill those bastards.
Fifty long years they used him. Sucked him of everything he was worth, and finally, they dumped him.
But that only meant that the other retired soldiers had been sent out before him, all faced the same fate.
He sighed. The growing resentment in his heart couldn't be quelled. He didn't blame them, but he hated being used.
He hated not being able to do what he wanted. He yearned for freedom!
The one thing he has never gotten.
BUT THIS TIME. YOU MIGHT BE FREE.
Shadow looked at the strangely beautiful woman, but she wasn't there anymore. She was behind him. Whispering into his ears as she caressed his body.
Shadow couldn't move.
I FEEL YOUR HATE AND RESENTMENT SHADOW. YOU DO A GOOD JOB OF KEEPING IT HIDDEN BUT IT'S USELESS TO HIDE YOUR DESIRES FROM ME.
Shadow simply sighed. He was tired.
DO YOU WANT TO LIVE AGAIN?
"YES" he said out loud eagerly. He wasn't sure why either, but he didn't want to die. He wanted to live and be free.
He knew dying was anything but freedom. It didn't matter if he couldn't get his revenge at the organization, but if he could get a chance to live again?
He would happily take it.
SO BE IT, SHADOW.
She embraced his naked body from behind him. He felt her warmth. Her skin rubbed against his back. How she caressed him so intimately.
Shadow smiled a bit. It was his first time ever being hugged. It didn't feel so bad.
Shadows wrapped around him. Sealing the both of them in an endless torrent of darkness. He felt an immense pressure weight down on his soul as something stranger seeped in.
He felt the touch of the woman let go. He tried to reach out to her but couldn't.
MY NAME IS 'SYL' AND WE SHALL MEET AGAIN SOON.
Then Shadow felt nothing.
Suddenly, he was a light ahead of him. It looked like a path to escape. He heard voices calling out to a crying woman.
Shadow felt himself being pushed unwillingly toward the little hole where the light seeped from.
"You can do this. Push harder!" A feminine voice screamed. A louder agitated scream followed.
'No, no no. It couldn't be. I'm being given birth too?'.